Here's one of my lessons that had great success. As you'll see with many of my future lessons, this one really focuses on group work.
Extreme Careers
3 Tips To Make This Lesson Great:
Engage the Students
What my students always love about my classes is that they can tell I'm enthusiastic about what I'm teaching. They know I don't choose a lesson to fill up time. I choose a lesson to get people talking. When I was doing this activity, I tried to go to different groups and see their thought processes for the activity. Some students were in lower levels trying to figure out the vocabulary while others were having more in depth conversations about why some jobs are more dangerous. I thought that the vocabulary being used was quite interesting (I mean, the on the job risks for a taste tester are quite amusing!) My students were able to sense this and we all shared a good laugh discussing the lives of telephone psychics. If you're not interested in this, I wouldn't suggest doing this lesson.
Use the Vocabulary in a Board Game
It's my belief that every ESL conversation teacher should be equipped with a basic board game template. When learning vocabulary, students should interact in many different ways with the material. The main activity of this lesson focuses on the comparisons of the jobs. However, I also used a board game in class. The board game centered around students discussing whether or not they would take these jobs if they were offered them. At this point, the students had two different interactions with the vocabulary and thus have made more connections to it.
Do Some Role Plays
If you plan on extending this lesson over a couple of classes, I highly suggest throwing in some role plays to increase student interaction. I would focus on interview habits especially, whether it be job interviews or ones for a news broadcast. If you're in a situation where you can assign homework, have students research some of these jobs on their own and then they can use this research in the role plays the next time you see them.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Lesson Review: Medical English Conditionals
Whether or not this is just for my own benefit or for others, I really want to talk about my conversation classes that go either really well or ones that leave me unsatisfied. Unfortunately this evening left me with that unsatisfied feeling in my mouth but also provided me with a great learning experience.
The Lesson:
One of my more bold students came up to me last week and told me that she thought some of the discussion questions I came up with were a little bit boring. This might sound like a disparaging remark to receive but I took the recommendation seriously. After mining through Alex Case's TEFLtastic (Yes, I talk about him frequently), I chose to do this excellent conditionals lesson. I see the lesson as a perfect blend of needing out of the box thinking, problem solving, conversation sparking, and etc.
The Students
This evening, I had about 28 students from various levels. The majority of them were Lower Intermediate followed by Beginners, Intermediates, and then one Business Intermediate and a few pre-Beginners. However, the class is targeted towards an Intermediate level. This is one of the challenges I face with each lesson (though I hesitate to use that terminology as this environment is not for teaching but rather facilitating but teacher sounds better than facilitator)
What Went Right
The class ended up evolving into the question of Nature vs Nurture. 4 of the 6 groups were able to provide well thought out arguments to defend their position which is exactly the type of thought I encourage in my class. We started this debate based off the question of cloning a famous dead person. We discussed whether creating another Hitler would mean that another Hitler type scenario would happen. I think this got a lot of people thinking.
What Went Wrong
Absolutely nothing to do with the lesson that's for sure. There were just some extra things I should have provided. I believe that my students were capable of debating between the options (such as choosing a boy, choosing a girl, leaving it up to fate, and choosing after the first child) but coming up with the options for each of the If scenarios was much more difficult for them as they had no experience with this kind of language and situation even in their L1. I believe this was my main flaw in facilitating this activity.
There were 6 groups and I knew there was a problem once I sat with one group and then everyone else in the classroom would be quiet. Even my most outspoken students who complain that my classes are too easy sometimes didn't have much to say. Yikes! This is a moment that I'd like to avoid.
Things to Think About
Does my style work?
Do I need to take the focus away from conversation and move towards a teaching role?
The other teachers in my school have moved in the direction of teaching Idioms, Phrasal Verbs, Proverbs, and Metaphors. I believe these are useful subjects and I would be excellent at teaching them but I'd rather my students be in situations where they can use this new knowledge rather than learn about it.
Action Plan
It may require more work but I really think that providing different level of activities for each level could be useful.
Focus on reactive skills rather than productive skills (nix coming up with the 4 scenarios and provide alternatives for them to discuss instead)
Dig deeper. The questions and scenarios were excellent and I could have provided enough background material to make even just one of the questions a focus of the class. There could have been vocabulary webs for the lower levels and dialogue activities for the higher ones.
Conclusion
I like doing this type of analysis. It's helpful for me and I highly suggest it to other teachers. Overall, an excellent lesson filled with conversation starters that place less emphasis on individual and more on scenario, one of my objectives lately. Next time, more focus and specificity would bring a richer experience to my conversation class.
The Lesson:
One of my more bold students came up to me last week and told me that she thought some of the discussion questions I came up with were a little bit boring. This might sound like a disparaging remark to receive but I took the recommendation seriously. After mining through Alex Case's TEFLtastic (Yes, I talk about him frequently), I chose to do this excellent conditionals lesson. I see the lesson as a perfect blend of needing out of the box thinking, problem solving, conversation sparking, and etc.
The Students
This evening, I had about 28 students from various levels. The majority of them were Lower Intermediate followed by Beginners, Intermediates, and then one Business Intermediate and a few pre-Beginners. However, the class is targeted towards an Intermediate level. This is one of the challenges I face with each lesson (though I hesitate to use that terminology as this environment is not for teaching but rather facilitating but teacher sounds better than facilitator)
What Went Right
The class ended up evolving into the question of Nature vs Nurture. 4 of the 6 groups were able to provide well thought out arguments to defend their position which is exactly the type of thought I encourage in my class. We started this debate based off the question of cloning a famous dead person. We discussed whether creating another Hitler would mean that another Hitler type scenario would happen. I think this got a lot of people thinking.
What Went Wrong
Absolutely nothing to do with the lesson that's for sure. There were just some extra things I should have provided. I believe that my students were capable of debating between the options (such as choosing a boy, choosing a girl, leaving it up to fate, and choosing after the first child) but coming up with the options for each of the If scenarios was much more difficult for them as they had no experience with this kind of language and situation even in their L1. I believe this was my main flaw in facilitating this activity.
There were 6 groups and I knew there was a problem once I sat with one group and then everyone else in the classroom would be quiet. Even my most outspoken students who complain that my classes are too easy sometimes didn't have much to say. Yikes! This is a moment that I'd like to avoid.
Things to Think About
Does my style work?
Do I need to take the focus away from conversation and move towards a teaching role?
The other teachers in my school have moved in the direction of teaching Idioms, Phrasal Verbs, Proverbs, and Metaphors. I believe these are useful subjects and I would be excellent at teaching them but I'd rather my students be in situations where they can use this new knowledge rather than learn about it.
Action Plan
It may require more work but I really think that providing different level of activities for each level could be useful.
Focus on reactive skills rather than productive skills (nix coming up with the 4 scenarios and provide alternatives for them to discuss instead)
Dig deeper. The questions and scenarios were excellent and I could have provided enough background material to make even just one of the questions a focus of the class. There could have been vocabulary webs for the lower levels and dialogue activities for the higher ones.
Conclusion
I like doing this type of analysis. It's helpful for me and I highly suggest it to other teachers. Overall, an excellent lesson filled with conversation starters that place less emphasis on individual and more on scenario, one of my objectives lately. Next time, more focus and specificity would bring a richer experience to my conversation class.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
It's Not Always About You
Between Wednesdays and Fridays, I spend a heartbreaking amount of time trying to figure out topics for a mixed level, social club environment to engage my diverse group of ESL learners. However, their diversity isn't always enough to keep the conversation going. Each week I'm going to try and present my reflections on these conversation class environments and hopefully provide some useful tips.
My question to myself this week:
How can I create an English speaking environment where my students can discuss something else besides themselves and their families?
I wonder how much my students are learning by repeating the same information over and over again ad nauseam. However, most ESL lessons that target adults rely on this source of information to build lessons around. It seems too easy, too obvious, too status quo to me.
Here are some ways to stop making it about them:
+ Use the great websites like Breaking News English and BBC Learning English for inspiration.
Notice I say only for inspiration though. While the lesson plans on these sites are varied, their usefulness in a conversation centric environment is quite limited unless you can add additional activities to supplement the vocabulary and listening comprehension activities. I use The Flatmates from the BBC on a weekly basis to help my lower intermediate students get some practice listening to different ways of speaking but also to introduce types of people they don't usually come across here in China. I'm hoping that they learn to identify with these characters after a while so that they may learn to predict certain behaviors and ask more detailed questions related to these characters. My follow up activities always relate to some aspect of the episode we listened to in class. I haven't mastered these activities yet but I believe the quality of the materials that the BBC provides is excellent enough for any teacher to incorporate into their classroom.
+ Improve your writing skills.
I've noticed there's a subset of TEFL teachers who go abroad in hopes of having more time and more inspiration for their writing. In my school alone, I'm surrounded by some of the most voracious readers I've ever met. We all share the dream of writing books one day but few of us actually are working towards it. This fact combined with my experience of using Kohlberg's Moral Dilemmas in my classroom has led me to believe that giving students characters to talk about is helpful to give new opportunities for increasing their communication skills. Why not create a cast of fleshed out characters yourself and present your class with mini-dramas each week? Throw in some follow up questions and scenarios and you can really get your students talking if you create characters worth talking about.
+Encourage lying
I owe this to the insight of Alex Case at TEFL.net after seeing this group of activities. In my school, we don't actually teach grammar. It's rare that you'll ever hear the terminology of modals, possessives, and the like- only because our students know all of that information in theory. Instead, I'm given the task of creating an environment where students feel compelled to speak. This is exactly what makes my job so frustrating and so exciting at the same time. Thus when I saw Alex's Only In My Dreams activity, I realized that I could use my classroom to encourage productive lying. My first test of this will be this week in a crazy jobs class where we'll discuss lion tamers, extreme sports athletes, and other jobs that just might spark a conversation or two. It's worth it!
My question to myself this week:
How can I create an English speaking environment where my students can discuss something else besides themselves and their families?
I wonder how much my students are learning by repeating the same information over and over again ad nauseam. However, most ESL lessons that target adults rely on this source of information to build lessons around. It seems too easy, too obvious, too status quo to me.
Here are some ways to stop making it about them:
+ Use the great websites like Breaking News English and BBC Learning English for inspiration.
Notice I say only for inspiration though. While the lesson plans on these sites are varied, their usefulness in a conversation centric environment is quite limited unless you can add additional activities to supplement the vocabulary and listening comprehension activities. I use The Flatmates from the BBC on a weekly basis to help my lower intermediate students get some practice listening to different ways of speaking but also to introduce types of people they don't usually come across here in China. I'm hoping that they learn to identify with these characters after a while so that they may learn to predict certain behaviors and ask more detailed questions related to these characters. My follow up activities always relate to some aspect of the episode we listened to in class. I haven't mastered these activities yet but I believe the quality of the materials that the BBC provides is excellent enough for any teacher to incorporate into their classroom.
+ Improve your writing skills.
I've noticed there's a subset of TEFL teachers who go abroad in hopes of having more time and more inspiration for their writing. In my school alone, I'm surrounded by some of the most voracious readers I've ever met. We all share the dream of writing books one day but few of us actually are working towards it. This fact combined with my experience of using Kohlberg's Moral Dilemmas in my classroom has led me to believe that giving students characters to talk about is helpful to give new opportunities for increasing their communication skills. Why not create a cast of fleshed out characters yourself and present your class with mini-dramas each week? Throw in some follow up questions and scenarios and you can really get your students talking if you create characters worth talking about.
+Encourage lying
I owe this to the insight of Alex Case at TEFL.net after seeing this group of activities. In my school, we don't actually teach grammar. It's rare that you'll ever hear the terminology of modals, possessives, and the like- only because our students know all of that information in theory. Instead, I'm given the task of creating an environment where students feel compelled to speak. This is exactly what makes my job so frustrating and so exciting at the same time. Thus when I saw Alex's Only In My Dreams activity, I realized that I could use my classroom to encourage productive lying. My first test of this will be this week in a crazy jobs class where we'll discuss lion tamers, extreme sports athletes, and other jobs that just might spark a conversation or two. It's worth it!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
5 Ways I Vow to Enjoy China More
It's true- it's true- my Chinese adventure has turned out to be worlds different than I imagined it would be. I believe it was the overdosing on Rockstar Energy Juice when I was in the US that caused my bloated misconceptions. At least I admitted it, huh? Well, I refuse to wake up each morning and continue to think "Yep, it's still China outside" as a bad thing.
So here it is, the 5 ways I'm vowing to enjoy China more...
Less Movies, More Experiences
With the easy availability of movies through websites like Tudou, it's quite easy to spend your days catching up on movies, tv shows, and the like. Granted I think it's great to be budget minded and not spend the entirety of my salary on nights out at the bar, but there's only so much of China that you can enjoy from the comfort of your living room.
So what does this mean? I haven't found my adventurous side yet but I'm hoping it's just in a latency stage right now. One of the highlights of Xiamen (where I'm currently teaching English- how's that for an introduction?) is Xiamen University and all the hidden treasures that surround it. Apparently it's cafe central and I haven't even taken advantage of it. Well, if I want to enjoy China more, I need to go on the hunt for that treasure. Who knows? Maybe I'll discover my adventurous side by then.
Cooking is My Friend
As I write this, I'm marinating some chicken in a Lemon-Herb concoction. It's nothing Food Network worthy but it's a great change from my original bottle of beer and bag of potato chips dinnersI used to have when I survived on 800RMB (110 USD) for one month. Did you realize that the kitchen isn't as scary of a place as you might imagine? In fact, some amazing things can come out of it.
With that, if I feel myself getting hit with the blues (or worse, the mean reds) I am promising myself that I will run to the kitchen, check the contents of my peewee sized refrigerator and put my skills to the test. I doubt each dish I throw together will be something that I would share with others but that's part of the fun of it. Since I'm one of those laowai bachelors, my cooking skills are more of a delectable distraction rather than a necessity so most mistakes will go unnoticed (unless bad taste can travel to my next door neighbors which then I apologize in advance.)
Keepin' It Positive
If you've spent any time around expats here in China, it's pretty easy to get bombarded with negativity. They'll complain about the taxis, the food, the people, the jobs, whatever. Me, I'm saying no to that. There's no room for negativity for me. If I keep this resolve to stay positive, I hope I'll be able to overcome that. I don't want this blog to become pity central but rather a place to share small moments that wouldn't be experienced on the streets of Boston, my last place of residence in the US of A. If I could pinpoint why some foreigners here are soaked in negativity, I would say it's that they lost their appreciation for the mundane and small moments that life is truly about.
Poetic Reprogramming
This is a concept that I've been throwing about for years but haven't been able to make happen yet. Some literature is more piercing than others. Some words want to take residence in your brain while others are ones that you've become acquainted with but will will never be significant enough for you to make a difference in your writing and speaking. And sometimes, you have to say no to status quo and pick up a book that will change the way your brain thinks. By frequenting new cafes and raiding the library in my school, I'm hoping that my cognitive processes are not so insurmountable. In fact, they can be reprogrammed by the poetry of those who have come before me.
Why is this important? Difficult experiences arise, Bad China Days happen, and negativity just might happen but in the past, there have been writers who tackled so many of these situations and have expressed themselves in ways that can change our beliefs and transform our experiences into spiritual encounters. Yeah, that's what I want.
Just Get It Done
There's a reason for the name Licensed to TEFL. I'm a teacher who absolutely loves his job but also has other things that just need to get done. However, I'm learning that many of us expats use these tiny obligations to avoid the larger world outside of our apartments that can be a bit frightening. A blog post that should be written, a kitchen that should be cleaned, a friend that should be called, shopping that needs to be done- those things are important and you should just get them done. I'm going to stop hiding behind them and using them as an excuse and just get them done so I can conquer the rest of these resolutions.
So there you go, I have a plan in mind and it's put out there in the world to look at. What's your plan?
So here it is, the 5 ways I'm vowing to enjoy China more...
Less Movies, More Experiences
With the easy availability of movies through websites like Tudou, it's quite easy to spend your days catching up on movies, tv shows, and the like. Granted I think it's great to be budget minded and not spend the entirety of my salary on nights out at the bar, but there's only so much of China that you can enjoy from the comfort of your living room.
So what does this mean? I haven't found my adventurous side yet but I'm hoping it's just in a latency stage right now. One of the highlights of Xiamen (where I'm currently teaching English- how's that for an introduction?) is Xiamen University and all the hidden treasures that surround it. Apparently it's cafe central and I haven't even taken advantage of it. Well, if I want to enjoy China more, I need to go on the hunt for that treasure. Who knows? Maybe I'll discover my adventurous side by then.
Cooking is My Friend
As I write this, I'm marinating some chicken in a Lemon-Herb concoction. It's nothing Food Network worthy but it's a great change from my original bottle of beer and bag of potato chips dinnersI used to have when I survived on 800RMB (110 USD) for one month. Did you realize that the kitchen isn't as scary of a place as you might imagine? In fact, some amazing things can come out of it.
With that, if I feel myself getting hit with the blues (or worse, the mean reds) I am promising myself that I will run to the kitchen, check the contents of my peewee sized refrigerator and put my skills to the test. I doubt each dish I throw together will be something that I would share with others but that's part of the fun of it. Since I'm one of those laowai bachelors, my cooking skills are more of a delectable distraction rather than a necessity so most mistakes will go unnoticed (unless bad taste can travel to my next door neighbors which then I apologize in advance.)
Keepin' It Positive
If you've spent any time around expats here in China, it's pretty easy to get bombarded with negativity. They'll complain about the taxis, the food, the people, the jobs, whatever. Me, I'm saying no to that. There's no room for negativity for me. If I keep this resolve to stay positive, I hope I'll be able to overcome that. I don't want this blog to become pity central but rather a place to share small moments that wouldn't be experienced on the streets of Boston, my last place of residence in the US of A. If I could pinpoint why some foreigners here are soaked in negativity, I would say it's that they lost their appreciation for the mundane and small moments that life is truly about.
Poetic Reprogramming
This is a concept that I've been throwing about for years but haven't been able to make happen yet. Some literature is more piercing than others. Some words want to take residence in your brain while others are ones that you've become acquainted with but will will never be significant enough for you to make a difference in your writing and speaking. And sometimes, you have to say no to status quo and pick up a book that will change the way your brain thinks. By frequenting new cafes and raiding the library in my school, I'm hoping that my cognitive processes are not so insurmountable. In fact, they can be reprogrammed by the poetry of those who have come before me.
Why is this important? Difficult experiences arise, Bad China Days happen, and negativity just might happen but in the past, there have been writers who tackled so many of these situations and have expressed themselves in ways that can change our beliefs and transform our experiences into spiritual encounters. Yeah, that's what I want.
Just Get It Done
There's a reason for the name Licensed to TEFL. I'm a teacher who absolutely loves his job but also has other things that just need to get done. However, I'm learning that many of us expats use these tiny obligations to avoid the larger world outside of our apartments that can be a bit frightening. A blog post that should be written, a kitchen that should be cleaned, a friend that should be called, shopping that needs to be done- those things are important and you should just get them done. I'm going to stop hiding behind them and using them as an excuse and just get them done so I can conquer the rest of these resolutions.
So there you go, I have a plan in mind and it's put out there in the world to look at. What's your plan?
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