Improving Teaching | A teacher writing about ways to improve teaching, in the classroom and beyond Professional | Elisabeth Horn The Globe Trekker/Pilot Guides video collection is a treasure trove for any English teacher. It encompasses extensive material from every corner of the world, and especially English-speaking countries are lavished with attention. Australia, Canada, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, England – you name it. Covering the United States satisfactorily in the language classroom is a daunting project, especially if you want to give your students more than a superficial understanding of its history, geography, language and people. To date, Globe Trekker offers a range of videos on the USA, covering practically every individual state, and, so it seems, more is coming every new season. Every video is about 50-55 minutes, which, of course, means that you have a few decisions to make – viewing all of them in the traditional classroom is a big no-no, at least if you want to keep the students’ attention. In addition to making this initial decision, there are quite a lot of follow-up issues to consider:
Five key strategies to get/keep kids engaged at school Here’s an excerpt from Larry Ferlazzo’s new book, “Classroom Q & As: Expert Strategies For Teaching,” recently published by Education Week. It’s a compilation of some of the weekly teacher advice columns he writes for Ed Week, and includes contributions from acclaimed educators from across the United States. Ferlazzo teaches at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, CA, and has authored five other books on education. He also writes a popular education blog. By Larry Ferlazzo What does student engagement look like? I have received this question from teachers in a number of different forms. I’d suggest that a first step in that direction is leading with our “ears” instead of our “mouths.” Let’s start with some basics. Behavioral engagement: Are students getting their work done on time, are they participating in class discussions, do they follow school rules? Emotional engagement: Are students feeling excited about being in class, are they genuinely interested in the lessons?
A different side of EFL: "Tapping into teenage culture to accelerate autonomous learning" "A different side of EFL" is hosting Sylvia Guinan, an online educator who gives a dream list of onlinetools and resources to stimulate your teenage learner's interest and boost their autonomous learning! Click on the links and let the journey begin... Our teenage students are wonderfully complex, creative learners. In our rapidly changing societies, it may seem hard for us to truly engage teen learners or help them to feel part of something greater than themselves. In the words of Red Hot Chilli Peppers “It's so lonely when you don't even know yourself” . - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Knock Me Down The good news is that we don’t have to be ‘cool teachers’ In fact, there’s nothing worse than showing off how uncool you are by ‘trying’ to be cool – and teenagers can spot it a mile off – think of Holden Caufield and Catcher in the rye. “And I have one of those very loud, stupid laughs. This article will share ideas by bringing together the old & the new to make learning fun. 1) Mythology Dr. 13) Art
marymyattsblog | things I notice in schools ALL4EFL&ELT It is amazing how time flies and that I am sitting here writing on my blog again in 2014!The truth is that, due to irresponsibility coming from the two main Power Companies, there were several days of blackouts in the city of Buenos Aires. We were one of their victims too.Why am I posting an update? To answer the last set of questions of that Tag Eleven Bloggers.Almost a month ago, I started this quite a long trip and expressed the following: December 21, 2013. Why all this? Now, some other exciting CHALLENGE! The following goes to Shelly´s: Eleven Random Facts about me: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. My answers to Shelly´s 11 questions: What is a goal you hope to accomplish from your bucket list? Eleven Questions for the bloggers I am tagging: Marijana Smolčec, Maria Bossa, Cristina Monteiro Silva, Theodora Pap, Débora Tebovich, Roseli Serra, Rose Bard, Sylvia Guinan, Juan Alberto Uribe, Gordana Popovic and Hana Ticha! 1. 2. 3.
Teach them English A different side of EFL Reflecting English | Simple and practical classroom solutions