2012年5月30日 星期三

English is a foreign language.




There are many words in English came from other languages. Such as ‘boulevard’ and ‘garage,’ for example, come from the French language, while ‘violin’ and ‘balcony’ are on loan from Italian. Teach your students about it and come download this week's lesson plan!


English is a foreign language Lesson Plan



2012年5月22日 星期二

How to place your students Part 3



Following our previous articles, now it is the finally two levels that your students should be able to perform. However, please keep this in mind that many school in Taiwan place students according to their age, not with their ability. Often you will have class full with beginners and one kid who can speak perfect and fluent English.


Upper-intermediate
At this level students can speak and write with reasonable fluency using a range of tenses and expressions for linking ideas. They can use appropriate language in a variety of situations demonstrating an understanding of formal and informal language.
Grammar to cover includes:
✓ To have something done: students are used to speaking about actions they do themselves. With this grammatical structure they can express the idea of paying or instructing other people to do things. For example, I had my house painted.
✓ Third conditional: If I had known, I wouldn’t have done it.
✓ Reported speech: She said that she . . .
✓ Defining relative clauses: The man who is standing over there is nervous.

✓ Modal verbs in the past: I could have come.
✓ Passive verb forms: The room was cleaned.
✓ The verb to wish: I wish I could go, you wish you were me (after wish you use a verb in one of the past tenses, so students have to learn this verb separately)
✓ To be used to/ to get used to: I'm used to London now but I'm still getting used to my new job. Students easily confuse these two grammatical structures.
✓ Past perfect continuous tense: I had been working.
✓ Future perfect: I will have written it.
Vocabulary to cover includes:
✓ Adjectives of personality: generous, manipulative.
✓ Medical problems: ache, bruise, sprain.
✓ Crime words: to arrest, fraud, mugging.
✓ Feelings: hurt, fascinated, relieved.
✓ Science and technology words: software, appliance.
✓ Media and communications words: broadcasting, the press.


Advanced
Students at this level are able to communicate with native speakers without much difficulty. They get the gist of most texts and conversations and have sufficient vocabulary to express themselves on a wide variety of topics. The grammar and vocabulary they use is similar to that of native speakers even when it's not strictly necessary to be understood. Question tags, which showed in the following grammar list, provide a good example of this.
Grammar to cover includes:
✓ Prefixes and suffixes: respect/ disrespect/ disrespectful
✓ Compound nouns: tooth + paste = toothpaste.
✓ Active and stative verbs (actions and conditions): She bought (active) a motorbike and also owns (stative) a car.
✓ Future perfect continuous tense: I will have been working.
✓ Detailed rules on phrasal verbs: Phrasal verbs consist of a verb and a preposition or two that together make a new meaning. For example: to get on with someone, to put up with something.
Vocabulary to cover includes:
✓ Newspaper headlines. There are a number of words that are favorites for newspapers but hardly used elsewhere, for example, Minister Rapped After Expenses Probe. Journalists also like to be very playful with the language. They use nicknames, rhymes, and slang and students want to be in on the joke so that they can understand the press for themselves. However, it sometimes takes a great deal of explaining and a detailed
analysis of the language for students to get the point.
✓ Words with different connotations. Old and elderly have basically the same meaning. However, elderly is more polite than old when referring to people, so the connotation (attitude behind the word) is different. When students understand that words have similar meanings they also need to know the subtle but important differences between them.
✓ Metaphors and similes. You use metaphors when you say that one thing is another because they're somehow similar. There was a storm of protest. Storm is a word that describes violent weather conditions but here it means a violent outburst.
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My TOEFL iBT experience and tips


Many of us might teach TOEFL class before, but how many of you have ever taken TOEFL before?
I took my first TOEFL iBT last weekend and with my first hand experience, here are the suggestions and tips I will pass onto my students.

1. Time:
Since not all the testing centers here in Taiwan are run by ETS. Most of them are run by other authorized institutes such as Global Village. It is very important to be punctual but don't be there too early. They will NOT let you take the test first. ( ETS testing center in the states are first come first test based, hence you can choose take the test as soon as you arrived.)
Other than managing your time during the test, you also need to pay closer attention on your break time. In ETS regulation, it does not allow any test takers to have watch on them, and the test center I was at does not have a clock on the wall. Therefore I almost missed my test...I went in when there was only 20 seconds left which was cutting really close.

2. Noise
ETS testing centers in the states will provide noise canceling headphones or ear plugs, not in Taiwan. It might be really noisy and distract your attention. There was a microphone testing section before the test starts. When I took the test, there were two people who couldn't nail the sound check. They just kept testing and testing while I was on my reading section. For 5 minutes, I couldn't focus because their sounds just kept coming and I couldn't block it. So make sure you bring a pair of ear plugs with you.
As for the speaking section, it is kind of ridiculous to be honest. I took my sweet time reading through the instructions, so I started my section a bit later. When I was still reading the instructions, I could hear the question/answer of the guy who sat next to me. And guess what, two minutes later, computer gave me the same question. And another two minutes later, I heard someone else was answering the same question. So for those students who might need a bit more time to prepare. I will suggest them to take their time reading through the instructions and try to listen to others. In that way, you would have a better idea of what you might encounter and can be prepared. You might be getting the same questions as they did.

2012年5月15日 星期二

Free Worksheets and other great stuff!

Do you need to teach elementary school math or need worksheets for your classes? If the answer is yes, this website is going to be a great help.
This website contains addition, subtraction, fraction, multiplication and algebra worksheets and online games for your students to practice! What is great about this site is that you can set the criteria and design your own worksheets. It is great for homework or classroom practice. I often use it as time fillers that I can have some one-on-one reviewing time with student who doesn't understand that what I taught in class so the rest of the class won't go crazy.
It also has great amount of worksheets on phonics, handwriting, science and social study.

Softschool.com

Who should be more responsible to children, parents or teachers?

Today at Huffington.com  has an article discussing the state of Tennessee passed law that requires parents to grade themselves for  participation in their children's work. From my personal experience, there are so many parents in Taiwan think just because they send their kids to school, they have no responsibilities. Everything are the teachers' responsibilities. I personally witnessed numerous parents will call in our school and ask if the kids finish their homework yet. If not, they will refuse to come pick them up....We (teachers) have so many students per class, sometimes we might miss a mistake here and there. The parents will get extremely angry at us for "being lazy" where in fact they didn't bother to check once again before the kids hand in their home work. Not to mention if they did bad in their test in school.... I have seen countless examples like these. I think it is really important that parents have to assume their role as "parents" and stop pushing their responsibilities onto teachers.
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Tennessee Parent Report Cards Aim To Boost Support In Schools


By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II 05/10/12 12:11 PM ET AP

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Educators exasperated by the need for greater parent involvement have persuaded Tennessee lawmakers to sign off on a novel bit of arm-twisting: Asking parents to grade themselves on report cards.
Another Tennessee measure signed into law recently will create parent contracts that give them step-by-step guidelines for pitching in. The report card bill – which would initially apply to two struggling schools – passed the Legislature, and the governor has said he is likely to sign it. Participation in the programs is voluntary.
Only a few states have passed laws creating evaluations or contracts that put helping with homework or attending teacher conferences into writing. Tennessee is the only one so far to do report cards, though Utah has parents fill out an online survey and Louisiana is also considering parent report cards.
The measures are meant to address a complaint long voiced by teachers and principals: Schools can't do it alone.
"It's a proven fact that family engagement equals students' success," said James Martinez, spokesman for the National Parent Teacher Association.
"It's one of the key ingredients to education reform, to turning around schools, to improving our country's children's knowledge base compared to the rest of the world."
Under Tennessee's contract legislation, parents in each school district are asked to sign a document agreeing to review homework and attend school functions or teacher conferences, among other things. Since it's voluntary, there's no penalty for failing to uphold the contract – but advocates say simply providing a roadmap for involvement is an important step.
Michigan is the only state that has enacted a similar measure, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In the case of Tennessee's report card proposal, a four-year pilot program will be set up involving two of Tennessee's struggling schools. Parents of students in kindergarten through third grade will be given a blank report card at the same time as the students, and the parents will do a self-evaluation of their involvement in activities similar to those in the parental contract. Parents will give themselves a grade of excellent, satisfactory, needs improvement or unsatisfactory
Tennessee Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Memphis Democrat and the House sponsor of the measures, said the program may be expanded depending on how many parents participate.
"What we're hoping will happen with the parents grading themselves is that they will, at a minimum, become aware of either the good job that they're doing in regards to children's education, or possibly become aware of some areas where they may be able to make some improvements," said Parkinson, adding that educators can review the report cards with the parents if they choose.
Utah recently passed legislation that creates an online survey where parents can evaluate their involvement, but the school does not assign them a grade and it's voluntary. Louisiana is currently considering legislation to grade parent participation, according to the NCSL.
While cajoling parents through state laws is a new trend, the underlying idea is one that few would deny. A 2002 study by the National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory found that no matter the income or structure of the family, when parents are involved students have higher grades, stay in school longer and are more likely to go to college.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said he's likely to sign the report card legislation, but like the other proposal he wants to see how it's implemented.
"The spirit behind it is 100 percent right," said the Republican governor. "The question is, if folks could mandate parental involvement, other people would be doing it before."
The state has previously been praised as a leader in education reform by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan for other changes in state law including toughening the curriculum and teacher evaluations.
The Michigan measure that created the parental involvement contract also set up a "Parent Engagement Tool Kit" website that provides ideas on engaging parents, said Bob Kefgen, assistant director for government relations with the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals.
"That contract language was one really important piece and we've gone much further than that," he said. "It's really about having a host of resources at your disposal because there's really no silver bullet."
Nada Fouani, principal at Iris Becker Elementary School in Dearborn, Mich., said she's noticed more parents getting involved since the measure was enacted in 2001.
"Our PTA has become larger and much stronger," she said.
Nashville resident Christi Witherspoon favors the measures. Despite her busy schedule as a doctor, she and her husband, Roger, spend as much as three hours each night helping their two young daughters with homework.
"I think it's of the utmost importance because I don't think children can be consistently successful without parental involvement," Witherspoon said.
Her daughters appreciate the help.
"I really enjoy my mom going over my homework," said 9-year-old Gabrielle. "If it's wrong, she helps me out with it."
And if mom isn't around, Rachel, 6, knows who to turn to: "I have my dad, or my sister."
Some families, though, face greater obstacles.
Corey Jenkins is a single father of three children ages 10, 12 and 14. The recently divorced 39-year-old just got a new job after looking for work for months. But he said he hasn't let his problems interfere with his involvement in his children's schooling.
"I can make excuses, but there are none that make sense," Jenkins said. "My children are most important in my life and so I make time when they need it. I enjoy attending parent/teacher conferences."
James W. Lewis, president of the National Society of High School Scholars, said that whether parents are single or married, they can make more of an impact when they know ways to help.
"In the state of Tennessee, they'll have to make sure those resources are put out there to allow for fair and equitable distribution of this training for parents," he said. "And if that's done correctly, I think there could be a very positive move toward helping students understand the value of education and also allow the parent to understand the value and the connectivity between education and their students' opportunity for learning."
Gera Summerford, president of the Tennessee Education Association, agrees. The teacher said she's encountered a number of parents in her 30-year career who seem disengaged and need direction.
"There are ways that the schools can promote that parental connection," she said.
The SEDL study identified several ways that schools can assist parents in supporting their children's education. A key way was providing information about how to help their children at home.
Tennessee Education Association lobbyist Jerry Winters said he believes the state's parental proposals will be effective because they seek to forge a partnership between parents and schools.
"Parents don't need to go it alone, they need support," he said. "Schools certainly don't need to go it alone, they need support. A parental-school partnership is the ideal environment for improving student achievement."

2012年5月8日 星期二

How to place your students Part 2



Pre-intermediate
At pre-intermediate level students learn to discuss their experiences and future plans. They learn vocabulary related to travelling. In addition they’re able to discuss leisure activities and explain their preferences.
Grammar to cover includes:
Modal verbs: can/can’t, must/mustn’t, will/won’t, should/shouldn’t, may/ may not
Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs.
To be going to: This isn’t a tense but you use this structure to talk about plans.
I am going to have steak for dinner tonight.
Present perfect tense: I’ve eaten.
Past simple tense with irregular verbs: ate, was, were, bent, became, broke, taught, cut, chose etc.
Past continuous tense: I was watching TV.
Adverbs: well, fast and adjectives+ly .
Vocabulary to cover includes:
Types of films: comedy, tragedy, romance, scary/thrill, detective.
Clothes: pants, shirt, coat, skirt, dress, bathing suit, hat, jacket.
Hobbies and interests: jogging, eating out, reading, playing computer games.
Location words: hospital, library, courthouse, fire station, movie theater, grocery store, supermarket, gas station, hotel, restaurant.
Parts of the body: shoulder, knee, elbow, ankle.
Superlatives: the best, the most wonderful

Intermediate
At this level students tend to lose their initial enthusiasm for learning English. They already know how to make sentences that refer to the past, present and future and they have a basic vocabulary for everyday situations. At this level the language you teach adds sophistication and fluency, instead of basic communication. It becomes harder for students to measure their progress so you need to work hard at maintaining interest by using topics they really enjoy.
Grammar to cover includes:
More modal verbs: (should, may, might). Too many modal verbs exist to teach at once so you teach a few at a time.
Conditional: If it rains, I use my umbrella/ If it rains, I’ll use my umbrella/ If it rained, I’d use my umbrella.
Non-defining relative clauses: The man, who I thought looked great, was at the office.
Gerunds and infinitives: going and to go.
The verb will for spontaneous decisions: I’ll pay!
Present perfect continuous tense: I have been singing, he has been dancing.
Past perfect tense: They had seen it, you had not watched it.
Vocabulary to cover includes:
Comparing and contrasting: both, neither, whereas.
Polite forms: Would you mind? I'm afraid I can't.
Reviewing films, books and so on: describing the plot, characters, strengths and weaknesses.

If you enjoy this week's blog, don't forget to come back for next week which will reveal the final two levels: Upper-Intermediate and Advanced

2012年5月3日 星期四

How to place your students Part 1

Do you have private tutoring students? Or have you ever experienced that you don’t know which level should place your students. The following is the general guideline on how to place your students and what skills required.

The following separated into six levels and you can combine them into lesser levels or make more. In general, according to their ability, students can be placed into the following levels: Beginner, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate, Advance.

Beginner
Beginner-level students aren’t necessarily children. They could also be adults who have the need to learn a new language. Students at beginner level can’t speak or write accurately in the present simple and present continuous tenses. There are students who might already learn English for years but are not ready for the next level; these students are called “False Beginners.”

Grammar to cover includes:
The subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, we, they.
Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.
Question words: what, who, where and how.
Possessive adjectives: my, your, his, hers,theirs, ours .
Singular and plural nouns (s/es/ies)
The verb to be in positive, negative and question form: I am, I am not, am I?

Vocabulary to cover includes:
A-Z.
Numbers 1 to 100.
Jobs: teacher, doctor, nurse, postman, police officer, fire fighter.
Countries and nationalities: He is from the UK. He’s British.
Basic food: fruit, vegetables, meat.
Days of the week.
Everyday objects: apple, bag, desk, chair, pen, eraser.
Immediate family: mother,father, brother, sister, son, daughter.
Rooms in the house: living room, bathroom, kitchen.

Elementary
At elementary level, students learn to use many more verbs instead of only to be (I am, you are, it is).  At this level students learn to talk and ask about matters related to daily routines. They also begin to refer to past and future time.

Grammar to cover includes:
Basic verbs in the present simple positive, negative and question forms:
I live, I don’t live, do I live?
Simple adverbs of frequency: usually, sometimes.
Quantities: How much, how many? Some, any.
Showing ability: using can/ can’t.
The past simple tense with to be: was / were.
Future simple tense: I will go.
Past simple tense with regular verbs: I looked, I listened.

Vocabulary to cover includes:
Simple adjectives: opposites, colors.
Language for telling the time: What time is it? It’s half past three.
Language for shopping: types of shops, asking for what you want.
Asking for directions: straight ahead, turn left / right.
Months and years.
Weather: What’s the weather like? It’s raining.
Comparative adjectives: bigger, nicer, and so on (superlatives wait until the next level).


2012年5月1日 星期二

Classroom Atmosphere

 I found a great article on classroom atmosphere and would like to share with my fellow English teachers!

December 15, 2002
Classroom Atmosphere

by Helene Jarmol Uchida

KidsFor many of our students, the classroom is the focal point of their English exposure. It is the base of where, when, why and how they speak English. The physical appearance of the classroom in itself is very important. And because of its importance, I am often amazed at how many English classrooms in Japan lack stimulating visual English materials. From a Westerner's viewpoint, most schools here appear plain and gray; English classrooms looks too Japanese. And since they look so Japanese, it seems only natural that students speak Japanese in such an environment.
I think English teachers should try to give the impression to students that they are making a visit abroad each time they enter the English classroom. Not only is their visit there a chance to speak English, it should also be a cultural dip into a foreign setting and international atmosphere.
How can we do that? At our school, we have travel posters in the office, and we have the American flag and state flags scattered throughout the building. Maps of the U.S.A. and the world hang in the lobby. And in each classroom, posters not only decorate the rooms but are also used as instructor's tools for warm-ups, teaching new concepts, reference and review. For example, there are ABC Posters which teach alphabetizing, initial letter sounds and vocabulary expansion.
Color Posters are a great physical warm-up booster; often we ask students to stand up and touch something in the room which is the same color that the teacher is pointing to on the color poster. Consonant and Vowel Charts help teachers reinforce phonics; the Body Chart is a good follow-up after singing "Head & Shoulders." Opposites Posters are often children's first exposure to adjectives; Animal Posters (both farm and zoo) help elementary school students learn the names of all their favorite animals.
We have three classrooms at our school whose posters are rotated every few months. Thus, the students feel the atmosphere is fresh, and they also get to learn or review basic concepts on a constant basis. In addition, the parents, waiting for their children in the lobby, get to see English from any position in the school. And for them seeing is believing.
I also think a bulletin board filled with pictures of the students in their classrooms with their teachers and classmates or from their trips abroad triggers a sense of community at their "home away from home".
Needless to say, after their lessons, students feel like they have made a mini-trip abroad, and the usage of Japanese has been kept at a minimum. They leave class feeling they "have been somewhere else" and they look forward to coming back next time. I firmly believe good visual materials help create an atmopshere which contributes to this experience.

2012年4月27日 星期五

Verbal Correction Technique


Correction is one of the most essential parts of teaching English or anything other subjects. With the following verbal correction technique, you can correct your students without having them feel embarrassed and makes learning fun and effective!

As we all know, learning is a comprehensive process that requires all the senses. Some students might not have keen hearing and are not able to catch your corrections. If so, you need to combine visual aids and physical movement to help them.

“Let your fingers do the talking.”
The main concept of this technique is that “You can use your hands to indicate where a student has made errors in a spoken sentence. Using fingers as words or syllables: to indicate where the error is in a sentence is by using your fingers to represent words.”

For example, a student has come up with the sentence “I is a tall boy.”
Then,
I--- thumb
is--- index finger
a--- middle finger
tall--- ring finger
boy--- little finger

Go through the sentences with your student and let he/she knows which words represent which fingers. When you say “is” waggle the index finger and use a questioning tone, then carry on to the next finger. Repeat the process if your students are still puzzled. You can also ask them to correct it into the right form.

2012年4月25日 星期三

How to choose the right materials




Have you been asked to pick up the materials for your school or your private tutoring students? Do you know what to look for when making this kind of decisions? If you don’t, please continue reading this week’s blog entry! If you do, please read it too and make sure you got it all covered!

Language learning process is never static, instead it is dynamic. Therefore we need to the help of instructional materials and teaching aids. Instructional materials could be text books, and lesson plans. Teaching aids include visual aids, audio aids, and audio visual.

In order to choose the appropriate materials, we need to figure out the general objectives and specific objectives of teaching English. For example, grammar focused, or skills of reading, comprehension, writing and conversation.

The characteristic of good instructional materials should include the following:

  1. Supplement of Oral Teaching
During conversation class, the verbal statement made by teachers sometimes might not help clarify the view points. A pre-stage visual/ audio material might help students to get into the situation better. Student can also review and practice at home with it. Also, the audio/visual teaching material can sometime serve as a mood-changer in the classroom and keeps your students excited.
  1. Effective Learning Aids
Audio Visual aids involve more than one sensory organs of the learner. By using multi sensory organs, it helps improving retentiveness and making learning permanent.
  1. Time and energy saving
When teacher only demonstrates one skill such as verbal, it will take longer time for students to understand the content. Sometimes visual aids such as flashcards or pictures will make students understand it easier and faster. It saves more time and energy of both teachers and students.


If you enjoy this week’s teaching tip, then you have to come back! Because we are going to talk about how to pick up the right text book!