7 in 2017 – When Teaching Literature in EFL Intersects with Life

 

You know that teaching the literature component of the high-school EFL program has influenced you when…

  1. Getting a beautiful piece of artwork as a post reading task on the book “The Wave” makes you ridiculously happy…
  2. You foolishly carry too many books and papers in the hallway and manage to drop half. A few kind students, whom you’ve never seen before, help gather the scattered items. You thank them but what you really REALLY want to say is “Well, you can now count this day as not lost”! 
  3. The name of the game “Quoits” was a new addition to your vocabulary, but you are old enough to remember that “Patience” was the name for “Solitaire” when it was played with real cards.
  • Pondering age… Photo by Gil Epshtein

    4. When you reach the sentence about Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones’ icebox, it suddenly dawns on you that it might not be such a good idea to suggest that the kids talk to their grandparents for further information about ice boxes. If some of the students’ parents were once students of mine, then I’ll soon be the age of their grandparents.  I seem to have been in the classroom forever yet I never had an icebox…

  • Not a yellow wood but most certainly two roads diverged…
    Naomi’s Photos

    5. You find yourself pondering the fact that you actually took the road most taken by women, becoming  a teacher, a wife, a mother, a daughter (of parents in their “golden years”) , juggling roles while trying to exercise and blog too. Which naturally leads to the question whether I shall be telling this with a sigh of joy or regret ages and ages hence… Or perhaps the question of whether there will be anyone interested in listening…

  • A Smart Move
    (Naomi’s Photos)

    6. You have to bite your tongue every time you reach the end of the story “The Rules of The Game” – Waverly had no more moves to plot! I read “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan, I know what happened! From the moment Waverly supposedly insulted her mother, she never won a chess match again!!! Unlike Waverly’s mother, we teachers do give students second chances (and third, or more) but that isn’t something I can point out to the students because their story ends before that. Maybe it’s just as well…

  • Missing information… Naomi’s Photos

    7. You actually feel the weight of all the hours /topics cut from the national  curriculum, particularly history. Over the years more extensive background information of all sorts is needed for the stories and poems, ranging from the rise of the Nazi Movement to the fact that the early African-Americans DID NOT come voluntarily to the US as illegal immigrants who decided to stay…

Forget the students for a moment – how has teaching literature in the EFL classroom affected YOU?

 

Which Book Related to “TEACHING” would YOU add to “Incidental Comics'” Bookshelf?

Something to tie the books together…
Naomi’s Photos

Grant Snyder’s latest comic strip “My Bookshelf made me wonder – which books related to teaching (in the broadest sense) would a teacher pencil in under each of the  categories he presented?  Which ones would YOU add?

Yes, I am using the phrase “pencil in” intentionally. You see,  you may change your mind about the choice of book. More than once.

And you may want to rewrite your choice in smaller print inside the grid of his  comics so that there’ll  be room for a non-teaching-related book as well….

Meanwhile, until you tell meabout your books, here are my choices.

“The book I couldn’t put down”

“Animalia” by Graeme Base. Oh, this most certainly is a book related to teaching. Teaching through the joy of wonder and curiosity! Base has drawn such an elaborate and beautiful alphabet book, with such an incredible number of drawings of words beginning with each letter that you can’t take it all in at once. My sons and I have gone back to this book time and time again and keep discovering more hidden words, looking up possible words and roping in any guest willing to join the fun. There’s even a “Dalek” in there…  What a way to learn vocabulary. Thought provoking…

“The book I couldn’t pick up”

Whisper: Apologies.  “Second Language Research Methods” by Seliger and Shohamy is still sitting patiently on my bookshelf…

“The book you gave me (I haven’t read it yet, sorry!)”

“Being a teacher” by Lior Halevi , which was a gift from the school and the parents of the graduating class.  I feel guilty. The book does look interesting but somehow books I’ve gotten on my own always seem to take precedence…

“The book I brought to the beach” 

No, no no. I don’t take books to the beach. Only magazines. Particularly not books related to teaching, which I hope to use and keep for many years! They are usually expensive and must be ordered from abroad or were a gift that I’m grateful for.

What we really need is the ladder, not the hose, for all those books a mile high…
Naomi’s Photos

“The book I tried so hard to like”

“The Power of Teacher Teams” by Troen and Boles. The book seems so readable and friendly and is supposed to be awesome and helpful but I can’t see the helpful bit… Embarassed…

“The book I somehow own three copies of”

OK, not three, but two. Since I teach Deaf and hard of hearing students, there was a time people thought the perfect gift for me would be “Seeing Voices” by Oliver Sacks. For a while, every time I had two copies of the book I would give one of them away. Shortly after, I would get another copy! I believe I now don’t have a single copy left on the shelf…

“The book that saved my life”

“The Courage to Teach” by Palmer. It isn’t a very easy book to read but it is so powerful and important. A “slow read” makes you think. Being a good teacher can’t be disconnected from thinking about who you are and what you bring to the classroom. Everyone loves to tell a teacher “don’t take it personally” – but why not? How not to? This is a book to own!

“The book that I lent you – can I have it back?”

“Teaching Reading to Deaf Children” by Beatrice Ostern Hart. This was the very first book on education I owned and I read it from cover to cover, certain sections more than once. It was a powerful introduction, with wonderful examples, to what it means to approach reading comprehension in one’s mother tongue with a very limited vocabulary. Very useful for teaching a foreign language as well. This was back in the early 1980’s. Perhaps parts of the book are now outdated but I’ll never find out. I stupidly lent the book to someone, didn’t record the name, and never got it back…

“The book I fall asleep to every night”

NOT A TEACHING RELATED BOOK! Bedtime books are not for work! Regular readers of this blog are well acquainted with what I’m reading as I delight in posting about them. NOT WORK RELATED!

“The book I mistook for a hat”

This is an obvious reference to Oliver Sacks but I’ve already mentioned him.  Let’s change the “hat” to ” hard hat” along with a toolbox. The book “Switch” by the Heath Brothers isn’t officially about teaching,  but changing behaviors, bad habits and norms are issues a teacher certainly needs to read about. It is easy to connect it to the classroom. Another book that is good to reread from time to time.

“The book I’m desperately trying to write”

A blog, not a book…

“All the books that changed my life”

Here’s to all the books I’ve read and those that are waiting to be read! Life is good!

 

 

 

 

Lost (not) in a Book: “The Sea” by John Banville

Moving in place…
Naomi’s Photos

I feel almost apologetic about it.

Perhaps like the cliché “No, it’s not you, it’s me”. The book won the Man Booker Prize in 2005 and it’s not that I can’t see why.  Banville’s use of language is impressive, his descriptions are rich and I used the dictionary a few times to look up words I had never encountered.

But the skillful use of language was the only thing that kept me reading as far as I did. And that’s not enough.

I found myself not looking forward to my “reading time”.

The combination of the very slow pace of the book,  the fact that very little actually happens ( mostly memories and thoughts) and the fact that the hero is mourning the recent death of his wife was too much for me at this time.

Perhaps if the timing had been different I would have been able to hang in there and see where all these thoughts led the protagonist but there it is.

I have moved on to the next book.

Being Sniffed At & Getting a Nod – Blog’s 7th Birthday!

Moonstruck…
Naomi’s Photos

Funny how things work. My blog was “sniffed at” and  then mentioned on a list of recommended blogs in the same week! A week which just happened to lead up to this blog’s SEVENTH BIRTHDAY!

The other day I met a teacher who said he has a blog. A blog about a very specific topic, totally not EFL or language related. When I said I also had a blog, he wanted to know what it was about.

And I hesitated.

What is the blog about?

It’s not only about teaching English to Deaf and hard of hearing students.

It’s not only about teaching English.

Sometimes it’s just about being a teacher.

Or even about being a book-lover.

So I hesitated.

Then I replied “It’s about education”.

He looked at me as if he were holding back the words “yeah, right”, sniffed in disdain and walked away.

I can see it from his point of view. How worthwhile could the blog be if the blogger has trouble answering the simple question “what is your blog about”?  “Education” is an extremely broad topic…

Define “bright”…
Naomi’s Photos

“Ha!” I thought to myself and smiled. Time works in my favor here, because I happen to know that not knowing what the blog is about works. Seven years have gone by and writing on the blog still helps me put my thoughts in order and reflect.  685 posts have been posted and read by people, even though 98% of my readers do not  teach English to Deaf and hard of hearing students. I’ve even passed the 2, 030 mark in Twitter followers…

Then, this!

On the English Teaching professional website, Chia Suan Chong posted an article called “ELT Blogs to follow in 2018” and included “Visualising Ideas“!

I feel honored to be mentioned among such fascinating bloggers and I truly recommend checking out their blogs!

I would just like to say thank you to all the readers of this blog!

Seven years have gone by but I’m not going anywhere.

I intend to stick around.

A Learning Curve – Using “Tricider” in Class

Looking Stuck       Naomi’s Photos

 

So truly simple – what could go wrong?

It seems everything is possible – I wonder if such a talent as mine would enable me to qualify for “America’s Got Talent”?!

Part of the task for the great digital in-service training course I am taking was to use “Tricider” with my students.

Tricider is a digital tool that lets you brainstorm, collect ideas and opinions really easily.

It has several appealing features:

  • Very intuitive interface – really friendly.  Register for free and off you go!
  • The students do not have to register in order to participate. Nor do they have to install or download anything. That is a really important point with my students.
  • Tricider allows the user to vote and express his/her opinion in a very simple, clear way. There is no need for lengthy explanations from a teacher before use.  Actually, hardly any explanations at all.

So…

The learning curve…
Naomi’s Photos

This year we are in the process of setting up a work station in our learning center about Deaf people who did /do interesting things. In addition, the work-station is also supposed to include a vocabulary section dealing with words and phrases a person with a hearing loss should know when he /she is travelling abroad in an English-speaking country.  The station is intended to be used by all of my Deaf and Hard of Hearing High-School students, at all levels.

I created the following Tricider page with suggestions I had for useful phrases and vocabulary a person with a hearing loss traveling abroad (in an English-speaking country) would possibly find useful. I hoped using the Tricider would serve as a “teaser” – to spark interest in the new work station. In addition, I wanted to tailor the vocabulary taught to the students’ interests and thoughts – in other words, to collect information from them regarding which phrases and words would be useful for them. Finally, I was hoping to gauge the students’ current familiarity with the target vocabulary. Click on the title below to see the Tricider page that I created.

Which words / phrases related to deafness are useful when traveling abroad?

First of all, anyone entering the link given above can see which suggestions were mine, which were suggested by students and how they voted. Those who did so were interested, engaged and glad to have their opinion heard. Students (and people in general)  like to be asked for their opinion! Their additions are interesting.

Unfortunately, things are not working out as planned. At the moment, only a small number of students have responded.

Warning! Progress may be slow…
Naomi’s Photos

For one thing, for some reason the site lists this Tricider as one I’m a participant in and not one I created (though it leaves me with no clue as to who they think did create it!).  It is annoying because it makes it harder to find when I log into the site and I wonder if it has anything to do with the more significant problem that I’m having.

I sent the students a link to the Tricider page via WhatsApp. However, since a fair number of my students do not study outside of class, on their own, at home (especially for something that isn’t mandatory and is not graded), I did what I often do – have the online activity open on the classroom computer and send students individually or in pairs to do it. Since the classroom is set up in the format of a learning center, it is quite convenient to do so.

Ouch.

When I opened the link using the share link supplied by the site, only the first student who sat down at the computer could respond. When the next students tried to respond there was a notification that answers have been recorded and no further ones can be added. Only the few students who went into the link by using WhatsApp web were able to respond. The only other option was rebooting the computer and bringing up the shared link again. That was far too time consuming and cumbersome, requiring too much of my involvement. I want the students to be independent.

Not giving up, but this is where I’m stuck at the moment.

Oh!

One more thing!

I guess I couldn’t qualify for America’s Got Talent in any case, since I don’t actually live in the United States…

 

Lost in a Book: “The Color of Water” by James McBride

I was totally mesmerised by this book. TOTALLY.

And that’s putting it mildly.

Yes, you may wonder where I’ve been. The book was published in 1995. I don’t how I missed it.  I must have heard of the book often enough for the title to trigger a reaction when I spotted it, because I reached for the book immediately without being able to recall what it was about. It was waiting for me on the “Book-sharing”  bookcase our school principal kindly set up outside his office.

I found every aspect of the book fascinating. What an amazingly clever way McBride used to tell both his mother’s life story (which he did not know for a great many years) and to tell his own, and to connect them in such a seamless manner.

And what a story it is.

But here’s the thing.  This book isn’t just about a child of Ultra Orthodox immigrant Jewish parents from a totally dysfunctional family who winds up having 12 African-American children in New York. Despite grappling with poverty and  a host of problems, every single one of these children graduated from college and went on to have successful careers.

***Note – that wasn’t a spoiler. You can learn that much from the first page and back cover. Believe me, there’s more to read.

This book is also about people’s need to know where they come from and to figure out their own place in the world.

I feel that it is also about not letting the circumstances you were born in define your destiny.  There are real people out there who “reinvent” themselves.

As someone who is passionately interested in education, I was particularly interested in the details related to that subject – one which was incredibly important to the author’s mother (more so than actual food…).

I’ve donated books to the principal’s special bookcase and will do so in the future. I’m not bringing this book back, though!