Experiences of a teacher of English

Students who achieve learning English, more and more, have appropriate learning strategies, as I have already written on this blog. Now you can consider the following words, clarifying ones, taken from OXFORD, Rebecca ( 1990 ) Language Learning Strategies. What Every Teacher Should Know . Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers. I copied them while carrying out my doctorate papers, on May 29, 2004 . “Learner self-direction is not an ‘all or nothing’ concept; it is often a gradually increasing phenomenon, growing as learners become more comfortable with the idea of their own responsibility. Self-directed students gradually gain greater confidence, involvement, and proficiency.” (10) / Photo: georges-melies-a-trip-to-the-moon-le-voyage-dans-la-lune-painting dmorth wordpress com

From British Council – BBC teaching-English website. September 7. Help! How to teach a native speaker of French to speak English? Dear all, My private student is a young lady from France. Basically, she knows nothing about English and I have very limited knowledge of French. The textbook we are going to use is "Interchage" published by Cambridge University Press. I'm very worried about our fist lesson. How could she understand me if I do't speak much French? Do you have any suggestions? Thanks a lot. Effie Hello Effie and everyone, Calm down ;) Be, as you well know, welcoming and polite. I don't know the objectives this lady wants to attain with your private speaking classes. You yourself can mark a short and realistic set of objectives - make a plan and write it down. I would tell you not to speak any French. All in all, don't worry if some words in French slip out during the conversation. But those classes of speaking English must be so, in English, all the...

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “Discipline in the school? Consider the following case and try draw your conclusions. In certain school a student, when hanging around in the playground with his friends, a teacher went past them, at some steps away. That student said sort of a disgusting nickname at this teacher, an insult, coming to the head. The teacher consulted this case with another teacher, and the latter one, a veteran one, told the former that this student ought to be expelled from the high school. Ultimately the aggraviated teacher addressed the direction staff and they agreed the ‘small terrorist’, so to speak, had to continue at the school. If the decision would be to fire the kid, this process should keep something educative for him, should not hurt him forever, and a beneficial thing for his life. Anyway, on this blog you have heard the first thing to do is to make helping tutorials, and useful punishments, if any. The key point of a school: educa...

One day teacher of English B said to teacher of English A, “Yesterday I invented a simple game. It helps learn present simple, because it refers to habits. It’s for a low level class. On the blackboard I write a series of times of a regular day, like 7:30am , 8:00pm , etc. That part on a column. On a parallel column I write activities in present simple, like ‘I rise’, ‘I do my homework’, etc, at random. And they’got to match the times with the activities. As simple as that, as useful as it sounds to practice that verbal tense.” / Photo from: www vetforu com

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “The teacher of English needs wisdom. For any regular day. Wisdom makes classes and education of our students deeper and more human, with plenty of values. I found some words by John Paul II that made me think. Listen, ‘In the Old Testament [of the Bible] was developed and flourished a rich tradition of wise doctrine and thought. On the human level, such a tradition shows human person’s desire to coordinate the data of his or her experiences and his or her knowledge, in order to direct his or her life as the most fruitful and wisest one.’ Something I’m rolling in my head lately is that the human person’s wisdom, the teacher’s wisdom and competence ultimately come from God, who has an everending Wisdom. Our wisdom is like a spark, a big one, of God’ one. Well, sure thing, counting on the teacher of English’s learning and working.” [The translation of the text is by me; I’ve done slight changes, precisely to clarify its ...

Here you have a post by a teacher, published on British Council – BBC’s website about teaching English. And an answer by me; I suppose one of the replies by other teachers. Hi everybody! My name is Valeria. I'm a teacher of English from Argentina. I'm carrying out a research paper on How to evaluate speaking skill. Have you ever reflected upon this issue? What aspects do we have to take into account when evaluating speaking? How can we help our students develop those aspects? What do you think about this? It would be a great pleasure for me to read your feedbacks and include them as part of the investigation. Thanks in advanced. Yours, Valeria. ************* Hello Valeria and everyone, I think you have hit the target. I mean, speaking could be one of the most important skills for a reaserch, because speaking may be the most important or usual means of communication. See it this way: if a student can speak in English, up to some point you can say that person manages communicati...

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “I have told you loads about learning strategies, and it’s okay. Anyway, your students also need a lot of presentation of grammar, of grammar patterns that will help them construct real communication. Present, explain grammar, let them listen and understand and write down notes. Before being able to speak they need to listen to you speaking to them, speaking with them.” / Photo from: Afghan Beauty (Talal Salaam) pinktaxiblogger blogspot com