How to catch the students' attention.

 Icebreakers

First day of class? Are students too shy? Students don’t feel comfortable speaking English? We have you covered! Just choose whichever icebreaker questions or speaking activities you think will work best !

Icebreaker Speaking Games/Activities

Who are you?

First of all, we have “Who are you?”. It takes a little prep (just some paper and tape), but students really seem to get into it. They may not get to know each other from this one, but

they will certainly get comfortable talking to each other.

Here are some more links.

Two Truths One Lie

Next is an activity for your students to get to know each other. It can be a very short or very long activity, it's up tp you. It can even be easily turned into a game.

 

Paper Fight

This get-to-know-you activity is definitely active and can be bit hectic but if you and your students are keen, it can be an activity they will remember for a long time.  Good for building rapport between you and your students.

 

Deserted Island

The deserted island question is one that we have all done. It’s popular for a reason and students seem to really enjoy figuring out which items to take to the island. With no preparation and lots of talking, this is a good one to have in your utility belt.

 

Twenty Questions

Twenty questions is also another well-worn activity, but one that never gets old. An added bonus is that it can be used to review target vocabulary. It’s good as a warmer to get them comfortable with speaking English again.

 

Multipurpose

This next activity is an interesting one that will get them talking as well as get them thinking creatively. It can be used in a limited way to review vocabulary since it can only be used for a few words, but the few you review will definitely be stuck in their heads after this activity.

 

Personality Quiz 

Ah, personality quizzes. Accurate or not, people really seem to enjoy taking them. You might want to hide the fact that it is a personality quiz until the end. A great activity to get them talking and also a great activity to review or practice adjectives.

 

Riddles 

Next up, riddles! Logic puzzles! Knock their brains into gear and get them to think outside the box. To get the most out of this one, definitely put them in groups of three or four. Students get a lot more out of this activity when they can bounce their ideas off other students. 

Bingo Icebreaker

Use this bingo board to get your students to ask each other questions. Available as a Word file download to edit it for your needs!

 

Spot the Difference 

Last one! This one takes the most prep of all of them. The language production on this one isn’t that high either, but most students will really get into it. You can also use it to point out some extra vocabulary to get a bit more bang for your buck.

Icebreaker Conversation Questions

 

Small Talk 

Completely random questions, so random in fact, that every student can find at least a couple of questions that will pique their interest.

Have you ever…

Questions about students experiences using the present perfect (i.e. have you ever…). Everyone likes talking about themselves and the things that have happened to them! (These questions are also listed under grammar)

Comparatives / Superlatives

Questions based on comparatives (i.e. bigger, smaller, more interesting) and superlatives (i.e. the biggest, the smallest, the most interesting). Lots of questions to get students talking about

their opinions on many different topics. (These questions are also listed under grammar)

250 Conversation Starters

This is a site aimed at native speakers of English but it has a lot of questions in the “random conversation starters” section that would be suitable for intermediate and advanced students. A great extra source of questions if the questions above aren’t enough for you

How to teach irregular verbs?

How can you teach irregular verbs?

Do you agree that irregular verbs are among the most challenging things in learning English? If you are not a native speaker and have studied English yourself, I am sure you agree with me. So, let your students play games. 

1) If you teach frontally, you can buy or prepare yourself a puzzle. Look at some short videos on my Instagram account of how kids play with it. Pay attention that the groups of puzzles are of different colors.

For instance:

pay - paid - paid

say - said - said

drive - drove - driven

rise - rose - risen

You can see the fragments of the lesson on how to teach irregular verbs. You can prepare the groups of verbs yourself.

Video 1.

Video 2.

Video 3.

Video 4.

Thus, you use a multisensory way of teaching that enhances kids' learning. Multi-sensory instruction incorporates the use of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile modalities in the components of learning to read. Thus, children see the spelling of the words, listen to the teacher and repeat, and play with the puzzle while matching the V1, V2, and V3 forms of the verbs.

2) Use interactive boards for online lessons.

Десять ошибок в изучении английского языка.

 Открытое письмо всем потенциальным и реальным клиентам. Какие ошибки вы допускаете при изучении иностранного языка?

1. Вы считаете , что если вы платите деньги, то преподаватель обязан если не выучить за вас язык, то по крайней мере в течение определенного времени наделить вас определенным количеством знаний.

Это невозможно, хорошие мои. Никакой даже самый гениальный преподаватель не в состоянии выучить за вас абсолютно ничего, а знания - это не мешки с картошкой и прочим урожаем, которые требуется собрать и погрузить в машину, да еще и в определенном количестве ))). Преподаватель - это путеводная звезда, который вас НАПРАВЛЯЕТ и учит вас учиться. Ваша задача - принимать полученную информацию и переваривать ее, а потом закреплять полученные на уроках знания с помощью домашних заданий и других источников - например, детских песенок и мультиков на начальном этапе.

2. Как только занятие закончится, вы забрасываете учебник и прочие материалы и вспоминаете о них за полчаса до прихода репетитора или поездки на курсы. Лихорадочно делаете пресловутую "домашку", чтобы препод вас не сильно ругал )).

Да, было такое в детстве )). Кто из нас этим не грешил в школе? Ну, поставила училка пятерку, и вы тотчас же забывали материал. Но если в школе вам необходимы были оценки, чтобы Марь Иванне не приходилось за вас краснеть, то к репетитору или на курсы вы ходите исключительно за знаниями, чтобы не потеряться за границей и/или не ударить в грязь лицом когда вам английский понадобится для работы. Теперь вы учитесь для себя, а не для Марь Иванны )).

3. Вы без конца пропускаете занятия.

Товарищи, я всё понимаю. Мы с вами уже не школьники и у нас у всех дел по горло: работа, семья, дом и еще тысяча и одна мелочь. Сегодня у вашего ребенка утренник, завтра гости приехали, послезавтра вы поругались с мужем/женой или (не дай Б-г!) заболели. Если вы учитесь на курсах, то во-первых, вы отстанете от программы и потом вам будет очень трудно, во-вторых, вам никто деньги не вернет за пропущенные занятия. Возможно, частный репетитор пару раз пойдет вам навстречу и перенесет занятие, но рано или поздно ему это надоест, и он вам вежливо укажет на дверь. Ну посудите сами: если это хороший репетитор, то к нему, как правило, очередь стоит.

4. Вы часто меняете репетиторов в надежде, что вот-вот отыщется идеальный и вдохновит вас на подвиг, имя которому — овладевание английским в совершенстве.

Скажите пожалуйста, а с какой целью вы решили ходить к репетитору? Отдать дань моде, что ли? У вас нет мотивации свободно общаться за границей или продвигаться по работе? Если нет, тогда незачем чужое место занимать: оставьте его тому, кто действительно мотивирован. Или у вас психологическая несовместимость с этим человеком? Это, конечно, веская причина его сменить, но идеальных людей нет.

5. «Я сменил/а кучу курсов и частных преподавателей, а воз и ныне там».

Опять 25? Ищем идеального репетитора или чудо-методику? А самим учить слова и грамматику никак? Чем с вами занимается репетитор — неужто заставляет вас переводить тексты про коммунистическую партию? Вряд ли. Наверняка этот человек постоянно учится на курсах повышения квалификации и владеет современной методикой, которая предполагает обучение навыкам общения. Более того, скорее всего, он/а с вами играет на уроке в сюжетно-ролевые игры, чтобы вы осваивали пока короткие фразы, необходимые для общения на улице или в магазине. Да и карточками и/или красочными учебниками наверняка, пользуется, чтобы вам нескучно было заниматься.

6. «Все равно я ничего не выучу с преподом, который не является носителем языка».

Так-с… Представьте себе ситуацию, что иностранец учит русский и всё время употребляет одну и ту же форму: «у меня есть друг», «я ходить в гости к друг», «я обедать с друг» и пр. Если для нас окончания — это естественно, то иностарнцу надо это всё объяснить. Точно также англичанин или американец может не понять, почему вам трудно дается какой-нибудь перфект, когда для него это естественно. Кстати, если носитель языка с вами будет говорить только по-английски, а вы на первых порах не будете понимтаь ни слова, вы точно выучите язык?

7. «Надо ехать в Англию на год, чтобы выучить английский».

Ну пожалуйста — кто же вам мешает? Только без языковой базы вам будет очень трудно. Более того, если вы там познакомитесь с кем-нибудь из своих соотечественников, будет соблазн говорить с ними исключительно по-русски.

8. «У меня нет времени»

Понимаю. Позвольте мне, человеку, владеющему английским, ивритом, украинским и на сегодняшний день изучающему французский, дать вам дельный совет. Вы водите машину? Прекрасно! Пока вы едете на работу, включайте диск, что преподаватель вам посоветовал или уроки из ютюба и слушайте. Пусть вам в одно ухо влетает, а из другого все-таки не совсем вылетает, а хоть отчасти задерживается. Разве вы не замечали за собой, что если вы будете все время слушать одну и ту же песню, то вы ее поневоле выучите. Также и с изучением иностранного языка. Если вы ездите на работу на общественном транспорте или ходите пешком, это не беда. Тогда дома слушайте во время уборки, готовки и прочих дел. Еще я очень рекомендую аналогичное слушание на ночь — помните как вы учили стихи наизусть? Вам же не случайно рекомендовали на ночь их учить: пока человек спит, его мозг продолжает работать, и наутро вы уже могли рассказать стихотворение без запинки. Также и с языком.

9. «Я не запоминаю слова».

Если в предыдущем пункте я писала про пассивное изучение, то сейчас я предложу активное. Уделите минут 15 в день для того, чтобы повторять слова — и лучше бы перед сном. Причем проговаривайте вслух, чтобы работали и зрительная память, и слуховая. В конце концов вы можете найти слова на нужную тему в ютюбе и слушать их. А еще я рекомендую их выписывать и класть на видное место: хоть на рабочий стол под стекло, хоть прицепить на шкафчики в кухне. Тогда вы будете пассивно запоминать их написание. Еще я рекомендую сложные слова писать в тетради: каждое слово по 2 строчки, например Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday… Проговаривать его «вэднесдай» или — о, ужас! — писать русскими буквами «венсдэй» — это не очень хорошая идея. Надо сразу стараться запоминать правильно, чтобы потом не переучиваться.

10. «У меня ничего не получится потому что я неспособный/ая».

Вот это самое страшное. Самотоксичность еще никому не помогла. Не надо пасовать перед трудностями, тем более, ругать себя за ошибки, ведь не ошибается тот, кто ничего не делает. Вы немало сделаете ошибок, вам будет трудно — а разве преодоление трудностей и первые успехи вам не доставляют удовольствие? Не ждите мгновенного результата, ибо изучение иностранного языка — это дело непростое. Для того, чтобы не потеряться за границей, надо потратить не менее полугода. А для того, чтобы свободно разговаривать, необходимо года 3, не меньше. Но усилия стоят того. Это сложно, но возможно.

Good luck!

P.S. Подробности: https://www.facebook.com/TEACHER.JULIA1/posts/pfbid02v5erF7Wg29Lc1qCXfqYsFZqX47Xy6mtvxe9RxLHD2x7AJzYuxkHJoGm93Fkd7vukl

За дополнительной информацией по поводу частных уроков и обучении в группе онлайн обращайтесь по вотсапу +972523781448

The importance of five C while teaching literature online.

 How to teach literature online.

In some of my online classes, students have organized small groups for “remote team working”. They do it in order to give presentations about authors and their literary production, contextualizing them historically, literately and sometimes politically. Thus, a short story “A Summer’s Reading” by B.Malamud was written in 1930s, during “the great depression” in the USA, and reflected the life of immigrants at that historical period. Another short story “Rules of the Game” by A.Tan is also about immigrants. Moreover, Israeli teenagers are supposed to analyze the way of life and language mistakes made by those who lived in America for some years and still did not speak English very well. I sometimes ask my students which mistakes the characters of the story make, which customs and traditions they still keep and which new ones they have accepted. The third novel is “The Wave” by M.Rhue which teaches students a higher order of thinking skills (HOTS) to help them identify why the certain events happened in the history, and the result of those actions. While reading this novel they understand what makes a dictatorship and how Hitler succeeded to make the majority of the German population follow his ideology.

Therefore, while teaching English literature, it is highly recommended to keep student’s attention with the help such Cs as Content, Context, Cultural Engagement, Curiosity and Creativity.

​

1.Content

While teaching, especially in an online classroom, it is especially important to choose the material that can provoke the learners’ interest so that they will be interested what the literature piece is about. Therefore, the Israeli Ministry of Education has created the Literature Program which contains poems, stories and novels whose content is interesting to young Israelis and are easy to follow. Besides, it is highly recommended to give students virtual pre-reading tasks. For instance, general knowledge questionnaires and quizzes for self-checking, working in pairs and small groups. Teaching HOTS while- and after reading together with the traditional content questions, helps to develop critical thinking in the kids of all ages. The content of the certain story or poem can be better understood if you use some pictures and graphic organizers on Miro or Wakelet. Moreover, students can upload them or even create themselves, which also enhances their motivation to learn “boring” literature.

 

2. Context

Bridging text and context is an important part of the final exam in English Literature in Israeli high schools. The context vies with the literature for the students’ attention. It can include the following things:

·  the settings of the poem, the story or the novel

·  how it can been read at different times and in different situations

·  biographical details about a writer’s life

·  how it relates to literary traditions

·  times and places referred to in the literature piece

Thus, context is best used to drive student argument about a text, rather than bolted on to demonstrate knowledge.. Since each context requires a special vocabulary and certain acquired skills, what a course often becomes is the study of literature in a particular context. Therefore, before teaching a poem, such as “Count That Day Lost” by George Elliot, we need to let our students know that it was written in Victorian England and to tell or display some virtual materials about general realities of that period. After you have done that, it is a high time to show them a short film where the poem is recited and kids can see some views that will keep their attention and think about the historical, literary and cultural context. Exposing students to other work written at the time can demonstrate how the past, and its people, were just as nuanced and complex as we are now.

 

3. Cultural engagement

Research claims that learning and understanding literature from a variety of cultures broadens  students’ horizons what the society is, who humans are, and why the world has become as it is. Since Israel is a multi-cultural society, it is very important to make your students pay attention to this aspect. In addition to compulsory pieces of literature, Israeli students are supposed to choose some books for home reading. With the ever growing trend of globalization and modernization, it becomes more and more common to see teaching and learning practices on literature that are different from the teachers’ and the students’ cultural backgrounds. Language exists in a socio-cultural context and the intercultural approach is much wider, more demanding, richer and has authentic interpretation of language more than communicative language teaching (CLT) and content-based instruction (CBI). While taking part in an online discussion, both frontally and in groups, students are supposed to discuss the forenamed aspects.
 

4. Curiosity

As it was mentioned above, it is very important to provoke students’ interest while teaching “boring” literature, especially in virtual classes. For instance, visualizing leads to curious and creative thinking. And brainstorming is a powerful way to encourage students to think creatively. According to the research, it is very important to catch your students’ attention at the very beginning of teaching a new piece of literature, so that it will provoke their interest and motivate them to look forward for next chapters and next literature lessons in general. If you can hook students at the first of a unit, then your job will be a lot easier for the duration of the study and students will be naturally more engaged with the content. Therefore, you can show a short video, tell a proverb, give an interesting quotation or ask a question that will make them think. In other words, you should intrigue them.

When they are intrigued, they can work in pairs, and you can offer them some space on the smart board, so that they will write their ideas and predict what the story or a poem is going to be about. They can work in groups and this collaboration encourages them work together. In such a case, each student is involved in the classroom activity and responsible for the task. Everyone is motivated and no child is left behind.

 

5. Creativity.

Finally, students can create their own pieces of art. For instance, they can draw pictures of the characters and scenes online and publish them on the walls of the virtual classroom. Moreover, they can invent a different ending of the story or think what might happen ten years later. For instance, they can imagine what might happen if the main character meets someone who influenced his life when he was young and continues to do so. In addition, the main character can find this person, write him a letter, which can be published in the virtual classroom. In my opinion, teachers should divide the class in pairs, so they can play this game. The main character might become a famous and rich person and give interview to different journalists or other people. These activities develop the skills of negotiation and leadership.

Read the whole article, pp.4-9

 

Week 10. Reflections

Time flies. I can't believe that the difficult but really exciting course is over. Thanks to Sean and other moderators I have learned a lot of tools of modern technology and started using them. I see that my way of teaching has greatly improved.

I am also grateful to all my virtual co-students who were very helpful and cooperative. I have learned a lot from them and really enjoyed working together. I hope I will "meet" them on other virtual courses I am going to take.

This week I researched the articles from Washington and Florida which were really interesting. According to Tiers of Technology Integration, I discovered that my school is being practicing the second tier, which means conducting the lessons with the help of the only class computer and a video projector. I use it mainly for teaching English Literature and other audio-video materials. Unfortunately we have only one computer room in our school, so I cannot use it every day. I take my students there mainly 2-3 times a month.

Despite highly developed technologies including hi-tech, Israel still lacks computers in the classrooms. There are only special computer rooms in schools. But some changes are being made. The Ministry of Education is going to introduce taking matriculation exams only online, so Israeli schools will have to make the rocess of learning more computerized. I believe that our country is on the way to the third tier, a it was described in the article from Washington University. Some hi-tech schools have already done it.

All the best!
Julia

Week 9. Reflections.

This week seems to me the most difficult one because we had not only to check our peers' rough versions of the projects, but complete checking, correcting, or maybe redoing ours. Finally our projects are ready, so the main part of this course has ben done.

This week we have been researching learning styles. There are seven ones:



 

I teach at school for special education, so when we accept new students, we create a learning profile for each one, which includes:

 

- the student's age

 

- gender

 

- cultural background and native language

 

- emotional and social maturity

 

- IQ

 

- which LD he/she has

 

- learning style.

 

How can one teacher adress all of these needs of each student?

 

- by variety of methods

- by flexibility

- by providing multiple options and have another plan of the lesson in store

- by recognizing that NOT all students need to do the same things at the same time and in the same way.

 

In accordance with this data we make an individual educational plan (IED). That means which ways of teaching all the teachers are supposed to use and compound the lesson plans using differentiate instructions. Fortunately we have only 8 kids in each class, so it is not very difficult to work in acordance with the IED. Besides, our school has a team of teacher's assistants who sometimes sit in the classrooms during the lessons and help us. Some kids prefer only solitary learning style, so we try to provide him individual consultations during the school day. Mainly teacher's assistants do that outside the classroom.

 

To sum up, everything that LD teachers do at school is acceptable, even if it has beed considered strange or senseless. Even sitting with a hyperactive kid outside during the lesson and watch the view of the Mediterranean Sea and trying to make him study at least only few words in English or playing a game with him thal looks like a card game. There is only one motto of a LD teacher: "Don't give up!"



Reflection of Week 8

Hello everybody!
I can't believe that we are going to finish the course soon. My students and I are on holiday now because we are celebrating Hanukkah. Nevertheless I have a lot to do.  This week I have been busy mainly with my project, so I had very little time to explore the toos offered by Jeff and Sean.

I have created the blog for my students. http://jkoifma.blogspot.co.il/
for more details click here:
 http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9157355328329368896#editor/target=post;postID=1159859414913094865;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=6;src=postname

I will introduce it to my students next week when we return to school from holiday. In this site I posted the topics for project that are supposed to be writen in the 11th grade and in 12th grade the students take an oral exam and a presentation with th external tester.

Now I have been exploring such sites as Hot Potatoes http://hotpot.uvic.ca/index.php and the Easy Test Maker https://www.easytestmaker.com/  I have never heard about these sites, but I will certainly use them in my teaching. I used to compose tests in another way, mainly copying texts and downloading grammar exercises from the Internet, but now it will be much easier. This is my first quiz about the story "A Summer's Reading" by Bernard Malamud. https://www.easytestmaker.com/Test/6B8FDEC7C5EF4B9A8B7CCB49C58FDEC7 I think I'll give it to my students a week after the end of the Hanukkah vacation. I often give them quizes for 10-15 minutes, so I'll compose them only on the Test Maker Site.

I have also started to develop the Literature Course in the ANVILL. I have a lot to do, of course, so currently you can see only these materials https://anvill.uoregon.edu/anvill2/node/49936
 In my opinion, audio-visual tool will work well, but the problem is that we have only one computer room in our school and each teacher has to wait for his\her turn to use it. Therefore I will recommend my students to use it at home after I have completed it myself.

Happy Thanksgiving to all American friends!

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate Jewish holidays!