Monday, June 8, 2015

Class rules and procedures - laying down the law.

Recently, the topic of classroom management came up and I was asked, "What are your class rules?"

These are the rules and procedures I gave my students in the first lesson of this academic year April 2015, for 9th graders (14-15 years old). The copy I gave the students also had a third column with a translation in their 1L. I have all students glue this sheet into the front cover of their textbooks during the first lesson of the year so it's always there and I can have them to refer to it when necessary.

After going through the rules, I had each class come up with their own rewards and punishments. The most commonly desired reward was to watch a movie, and punishment was extra homework. One class requested a "boring talk" from Ms. Kuiper as a punishment. I'm sure I could come up with something boring, like my sock collection or all the different kinds of cheeses I enjoy and can they name any more types of cheese ...

NB: the bell that starts and finishes class in Japan is called the 'chime', so I just use that word.


MY CLASS RULES



PRE-CHIME
チャイムの前
  1. Put your textbook, worksheets file, iPad and pencil case on your AB pairwork desk.
  2. Push the desk together with your partner’s desk so you can talk easily.
  3. Sit down before the chime rings.
CHIME
チャイム
  1. Silence when the chime goes. The leaders stands and does the greeting.
  2. Once the chime has sounded, you MAY NOT go and get your stuff (unless you have permission from the teacher).
START
始まり
  1. Write the goal down on your learning log.
WARM UP
ウォーミングアップ
  1. Ask your partner the questions in English. Help them to answer using English.
WHOLE LESSON
授業中
  1. Listen without speaking when the teacher is talking.
  2. Raise your hand to ask a question.
  3. Encourage your partner.
  4. Keep the conversation in English - unless you’re explaining an activity to a classmate who doesn’t understand.
  5. Look up new words in the dictionary app, or ask a classmate or teacher.
  6. Pass things. We do not throw anything, ever, either before or after the chime.
  7. Ask permission to leave your seat, raise your hand & ask, 'Please can I... ?
  8. Keep your hands to yourself.
  9. Do not repair broken pens, stationery or any other broken items of any kind during the lesson.


PEER ASSESSMENT 



I also gave my students the following criteria for peer evaluations which will make up a small part of their grade. The idea is to encourage good study skills, and the sheet I gave out said:

Working well in a pair is very important in this class. Once or twice a semester, instead of a test with a teacher, your partner will score you on your pair work skills. You can get a good score if you:

  • always trying to speak in English                                       
  •  encourage your partner                                                          
  • seek help when necessary                                                
  • seek to extend your pair work if you finish   




Saturday, February 14, 2015

Links for creative avatar apps.

  • Tellagami 
  • Tom and Ben News
  • Talking Tom Cat 2
  • Sock Puppets
  • "Sock Puppets lets you create your own lip-synched videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. Add Puppets, props, scenery, and backgrounds and start creating. Hit the record button and the puppets automatically lip-synch to your voice."

Sing 'Frozen' from Let It Go in 25 different languages. If you can!

This multi-language version of the song that parents all around the world just wish they could hear one more time brings a tear to my eye - what a truly international collaboration. 

Very impressive.


Quirky Videos

Use the stop-play technique to elicit language from students with these imaginative short films. 

  1. The Black Hole - dir. Phil and Olly
  2. Signs  - dir. Patrick Hughes *
  3. The Note - dir. Jon Greenhalgh
A few possible questions to ask students:
  • What is the man is going to do next?
  • Is he going to take something?
  • What?Are the man and woman going to talk to each other?
  • Do you think they will go on a date?
  • What will the note say next?
 * In Signs there is one brief moment at 6.19-13sec you'd be wise to skip over if you teach young teens!





Recommended sites for creating web comics.


  • makebeliefscomix.com
  • marvelkids.com
  • Pixton 
  • ToonDoo

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Free Professional Development in ELT - Coursera x The University of Oregon



I've spent the last five weeks doing an online course through Coursera called Shaping the Way We Teach English, 1: The Landscape of English Language Teaching. It's run by the University of Oregon and the best thing about it is, it's all online, it's collaborative (you get to meet and discuss topics on ELT with teachers from around the world) and it is free of any charges. All you need is a computer connected to the Internet.

Basically with course each week involved:
  • a reading from an academic journal
  • watching a classroom video
  • a quiz based on the reading & video 
  • compulsory posts in discussion forums
  • a two-phase lesson planning project
I have gotten a lot out of the course and in just five short weeks it has already impacted the way I teach. I've started trying out a bunch of new things on my students, like projects (not easy to do in just 45 minutes once a week), silent time, replacement role-plays, and lots more.

The peer evaluations are particularly valuable, the aspects I enjoyed reading in other teacher's lesson plans ended up in my classroom the very next week. Some teachers actually found doing peer evaluations addictive.

I have enjoyed the course so much that I am doing the next five-week course which starts in 9 hours! No rest for me until March 16th.




Monday, February 2, 2015

Fairy Tales in ELT

Guessing Game Cards

My students love this activity. I'm posting it firstly as it's part of an assignment, secondly because I really appreciate other teachers sharing resources they've made and of course I am keen to contribute to the ELT community.

I usually do the activity something like this.
  1. Ss. put all the cards face down on a desk. 
  2. The first student takes a turn to read a card out to the group.
  3. If a member of the group knows the fairy tale as it is being read, they put their hand down flat on the table.
  4. When the reader has finished the story, they ask one of the students with their hand down flat, 'What story is it... (Maki)?' 
  5. (Maki) says, 'I think it's (Cinderella). 
  6. She is told, 'That's right.' Or, 'Not quite. Anyone else?'
It would be a great introduction to a fairy tale writing activity. 

The best part of the game is that reticent students get caught up in the fun of it and listen keenly to the speaker, so I look forward to watching my students play this game every year.




These are some ideas on main activities to do after this warm-up. Thanks to my classmates at Coursera.org for many of these ideas!

Have students:
  • modernise the fairy tale - students pick a modern moral to tell, e.g. the dangers of texting and walking, drugs, stranger danger, etc.
  • erase the last few lines of the story and write a new ending.
  • switch the gender roles - for example, The Sleeping Cutie and the princess who wakes him up from his 100 years of slumber. Cinderon, the boy who is treated badly by his evil stepfather and dreams of going to the ball to dance with the princess.
  • put out some props that you wouldn't expect in a fairy tale and have each group choose two that they have to incorporate into their version of the story, like a toy helicopter, a cellphone or some soap.
  • tell the fairy tale from the perspective of one of the supporting characters. For example, retell Cinderella from the Prince's point of view. Or the Fairy Godmother's, Cinderella's father, one of the mice, etc.
  • comparing the fairy tales from different cultures - e.g. what are the similarities between Japanese and Serbian traditions?


Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Teachers TV - a great tool for professional development


Teachers TV was a free video website funded by the UK government until 2011. 

I loved this British series and wish it had continued because it was a treasure trove of brilliant, practical help for teachers and administrators. 

Sadly, funding was withdrawn for reasons unknown but at least all the videos are still online, some on YouTube or hosted on other sites like TES.

Back in the day, I spent hours every week watching videos from Teachers TV to pick up new tips and ideas. The advice dispensed on a wide range of subjects and school issues was incredibly useful.

As Sir Ken Robinson says, 


"Investing in professional development is not a cost, it's an investment."

And these online video websites are an incredibly helpful tool for professional development (PD), because busy teachers easily watch or listen to videos in their free time, in order to keep on absorbing the huge amount of information, new ideas and techniques that are necessary to do our jobs of keeping our students' minds engaged in learning.

I highly recommend watching it.