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Showing posts from March, 2016

2822. Just Laugh in Class!

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  The teacher has to laugh in class. In order to stay close to his students, and not be a glacial model to whom we can admire but not imitate and tell our faults and defects at tutoring sessions, because we students may think he’s perfect! And always if the teacher has already gotten discipline or he teaches senior students, who know how to behave and are pretty motivated! / Photo from: Improve Staff Wellbeing In Schools www alwaysflourishing com

2821. Why to Be Optimistic!

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  Why am I so optimistic you may ask… I see teens for example can be so troublesome and disruptive, that’s ok, but my optimism has a foundation, on God: ultimately all what’s good comes from him, and from our effort as well! I would tell you I have my reasons to speak that way: there’s a nice number of providential things in my life and career as a teacher! Just simply I trust in our common father. This is also something I’ve learned from some student of mine, among other sources. / Photo from: man smile laptop wallpaerscraft com

2820. We Can Learn from Our Students!

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  Look, we teachers can learn even from our students… At least it’s my case. For example some student may behave well and stay calm though he’s suffering from a hard and tough family situation, like when his parents split up, and he keeps working as if nothing would be happening and while suffering in his inward self; he also keeps attending classes as the most normal thing in life, although he’s suffering tough, as I said. / Photo from: edtosavetheworld com

2819. I Love to Teach!

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  We can catch ourselves teachers teaching the same as last year… yet it’s something new and afresh, since we love our students! What I mean is that we teach English but we teach with the engine of love! Otherwise we would repeat the same stuff as past years and we’d give the way to a boring and ineffective routine and that is it. Do you agree with me? What’s your point of view, people? / Photo from: oecdeducationtoday blogspot com

2818. Making Leaders Themselves. That's the Point!

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    Responsibility. That’s the point, I guess! Let our students and children take decisions in their lives, and then let them carry them out, and fulfill those resolutions. In that way we would get people, persons who are audacious and brave, because they learn to make themselves in life! And thus we will have gotten education proper: we intently put those youngsters to the test, and that’s the only way to achieve our young people get educated properly: they’ll become authentic leaders, which is something we now need in our society, more than ever before perhaps… / Photo from: haylimhering com

2817. Some Tip about Our Marvelous Labor

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  We English language teachers should not confine our teaching to English, and that’s it! No way! It’s okay we teach and help learn English, crystal clear, but we as well should consider our school subject from a more human point of view: we’re educators, and we’re educating persons, thorough ones. We teach from a more ample and wider point of view: we don’t just teach a foreign language but through it we are helping our dear students become upright people, persons, adults if you prefer. We educate through working: we consider our English language students as persons with a complete and thorough temper and personality, and biography. We’re educating the people that will lead our dear society, and so also other people... And because of that we help them train them and their skills in the classroom: this one is an image of their future environment and world. We are shoulder to shoulder in a nice and exacting class atmosphere. We’re preparing the men and women of a n...

2816. Something Practical about Testing for Today

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  The point is learning and acquiring English, right? Yet also it was important to pass the exams and tests... When I taught in Jaén, north of Granada, where I now live, I included one question of previous past units in those tests, so if the kid passed the last unit test, he updated his pass level. This question of the tests was for example to write a meaningful sentence about their past, so they had to use a verb in past simple, which was something they should have learned previously. So it was some remedial work. I tried the question would be naturalistic and meaningful and practical for my dear students. The point, however, was to learn and acquire the language and not something confined to mathematically pass the grades (or marks). / Photo from: mrsnewswellsfourthgradeclassroom blogspot com

2815. Practical Tiny Things We All Can Learn at School

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The classroom and the school, but mainly the first are the scenario for teachers and students to get and acquire values and virtues; and also for the rest of the personnel, like the lady cleaners, let’s not forget them! They’re essential for the school as well! Let’s teach our students to take care of the bathroom for instance. I know a teacher, and this is pretty practical, that taught a student to properly use the bathroom, to not drop pieces of paper on the floor, to close the tap or faucet nice, to open the window to air the place… All of us have to learn those tiny though essential things: that place is going to be utilized by other people, and in that way the students learn how to think of other people! / Photo from: e27 co

2814. Are You an Accessible Teacher?

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We English language teachers should be close to our students and at their disposal, shouldn’t we? Our students should find and encounter an accessible person, whom they can ask after the class for example. The teacher, any teacher, of any school subject cannot be a glacial person, whom you may admire but not imitate and accede to. This doesn’t prevent from the teacher setting a good example, on the other extreme. And neither does this mean he shouldn’t try to make up and create a nice but serious atmosphere for working. We teachers should be human and humane! / Photo from: kindergarden-teacher www intelliware com

2813. Another Way to Get the Students Silent

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  I said on the previous post that there should be a nice and quiet working atmosphere in the classroom, right? A serene one. Silence by the teacher may make his students behave themselves and get silent, because at the same time he is staring and gazing at his students, silently and seriously. They may get silent and attentive because silence is serious and imposes a nice behavior. It’s kind of a trick to keep them focused on some activity from their textbooks or from the teacher, who is the main activity resource for learning and acquiring English! On post # 259 you can find a list of more than 100 games and activities. It’s up to you. You can type that number in the search box. / Photo from: Happy-female-teacher-assisting www ecdl org

2812. Keeping Our Students Quiet and Thinking

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  Silence keeps a nice atmosphere of working and thinking in a classroom: it’s essential! The class-group should be quiet. Definitely. We teachers should try to get this silence. It’s indispensable. For working and learning and acquiring English or French or... Plus serenity and a peaceful atmosphere as well. So calm your students down and try to get that necessary silence, and denounce the disruptive speaker when he starts to talk to his classmate, or just with a silent and serious glance from you... Rope them all with an activity, with activities. Right now I’m telling you a trick: if you want a quick silent momentum or time, you can implement a dictation! Or a text being read out by you whilst they’re following you on their textbooks. / Photo from: baseball www desipio com. this picture is just an illustration and has its own story. I may tell you about that image someday.

2811. The Engine of Our Marvelous Labor as Educators

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I’ve already told you in this blog: we teachers don’t just teach but we educate as well. Whatever we do or we don’t educate our students.  And we can only educate our students if we love them, with love of benevolence. And the other way round: the student only lets and allows to be educated by whom he knows he loves him.  So we have that the people who must educate mostly are their parents and families, aren’t they? It’s evident! We make a subsidiary labor, but the main mission is for parents definitely.  You want something practical? Well, think of the way you plan next class: it shows whether you really wish your dear students learn and acquire English as a foreign language, for example. / Photo from: amistadinternacional com

2810. Do We Know Our Students' Families?

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Close to our students’ families. This would be ideal, teachers! In that way both the parents or the elder siblings and the teacher can pull the “cart” in the same direction, which is grand, because we all can insist on the same points, and we all too can be confident with the kid’s progress, or face up with his problems on the other hand...  Do we know their parents or families?  We teachers can be insisting on a given good habit, which is pretty useful for the kid’s progress, for example hard-working, focusing at classes conducting, honesty, generosity… unless we lean on families we can be plowing in the desert, we can be alone at the kid’s progress. (Well, nothing is lost, all educates the kid.)  Otherwise we can help the kid become a person used to success but also one that can tackle and face up life’s problems! 

2809. Just Tips for Your Classes

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We teachers should learn our dear students have multiple intelligences, and so they learn visually, in a space-like way, interpersonally, linguistically... Let’s teach bearing this premise in mind – we may have large classes but it’s helpful we know our students well!  We have a nice responsibility: we don’t just teach but as well educate persons. Education in getting good habits (virtues) too.  And mastering English is something just expected and assumed in us English language teachers. There’s some idea in Spain novice teachers ought to pass a professional examination, like the one future doctors take... We teachers should also recycle our knowledge, methodologies and practice!  In my blog, to the right hand there are two nice links both to British-Council-BBC and to TeacherLingo, with material made by real teachers! Are we enamored of our profession?

2808. How to Keep Love Afloat Overtime

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Pepe and Marta, two English language teachers… had and kept their love after some years of marriage, overtime! They kept their emotion and feeling.  From time to time they took their children to the grandpas’ and went to some nice place to keep their mutual love. From one person to the other. Also this love existed when they all were together.  Besides they passed on this love to their children, which helped them be more emotionally stable when they were teens, a period that can be tough!, as you know. This has been inspired from Bárbara Sotomayor and Alberto Masó (2012) El arte del amor. Cómo lograr la plenitud afectiva en la pareja . Madrid: Palabra / Photo from: www youngparents com sg

2807. Some Tips for Private Classes that Worked

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Yesterday I taught two private classes to two brothers. One is 10 and the other one 12.  Well, you know, I treated them as adults, in some way: I listened to them attentively, to the answers to my questions. I treated them with love of benevolence.  And the thing I think turned out well, and I noticed they’re maturing and improving at their school subject of English!  They told me they also would pray for me too, among other interesting things. Sometimes I paraphrased what they told me. I try to teach them with affection. Like grown-ups I treated them: they’re young but not silly.  Even I let the younger brother tell me about a videogame, although obviously it hadn’t nothing to do with his school – it’s something that concerns him anyway, it’s something important for him. When I was making up a sentence to any of them I used realia (some coins to use the verb “add” for instance) and meaningful sentences, for them to realize English has to do wi...

2806. Creating an Atmosphere of Excitement among Our Students

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Only from curiosity can our students learn.  The school system shouldn’t be just exacting getting good grades (or marks in UK). That’s important but more important is our students should learn from the desire they have to learn new things. This vision could help us teachers to direct our classes in that way.  Do you know (for example we can ask) anything about the Roman Empire? You may think of that topic because you can read about it in their textbooks of English. And then elicit what they know about that topic, while we can smile in a wicked and cocky way when asking about it and getting answers...  Thus we’re creating an atmosphere of excitement! We can show our agreement at their answers and contributions. And then we can read out the text about the Roman Empire from their textbooks, while they're following us. / Photo from: site psu edu

2805. Our Dear Students May Think Different from Us Teachers

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Our dear students have multiple intelligences. Some are visual, some are mathematic, some are interpersonal, some are linguistic… The point is to teach our students from their strong points or intelligences. For example, instead of asking them all the time, let them ask you. Some geniuses and celebrities were bad at their school subjects, like Einstein, Robert Redford, I think Newton, Steve Jobs, I guess Edison too. The school for them was a bore! Until they were offered their element!: something they liked, just liked! And they got pretty high standards of development! Think of the first teacher of yours that you can remember; maybe that teacher got to give you the approach to knowledge you liked; you then were inside your element. One test: tell your students, next class with them, to ask you questions about their favorite school subjects and why they are their favorite ones. Just that! You’ll see how different the students are, and you’ll be able to teach the...

2804. Why Being Optimistic with Our Students

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We teachers should be optimistic with our students.  But optimistic when for example there are problems with some disruptive students, despite our struggle to manage the class? Yes, I said optimistic and I don’t remove any letter...  Man and woman are always capable of great things, any of them. Plus our optimism has the foundation in God: if we strive for Him, our labor will not be sterile and fruitless!  I’ve seen you struggling to teach English and help your dear students learn and acquire that language… you’ll see fruits. I’m optimistic. Students have resources for they are human beings, searching for happiness.  Let’s not reduce and confine our work to something small! We’ve been called to a beautiful process of educating people, persons. The one who has never caused any problem at his school-period let him put his hand up! / Photo from: Trek-Road-Bikes 9dva finomail top. 

2803. Positive Motivation for Our Dear Students

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Positive motivation. Our students do need it!  Do we tell our students what they do right and correct? Let’s do that instead of scolding them too much. We can tell them what they do right in a gentle mode: not too much either.  The point is to recognize what they do good, their effort to improve. After some reading by one of them, or answering to a drill exercise, or giving a nice contribution… We gain and get more with positive motivation than when denouncing their wrong moves and wrong answers.  It’s a way to empathize with them! Let’s reward their effort. It’s also a way for them to get more sane self-esteem, plus a feedback about their contributions. And rope one student to do an activity you teacher would do: think of a high-achiever student, he could for example read a text you’re working out on, instead of you… / Photo from: pupils www tes com

2802. About Empathizing With Our Students!

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Just something cool. We teachers should be prone to listen, and empathize with our dear students. Also we should listen to the families, and the colleagues.  Students like to be listened to by an adult. And they also need to give vents to their age conflicts, don’t they?  We should listen to them, in groups and individually. All they say is important to them. If only there were individual tutoring sessions at schools…!  There are in some schools I have worked for.  Even we can learn from our students! Better if boys talk with male teachers and girls with female teachers. We should love our students with love of benevolence, this is, to wish good and benefits to them.  And bear their problems and also joys. Listening to somebody is the best way to start to love him or her. It’s a kind and nice way to love people. Good listeners receive each word with a sane and mild proud, ponder about that word and learn something new, even from studen...

2801. Getting Rebellious Students - in the Good Sense...

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I’ve found something that could be useful for us teachers and educators. Follow me. I translate from Spanish, from Antonio Vázquez (1991) Educación Familiar y sensatez .  It’s just great, look: [We have to foster in our students] loyalty, sincerity, loving truth, responsibility, and… romanticism. People for whom the world gets small for their audacity! Rebellious people that are eager to change their lives and help others to change theirs, with a continuous wish to improve as persons day after day. (page 114).  Thus we would get rebellious teens that say No to drugs, that say No to an impoverished life; so they would become leaders in our dear Western society! / Photo from: lindseykelk com

2800. Maybe a Useful Tip for Teaching Adults

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A couple of things for today. First, and this is something great, is that I attend English classes as a teacher, but, there’s a but, I also learn from my senior students.  What? Well from their attitude and perseverance at attending each single class. They’re pretty motivated, and they take a huge wealth because of their experience of life.  They don’t learn as kiddies do, but they have learning strategies youngsters don’t have! Plus I’ve noticed that actually and really they do learn and even ACQUIRE English.  And you could catch them speaking in English! With errors and mistakes, okay, but there is real communication amongst us. After their contributions I correct them a couple of mistakes or errors, for them to grab grammar and pronunciation, or their classmates do. Oh, I could go on telling you about them, they’re so great, but I must finish the post. / Photo from: www pfhub com

2799. Only for Committed and Busy Teachers

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I guess the teacher’s authority isn’t confined to manage the class, no. The teacher should be a moral authority as well!!  His or her prestige is all a value, plus working well. At these cases students can notice their teacher’s moral authority and more likely they’ll tend to respect him.  As far as I know, I could tell you that every single busy teacher that contributes to TeacherLingo is pretty committed. Carry on that way fellows! And don’t decline though problems may occur – all of us have; does anybody of you have no problems of discipline and class management at least from time to time?  We as teachers should educate our dear students to be capable to face up with life: within rather few years they will be the leaders of our society…, if we get to educate them as great people, great persons.  For that we have to treat them a bit better as they are, or we think they are, otherwise we could get people with no seriousness and gravity and not...

2798. Plunge Into the Water!

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If you’re a learner of English for example, and a non-native teacher maybe, like it’s my case, I’d tell you to plunge into the water.  Make good use of chances to speak in English! Don’t wait for future occasions, just do it now. You might not have future chances for learning and acquiring!  Plus learning and acquiring a language is life-long, at least I can assure you, from my experience, believe me. I’ve met some high-achievers at learning and acquiring English, and believe me, they used to take all the chances they had to gain a fluent speaking for instance. / Photo from: www theatlantic com. the teacher on the picture looks he has gotten a nice rapport with his class students, right?

2797. I've Met Awesome Teachers - Most of Them

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I liked the slogan I saw in an English language teacher and teacher trainer’s blog: “When one teaches, two learn.” And I agree with him – when an enamored teacher teaches, two people learn.  Enamored of his job, and at disposal to his students-learners.  When you strive to carry out your job with commitment, the result is you get enamored of your profession. And you strive when you try to make art of your teaching – daily commitment does so.  The next class to teach is like the first one you taught, in some way – because you plan it with your specific students in mind. I’ve met awesome teachers in these past years – most of the ones I’ve met... / Photo from: thefriendshipfactory com