December 31, 2015 by Joanna Malefaki

Looking at 2015 & from me to you

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and think/talk about 2015 and reflect on the good (professional moments). As teachers, we often tend to focus on the bad and forget about the good. So today ( and please don’t take this as a toot toot/boasting post), I wanna mention some good things. Things that put a smile on my face.

First though I will start with 2014. That’s when I shut down my language school. I had put so much effort into something that did not work out. It was a failure. I spent the end of 2014 thinking about all the things I could have done/changed.I was so sad (professionally).

Then 2015….

I got my Delta (finally).

eecc3-delta2bbooks

You guys wrote many #youngerteacherself posts which was amazing. It even became conference topics which is mindblowing. Something that started in Greece ended up being talked about in Korea!

I went to conferences and I got to meet people from my PLN in person!That is what I love about conferences.

I got the IATEFL BESIG Maria Keller 1st time speaker scholarship which meant that I went to my first Besig conference in Barcelona and it was great.

Lovely PLN at BESIG conference

I had a lovely summer in the UK teaching EAP at Sheffield University/ I got to travel a lot around the UK and went to Camridge (which is really beautiful and you have to go if you haven’t).

Cambridge

And now….

I’d like to thank you guys for reading my wacky posts. I am not a mega giga blogger, but you guys stick by me, and I really appreciate it.

For 2016 I have a few things on my mind. So, here goes:

Have a Happy New Year everyone!I wish you all the best. I hope you have good times. Better times. Lots of love, joy and healthy moments.Remember when you’ve tried and it’s not working, let it go. BUT shoot for the stars. Even if you don’t think you can do it, but you wanna try, go for it! Take risks and don’t worry about flops! I have had my share of flops and am still standing! Stay safe everyone.

candy

xxx ❤ ❤

December 29, 2015 by Joanna Malefaki

I don’t have any goals miss…..

The last day of classes and since I am really into planning and micro-goal setting, I thought I’d ask my B2 level students (teenagers) to write an essay about their goals for 2016 and what they are going to do to make them happen. I thought it was a great idea. “Think of something you want to achieve and say how you are going to make it happen”. Ummmm. Nope. My students hated the idea, and me being a stubborn/bad teacher, I insisted. I said, ” You must want to achieve something! Even if it’s going to a higher level of LOL (League of Legends=video game). I want you to tell me how you will become better at playing your game!”. Their response, ” But that’s not a goal miss” Yay! There is hope. So I said, ” Write about anything! Have a little/big goal and tell me how you will make it happen”. Total distress!! Again ” but we don’t have any goals…..”

So, this made me wonder about my teaching and my kids. I mean, OK, maybe I shouldn’t have set this as homework. Maybe I could have done a bit more brainstorming. We did talk about my goals and various things someone may want to achieve in a year. Big goals vs. little goals, but maybe they neeeded more help. Maybe even, worst case scenario,my kids are not mature enough to have, say, big goals. But they must have some!! What kind of world is this where teenagers say, ” I don’t have any goals miss!”? It’s sad and scary. Actually, and this has occurred to me after publishing the post, the worst scenario is this one: It’s because they are Greek kids living in the days of recession where money is tight, there is a lot of depression, and the news are just bombarding us with everything that is not working. Do my kids have no hope, hence no goals? That’s even sadder and scarier.

Anyways, I set this as an Xmas essay. I will tell you what they came up with once I have their answers!!

Till next time…

December 21, 2015 by Joanna Malefaki

My day in four skills: #4skills1day

I posted this on my 2nd blog (cause one blog is not enough) and I had so much fun. So, here is my day in the four skills (cleva eh? toot toot. Tooting my own horn). This should become a #hashtag. #4skills1day (There I even made it!!!Dunno if anyone will write something similar but you know me. I ❤ chains).

Listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Welcome to my day guys, or should I say my class?!? Yeap! Yeap! Me being random once again!!!!

Listening

So this tune played over and over today. Seriously, if you play it once, you will play it over and over again!!!! It reminds me of the good old pop songs. 80s? nice. Nice and nicer.

Reading

I read this article with my learners. It is sad. Disturbing and really makes you wonder about how much we are polluting the atmosphere and crazy ‘selling’ ideas. Full article can be found here.

Screenshot of http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Speaking

I had a speaking lesson and my learner said that s/he enjoyed the session cause we were speaking and it didn’t feel like I was a teacher. Hmmmmmmm dunno how I feel about that.

Writing

Well, I am writing this blog post. I have already written another one and I wanna write one more for my edu blog. So writing x3

So there you have it. All four skills in one post. Can you describe your day in the same way? Let me know if you do (hashtag remember?)

Till next time……..

December 15, 2015 by Joanna Malefaki

L1 vs. L2: where L1 wins

Many say that the learner’s L1 should not be used unless necessary, others say it should never be used, while there are those who use the L1 without really thinking that much about it. I would say that I am in the last category. I use English and Greek. The higher level the learner is, the less I use Greek, but with lower level learners I use Greek to give instructions, feedback, to explain grammar or concepts. I sometimes translate to show the difference between L1/l2. My students do end up speaking English well. They do become proficient and all is good in Joanna’s land. BUT what happens when you do not speak the learner’s L1 and the lesson is online?

You see, giving instructions during face to face lessons where you can point to things and show your learner, even take the learner by the hand and explain something, is easy. You can do it. If the lesson is online though, yes, you can use your camera, paraphrase, use the pointer (mouse), you can even draw, but you cannot do much if the learner still doesn’t get your instructions. Today I was trying to explain a writing tool in my virtual classroom, but my learner did not understand the word “type” and could not understand the term “press the button with the letter ‘T'”, so I got frustrated, my learner got frustrated. If I was in the classroom, I would have just pointed in the book or given an example and typed using these features.

I cannot do that when I teach online. The other thing I cannot do is speak French. I paraphrased, drew, paraphrased more, used the ‘T’ button myself, but nothing.

What did I end up doing? I asked someone to call the learner and explain some of the features and maybe even use French. So, everything is going to be OK, but I wish I could speak French cause in this case I wouldn’t have wasted valuable time explaining something that ended up not being explainable!

So, have any of you had sistuations where you wished you could speak the student’s L1? Let me know in the comments section below.

I need coffee

Till next time……

December 10, 2015 by Joanna Malefaki

#GirliesideofELT: Digital paper for scrapbooking

Hi guys!!

You know me. I love me some pretty planning/scrapbooking and journaling. I just popped in to say that I have a coupon code for digital paper (you can only use it for personal use not commercial purposes). If you need it for material you are making for your kids, scrap booking, journaling or anything else, you may wanna press the link and check out this website for some really nice designs. I actually made my first printable!!

My planner

My first printable

I bought my digital paper from an Etsy store called aestheticaddiction link can be found here . You can find lots of pretty designs to use in your planner (shout out to pretty paper designs for mentioning this website). The owner also gave coupon codes for you guys (I am making no money off this).
20DISC – this is good for 20% off a purchase.
50DISC – 50% of any order over $10.00

You can find my printable here. Full boxes Vintage pink and beige (height 2.4 inches/width 1.5).

OK! I am off.

Talk soon!!!

December 8, 2015 by Joanna Malefaki

Help me! Help me!

So, you know what? Sometimes there are days where after teaching I wanna sit down and cry!! Like crying out of frustration. Not out of sorrow!!! Today was one of those days. Why? I have one word for you fellow teacher: Students!!

I am in desperate need of help with a student in particular. This learner is an Alpha type personality who does the unthinkable. S/he asks questions, answers them, and then moves on to follow up questions. So, you may ask, ” Does s/he answer them correctly?” Ummm. Nope! Me? I stay silent waiting for my cue to speak which never comes because questions come flying one after the other and I never, ever get to speak!!! I know that teacher talk time should be as minimum as possible, but in this case teacher talk is becoming non-existent.

What do I do? I end up speaking over the learner who doesn’t listen anyway. Keep in mind, I am not a quiet/introvert/shy etc. etc. teacher. You know. The one who sits patiently. Noooooooo. I am the chatty teacher, the one who commands the floor (toot -toot). I am sometimes kinda rude even, but with this one… I dunnoooooooooooo. Help me!! Gimme your wisdom ………… or a holy intervention……

20150830_193536

December 1, 2015 by Joanna Malefaki

#Monthlyfavourites November 2015

This month I thought I’d ask someone else to write the #monthlyfavourites post and the lovely Theodora, from TheodoraPap blog, agreed to write a guest blog post. So, let’s see what Theodora liked in November. Over to you!!

November’s peaks

I had been meaning to write a post in my own blog with November’s peaks, when I saw Joanna posting that she wanted somebody to guest blog! So here I am!

My peaks are not just blogs, but also websites or articles that I came across and found really interesting to read.

So here we go!

Number 1:

Minecraft? Why not?

Watching my son playing minecraft, I couldn’t help wondering how teachers can actually use this game in their lessons. I have seen various talks on the subject, but since I am gaming-illiterate, I still have difficulty integrating something like this in my lessons.

Here is an article – guide with useful ideas that could actually work for someone like me, as well

http://eflmagazine.com/language-learning-minecraft/

Number 2:

Herbert Puchta’s webinar notes

Herbert Puchta is one of my heroes. I have been using his course books and I have been attending his seminars and I actually met him in Athens last year at the TESOL convention. A brilliant man with wonderful ideas. Lot’s to learn!

http://www.herbertpuchta.com/resources/

Language

Number 3:

29 photos taken by people who didn’t know they were recording history.

people taking pics.png

In my job, one of my tasks is research. So, I spend lots of hours in front of my computer, looking for authentic material that could be integrated in our courses. There are so many wonderful pictures showing what is happening in the world and could actually become prompts for discussions with your students.

http://randomenthusiasm.com/7901950-29-photos-taken-by-people-who-didn-t-know-they-were-recording-hi

Number 4:

CEFR and Grammar.