*Note: This is not a commercial post and I have no connection whatsoever to any company. Just sharing the joy.

Are you fond of games which require forming words in English?

Have you found that the younger generation prefers having extra “twists” to word games, such as cards with double letters (“ed” “en”) , cards that have powers to get you an extra card , replace or duplicate a card, and even earn you extra points?

Do you like games which can be less competitive and encourage the whole family to collaborate on figuring out a word with the hand dealt to one player?  Note: It can also be very competitive, it depends how you want to play it, despite Mom’s non-competitive bent…

Now bear with me for a moment.

Our son taught us the board game “Paperback” and it’s a great thing at any age for a family to gather around a table to play together. Since this game is good for developing vocabulary in the English  language, I like the game even better.

But I didn’t think of traveling with it.

You know, space and weight in the suitcase, a table is needed and it takes some organizing of the piles of cards, etc.

Well, there’s an app for that.

For the first time in my life I bought a game app for the tablet.

And now the teacher-in-me is considering using the game, in app form, in class.

It turns out that the app solves more than the issue of making the game convenient to travel with ( we played on the airplane with the tablet in airplane mode) , it seems that it will also solve the following issues

* No precious lesson time wasted on setting up the game.

* The app basically teaches you the game as  you play, so no lengthy instructions or learning curve required. It tells you what kind of action is required next.

* It keeps score. That might sound obvious but since points determine all kinds of perks during the game, it’s important to know how to calculate the score. I’m very bad at score keeping in all games, sigh…

* The app won’t accept misspelled words or invented words. Your offspring or your students can play independently without you worrying that they are blithely giving themselves points for nonsense and reinforcing errors.

* There is a single player mode,  a student can play against a computer with three different levels of difficulty, thought frankly I haven’t explored this mode much yet.

In short, Paperback has won me over as a family game. I’m looking forward to trying it in class.

That is, if our English room ever gets those tablets we’ve been promised…

 

 

 

 

 

I received a phone call from someone I used to work with as part of my counseling job. It seems that a small box of papers of mine had been discovered in a cupboard that was being disposed of . The papers needed to be removed.

Among the papers from the late 90s and to around 2004, was a handout from a talk the amazing Aharona Gvaryahu had given. It must have been a talk on what it is like to live with learning disabilities but I don’t know for sure.  The only thing I kept  was this poem.

I hadn’t seen the poem since then and did not remember it existed.

But I immediately knew  why I had chosen to keep it.

It’s about me, isn’t it? It can be about you too, I don’t mind. Aren’t most of us in the same situation?

Enjoy!

The Armful by Robert Frost

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.

“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!

 

 

 

 

 

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…

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.

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…

 

No, I’m afraid this post is not about all you truly wonderful teachers who are in their 30s.

Nor is this post about finding educational lessons in the comedy show called “30 Rock” . I actually tried but I couldn’t find anything on the theme of “keeping the flame alive”. All I found was this and it simply won’t do…

” Can I share with you my world view? All of humankind has one thing in common – the sandwich. I believe that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich” (Liz Lemon, 30 Rock).

So, lets just pack the sandwiches in the lunchbox (along with a salad and an apple, please!) and head on to school to talk to those teachers around the world who have been teaching for more than 30 years and are still going strong!

What is the secret?

The organizers of the upcoming ETAI conference have once again given me space to present pearls of wisdom from teachers around the globe, this time  on the topic of “How to Keep Motivated after 30 years of Teaching”!

I need everyone’s help with this one! Even if you aren’t a member of this select group of teachers and can’t answer the ultra short questionnaire below, I’m sure you know someone whose words of wisdom should absolutely be on it. I would appreciate if you could share the link or bring up the questionnaire in the teacher’s room.

Replies are limited to only one sentence.

I may exercise my right as the organizer and add two sentences… Yup – you guessed correctly. I’m a member of this select group myself!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdh-T-6GOKbuKSxik_ZacjuznHWUa6sKHTzo_BvyZV8xbBw-w/viewform?usp=sf_link

 

 

Once again I’m bracing myself for the national matriculation (“Bagrut”) exam day. We have them three times a year but this is the major one, with the largest number of students taking the exams.  So what has changed since  I first posted this in 2012?   Well, I don’t teach in a private language school anymore . In addition, this is the first exam without the envelopes mentioned in the post (new system) so who knows what new emergencies can arise? Expect the unexpected and hang in there!

 

There is a wonderful post which I really recommend reading: “Can you have a normal life and work in ELT” on the TEFLGEEK Blog. I really identify with that post!

But I just had to comment on the following statement from the post:

“But I can think of absolutely no situation within my own teaching experience, that could possibly be classified as an emergency”.

So here are a few ELT emergencies, beginning with the ones least causing palpitations:

First of all, as someone still fairly new to the world of “for profit” schools (I’ve recently begun teaching my second course at a private language school) I’m amazed as to how everything is treated as an emergency. When a client squawks  all able-bodied hands should report for duty at once:

* I peek at my phone during the break at the high school. Four (!!) unanswered calls from the private school. I call them back. A student contested his grade, they need me to come over right away. Fortunately, I have  a clever husband who said ” I bet they could scan and email the exam to you”. He was right, they could and did, when I knew to ask.

* A student mailed me a query through the private school’s website less than two hours before the lesson (begins at five p.m). I only saw the query after the lesson. Confident that I had discussed the issue with the student personally during the lesson I did not answer the letter. At eight a.m the very next morning (!!!) there was a letter from the private school intended to draw my attention to the fact that there was an unanswered letter to a student in my inbox!

However, lets return to those ELT emergencies that involve running, physically.

National Matriculation day (our leaving exams are called “Bagrut Exams”) is often a source of drama at high-schools round the country. Being a special ed. teacher adds more combustible pieces to the puzzle, but doesn’t make my situation seem like an exception to the rule:

* Mad dashes down long corridors and up/down steps to get to the photocopying machine when:
a) not enough exam papers were sent

b) the envelope containing the special section for the students with hearing problems got sent to the wrong room by mistake and no-one knows which room (more running, photocopying of master copy if necessary)

c) one of my students who has emotional issues (my students arrive early on exam days as they don’t have transportation for exactly when they need it in the afternoons) tore his watch strap while horsing around with another boy and threw a temper tantrum, screaming and banging on walls of classrooms where exams where taking place. More running to get available staff over to remove him from the testing area and help him calm down. Quicker than trying to get people on the cell phone because they are probably on the phone!

True, none of these emergencies required a police escort, as described in the blog post. Though my husband would have appreciated one the day  he had to make a special trip to the high-school because I had left the candies we give out on exam day at home!

Teacher’s Hoarding Devil: What a lovely little jar, with a tight-fitting lid, let’s keep it!
Spring Cleaning: Really?! What for?

Teacher’s Hoarding Devil: We’ll take it to the English Room at school.

S: It’s made of glass.

Teacher’s Hoarding Devil: We teach high-school students nowadays, remember? They can be careful with glass.

S: Hmph. Hardly.  Laws of gravity apply in high-school too. What could you possibly do with such a small jar?

Teacher’s Hoarding Devil: Store thumbtacks?

S: We already have a little jar for that. A plastic jar.

Teacher’s Hoarding Devil: Rubber bands?

S: Ditto.

Teacher’s Hoarding Devil: So we’ll keep it in the bottom cupboard with the other boxes and containers waiting to be used.

S: We just organized that cupboard and got rid of things! Do you want to needlessly clutter it again?

Teacher’s Hoarding Devil: Needlessly? NEEDLESSLY?!! This year you were grateful that we kept the small boxes that once contained chocolate or calling cards and now contain writing prompts.  All thanks to ME! ME!

S: Spluttering sounds.

S: It’s a tiny little glass jar! Not a cardboard or a tin. It’ll break just waiting around in the cupboard! We should not keep this jar!

Teacher’s Hoarding Devil: But it looks so nice, we can’t throw it away…

Teacher shooing away “Me” and “Myself” and just listening to “I”: Enough! I’ll tell you what.  I’m going to give it away. Storage Free and Guilt Free. Now disappear!

Final note: The pair are quiet now. But they are keeping a close eye on any gifts in containers I may  receive …

 

 

 

 

Every now and then I encounter the memorization method commonly called “Memory Palace”,  though a more precise name would be “method of loci”.  “In basic terms, it is a method of memory enhancement which uses visualization to organize and recall information” (Wikepedia). This current round of musings on the topic was sparked by reading the book “Moonwalking with Einstein – the art and science of remembering everything” by Joshua Foer.

First of all, I’d like to point out that the book is not a self help book, in the style of books with titles like: how to improve your memory in 10 easy steps. It is an interesting, accessible read about how memory works and what we know about it and how memory-athletes train their memory. The  techniques are discussed as well, of course.

And here’s the first point – it’s not easy. Learning how to build a memory palace, learning how to place what you want to remember in different locations in the structure (resting on the armchair, dripping wet in the shower, etc.) and then strolling through the palace visually in your memory to retrieve the information, is not something you can easily begin doing. It requires training and practice. How and when exactly would such training take place in the classroom?

Which leads to the second point – are the skills needed for successful acquisition of a foreign language the kind of information we want to store in such a manner? Isn’t this method most suitable for facts, or discrete items? If I were a history teacher, I’d me much more enthusiastic about classroom applications. If my students could visually walk through their “palace” on their test and remember all the important events & dates leading up to World War Two, for example, that would a useful skill indeed. I don’t know how useful it would be outside the classroom (even Foer discusses this issue) but it certainly works for standardized testing.

But what information would the students store in the EFL classroom? The only thing I can think of are lists of words of even collocations. Unfortunately, in my classes of   Deaf and Hard of Hearing students I repeatedly see students who have memorized a great many words but do poorly on reading comprehension tasks and exams, while others (using a dictionary) do so much better. And in classes where conversation in English is practiced, I can’t imagine someone pausing, strolling through the memory palace to locate the collocation needed, and then resuming speaking.  That doesn’t seem to be the way we should think about language.

Do you agree?

On a personal note – the method for remembering numbers by using letters is really helping me in my own life. Since the Hebrew language has an ingrained letter-number match, I didn’t even have to learn the corresponding letters given in the book, I just needed to apply the method! Now that’s an easy strategy to use!