Reflective Teaching

As teachers, we need to reflect on our teaching to improve ourselves professionally. The reason why reflecting is useful is because it helps you identify areas in your teaching that you would like to change, areas of teaching that are good and you are happy with that you would like to continue, areas that you need to research further, and plan what actions you would like to take in the future. Reflective teaching helps you gain an insight of your teaching practice and learn from you own experience.

There are 6 steps in the reflective cycle:
1. Description: What worked and didn't work in a class?
2. Feelings: What were your thoughts and feelings during and after particular tasks?
3. Evaluation: How did the students behave or react?
4. Analysis: What alternative approach could you have used?
5. Conclusion: What was good or bad about the experience?
6. Action plan: What will you do next time if the same thing happened? What can you do to prevent the same thing from happening?

I understand that teachers are very busy people, but just taking 10 minutes a week to reflect on the highlights would really improve your future lessons.

Why not give it a try?

Guess-the-Google

I just found a wonderful website for studying vocabulary. You get 20 images based on one theme. All you have to do is type in the word that you think it is. Very often, there are words that have a similar meaning. This game allows you to think about what synonyms there are and use them.
This game is perfect for visual learners.

http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/game/preloader.swf


Have fun

Too Young and Too Old

Here are two stories for you to think about: pregnancy at 5 and at 61 years of age.


http://youngest_mother.tripod.com/

http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-freaky/woman-pregnant-at-61-in-brazil/story-e6frflri-1226146850751


What do you think is the right age of having a baby? Why?

The Dogme Approach

There has been much talk about the Dogme language teaching approach.
Here is a link about it:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/dogme-a-teachers-view

Personally, I like the concept it is based on. I also believe it is important to create a lesson that students are interested in, relevant and student-focused. However, the use of no listening recordings. textbooks, flashcards and so forth seem to me a little silly.

There are so many resources that are created for language teaching which certainly help students learn. Too much reliance on one resource is not good but taking advantage of all the available resources is in my point of view, the way to go.

That being said, I would really like to hear what you think about this teaching approach.

Morning Routines

Here is a great video and lesson plan about morning routines:

http://gordonscruton.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/wrong-side-of-the-bed-a-video-activity-plan/

Bullfighting

Today 20,000 gathered to watch the last bullfight in Catalonia in Spain.
Supporters of bullfighting see it as the tradition and art of Spain. However, animal rights advocates see it as cruel and a blood sport. It is said that 9 out of 10 people in Spain believes that it is cruel and it exists merely for tourism. This is the reason why the government decided to ban bullfighting.

Here is a video and an article about the topic:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15051146

http://gospain.about.com/b/2010/07/28/barcelona-bullfighting-ban.htm


What do you know about bullfighting?

Make a list of the positives and negatives of bullfighting?

Would you have liked to see it in Spain? Why or why not?

The future of toreros and training toreros seem bleak. What advice would you give them?

Photography

Nowadays, almost everyone has a camera. The camera most commonly used is the digital camera. However, some people still love to use the good old film cameras, which I personally adore. Most people like digital cameras because of its convenience and user-friendliness. Even if you are not a photographer, it is now possible for you to take good quality photos, but digital cameras have actually taken away a lot of the fun in photography.

Do you think about composition, focusing, lighting and so forth when you are using a digital camera?

When you use a film camera, these are the things you have to think about for each and every photo. Film cameras allow you to make a photo something special and something that is your very own.

Here is a link of a photographer who is passionate about black and white film photography.
Enjoy.

http://ricardoyamamoto.carbonmade.com/


What do you think about this?

Do you have a digital camera?

Do you still have a film camera and do you use it?

In your point of view, what are the positives and negatives of the two types of cameras?

When do you normally take photos?

How can you turn a photo into art?

What do you think is the difference between you and a true photographer?

The Alphabet

A nice video to help you study the alphabet again and learn some new vocabulary.

http://vimeo.com/n9v/thealphabet2

The Alphabet 2 from n9ve on Vimeo.

Depression

Everyone has experienced having depression or feeling the helplessness when someone they know is suffering from the problem.

This is an article about it.

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/family/2011/09/depression-responsibility-and-more-options-for-stubborn-depression/


Have you suffered from depression or been around someone with the problem before?

How did you feel?

What might have been the cause of it?

What things helped to make you or the sufferer feel better?

What things didn't work?

What can the society do to prevent the problem?

Being a man

Obviously, because I am a woman, I don't know what it would be like to be a man.
This is a short video of what some men think are the best and worst things about being a man.




If you are a woman, what do you think are the best and worst things about being a woman?

If you are a man, do you agree with this video? What do you like or dislike most about being a man?

If you had the choice, would you change your sex? Why or why not?