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Quick review: "Classroom Management Techniques" by Jim Scrivener
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Being a teacher means you have to learn at least as much as you teach, so when my language school got a copy of "Classroom Management Techniques" by Jim Scrivener I had to borrow it for a while. It's easy to read and logically organised (I love properly organised handbooks) and, naturally, I've decided I might share some of my thoughts on the book.
Have fun with a lesson plan :)
When I was a student, my professors emphasised the importance of making lesson plans, but then they referred to people who were about to start teaching. Well, I have been teaching for more than a decade (oh, gosh!) and I still write a short lesson plan for every lesson I have. I'll try to share my ideas here, but be careful before you follow me and turn into a creepily well-organised pedantic nightmare.
Lesson preparation & young students
Teaching teenagers is usually fun - at least for me, I really enjoy teaching the group unfairly claimed to be the most difficult (but I'd never ever take up a group of children aged less than 10 years old again!). One of the things I've learnt so far is that with teenagers you have to be prepared for everything.
Being a teacher = being a learner (HQBL: 1)
They say being a teacher is being a learner too, and I quite agree with that! So, when I saw a new course on coursera focused on Blended Learning I've decided to give it a go. Yay!
What shall we do with a rebellious student...
The most important thing when it comes to the unavoidable (one's bound to encounter rebels when teaching teenagers, there is no escape from chaos - it marks us all) is to react immediately. Not for us Obama-like approach, no, we have to be swift and smooth and deal with the rebels changing them into the paragons of English students ;) Or at least try - because in order to change our students (or rather their attitude) we must try to understand them... and it's not easy, trying to understand people who don't understand themselves!
Holidays! are gone...
What can a teacher do during holidays? Theoretically - have some rest. But since being a teacher is not the best paid job in the world (sniff...), one may also decide to work in a summer school. And that's what I did, hence the dead silence on the blog; but from now on I will try to update it quite often. New schoolyear, new resolutions, hah!
Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies!
Teaching young adults I came to realize that most of them study English not because they want to, but because their parents make them. I will never forget one of my students, who bitterly commented my idea of brightening the classes with a grammar game. 'Grammar games are like playing with the devil' - said Ania and little did she know how inspiring her words were.
The same exam
One of the most difficult tasks for me as a teacher is designing tests (and then test correction, I really hate it) - and the picture above explains why: it is virtually impossible to create a test everyone could find something they are good at.
Learning teaching
During many years of my school education I've encountered too many teachers stiff as if they had a nice stick up their bums. I've also met quite a lot of those who wanted to be students' 'friends' - the point was we didn't really enjoy the idea. When I started teaching I soon realized that finding the right place between those two attitudes would be the key to identifying my own way of being a teacher.
Present Perfect Simple with zombies and krakens
Explaining Present Perfect can be tough... but it's my absolutely favourite thing to teach! I need a kraken, or a zombie - and boom! everything is clear!