To Those Who Believe In Ideas

by

Rest In Peace

Contrary to what many think – it is not action, it is not money, it is not the vote which makes this world a better place. It is the interchange of ideas, the free flow of ideas.

In light of the death of Aaron Schwartz, I’m glad others are looking deeply at the protectionist academic journal racket and JSTOR. My own captive mind post written a couple of years ago – throws my own voice and light onto this important issue and if I may be so dramatic, “clash of civilizations”.

It is saddening that nations, politicians, the world – can’t see the value in keeping ideas flowing. That it indeed will be the lifeblood of a better world. That so many more can have access to ideas and knowledge will bring unfathomable benefits and results to all of us.  Yet we have a closed academic society and culture. Yet we have an internet more and more walled in. Yet we have a communications network that is becoming mostly about who can pay.

Let’s open the ideas pipeline. Let’s make the internet free. It isn’t something that should have a toll booth where the rich can zoom through and pick at what they want, the poor get the garbage under the crowded roads beneath……

I was picking through a lot of my older posts about copyright, in the light of Aaron’s death. Came across this one – Cut, Snip, Paste.  At the bottom, came to this image, my former posting of a wonderful video about the power of remixing and how it breeds brillance. This image fell upon my eyes.

Let’s remember Aaron and work even harder to make the world’s ideas available for mixing and minds everywhere.

If you liked this post, see some of the others in the captive mind series.

 

 

50 Professional Development Tips for the New Year

by

50  Professional Development Ideas For The New Year

 

There is never a better time than “NOW” to start working on one’s own professional development as a teacher.  However, often unless by chance you find yourself in the perfect school with perfect colleagues – it is hard to get started and you’ll find yourself in a rut teaching the same thing in the same way (or different things in the same way), over and over.

 

Here’s a list that will certainly contain something to “prime the pump” and get you started developing more as an educator. Not all will be for you – but many will. Find what will work for you.

……………………………………………..

Download 50 Tips For PD     Get All The other “50″ lists.

 

1.  Take the Basic TEFL Certificate Course.  This course reviews all the main aspects of teaching English AND it is free. Based on the Shaping The Way We Teach instructional video series, you watch the video lessons and complete the quizzes. Lots of additional readings but they aren’t required.  Go here.

 

2.   Look at things differently.   Sometimes it is the key to making change.  Try standing on your desk and thinking about your class.  What can you change that will make a difference?  Also try some quotes to get your mind  Go here.

 

3.   Try some twitter chat.  Twitter chats are offered once or twice a week and you can participate by sharing your thoughts in 140 characters or less.  #eltchat #educhat are two large ones but there are lots of local twitter chats.  Go here for a full list.

 

4.   Try some real teacher talk.  Find a colleague or teacher working in a similar  position as yourself.  Schedule a weekly coffee/chat session to share ideas and just get some valuable perspective.

 

5.   Keep a reflective journal  It is as simple as stapling some paper together and each day / week, recording your thoughts about what’s happening in your teaching life.  Get inspired with my own Zen And The Act Of Teaching journal. Go here.

 

6.   Browse the British Council Teachers. A place full of readings, videos and links to help the English language teacher develop. Follow their FB page too. .  Go here.

 

7.   Look at your calendar and schedule to attend some conferences. Make the decision to “get out there” and see what is new in the world of teaching. Always some conferences that are close or take in a conference that is far away and also have a wonderful “working” vacation.  Go here.

 

8.   Get inspired by some stories about teaching.  Stories can be powerful sources of inspiration and nourishment.  Go here.

 

9.   View / Review some teacher training presentations.  Here are my own specific to ELT but there are many more on the internet. Also search Prezi  or Slideshare for educational presentations shared by teachers.  Go here.

 

10.  Decide to learn more about using educational technology .  It is an essential skill these days.  The ELT and Tech tutorials and links will get you started. Nik Peachey offers great tips and reviews.  Also these bookmarks. Go here.

 

11.   Browze the A-Z of ELT blog.  A  powerful resource of posts by Scott Thornbury about teaching and language. Read the comments, the gold is there.  Go here.

 

12.   Do some action research.  Set a simple goal for yourself in the classroom. Think of your teaching and classroom as an experiment you monitor and control. Be brave and also share your findings!   Go here.

 

13.   Learn about the reflective teaching practices. A powerful component of professional development is the notion of “the reflective cycle”. This presentation highlights this.   Go here.

 

14.   Brush up on your grammar.  Yep, can’t be avoided and you can always know more. It is a valuable knowledge base for a teacher.  Go here.

 

15.   Join in the discussion on ELT Professionals LinkedIn. Hundreds of discussion posts daily on teaching English.  Try the megalist of past topics.   Go here.

 

16.    Take some quizzes. Find out what kind of teacher you are. There are many quizzes online to help you “self” discover.  Try – What kind of teacher are you?  My classroom management style.   Go here.

 

17.   Check out TED talk videos regularly. Very inspiring talks about education. New ones weekly.  Try the random HD player I made or view the EnglishCentral TED Channel. Go here.

 

18.   Chart how you’ve progressed as a teacher.  Ask yourself, “What do I know now that I didn’t know then?  Make a list of these things, see visibly how you’ve developed and then think of where you might head. It is powerful. Go here.

 

19.   Go Facebook. So many great groups and pages that can add to your knowledge base.  Make friends with fellow teachers and follow some wonderful pages. Start here

 

20.    Hold a PD Day at your school. Set aside a half day or a few hours and have each teacher share a lesson idea.  It will help your work environment and create lots of positive vibes among teachers.

 

21.    Brush up on Classroom Management.  Listen to an authentic story read by a celebrity. Really helps students to listen to this kind of authentic narrative driven language.  Go here.

 

22.    Follow some Youtube professional development channels.  So many schools, organizations and teachers offer wonderful videos online to help you learn about teaching English. OUP, MacMillan, TEFL Videos to name a few.    Go here.

 

23.   Attend free online conferences and webinars.  Nowadays, you don’t have to travel to conferences, just use your browser! iTDI, eConsultancy, Teacher Talk, WizIQ to name a few.

 

24.   Make your own personal and professional webpage.  Get your resume up on LinkedIn and network there but also think about promoting yourself with your own webpage. So easy to do online with some splendid tools.  Go here.

 

25.   Start following some great ELT Blogs. Check out the blogroll of any ELT blog. Here’s a nice list with the Random ELT Blog generator to start.  Go here.

 

26.    Join the Teaching Village.  This collective blog started by Barb Sakamoto is wonderful and a wealth of knowledge. Join and share an article!   Go here.

 

27.    Brush up on your knowledge of educational leaders.   So many thought leaders with profound knowledge about teaching and education. Also get inspired by interviews with ELT teachers and leaders.     Go here.

 

28.    Study and learn the IPA  Pronunciation is a crucial skill set that teachers of English should know. .  Go here.

 

29.    Interview yourself.  Whohub offers a great tool for educators to interview themselves and share their own thoughts about teaching.  My example here.  Start here.

 

30.    Join The School Of TEFL community.  This site started out as my own community to share with my colleagues. We taught there and shared. Now, it has blossomed and contains a lot of valuable resources and ideas. A short sign up is all that you need to do (to keep out spammers). All is free.  Go here.

 

31.   Start blogging. Blogging is a great way to meet like minded teachers, build your PLN (Personal Learning Network) and reflect upon what happens in and out of the classroom.  Post and blog on EFL Classroom 2.0 – it’s easy.   Edublogs is a great service to use (and also create student blogs there). Also, microblogging platforms like Posterous or Tumblr.   Go here.

 

32.   Larry Ferlazzo’s Best List.  Larry Ferlazzo is the crown jewel of “teacher sharers”  So much on his site, always updated. Browse now!  Go here.

 

33.   Join A Professional Organization.  There are so many local organizations and professional bodies that can provide you with valuable networking and information.   Go here.

 

34.    Share your stuff online. There are so many social networking places to share your own lesson ideas and materials. Teachers who do so and get valuable feedback really develop into strong teachers.  Here’s my own take on this – We Keep What We Give.

 

35.    Start thinking about your career and the long term. So many teachers operate day by day and month by month.  Start thinking and planning about where you will be in 2 years, 5 years, 20 years.  Make a plan and start the process of deciding what you have to do to get there.

 

36.    Learn the jargon.  Every discipline has its own “lingo”, ELT is no different. Learn to “talk the walk”. Study a glossary  or learn some acronyms –  Go here.

 

37,   Reach out to somebody.   Learn to not put so much on your own shoulders. Find someone you can talk to at school.  Don’t keep things in and bottled up.  Keep open all your lines of communication.

 

38.   Do some reading. There are so many books one might choose to read and gain knowledge from. I’ll offer my own  The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Teacher: Selected Writings.  Go here for a great recommended list.

 

39.   Spend more time on your non teaching self. The key to good teaching is how wisely you recharge your batteries and take time for your own self outside of teaching. These tips will get you on the right track -  Go here.

 

40.    Find out the top websites for teaching. A quick way to get many of the best websites for teaching English.   Go here.   Also the #1 in ELT series. Go here.

 

41.    Ask students what they want. The key to a great classroom is a proper and ongoing needs analysis.  Negotiate the classroom with students. You’ll learn so much from them! When one teaches, two learn”. Go here.

 

42.    Learn about using video in the classroom. Video is the new text. Find out more about “Extensive Watching” and how to use video in the classroom with this guide.   Go here.

 

43.   Visit Colorin Colorado.  A great professional development site focused on ESL and ELLs.  A wealth of knowledge.  Go here.

 

44.    Videotape yourself teaching. This is an excellent way to get some valuable knowledge about your own teaching microskills. Simply set up a camera at the back of the class and start there. Or just use an audio recorder (your cell phone will work).

 

45.    Write an article about teaching. There are plenty of websites and journals who would welcome your contribution, either locally or internationally. Why not share with others and get some valuable credits for your resume?

 

46.    Electronic Village Online – EVO. Participate in this teacher driven organization which shares a wealth of knowledge. You too can become a “webhead”.  Go here.

 

47.    Google hangout with other teachers. Find some teacher friends and start your own weekly hangout. It is so simple nowadays.  Or view some Hangouts On Air.

 Go here.

 

48.    Get peer feedback.  Can be informal or formal, key is to share your classroom with a colleague you value and trust. Just let them come in the classroom and talk about it afterwards.

 

49.    Drink More Water. Your voice is your most valuable tool, take care of it. So many teachers end up with chronic problems. Go here.

 

50.   Love Thyself and To Thy Own Self Be True.  Key to any professional development as a teacher is to forgive yourself, the classes that didn’t work, the bad days. Keep positive and it will all work out!   But at the same time, be honest with yourself.

 

The #1 issue facing teachers around the world ….

by

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

                              The Freedom To Teach

I haven’t done much with the #1 lists of late however I’m restarting my engine and will be updating the ebook and this post is a good blast off.

I truly believe that what education anywhere needs is more freedom for its teachers, more independence.  Much has been said about Finland and why it is so successful at educating its citizens.  My own conclusion, PISA results or no PISA results is that the success of Finland is directly related to how much freedom and control its teachers have in the classroom.  Teachers in Finland are given the freedom to teach (read more at Pasi Sahlberg’s portal site).  They can put their own selves into each classroom lesson, change and adapt lesson material based on students’ needs. They don’t “teach by numbers” or by flipping pages or turning to exercise 4, page 26.  We need edupreneurs in the most strict sense of that word. We need to trust our teachers as professionals (as Diane Ravitch points out in this must read) , we need to liberate the curriculum from the bondage it is now under, we need to give our teachers the freedom to teach as they best see fit in their classrooms.

My own travels, witnessing different teaching cultures and teacher training has led me to this conclusion.  I can even frame it as a “law” – call it David’s law.  The greater the freedom of teachers in an educational system, the higher the corresponding achievement by students as measured through long term results (not short term standardized scores). 

Too often, we see talented teachers frustrated by the inability to practice their own trade. They are tied up, imprisoned by requirements to cover x material in y fashion. Frustrated by having to teach z when they know students are only ready for y.  Teachers are stressed as the human factor is sucked out of their daily teaching day.

I find it incredulous that the greatest freedom in most educational institutions is given our early childhood educators AND that they are paid the least.  All teachers should have the freedom to teach and part of that freedom is a commitment by society that they will be free of financial duress and paid appropriately.

Hand in hand with the “Freedom To Teach” is the notion that teachers should be well trained and supported in their professional development. All freedom requires a matching responsibility.  Both teachers and administrations need to commit to being well trained and progressive (in the wide sense of that word).  Better paid AND better educated teachers are needed in our schools so that the freedom we promote is realized.

Now you are probably saying to yourself, “What exactly is this – freedom to teach?”  Well, here is my short list defining the conditions required for the blossoming of this most precious right. Call it a mini manifesto and I hope its flag blows across the world and becomes a standard oath, a wind blowing us away from the monstrous restrictions most teachers presently face when teaching.

The Freedom To Teach

1.  Teachers should be free to enact the curriculum as they see best.  Teaching shouldn’t be about following but about leading, leading students.

2.  Teachers should be allowed to take detours and personalize instruction. Teaching should not be an objective and distant, abstract activity.

3.  Teachers should be able to teach from their own set of teaching beliefs and with their own teaching style.  Teaching should not be a one way delivery system.

4.  Teachers should be free to set their own teaching day and vary it as they see fit.  If they need to spend a whole week on a novel, they should be able to. If they need to skip music so students can finish math, so be it. The teaching day shouldn’t be set in stone – no longer should the Minister of Education be able to look at his/her clock and know what a grade 4 class in Lyon is studying.

5.  Teachers should be judged by how well they get students involved and engaged, by the thought and feeling that is happening in their classrooms. Teaching shouldn’t be about short term scores or outcomes nor should any teacher be judged by a number alone.

6.  Teachers should be able to use any and all materials that will help their students learn. Teachers shouldn’t need approval to use x book or talk about subject y. Teachers should be treated as professionals that understand students and are sensitive to students’ and the wider societal needs.

7.  Teachers should be free from financial stress and paid at a rate that is appropriate for their highest importance in the society. Teachers shouldn’t be at the mercy of  needing to stay in a job because they can’t pay the bills any other way. Teaching should be a free choice and not one based on financial necessity.

This is just my short list. I’m sure you can think of many more parts to this “Freedom To Teach”.   We also might flip this and together look at it from the students’ side – The Freedom To Learn.  Students don’t have this freedom and so many, too many, spend days of boredom, trapped between walls.  Just as teachers need the freedom to teach, we need to give our students’ a voice and the freedom to learn.

 

It’s About Relationships

by

I’ve been spending a wonderful Christmas with family and friends in Canada over the holidays.  Lots of activity, birthdays along with parties and the regular Christmas meetings and greetings.  It got me really thinking about life and especially the glue that keeps all life together – relationships.

In our teaching we get so zoned in, too consumed and absorbed by the particular.  I mean, we are overwhelmed by minutiae and in a way “the devil is in the details”. Marks, assignments, rules, methods, readings, certification, textbooks, attendance, discipline, theory, materials, homework, paperwork mask and distract us from  the core of what teaching is all about – relationships.   The people we meet, the students we help, the colleagues we learn from and are inspired by ….

I won’t belabor the point. Just want to wish all my teaching friends – online or off, having met through my few words I offer now and then or having met flesh and bone – just want to wish everyone a very Merry Holiday and send along the message of how important relationships are.  Treasure them, they are the glue that holds everything together and makes everything we do “work”. Teach with an open heart that lets others in and the learning will happen.

Holiday Greetings and peace and goodwill to all.

David

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.  ~Frederick Buechner

School and Student restraint and confinement

by

I watched this CBS special report about the use of “solitary confinement” and restraints in US schools and have been thinking about it all week. Disturbing. View it below.

It was a good reminder, disturbing as it is. A reminder to me that our schools must be abandoned. They can’t be fixed or repaired. They are broken and must be replaced. If I hear the word school reform one more time, I think I’m going to burst …..

 

My sister and I often have the same argument (she’s also a teacher and I’ll offer the disclaimer that she thinks I’m detached from the reality on the ground, in academia, training teachers etc… but forgets I spent years in classrooms long before she ever thought of teaching.). My sister would be all in favor of these kinds of “treatments”.  I think a lot of practicing teachers would also. Of course they would never do things “so extreme”, or so they’d say. But it is a very, very slippery slope – controlling students in these manners.

My sister is at school for and loves the obedient, eager students. The insolent, disobedient, disrespectful students she detests. And she’ll tell you there are so many of them! She feels they are the product of a society that gives them too many rights, that allows them too much freedom. What they need is to do a good days work, discipline and to see how the real world works.  I disagree.

Student behavior (or misbehavior) is a product and reaction to the present wider society and culture. No amount of coersion, shock therapy or force will change that. If teachers want “better” behaved students in school – they need to join a wider revolution within society and make for change. As it stands our society, our families produce these “problem” students.  A teacher, like any citizen IS part of the problem.  We can’t punish students and make the world turn back into 1953.

Furthermore, we have an environment in school and out that treats children as second class citizens. Students today grow up so fast, gain so much “intelligence” so quick – of course they figure out quickly how irrelevant school is in this day and age. How they have no rights and are daily ordered like prisoners to do this, go here, be that. What might Carl Rogers say at how ill school is at the most fundamental feature of education – creating strong social relationships and personal “value”.  As he says, student must feel “at a deep level that their subjective experience is both respected and progressively understood.”

The cure is not more restraints, nor more punishments. Education, teaching is about “doing no harm” and creating citizens and a society we want. Why do we continue down the road of competition and ranking students by intelligence when the end goal is to create a well adjusted individual? Shouldn’t the students we applaud be those who are happy, who have independent personalities and inner strength and will?

I look at our society and I feel shame. Perhaps besides being a teacher, that is why I am a poet. I want the world to see how shameful it is, as it is.  I’m shamed that we would do these things to children. I’m shamed that our culture is so militant and violent, passively violent.  I’m shamed how the Ultimate Fighter can be part of school curriculum yet peace is given such short thrift. I’m ashamed that teachers don’t have the freedom to teach nor students the freedom or permission to learn. I’m ashamed how students spend hours and hours in school and learn all the wrong things. I’m ashamed how teachers the world over never, ever, ever ask their students what they’d like to learn today.

Last week, took down Summerhill from my bookshelf for a read on the toilet. I read over his thoughts describing the difference between license and freedom – the free and unfree child. They should be required reading for all teachers. I’ll end with a few quotes

I believe to impose anything by authority is wrong (in school). The child should not do anything until he comes to the opinion – his own opinion – that it should be done. The curse of humanity is the external compulsion whether it comes from the Pope or the state or the teacher or the parent. It is fascism in toto. pg 114.

It is this distinction between freedom and license that many parents cannot grasp.  In the disciplined home (school), the children have no rights. In the spoiled home (school), they have all the rights. The proper home is on e in whcih children and adults have equal rights. And the same applies to school.pg 107

People who protest the granting of freedom to children (students) and use this argument (that life is hard, we need to teach children to obey and have discipline – my entry), do not realize that they start with an unfounded assumption – the assumption that a child will not grow or develop unless forced to do so. Yet the entire thirty nine years of experience of Summerhill disproves this assumption.  pg. 109

People are always saying to me, “But how will your free children ever adapt themselves to the drudgery of life? I hope that these free children will be pioneers in abolishing the drudgery of life. pg 114.

Call me a rosy, academic idealistic, my sister certainly would. But look around, do you see much else working?  I do hope one day to have my own school and “cultivez ma jardin” and be the change through some boots on the ground. Until then, these mere words and a beating heart must suffice.

 PS. I wanted to throw a lot of links/references into this post but decided against. Used my own voice and that should suffice.

Simple Tasks For Teaching

by

Recently on the EFL Classroom 2.0 blog, I posted 3 lists of 50 tasks that teachers can use in their teaching – asking students to do them and “practice” language, the skill that is language speaking/reading/writing/listening.

Surprised to death at how popular these lists were! I know we all like lists but I guess I touched on a big need with teachers. Short, concise, easy to implement ideas that can easily be done in the classroom. No fuss, no muss teaching. I also think the “materials light / prep light” aspect of these really went over with teachers. We all know how overwhelming it can be when you get a good idea but it is an impossible circus act of 4 pages of instructions and how to dos. Just impossible to put into action in one’s own classroom.

So here are the three lists consolidated in one place. The lists may be downloaded on the original blog post, for the convenience to use offline and share offline. Enjoy and share your own ideas in these veins when you have the chance.

 

50 tasks for the English Language Classroom

 

 

 



 

50 Tech tasks for the English Language Classroom

 

 

 

 

 

50 tasks using only a blank piece of paper.

 

 

50 Holiday Friendly Activities for the classroom.

ELT Golden Raspberry Awards

by

Well, it is that season again. You know the one – the one where everyone is tweeting and posting about all the “best” bloggers (their online buddies) and posting all their little badges on their blogs. Yes, that time of year – Award Time.

I won’t mention any awards going on or that are about to start. Don’t want to feed the beast, the moloch. You probably know all the usual suspects – the sites not genuinely interested in much of the hard working, “good” in ELT but rather their own traffic and “get everyone to visit my award site”.

Instead of crying and whining, I’m going to fight fire with fire – start my own awards. So I hereby announce the 1st annual ELT Golden Raspberry Awards. Since it is the first, the awards will cover all time – from the first days of cavemen teaching English with chalk and stone to present day post modernists.

I’ll announce the first winner tomorrow (so please return and make me popular!) and one every day thereafter until I run out of raspberrys. Here is the tentative lineup but I reserve the right to change any category at any time. If you have suggestions of winners for any category or another category altogether – please leave a comment and I’ll take it into consideration. Much appreciated.

1. Most dull powerpoint presentations of all time in ELT
2. Most prolific tweeter of what he or she has never read/viewed
3. Most behind the times website about ELT
4. Most expensive course of lowest quality in TESOL
5. Worst coursebook to ever become widely issued
6. Most ineffective methodology for teaching English
7. Least credible award contest in ELT
8. Most horrid marketeers in education
9. Worst attempt at blogging ever
10. The worst tool every to be used a lot by teachers

More categories forthcoming….

Issues in ELT / Issues in SLA

by

I haven’t written much about language recently but I’m definitely always thinking about it. It is itself a jailer, something I can’t get away from and like the adage goes “I am language”.

But been thinking about language as it relates to what we teachers do – teaching it.  I think teachers both need to be aware of the issues surrounding the teaching aspect of their profession but at the same time, the issues surrounding how students learn a language.  Lets call them the practical vs the theoretical ( the house (visible) and the foundation (invisible) ).

So here is a list with a few notes I made along the way, outlining off the top of my head, the main issues in English language teaching (the practical) and Second language acquisition (the theoretical).  Please comment and add your own but I think this list will be helpful to a lot of beginning teachers and help them see the breadth of our profession.

Issues in ELT

1.  Native speaking teachers vs Non-native speaking teachers  - pay / power / role?

2.  The backpacking teacher vs the certified teacher.  Is accreditation needed/useful?

3.  The role of technology.  Problems.  Eteaching boon or bane?.  Teacher training – how?.  Digital literacy.

4.  Textbooks.  Are they necessary?  Are any materials necessary (Dogme)?

5.  Edutainment.  Do students learn through games, being entertained? How much is too much?

6.  Edubusiness.  Does the profit motive hurt / hinder student learning? Are there low cost / no cost alternatives?

7.  Prof. Development.  Does it always mean conferences/workshops? Online PLNs, sharing.

8.   Education vs  Applied Linguistics.  Which orientation should drive the profession and be given importance?  Following good pedagogical practices or the research driven findings of linguists?

9. Proficiency.  What is a fluent speaker?  Can a learner attain native fluency? How do we know what a student knows?

10. Methods.  Is methodology important? Is there a magic bullet/pill? What works best?

Issues in SLA

1.  Poverty of stimulus.  How do we produce language in such unique ways (know and use grammar rules ) without very much input. What’s at work here?

2.  Order of Acquisition.  Does this apply to learning a second langauge?  What are the stages of learning a second language – grammar / words?  What are the differences between L1 and L2 learning?   Interlanguage – does it exist?

3.   Age. Critical period hypothesis.  Are young learners better language learners or just different?

4.  Cognitive Issues.  How does the brain store and process language? How are the brain and language linked. Do we think in words? Can we feel language? How is memory related to a second language.  Does the language we speak change the brain (Whorf)?  What mechanisms drive acquisition?  Innate vs learned behavior.

5. Identity and Culture.  Do we become different when we speak another language?  Culture.  Is language culture specific – how? Is it important to save languages and have many languages spoken in the world?

6. Form vs Function   /   Input vs  Output   /     Skills Focus  vs Immersion 

– do we learn a language best through an inductive nature or by deductive explanation and then application? Do we learn the rules informally or formally?  Can be break up language into discrete skills/units to study or is it too messy an affair?

7.  What is a word?  What is the basis of meaning and upon which communication is built? Semiology – how do things have meanings and what is the relationship? Why can’t a wink be as good as a nudge?

8.  Social factors.  The affective filter. How do factors like intelligence, affluence/poverty, peer grouping,  development, motivation affect learning? Are they critical? Personality – how does it effect learning a language (risk taking).

9.  Aptitude.  Why are some people better at learning languages? Why are females better? What factors drive this success – innate /  learned?

10.  Error correction.  How? Should it be done at all?  What makes a self correcting learner?

If you enjoyed this, you may enjoy “Insights Into SLA”

Opening up our schools

by

The one thing I have always wished about school – that it was a marketplace of ideas/learning where all in the community could come and go as they please. A doors open, windows blowing fresh air through policy.

This is far from how it works. Going to school is mandatory for students, a criminal sentence. Many or most parents have to book an appointment to go to their child’s classroom. Invite guests into your classroom? Be prepared for reams of paperwork and forms to be approved. Grandparents in the classroom? Forget it – what if they had a heart attach, god forbid we have children learn that people die!

I’m not joking. We need to do everything in our power to get our schools to be OPEN. To use the resources, especially the human resources of our communities. Teaching is not just the domain of the teacher – this is where we have to begin.  The biggest factor dragging down our student achievement is the system itself, how it is set up. Ira Socol writes eloquently about this, “System Effect”.

Sugata Mitra for English language teaching has his “granny cloud” – grandmothers in the UK teaching Indian students via skype. And here’s an innovative practice in the states – “Foster Grandparents”. The elderly going to classrooms, rolling up their sleeves and helping out. Wonderful! Now let’s get working on the other stuff to make our classrooms a marketplace of learning and ideas…. there are a lot of customers out there.

If you liked this post, you may enjoy - Student Learning and Trust.

Student Learning and Trust

by

 One thing that I’ve concluded after a few decades in school systems is they operate with a profound distrust of students. Distrust that left on their own students would want to learn something, even choose to learn.

It’s true.  Even the most well intentioned teachers I speak with have a belief that children need to be cajoled, pushed, prodded and controlled – all so they will do the work and learn something.

This pessimism pervades our profession.  I say it without disrespecting the profession and the hard work that is done, day in and day out by teachers who “are there”.  Doing more than most in our society to help the future.  But a truth is a truth and it is what it is.

Children are the only segment of our population confined against their will. We call it “compulsory education”. I believe the problem begins there, caging our children and making school into a punishment rather than a place you want to go to.

It is sad and based on my own experience I reject this belief, a belief that rests too much within the domain of “power”.  You see, if you give the powerless any sort of power, of course, in the short term, they’ll run with it . Students will loaf and be at ease, do little and cruise.  But give it time, trust them and show you trust them – they’ll show you what they are made of.   It’s true and I’ve seen it.

What we lack in our educational system is patience.  We are so, so, reactive. Myopic.  And trust is not a short term relationship but something that like faith, lasts and endures. We need to trust students and let them do of their own and follow the path of self-direction. If we don’t, we create widgets, we create citizens who can’t think for themselves, who just follow the leaders ….. and we know where that end – blind obedience.

Do you trust your students? REALLY trust them?  I hope so……     I hope we start to give students the freedom to be their own method rather than have them follow our own. Learning is always a path trodden by just one.

I’ll end with a fav. song….. about luv but also about teaching (which is but luv in another dress)

Dogme revisited

by

This morning, sat down and had some “my time”.  Went through a number of my hundreds of notebooks full of philosophy, essays, poems that I’ve been collecting over 4 decades.  A lot of stuff buried in these books but was surprised to pull open about 50 pages on film. Don’t even remember writing this but it was fascinating. One part was on Dogme, when it was a new approach to film making in the 90s.

It got me thinking about Dogme ELT something I think is often misinterpreted by many teachers. It also is sort of misnamed – if Dogme ELT were to follow the original Dogme manifesto, it wouldn’t ever take place in a class but only use original settings for practicing language. For example, if you were learning about ordering food, you’d do so in a restaurant. The classroom would be anthema for anything but learning metalanguage (language we use to talk about language).

To me, Dogme ELT is about two crucial things:  

1.  focusing class activities around the language of the learner and the resulting emergent language (it is highly personal)

2. little or no use of materials (textbooks, worksheets, cards, tapes, computers etc…)

Too often I hear teachers talk about Dogme ELT like it is just going into a classroom and chatting up, running with  anything that happens. I don’t think this is what it is about and that approach would be Hangout ELT.   In Dogme, the teacher needs to be very experienced in language teaching and interpreting the language of the learners – so they may guide them towards better use and form of that language .

So find below two things.

1.  My rewrite of Dogme ELT imagining if it followed the original Dogme 95 manifesto

2. My notebook entry from the 90s about Dogme, rewritten to apply to Dogme teaching.

Might spark some thought about new possibilities with our lessons and in our classrooms.

Dogme ELT Manifesto: (see original HERE)

  1. All teaching and practice of language must be done “in situ”, in the real location. No fake props or sets but only using real language in a real location.
  2. Teaching is holistic.  There must be no separation of function and form and language is treated not in discrete parts, nor dissected but rather as it is used.
  3. Technology must be simple and hand driven. Chalk, pencils, pens etc…. No use of electronic devices; computers, screens, CD players and so on. The speaker, the human being, is the focus.
  4. Teaching must be real. It can’t be a play, a scripted event. The plan is that there is no plan other than the main objective to start things off.  No fakery, no lying on the part of the teacher.
  5. Extrinsic motivators are forbidden.  The class must not be tainted by point systems, rewards and competition.
  6. There should not be any role playing in the classroom (this is artificial). All language takes place and arises from a real need and impulse.
  7. No use of video to show learners language used in a different time and place. It all happens in the here and now.
  8. The teacher can’t be an actor or use different teaching styles. Nor are there any different types of English to be taught (business, global studies, finance, hospitality and tourism etc…). The only English used is that of necessity that comes from the learner, there is no imposed structure given from the instructor.
  9. The class must be 10 or less students to facilitate real use of the language and proper instructor intervention.
  10. The teacher is part of the class and a learner.  Credit goes to the whole class for any success, not just the teacher.
Dogme Teaching – A revisiting (rewriting for education/teaching of what I originally wrote about Dogme film, substituting “teaching” for references about cinema)

Dogme?!  Everyone is talking about this manifesto, a new and amazing approach to teaching. What a crock!  There is nothing new there, it is all fluff and puff. It is only “style”, how a woman might choose a scarf for her walk. Dressing up. The form of teaching shouldn’t be an absolute, a funnel but open and expansive, a way to more things. Dogme teaching is a way for some but we shouldn’t think that anything about teaching language is a MUST. Nothing is sacred and there are many ways to touch that special place where learning happens.

But even if we accept this new form, this new approach as being new, it certainly isn’t revolutionary or transformative. It hasn’t any developmental gravity, it takes teaching nowhere. It only leaves so much on the cutting floor. It simplifies but at a cost.  We don’t realize it but we all bring so much cultural baggage into the classroom – there must be desks, a chalkboard, students as an audience, 40 minutes …….  Dogme teaching is just another system and jailing – as all ideological, school and teacher led learning must be.

 

Linguistic Chauvinism

by

I just finished watching my daily hour of PBS news and I’m irate. Sometimes American insularity and small mindedness is cute and amusing (as De Tocqueville imagined) but sometimes it isn’t. Listening to a Republican senator ramble on about how “English First” is what true Americans insist on, just “got my goat” – a policy and mindset that is simply racist and racism to me isn’t very American. I’m speaking about the Republican fantasy of creating an America where everyone speaks English and drinks beer and goes to church – that’s it in a nutshell.

English Only is something I’ve seen as a teacher in our school system. Question.

A teacher has 1.5 hours a day for “English”. In the grade 4 class are many ESL students. The teacher allows students to read for pleasure for 30 minutes of the period. The students can choose their own book. Some of the ESL students choose books in their own language – Tamil, Irdu, Farsi, Somali, Korean. The teacher allows this, no questions asked. Should the teacher be reprimanded?

I’ll give you my answer in a moment but I’ll first take the long route.

There is a very deep misunderstanding of the relationship bwtween literacy in an L1 and literacy in an L2. Most, many teachers too, believe that they are distinct and separate. You gain competence in each separately. If you want to get better at English, read English. If you want to get better at Icelandic, watch Icelandic movies.

This is a very dangerous myth pervading our profession, us English teachers. Literacy is not discrete knowledge. There is only one kind of literacy and it isn’t language specific. It is something deep and beyond a language itself. It is a way of thinking about text, sound and “fury”. As you build literacy in one language, you so build literacy in another….. The best thing you can do for a young second language student especially is to not neglect their own L1 literacy and language skills. These are crucial and make for a successful, intelligent adult. Here’s a presentation that gives a great overview of this topic – a must read. Also, this book is the ideal reference for any serious teacher’s shelf.

Durgunoglu, A. & Goldenberg, C. (Eds.) (2010). Language and literacy development in bilingual settings. New York: Guilford.

Now back to the question. No, certainly not, the teacher shouldn’t be reprimanded but applauded. But the reality is quite different. That example is true and what I used to do in my own ESL classroom. However, I had to do it secretly, in our little portable, with the children sworn to a code of secrecy (no kidding). Otherwise, I’d have been asked to explain and despite research and truth on my side,  power and old perceptions would win the day. We’d all be “English Only”.

And that’s the card Republican’s are playing. No thought about what’s right, what’s researched, what helps a student succeed in the long term. Only subversive thoughts of purity and cleanliness (to borrow Claude Levi Strauss’ term for the most evil and universal archetype. ).

A country is its people. Period. Not its language or the color of its eyes or the money in its bank. Let’s get our students loving language and the learning will arrive. To end my rant – some levity, some comedy. You’ll enjoy this if you’ve read this far….

Pronunciation and Vocabulary Courses (like you’ve never seen before)

by

Today, EnglishCentral released the first version of their Pronunciation and Vocabulary courses. They’ll be making some changes and additions as they go along but what they have right now is just “out of this world” and a great leap forward in how students can both gain clear pronunciation and build academic vocabulary quickly.

Join my Pronunciation and Vocabulary course (click Enroll Now) and I’ll upgrade you to try them out as a Premium teacher! (make sure to Enroll As A Teacher)

Pronunciation Courses:

Tailored to the students L1, they allow students to review the major challenges they face regarding pronunciation. The language is presented through highly contextualized video context. To work on specific sounds, students may purchase individual sound units for practice.  Demo the Free Course /I/


Vocabulary Courses:

Made to ensure students gain a lot of practice recycling the vocabulary item and learning it in highly contextualized video segments – students first study each word in the patented speech recognition player. After studying in the player, students take a quiz of all the words in the unit. See all the courses available but more are forthcoming. Students can study the whole AWL and get prepared for study at an English university.  Demo the Free Starter Course

Interested in using EnglishCentral and our patented “Teacher Tools” LMS with your students this semester? Please take a look at our Academic Pricing and contact me. I’ll offer a full tour and can address any questions you may have.

 

pronandvocab from EnglishCentral on Vimeo.

Memory Games and Generators

by

Over the years, I’ve found that one of the most popular of the simple games for studying language is the Memory Game. Here’s a sample so you know what I mean – find a nice list below.


Basically, the students flip cards and try to match photos, sound or text. They try to do this in the least amount of tries. With disciplined students it can promote vocabulary development but be cautious! With the wrong students it can just turn into flipping cards and matching images (and text can just be an image – if it has no reference to its meaning).

Memry is a cool way students can generate these games on their own using the Flickr API. (much like 5 card Flickr which I wrote about, does for storytelling). Just type in the tag and it’ll create a related memory game instantly. Here’s a screencast tutorial I did quickly while walking on my treadmill desk – forgive me poor memory!

Find more memory games on EFL Classroom 2.0 Games page (look for “Memory” in the title) and EFL 2.0 member ridivan – Flash Games. Also this page has some nice ones for different subjects and letters of the alphabet.
————————————————————-

If you liked this post, you may enjoy Memory And Language: An Experiment.

Teacher Training

by

It’s summer and thought I’d quickly share some Teacher Training  resources I have created/organized for teachers.

Please see the Teacher Training Channel for many presentation like those below (now all available in flash). Also, our full library of teacher training items. Further, a sterling list of archived articles – Must Reads!

This list and video library of Educational Thinkers has a lot of valuable learning.

Please be sure to see the handbooks in this Professional Development category and also both our Prof. Development page and our Teacher Training area with 15 modules/transcripts/readings + additional readings.

Teacher training is a growing area and the more shared learning we can make possible, the easier it is on all of us! Further GO HERE for a full series of podcasts featuring all the components of Linguistics. A great course, each unit is about 30 min of listening!

Finally, the TED HD player I created has them all – all the presentations since the dawn of TED time.

Thinking About Schools: some resources

by

illychI’ve been teaching a course to pre-service B.Ed. students – Schools and Education.   I basically have a lot of room to “do my thing” and really just get students to challenge their set values, beliefs and preconceptions about what is school and what is an “education”.  I can rant and rave but more often challenge them with questions that they find their own answer to.

I thought it would be useful to share some of the links I recommend to students through the blackboard we use (admittedly many are Canadian since that is where I teach). So here you go. Lots of great pickings to get your own brain, your own juices thinking differently about school and education. And we must, we must never become entrenched and cornered into a set idea, a set paradigm. Education itself is always moving, always changing. We need teachers who realize this and act with this in mind. Never stay still, keep moving ……..

General Reading

Freire – The Future of School http://www.papert.org/articles/freire/freirePart1.html

Freire – 4th Letter / Letter to my teacher. Qualities

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/legacy/research/freire/pk.html?cms_page=freire/pk.html

Summerhill, O’Neill, Forward by Eric Fromm.

Teaching As A Subversive Activity, Postman and Weingarten.

After Deschooling, Ivan Illich

James Baldwin – A talk to teachers. Race. http://richgibson.com/talktoteachers.htm

Law: Myers vs Peel board of ed. Negligence. http://scc.lexum.org/en/1981/1981scr2-21/1981scr2-21.html

Brown, A., Legal handbook for educators, 6th ed. (Toronto: Carswell, 2009)

Watkinson, Education, Students rights and the charter. Chpt 5.

Negotiating power in the classroom: Briskin http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/cws/article/viewFile/8766/7943

http://www.ucalgary.ca/dtoolkit/bibliography

The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Teacher: Selected Writings.

http://www.youblisher.com/p/118604-The-unbearable-lightness-of-being-a-teacher/

 

Links/blogs/online references

Advice for teachers L.Ferlazzo list - http://t.co/PGHlRjv

Mike Rose graduation speech -  http://bit.ly/nXvFZ0

How to prevent another da vinci - http://wanderingink.wordpress.com/2007/05/23/how-to-prevent-another-leonardo-da-vinci/

Kyle. My education poem - http://community.eflclassroom.com/video/my-education

Cosby Speech - http://community.eflclassroom.com/video/bill-cosbys-life-lesson

Teacher Talk Best posts: http://ddeubel.edublogs.org/2011/08/29/bests-posts-2010-2011

Ira Socol: http://speedchange.blogspot.com

Uninspired Teacher - http://uninspiredteacher.blogspot.com

Stephen Dowes http://www.downes.ca/

Joe Bower http://www.joebower.org/

Clay Burrell - http://beyond-school.org/

Larry Ferlazzo – Best advice to new teachers. http://bit.ly/pFo2Jj

CEA - http://www.cea-ace.ca/blog

David Wees - http://davidwees.com

David Warlich – 2 cents worth - http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/

George Couros – Princples of change - http://georgecouros.ca/blog/

Chris Wejr - http://mrwejr.edublogs.org

 

Social Networking

Can Educators on LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=4052478&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Canadian Educators on Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/davidwees/canadian-educator/members

Unplugged Cnd Educators - http://www.unplugd.ca/index.html

Podcasts:

The purpose of education: CBC roundtable.

http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorningns/2011/04/the-purpose-of-education.html

John Taylor Gatto – Letter to my granddaughter. Unschooling.

http://huffduffer.com/eflclassroom/33588

What makes a great teacher? How to know?

http://ddeubel.edublogs.org/files/2010/11/What-makes-a-great-teacher-13p3zjh.mp3

 

Videos:

Ken Robinson: Your Element http://vimeo.com/9842035

Benjamin Zander: Ted. http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html

Viktor Frankl http://community.eflclassroom.com/video/mans-search-for-meaning

Krashen: Poverty and education http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLcootlU9lc

Hall Dennis revisited. http://bit.ly/phfYNS

TVO roundtable-one size fits all? http://bit.ly/oCK5pz

Yourvoice – Is school essential to your child’s learning? http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/tvoparents/index.cfm?page_id=483&event_id=1485

Your Voice – The Classroom Mirror. Do schools reflect reality/diversity?    http://bit.ly/npLimf

Africentric Schools? - http://community.eflclassroom.com/profiles/blogs/africentric-culturecentric

Finne Cherian: Best University lecturer Ontario – Reflections on Schooling. Unbinding baby elephants

http://www.tvo.org/TVOsites/WebObjects/TvoMicrosite.woa?video11429 – reflections

http://www.tvo.org/TVOsites/WebObjects/TvoMicrosite.woa?video11066 – lecture

TVO : What makes a great teacher. Roundtable.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXaLGt460e4
______________________________________________________________

If you liked this post, you may like – Self Directed Learning Part 1

5 Card Flickr – Storytelling….

by

Yesterday on twitter, I was pinged and asked about “Storyboards”. I offered my own collected resources, including Story Dominoes. Both fine resources with photos which students can use to either tell or write a story. A wonderful activity (and always make sure to get students to share their stories, the final part of the learning process – or should be!).
I got to thinking some more on this type of resource and shared my Writing with Pictures resources but then was reminded of the fantastic 5 card flickr website.

It is simple to play and students can either tell a story based on the photos or even write / read a story on the website.  Here’s one I made and which you can use for telling in class.

Students simply select one of five photos offered. They continue to do this 5 times and will have 5 images. Then they can save the story and write it or tell it. So simple!  Make sure to click the random button to get a random story!

Need just one story?  We have the largest online library of stories for all levels. You’ll be amazed!

New LinkedIn Conversations about teaching

by

Our LinkedIn group is growing and there is a lot of sharing of ideas. A great place to do some summer professional development or to add your own thoughts. So here are some recent conversations of note with many comments and insights. Check them out!

(not a member of the group? Please join, just takes a second.)

First Day Of Classes: http://linkd.in/Nlo8oS

What books or articles have most influenced your teaching?: http://linkd.in/Oo0AlZ

If you could change one thing about ELT, what would it be?: http://linkd.in/LxhdZc

Is phonics necessary to teach pronunciation?: http://linkd.in/MTNBYO

How many sounds are there in English? : http://linkd.in/O4uXdv

Should all teachers have a TEFL certificate?: http://linkd.in/LmJVQZ

What’s the best way to use pop songs?: http://linkd.in/O4xzbi

What qualities should an ideal foreign language teacher have?: http://linkd.in/Lxipf2

What will happen if a teacher is more of a comedian than a teacher?: http://linkd.in/Oo4XNU
Introduce yourself to the group: http://linkd.in/MTMQiu

The #1 …. teaching prop

by

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

                          A Wig or a Hat

A teacher wears many hats, so why not actually wear one?

Especially for a language teacher, it is imperative to decrease student anxiety, lower the students’ “affective filter” *. We need to be “performers” as well as excellent psychologists and “doctors of human motivation”. We need to master the ability to manage class mood and to get students to “be” light but still connected with the learning happening in the classroom.

There is no better way I’ve found than using a wig or a hat. Putting on a wig or a hat helps in two main ways: 1. You become another teacher, it gives you a new identity and you can teach differently and stretch your limits, test out new methods and manners of being in the classroom. 2. Your relationship with the students changes, it lightens, the class becomes less heavy and more a place the students want to be.

I first used wigs and hats when teaching young learners and when storytelling. It was a way of indicating it was a time to hit the carpet and read our storybook. But then I extended its use to times when levity was needed, when the class mood had sunk. I started using it to be another and tell stories or act like another teacher. Eventually, I even allowed students to wear it as a reward, as a way they could have an alter ego. There are just so many ways, a wig or a hat is valuable in the classroom. And it is convenient, takes one second to do and bingo! – like magic, the learning environment is transformed.

One of the most memorable moments I had as a teacher trainer and evaluator was watching a teacher’s class when she was getting students to perform short role plays she’d ask them to prepare. As the students came to the front of the class, she pulled out a big box and students could choose a hat to wear during their performance. It instantly lightened the students’ anxiety and really helped them produce and learn the role play dialog language. It was magic!

Try it, you’ll be amazed at how your classroom will be transformed.

P.S. > My second vote goes to hand puppets. A very effective prop for language teachers!

* The affective filter is an impediment to learning or acquisition caused by negative emotional (“affective”) responses to one’s environment. It is a hypothesis of second language acquisition theory, and a field of interest in educational psychology.

According to the affective filter hypothesis, certain emotions, such as anxiety, self-doubt, and mere boredom interfere with the process of acquiring a second language. They function as a filter between the speaker and the listener that reduces the amount of language input the listener is able to understand. These negative emotions prevent efficient processing of the language input.[6] The hypothesis further states that the blockage can be reduced by sparking interest, providing low anxiety environments and bolstering the learner’s self-esteem.
According to Krashen (1982)[7], there are two prime issues that prevent the lowering of the affective filter. The first is not allowing for a silent period (expecting the student to speak before they have received an adequate amount of comprehensible input according to their individual needs). The second is correcting their errors too early-on in the process.

Since Stephen Krashen first proposed this hypothesis in the 1970s, a considerable amount of research has been done to test its claims. While the weight of that research is still not definitive, the hypothesis has gained increasing support.

Krashen was not the first to suggest this hypothesis. Dulay and Burt were in 1977, and Krashen made it famous in 1982. This is stated by Krashen himself on page 31 of his book on second language acquisition (1982). Source: Wikipedia

Commencement. Commencing What?

by

Tomorrow my students are graduating with their B.Ed. There will be the usual big ceremony, the speeches, the dinner and so on and so on….. Each year over and over like a giant gristmill.

I’m happy with my students. So happy. Also very proud of this bunch of new teachers, they kept their idealism and passion all year and no doubt will bring this energy into teaching, into education. I’m so happy they are graduating. However, I’m not going to be there.

More and more, coming to the realization (for me) that graduation isn’t celebrating the right things. Rather, it is celebrating completions rather than beginnings. Or rather beginnings rather than continuings. It is all about “getting them out the door”. Schools and higher education especially, have become depersonalizing exercises and experiences. Big business. I’m generalizing of course, I know there are programs out there that keep more community after graduation than just sending an alumni donation request and a reunion appeal. I know there are schools out there who are more about fostering lifelong learning than making the time students spend there into a competitive 100m dash. I know. However, it’s summer and again I’m discontent, so I’m not going.

A few commencement addresses this season (yeah, it is a season, kind of like sports, a lifting of the cup and then it is a whole new go around) have tried to be honest about what school is. Michael Lewis stirred things up by bluntly telling graduates they were “lucky” and there (at Princeton) because of luck, not merit. David McCullough looked graduates straight in the eye and told them “you’re not special”. Hard realism and though it has good shock value, it is not the message I would give. I’ll let you guess what I’d do (if you’ve read this far) but it would be similar to the exhortation of my fav. graduation speech by Bill Cosby.

I’m not making much sense and now talking to myself, about why I’m not going to commencement. Usually the truest things are those you are least able to describe…….


Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0
If you liked this post, you might enjoy – Teaching is …