INTRODUCING SCRIBBLING NEURONS

I decided to transfer all my posts to: www.teacherissa.com. See you there!

TEACHING JENNIFER

Uncaging Potentials

It was Cher who told me: "You were just jaded by the online companies you've worked for, they caged your potentials and made you too lazy to think and innovate."

It might be a little exaggerated. An overstatement. But that's how I want to understand what she meant by her remark. I was shocked to hear from a total stranger that I haven't been thinking like a real teacher for a long time.

She did not leave me wondering what flaws I need to brush up on. If you are a teacher, you can benefit from this teaching to-do list:

* As what educators and books say, OBJECTIVES are the most important part of the lesson. Unfortunately, many teachers fail to identify their objectives before teaching. The material does not dictate the objectives, but the teacher's understanding of the important points in the text would determine the objectives. It is a tough decision-making activity. Online companies' lack of adequate English curriculum worsens the teacher's burden. ( I will not tackle this here, as my goal is to share my knowledge on how to make a lesson plan.)

* Secondly, if you are to teach, you must have TEACHING POINTS. Any general English lesson plan has at least one teaching point. But where do we really get this? You must be aware of MACRO and MICRO skills learners need to learn.MACRO SKILLS involve listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and my professor added THINKING. As for the MICRO SKILLS, the sub-skills of the major ones previously stated. An effective teaching points include a skill focus and a harmonious integration of other skills at the same time.

* Now, you are ready to explore possible activities for motivation, lesson springboard, comprehension boosters and assessment/evaluation. Though you can adapt or design varied activities for your class, its crucial to remember that customizing your lesson to your client is a must. If you are using a textbook material, an online newspaper or any material with English contents, see to it that your student can relate to it. Based on the theory of Constructivism, if someone doesn't know anything about a subject, use scaffolds. You may either activate the student's prior knowledge about the topic, or divert the lesson in a form related to the learner's direct environment.

The mastery of the art of questioning remains the most sought-after ability of a teacher. Yet nowadays, the teachers' role has been changed from transmitters of knowledge to facilitators of learning. Modern and informed teachers must take this challenge to improve student's learning.

A NOTE ON Get Off: A Phrasal Verb Sample Discussion

1. Get off = escape punishment
2. Get off - Leave a bus, train, etc.
3. Get off - Finish, leave work
4. Get off - Start a journey
5. Get off - Manage to fire a gun
6. Get off - Stop talking on the phone

That's just an example of a phrasal verb's shades of meaning. Confusing?

Again, we go back discussing the importance of context. Always see this as a part of a whole, not something that exists on its own.

Remember sentences that might be associated or constructed using the particular phrasal verb.

• He GOT OFF on a technicality and left the court a free man.
• We GOT OFF the bus and walked to my house.
• I like to GET OFF early on Fridays.
• We need to GET OFF early to avoid the rush hour traffic.
• She GOT OFF a few shots before she was arrested.
• Let me know when he GETS OFF the phone as I need to make a call.

Source: http://www.usingenglish.com

Resolving Polysemy Complexity

Defined by dictionary.com as “diversity of meanings“, Polysemes give second language learners of English a complete headache. To illustrate the polysemous nature of English, let’s pick two words in English and explore the different shades of meaning represented by all its polysemes:

Dictionary compilers wonder how many definitions to include in their word collection- an absolute semantic challenge. How will learners overcome this problem? What does it mean to know a word? How extensive should our knowledge of a word to consider our vocabulary wide?

AJ Hoge of Effortless English Online course suggested useful rules in learning English. First of these rules is “Learn Phrases”. Not individual words but phrases. Research by Dr. James Asher proves that learning with phrases is 4-5 times faster than studying individual words. 4-5 Times Faster.

Also, students who learn phrases have much better grammar. So, let’s follow this rule: “Always Study and Review Phrases, Not Individual Words.” Never study a single, individual word. Never.

When you find a new word, always write down The Phrase it is in. Always. When you review, always review all of the phrase,.. not the word. When you write, write in phrases.

This post has the same context as one in aspiring linguist's blog.

Teaching Reflections

If you've considered teaching English seriously, you might want to keep notes of moment to moment experience with your client. Every student is different, which requires a teacher to diversify.

I notice that each student has a unique topic of interest:
1. Relationship. She happens to be the most advanced student I have so she is not after achievement but the satisfaction that she will improve the way she expresses her feelings and thoughts about her relationship with other people, primarily her family. For her, I need to come up with common and novel sentences for her to copy and learn by heart.

2. Troubleshooting. Some of my students like to be puzzled so they usually desire to solve problems for me. I just have to think which detailed problems to throw them: computer software and hardware troubles, financial difficulty, lifestyle and so on.

3. Detailed Method of Study. Some professionals know their study habits very well so they trust their own method best. They would suggest materials and way of handling them. This for me is the simplest class to handle.

More subjects and methods to see. I will see to it I update this post regularly.

Power English

I recently receive an email from one of my intermediate level students regarding her preferred mode of instruction. With much appreciation and great anticipation, I quickly scanned her mail. It was so detailed, and the book for the class was picked with careful thought: Power English by Natasha Cooper.

This book comes in series. I'm not quite sure whether this book is available or not in the Philippines. If anyone of you got a copy of this, let me know where you bought it.