Педагогическая эклектика (английский, методика, жизнь)

Some memes that illustrate my desire to go to work tomorrow. All in good fun, of course, but after such an extended break, I am dreading getting used to waking up at 6am again. Who is in the same boat? #funsies #random_musings

This monstrosity appeared in my house after I had asked my husband to order a big pan. I didn’t even fathom that the non-industrial ones come in this size, as I had never seen such a pan in any of the households I had the honor of visiting. I was frankly amazed by the sheer size (and weight!). And when I asked why my husband got this one, he just shrugged and replied something along the lines of “Well, you said you wanted a big pan”. It got me thinking about the difference of understanding we have even for such seemingly simple notions as “big”. We need to be aware of such things to be good at communication in both private and professional life. For instance, if we tell a student to do something ASAP, well, there might be a problem. For us, ASAP might be immediately after the lesson, for the student it might be after they have beat the latest boss in their favorite game. It’s all about priorities, isn’t it? The ASAP example was pretty simple, but this situation highlighted the importance of ICQs and criteria one more time. To do a task to our exacting standards, students first need to be aware of what those are. What’s more, we also need to MAKE SURE that they are in the know, so to say. And to do that, we need ICQs, even if sometimes they sound silly (downright stupid). I would appreciate you sharing any sudden insights connected to anything, even the most mundane things. Please, do comment on this message ASAP. 🌍 Do you write a comment? – YES 🌍 Does it have to be deep? – NO 🌍 Is ASAP sometime in the next century? – NO 🌍 Is ASAP as soon you have read the message? – YES #random_musings #methodology

A pan in an ELT blog! What the hell? Bear with me, it’s relevant. Well, kinda…

Enough singing praises to her, so, corrective feedback. The first column is emergent language and some paraphrased stuff that originally sounded a tad bit too Russian. The second is grammar mistakes. BUT! I do praise her accomplishments as well, don’t worry. Sometimes we discuss her errors and mistakes together, sometimes I assign it as HW (like in this particular case). In the next lessons we will recycle the vocabulary, and dedicate some time to the repeated grammar mistakes. It’s a good idea to keep track and record of your student’s mistakes so that you actually actively notice what the repeated slips are. I keep them in a separate presentation and leaf trough the slides every 2-3 weeks to see what needs to be revised. And, of course, to see what mistakes are slowly disappearing. Drawing your student’s attention to their improvement is a MUST. However, it’s virtually impossible to have the same system with groups. Seems like I’ll have to continue looking for a way that would balance efficiency and application, yay (no ☹) #methodology #feedback #motivation

So, what is feedback? The definition is actually a combination of all the points in the poll. To make a long story short, it’s anything the students get back as the result of their work. Beware of the fact that corrective feedback on grammar and vocabulary is not be-all and end-all, it’s just a part of the whole feedback notion. However, today I want to tell you about just that – corrective feedback on grammar and vocabulary. The picture shows what I typically do with my only adult student. Her level is Intermediate, she is extremely motivated and ready to do pretty much anything and everything, that's why I adore her. She is such a breath of fresh air! #methodology #feedback #motivation

#funsies #life #books #Russian

UPD: I've counted the number of hours and that is... drum roll... 651 freaking hours in the last 3 years!!! And I am not including the time it took to prep for CPE and the re-qualification thing I had to do to work at school, and DELTA prep... The less said about the DELTA prep, the better as I prepared, but didn't take the exam itself. 651 divided by 24 is 27. Basically, it’s a whole month of no-sleep, no-food, no-toilet breaks studying. This is actually pretty empowering. If I were you. I’d count as well. You’ll probably be as flabbergasted as I am… P.S. This guy was with me all this time, and if you are a mom and/or a wife, you know what that means. #CPD #burnout_resistance #motivation #life

This is what happens when your employer asks you to complete a table with all your certificates (but this is not all of them). This is also the moment when you kinda regret doing all that, as it just means more work 😅 #work #work_at_school

Here are some possible definitions. 1. Feedback is a way to show how well the student's work aligns with the assignment, highlighting areas of achievement and improvement. 2. Feedback prompts students to think more deeply about their work, encouraging further clarification and challenging students to delve deeper into specific ideas. 3. Feedback offers advice and suggestions to students while their work is still in progress, providing guidance for improvement. 4. Feedback combines elements of prompting deeper thinking with offering suggestions for improvement, correcting current mistakes and providing suggestions for better language use. #methodology #feedback

Feedback. What’s in the word? The term was coined in 1920s, it began as an open compound noun and was used in the technological sphere. When a cable grounds, the current at its end reverses; that is, flows into the cable (”feeding back”) instead of coming out of it. — Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Journal of the Franklin Institute, Jul. 1915 (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary). Feedback as we use it now i.e. "information about the results of a process" started being used in 1955. It’s relatively new, and in the English language teaching methodology the meaning of this word is further expanded. What’s your take on the meaning of this word? #methodology #feedback

My students are suffering even when they are on holiday 😅 But WINTER EXAMS are coming ❄️ #work_at_school #work #exams

I am supposed to be used to standing in front of an audience as I am a teacher and even had a chance to be a speaker at some conferences, but now at the rehearsal I am shaking in my proverbial boots. Why proverbial? 'Cause I am not wearing any. Kinda low-key terrified of singing at the concert itself 😱🤒😵😵‍💫 #life #hobby #random_musings

I am procrastinating and fully aware of that. But do I care? Nah 🤪 #burnout_resistance #life #random_musings #funsies

As some of you already know, I am going to have 15 minutes of fame at Trendy English St.Pete this summer. And I'd really appreciate some help. If you are a teacher, it would be really nice if you could participate in a very short survey. Here's the link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc17fXdRSrmpAeXFMjhS8ABGo2pwsf0yGezEXlGqYuH1W1tzA/viewform?usp=pp_url&entry.1122381917=Giving+HW+ONLY+from+the+WB+for+higher+level+students #methodology #work #conference #CPD

🗣️ FEEDBACK 🗣️ Having discussed our good sides and areas for improvement, we decided to stick to feedback. To be specific, we are going to try to improve our Meaningful Feedback giving skills. Why not just feedback? ‘Cause we are going to try to make the kind of feedback that will help the students improve. Which is not as easy as it sounds, especially when you teach groups. That’s why, I am going to go through the following steps: 🌑 refresh my knowledge of different ways and reasons to provide feedback; 🌒 dig up some new ones; 🌓 use them with my students; 🌕 try to work out why some work and some don’t and for what reasons. So I shall start reading up on feedback and sharing what I find here. Stay tuned! #methodology #feedback #work_at_school #work #CPD

I have set myself a little challenge to keep up my spirits and motivation. It's very simple - I am going to take photos of some stuff that I like, and then post a collage. It doesn't have to be anything big, for intance, I was happy upon noticing that my jacket matched my watch (accidentally, mind you). You are welcome to share some of yours. Maybe we could help each other find enjoyment in simple things? 💜🩵🩷 #burnout_resistance #life #random_musings #motivation

Yesterday one of my colleagues invited us to discuss an idea. Frankly speaking, an amazing one. We are going to do peer observations to improve our skills! Sounds very simple, doesn’t it? Not really. Especially when you are a teacher at school and have to do a lot. Not just teach and prep, but also do a lot, and I mean, A LOT of paper work. What’s more, we have an open-door policy and a student might drop by to ask a question and stay an hour telling you all their life story… it’s really tough to dedicate some time to self-development. Thankfully, I am going to have a lighter workload next module as English is the first OGE exam this year, and the ninth-graders will be off. Yay! #methodology #feedback #work_at_school #work #CPD

🏃‍♂️Running Dictation. Part 2.🏃‍♀️ 🟢 Visual running dictation 1. People wearing different kinds of clothes. One of the students remember what the person is wearing and then tells the other so that they can draw. 2. Picture description to practice functional language. 3. Pictures with fruit, vegetables, stationery…. The list can go on and on. 🔵 Texts with a twist 1. Texts with mistakes. The runner needs to identify the mistakes and tell the writer the correct version. 2. Jigsaw writing samples. Each team gets a piece of text and then they put it all together properly after the dictation itself. 3. Texts with target vocabulary scrambled. 4. Texts with scrambled sentences (good for sentence formation practice) etc. 🟣 Audio running dictation. The runner listens to a part of text, then goes back to tell the writer.

Possible benefits and drawbacks:

➕ it’s fun ➕ it can serve to both energize and calm the students down ➕ grammar revision ➕ vocabulary revision ➕ functional language ➕ memory training ❗ someone might claim they can’t draw ❗ it’s a task not for any group or any age ❗it’s a task for mainly lower level groups ❗ it might be difficult to find good photos (Tip: google Japanese fashion) #methodology #work_at_school #work #activities_ideas

Do you see the difference? Neither do I, as there is none. #methodology #work_at_school #work #activities_ideas