Excellent worksheet to promote English Pronunciation (U.S. style) is available FREE from Scribd.com

go ahead, visit the collection

Scribd.com is a fascinating model.   I've been a paid member ($9 per month) to allow me to download whatever I can read (well, almost everything -- some publishers try to sell their books here)

Who is this masked man?

I've found an excellent by Dana Rosenberg about pronunciation, setting goals and "how to interrupt the teacher."   Here's an extended description...      

Three Useful 

Worksheets

From 101 Photocopiable Worksheets

for English Language Classes

By Dana Rosenberg

There are many workbooks with effective 

worksheets.

Many students benefit from filling in blanks to 

learn the differences between past and present 

and subject and verb.  But let`s look at the 

binders and folders that students carry around. 

What do we see?

Often we see a stack oI worksheets that appear 

to be carried around but not looked at more 

than once or twice.  

The goal of this packet is to give you three 

useful worksheets that students can use again 

and again. 

Worksheet A

How to politely interrupt the teacher

Worksheet B

My Learning Plan

Worksheet C

Pronunciation Practice Chart

These are the four sheets that I distribute at no cost online.

I like to introduce the sheets to my students in that order.  Here`s what I say:

Teacher Talk A

How To Interrupt the Teacher

I like to give my students permission to interrupt.  It is an excellent skill and it 

communicates immediately that the class is centered around you, the students.  Your best 

skill will be speaking.  Talking is how you will quickly show people your level oI English.  So 

I want you talking.  Let`s practice using this sheet.

Lower levels.  It`s okay to ask questions.  We 

want you to talk a lot.  Let`s use these words.

Teacher Talk B

Mv Learning Plan

The learning plan is a set oI goals.  You can put your goals on this sheet.  We can work together 

to find words and homework to meet your goals.  Lower levels.  What do you want to do?   Let`s 

look at each part oI this page.

Teacher Talk C

Pronunciation

The learning plan is a set oI goals.  You can put your goals on this sheet.  We can work

Lower levels.  What do you want to do?   Let`s look at each part of this page.

Teacher Talk (at least once a week)

Remember, students:  Eventually you will not 

need these sheets.   Eventually you will leave 

these sheets on a bookshelf or you`ll toss them 

out because you need the binder for another 

project.  Someday, you won`t need these pages. 

But right now, let`s look at these pages again  

what can we add?  What can we review?

No Photocopier?  No Problem

None of these worksheets needs to be photocopied.  You can put this information on a 

board and the students can get the information on blank sheets oI paper.

Final word to teachers.

1.   You have the "teacher talk"...

2.   You have the sheets.

Let`s get started.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/140113769/3-ESL-Worksheets-by-Dana-Rosenberg-Pronunciation-Practice-and-Setting-Goals


There is a remarkable collection of English Language downloads available -- 561 items and most appear to be full editions of expensive books ($30+).  That's potentially 400 x $30 =  $12,000 in avoided fees.


LINK to the collection:  http://www.scribd.com/collections/2832411/English-Language-Course


Can you say, "Arrrgh, I'm a pirate!" or do you prefer to buy your ebooks?

What's your philosophy of education? I got it down to four points.

This post is dedicated to two of my favorite administrators of language schools, Tony and Leslie.  They have inspired the best in me.

Principles that I try to use in classes

a) find out what each student wants to learn

b) have an overall plan for the class

c) but serve each student when possible

d) make sure every student speaks often

Search "cnn student news"

=============  

in an English language class

find out what the students want to learn

deliver it

create a culture of learning and self-pushing

make each day a possible 

I'm re-reading Mary Finocchiaro and i like her list of twelve

a) to know intimately
the students and the
community in which
they live

"should"s or principles from 

Finocchiaro's book about ESL  p. 74

I particularly like the first principle.

a) to know intimately the students and the community in which they live in order to relate new language and cultural materials to probable experiences and interests of the students.

other points... (highlights, excerpts)

b) to broaden students' experiences through discussion of music, art, hobbies and other areas of interest in the school curriculum or in the community.

c) to enrich the students' vocabulary

d) to teach as quickly as feasible the formulas of English

e) to present all new vocabulary in easily demonstrable situations

f) to exploit every language learning activity so that it will reinforce and facilitate communication

g) to proceed from tightly controlled drill to freer, more authentic creative expression from the very first day of the language program.

h) to reintroduce structures and vocabulary of high frequency as often as possible

i) to add authentic, meaningful language activities and sort, two or three line dialogues for frequent dramatization.

j) to suggest or encourage students to suggest alternative sentence sin the dialogue utterances so that they will not always expect the responses they will have learned in the original dialogue.

k) to modify the sequences and order of materials in textbooks so that questions o all kinds and the pronouns I and you are introduced and practiced very early.

l) to remember that understanding the meaning of any utterance depends on knowing its single elements of pronunciation, of grammar, of vocabulary and of culture.

Finocchiaro, pages 74-76, recommended by Mario Llorente

I post this list on the wall so students can say, "Hey, Steve, you didn't do numbers h and j today."

How does this approach translate into a class?  What procedures do I use?  What stages are set in the class?  

1.  There's a plan, a grammar point, some dialogue, pronunciation practice, an interesting reading point and something to listen to from CNN perhaps   

2. i like the studentnews transcript that is available each week

I found it easily by typing a search without spaces  "cnnstudentnews"

3. My job is to present materials for learning and then adjust to each student's needs and requests.  I'm a concierge.

4. I arrange time to meet with each person and get their goals on paper in the first day.

Other points of interest and inspiration (see part 2)

How to use SKYPE in the Classroom

By Steve McCrea Skype: SteveEnglishTeacher

Knowing how to use Skype is a skill that will grow in importance. This list of tips will help teachers use the program skillfully in the classroom.

1. Learn to use Skype by using it. Yes, you can take tutorials. Yes, you can get an account name and let your students do the talking to other students. But the way that opened the magic of “skype in the classroom” to me was using it regularly.

2. Leave the Skype bar “Available.” Who knows who will contact us when we leave the account “available for contact”?

3. I set my Skype account to “open” (not private) so that anyone who has a Skype account can find me.

4. Turn the volume UP. I've missed dozens of opportunities to connect with students and teachers because I forgot to turn up the volume. (One of the annoying parts of using Zamzar.com is the audio ads that come with a message that “your file is ready for downloading.” I usually want the computer to be quiet, so I turn down the volume when I use zamzar.com... but then I forget to turn it up again when I'm in the classroom.)

5. Allow Skype users to email your mobile phone with a short reminder: “Hey, are you there? We had an appointment for a skype talk at 9:30 am your time – Jair.” I don't know why I forget to turn up the volume. Jair in Florianopolis went through a a lot of effort to obtain permission to move his class into a classroom with a projection screen and intenret access – and then I forgot to bring my compuer to class. Another time I forgot to turn up the volume, so I didn't hear the “ping” reminder that tells the skype user that someone is trying to connect.

6. I include my email address in the “greeting” that appears on the message. This encourages people who can't reach me by Skype to ask their questions by email.

7. Sometimes it's better to make a call WITHOUT the video on. Leave the video OFF for better sound quality (at least it appears to be better quality when the video is off). In May 2008 the number of skype users at 10 am New york Time was about 54 million. In May 2009 the number of skype users was about 8 million, and a year later, the number was closer to 22 million.

8. Expect some connections to be broken or interrupted or lower quality.

9. Do you have a backup plan? Some people use Instant Messenger with Yahoo or Microsoft (MSN). It helps if you have a variety of ways to connect.

10. Learn how to send a file over Skype. Some countries don't have easy access to youtube videos. Skype users can send video files and help other students see educational parts of youtube.

11. Encourage your students who use SKYPE to type while they talk. It is a way of clarifying pronunciation and ensuring that information is clearly transferred. I was able to monitor a conversation by walking between pairs of students doing independent work in the classroom – and the pair that was on a skype call with my student Gongfu in China had the following interaction:

Example: The call started around 10 am in Florida, twelve hours behind Gongfu in Shandong province. Teachers can read the notes that I've added in italics. Students can learn how to make their communications clearer by typing key words or sentences. When talking to people who live in countries where it is difficult to use Facebook or Youtube, ask if it is okay to send a video over skype.

9:57:55 AM

gongfu: hi .are you there? are you in your class?

Steve: hi we are ready to talk

gongfu: okay

Steve: can i send you a file?

gongfu: ok

Steve posted file SANY0021.MP4 to members of this chat

I introduced Gongfu to my students Rashad and Andreas. They talked a bit and then started to type some of the words.

What time is it? (asked Andreas)

gongfu: 22.05PM

Steve: It is 10 a.m. here

What is your name?

gongfu: QIJIANLI

gongfu: Qi Jian li

gongfu: ch

Steve: How old are you?

Steve: Have you been to Paris before?

The student over in Florida wrote this sentence (which the teacher can follow up with a grammar review)

Steve: I was graduate in 2009

Andreas described himself as a construction worker and Gongfu had a problem with spelling “Builder”

gongfu: marking plan

gongfu: beuther?

Steve: builder

Steve: a man who makes buildings

Rashad asked, “What time is it?”

gongfu: 22.17pm

Then there was a discussion of songs

gongfu: apple

Steve: an apple

gongfu: big apple

gongfu: new york?

gongfu: song

gongfu: rock

gongfu: rock music

gongfu: hip pop?

gongfu: nirvana

gongfu: do you like his songs?

Steve: ac dc

Steve: yes i do

What is your skype address?

Steve: rashood919

The students started talking about pronunciation

gongfu: a e i o u long and short

gongfu: short oo long oo

gongfu: SHORT OO

gongfu: SHORT OO SOUND

gongfu: [SHORT OO]

gongfu: I find the sound short oo sound is qutie similar with the schwa sound

The teacher dropped in to add the following words that have the [oo] sound

Steve: foot book good about a in about

We wanted to continue the connection because the large video file was still being transferred (100 kb per minute, 64 MB, so it took 50 minutes)

gongfu: leave the window open

Steve: i will leave the window open

gongfu: thanks

gongfu: i enjoy your video very much.so nice. steve,i will go to bed.tomorrow i will write to you . and can you tell me your free time.

The skype call took about 40 minutes, plus the extra time to complete the transfer of the video. The students (Andreas and Rashad) spent this time creating questions for the student in China.

If you have suggestions and recommendations, please contact Steve at SteveEnglishTeacher on Skype or at FreeEnglishLessons@gmail.com.

It's CONforming, not REforming schools. When will we truly change in a positive direction?

When we hear about school reform, we hear about these elements.

a) Standardized tests

b) Standards that all schools should meet

c) Standard curriculums for all students

d) Every student needs four years of math

e) Every 8th grader needs to be exposed to algebra in 8th grade, starting at age 13.

f) Send everyone to university.

g) Every teacher should have an advanced degree.


It doesn’t sound like REFORM, it sounds like “CON”form.

===========================

Instead, we need to look at TRUE reshaping and retooling and reformatting our schools.

For example

a) Time is a variable. We don’t have to group kids by age. We don’t have to require students to advance at a set time together to the next level of the curriculum.

b) Let’s us computers to allow independent rates of learning. See Dr. Fischler’s TheStudentIsTheClass.com blog.

c) Arne Duncan calls for expanded schooling to support the community, 12 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, 12 months a year: 12/7/12.

d) Relationships: Dennis Littky’s “three Rs” says Rigor, Relevance and Relationships. We need teachers who visit each kid's home,..."Teachers who know the kids, look out for them and push them to succeed" (from a speech by Bill Gates).

e) Relevance: Why does every child need to study biology? Robert Reich has a cogent observation about the

f) Move away from Compulsory Failure: very few of us are renaissance people – we can’t master every subject, so there will be some subjects that are difficult for us and not relevant to our lives. Why do we impose failure on children? Reform means “making school relevant to the child, fit the curriculum to the child, not the child to the curriculum.”

g) Teachers teach all subjects: Why does a teacher need to have an advanced degree in mathematics in order to teach math? Some of the best teachers are those who struggle with a subject. “I hated math when I was your age. Let’s work together to get through this…”

Those are elements of true reform.

=====================


Dennis Yuzenas (www.WhatDoYaKnow.com) and I (VisualandActive.com) are talking about making a presentation about “It’s not school Reform, it’s school CONform.”



Tony Blair spoke in the right direction…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL-Vi3d9IPw&feature=related

Long speech but worth a listen.
Notes from Blair’s speech.
What works in a reformed school?

1. Independence -- Schools need to be independent, free to innovate and find the strategy that works for their community.

2. Community learning -- teaching adults, too. -- Continued adult learning is important becuas children who have parents with low levels of education tend to not go very far .

3. Community service: Our schools need to be more than academics and more than just for the child.

Breakfast clubs (to fill empty stomachs)

Afterschool clubs

Homework clubs

Let’s make education about the whole person and the whole community.

4. We need to remove bad teachers.

5. We need to think differently. We know what to do, we need to implement. It’s not hard to think up things to do differently – it’s difficult to IMPLEMENT. We need to focus on community interest, not about VESTED interests.

We know what works.

Well, that's what Blair said. Let's get to work. Contact me with your comments (954) 646 8246 or write to visualandactive@gmail.com

Let's mix International Students with U.S. teenagers

YOUTUBE Link youtube.com/tlasteve

This is a video that should expand the discussion about "what opportunities can we teachers bring to students?"

I am a teacher of International students (adults) who want to learn the U.S. accent. We sit in a classroom from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

I am also a teacher for SAT math and verbal test preparation... we sit in a classroom once a week from 6 to 9 p.m.

Can they learn from each other? See my discussion at www.SATVideos.com

ABSOLUTELY (is the answer).

Materials
Write to me if you have questions about the procedure. When U.S. teenagers meet international students who are 20-39 years old, what happens?
Where are you from? (atlas)
What is your Facebook account name? (computer link)
Can you show me some photos on your Facebook account?
Where do you live? Where are you staying while you are in Fort Lauderdale? (area map)
Can you write that word on paper? (blank paper and pens)
For low-level students: a list of questions on a sheet

There's the lesson plan.