Minimal resources: Students’ ideas

The student test

Most tests actually check what your students don’t know rather than what they do (unfortunately this is the very nature of most testing). However, it doesn’t need to be like this. Here is an idea to make the whole process far more useful.

1. Divide your students into small groups (between 3 and 5 students is best).
2. Ask the students to look back over what they have been learning (you might want to set a time limit).
3. Then, ask the groups to write a test for the other students. The tests can then be exchanged and each group try another test. Once the tests have been done the original group can mark it.
4. Finally, collect all the tests in and take a look at them – particularly at the questions, not just the answers.

Oops!

1. Make a note of 8 sentences that contain mistakes that your students make – these can be from written work or from when they speak. You will need two pieces of paper (for larger classes you may need more).
2. On one piece write down the eight sentences, but correct 4.
3. On the other piece of paper write down the same eight sentences, but correct the four sentences that on the first piece of paper were left incorrect.
4. Now divide your class into two groups and give each group one of the pieces of paper.
5. Ask the students to work in their groups and decide which sentences are right and which are wrong.
6. Tell the students to correct the sentences that are wrong. The students should make their own copies of the sentences.
7. Next, put the students into pairs – so they are working with someone from the other group – and compare their answers.
8. Finally, collate and discuss as a class.

A student dictogloss

1. Find a suitable piece of writing from one of your students (sometimes it is fine to work with a piece that contains mistakes as these can become part of the focus of the activity. However, it is worth thinking about how the individual student may react to their mistakes being discussed by all the other students).
2. Tell the students you are going to read out a short text.
3. Ask the students to put their pens down and just listen.
4. Read out the text once and then ask the students to note down all the words they can remember – this should be done focusing on key words and NOT trying to remember everything verbatim.
5. Read out the text again and then ask the students to work in pairs and reconstruct the entire text. Then ask the pairs to compare their texts.
6. Finally, compare their texts to the original and discuss.

An object feast

1. 1st lesson: bring in a small object, or a photo. (For example, I would bring in a photo taken from a visit to the rainforest in South America. Another friend would take in a Boomerang they bought while on holiday in Australia). Tell the story behind the photo/object and then put the students into groups. Ask the students to write questions to ask you. Conduct a Q&A session.
2. 2nd lesson: Ask the students to bring in an object or photo. If your class is large divide into small groups and get them to discuss their photos/objects. In small classes the whole activity can be done together.

Word limits

1. Ask your students to choose 3 words that they have recently learnt and to write these words in their notebooks.
2. Next, ask them to write 4 words that they associate with each of their ‘key’ words. Put students into pairs or groups and explain the task.
3. Students should take it in turns to explain each of their key words to the other students in their group. However, when explaining they must not use the other words that they wrote down (those that that they associated with each key word). They must not mime, draw or resort to L1 either.
4. Often students get better at explaining if they have to do it more than once. Therefore, after the first go put students into new groups and get them to repeat the activity.

The question box

1. 1st lesson. Ask students to write down three questions (you could limit the focus or allow the questions to be about anything) that they would like answered. If you want, this can be done for homework. Put all the questions in a box.
2. 2nd (and subsequent lessons). Put students in groups and ask each group to pick a question from the box. In their groups they should discuss the question (you might want to set a time limit. e.g. 10 minutes) before reporting back to the class. If there is one question of particular interest you might want the class to spend more time on it.

Our project

1. 1st lesson. Put students into groups and explain that over the next X weeks/lessons they are going to be involved in a project. Give the groups 6 minutes to brainstorm project ideas and then two minutes to vote/choose which project their group will do. (Alternatively, ask students to think of projects on their own and then form groups where all the students have similar ideas).
2. 2nd (and subsequent lessons). Devote a section of the lesson (from 10 minutes upwards) to the groups discussing their project. During this time they can set tasks for themselves, and each other, that can be done outside the class, discuss progress, exchange information etc.
3. Note: It is important to have an outcome and time limit for the project. i.e. In 10 lessons time you will ‘present’ your project to the rest of the class.
   This type of project work is extremely motivating for many learners, especially those studying at school where classes are levelled by age, not ability.

   Source : www.onestopenglish.com

Crack down in China Worse and Worse

Despite its undeniable status as a global economic superpower, China has been heavily criticized in recent years for an apparent return to a Leninist-style leadership under Xi Jinping. Though the Chinese Communist Party has long been the only significant political force in the country, it abandoned the ruthless dictatorial style of Mao a while ago. However, Jinping’s style of government has raised fears that he’s actively working to restore the very same political philosophy that terrorized the country in the 1970s.

One of the General Secretary’s initiatives, the targeting of “tigers and flies” (corrupt officials and businessmen), has by now transformed into a mass political purge aimed at all those who oppose the government. The Party controls an extensive network of surveillance in the country, which has become even more active during this initiative. As a consequence, the media has found itself under even stricter censorship than before. In August 2015, a financial journalist for the business magazine Caijing was detained after having reported on government manipulation of China’s stock markets. He was forced to refute his own words on China Central Television.

The media hasn’t been the only victim, however. Religious minorities have been targeted, with “hundreds of crosses ripped from the steeples of Christian churches”. Even women’s rights activists and human rights lawyers have been affected.

At the same time, the domestic changes are perhaps less surprising than the foreign ones. The government is denying “unfriendly” foreign journalists entry into the country and blocking websites that disagree with the Party’s policies. Even more shocking is that instead of denying all this, the CCP publicly refutes Western liberal values, viewing them as obstacles to strong leadership and immediate economic growth.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the government agency in charge of overseeing the new anti-corruption campaign. It’s headed by Wang Qishan, an old friend of Xi Jinping, who essentially acts a grand inquisitor. Under Wang’s leadership, the agency has gained so much power that it’s allowed to hire and fire outside the Organization Department, which generally oversees high-level appointments. One reason for his agency’s success is of course the level of corruption that exists in the country; as officials are poorly paid, they often tend to accept bribes. As a result, they’ve had a lot of targets. Worryingly, their investigations seem to be above the law; they only stage show trials at the end of high-profile investigations. They’ve even designed a smartphone app that lets people upload photo and video evidence of officials violating the law.

For the Chinese themselves, this all is highly reminiscent of chilling rein of the Ming dynasty. The court went through several such agencies like the “Embroidered Guard” and the “Eastern Depot” (even a “Western Depot”, eventually), that gathered secret files on officials. Though Jinping’s approval rating is the highest of any world leader, the people are slowly realizing the danger he poses to even the most basic of freedoms. Heavy criticism is finally finding its way through the extreme censorship. Zhou Fang, a reporter for the New China News Agency, published an open letter criticizing censors for their violations of online freedom of expression. It was soon taken down, but not without causing a stir.

Jinping’s authoritarian style isn’t just a danger to China, of course. It directly affects everyone who depends on the Chinese economy. His aggressive foreign policies ensure that the Chinese economy will encounter many obstacles in its path to reformation. Though some are finally waking up to the threat, it could already be too late.

Source : Schell, Orville  “Crackdown in China: Worse and Worse.” The New York Review, April 2016, 12-14

A positive learning experience

Teaching methods often change, but it’s always the students who can decide if they had a good learning experience. English teacher and writer Paul Bress recommends a few “dos and don’ts” for teachers.

Dos

• The lessons should always be connected to the students’ interests. If a lot of them like movies for instance, teachers should try to talk about movies in class. This will make the learning process positive for the students.
• Teachers should always allow their students to be creative. Of course, repeating exercises is very important, but it’s equally important to make the children practice their English in real world scenarios.
• Teachers should always make sure that the tasks in class aren’t too difficult for their students.
• Teachers should always make sure that their syllabus is clear to the students. Otherwise, the students may become confused and uninterested during the year.

Don’ts

• Teachers should never get angry at their students. It’s important to try to understand students’ problems instead of yelling at them.
• Teachers should never have favorite students. Though some students may seem smarter than others, that doesn’t mean that teachers should always have them respond to questions. Otherwise, the rest of the class will begin to dislike that student.

Bress, Paul. “A Positive Learning Experience” English Teaching Professional, March 2016, 36.

ATTENTION TEACHERS!!

Certrificates for Macmillan Open Mind Training with Steve Taylore-Knowles are now available.
To collect your certificate(s), please come to our main office at:

Tbilisi, Didi Digomi, 3 m/r, Nestan-Darejani Str.1

If you have questions, please contact:

Lali Jokhadze at 032.200.1242 ext.1006 or l.jokhadze@englishbook.ge

ATTENTION TEACHERS!!

Certrificates for Macmillan Summer Training and Conference are still available until December 2014.
To collect your certificate(s), please come to our main office at:

Tbilisi, Didi Digomi, 3 m/r, Nestan-Darejani Str.1

If you have questions, please contact:

Lali Jokhadze at 032.200.1242 ext.1006 or l.jokhadze@englishbook.ge

Last week, over 1000 Georgian English language teachers have gathered on a conference held in four cities (Batumi, Kutais, Telavi and Tbilisi) to discuss different topics and share English language teaching practices.

The conference was organized by The English Book in Georgia with the great support of Macmillan. We were honored to have Jim Scrivener (a freelance writer, consultant, teacher, trainer and conference speaker), Maura O’Brien (teacher trainer), Philip Kerr (lecturer, teacher trainer and materials writer), Teresa Doğuelli (teacher trainer) and Nick Goode (Regional Manager, Central Europe for Macmillan Education) as the guest-speakers of the conference.

“It is my honor to attend this conference. We learned about many new methods and activities, very helpful to reach our goals, the goals of National Curriculum. We will bring these methods to our students and will involve them in the activities. This all will help the students learn to speak English more freely”, says one of the participants Ms.MakaBerishvili, Rustavi PS N14.

English Book in Georgia is amazed by the motivation, interest, commitment and dedication the participants have showed during those four days. The representative of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, Ms. Natia Jokhadze has also mentioned this during her speech, saying that the number of attendants in Tbilisi was significantly bigger than any other similar events organized before. She thanked the participants, in the name of Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, for their commitment and dedication.

The participants were engaged and actively involved in the discussions. As one of the teachers, Ms. Ana Panchulidze, IB Mtiebi, mentioned, “what we can learn from this conference, is the new approach to teaching processes and this is why, it is essential that this kind of events are organized often. On this conference we have the chance to meet world’s leading experts in the field”

The conference consisted of two parts – each speaker lead one plenary session and there were several workshops offered, running simultaneously in two sessions for smaller groups. This way each participant had a chance to attend two different workshops of their choice. The workshops covered different interesting topics, such as Classroom Management, Vocabulary Practices, Emotional Intelligence, Teamwork as well as Student Engagement.

“As a company, MacMillan Education what we try and do is to focus on the learners and focus on the teachers. And one way of increasing thelevel of English in any given situation, whether it is a particular classroom or if you think about a country like Georgia, isthat to educate the teachers as much as possible. Because by educating teachers it means that they can spread the techniques through to their students and therefore, students can have a better understanding of English and increase their level of English. And conferences like this are a great way to gather as many teachers together at one place as possible and that has many different benefits.”, says Nick Goode, Regional Manager (Central Europe for Macmillan Education). 

This was one of the biggest English Language Teachers Conferences organized in Georgia having over 1, 000 participants, both public and partner private school teachers.

The conference in Tbilisi took place in the new office of English Book in Georgia. Right now, the room used for the conference is empty and ready for other interesting events. Our new office andour staff members are all set and ready for newchallenges, new events and new ways to stand by the teachers and overall, stand by the Education System in Georgia. We can only show our admiration to the teachers and again thank them for their interest, motivation and dedication and look forward to future opportunities of cooperation!