Category Archives: methodology

Authentic videos – authentic ideas?

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I made this “street scene” video for the One Day in the World project, held on 10.10.10. An effort to collect video and create a picture of the world on that day.  It was a beautiful day in Vancouver and as I sat on Robson St. having a beer and listening to Yes, Nice play “across the street – I put my FLIP camera up and just recorded people as they came and went. Note how the lineup down the street keeps growing (they were attending the Vancouver Int. Film Festival).

I’ve talked a lot about using authentic materials in the classroom. It’s a “wonder” that technology brings about – it brings the real world, real English and culture into our classrooms around the globe.

But we need ideas to use it. We need teachers with strong abilities to lead students in discussion and comprehensible language – as they discuss the video and prompt. We need teachers with great materials development skills, making creative activities through which students can use the amazing context video provides.

What would you suggest for this video? That’s what I’d like to ask? Any ideas?

Here’s another one. I really love web cams. Students love the “live” aspect. Animals or street scene web cams offer amazing opportunity for discussion and language content. What ideas do you have for this? What’s worked for you when showing ordinary but authentic video – be it your own stuff captured over the weekend, your students videos or those found online? Any authentic ideas?
charging bull

Here are some other “live” ideas: Watch – Shiba’s puppies on Ustream The Goats A live wedding The Krakow Sq. Cam City Hall Delft The Owl Cam The Penguins at Dublin Zoo And why not try the Subservient Chicken?

Teach | Learn preface

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I’ve been busy, busy, busy! So not posting much but here is the preface of the course book I’ll be publishing tonight or tomorrow. Teach | Learn.

It outlines how the book works and the rationale for the books use and strength as a teaching tool. Stay tuned and get the whole book shortly!

This book is dedicated to Andrew Finch who inspired me through his own ideals and materials.

“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

Albert Einstein

“When learners have interest, education just happens”

Sugata Mitra – Hole in the wall project

“You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.”

Galileo Galilei

We Teach | We Learn comes with a community! Just go to the Teach | Learn Q and A community and ask your questions, get sup-port. Also, visit efl Classroom 2.0 for more resources related to Teach | Learn.

All lessons in this book can be edited. Go to the Teach | Learn wiki for more information.

Why this book, Teach / Learn?


This book grew out of my experiences over 20 years, designing materials and teaching English. Through observing many classrooms as a teacher­ trainer and evaluator and from my own success teaching and giving workshops on “teaching with only a piece of paper”.

I concluded that traditional methods and textbooks were ineffective be-cause they did not start from the premise that students can and must par-ticipate actively in creating the curriculum (the language) from which they will learn. Students intuitively, know best their needs. They know best the language from which other language may root and grow. I con-cluded that there must be a way to guide both teachers and students to-wards a more participatory, organic, emergent and creative classroom en-vironment.

Teach / Learn allows

several things:


1.  Teachers to shirk the engrained, teacher directed style that is so easy to fall into after thousands of hours having experiencing this as “what teach-ing is”, as a student. It can be achieved through a simple set delivery that frees teachers from excessive planning and worksheet mania – allowing them to focus on delivery and student assessment and feedback.

2.   Students to be motivated through the use and creation of their own content. We all know how much “pride in a product” can motivate. Stu-dents create a book that documents their own learning. Students are also motivated because the content is not imposed – it is what they want to talk about, write about, listen to, play, use, process and learn. It is from the inside, not the outside.

What is SCC?


Scc stands for “Student Created Content”. I borrow the term from ugc or ucc “user generated/created content”, that is the motor of Web 2.0 and the internet. The users generate the content – think wikipedia, think youtube.

It is an approach that tries to simplify the teaching/learning process and equalize the power relationship that exists between teacher/learner (much like cll – community language learning does with its focus on the teach-er as a language “knower”). It also is a way of instruction that completely focuses on the student’s world/context. It ushers from the belief that all language learning must start from that focal point, no where else. The teacher models and then the students create the content and re-practice based on the teacher’s modeling as an “expert”.

It is an approach. There is no “one way” but rather some basic tenets to be followed (see the notes for each lesson offering many delivery variations/ options). The basic principles are:

1. The students create the content (worksheets, words, sentences, topics, dialogues that will be used for instructional purposes). It is a complete

“personal/ego” approach to language instruction. This also means that the book can be used with multi-level classes (because the content comes from the students themselves and is already, “leveled”.

2. It is REAL. Not about anything artificial or from a 3rd party/publisher.

It is about the life and times of the student and teacher. The classroom situ-ation is no longer treated as an artificial “studio” but rather as a meeting place for real events, for real talk about real things that interest the students.

3. The teacher is also a learner and does what the students do. In this fashion, the teacher is not all knowing but a participant. In this “low level” way, the power barrier that exists is diminished and better learning oc-curs and better modeling of the language.

4. It is an inductive approach. It is a wholistic approach. The students are first engaged and prior knowledge elicited on the topic. Only then, are the students asked to create the content and practice the language first modeled and encountered holistically and in context.

5. It is self organizing in design. It grows naturally from the process of creating a product. There is no outside intervention into the system (like an imposed textbook curriculum). There is not a lot of planning for the teacher. The focus is on instruction, the art of “how” and not “what”. Tea­ chers using an SCC approach don’t have to spend time planning, making

materials, preparing. Their energy and reflection goes into developing their teaching skills as they happen, during instruction. The students create the text and textbook.

How to use Teach / Learn?


There are 3 basic stages:

1. Getting Started

The teacher uses a photo/picture or brainstorming activity to engage and elicit student response.

This is done as a whole class activity. Student prior knowledge is primed as they try to communicate with the teacher. The students talk about “the teacher’s world/life” or I even suggest at this stage using a higher level student as the focus.

In this stage, the basic language structures and vocabulary is practiced but in a natural form of communication and elicitation. There is no need to say, “Today, we are learning about ‘x’.”

At the beginning of this stage, the students don’t have their books opened. Their full attention is on communication. The teacher should prepare the board of materials on a screen as outlined in the “Teacher’s Notes” section for each lesson. Student’s will practice this page / content again in small groups or pairs when they open the book. Of course, if you have no board/ projector – you’ll have to use the book and have it open.

2. It’s Your Turn


The students are asked to create the content. This can be in the form of words, questions, brainstorming, drawing, gap fills etc… the content is always what they want and from their own experiences.

Using this content the students in small groups or pairs, practice with it. The teacher sets up the target language but from the nature and sim-plicity of the materials, this is usually self evident. The instructions are embedded because the students are just repeating what was done previ-ously as a whole class.

3. Extension

Language needs strong context, recycling and comprehensibility to be acquired. In this stage, there are optional and proven online materials to support the lesson’s teaching / learning. The teacher or the student on their own, after class, can choose from 4 selections. Some will be highly appropriate, others not – each class is different. They consist of both re-sources and learning materials (videos, games, quizzes etc…)

There are “Teach / Learn Notes” for each lesson. A basic 1,2,3 on how to deliver the lesson. Tips and pointers to help. Of course, feel free to use your own approach.

In addition, almost every lesson has a Voicethread where students can go and respond/speak. Especially in many EFL contexts, students need this extra practice given how hard it is to do this during class time or outside school. You can copy the voicethread and put up as your own private Voicethread – I’ve set these permissions.

This book is a testament to the fact that we need to train teachers in new ways. Deemphasize the expert and the control and create real student centered curriculum and delivery. We have to focus on the students, on the learning and not on the teaching, the pedagogy. Concentrate on the thing itself, not the shadow.

Teach | Learn is meant to be shareable. After download, you can “Share-alike”, copy as much as you want/need and share with who you want. I will also make available on my blog – an editable file for all who purchase the book. So you can personalize the text and change to suit your stu-dents. Sounds radical? Not really, it should be the standard and it is as simple as that. You know your students best and should have a textbook that is “maleable” and can meet your student’s precious, unique needs.

Secondary Sources:

http://eflclassroom.com

http://teachers.schooloftefl.com

http://teachingrecipes.com

http://real-english.com

http://tarheelreader.org

http://www.elllo.org

http://quizlet.com/user/eflclassroom/

http://kizclub.com

http://eltandtech.pbworks.com

http://youtube.com

http://readwritethink.org

Teach | Learn example lesson

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Last week I wrote about a forthcoming course book that I am publishing – Teach | Learn.

It will be out next week but thought it would be interesting to some, to see a sample lesson and to get a few thoughts about the delivery of this lesson and the use of the course book.

Here is an example lesson. All 36 lessons are like this one and have the same methodology more or less. I’m using a lesson I showed previously, so you might also see how this book has developed and been designed.

Basically it goes like this:

Page 1: Whole class. A student or teacher is at the front of the classroom and is the focus of the target language. The activity is completed (see Teacher’s Notes below, which are for each lesson in the back of the book). This gets students comfortable with the target language and prompts background knowledge and schema.

Page 2. Pairs / Small groups. Students do the same but with their own language, questions, input, experiences. There are multi media materials to click which both teacher or student can use to reinforce, repeat or complement the lesson.

I’ll have more tomorrow about the rationale for this methodology. Go here for some more thoughts on my own beliefs/process in creating this course book.

teachlearn your last vacation recipe

Coming Soon

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Teach – Learn is almost ready! It will be here soon and to be used and enjoyed instantly with students. 36 complete “student created content” lessons with an abundance of extra materials / blackline masters and clickable online lesson extensions / ideas.  Also, an online voicethread community where students can practice,  supporting each lesson.

Looking forward to your support, use and feedback on how effective this is in the classroom. It will have its own special forum and community.

title

Textbook Talk – using SCC

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I’m putting the finishing touches on my Teach – Learn:  Student Created Content coursebook.

One of the basic principles (which are outlined in the book’s preface) is that the students practice language using language that comes from their own “selves”. The big textbook companies have tyrannically forced students to trod through their own imposed version of reality. This leads to all kinds of road blocks on the path to learning. Let me explain…..

Normally in a unit on restaurant English, you’ll have a menu like this:

restaurant_menu

Attractive! Basic! Wonderful! — NOT!

There are a number of major problems:

1.  The content does not meet the needs of the classroom.

Each classroom is unique and we should always start from the needs of our learners. What if they usually order chick peas and not hamburgers? Isn’t it important that they know how to say this in English and find out?  Their reality should be important.

2.  There is no immersion of the learning in the learning process.

Materials which are created by students and used in class, provide embedded motivation. The students worked at it and when they do so, naturally take satisfaction in using it. Practice is much more sustained. Moreover, learning a language is benefited by basic constructivist principles of “learning when doing”. We learn a language as we actively participate. Pre packaged, processed and “unnatural” content just doesn’t fit these sound pedagogical principles.

3.  There is no record of learning.

Both teachers and students need a record of student learning – so they can see how a student has progressed. Both for motivation and remediation. Typical coursebooks with their photocopiable, always lost, crumpled worksheets, don’t do this.

4.  There are major cultural barriers.

Language is deeply ingrained in culture. Without SCC and the ability to adapt content in the classroom and to the culture, textbooks typically treat their clients with a one size fits all. Entirely inappropriate and not effective at all. In the following example – there are major problems culturally. Are these the typical restaurant items in Daejon or Dakar or Dalian? I don’t think so.  Let’s allow the local experts on culture to take part!

Here’s what I’ll be using in my Teach – Learn coursebook.  Every lesson in two parts. The first, a review of the language and then, It’s Your Turn, where the students create content and practice it. My own restaurant menu looks like this. The students write the menu and then use the provided prompts/language to do activities. Radical? No, not at all. What good teachers do every day.  Radical for textbook makers? You bet.

menuboard

TESOL Teacher Training Presentations

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Over the next few weeks, I’ll be adding to this list below. [Update: these presentations are now available in total HERE, with training videos]

I am starting up a School of TEFL offering an accredited TEFL Certificate and also courses in educational technology. (site open Feb. 1st / Classes start March 1st) The courses will contain some of these and many additional ones – with voice over webinar style as I lecture and provide detail. But enjoy them as they are. PPTs for most of these are available on EFL Classroom 2.0. (also note, this is only a feed. Click the title to go to the full list. Most of the presentations are hyperlinked to examples. Click on a picture or heading to get them.)


Teach – Learn Coursebook coming soon….

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TEACHLEARNIn the new year, I’ll be offering for download/purchase my coursebook – Teach / Learn. It is the result of over 20 years of teaching and testing and based on a methodology that I’m convinced works. Works for teachers – they can focus on student’s needs and not lesson prep. Works for students – they produce the coursebook content and are motivated through peer/self interest.

The methodology I’ve outlined HERE. But basically each of the 60 lessons are delivered in these ways:

1. Getting started. This is a whole class activity which models what the students will do in the production stage. The teacher or a student is at the front of the class. They are the focus and the target language is modeled through them.

2. It’s Your Turn. Students in small groups or pairs practice the target language in the exact same way as introduced in the “Getting Started” phase.

3. Multi-Media / Extras. Each lesson has 4 links to materials either created myself or in the public domain. All on EFL Classroom 2.0 (so that the content won’t disappear as so often the case with linked material). Teachers can choose what is appropriate for their own class. Further, teachers are pointed towards printable “extras” that might facilitate the lesson. Teachers notes for each lesson also offer more specific guidance.

That’s it in a nutshell. Here is a sample lesson about “Homes”. [but note - this will look prettier. Just waiting for the book to get back from the graphic designer / typesetter]

My Home

titlephotos

Listening for Gist – the 5 Ws

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listeningListening is one of the most overlooked skills, especially in the initial stages / levels of language learning. (see my blog post here about this and download the activities ebook).

Using authentic listening materials combined with the 5 Ws, really makes a great multi level approach. Best used with news reports and I especially like the old “Newsround” of BBC. (here’s the current version) Get many that I’ve saved HERE on EFL Classroom 2.0 for download. They really work because they aren’t so serious in nature and also the reporters are real teens!

There are generally 3 stages to this listening activity.

1. Play the excerpt in full and students note the headline/topic. (give a choice for lower levels).

2. Play the excerpt again and stop before each news item. Ask the students in groups/pairs to ask and answer the 5 Ws for that report. Take up as you go.

3. Play the full program again. Check for comprehension. Get the Ss to make their own news report along the same lines – 5 quick items.

Here’s one I’ve used often in class!


Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

The Art of Questioning….

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{this is part of the “Captive Mind” series of blog posts – publishing online and de-commercializing thought.]

————
Teaching and the Art of  Questioning

[Also see this post .   Download:   Teaching and the Art of questioning handouts]

Developing the art of questioning can be as simple as practicing. It is with practice that we gain competence and “pattern” the process

Look at the question types below (from low to high order}. Choose one question, ask it and then give two follow up questions.

Recalling -
Who, what, when, where, how _______?

Identifying Errors -
What is wrong with _______?

Comparing -
How is similar to/different from_______?

Inferring -
What might we infer from _______?
What conclusions might be drawn from _______?

Identifying Attributes and Components -
What are the characteristics/parts of _______?
Predicting -
What might happen if _______?

Classifying -
How might we organize into categories_______?

Elaborating -

What ideas/details can you add to _______?

Give an example of _______.
Ordering -
Arrange into sequence according to _______?

Summarizing -
Can you summarize _______?

Establishing Criteria -
What criteria would you use to judge/evaluate _______?

Identifying Relationships and Patterns -
Develop an outline/diagram/web of _______?

Identifying Main Ideas -
What is wrong with _______?
What conclusions might be drawn from_______?
Verifying -
What evidence supports _______?
How might we prove/confirm _______?
Representing -
In what other ways might we show/illustrate _______?

Techniques of Effective Questioning
1. Establish an appropriate environment. Only certain questions should be posed in front of students; “bedside” (beginning) questions should focus principally on knowledge and recall and to a lesser extent on comprehension.
2. Create a climate conducive to learning. A happy facial expression, nod, or verbal acknowledgement of a correct response encourages other students to participate in the discussion. Pose questions in a non-threatening way and receive answers in a supportive fashion. A harsh tone, especially when used to interrupt a response from the student, can be devastating for both the student and his or her peers.
3. Prepare the students for the questioning session and discussion. Explain to students the format, expectations, and how this knowledge will help them.
4. Use both pre-planned and emerging questions. Pre-planned questions are those incorporated into the teaching plan that are asked during the teaching session to introduce new concepts, focus the discussion on certain items, steer the discussion in specific directions, or identify student knowledge / level on the topic. Emerging questions derive from the discussion itself and the specific answers given to previous questions. Think quickly and act decisively to phrase these questions accurately and pose them at appropriate times in the discussion.
5. Use an appropriate variety and mix of questions. One good strategy is to start with convergent questions and then continue with divergent questions, perhaps asking questions in hierarchical sequence and building from the recall of facts to higher levels of thinking and problem-solving. If a question requiring a higher level thinking skill blocks the student, go down to a question requiring lower-level thinking skills and then work up the hierarchy.
6. Avoid trick questions and those that require only a YES or NO response. Trick questions should be avoided, as they frustrate students and tend to encourage frivolous responses. YES or NO questions encourage students to respond without fully understanding or thinking through the issue. When used, such questions should be followed by other questions to determine the thinking process of the student. **** However in English Language teaching, closed questions are encouraged at the beginning stages of language development.
7. Phrase the questions carefully, concisely, and clearly. Improper phrasing and the use of multiple questions related to the same topic may result in unintentional cueing (guessing) and inability to accurately assess student understanding.
8. Address questions to the group, versus the individual. Pose the question to the entire group and wait before identifying a student to respond. The wait time encourages all students to think about the response, as they do not know who is going to be called upon to answer the question. Select students at random to answer questions, as it tends to keep everyone attentive and involved.

9. Select both volunteers and non-volunteers to answer questions.


10. Adapt questions to the needs of the learners. Assess the students’ needs and tailor questions to maximize the number of correct answers while moving toward more and more difficult questions. Remember, no two groups of students will be alike or at the same level.
11. Use sufficient wait time. The teacher can significantly enhance the analytic and problem-solving skills of students by allowing sufficient wait times before responding, both after posing a question and after the answer is given. This allows everyone to think about not only the question but also the response provided by the student. Three to five seconds in most cases; longer in some, maybe up to 10 seconds for higher-order questions.
12. Respond to answers given by students. Listen carefully to the answers given by students; do not interrupt students while they are responding to questions unless they are straying far off course, are totally unfocused, or are being disruptive. Acknowledge correct answers and provide positive reinforcement. Do not use sarcasm, reprimands, accusations, and personal attacks. Repeat answers only when the other students have not heard the answers; other repeats waste time. Keep questioning until the learning objectives for the session have been achieved; this may be the best opportunity to teach a particular concept. Handle incomplete answers by reinforcing what is correct and then asking probing questions.
13. Use questions to identify learning objectives for follow-up self-study. Pose questions towards the end of the teaching session to identify specific areas for additional learning opportunities that students can pursue on their own time.
Adapted from: The office of curriculum development, University of Alberta http://www.uab.edu/uasomume/cdm/

Watch this video from Teacher.tv  What do the experts say about questioning?  Complete the statements below.

1. The main purpose of asking questions is to find out

________________________________________________.

2. The teacher has to help the students _________________.

3. “What do you think?” is a kind of ____________________
question.

4. What are the Teaching Strategies discussed.

A) ____________________________________________

B) _____________________________________________

C) _____________________________________________

D) _____________________________________________

E) _____________________________________________

F) ______________________________________________

Questions give students confidence and let them express their learning and communicate. Questions should be taught either explicitly or through practice at an early stage of student English acquisition. Classroom’s which are “quiet” and where there is little student interaction in English are often due to the students not being able to engage in “dialogue”. Why? Because they don’t know how to phrase the questions quickly and
correctly.

Activity 1:

Interviews!

Interviews are a fundamental way of getting students to ask / make questions.
The simplest way is get them to write down the questions they’d like to ask a partner/friend. Role playing is even better. Give students a role play card and using the card, they ask each other questions about their “friend” to find out information. Start with a whole class interview and then have the students interview in pairs.

If you really want to get “digital”, have your students interview Dave the “bot” and then copy and paste/print the interview and bring to class. They can then practice the interview in class for others!

Activity 2:

What did you say?

In 3s, one student reads out a sentence, leaving out a word. The other students then ask the follow up question.

Example: A) I went to )*&)**_*( this weekend.
B) Excuse me but, where did he go this weekend?
C) He went to Jeju Island this weekend.

Activity 3:

Photo and word prompts?

In 3s, students are shown photos (either on a big screen or with flash cards). They make a question each about the photo. The Question Making Schematic (Appendix 5) can be used to help students. Alternately the “Who / What / Where game can be played.
Appendix 3 illustrates a great Korea oriented lesson using the same method.

Activity 4:

Class walkarounds – post it!

This activity is meant to get students on their feet and speaking. Give students some post it notes. On one Post it note, they write something about themselves. Example, “I love potato chips!” Students then “post it” on themselves and walk around the class. They ask each other questions about the post it. After one question, they change to another person.

Example: A) What kind of potato chips do you like?
B) I really like sour crème and onion!
(I hate mornings).
A) What time did you get up today?
B) I got up at 6:30 am ! [change partners]

This activity can even be “larger” by having students write questions on their post it notes. Students walk around the class asking other students and “posting” the note on them. After the walkaround, students return to their seat and with a partner, use the post its to interview a partner.

Activity 5:

Class walkarounds – Surveys / Find someone who!

Surveys and “find someone who” activities are excellent at getting students asking questions. Give each student an index card. Ask them to choose one question to ask the class on your given topic. Use “prompt” words on the board to help students. (see Appendix 2).

Students walk around the class asking students and compiling the results on their index card under YES Maybe No. Students after the activity, report back

Activity 6:

Listening – The 5 ws!

Play any short clip or news report. Even a short story. Ask the students to list the “reporters” 5ws on a piece of paper.

Who _______________________________________________

What _______________________________________________

Where ______________________________________________

When _______________________________________________

Why ________________________________________________

This activity can also be done for any reading/text in the textbook. It is invaluable to get the students themselves forming the comprehension questions for your class readings.
This should be your goal – get them to TEACH THEMSELVES!

Activity 7:

20 questions / what is it?!

(Appendix 4) These games are popular and any guessing game with objects is great.
See www.20q.net for a computer version. Your students will be amazed!

Also for celebrities and famous people – see http://en.akinator.com/#

Activity 8:

BAAM – Ask the Teacher!

Baam is a great game with lots of interaction. Students choose a number and try to avoid BAAM. The “Ask the Teacher” game gets the students asking the teacher (or another student) and helps them practice basic personal questions.

Activity 9:

Spin the Question!

Use the “Spin the Question” power point when you need a little “chance” in your activity. Students spin and then must make a question with the chosen question word. Lots of fun!

The #1 … (teacher training technique)

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Number One** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1.

Loop Input

Loop input is an intuitive and practical teaching technique that many trainers use. I’ve given my share of teacher training workshops/presentations and it is something I include in every one – almost without exception.

What is it?

loop_7Well, in a nutshell, it is learning through the same method or “way” that you might use in your own classroom. What it isn’t, is learning solely by experiencing something like a student.

For example, in many teacher training presentations, I use a “Pass the Paper” game to learn about the trainees, their needs and also relax them.  The content is about teaching, not what students would experience.  However, (and this is my main purpose) I want teachers  to experience the game.  See an example of the game. passthepapereducationaltechnologyteachers It is different than if I had just said, “Let’s play this game as if we are students”.   There is no declaration of the learning point, just learning through inductive experience.

So we learn but in doing so, experience the content in the methods we might teach our students (different content). It is a powerful way to train teachers!   Read more about it in Tessa Woodward’s article.


TEFL Non – Stick Teaching

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tefalI stumbled upon Alex Case’s old blog post, “25 ways to get away with being a crap English teacher”. Insightful list that I could add to. However, I’d rather focus on the positive so I thought I’d address the question posed in one of the comments;

How about a list of ’25 ways of being a good teacher’?

IMHO, teaching is a great art with many pretenders and charlatans.  There are many who teach but few who really accomplish “learning”. Learning here defined as not just “knowing” but also “questioning” and coming to new realizations.  Praxis. Teachers promoting the act of thinking and communicating, not just the banking of ideas. Here, I also tell a lot of what “teaching is…”

So how to be a “non-stick” teacher? A teacher that cooks up a storm but leaves no mess? Here, is my list.

1.  Get to know your students! Make it personal, connect the curriculum to their lives.

2.  Engage the “ego”. Promote pride. Give ALL students success.  Meaning….

3.  Keep it simple! It’s about what they do afterwards, not in the classroom moment, that is important.

4.  Practice don’t preach. Show and model. You, reading a book during break teaches “reading” more than any lesson.  Meaning….

5.  Share yourself. Teaching is personal. If you don’t share some of your life, they won’t. CARE and show you care.

6.  Make students think! It doesn’t have to be Jeopardy but get them learning other things besides language.

7.  Give students responsibility. Good teachers have students doing most of the prep and work.

8.  Go slow. “Slow teaching” will be the new “in” thing in the future, believe it or not! Why? It works! Education is no longer about content but about digestion….

9.  Provide structure. Students need to know what you will do during each part of the lesson. Systems are good!

10. Use hooks! Engage students at the beginning of lessons. Great teachers teach inductively.  Whole to the parts.

11. Have an open door policy. Teach openly and share openly with colleagues. We are all learning and developing.

12. Use the whole classroom. It is your home, use all parts. Get students out of their seats using the space, the board …

13. Pow wow. Make it a point to have a conference with a student. They need that one on one.

14. Color things up. Use pictures/photos! Use real props. Context is everything and video/photos provide it in spades.

15.  Promote community. You are a family and support each other. Nurture that with a name, an identity. Meaning…

16.  Use student names as much as possible when talking to them. Names light up the brain and foster learning. It’s true!

17.  Teaching is acting. Don’t be yourself but be whoever it takes to get students motivated and learning….

18.  Give students control. Let them be the teacher! For example, why shouldn’t students lead the class in TPR exercises? Why not make your classroom more like a sandbox than an assembly line?

19. Don’t be afraid to “talk teaching” in the staff room. Share what you are doing with other teachers. This will transfer into the classroom.

20. Record student achievement/work. Make portfolios, keep records and examples, display their work. You have to know A to get to Z.

21.  Get “off the beaten path”. Take detours. Look for teachable moments. Connect the content to reality at every opportunity.

22.  Teach students, not the subject! Learn more about differentiation and treat each student as “special”. Study up on how special educators approach learning.

23.  Be holistic. Teach language – don’t teach “writing” or “reading” etc… The whole English language is the true curriculum.

24.  Have style. Each teacher must find their own “way” and “manner”. It takes time but discover and nurture this and make it your core.

25.  Have a philosophy. You need a “why” to bear the inevitable almost any “how” of a classroom.  Read books, talk to others, write out a journal. Great teachers are reflective about their job.

Now I know that this might seem a tall order.  We can’t do all these things.  However we can try.  It is this trying that makes all of this possible.

If you liked this post – you might enjoy “Teaching – it’s the small things that count” OR the presentation – Effective EFL Teacher

The #1 … (Quick and Easy Adv. level lesson)

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Number One** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1.

I heard it through the Grapevine

Let’s face it, many times as a teacher, we are faced with having to pull a lesson “out of our hat”. Last minute, we have to teach a new class or left our lesson materials at home. Or perhaps, we are just sick and tired, hung over, run down …… What to do?

Gossip is a major motivator when it comes to language production. People listen intently and language is used purposefully. Along with narrative/stories, it really activates language learning. I’ve used this lesson hundreds of times and I’m always astounded by the level of student interest and involvement (and creativity!). And it is so super simple!
Get a full description HERE on EFL Classroom’s Lessons in a Can, but essentially, you hand out a piece of A4 to each student and they one sentence, one piece of gossip about the student on their left. Then, they pass it to their right and that student continues the “gossip story” and makes it even juicier. After, collect the papers and read the gossip about students. I prefer to collect the papers and read the next day after editing and making sure there isn’t any hurtful stuff. Be careful about that and the class you use this lesson with.
But for powerful language learning, engagement and real communication – you can’t beat “Heard it through the Grapevine”. Make sure to play the song along with the lesson!
If you liked this post – you will like Writing Ideas.

The #1 Series in ELT

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number1 The #1 Series in ELT is now a handy ebook that you can share with others and view offline! I put this out a month ago, thinking that I could get members to pay $5 for it and support EFL Classroom 2.0. Only a couple people did. Oh well, if you don’t try, how do you know?

So now get it FREE . Share and distribute as you see fit – even giveaway on your own site – see the other downloads on the right too. Lots to help EFL teachers or any teacher for that matter. I’ll be adding a few more shortly. As to raising money to cover the costs for EFL Classroom 2.0 - I just sent my Teach / Learn textbook for typesetting/formatting and it’ll be ready in a few weeks. I think this time, teachers will buy this to support us – it will be well worth it. Something you can open up, print, use in class right away with any level of students except true beginners. Stay tuned!

Manufactured Teachable Moments

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FarSideteachablemomentHave you ever had a “teachable moment”?  Do you think we can actually make them happen or are they totally arbitrary, unpredictable by nature?

First, let me explain by way of a story, what a teachable moment is.

When I was first teaching, I taught LINC, language instruction for newcomers to Canada. Basically, adult ESL for new immigrants. My classroom was on the 5th floor of a downtown skyscraper, all glass windows on the side opposite the board.

I was preceding with my regular lesson on “How to withdraw money at a Canadian bank”. As I was writing on the board, suddenly there was a series of loud “ooohs”, “ahhhs” and shrieks behind me. I turned around and wondered what the heck was happening. I saw 2 middle aged women jumping up and down, up and down like small kids. Their faces were glued to the glass and they began exclaiming, “Snow! Snow!” They were from Brazil and this was the first time they’d ever seen snow. It was just a few small flakes but they were overcome.

As the teacher, I really didn’t have much choice but to start teaching about snow and use the opportunity of “reality knocking” to teach about the weather and anything snow related.  The whole class just went that way and started asking questions to the women, “There is no snow in Brazil?” , “Is it what you expected?” “Have you seen snow on TV?” etc….

This was a teachable moment and we began talking all about snow, brainstorming snow related vocabulary etc…… It was a unique opportunity to harness student motivation and to connect the classroom with the real world. A real teachable moment.

A few other teachable moments I remember in my teaching career were:

1. A butterfly entering the classroom – which led to a lesson in science and entomology.

2. A mother coming into the class to ask a question – which led to us interviewing her about her new business.

3. A student’s broken arm – which led to a lesson on our own prior accidents and ways to prevent them.

Can you  create teachable moments or must they arise purely “by chance?”

Teachable moments are powerful “learning” moments (for teaching is learning). In many cases, unforgettable. A kind of student driven “Eureka”. An epiphany where you connect with the subject in ways that aren’t possible in the traditionally delivered, head on, step 1,2,3 lesson plan.  But can we try to make them happen? I believe we can and should as teachers.

I think there is a “Teachable Moment Spectrum” ranging from strict control and following of the lesson plan to a very liberal approach that seeks student “reality” as the generator of teachable moments. We don’t have to rely on chance!

teachable moment spectrum

In our teaching, we can use the reality that affects our students as a powerful source of both content and “teachability”. This to me is a manufactured or synthetic teachable moment – but powerful just the same!   Looking at the above examples –  The butterfly entering the room would be a natural teaching moment, an unmanufactured one. However, 2 and 3 are purely teacher created but teachable moments just the same.

As teachers, let’s not just rely on chance. We should actively try to create teachable moments all the time – connecting student reality to learning. In the language curriculum, the possibilities are endless, unlike the case of more “set” curriculum like science and history. Language oozes into everything and so we should let reality set the course and not the lesson plan.

Let’s take the untrodden paths more often and bring teachable moments into our everyday teaching…. you can, I assure you!

Dogme Light – A boring library conversation

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Today, I get to have some fun!

Last week, Willy Cardoso wrote a fictional conversation that he might have had with Karenne Sylvester about the use of materials in ELT. Karenne wrote previously about “materials light” or Dogme teaching.

When I read Willy’s post – I definitely had to respond. Respond with my own views on how materials / content should be used in our classrooms – respond with my own thoughts about what I feel is the best way for students and teacher to come together and learn/practice a language.

So here it is – same conversation but I replace Willy and this time we are in the British Library whispering away.

britishlibrary“Dogme is about teaching
materials light”
(Meddings & Thornbury)

Karenne: What does it mean to us as teachers to go into a classroom materials-light?

David: KISS – Keep It Student Simple.  One of the strengths I find new teachers have over “experienced” teachers, is that they many times don’t overthink lesson delivery and content. They don’t throw so much at students, so students are learning more about English instructions than the actual lesson goals. We have to keep it simple – academics tend to obfuscate and make this “teaching language” thing into something so complicated and elaborate. It really is just about getting students to:

a) open their mouths and say meaningful things (communicate)

b) getting students to notice language and be aware of the learning process.

I totally agree with Dogme teaching, if it is about being “materials light”. However, it tends to become dogmatic (forgive the pun) and stray from this. This is how I’ve read the message boards and unplugged articles.  It focuses energy too much on “Don’t” rather than “Do”.  I’ll also add that I think “materials light” should mean that it is the students’ that create the content and lesson material. In and of and from their own level and world. The teacher provides a format for which this play will unfurl.

In teaching – teachers should “tread softly and carry a big piece of chalk.”

K: Where should all these  light materials magically come from?

D: I answered that above – from the students. The teacher prompts and records the content from the students (whole group)  and then has students do the same in pairs/groups (small group), using their own language/ideas/thoughts. Also, authentic materials are wonderful for this too. Let me give you an example of this  in action.

Let’s say the lesson objective is: “The students will practice asking about the price of typical grocery items.”

1. The teacher puts up on the board, pictures of various grocery items.  Also, the controlled language, “What’s the price of the ……..?   How much is / are the ……………..?   The students ask either the teacher or even better, a student who is chosen to come to the front of the classroom.

2. The teacher gives out a nice handy pdf of a REAL grocery flyer. Also, a list of items for each that the student must find out the price for.  They ask and answer, recording the price.  The teacher takes up the answers by prompting the students.

3. Students create the content. Students cut up the flyer onto an A4 without recording a price. After, in pairs/small groups, they ask each other about the prices and as they are asked, write down the price beside the items. (gaining awareness of how to state about packages/containers/bunches and also what the actual value of grocery items are).

One important caveat to this lesson – if possible, use a flyer that is culturally appropriate and local. If in Thailand, print off a flyer that is in baht, for example.

Sorry for being long winded but I think a practical example is important, so teachers can visualize and clearly understand just how “non textbook” and “light” this kind of teaching is. AND it can be done for any level and any language objective.

K: What do you think that Paulo Freire meant when he said that liberating education consists of acts of cognition, not transferrals of information?  Does going in light, as opposed to heavy,change this?  And, what in your opinion, might teaching materials-heavy look like?

D: I really admire Freire but at the same time understand how his “polemic” and language is too political for many. However, if you read some of his interviews, you get a better understanding of how much he wanted to decrease the power imbalance between student and teacher. That at the core, is why his thinking is revelatory and revolutionary. He thought dialogue was the way to do this – dialogue that our traditional school systems eschew except when writing fancy academic treasties or new policy documents. Dialogue is “light” and about change/praxis and thought. It isn’t about the “thing”.  Freire is on the side of Fromme – to be, not to have. You “be” a language, you don’t even acquire a language. Like Chomsky’s notion that we “grow” a language. “Light” to me, means keeping things organic and natural.

I know I’ve skirted around your question but it really doesn’t have a clear answer. Teaching is all about the art and “HOW” it is done. You can teach “heavy”, with a textbook etc… and be effective. Skipping through a million small activities designed in rooms across the ocean. Commanding learners to repeat and read etc… We all know that “heavy” drill of a teacher as a commandante. You can be a successful teacher in this fashion. However, what have you accomplished beyond learning a language? That is the rub. I see a teacher’s job as far more than just the content. It is a sacred relationship and we should be vehicles of change. Subversive, in a word.

K: How could teachers approach teaching with coursebooks dogmeicly*?

D: Well, I’ve already touched on that a lot. As I see it, the textbook is unauthentic, so too the classroom. How can we make it more authentic, organic, natural? That is the original call of the Dogme movement in film and it should be the call to us teachers in ELT or anywhere.

So how? You can’t really take your class to the grocery store (to teach my example lesson above). But you can use more authentic materials. You can decrease the power between teacher/learner. You can use technology effectively to bring the real world into the classroom. You can give students choice and involvement. You can take the good from a textbook (what addresses learner/teacher needs directly) and reject the filler. You can be subversive in the classroom while still giving the appearance of being “a teacher” (and we have to do it like this, because of the demands of the traditional educational system).  At the end of the day, a teacher still gets to close the door and “be” with his/her students. There is a lot of time/possibility to teach light and simply while still cosmetically “dancing to the piper’s tune” too.

K: Thinking about your colleagues and staffrooms along with your classrooms – do you think it is the teachers or students who favour most grammar based curriculums?  For either, why? Do we need to unlearn them?

D: Good question!  I really think it comes down to control. It is human to want to find “the ghost in the machine” as Koestler might have put it. However, we’ll never be able to, language IS NOT mechanical.  But still, grammar is necessary given this need and I think all teachers have to teach some grammar at some times – it helps many students and gives them control and structure. It allows them to see the trees from the forest. So, I’m not against grammar in the classroom – I’m just against how it is done – too overtly and systematically. Also, without attention to whether the student’s would benefit or not. It is just done blanket fashion and that kind of lesson delivery and curriculum planning isn’t progressive.  I had long conversations with my grad students about the “enacted curriculum”. I felt most didn’t fully understand this term and how much it can and should differ from the written/planned curriculum. Most teachers in their heart of hearts, don’t fully appreciate this distinction.

I do think most grammar should be learned in use and in context. Covertly. I think this is what most teachers feel and it is pretty standard in our biz. Or am I out of touch?

Can we unlearn? I’m not sure about what you mean here? We can change, if that’s what you mean.

K: In Meeting of Minds, Stuart McNaughton challenges us with the idea of ‘a curriculum that promotes only segmented, isolated, and elemental learning tasks reduces the students’ degree of learning (including incidental learning) and also their preparedness for future learning.’   Have you seen this?  Felt it?

D: Oh yes!  That’s why we need to look at teaching as being much more than “content” and make it more humanistic. We should be as much motivators than experts. George Siemens constantly talks about this preparation for a future of connectivity and looking at learning as something multidisciplinary and multiskilled (see a nice interview with him below).  I’m a big one for promoting “thought” in our teaching. I think a lot of our language classes are “boring” because of the simple fact we don’t ask our students to think at all. Remember – this word is about putting together to create something “new”.  Let’s,  re  member that.

K: How do your students cope when the real-life need to speak in English crops up in their lives: can textbooks ever prepare them adequately for these experiences? Can being light?

D: I think teaching “light” prepares them much more for the “ambiguity of language” (which is what the real world presents – there is much more unpredictability of language in the real world).  We can’t control everything and have to create classrooms that allow for ambiguity and train/teach our students to tolerate it. Ambiguity tolerance is a notion all teachers should understand and think about. In a few words – it is the reason young children learn language so much quicker (IMHO).

A textbook is the most extreme and farcical distance from “reality” and preparation for the practical use of language in meetings, at the barber shop, listening to a song and telling a story etc….  Thank god technology allows us to blend into our lessons, real language, real people, real, real, real…….. I’ll leave it at that – but that’s the god send of technology in our classroom – bringing the world into our classrooms.

K: Are you bored?

D: Never! But I could do with an espresso.  Let’s get out of here?

K: Sure. Let’s let the colorless green ideas sleep furiously……

Faking it …..

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Today, my “much better half” insisted that our dog Chico could understand Korean. She showed me how he could understand Korean and sit and stay, even give paw. I had a good chuckle. Not much different to many teachers who believe their students understand them in the classroom! Chico, like so many students, was great at “faking it”. Doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

I think all of us teaching English, have to remind ourselves that though it might seem that our students understand – a lot of time, even most of the time, they are faking it.

I remember especially in my first years of teaching, fully thinking that the nodding, the “yeah, yeah”, “ok” of my students indicated that they’d understood. However, what was happening was probably much like this famous Far Side comic.

ginger far side Our students often are “bewildered” (to borrow a term Frank Smith uses often in reference to children learning to read). There is overload and the brain is overcome. But there exists a powerful need to believe in the pragmatic elements of communication (the facial expressions, gestures, eye contact etc..), also the hints and inferences of half meaning that pass along as communication. We want to understand so much and we want to communicate and please the other so much – that we “fake it”. Nobody wants to say, “I don’t understand”.

Not that faking it is all bad. It is only bad if “learning” is your aim. If you want to be social, faking it can be a great strategy. Or if you are asking for directions in Spanish and are confronted with a flood of Spanish that you can’t understand at all – it can be a quick way out of a sticky situation.

Still, as a teacher, we should be aware of how learners, “fake it”. Otherwise, we can’t adjust our lessons and content appropriately and we become teachers who “fake it”. And yes, they exist! In my experience, “faking it” is an art undertaken in abundance by teachers. Like the Cuban joke about communism, “they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work”, — “teachers pretend to teach and students pretend to learn”. It happens a lot.

So be aware of the dynamics of communication in the classroom. Do your students really understand you? (and they don’t have to understand everything but they also shouldn’t be overwhelmed). If they are faking it, it is time to think through your lesson delivery and maybe do a few of the following;

1. Model more, explain less. Think through how you’ll explain the stages and activities of the lesson.

2. Get Ss speaking and doing the explaining. They’ll bring it down to the level of the audience and the communication will be much more effective.

3. Ask follow up questions to assess student understanding. A very handy request for teachers is, “So, could you repeat back to me, what I want you to do / what I said / explained?”

4. Speak less – decrease teacher talk time and let students have more opportunity for production rather than reception of language.

But the important thing to remember is to ask the question – “Do my students understand me?” and conversely, as a learner, to ask, “Do I understand?” Start from there and stop faking it – that is unless faking it provides some side benefits outside of learning. If you know what I mean……

SCC coursebook updated sample

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Here is a sample of the SCC (student created content) coursebook that I will be publishing this December.

I’ll be posting my lead in forward, detailing specifically my beliefs about SCC and why it is a new, essential methodology for ELT, especially given the new technological resources available to teachers.

The basic idea rests the same. The teacher guides and the students build and create content/language from their own self/selves. Get more materials like this sample HERE. I’ll be formatting and adding lots of color etc…. when I get to that stage.

You might also be interested in the English Raven’s views on an “unplugged” course book.

SCC Sample of proposed Coursebook

The #1 … (activity which fosters language development)

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Number One** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1. Get the full eBook

Retelling

campfireGetting our students retelling, even in a very simple form, is SO powerful! It creates active listeners and learners and really enlivens the learning process. Throughout my own career as an EFL teacher, retelling is something I plan into my lessons for all levels of learners. Just “remembering” what we’ve learned is a simple form of retelling and something that allows repetition and a “jellying” of the learning experience. Retelling is also incredibly social and we are hard wired for this – think of how we are captivated around the campfire by “story” or how powerful a hold gossip has on us. You can harness this ancient force in your classroom too!

The best way is to give students a variety of language material – audio / video / written. Doesn’t have to be what we commonly associate with retelling – a story. I usually use 4 different types of material for a larger class. Allow them time to understand the material and then put them in groups to retell / share what they were given. Monitor and then when most have retold, split them up into other groups to retell again to new partners. Continue until the final step – have them retell what someone else told them! This type of jigsaw style lesson works well for retelling.

Language is intimately tied to memory. And we understand too little about memory. However, over the years I’ve understood how student’s with higher levels of fluency in a second language have a great ability to retell and “remember” language. So retelling is also a perfect placement/level test. Give students a very simple paragraph or story. They should even at a very low level, understand all the vocabulary/ideas. Next, create checklist of main ideas and information. Ask the student questions and check if they can recall the information. The more information recalled, the higher the level. A simple and effective formative test. See the power point below for some examples.

Here is my number 1 story for use in retelling! It works great. Here too, are some great funny stories for a wonderful retelling lesson for higher levels.

Teach – Learn: A Student Created Content textbook

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Sorry for not posting much lately but life happens and its been happening to me! Traveling and moving back to Canada, have got the best of me lately.

However, I’m still perpetually busy and the time “unplugged” has allowed me to think more about my English teaching methodology – SCC or Student Created Content. Read a whole rundown about it HERE.

It is something I’ve “grown” into as a thoughtful teacher. A method that while embracing the Communicative Language Approach, focuses it towards learning and student involvement. It is wholly constructivist in approach and espouses the view that language acquisition is intimately connected to notions of “self” and identity. The ego is the driving force of language development and “need” is harnessed and used as an engine as students create the materials they will use to practice English.

In the textbook culture of English teaching, usually the “experts” decide on both the scope and sequence (or in layman’s terms, the topics, structure and timing) of a language course. In a lesson, the students practice the textbook’s language and only at the end of the lesson/unit, get to personalize this content. I feel this is an artifice, it isn’t a natural way to learn effectively. Students should use their own world, their own thoughts, beliefs, culture, circumstance as the content. It should not be imposed nor manufactured from afar in Cambridge or Princeton.

I will be producing a nice essay on this – as part of a forward to a new textbook I’m working on. It will be available for purchase and also a true example of a “blended book” / ebook. Meaning, not only will teachers be able to share and photocopy it – each 2 page lesson will follow a set methodology and have additional multi media materials offered through EFL Classroom 2.0. I haven’t decided on a price yet but it will be low cost and in support of my efforts to promote free resources and access to materials for all learners and teachers online.

Here’s a peak at what I have so far. Fine many more materials for SCC HERE – to download and test out in your own classroom while I work on producing the textbook. Comments / advice appreciated!
(download here, the better edited version – SCC textbook in progress