I might be away on project work, but great things are in store and just wanted to share the excitement 🙂
So here’s a little preview…until the end of September when I’ll be meeting & sharing with excellent educators at the TESOL Greece Start-of-the-Year event!
When I saw the goal posted by Theodora I instantly thought of one student. This post is dedicated to N., for educating me on the things we can achieve if we listen to our learners and for being patient and willing to try everything – even when he wasn’t really in the mood to do so. I see him as the epitome of case studies (!), so I had to turn this into a combo challenge;
First, a bit of background:
N was a student at a language school I used to work for about five years ago. He was already branded a ”nightmare” and everyone was anxious to warn me of his erratic behaviour and denial towards learning. I didn’t get the chance to see him ”in action” at the time, as I was assigned another class, but I would see him in passing and chat to him during intervals. One thing I could tell for sure: he was NOT a nightmare of any kind, outside the classroom anyway. On the contrary, he seemed an extremely clever, considerate and creative person. I talked to his parents a lot, as well, in an effort to unveil the mystery of how such a promising mind could cause problems and negative comments among his teachers. But I was not ”his” teacher and therefore could not have much say on the matter, as was pointed out to me by the DoS.
I also didn’t have the chance to explore the issue more, as he (along with his classmates) left the school that same year.
I would hear news of him from other students and parents, not promising in any way, and used to worry about him and feel I had in a way abandoned him. Until last December.
I got a call, late last December, from N’s dad. Would I take up the tremendous feat of teaching N? Would I?! Thrilled. I think that’s the word. I felt excited and apprehensive at the same time. Would this work? N is 15 and simply doesn’t care for schools and lessons of any kind. I quote: ” I hate them all. It’s pointless”.
It would work, because it was up to us to make it work.
It’s common and logical to decide on how you’ll approach a course beforehand but that could not be the case here. Together with N, we decided that our lessons would take shape along the way, so this one-to-one course would be based primarily on observation. We decided on a goal: a C2 certification, and took it from there to form our lessons. We keep record of our findings and progress together. We’re both gamers, so we take notes as if we’re writing a game walkthrough.
Level 1. First observations and feedback.
N hates books and loves social media. That was the first piece of knowledge we established. He doesn’t mind reading online though, it seems more natural to him and he can retain things better.
We spent the first two months of our course reading, discussing and writing articles and sharing news and views on almost every social media website.
Personal observations: He’s a competent user of English already and has a unique ability of making any piece of spoken or written language noticeable. Great presentation skills; he would make an incredible performer. Certain elements need to be worked out, a couple of grammar and structure issues. Could we avoid the grammar book?
N’s observations: ”I prefer e-books to books because I really enjoy doing things on my computer!
I also CAN’T STAND hardcopies…because I think they are VERY BORING. It’s just a paper with words…but on the computer there is a difference; you can have animated pictures and that makes it more enjoyable.”
Level 2. Getting the hang of it.
How could we move from competency to proficiency? There are no set ways of assessing progress since we don’t use a course book. Do we need a course book after all? No; not yet, anyway. We’ll try the open course on Edmodo.
I had created an Edmodo group for C2 learners at the beginning of the school year. Could it be useful to N?
Personal observations: He was so ready for this. He kept posting questions, he was the first to do the polls and quizzes (90% score being the lowest) and was the only one viewing the group’s library files on a daily basis. He actually ended up correcting answers from other students taking the ECPE this May. Well, there you go.
N’s observations: ”It’s a nice way to learn things because it’s like Facebook, which is something I use everyday, and it’s not tiring. I can also communicate and work with other people who are members on Edmodo and that may lead to very good lessons!”
The extras: I asked all students on Edmodo (B2 and C2 levels) to interact with each other and introduce themselves to their fellow learners. Nick’s powtoon video was an instant hit among them and the web community in general. He’s got something very special.
Level 3. Let the games begin!
Gaming came into our lessons naturally. We’d talk about them, exchange views, discuss differences and watch tutorials together. We are quite different gamers. I’m more of an intellectual healer and he’s the ultimate fearless adventurer! Fearless being the word. He was so anxious one day to show me a new game he was playing, ”You must try this!”. He showed me how. I was terrified going through it but felt so proud while he explained gameplay in English.
Have a look at my frightful but rewarding experience (with occasional slips into L1 due to the excitement!):
Personal observations: Computer games are slightly misunderstood, I feel. Yes, there are a lot of issues to iron out when you try to integrate them in your lessons, but we should give them a chance. Being a gamer definitely helps, as it’s easier to choose appropriate games, relevant to the learning context and create assignments you know your students will complete straight away. With N, who is convinced he can’t write a ”proper” text (as he calls it) in English, I set a game task every week within the construction set of one of our common favourite games: First he had to create a character and provide a short bio, then he had to place that character in an environment (country, city, village, anywhere he chose) and so on. He’s starting to accept that he actually can write ”properly” in English.
N’s Observations: ”My favorite games are Horror and Action ones which make you feel the adrenaline burst in your whole body and that makes me feel alive!
I also use games to learn and practice my English. Learning from games is a great thing that makes lessons more interesting and amusing and I think I can write better when I do it for the game mod.”
Level 4: Bring the world in
Sometimes two people are not enough. A 1-to-1 lesson can have its drawbacks, but we can work our way around it.
N started using social media in English (he had all profiles in Greek, his native language) and set up a new Tumblr where he could post his thoughts while practicing his second language. We started creating videos for what we learned together and shared them with the world for feedback.
Personal Observations: I almost don’t believe how much N has achieved so far, not only in language acquisition, but in becoming an admirable digital citizen of the world. His love for music, dancing and photography have gained him an array of followers who anticipate his next post and that audience is gradually becoming bigger and multicultural.
N’s Observations: ”Writing is not my favorite thing, but when I can put a picture there and a video or a song it’s better. And when people like it or share it again it is like they know what I do and why I do it.”
We are currently in Level 5: Exam preparation and things feel smooth. We’re slowly moving to set exam tasks and so far the hardest thing has been moving from typing back to handwriting. We’re taking small steps and have decided that the best way to start is drawing. We spent a couple of hours handling pens, pencils and markers to decide which feels better and did the same for notepads. We chose a thin A4 pad for essays and a thick A3 for our creative projects and storyboarding. The A4 can have only words on it, while the A3 is open to all means of expression: words, drawings, pictures, doodles, anything. The pens and pencils that passed the test have their spot in the middle of our working area.
N draws his own picture and writes two short paragraphs every week on quotes or pictures I share with him on Facebook. He is free to upload his creations on his Tumblr after we’ve discussed them in the lesson. It’s a good start.
Lessons so far and what the future holds:
What have we achieved? We have built a strong relationship. We know what our expectations are respectively and we take steps based on respect for each other and the time we devote to our lessons. We know we aren’t exactly equal, but we try to put ourselves in each other’s shoes. We think, we are creative and we never stop learning.
This is not just about learning (or teaching) English; it is about developing the right habits.
Here are N’s general observations after six months:
For me this is a perfect lesson. We listen to music, not very loud, but it’s nice and we don’t do boring book stuff; we play games to practice speaking and writing and we work online which is very helpful because I have all my notes in one place.When we like a song we write the lyrics on our own which helps me a lot with listening and we make videos like presentations, games’ descriptions and documentary type videos that everyone can see. Studying isn’t always boring and having an English lesson isn’t the same as others. I don’t mind doing it, even if it was longer or more times every week.
I’ll close my (huge, I fear) post with a quote mash-up:
Habits are malleable throughout our entire life (Charles Duhigg) and they can change into character (Ovid).
Inspired by 30 Goals Challenge for Educators and the first goal of Cycle 5, I asked students from various parts of Athens, to create their own presentations to introduce themselves to each other . I thought, be proactive , create tutorials and FAQs for them , anticipate their worries – as it turned out , the only one in need of tutorials and soothing words was … me .
A proud and somewhat painful moment in teaching is the realisation my students don’t really need my help ; I’ve had several of those moments since the beginning of this challenge ! ( Come to think of it , I should have written PROUD …)
Here are the videos :
The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators has embarked on a journey around the world and even though I boarded on a bit later than I wanted to it was so great to work on my introduction!
At first it seemed too much of a challenge; there were so many things I could have put together, so many tools I could use and as always I wasn’t entirely sure whether anyone would be interested in it. But if the 30 goals community has taught me anything, that is the power of sharing and getting feedback.
After working around several digital tools (bless you Shelly Sanchez Terrell!), I decided to go with PowToon. I love its cartoon-like, uplifting vibes and learning my way around it has sparked an alarmingly large number of activities I could do with students.
First of all, I thought of extending the 3-2-1 Intro goal and ask my students on Edmodo (a group preparing for ECCE, where students are from different parts of town) to create their own presentation using PowToon. I think it’ll be a nice break from the norm and will help them get to know each other in a fun and creative way (I also secretly hope we’ll finally get over the ”My name is {…}, I’m {…} years old and I live in {…}!).
Here’s my plan:
”And you are…?”
1. Send students links of my 3-2-1 Intro and the PowToon website.
2. Set deadlines: Students will have a week to prepare their intro and share it with the group.
3. Explain the task: ”Introduce yourself to the group. Tell us some interesting things about yourself, using pictures and your favourite music and include something we don’t know about you!”.
4. Guide students through PowToon on our group’s timeline when necessary.
Another activity I have in mind is for two 1-to-1 students preparing for FCE, to help them practise Part 2 of the Speaking Task from a different angle. As they’ll have one minute to talk on their own comparing, describing and giving opinions for this part of the exam, I think creating a video with a time-limit can do wonders.
This plan is for discussing holidays:
” 1 minute to go”
1. Send each student a prompt with two pictures
2. Ask them to create a 1 minute PowToon describing their dream holiday.
3. Ask them to share their video with the other student, along with a short paragraph describing what is seen in their presentation.
4.Get students to comment on each other’s presentation.
I’ll update the post with the results soon!
Image Credits: All-free-download
The first post of 2014!
Last time I blogged was on Christmas Eve for #Eleven Random Facts, tagged by Theodora Papapanagiotou, and her question on lucky items or traditions was somehow glued to my head; probably because it made me realise how eager I was to get my lucky charm for the new year, lovingly handcrafted by my mother. I had been sneaking in the workshop all through the holiday season, but she had it well hidden and made me fear that maybe I wasn’t getting one this time and everything would go wrong.
Touch wood, I’m not superstitious…
But New Year’s Eve came and there it was, wrapped in its shiny sachet, under our festive boat. My new little…pig.
I hope this little one will assist me all through 2014 to get where I should be – even though I’m not certain as to where that is yet. I hope it will provide some good fortune in fulfilling goals, facing new challenges and acquiring new knowledge.
For the Chinese, the pig is a symbol of honesty, tolerance, initiative and diligence and I’ve been told Schwein gehabt means Good luck is at hand. In any case, I’ll rephrase the quote attributed to Niels Bohr and say that a pig will bring you good luck whether you believe in it or not! How can one argue with such logic?
I got the lucky coin from our vasilopita, so it’s already showing promise!
The 34th TESOL International Convention is coming up in Athens (30-31 March 2013), have a look at the preliminary programme here and don’t forget to visit www.tesolgreece.org for latest news and updates.
Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto, co-author of Let’s Go, shares five principles for teaching reading effectively in the classroom.
I’ve tried quite a few different approaches to teaching literacy over the years, initially with students learning to read in their first language, and now with students learning to read English as a foreign language. Like most teachers, I’ve settled on a fairly eclectic approach that seems to work well for me, and my young learners. Here are five principles that work for me.
When students begin learning to read in their first language, they have a working vocabulary of between 2,500 and 5,000 words. They learn to connect printed text to words that they already know. We want to be sure that our young learners have a strong foundation of oral language before we begin asking them to attach symbols to sounds, particularly…
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A wonderful article by Chris Franek – and a quick personal observation: sometimes you have to go back in order to move forward.
Chris Franek returns with a word of warning to teachers about getting caught up in the speed of technological change.
In a previous post I talked about the infamous dodo bird that mysteriously became extinct in the late 17th century and how we teachers should take care not to suffer the same fate due to our occasional blind love affair with technology. It’s quite funny. My girlfriend often affectionately refers to me as a dodo. More accurately, she calls me a “dodo bird” which is somewhat confusing because I don’t know if she’s referring to an extinct bird or an idiot. I suspect both.
It got me thinking about the evolution of the meaning of the word dodo. As I mentioned in the previous blog post titled, “Is the Teacher Going the Way of the Dodo?” I talked about how the original dodo was the infamous now extinct…
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