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Giving English Lessons?


Fi
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[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"]Unfortunately making points, however valid, in a judgemental and aggressive manner is likely to alienate the person being criticised. For a long time I have been trying to work out if Norman is a person totally lacking in empathy or people-skills or just a bully.[/quote]

Possibly I lack empathy or what I would call bullsh*t.

On the other hand I doubt if my questions (or demands for precise information) would get 1/20 on  a scale of bullying if ever you found yourself up against an average QC.

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[quote user="NormanH"]Then we will be virtual friends!

Seriously I have loads of materiel and links that could help you. don't hesitate to ask [:D]

[/quote]

You may regret this![:)]  Thanks in advance - I think I will need lots of information - the problem from taking stuff straight from the wonderweb is ascertaining it's validity/veracity.  You know what they say - if it's in wikipedia, treat with extreme caution....

Fi

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Just getting back to the subject of humour in the classroom for a moment. I was teaching EFL in Italy and the topic was talking about illness/going to the doctor. One of my students said: "I've got a headcake". I started laughing and couldn't stop. I tried to hide behind a book but the students realised something was up so I had to tell them and translated what she had said into Italian. They all fell about laughing, including the student herself. It lightened the atmosphere in what was sometimes a difficult class. It's also good to make yourself the subject of laughter and indeed I would try out Italian tongue twisters much to the amusement of my students. When I walked into my classroom to start a lesson I would always start off with a cheery goodmorning/afternoon. Often the response was a bit half hearted and I would mimic the students, which would achieve a laugh from them. So we would sart off the lesson with a smile. One of the most important ingredients in the language learning classroom is a relaxed, enjoyable, unthreatening atmosphere. Humour can go some way to achieving this.

Patrick

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Fi, it entirely depends on what the objectives of the lessons are, but for help with grammar at secondary level I use Raymond Murphy's "English Grammar in Use" (French version.) I find the eslhq forum useful for general ideas and questions. When I was teaching English in French primary schools, I used the Cambridge and British Council materials, plus the UK Primary MFL strategy materials, which I think are brilliant.

Hope this helps.

regards

L
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Thank goodness there has now been an outbreak of friendliness on this thread and I feel able to contribute.

Bixy's post has brought back happy memories.  I spent one summer teaching English to Italian teenagers and they teased my "Italian" accent mercilessly, especially when I put the stress on the wrong part of their names eg. Stefano, Federico and so on.

They were no angels by any means but, the end of term brought many rewards, not least when they queued up to give you a kiss and thank you.  As for the end of term party, when I turned up in a dress rather than the usual pair of slacks and tee shirt, they cried, "Teacher, teacher, you are beautiful!"

No, I wasn't under an illusions but still I thought they were so sweet and so diplomatic that I was almost in tears myself to see the back of them! 

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Another funny happened to me - there was a german guy in a french lesson and germans tend to struggle with the 't' and 'd' intonation -instead of explaing he took a shower in the mornings  he said  "Je me touche ce matin"  :-)
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Thank goodness there has now been an outbreak of friendliness on this thread and I feel able to contribute.

 

Now I find I have the courage to state my point without getting sandbagged by "highly experiencnd people", I am thinking about giving English classes to some locals and prefer to use the modular approach (thematic) as, in other ventures, I have found this to be effective with certain types of student.

 

While I can prepare them myself I wonder if any kind soul can direct me to useful sites for this please ?

 

With thanks in advance

 

ernie

 

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[quote user="Fi"]Hi Ernie
The links NormanH gave earlier were very useful.  Maybe a place to start.  Despite the bickering, he does know what he's talking about (and we're friends now[:D])
Fi

[/quote]

Hello Fi,

 

Many thanks for the steer.

 

In fact, I had checked some of those out and they are good.  Although  I was looking for something more in the modular line - thematic lessons, as I use that system, it works better for the type of students I have had.  Although I do have a set of these, I was trying to avoid the donkey work, never mind, it is always good revision.

 

Your classes going well ?

 

Cheers from Ernie

 

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