And in ESOL, it would seem, you can't please some of the people any of the time. The class who moaned about having been made to do mouse exercises are now moaning that they don't know the basics of how to use a computer. So we're going back to doing what I wanted them to do before on the request of their tutor, but which I was told by their tutor they didn't want to do.
I do wish people would make up their minds.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
A positive note...
For all we have problems and issues to tackle in teaching, I still love my job. I'm lucky enough, though, to work in a department where things like this turn up on the filing cabinet.
In addition, you would be amazed how many rivals Microsoft has in our students minds- one Entry 2 student told me he wanted to learn about Microscope Powerpoint- the slides are really small. Still another wanted to use Sherlock Holmes's brother's IT company- Mycroft.
The perils of last year's worksheets...
You know, you'd think I would have learned by now that a worksheet, even a recent one, can be fraught with perils if you're silly enough to think "Hey, that's fine, it doesn't need anything changing"- and this when I was altering other worksheets!
It is most definitely a con of using them in terms of resources- they become out of date. This is especially true of Internet worksheets. You would think that a webquest involving jobs on the internet would be reliable enough. OH no. Of COURSE, the sheet asks the students to write down how many jobs there are in Nursing this week on the Reed website, in the students' local area. Fine, yes? No. NATURALLY, there are NO jobs in nursing listed this week. Which of course causes merry hell. ESOL students are daunted enough by IT, without problems like this cropping up. We have enough trouble with Microsoft Word, which keeps coming up with at least 3 pop-up windows asking the students about macros. MACROS! Most of them are just about able to save and print, and to log in given 5 or 10 minutes, or at the higher end of Entry 2, to insert clip-art from the internet. Extra windows mean they flounder, helpless in a sea of supposedly useful bits of information. I do wish the college would think about these things before installing all kinds of exciting new programmes on the computers. MOST of the students who use them will have no trouble. But MOST is not ALL, and it causes no end of wasting of class time.
I feel that a more formal version of this particular rant- which is a bugbear of mine- will form part of my report on resources for the training course. I cannot see the wisdom in keeping ESOL students grouped according to their language ability for their IT classes. I just can't. IT is a separate basic skill. We can't assume that just because a student speaks excellent English, they will be similarly excellent on the computer. They would get far more out of their IT classes if they were grouped through an IT diagnostic for them. As it is, in most classes there are some students studying one thing, and some studying another- and the amount of time this uses up in terms of planning is a waste. Teachers DO have better things to do than plan five separate lessons for the same 2 hour period. Yes, differentiation is possible to an extent, but surely it would be better to be differentiating the level of English (which causes just as many problems for ESOL IT students) used in the worksheets than what the students are studying. ICT, for all its wonders, is a whole new world for most students, so in my ESOL classes (as opposed to ESOL IT), as far as I'm concerned, the best way to incorporate IT is for me to use it, not the students.
With that in mind, I'm getting trained to use Qwizdom on Monday- meaning lots of push-button handset fun for my classes- I use the PC, they don't have to. I can't wait! I've been dying to learn how to use it since the end of the Summer term, which is when I first saw it demonstrated.
It is most definitely a con of using them in terms of resources- they become out of date. This is especially true of Internet worksheets. You would think that a webquest involving jobs on the internet would be reliable enough. OH no. Of COURSE, the sheet asks the students to write down how many jobs there are in Nursing this week on the Reed website, in the students' local area. Fine, yes? No. NATURALLY, there are NO jobs in nursing listed this week. Which of course causes merry hell. ESOL students are daunted enough by IT, without problems like this cropping up. We have enough trouble with Microsoft Word, which keeps coming up with at least 3 pop-up windows asking the students about macros. MACROS! Most of them are just about able to save and print, and to log in given 5 or 10 minutes, or at the higher end of Entry 2, to insert clip-art from the internet. Extra windows mean they flounder, helpless in a sea of supposedly useful bits of information. I do wish the college would think about these things before installing all kinds of exciting new programmes on the computers. MOST of the students who use them will have no trouble. But MOST is not ALL, and it causes no end of wasting of class time.
I feel that a more formal version of this particular rant- which is a bugbear of mine- will form part of my report on resources for the training course. I cannot see the wisdom in keeping ESOL students grouped according to their language ability for their IT classes. I just can't. IT is a separate basic skill. We can't assume that just because a student speaks excellent English, they will be similarly excellent on the computer. They would get far more out of their IT classes if they were grouped through an IT diagnostic for them. As it is, in most classes there are some students studying one thing, and some studying another- and the amount of time this uses up in terms of planning is a waste. Teachers DO have better things to do than plan five separate lessons for the same 2 hour period. Yes, differentiation is possible to an extent, but surely it would be better to be differentiating the level of English (which causes just as many problems for ESOL IT students) used in the worksheets than what the students are studying. ICT, for all its wonders, is a whole new world for most students, so in my ESOL classes (as opposed to ESOL IT), as far as I'm concerned, the best way to incorporate IT is for me to use it, not the students.
With that in mind, I'm getting trained to use Qwizdom on Monday- meaning lots of push-button handset fun for my classes- I use the PC, they don't have to. I can't wait! I've been dying to learn how to use it since the end of the Summer term, which is when I first saw it demonstrated.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Note to self:
When teaching a group with extremely low-level English, telling them they are finished will mean they go home, regardless of whether they have another lesson straight after yours in the same room, or not.
Second note to self:
Tell your colleague who takes the class after you to barge in when they are due to start, to avoid confusion and having to chase random elderly ladies down the stairs to tell them they're not done for the day.
When teaching a group with extremely low-level English, telling them they are finished will mean they go home, regardless of whether they have another lesson straight after yours in the same room, or not.
Second note to self:
Tell your colleague who takes the class after you to barge in when they are due to start, to avoid confusion and having to chase random elderly ladies down the stairs to tell them they're not done for the day.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Back from beyond...
Six weeks away from teaching has had some interesting effects. I've had lots of time to recover, which I didn't over the summer, and I've come back to my classes with a much calmer attitude, I think.
I had in fact relaxed so much that I forgot about the one member of my teacher training class who drives me up the wall. This week, it was disparaging comments about a much-loved teaching method of mine- specifically, using games in class- which got me going and stopped me wanting to contribute. "In my subject," he announced, "games are for Christmas break." I found that very rude of him, and can't help wondering whether he allows his own students to be so rude about other students' opinions and ideas. I was rather frustrated that games were not discussed further as other methods were, since I was itching for the opportunity at least to explain why they are so useful in an English class. What I should have done was jump on the comment, which was made seemingly as a parting shot as other comments have been, and ask why he said that. I felt very angry that someone felt it was acceptable to denigrate a teaching tool, simply because it couldn't be used for a particular subject. That said, I feel that a game approach can be used in a variety of subject areas. It's not specifically playing a game- I don't spend my English classes playing parlour games- it's putting the learning goal into a game format.
For example: I want my students to revise the past simple tense. I could give them a test. I could give them a worksheet on the past simple. In some classes that is precisely what I would do, as they respond to a more formal teaching style. But I could, with equal success in terms of the learning outcome, use the Blockbusters I think I've mentioned before- a hex-grid of verbs, which the students have to turn into the tense I specify to win the hex and get across the board.
Another example: I want to feedback with the class and go through the answers to some work they have been doing, let us for the sake of argument say a Cloze exercise. I could simply ask them to tell me the answers and I write them down. But I could also put the students in teams, and 'buy' the correct answers with monopoly money- if they bid on the correct one, they get their money back. If they bid incorrectly, they lose their money, and the team with the most money at the end is the winner. It keeps their interest, as they have a stake in every answer, and getting them right matters more. Or I could project (this is pre-Smartboard) the exercise onto the whiteboard twice- as in two copies up at the same time- give two groups of students pens, and get them to race to fill out the correct answers. The team with the most correct, and correctly spelled, wins. Again, it makes getting things right matter.
A final example, from a listening exercise: I want my students to pick out particular words in a listening exercise, to practice their listening skills. A great, fun, and very kinaesthetic way to do this, is to give the students flashcards, each with a different word on it. The chairs are put out so that students can stand up easily. When they hear their word, that is exactly what they have to do. It hones their skills, and is tremendous fun when you use a song.
These examples, and others like them (I shall talk about using puppets and drama another time) are, as far as I'm concerned, games. They are not serious, but they have learning outcomes, and students gain from them. One of the most important things they gain is a more varied lesson. Varying the way that I deliver my subject is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the most important skills I can develop. It keeps my students engaged, interested, and focussed on the task.
At least I can empathise now with students who have problems with particular peers who antagonise them- there was a time when I would deliberately pair such students to try and get them to co-operate and get over their differences, but I realise now, having had to work with said classmember, just how unproductive that can be.
Slang and talking about the trip will, I think, provide some interesting lessons.
But not as interesting, I suspect, as the ESOL citizenship work. Why didn't I start using this sooner? It's an ideal way to introduce some positive changes in classroom management, as one of the first things discussed in both the coursebooks are good and bad manners. Now that we have established what they are, my Entry 2 class are keenly putting up their hands before answering or asking questions- a good start to getting them not to talk to each other when others are talking.
I had in fact relaxed so much that I forgot about the one member of my teacher training class who drives me up the wall. This week, it was disparaging comments about a much-loved teaching method of mine- specifically, using games in class- which got me going and stopped me wanting to contribute. "In my subject," he announced, "games are for Christmas break." I found that very rude of him, and can't help wondering whether he allows his own students to be so rude about other students' opinions and ideas. I was rather frustrated that games were not discussed further as other methods were, since I was itching for the opportunity at least to explain why they are so useful in an English class. What I should have done was jump on the comment, which was made seemingly as a parting shot as other comments have been, and ask why he said that. I felt very angry that someone felt it was acceptable to denigrate a teaching tool, simply because it couldn't be used for a particular subject. That said, I feel that a game approach can be used in a variety of subject areas. It's not specifically playing a game- I don't spend my English classes playing parlour games- it's putting the learning goal into a game format.
For example: I want my students to revise the past simple tense. I could give them a test. I could give them a worksheet on the past simple. In some classes that is precisely what I would do, as they respond to a more formal teaching style. But I could, with equal success in terms of the learning outcome, use the Blockbusters I think I've mentioned before- a hex-grid of verbs, which the students have to turn into the tense I specify to win the hex and get across the board.
Another example: I want to feedback with the class and go through the answers to some work they have been doing, let us for the sake of argument say a Cloze exercise. I could simply ask them to tell me the answers and I write them down. But I could also put the students in teams, and 'buy' the correct answers with monopoly money- if they bid on the correct one, they get their money back. If they bid incorrectly, they lose their money, and the team with the most money at the end is the winner. It keeps their interest, as they have a stake in every answer, and getting them right matters more. Or I could project (this is pre-Smartboard) the exercise onto the whiteboard twice- as in two copies up at the same time- give two groups of students pens, and get them to race to fill out the correct answers. The team with the most correct, and correctly spelled, wins. Again, it makes getting things right matter.
A final example, from a listening exercise: I want my students to pick out particular words in a listening exercise, to practice their listening skills. A great, fun, and very kinaesthetic way to do this, is to give the students flashcards, each with a different word on it. The chairs are put out so that students can stand up easily. When they hear their word, that is exactly what they have to do. It hones their skills, and is tremendous fun when you use a song.
These examples, and others like them (I shall talk about using puppets and drama another time) are, as far as I'm concerned, games. They are not serious, but they have learning outcomes, and students gain from them. One of the most important things they gain is a more varied lesson. Varying the way that I deliver my subject is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the most important skills I can develop. It keeps my students engaged, interested, and focussed on the task.
At least I can empathise now with students who have problems with particular peers who antagonise them- there was a time when I would deliberately pair such students to try and get them to co-operate and get over their differences, but I realise now, having had to work with said classmember, just how unproductive that can be.
Slang and talking about the trip will, I think, provide some interesting lessons.
But not as interesting, I suspect, as the ESOL citizenship work. Why didn't I start using this sooner? It's an ideal way to introduce some positive changes in classroom management, as one of the first things discussed in both the coursebooks are good and bad manners. Now that we have established what they are, my Entry 2 class are keenly putting up their hands before answering or asking questions- a good start to getting them not to talk to each other when others are talking.
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