2009 October

sorry for my lack of updates

October 27, 2009 4 Comments

I was busy.

That’s so lame but that’s true.

Teaching again after a two-year break is not easy and I am working hard to get my mojo back.

Back then lesson planning was much much more simple. I needed not to try so hard to whack my brain for class activities to do. Now, I have to exert a great deal amount of effort in inventing class activities or adopting old ones and making props or finding ways on how to work with available teaching props.

: a good way to teach possessives

Making two lesson plans with the needed props now takes me a whole day and it is really frustrating because I know that the time for lesson planning and prop making is the time I don’t get paid for.

Right now I am trying to simplify some things to reduce the work I need to do and the time I have to spend and the following sites have been a great help to me.

I am sure that there are a lot of helpful sites out there but so far, these are the ones I find most useful. I hope that these sites could help you with your teaching too.

Filed Under: teaching materials, teaching resources Tagged With: teaching, teaching resources

waterloo: names

October 8, 2009 10 Comments

I admit I am not good with names.

During my practicum in the Philippines and during my one year teaching stint in China, I didn’t bother remembering the names of all my pupils. Having 50 children in a class and having at least four classes a day made it almost impossible to remember everybody. I believe it is but normal for a teacher who is in similar situation not to remember each pupil in her/his class.

Back in the Philippines, I was able to remember some names and usually they belong to the best and the worst pupils. I don’t play favorites or undesirables but those who stand out in the class i.e.; those who are probably too weird, too smart, too slow, etc. for my taste, usually find a way to my long term memory.

In China, it was simply IMPOSSIBLE. First and foremost, they have Chinese names that are too difficult to pronounce and remember. And if they decided to adopt English names (solely for the English teacher’s benefit or it could also be because they can’t have their Chinese names mispronounced over and over again), be prepared to have five Marys, about seven Johns, nine Adams, and 15 Lucys in the class. Also, I don’t know it if just me or it’s a common phenomena to all foreign teachers in China, but it’s like all Chinese children look alike. Imagine going in a classroom and doubting whether you already had this class or not because you look at their faces and they just look like those who were in your previous class but you are definitely in a different classroom. Get it? This happened to me a lot of times in China.

breaktime Here in Austria, not remembering ALL of your pupils’ names is a CRIME. Having a minimal number of pupils in a class, teachers here are sort of expected to remember each pupil—not for life but at least for the whole school year.

The biggest class I have is the one with nine pupils and although I know based from experience—not just with pupils but also with acquaintances— that I am bad with names, I haven’t yet failed to remember my pupils’ names. This could be because of their minimal number but I think the biggest factor there is the fact that kids here look so different from each other. Some have blond hair, some have green eyes, etc. The diversity is just so wide. And also, some names are quite striking for me—Birgit, Chonger, Hani, Karin, Jens (Yens), Walter (Val-ter), Georg (Gay-org). Names like those are not too easy to forget.

Filed Under: teacher's learners, teacher's life Tagged With: names, pupils

building up my English skills

October 2, 2009 5 Comments

Being a non-native English speaker who is teaching English, I always have to worry about my pronunciation and my grammar. I often find myself stopping in the middle of a sentence because I am not sure what grammatical rule to follow. In short, I am not sure how to say things the right way (grammatically speaking).

walls True I got this job only after a thorough interview and an intensive training. In a private school in Austria that goes to say something but I still cannot relax. I want to be better in English especially because I am teaching it so I make sure that I do something every day to further improve my English skills. Among these things is reading.

I read a lot.

As child, I learned the love of reading from my friends who would come to school and talk about the latest Nancy Drew or Sweet Valley High book. Naturally, I didn’t like to be left behind so I also borrowed their books and read them at home. Unlike my friends, I grew up in a simple working class family and although me and my sisters were encouraged to do well at school, the love of reading and writing were not really given importance. In fact I can’t remember receiving a book as a gift. We were given things we need—like school supplies and clothing but books… hmm—the only books that were lying around the house were our public school textbooks.

Now I have stacks of books to read and other than that, there are several blogs I follow. I allot at least an hour each day to read. Although the influence of reading (English texts) on my English skills is not immediately evident, I know that it helps a lot.

I also like to write.

But unlike reading, I can’t write every day because I find it difficult to do so. Sure I can express what I mean in written words but not as beautifully as I want them to be expressed. My English writing skill is very limited but I am also working to improve it.

Living in a German speaking country means that 90% of what’s shown on TV and on cinema is dubbed in German. In a way, this helps me improve my German skills (which I also need to work on) so I don’t mind but if I have the chance, I watch films in English.

And I talk in English—at home and at work.

My colleagues, although their English are really good, are also non-native English speakers like me and my husband but nonetheless, talking in English to them, understanding them and being understood by them perfectly build up a certain level of confidence.

Then of course, I am still studying English when I have the time. I check my reference books when I am in doubt. I review grammar rules and learn new ones.

I hope that someday (if not sometime soon), I’ll reach that level where I can say that my English skills are more than good enough.

Filed Under: teacher's life, teacher's thoughts Tagged With: english, english skills, language, teacher, teaching