So there I am walking around Hong Kong for the day and I came across something I truly miss since I live in Changhua, Taiwan - a book store. YES! A book store with ENGLISH books in it. Thank you, England, for taking over this city for so long. I cheerfully run into the book store like a kid running to the Christmas tree. I look through every book they have and find NOTHING.
My reading selection is very picky. I only like certain types of books. They had a lot of great novels, cookbooks, and biographies, but nothing really caught my interest. As I was about to walk out, I found it:
http://astore.amazon.com/monteblog-20/detail/0143116738
The book: The Element by Ken Robinson. There was one copy sitting on the table.
I have seen Ken Robinson talk before. He speaks a lot about the importance of creativity in education, so I decided to take a look. Right away, he captured me. Very early in the book, Robinson says:
"...school systems everywhere inculcate us with a very narrow view of intelligence and capacity and overvalue particular sorts of talent and ability. In doing so, they neglect others that are just as important, and they disregard the relationships between them in sustaining the vitality of our lives and communities." (pg. 13-14)
The question Robinson ultimately poses, especially to teachers, is no easy one to answer. How can we help our children to find their element, which he defines as, "the point in which natural talent meets personal passion." How do we get our students to this point?
As an ESL Teacher, we are often very limited in what we actually can do. This is especially true and felt here in Taiwan, where it is often difficult to come across a job where teaching skills are highly valued. The answer to how we do this is simple:
You, too, must find your element with teaching. If you don't truly love this job, then stay here for a year, enjoy the traveling, and move on to wherever you go to next. Just do not be surprised when you come to me explaining your teaching techniques and I roll my eyes when you say sticky ball games are all you need to know.
If you're truly passionate about teaching, then really take the time to learn how students learn, learn about childhood development, learn about Bloom's Taxonomy and how to apply it to the classroom...I don't care what you study about this. The point is if you love teaching, make teaching your element. Make it the thing that really drives you. From there, start to form your philosophy and framework with which to work.
Once you have that, start going out there and selling this idea to schools. It may take a while, but you'll eventually find a school owner that will agree with you. Once you're in there, make that program the best it can be with the help of your owner. You'll be surprised how much happier you are than the 9-5 "turn to the next page" jobs we are often used to here in Taiwan.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
ESL Weekly Tip #3 - Yes, and...
This is WAY too common for foreigners here in Taiwan. You're sitting at a restaurant or a bar and someone comes up to talk to you. He, quite rudely, sits down at your table and demands you cheers him with your beer, which you do right before going back to working on reading your book, grading papers, or doing whatever it was you were doing. Next comes the fun part.
"Hello!"
Yes. He's talking to you. You KNOW how this is going to go. You KNOW this guy wants nothing more than to say he managed to talk to a foreigner. You KNOW this guy is not going to become a close, personal friend. Still...you minimally engage.
"Hi," is your reply. Not even 2 syllables like he produced.
A very awkward conversation follows until his friend comes and pulls him away, apologizing because he was drunk.
After thinking back on many of these conversations, I realized I usually give up because the person has nothing interesting to say. They ask you what you like to do, you say, "bowling," and they say, "Oh. Yes." How are you supposed to reply to that? More importantly, as a teacher, how do you get your students to actually have normal conversations?
The answer, my friends, is in 2 little words. "Yes, and...." This is something any person in improv knows. It is, in fact, the FIRST rule of improv. In improv, we are beaten with this rule. When we begin practicing it, we practice it with the actual words. Later, it becomes second nature to us to just accept everything we are given on stage. For ESL, it is a conversation gold mine. Here's how you use it.
Have your students line up in 2 lines. Designate who starts (which line) so it's easier. The first person walks up and says any non-question sentence:
"Here's your pizza."
"Your shoes look great!"
"This rice is delicious."
The person in front of the other line must reply. The secret is they HAVE to say, "Yes, and ______." They have to start with these two words. A normal conversation might be:
"Here's your pizza." "Yes and it looks great!"
"Your shoes look great!" "Yes and I bought them at Sogo."
"This rice is delicious." "Yes and I poisoned it, you dumb shit!"
Once they say their line, they move to the back of the other line (so they have a turn to do both).
Get in line with them and play this, too. After a few rounds, tell them you are going to do something different. This time, you reply to one of their replies. This time, we are going to see how far we can go with continuing to say "Yes...and...." The alternating conversation might go like this:
"Your shoes look great."
"Yes and I bought them at Sogo."
"Yes and I saw they were on sale."
"Yes and I bought 100 pairs so I never run out."
"Yes and that's a lot of shoes."
Notice at some points, we really wouldn't say "Yes, and" in the conversation. Still have them say it. It's really an exercise in getting them to accept what the person said, acknowledge it and add something to it.
After you do this with a person, have the students get in groups of two. Tell them any person can start, but after that first sentence, every reply must start with "yes, and...."
I did this on Tuesday in an adult class and Wednesday in a kids class. Both could do this for a long time.
Enjoy!
Matt
"Hello!"
Yes. He's talking to you. You KNOW how this is going to go. You KNOW this guy wants nothing more than to say he managed to talk to a foreigner. You KNOW this guy is not going to become a close, personal friend. Still...you minimally engage.
"Hi," is your reply. Not even 2 syllables like he produced.
A very awkward conversation follows until his friend comes and pulls him away, apologizing because he was drunk.
After thinking back on many of these conversations, I realized I usually give up because the person has nothing interesting to say. They ask you what you like to do, you say, "bowling," and they say, "Oh. Yes." How are you supposed to reply to that? More importantly, as a teacher, how do you get your students to actually have normal conversations?
The answer, my friends, is in 2 little words. "Yes, and...." This is something any person in improv knows. It is, in fact, the FIRST rule of improv. In improv, we are beaten with this rule. When we begin practicing it, we practice it with the actual words. Later, it becomes second nature to us to just accept everything we are given on stage. For ESL, it is a conversation gold mine. Here's how you use it.
Have your students line up in 2 lines. Designate who starts (which line) so it's easier. The first person walks up and says any non-question sentence:
"Here's your pizza."
"Your shoes look great!"
"This rice is delicious."
The person in front of the other line must reply. The secret is they HAVE to say, "Yes, and ______." They have to start with these two words. A normal conversation might be:
"Here's your pizza." "Yes and it looks great!"
"Your shoes look great!" "Yes and I bought them at Sogo."
"This rice is delicious." "Yes and I poisoned it, you dumb shit!"
Once they say their line, they move to the back of the other line (so they have a turn to do both).
Get in line with them and play this, too. After a few rounds, tell them you are going to do something different. This time, you reply to one of their replies. This time, we are going to see how far we can go with continuing to say "Yes...and...." The alternating conversation might go like this:
"Your shoes look great."
"Yes and I bought them at Sogo."
"Yes and I saw they were on sale."
"Yes and I bought 100 pairs so I never run out."
"Yes and that's a lot of shoes."
Notice at some points, we really wouldn't say "Yes, and" in the conversation. Still have them say it. It's really an exercise in getting them to accept what the person said, acknowledge it and add something to it.
After you do this with a person, have the students get in groups of two. Tell them any person can start, but after that first sentence, every reply must start with "yes, and...."
I did this on Tuesday in an adult class and Wednesday in a kids class. Both could do this for a long time.
Enjoy!
Matt
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