Search results matching tags 'communication' and 'internet'

905. A way of practicing the four skills

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:30:00 GMT

One day teacher of English B said to teacher of English A, “When we communicate with one another we do it by using the four skills of a language: listening, speaking, reading and writing. So it is sensible you make your students practice those four skills. Your students will be gaining experience by using them. Our students don’t only read and write in English. Try to balance those four skills in your classes. Sometimes one single activity will demand using several skills along it or at the same time.

Those four skills, natural skills, should be assessed and evaluated by you and by your students.

Now I’m trying to think of an activity that should combine different skills in a naturalistic way – it isn’t complex at all to think of one. Well, you can work on an article about the formation of the mountain ridge of Sierra Nevada, near Granada, south of Spain.

Those mountains are ‘young’ and ‘new’: as far as I know they are growing in altitude; they aren’t mountains that are only being eroded like any other mountain in the surface of the earth.

Briefly. It's just an example. First you all can discuss about the fact that this ridge is going up, and you present an estimation of how high the peaks were millions of years ago, by means of diagrams projected by a video projector.

After that they can listen to you reading an actual article about all this.

Then you all can shortly keep on discussing about this phenomenon. Then you teacher hand out copies of the article among the students.

They’ll have to present a summary of the article. So they read the article, while they’re writing notes about important facts and points. Don’t do this activity very long.

At the end one student will present a summary of the article, and you could ask for further points from the other students, so as complete the information or make predictions for the future.” / Photo from: antonioboveda blogspot com. Recursos Didácticos de Ciencias Sociales. Formación geológica de la Península Ibérica. Los grandes períodos de la historia geológica de la corteza terrestre. Sierra Nevada should be in the southern side of Sistema Bético. Península Ibérica is Portugal in a rather small part of the west and Spain is the rest of the peninsula, the larger part of it.

801. The Internet. Our mutual friend

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:03:00 GMT

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “One of the big things of the Internet is that I’m connecting with teachers of English all the world wide: it’s something pretty good.

I tell other teachers about my experiences and also learn from them – otherwise I’d tend to do the same things all time in my classes! Also I learn everyday and literary English.

My students, for example, can benefit from some relationships with other youngsters from other countries, by using English when typing. We did this activity some years ago in my school. It was great.

Here the thing is my students’ parents and I are concerned with – we do recognize the Web has many big good things, more good things than bad ones –is that some of the relationships some kids could start and hold, through some social network, may be not appropriate, as everyone knows.

Like I’ve just said, we aren’t any against these networks.

Let me think.

A few parents and I were talking last week about that one of the main things we both have got to do is educating the kids in values, within a whole and integral education, in accordance to men and women’s dignity. Think that you wouldn’t let in someone you don’t know, at home.

Thus, I think we teachers might show and propose values to the kids; these latter ones will take the values they just wish to acquire. On the other hand, some parents told me that their kids and them use the Web in kind of agreement and mutual knowledge.” / Photo from: guardian co uk. I’d like to honor Charles Dickens in his 200 birth anniversary. You may know one of his books was Our Mutual Friend.

644. Using English for communication. More games

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 09:39:00 GMT

One day teacher of English B said to teacher of English A, “On post #259 I gave you a lot of activities and games that may help our students play with English, and construct sentences or texts in English.

With passing months and years I’ve invented more games/activities and as well learned from the reactions and ways of doing things by the students themselves.

On label ‘more games’ in this blog you can find some more. Now I offer some new games, briefly:

1. The teacher invents and tells a simple story, by speaking, with 3 or 4 words the students provide; young students are very imaginative.

2. One student says a sentence with one word he or she has learned lately in the classes.

3. Elicit and give terms related with computers and the Internet.

4. They say, by turns, words that include one letter, but which words don’t begin with that letter. You can write them on the board; students like to see filling with columns of words by themselves; it’s like a competition.

5. They, with your assistance, plan a trip or an excursion, by telling as many points as possible: where, date, means of transportation, scheduled plan, accomodation, visits, leadership, games, working on Internet maps and touristic leaflets and pictures, etc.

Thus they work with real language, and you all communicate in English. Don’t be too concerned with grammar accuracy – now the point is communication.” / Photo from: epotential education vic gov au

391. How to prepare to face up with a job interview

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:50:00 GMT

A few days ago I came accross a *** web site fitting adult learners, or even adolescents. So so useful, look:

By GetEnglishLessons on 06/07/09 at 9:50 am

“A Job Interview in English – ESL/EFL/Business English

Some adult students are learning English for their jobs and some other to apply for jobs. Nothing better than a list of questions they are going to be asked on the day of the interview.

Interviewing Questions

Below is a listing of sample interview questions to use as a guideline when developing questions you might ask a potential employee. The trend in developing these interview questions has been to make them behavioral based, allowing the interviewer to get the maximum benefit from the interview.

***

General

· Tell me about your recent work experience(s).

· Why did you leave your previous place of employment?

· Why are there gaps in your employment history?

· What strengths and weaknesses would you bring to this position?

· What is your understanding of this position and what skills do you bring to the position?

· What types of job responsibilities do you find to be most rewarding? Why?

· What types of job responsibilities do you find to be most frustrating? Why?

· Tell me about your computer skills and what type of software you are experienced with.

· What type of management style do you prefer (hands-on, frequent supervision, minimal supervision, etc.) and why?

Behavior Questions

· Describe a situation when you had to take directions from several people at the same time.

· Describe a tough problem that you have dealt with, tell me how you approached it and the outcome.

· Tell me about a specific occasion when you conformed to a policy even though you did not agree with it.

· Tell me about a project you have been responsible for and how you organized the necessary paperwork, tasks, goals, etc.

· Describe for me two improvements you have made in your job in the past six months.

· When you delegate assignments to others, how do you keep track of their progress?

· Tell me about a decision you made that your supervisor disagreed with. How did you handle it?

· What do you feel would be the most common errors made in a position such as this?

· Tell me about a time when you were late or absent to work. How did you communicate that to your supervisor?

· Tell me about a time when a supervisor asked you to complete a task that you thought was not necessary, or could have been done another way. What steps did you take to achieve the task?

· Tell me about a time when you felt you had to break a company rule in order to get something done.

Customer Service

· How would your supervisor describe your relationship with your peers?

· Describe a day when you were faced with multiple interruptions and had to assist in covering an additional position. Tell me how you managed your day to accomplish your work.

· Tell me about a time when you were given high priority tasks from multiple supervisors. How did you decide which to complete first?

· How would the people you supervise describe your management style?

End of Interview

· What aspect of your past employments did you enjoy the most?

· Why should I hire you?

· Do you have any questions for me?"

***

Photograph from psychosmart files wordpress com

369. Get to know other cultures

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:22:00 GMT

One day teacher A said to teacher B, "Something that helps to learn English is watching videos where appear people from English-speaking countries. Or people from anywhere in the world speaking English. This watching images serves the purpose of creating a special environment in the classroom where English is the vehicle for communication. The point, you know?, is that the students would take in some culture of those countries. I've used for my classes videos from the BBC website, YouTube (be careful when exposing this site to your students, you may encounter bad things), formerly video-cassettes (!), DVD's that are part of a coursebook, radio stations, movies, documentaries, etc. Very helpful for your classes." Picture from www bunniktours com au

363. They miss nothing of the class

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:51:00 GMT

One more game, a listening-jogging one.

I write an interesting story (rather short) on my class-notes.

I feel as if the Internet offers umpteen activities, tips, etc., but when I want to copy and print a worksheet or a text... they don't quite fit my students' level or necessities or the grammar or the notional approach it presents. Because of that I just write my own stories, connected with their own concernings.

So, I read a text aloud, in the class, twice, and they listen, right?

I somewhat act out when reading, only a bit, so as to focus their attention. And the follow-up activity is I read some statements and they have to say if they are either true or false or not in the text. I try to read the statements with kind of a cunning look, and I get silent to let them think and reply.

It's okay, it works. /Photo thanks to www asiapacific basf com - Oh, also read them texts about, for example, general culture, we need kids willing to change the world as much as possible. It's up to the people you have in your classroom.

331. New technologies

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:02:00 GMT

One day teacher B said to teacher A, “A few years ago I was registered in a course of English myself, at an advanced level. We were adults. We were few in the classroom, and used to talk in English most of the time, which is a good practice for advanced learners of this language (as a foreign one, EFL). The point is that in the classroom we had access to the Internet and a screen to watch YouTube; so, authentic material in the target language. Also we could consult the Web to look up a word (Spanish or English) on a dictionary online, or a point of grammar somewhere in the Web, with examples of the usage. As well we could watch dvd’s from the coursebook. I mean, the Internet in the classroom is a great source of material for your classes.” On the picture is an “autogiro”, a Spanish invention by De la cierva; kind of a predecessor of helicopters; from www gasolinealleyantiques com