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tefltraininginstitute · 5 years ago

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Using Literature To Teach Language (with Anne Carmichael)

Lots gets said about the value of graded readers, but how can teachers use these in class? We speak with Diploma in TESOL course director Anne Carmichael about using graded readers with students at different levels, how teachers can integrate different skills using graded readers and how teachers can deal with new language from the texts.

Using Literature to Teach Language - Transcription

Ross Thorburn: Hi, everyone, welcome back to "TEFL Training Institute Podcast." This week, we're talking about using literature to teach language. We've talked on the podcast before about using graded readers to help students learn.

In this episode, we'll go into a bit more detail about how to actually use a graded reader with a class, almost in a way like you'd use a course book. To do that, we have Anne Carmichael.

Anne started off as a teacher in the 1960s. She's taught multiple languages. Since 2008, she has run TESOL Training Scotland, running Trinity diploma and TESOL courses around the world. Anne is based in Aberdeen in Scotland.

In this episode, Anne tells us about her experiences, basically throwing out her course book and replacing it with graded readers with her students. Lots of great ideas in this one for activities, for using graded readers to teach language. Enjoy the interview.

Ross: Hi, Anne. Tell us about using literature in language classes. We're not talking here about just passing out the original copies of Jane Eyre to the student, are we?

Anne Carmichael: No, but they got the B1 version of it, which is still in print, I've checked. It now has ‑‑ which you didn't then ‑‑ an audio version. At the time, these were classes for more casual English learners.

Aberdeen had so many incomers with the oil business. Mostly, they were the oil lives, but they were really keen to improve their English, most of them to integrate into the community. I had the idea that our lessons were residing in a course book too much. One day, I'd said to them, "How about we actually read a proper classic English novel, say by Jane Austen?"

Now, many of them had heard of Jane Austen. Many of them had perhaps read her in French translation. They all agreed that they would buy a copy. I got the bookstore to make sure they had enough copies.

I thought, "Well, each week we can take a different chapter and we can deal with it in a different way." For example, picking out, initially, ideas and reactions to chapter one and feelings. I felt, "Well, what these ladies most need is to somehow relate to feelings, emotions, even the literature, even the writing itself and relate to the characters and so on."

We would deal with that. It would be a little bit like a bond tie because one emotion would spark off vocab or more and more experiences. They could describe a time when they had felt overwhelmed. That would be perhaps one response to a chapter.

Another chapter, we might look at in terms of narrative and using the past tenses, anecdotes about moving house because Jane had to move from her aunt's rather luxury house to a horrible school, or going to school, things like that, so first impressions of school. We could relate it to that and also enjoy the literature.

We could do a little bit of prediction, so predictive stuff. We could also do role play. For the first time, Jane encounters Rochester. We could get the ladies up acting it out, perhaps making up a little bit more of the dialog themselves and learning it.

They would write it all down and script it, and then learn it and then come out to the front and perform it. We could then say imagine you were looking at this in a film. I don't think there was a film of Jane Eyre at that point. I'm going back a bit but who would you choose to act in it? Who would be the heroine? Who would be the hero in that film?

We would discuss who the best actors at that time were and so on. Perhaps do a mock film review, or disagree or agree with one another, "No, I don't think Meryl Streep would be the best person to act Jane. I think you need somebody thinner and more sad‑looking," or something like that.

That again developed. If you were to set it in a film, what background music would you use? If you were looking at old paintings, for example, what paintings would most reflect that particular chapter or scene that you were reading about? They would think about that. They would come with ideas.

It was actually developing it in far wider than just the story itself, but including the language and enabling the ladies to express their feelings, emotions, opinions about literature, film, life in general, moving to Aberdeen. How it was different from living in their home countries, for example.

Ross: For me, one of the challenges of using semi‑authentic materials like that is finding some language to focus on. Unlike in a course book, obviously in a graded reader, you won't have 30 examples of the past continuous in chapter one and then a dozen examples of the present perfect in chapter two.

It's not always so easy to find something to focus on. Do you want to tell us a bit more about how you can use graded readers and really focusing on some language point?

Anne: Obviously, it's particularly good for narrative. For the narrative tenses, it's very, very good. For the writing, that spills over into written reviews or written summaries of a chapter.

You can also do it written as predictive. I think, next week, [laughs] Charlotte will etc., etc., or I think the strange person in the attic will. [laughs] It's completely possible. Nothing is impossible. That's my philosophy anyway.

It can be made relevant and interesting, and yet follow a theme and instructional because they're dealing with English literature. You could do it with Emma. You could do it with Joseph Conrad. There are so many of these lovely really well‑adapted readers that you can use for that.

Ross: How then did you deal with new and unfamiliar words when you were teaching then? I think there's those rules that say that students need to know about 98 percent of the words in the text if they're going to be able to understand what they read. How did you make sure that students didn't get lost without too much new vocabulary?

Anne: I might have perhaps pre‑taught some of the vocabulary before we went on to a new chapter. In those days, it wasn't so much getting the students to work it out for themselves. In those days, pre‑teaching was quite the fashion.

It would have been based on what had gone before, so predicting, and then providing vocab lexis, perhaps expressions that I knew would be coming up in the next chapter.

Pre‑teaching is great but not in a sort of table ‑‑ here are 10 words, here are 10 definitions, match them up. Not cold quite like that but as some kind of warmer and elucidation where possible.

I also think it needs to be done in some kind of context, so you might be able to elicit some of the vocab through a well‑judged warmer. It can be very useful because if the students are being exposed to that within the last three or four minutes, then they're probably going to remember it when they actually hear it.

All that needs to be recycled and elicited at the end so that the grasp can be assessed, that they've actually got it and also that they can pronounce it properly. Obviously, it'd be on the board, it would be transcribed probably, and that it can be personalized.

Ross: Those were obviously slightly higher, maybe intermediate students. Do you want to tell us about using literature with lower level learners?

Anne: I had another group, also in the '70s, of Vietnamese refugees. Now, they should be in the boat people and for them, I chose Grace Darling. Many of them were near beginners, certainly elementary by the time we had them.

It was very personalized. It was very effective and I suppose to some degree with these beginners elementary, quite integrated in a way. I didn't expect them to read or write. It was purely listening and speaking.

A lot of them were in a family, so some of their ages range from probably 15 or 16 to about in their 70s. They came as a family and that was security for them. I thought, well, Grace Darling.

It's not too threatening about a disaster at sea but it is about a ship wreck, and some of them had been shipwrecked. It is again about feelings and emotions and responses and rescue, and I wanted them to be able to use that when they were talking to their social workers and so on.

They couldn't all read. I would sometimes read aloud, and they would simply listen. It was really a facilitating device, again, to compare and contrast their lives at home with their new lives here, which were very difficult, for some of them at the start, adapting.

You could barely imagine...You can imagine, you can but many people couldn't. The social workers, I didn't think could. It was important for them to have that resource if you like to draw on and to be able to express.

Some of them had been so abused as well during their boat journeys, some of the girls especially. It was hard but they seemed to be happy to talk about it. It was a very protective, very closed little group. That was also very rewarding, and they liked the story. They like the bravery of the rescuers, which again they could relate to.

That went on for quite a number of weeks. We ran that maybe 10 weeks for a term. We ran that story and developed it. They could tell the story back, and then they could tell their own stories.

Ross: What I found really interesting there, Anne, is that I've heard from teachers who also teach vulnerable people like refugees that usually take great care to avoid any sensitive topics with their students.

For example, even just things like talking about family, which is really common topic in the course book. You might want to avoid with groups like that because it's very likely that maybe someone in their family has died.

With your example, it sounds like you did the opposite. You really chose the book because it did involve talking about something that was sensitive but also relevant to the students.

Anne: They need to speak about it. What I would be very sensitive of, because this happened to me once in a formal Cambridge interview. When I was actually doing the interview, there was a pair of candidates, and I showed them a picture.

It was a picture of a beautiful little wooded glade, a beautiful little scene with kind of Greek pillars in it. They were asked to comment on it and reflect what they feel. One of the candidates simply got up and ran out of the room in terrible distress.

I paused the interview and told the supervisor, and then went on with the next candidates. Towards the end of the day, I found out that one of the candidates had been in a dreadful situation where she had seen an atrocity take place in a glade very similar to that.

That's always stayed in my mind, always, when dealing with traumatized students that you cannot predict what will trigger a response.

Ross: Something I noticed whenever I read anything aloud to students is that I tense is a grade whatever I'm reading as I'm reading it. Did you do anything like that when you were reading? How did you go about reading out the text out loud? Any tips there for teachers?

Anne: When I was reading aloud, I didn't do gapping or anything like that, especially with beginners. It was sentence by sentence and pausing. Ross, this is something I'm so keen on, is pausing.

This is coming from Silent Way but I was doing it before [laughs] I'd read about Silent Way ‑‑ to let the language sink in. People need time to process. I discovered that pretty early on in my teaching. I would always be quite measured and allow time. Just count to three in between sentences for that to sink in.

I might even just say "Everybody OK" or give a look or gesture, "Everybody OK with that?" before I would move on. If it's a live listening or an audio, especially audiotape, it's so difficult being deaf. One of the things I so need is to lip read as well. Students can benefit from that as well.

Ross: That's so interesting what you say about reading people's lips there, Anne. I found recently with going to meetings at work in Chinese that happened over the phone, I found those so much more difficult to understand than if it's a meeting that I'm in face to face.

It also must be the same for students and probably find listening to audio more difficult compared to a live reading or something.

Anne: You've hit the nail on the head, Ross. Absolutely. Knowing that this was one of the drawbacks of the audio lingual, that they couldn't see the speakers, they could only hear them.

I've even had deaf students in the class and I'm always very careful to face them or anybody who's maybe a wee bit slower to process language. It's a good thing to actually turn round to face them, maybe slow down, just a fraction, keeping it natural but slow down a fraction, and repeat, and check. Again, just that little nod, "Is that OK?" to check.

Ross: One more time, that was Anne Carmichael. For more about Anne, check out her website, tesoltrainingscotland.co.uk. Thank you again to Anne for joining us. If you'd like to find more of our podcast, please go to our website www.tefltraininginstitute.com. We'll see you again next time. Bye‑bye.

#Practical Classroom Ideas

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warmheartworldwide · 5 years ago

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Short but Sweet

The following blog comes from Grace Donaghy who just completed a month’s stay at Warm Heart:

I originally heard of Warm Heart thanks to my aunt, one of Warm Heart’s sponsors who knew I wanted to volunteer abroad during my gap year. She knew that many of Warm Heart’s values are in line with my own. For the past few years, the climate change crisis has haunted me and so I have tried to reduce my environmental footprint. While living in Australia earlier this year, I participated in weekly beach clean-ups to reduce the plastic pollution in our oceans. When I learnt about Warm Heart’s environmental plan which includes initiatives like “Stop the Smoke” and the styrofoam brick project, I knew that this was the right organisation for me. This was my second time in Thailand, though I knew it would be quite different from my first trip with a lot less partying and a lot more helping.

I had two main project areas during my short time at Warm Heart – teaching English and making short videos of current and ongoing projects, especially those focused on sustainable development. Teaching English was not part of my original plan, but after noticing that the children don’t have a lot to do over the weekend, I realised that using this time to boost their confidence when speaking English would be useful.

Despite all my preparations prior to my first lesson, I was quite apprehensive about teaching. Although I hold a TEFL qualification, this was my first experience teaching English to non-English speaking individuals. I was also worried about how the children would receive my lessons and how much they would cooperate. Thankfully, Tan, a Thai volunteer who speaks really good English, was there to translate and assist and to my surprise, the first two lessons went really well.

Pim and I after our first English class together. She got all the answers on her worksheet correct!

I held two hour-long classes every Sunday, dividing the younger from the older children. One week, the younger children were full of energy and would not sit still. What could I expect really? They had just spent a week at school and now I was expecting them to focus through even more lessons! Unfortunately, Tan wasn’t around and I was left to discipline the kids on my own. I felt uncomfortable raising my voice at my new found friends. Since they did not understand much English, I had to resort to using one of the very few Thai phrases I know - “dek dek!’ which means ‘kids!’ in order to get their attention. Of course my attempt to speak Thai would usually just spark further laughter.

The older children were generally more receptive and I would leave the classroom feeling like I’d actually taught them something. One week we learnt how to describe what they were wearing, and later on, in the evening, I asked a few the question ‘What are you wearing?’ and they were able to tell me in English! The classes were usually oral to begin with but would end in written exercises in order to reinforce what they had just learned.

The students from the older class work on the clothing worksheet

I originally got a TEFL qualification in order to be able to earn money while travelling overseas. Overall, whether I was really able to teach the children much English after only four weeks is questionable. I hope at least some of what I taught them will stick and improve their English abilities in the long run. As for me, what I learned most was a sense of how different age groups respond to different tasks and activities. I would have loved to stay for a longer time period so I could see the progression of their English, but my university starting date is drawing near.

As for my other main project area, I faced serious problems right after arriving. My camera wouldn’t charge and my laptop screen wasn’t responding – much to my consternation since I needed both pieces of equipment in order to film and edit! Evelind suggested that my Macbook failure could be caused by the humidity or something to do with the “unsafe power” warning message. Luckily after a quick trip to Chiang Mai, some language difficulties plus paying out 2200THB, everything got fixed and I was able to start working.

I had two videos to complete during my stay. The first was the installation of the insect-netting structure designed to protect the crops at Warm Heart’s experimental farm. When I arrived at the filming site, Michael greeted me with the brief instructions ‘I want a three-minute video with short clips’ and no further guidance. Many fellow volunteers have mentioned in their blogs that Warm Heart doesn’t give a lot of supervision about how you carry out your projects. There’s no babysitting here – that was definitely what I encountered. New volunteers who are uncomfortable with too much independence should perhaps reconsider if Warm Heart is a good fit for their volunteer experience.

So it was entirely up to me to decide how this video was going to turn out and what the footage would convey. Although I knew how to work a video camera, I had only ever made personal videos before. I had to learn an entirely new approach to filming where I wasn’t the subject. When there were several people working on different areas of the structure at the same time, I sometimes found it hard to keep up with getting all the right shots. But since the people I was filming couldn’t speak any English and because I didn’t want to cause any disruption, I refrained from asking them to repeat actions just so I could get a better shot.

Insect-netting structure under construction

The other video involved the styrofoam brick project. A previous YouTube video showed the old way of making the bricks; Michael wanted a new video showing the improved procedure. He often asked me to shorten the videos or delete clips in order to stick more concisely to the point I was trying to make. I appreciated having my work critiqued, something I’d also never experienced before. I want to work in media in the future so this experience definitely gave me an insight into working to produce videos for others rather than just for my own pleasure.

Overall, although I was able to work fairly effectively, I feel Warm Heart has helped me more than I have helped them. Volunteering at Warm Heart allowed me to learn things that probably wouldn’t have happened in my home environment. I discovered that I’m capable of being creative when I edit and when I work on lesson plans. Also, being able to work with people from a different culture has certainly improved my ability to communicate in new ways.

I am eternally grateful for the children and the joy they have brought to my life over these past few weeks. Many people leave volunteer projects in developing countries thinking how grateful they are for their relatively comfortable lives after viewing the lives of others less fortunate. But I don’t feel the same way. Despite the difficult original circumstances of many of the Warm Heart children, I feel that Warm Heart truly gives them the opportunity to lead happy lives for which I congratulate Evelind, Michael and the rest of the Warm Heart team.

Jaan and me

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djseaward · 6 years ago

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we are permanent residents.

the reason we decided to apply for permanent residence is, simply, that it's a longer visa. we have been on the two year freelance visa for ages and as many of you know, our last go-around was rough. it kicked our asses. after five years of residence in the czech republic and passing a basic language exam though, you may qualify for permanent residence. well, this was our first chance to apply (now having lived here for over six years) and the language test wasn't so difficult, seeing as we have lived here long enough to soak up loads of language and had three full years of czech lessons by that point.

there were a few funny things since i got that phone call from immigration in january that were a bit surprising. the first was that at our biometrics appointment there last month, we were asked if we wanted to speak english or czech.

WHAT?

i have heard from friends that the immigration ladies may be holding out on us, but now i feel like i know they have been! for those that don't know, it is a well-established fact that all business at immigration must be conducted in czech language. apparently, our czech was just passable enough to apply for permanent residence this past winter (by ourselves! no translators!) but now that we are permanent residents... we suddenly get a choice? shouldn't that sort of be the other way around? goodness! but i can't complain...

the second shock was learning that our residence permits are valid for the next TEN YEARS. (!!!!!) we had thought "five years" this whole time, which is still so much better than two years that it's worth applying, but ten years?! we were walking on cloud nine the entire rest of the month.

so, now what?

some people have been confused how to take the fact that we have permanent residence in the czech republic. i guess, it is one step down from having citizenship, and seems pretty serious. it doesn't change anything about how we feel about living here, however. we are happy living here for now, and plan to stay until we feel like it's time to go. so that's still the same deal.

speaking of going, no longer is this something i want to address. it is every expat's least favorite question: "how long are you staying?" a question we have been asked countless times, of course, but less lately. all's i know that we are happy here and are building a life here right now. as much as i love my hometown, i have always wanted something more.... international, cultural. even living in this smaller-sized city, i realized that it has all of that in spades. sure, sometimes the cinema doesn't play any dang english movies the entire winter (and i still never saw the new mary poppins) but regarding understanding, it’s getting better. i haven't been happier in ages. no anxiety, no panic attacks, no existential funks. that is far more than i can say for most other periods of my life.

the longer we stay, i realize, the harder it would be to extricate ourselves. almost certainly and rather dauntingly, the harder it would be to rebuild our lives in the united states again. but, you know what? we've done what i sort of feel is the near impossible. we came on a schengen visa, not even knowing how legally it would be possible to live in europe. we had many close calls, were really broke at several different points, thought we might get deported (okay, or at least not re-approved). we made it against all odds. i think we can take the chance to stay here a bit longer. besides, after you've successfully navigated your legal residence in a country where you barely speak the langue, i think we can do anything. life is too short to stay in one place too long. for me, right now, it is.

(below, our gangsta-ass mugs in march 2013, having just received our first visas)

just for fun, let's look back on some high and low points in our journey of legally living in europe...

summer 2011 - cynthia and alex decide they will move to europe in a year's time. the how is not important. the saving money is.

may 2012 - bought our plane tickets. one way. lots of people warning us and asking "how are you even going to stay there?" we don't even know ourselves, but trust that we'll figure it out. clicking that "complete order" button was one of the scariest and craziest things i can remember ever doing.

october 2012 - a couple weeks into our journey during our vagabonding around the UK phase, alex informs cynthia he has, like, no more money, dude. we enroll in a TEFL course in prague as to start thinking about a sustainable way to stay in europe as just work-staying around isn't going to last us too much longer, especially with the two of us depleting funds meant for one person.

mid-november 2012 - after one month in the schengen zone (france & germany), we arrive in prague and have one month down, two months ticking away on the clock. the feeling is palpable.

end of november, 2012 - we hire a visa specialist to help us "sort our f--king lives out". it works.

january 2013 - we officially submit our application for a freelance work visa at the czech embassy in bratislava. about a month and a half later, we go back to pick it up. we feel pretty cool and fancy because we get to stay in europe.

september 2015 - our first reapplication process goes okay, despite having to go to an apology session with the immigration office, telling them how sorry we are that our application was submitted late. (this was due to a variety of factors) after some time, we are re-approved.

september 2017 - it's time to reapply for our two year visas. we submit our reapplication.

march 2018 - "so, have you heard anything about our application?" "no ... have you?"

may 2018 - in true immigration form, a long long long long period goes by and then the first problem surfaces - we have the wrong insurance. cry a bit, spend loads of money, incur debt, but meet their requirements. resubmit. looking back, i am thanking my lucky stars this all happened in the spring and summer. if it were in the autumn, we’d have been ruined.

june 2018 - mere hours before we are to fly out on a vacation, receive a long, scary letter informing us we have days left (essentially) unless we can fix our taxes, which were done improperly this past spring.

july 2018 - month of stress and believing we are going to probably be deported. by some miracle, are granted ability to refile our taxes, one of the best hopes for being accepted.

early august 2018 - waiting, hoping, praying in berlin for a month, hoping the actual stress rash i got last month goes away soon because that thing is itchy. i scratch my legs and arms a lot. alex tells me to stop. scratchscratchscratch.

mid-august 2018: ACCEPTED! we found out while out to ice cream with natalye and family in berlin. we eat our ice cream even harder and with more vigor.

september 2018: during a trip to immigration, our friend and translator suggests that perhaps we should apply for permanent residence as "you guys should be eligible for that by now"! it's true, we had been eligible since about january of that year. find out we need to pass a czech exam, schedule it for the end of november. (good thing we had 3 straight years of lessons under our belt - definitely came in handy for situations like this one!)

december 2018 - after having passed the A1 czech language exam, we apply for permanent residence... ON OUR OWN... WITHOUT OUR TRANSLATOR... days before christmas. spend the last working days before christmas at social security and the financial office requesting various necessary forms. could be wrong, but i like to think that wishing our dear officers "veselé vánoce" may have endeared us a bit.

early january 2018, literally ten days after our application: ACCEPTED! danced around the room. the rest is history.

i'll leave you with a quote from cheryl strayed i often think about.... it’s a beautiful way of looking at those big life choices.

“I’ll never know and neither will you of the life you don’t choose. We’ll only know that whatever that sister life was, it was important and beautiful and not ours. It was the ghost ship that didn’t carry us. There’s nothing to do but salute it from the shore.”

thanks for your nice words on social media, friends. here’s to never talking about immigration again!

#expatlife #milestone #czech republic

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trustedteflreviews · 4 years ago

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"I escaped the 9 to 5 job treadmill"

“I escaped the 9 to 5 job treadmill”

Teach English Abroad ICAL TEFL review, submitted by Tim.

Teach English Abroad. I escaped the 9 to 5 job treadmill.

Probably like many of you reading this, I was stuck in a job where I was paid too little and where too much was expected of me. The final straw came when a promotion was up for grabs and where I was the natural choice. It was given to another employee who had a family…

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#reviews ical tefl #teach english abroad #teach english overseas #teacher training online abroad #teacher training online overseas #TEFL Canada #tefl courses near me #tesl courses near me #tesol canada #tesol courses near me

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samvadprakriya · 2 years ago

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Heading 1- Depioneer Education overseas is giving Best Career Advices to Students looking to Study Abroad.

Delhi. As we all know -day by day the craze for study in Abroad is increasing .Students and their parents are looking for Foreign universities to get Admission . Studying in Foreign university is never a easy task as it requires lots of Eligibility criteria to be fulfilled. So here comes Depioneer Education overseas into picture- Depioneer Education overseas is a Dedicated organisation in…

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livethatdream-blog1 · 7 years ago

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I’m Here!

I packed up the rest of my things, calmed down, and got on my plane. It was not without some major stressors: I spent three days on the phone and going back and forth from the DMV when I wanted to be packing; stayed up until 10:30 at night cleaning my old apartment so I could leave it at night in the rain (my exit could not have been more dramatic, little blog); spent three days with my best friends the Martinez family, gave away my first car, and got on my plane.

The flight to Europe is less than glorious, people. No matter how big the plane is, it’s still too small. The only fun part about it is waking up to sunlight four hours after the sun set and looking down to see what you know is a different country. My breath catches a little bit every time.

Welcome to Europe, Anna. We don’t know where your luggage is. But God is so good: for the first time, not only did I pack all my most precious belongings on my person for the flight, I also packed my basic toiletries and four days worth of clothes. I’ll be fine until they find it.

My hostess from whom I am renting a room is really wonderful. Her name is Maria; she prepared a beautiful room for me and she treats me like a family member. Anything I need to borrow is mine, be it shampoo and conditioner, a towel, plates, coffee, blankets... My room has a little balcony that looks out on a decidedly unromantic (but blessedly quiet) street, and good thing, too, because it is HOT here in Barcelona and I need those windows open all. the. time.

The school program I’m attending is really exceptional. How cool! TEFL Barcelona was the first school I found in a preliminary internet search in December. Its trainers really are exceptional; three British people who I can’t help but parrot all day long. Lovely things I’ve heard them say so far include: “a wee snooze”, “I’m off to the loo”, and fifty more. These people are great. Without any effort, I already stopped using the word “elevator” and started saying, “lift”. How cool. I spent probably two hours figuring out where I would go in Barcelona, and this course is perfect.

I just got over major jet-lag by taking an herbal remedy that my mother would approve of. I can’t wait for today’s café con leche and the beautiful walk down to school!

But first, some pictures:

^I went for a walk the first night I got here.

Near my school.

Near my school! *squeals*

Also near my school. *faints*

You know what that is, folks. It’s Sagrada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks God!!

“For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds!”

Psalms 108:4

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teflindia2017 · 6 years ago

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Why ‘Silent Teaching’ In Maths should be considered? Academic substance learning is not the same as information of general instructing about the different strategies. Instructors who provide the guidance and teachings to the young learners would agree upon it. It is prior to the knowledge gained through teaching English as a foreign language online the medium of instruction English also solve the classroom puzzle related to Maths. Understanding the basic structural requirements in Maths: It is important to know the structure of their orders, and this information gives them psychological guides that control the assignments they give understudies, the appraisals they use to measure the advancement or young learners, and the inquiries they solicit in the give and take from classroom life. To put it plainly, their insight into the order and their insight into the teaching method collaborate. Be that as it may, information of the control structure does not in itself direct the instructor. For instance, teachers or instructors are touchy to those parts of the control that are particularly hard or simple for new understudies to ace. This implies new instructors must build up the capacity to “comprehend in an educationally intelligent manner; they should not just know their own particular manner around an order however should know the ‘reasonable boundaries’ probably going to frustrate others”. Be careful with the strategies being adapted… A few educators can instruct in manners that include an assortment of controls. Be that as it may, their capacity to do as such requires in excess of an arrangement of general instructing abilities. A case – “Think about the instance of Barb Johnson, who has been a 6th -grade educator for a long time at Monroe Middle School. By ordinary gauges, Monroe is a decent school. Government sanctioned test scores are about the normal, class measure is little, the building offices are all around kept up, the executive is a solid instructional pioneer, and there is little personnel and staff turnover. Be that as it may, each year guardians sending their fifth-grade understudies from the nearby primary schools to Monroe move to get their youngsters doled out to Barb Johnson’s classes. What occurs in her classroom that gives it the notoriety of being the most elite?” Instructor’s thoughts adapt ideas about what to instruct. It demonstrates that instructor’s objectives for guidance are, to a huge degree, an impression of what they believe in science and how they think understudies best learn it. Need to have a clear lesson plan and teaching objective: On the off chance that children in science classes are to learn arithmetic with comprehension, this is an objective that is acknowledged by nearly everybody in the present discussion over the job of computational abilities in a science classroom. By silent teaching Maths, does not however mean that the educator is not doing anything in the classroom. In it the other way round, the teacher is going to write and silent address the class. They engagement need to make the students stay focused, as the teacher is not making any noise but addressing the class to get involved. They have adequate information on how to instruct prior to their teaching English as a foreign language online course. Often this actually helps the learners to understand the lesson using their objective. Looking at the scenario practically… Now it is at that point it is imperative to inspect instances of instructing for comprehension and to dissect the jobs of the educator and the information that underlies the instructor’s establishments of those jobs. In this respect, three instances of science guidance are seen as being near the present vision of praiseworthy guidance and examine the information base on which the educator is drawing, and in addition the convictions and objectives which manage the instructional choices. All these are from your understanding of the TEFL training program. As an educator, Joshn was quoted saying, “the room is quiet. I gradually draw up the conditions on the board. I articulate not a word at the same time. And afterward I swing to my class, still not talking, and I trust that them will disclose to me what I simply did. The first occasion when I utilized the quiet educator methodology was when showing ascertaining rates of sums. I approached the youngsters for quietness and clarified that I would demonstrate to them a procedure with no instructor talk and they would then clarify in however much detail as could be expected what I had done. So I worked out the procedure, motivated them to clarify it and me at that point rehashed the procedure, so they could clarify, including any further subtleties they took note.”

#teaching English as a foreign language online

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kathryndurning · 8 years ago

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Teaching English

On May 19, I graduated from my teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) course!

It was an exhausting and rewarding month. The commute took 40 minutes when my girlfriend offered to drive me (which she did almost every morning, she’s a saint!) or about an hour and a half on public transit (2 buses and a train).

THANK YOU RAQUEL!!!

I really love teaching so far. Last week I was hired as a substitute at a school based near my house. At the end of June I head to Spain and I am lucky to have the opportunity to travel in Europe for a whole month. I thought that meant that no one would ever hire me, but I’m glad I was wrong!

To celebrate finishing to course, and Raquel’s birthday!!, we took a trip to Puerto Viejo on the Carribean coast. Gorgeous as ever. She convinced me to bike 20 km round trip to our favorite beach, Manzanillo.

There are some perilous corners and hills on the road, so she whistled to let cars know we were coming. There were definitely several moments when I was speeding down a hill over a rickety bridge to get the momentum necessary to catapult myself up the other side where I thought.... what the f*** am I doing?! and my butt was bruised the next day, but it was totally worth it.

I re-enrolled at Western and will be back in September to graduate, finally! I’m working at TransVida again now (during the TEFL course I didn’t have ANY free time) as a volunteer English teacher and continuing doing interviews.

Next week I leave for Nicaragua to see my friends in Leon.

I’m busy, I’m happy, I’m blessed.

Pura vida

Kat

#costa rica #may 2017

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aonaichte-blog · 8 years ago

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Fuuuuuuck I really don’t know what to do.

So, every university course I applied for has denied me and, with work, it’s impossible for me to take evening classes which are my only real part time option right now (my work hours range from 5.30am - 11pm every day of the week). I really, really wanna do teaching and have looked in to even getting a TEFL just now so that I at least have that as an option to teach English but their website really isn’t helping me or giving me any information.

I don’t have a clue where to go from here.

There are no options near me to give me a chance like apprenticeships or anything like that and none of the university or college websites here offer me any help as to what to do or where to start since I clearly wasn’t qualified enough for the full courses. I think the reason I’m so down recently is because I feel stuck. Every job I have, I’m stuck in my position I’m given and it’s becoming a bit of a joke to people now that when I get a job I’ll probably quit it because I just feel trapped and panic and quit. I hate just working in a supermarket and the thought of that being my life is pushing me further in to suicidal thoughts like “wtf is the point then?”.

I just have absolutely zero clue on what to do or where to go. I’ve looked up any career or aid advisers in my area but there are none. Because my grades were so bad in my final exams, I don’t have the advantage of being accepted to any courses I want right away and that’s killing me. Everyone else I know have amazing jobs or have families and travel and have houses meanwhile I’m stuck in the same fucking spot and losing my mind. I’ve burst in to tears so many times (even just now writing this) because of this.

I’m considering doing the Open U but it’s so expensive and I’ll have to cut down in to part time hours with my job which means less money coming in which means I’ll be living with my family until I’m close to thirty (roommates aren’t a thing here so that’s not an option for me either).

I dunno. I really don’t fucking know what to do or where to go.

#( i guess i'm posting this in the hopes that perhaps someone has any ideas on how to help me??#perhaps one of my followers has gone through this and can offer a hand #that and i just raelly need to let shit out )#◌ » ѕнυт υρ αииу ;; ooc

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sercram-blog1 · 8 years ago

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Recap of Hiatus: Social Life - January 9, 2017 - February 3, 2017

This recap will deal with my social life during the hiatus of blogging. Week 1: This was a fairly social week since our classes weren’t too crazy yet. During our lunch breaks, many of us from class would go eat together across the street from the school at this 5-story mall called the Palladium. The top floor was a big food court, so many of us used to go there and eat and chill during our break. After a while though, it became cheaper to pack our lunches (obviously). But, I will say, I always thought McDonald’s in the US had the best fries, but now I think differently. The McDonald’s in Czech have the best fries. I don’t know why that is, but they are saltier, the salt tastes different, the potatoes might be more real, and I rarely get a soggy fry. They taste so stinking delicious. I will admit that I have probably eaten more fries and Pringles (better here for the same reasons as fries) than I should have. The Language House took us out for dinner this week at a restaurant called U Bulinue after our first day of class on Monday, which was delicious. The food was all really good (pork medallions, steak, beef tartare, etc.) and was actually reasonably cheap. We all had a great time and took our first shots of Beckarovka (sp?) which tastes very cinnamon-y and delicious. Lots of people didn’t like it, but I didn’t mind it. It was a great way to end our first day of class and chat with some of the staff at the Language House as well. After dinner, most of us went to a little bar near my and Tarlin’s apartment called Moskyt. It’s just a tiny little basement bar and had cheap drinks. We all played a big game of “Never Have I Ever” and got to know each other really quickly. We all laughed and had a ton of fun. Some of the locals were listening in and laughed at us too. This really helped us all to open up and become more comfortable with each other in a fun way. We all started to head home around midnight or so. On Friday, the November Language House TEFL class took us out for a bar crawl. Beforehand, we had food and drinks at Jordon and Andrew’s apartment. Wine here is SUPER cheap (a bottle is rarely more than $10, even for the classier stuff) and so is beer (a half-liter is generally a little over $1). So a bunch of us had a great time and then went to the first bar of the bar crawl. It was a neat place with a big open floor. I must say, my brain is a little fuzzy from here on out. I remember I almost got in a fight with some Russians (smart choices, Serena) because I was trying to say goodbye in Russian to them and must have totally botched it to the point of insult. Whoops. The previous TEFLers were fun to meet and pick their brain about the course. We moved on to the second bar, which was in a neat place that was underground. I started to drink a lot of water here, and I apparently stole other people’s waters too (which sucks because here you actually have to pay for water). I remember there were wine glasses here that said “Terra Serena” which I found to be super cool. There was also a TON of people in this bar (aside from our group of 30 or so) so it was really hard to navigate to the bathrooms. We ended up taking some shots here – I took 2 (unwise). They shots were Beckarovka (sp?) liquor which gets you very drunk, very quick. Again, not the best decision for me, but I was having a great time. Chatted with people here for quite a bit (and guzzled some more water). Moved on to the third and final location, which was as club called Lucerna. It was pretty neat because it was 2 stories – there was a bar upstairs that looked out onto the dance floor in the downstairs (basement, of course). They played mostly 80s and 90s dance music, which was fun and reminiscent of younger days. There was a ton of people on the dance floor and it was so fun. I slapped a man (American, of course) right in the face for calling one of our friends a very derogatory name. I remember most things that happened here because of all the water I was drinking, and continuing to drink. I apparently had some sweet dance moves (not), but hey, I was having fun, apparently. It was nice that we had such a large group with us because we all felt pretty safe. We all sang our hearts out when Grease Lightning came on – pretty funny, really. Afterwards, we all dispersed – some people went on to go to another club, but me and a few others went in search of food. It’s about 2:30 in the morning at this point, and what’s open? McDonald’s! We walked in and ordered cheeseburgers and fries and ate to our heart’s content. It was so delicious. Tarlin and I walked back to our apartment and went right to sleep. She was kind enough to make me desert burritos in the morning, but my tummy was just not ready to consume too much, too quickly. I was able to eat it all eventually, but it took some time for sure. Spent the rest of the day recouping and relaxing. We had some of our friends over and Tarlin made a delicious chicken dinner. Drank lots of water. Spent Sunday lesson planning.

Week 2: This week was less social because we started to teach this week. We were pretty stressed this week, so there weren’t a whole lot of gatherings. We occasionally did meet up for a dinner at someone’s place to eat and work on lesson plans. Pretty much laid low this week to try and get a lesson plan system going. One fun thing some of us did was go see a movie at the cinema. It had assigned seating, which was annoying. But, the popcorn was good and salty. The movie was La La Land. The audio was in English with Czech subtitles, which made it easy for us. Some of the previews though were in English, Czech, and French. It was very interesting. But they had many American movies at the cinema, as well as a few other Czech and international films.

Week 3: Social life picked up a bit this week because we were all into our grooves and felt more comfortable with what we were doing. Ate at a restaurant called Lokal and tried fried cheese and some goulash with dumplings. It was delicious, but plain food. The beer was good though! Then went on a Ghost Tour of Prague’s Old Town and Jewish Quarter with a few people from class, which was fun. We were told scary stories and visited “haunted” areas of the city. I looked up some of the stories later, and they weren’t too far deviated from their original stories – so at least it was pretty informative. Also explored some other restaurants this week as well – found a great meat deli that makes burgers/sandwiches called Nase Maso, which was amazing. Jordon cooked a delicious dinner this week that consisted of cucumber salad and curry chicken. A group of us came over and ate it while we studied. Granted, we chatted a lot while studying, but we were sort of productive about it.

Week 4: We were not feeling like social butterflies during the first half of the week due to studying for our big grammar test on Wednesday, but some of us did do study groups and whatnot to try and help each other out. My birthday was on Wednesday, and it started out great by taking the grammar test and passing it! Woohoo! Tarlin took me to eat at Nase Maso for a birthday luncheon, and then I took off (didn’t have to teach that night) and did some solo sightseeing, which was so much fun and beautiful. I did some work, and then Tarlin and Shanleigh came over to our apartment and we had cheese, meat, bread, and wine while we chatted. It was getting late, but it was insisted that we at least go have one drink at a bar to say that we “went out” on my birthday. So we ended up going around the corner from our apartment to a little bar called Moskyt and had beer. Some young Czech people heard us talking and started chatting with us in English. It was 4 guys and a girl who worked near the area and were just finishing a project at work and celebrating. It was fun to speak with them and get their perspectives on politics and life in Prague. We said our goodbyes after one drink (we still had to go to class the next day) and went home. Great birthday. On Thursday night, the school organized an event where we all went to a pub (called The Pub, clever) to go eat and drink with some of the Czech students we’d been teaching over the course. It was really nice – not a lot of my previous students were there, but it was still fun anyway. There were bar taps at each table, which was awesome, because you could just fill up your beer whenever you wanted rather than wait for your waitress. Pretty innovative. FYI, Czechs drink more beer per capita than anyone in the world (including Germans). So they know how to do beer. I didn’t drink at this pub though because my stomach wasn’t feeling the greatest from my birthday last night. But they had good burgers. On Friday night, the school threw us a graduation party! Me and a few others dressed up and went to dinner beforehand, then went to the party location. It was in a basement bar (go figure!) in a huge event space. It was a great night. It was really the last time we would all be in one place together – all of us students, our instructors, the staff, and the previous classes joined later. Jordon brought his DJ equipment and we all started dancing. There were free drinks for the first hour of the party, so we were all feeling pretty good. We all danced our hearts out and sang to our favorite songs (any Backstreet Boys song was guaranteed to have a sing-a-long). Awards were handed out, which I got the award for most artistic materials! That was unexpected and exciting! I got a little box of chocolates. They were delicious. Overall it was a great night. We partied until about 12:30 at night and went home. The only bummer was I thought the metros were running still, so I got off at an early stop and then realized the metro was dark – they stop running at midnight. So, I had to wait 20 minutes for the next tram to come pick me up. During my wait, this man asked me if the tram went to Karlovo Namesti. I looked on the tram schedule and said yes, but only curtain numbered trams. He asked me where I was from because he was an English speaker too. I told him I was from the US and he proceeded to pretty much berate me for being American. He was from Manchester, England, and was furious that Donald Trump might meet the queen. Then he proceeded to say that our products are shit, we use a ton of slave labor, etc. People around us were staring because he was getting loud. I took a few steps away from him and he continued to yell – it didn’t even seem like he was drunk. It was super annoying, but then the tram came and he got on. He said good night to me and I didn’t respond back. Then he thought to add “Well, Americans aren’t all that bad, but America is terrorist state and should not be a part of any business transactions.” The tram doors closed and I flipped him off. It drove off and I giggled to myself because he did not get on the right tram. Teehee. I got home safely and went to sleep.

During the course, I came to be friends with just about everyone. We had such a fun, close-knit group that it was comfortable to hang out with anyone. We all made such great memories, whether it was teaching together or hanging out together. I will cherish all the friendships I have made during this course.

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