Happy New Year everyone!!! Today’s post is going to be about what I loved in December ELT wise. So, let’s see!!
Articles
Here are some articles I used to generate discussions/ long talks with my learners.
The secret to living a long life: This one was funny. I asked my (female) learners, “What do you think the secret to a long life is”. They gave me loads of answers but no one expected this one. There is a video as well, so there was a bit of listening practice as well.
13 things airlines don’t want you to know: They found this one VERY interesting!!Loads of colloquialisms here. Looked at lots of words and idioms. Some of my students wanted to read the whole article even though we had run out of time!
I read two lovely blog posts that had the same theme. 30 things to ask yourself on Newe Year’s Eve. Anna Loseva posted the questions a year ago. You can find the post here. Rachel’s post is here and Sandy’s is here. Just as I was editing this post, Vedrana wrote her 30 questions to ask. You can find that one here.
Evan Frendo mentioned this site during his BESIG talk. If you are interested in corpora, check this one out. Laurence Anthony’s Website.
Websites and some random stuff
Fonts. You may want to use different fonts for your websites, lesson handouts or whatever. Check this website out.
Free digital paper for scrapbooking/journaling etc (only for personal use). I was given two free jpegs to share with my readers on blog number 2. It is really pretty. You can check it out here.
So, that’s all folks. Don’t forget to subscribe/follow my …. lovely blog. Follow me on Twitter: @joannacre and Pinterest.If you are interested in makeup and other girlie stuff check out blog number 2!
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).
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.
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!!
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.
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?)
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.
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
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……
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
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!
29 photos taken by people who didn’t know they were recording history.
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.
Just like last year, I will be sharing with you another holiday season countdown till school break up for Christmas holidays. So, here are some suggestions for activities you can do with your learners. Where possible I have added an educational twist.
Tuesday 1st December
Christmas/holidays around the world project: Get your students to find information about how Christmas is celebrated around the world. It may be a good idea to do some research on how people in Australia celebrate cause it is summer over there :). Give your students about ten days to finish their projects. Inform them that they will be presenting to the rest of the class. Depending on class size, you can do this as individual/pair or group work. You can also send your learners to this website and ask them to find information. Presentation date: Friday the 11th
Wednesday December 2nd
Sock Snowman: Get your students to make a snowman out of a sock. You can watch the video with your learners and make a sock.
Educational twist: Get them to write down the instructions on how to make this. Half the class watches the video and then they have to tell their classmates (the other half) what to do. If you are interested in grammar, get them to practice countable and uncountable nouns.
Thursday December 3rd
Secret Santa time. Explain what secret Santa is. Put all your students’ names in a bag and then each student pulls a name. Make sure there is a money limit or that everyone is making a gift instead of buying something (that’s up to you to decide).Also specify that the presents need to be gender neutral! Tell them they must bring in their presents on X of December (give yourself time to make or purchase something if a student has forgotten to bring a purchase).
Friday December 4th
Charlie Brown and the Christmas tree: Watch the video with your class.
Educational twist: tell them to summarise what happens in this story (writing). You can also make your own listening true or false questions. This is a great video about the true meaning of Christmas/the holidays.
Monday December 7th
3D paper tree: Again time for some video-viewing. Make some 3D paper trees with your students to decorate your class.
Educational twist: Get them to write down the instructions on how to make this. Half the class watches the video and then they have to tell their classmates what to do OR you (the teacher) make some trees, ask them to try to explain how they think the tree was made and then watch the video and check if they got it right!
Tuesday December 8th
Christmas gingerbread men streamers. Get a string of paper and get each student to draw a gingerbread man. Then cut out the men and make a hole on the top of the paper and hang it in the class.
Educational twist: teach your students the parts of the body while making the streamers.
Wednesday December 9th
Get your learners to look for and find words related to Christmas. Depending on their age, you can choose hard or easy word search games. You can even give them a time limit to make it even more challenging. Find word search games here.
Thursday December 10th
Time for some Christmas songs/ carols. Find a Christmas song you like, search for the lyrics and start singing with your students. My suggestion: Santa Claus is coming to town
Online Christmas trivia: Get your learners to answer questions about the holidays.This can be done online in pairs or groups. You can find the quiz here.
Tuesday December 15th
Make gingerbread men: Get your students to watch the video with the recipe on how to make gingerbread men.
Educational twist: 1. ask them to write the recipe! This is a good way to practice numbers. 2. You could also have the ingredients and ask them to show you how you are supposed to make the gingerbread men (after they have watched the video). 3. Homework task? Based on notes they made, ask them to make gingerbread men and bring them to class.
Wednesday December 16th
Make decorative banners using various Christmas Fonts with your students. You can find free Christmas fonts here.
Thursday December 17th
Pin Rudolph’s red nose. How do you play? Find a picture of Rudolph online, blindfold your students, turn them round in circles for a bit, and then ask them to pin Rudolph’s nose. This activity is loads of fun and young learners really like it.
Friday December 18th
How about watching a movie related to the holidays? Here are some movie ideas:
The Polar Express
Home Alone
Frosty the Snowman
Miracle on 34th Street
The Muppet Christmas Carol
It is a wonderful life
Educational twist: Get your students to write a film review or summarise the main points of the story.
Go to audible.com and use the free trial option to listen to Charles Dickens audiobook (it is 2hrs 54 mins long). This is appropriate for higher-level learners.
Play Christmas word snake. How is this played? Each student takes turns to write a word connected to holiday season on the board. The final letter of student A’s word is the first letter of student B’s word.
Christmas
Santa
Angel
Lantern
Time to make a card for the Holidays! You can find templates here or improvise!!
Play Holiday season Bingo (make word or picture Bingo cards). You can find templates here.
Picture from DLTK website (linked above)
So, that’s all for now. Happy planning your Christmas/ Holiday season exercises. You may also want to check out Tekhnologic’s website for a Christmas advent calendar. Feel free to add any ideas in the comments section below. Don’t forget to follow/ subscribe to my blog.
Today, I am sharing with you a lesson I made for my B2 adult learners. They wanted a few video- based sessions that would get them to practise their listening and speaking. I designed a lesson that focused mainly on those two skills, but I also added an optional email writing task that can be done in class or as homework (in my classes email writing had been covered so I was able to link it with previous sessions).The video is approximately 12 minutes long.
My Context/ How I carry out these sessions
I call these lessons conversational/chit chatsessions as the main reason I do them is to get the learners to talk as much as possible. While they talk, I make notes of any errors they make and then we do a bit of error correction towards the end of the session. If the errors are impeding communication or re-occurring, then I correct on the spot. I also ask them to do a bit of intensive listening and answer listening comprehension questions. After the listening tasks, the students talk again and answer some more general follow up questions which allow them to share their views. If I have time I ask them to write something based on what they watched/talked about.
Screen shot from the New York Times video. Link found here
Below you will find a brief lesson plan, the video, and a PPT.
Brief lesson plan ( for a 45-60 minute session)
Aims of the lesson (2-3 mins).
Lead in. General discussion about McDonald’s and ‘predictions’ on what can happen there (5 mins).
Students create a story based on the words and the pictures they see on the PPT slide (slide 4).
Students read the listening comprehension questions (2-3 mins).
Students watch the video (approx. 12 mins).
Students discuss with their partner/teacher what actually happened in the story and discuss if their predictions were correct (5-8 mins).
Students check listening answers ( slide 6 2-3 mins).
Follow up questions (5-8 mins)
Email writing. This depends on your time. You can assign it as hoemwork or do it in class.
I use this lesson when I teach one to one online. If you have bigger classes, you may need to spend more time. You can do the activities in pairs. You can also do a jigsaw listening task where half the students watch up to minute 6 and the others the rest. You then ask them to share the information, answer the questions and make the story again. There are also loads of articles written about this story, so you may want to look for those as well.
You can adapt and change the ideas here as much as you like. Make the lesson yours. I can assure you that they story is very interesting and whenever I use it, my students really enjoy it! You may need to warn the students that there are pictures of Stella’s burns in the video.
You can use this with adults and university students studying journalism or law as well.
Let me know how it goes. Feel free to leave a comment below and add your own twist to the session. remember no lesson is written in stone 🙂
My Elt Rambles 