486. Their power? In their minds, sure thing


One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “I’ve been lately thinking that school should be, has to be, more than instruction, you know. I mean, not only instruction in history, biology, speaking in English, math, and so on. Consider what I’ve copied for you. Here you go. Look. ‘A recent historian has termed Harvard in that period [the fifties] an Eden, a truly collegial place where the life of the mind was valued and everything needful was at hand. An enriching contribution to our teaching, I think. You can keep the piece of paper.” The quotation is from John T. Bethell, Harvard Observed: An Illustrated History of the University in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1998, p. 210. – [Excuse me, L, I’m so sorry, my apology! I keep at your disposal]. / Photo: The Matrix emezeta com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

758. Irregular verbs now and then

Image
One day teacher of English B said to teacher of English A, “English irregular verbs are an interesting grammar point Spanish students have to study year after year, increasing the list of them each academic year. Quite many more verbs of this type existed in Old English, before the 11th century, perhaps most of the English verbs then. In other words, the way each verb took the form of past simple and past participle was more complicate than the simple – ed ending. With centuries passing, fewer and fewer verbs remained as such ‘irregular’ verbs, in fact those verbs native speakers used very often. Because of that those verbs remained being ‘irregular’, while most of the English verbs, roughly speaking, were taking on the regular form of – ed for past simple and past participle. This can be due just to linguistic evolutions that actually occur in every language, with the language common people speak, year after year. Beside the fact that many words, so verbs too, were entering in the E
Read more

3658. Language Facts or Communication in Class?

  I teach English to adults. It’s so great … and demanding.  Adults have some characteristic way of learning the language. For example they tend to focus on specific grammar patterns and ways of saying things in the target language. Well, it’s something I also do when learning that language myself. And it is something I cannot change. It is something we can take advantage from, anyway.  Even in that way they can learn quite a lot. You know, it doesn’t matter they would ask me questions in class that show they are focusing on grammar. It’s ok. It’s ok ever if also we as teachers facilitate there is plenty of communication in English in class.  I mean, do not confine as a teacher to teach grammar and language facts, but provide a lot of communication in class.  When some newcomer arrives at one of those groups of mine – and I’m thinking of one specific group – that new student says kind of, Oh I can see my classmates have a lot of fluency while in my case … Why do the other students have
Read more

2064. Connecting people from different countries

Image
Something we teachers of English or other languages have to bear in mind when teaching adults is that the students should learn and practice communication, and we shouldn’t confine our classes to give them facts of the languages.  Also in kids’ case.  The point isn’t for them to know information about the language, yet to learn how to communicate in that language.  Thus we could plan our classes with that aim.  I state all this because we could dedicate a long time to teach facts, information, something nearly dead, say.  In this way, besides we contribute to connect people from so varied countries. It’s something brilliant, isn’t it? / Photo from: people-happy-cheering bachflowerssingapore wordpress com
Read more

1188. Effort and eagerness are very important

Image
According to Spanish philosopher Alejandro Llano “what it is important aren’t activities or contents, but habits and costumes.” [I’ve translated from Spanish into English; errors and mistakes are mine.]  “The key point is that the student should be capable to carry on learning by his own studying”.  The student should learn on his own, by himself. We as teachers should “help to learn thinking on one’s own, with rigor, profoundness, and creativity.” / Photo from: www milesbeyond300 com. rope pulling  
Read more

3657. How to Develop a Lesson that Could Be Efficient

  You may be a teacher, one of a second or foreign language. Well, that’s is a marvelous enterprise.  Now I wanted to draw some lines about what a good lesson could be, according to my experience plus others’ one.  Thus we can start the class with a warmer or warm-up activity. I ask my dear students about today’s date, and about the weather. Then, within that warmer, we practice saying sentences with such or such grammar structure, one we are practicing lately. Or they answer some questions by me. Or by them, to each other.  Then we work on the homework set on the previous lesson. Every day I set some homework, at the end of the class. And usually they’ll have to review what done in class – me giving examples of what and how they may revise at home.  And next we may work either on photocopies I hand out, or on the textbook we are working on.  Much weight should be given in class to speaking in the target language.  I plan each and every lesson, on a notebook for that purpose, even some
Read more