| "THE STUDENT IS THE CENTER" If you know that one student is unusual, maybe IN a special job or FROM a special place or HE HAS a curious background or religion, why not help that student build a vocabulary to explain it and help the other students to learn about it??? It's not in the curriculum, but it is something INTERESTING and PERSONAL to everyone ("I was in a class with a guy from Riyadh... and he works in the ROYAL PALACE!"). Please find out why each student is in the room. What does the student want to learn? Bandar wants to learn to spell. Reiko wants to build confidence. Marta isn't clear about what she wants to learn "I want to learn all English" ("OK, but I can teach you 4 things this week. What do you WANT TO LEARN NOW?") ... the student is the center and the curriculum emerges from the student's needs ... and you can cover the GRAMMAR when needed... but give it a twist that is personal... You can send me $5 and I will send you a tape from one of my classes. Or youcan watch me teach on a .mov file. Teachers on this web site are on a mission to improve the teaching of our competitors. We want all students to get a good education. If you come to my class, I would like you to lead an exercise with half of my class and maybe we can videotape you and me. It is not to compare. It is to help you learn ... you can watch yourself and time how much you talk and how much you surprise students into talking. "Rodolfo, what are you doing this weekend?" "Mauro, what do you think is in that bag in the photo?" "William, ask Marisol to give me a pen." "Mariana, can you sit with Teri and tell her the names of each person and what they do?" |
| I have much to learn about testing what students are learning and checking that they are writing down new words in an organized way that they can use when studying. I have to learn how to encourage students to use the audiotapes in the media lab. But I know why students like to come to my classes. They never know what will be the next surprise and they know that I have their attention, that I want to know what is in their head and I want to learn from them, probably more than they want to learn English. "Tell me something new." That's communication and that's what makes the "communicative approach" so much fun (and challenging to make it work well.) Steve McCrea, Fort Lauderdale, FL FOR A FREE Vocabulary lesson by e-mail, send your e-address to: englishlesson@mail.com Visit the website for travel www.virtourist.com I have received feedback from Cary Elcome and Leslie Lott and they have helped me improve this paper. Tony Lloyd and Viv Karr pointed me in the direction toward "facilitating" and away from "star teacher, center of the universe and chief lecturer and source of all information." WEBSITES www.angelfire.com/fl4/englishlesson FOR A FREE Vocabulary lesson by e-mail, send your e-address to: englishlesson@mail.com www.angelfire.com/fl4/stevetest www.oocities.org/stevemccrea (THIS WEB SITE) You tend to move toward the things you think about, so think about good things. (Jeraldine S.) What are you grateful for? It's a glorious day, filled with love, opportunity and potential. Today is the sum of all your yesterdays, and Tomorrow will be the same. Today is the time to begin, to make Tomorrow's Today a better game. (Arthur Andrews) |
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| What can you do to bring something interesting into the lives of students? What physical thing can you bring into the classroom? Can you arrive early? Can you make a puzzle? Can your students tell a joke? What will make today's lesson special for you so you will always remember the students, the day, the lesson and your joy? Vince Cook says, "I like to think of work as play with a purpose." I agree. Put a quote on a wall. What are you grateful for today? A language school is a great opportunity to meet interesting people from around the world. What will you learn today? It's a great day today. |
| Hello, Angela Luz, Gianluca, Matteo and Fabian! You are great students! |
| 13 Vowel Sounds of English way, key, tie, oh!, moon, cat, pen,fish, pot, sun, dog, house, foot |
"Rodolfo, what are you doing this weekend?" "Mauro, what do you think is in that bag in the photo?" "William, ask Marisol to give me a pen." "Mariana, can you sit with Teri and tell her the names of each person and what they do?" The class is full of high energy, there's always a surprise, it appears to have a lack of organization, but there is a core focus on "Let's move each student with a little interaction because they pay for every 50 minutes. We need to give them value, at least 5 minutes of speaking to the class or to another person, and better if they talk or listen to each other for at least 30 minutes in 50 minutes." ALSO: what is natural? Do we native speakers talk about "gerund", "phrasal verb" and "participle"? or do we say... that's an -ing word that's a phrase with two words or a two word verb that's a past form. I try to forget the "Teacher vocabulary" and use words that are natural to describe the language. "This is like red or tall. It gives me information about the thing." = Adjective My arm is bleeding. My bleeding arm. bleeding is like "red" or "tall" (notice that I don't say "adjective" unless the student insists to know "what is it called?"). it's like I'm talking to my six-year-old child or niece. |