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3708. When Was the Last Time Our Students Read a Full Book?

  Today I would like to point out a couple of points that may help you out, mainly if you are a teacher, like I am.  You know, a lot has been said about the student’s motivation in class, and that’s fine, for our lessons don’t need to bore our dear students and a whole herd of cows alike.  However, if for example a kid in class achieves to solve a math problem, or to write an essay in English (say, his target language), about a given topic, well, he will get perfectly content. There may be nothing better than the student would strive to do things fine, and learn a lot of things from his teacher.  Effort and struggling may also be paramount in class, and alike at home with their homework. I mean, the school and the classroom are not theme parks, as Gregorio Luri says.  Second thing today. I’d also like to pinpoint the use of books, paper ones. Miguel Ángel Martínez-González stands up for the use of paper books instead of a lot of screens. On this blog I’ve said s...
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2639. They are prone to participate in class

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My students are smart and work hard. I’m referring to the adults I teach.  On Monday and Wednesday I sometimes can arrive at class at 9:30, other days near 9:45; I have some stuff to do before classes. I don’t tell them anything, but they study the worksheets I hand them out.  Today at the end of the class I had to hand out the worksheet # 178, the next one.  I hadn’t thought of handing them out, but it’s the students who want to learn and acquire on their own. It’s nice to teach students this kind.  All the class is in English, except for some sentences, but as I said the class is some 99% in English. Even before and after the class they tell me things in that language! They’re prone to practice too. / Photo from: www gemt org uk
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3707. For Learning a Language - Reading Is like Half the Pathway Trodden

  A lot of us people want to learn a language – I teach English and keep learning it! – and we have to practice all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  For me and many of us listening may be the most difficult skill to acquire, but with practice you do improve a lot, believe me.  Anyway, today I would like to tell you especially about reading. Reading books, articles, websites. And also believe me, it’s a great skill to practice.  Stephen Krashen stated that by reading books you can learn a great deal of a second or foreign language, and I can assure you it’s thus. I have no big problems to read any text in English: fiction, non-fiction … except Joseph Conrad’s books perhaps, for they show to be extremely difficult for me to understand – even I had an Irish friend, Connor by name, who told me also that for him it was tough to understand, and he said that he read like one page per day, of his books. It’s curious, Conrad was Polish by birt...
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3389. I Know What Is Good for My Students!

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  So yesterday I wrote to you something about determining some goals for our classes (I mean groups). Summarizing and insisting on purpose: When thinking of goals they should be few , and they should serve the purpose of helping me, who is the one that will refer back to those goals after having applied them and while applying them. It is not something just for the principal to learn, but they have to be useful to me! Intuition, after this school year: I do know what is good for my classes (groups). Plus I will NOT dedicate too much time to determining those goals, just the necessary one. Those goals must be practical!! I have just transcribed some notes about those meaningful, significant, and helpful goals. I hope this article be any useful to you, committed teachers and all others that drop by my blog! Sorry for my mistakes and errors while writing in English! / Photo from: passarello_la_crecida_del_rio_sena_paris_francia_el_24_de_enero_de_2018
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918. Asking for help

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One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “One way of making the students communicate in the target language has to do with the functional methodology. The teacher has to provoke saying something in English, the target language. The teacher describes in the first language a situation, a realistic one, where the student has to use English to communicate about what this latter one needs, or wishes, or demands, protests, shows gratitude, just says a statement, etc. For example, ‘María, ¿cómo expresarías en inglés la necesidad de que tienes que cambiar los pañales al bebé, en el aeropuerto?’, which is ‘María, how would you show the necessity you have to change your baby’s diaper?’. And t he student could say, ‘Excuse me sir, where can I change my baby’s diaper?’ Like you see, I used translation: sometimes it is necessary and helpful, but use it not too much.” / Photo from: chagrinvalley times com. By Joan Demirjian us. police officer on duty
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