Just me, 8 students and a whiteboard. And one imaginary millionaire (one student suggested “billionaire”) who is sending us on an all-expenses-paid trip to Disneyworld, Orlando.

Overall I think the lessons went well. The main issue that needs improving is the pace.

The ‘’problematic” 8th graders didn’t bother to show up. There was only one tall, lanky, hyperactive boy who kept moving either his chair, the desk, rolling a water bottle or doing something else. But he was participating too.

We started off with a discussion in Hebrew (which I didn’t even try to add English to) just to set the framework of the story. I “introduced” our benefactor and asked what you need in order to go the States. Some kids didn’t know the difference between “a passport” and “an identity card”. Many didn’t know what an embassy was or that you needed  a visa for such a trip. They didn’t know the words for these things in their L1, it wouldn’t be effective to work on these words in L2 when others are more commonly used.

The “action” began when I asked them what they would pack for their trip. I wrote what each student suggested on the board in a full sentence, asking them whether to add “has to take” or “wants to take” . That may sound a slow process but for that part the pace was actually fine. This is because a lot of discussion was needed whether some of the suggestions were logical  or not. For example, one student suggested bringing a winter coat. I pointed out that I had told them that the weather in Orlando is hot and rainy. He replied “See! You said it again! You said it is rainy so I need a winter coat”, In Israel it only rains in the winter, when it is cold, rainy and hot is a difficult combination to imagine!

At some point they all started giggling and one boy handed me a note, saying this is what he wanted to take. They all looked at me to see my reaction. It was a word badly spelled in Hebrew and I thought it said “hay”. I told them I don’t understand why they want to take food for cows. There was some consultation and the note was corrected. Turns out they meant “bra”. “Of course” I said, “very important item to take! Don’t forget underwear too”! There was a lot of positive laughter and that was good but I didn’t cooperate when they hyperactive boy wanted to drag on the topic and learn the words for different kinds of underpants (remember, these are 13 and 14 year olds!).

But now that there were all these sentences on the board I couldn’t go on – there was a lot of new vocabulary there.

So, I pulled out a travel game called “trouble” whose main appealing feature is that the die is encased in a plastic bubble. Fun to press (you have to press hard!). One by one each student pressed the die, and I erased a corresponding number of words on the board. That student had to come and fill the words back in. The student at the board could ask the others for help.

Here was the problem with the pace. On one hand, the students liked the activity and did help each other. But it took a long time and there was a lot of unrelated talking in between.

I didn’t want to split them into groups for two related reasons. I don’t know them well enough to build balanced groups AND it is much safer not to encourage competitive behavior. Some of these children respond badly to pressure and I don’t know which ones. So I really don’t know how I can improve this part. I’d be most grateful for suggestions!

I read about this in The New Yorker magazine. This person had a crazy / fantastic idea, worked on it and IT WORKS! These creatures ACTUALLY WALK!

 

The story of turning fantasy into reality and the fact that it is so visual made me want to share this with you! Enjoy!

 

P.S. – Just finished the Erri De Luca book from last week. So good!

I had better start with a clarification here – its not there won’t be any conversation, it is just the conversation won’t be in English, at all.

For the next three mornings I have to teach at a kind of “filler” program that is being given to the deaf children in junior high to keep them a bit busier during the vacation (special ed, you know. They are often very lonely at home and its easier on the parents).

I don’t really know the children, I don’t know how many will come in on any given day (kids may join on the second day) and DO know they will be mixed together, 7th,8th and 9th graders. I also DO know they are all pretty weak students. The atmosphere where I’ll be teaching is decidedly not conducive to teaching (I’ve taught there before but only during the summer) – the kids get long breaks and there are all kinds of things going on in the background. What bothers me the most is when they want to make food for the kids at the kitchenette there and the smell of scrambled eggs with tomatoes or toasted cheese sandwiches fills  the air. Even if we’re playing fun games it is hard to keep the young teenagers concentrated.

Isn’t this what teens would rather be doing? Nothing?

So, I have decided to just set a framework – we’re going to pretend that a millionaire has invited us to Disneyworld, Florida, all expenses paid, and we have to plan our trip. We will start discussing what we need for the trip and I will deal with the language as it comes up.

We only talk in Hebrew and Israeli Sign Language. Even if a child remembers how to say something in English his /her speech may be pretty unintelligible in English and we have to write it down.

The way I see it (has worked with my own students, count on it working with these students) I’ll see which stage of the planning process captures their interest and work with the language that emerges from that situation. If I can get them interested in deciding what to pack for the trip I can introduce “have to “ (as in things we have to take) as opposed to ‘want to” or “can” / “can’t”. The I put the sentence each pupil says on the board (some like to say it in English, you just can’t understand some of the kids’ speech). Or things you can or can’t do during the long flight. Maybe that will lead to the names of the films they like and wish to see on the flight and we can compare the different names films get in Hebrew and in English. When we “get” to Disney we could discuss the order in which to do things (first, later , etc.) or descriptions of rides (scary, exciting, boring, etc). It depends how our imaginary trip will proceed, which stages of it interest them and what language emerges. We can do things with the sentences on the board such as the disappearing text ( I prefer to call it the friendly eraser strategy) and more.

In light of what I have described above I see the lessons as dealing with emergent language even though there will be no conversations in English.

I have used a lot “if” in this post because I am somewhat apprehensive based on previous experience with summer programs. Even though I bring in movie-activities and games from the USA in original attractive packaging, some kids begin signing the word BORING at me before their bottoms have properly been placed on the chairs. SIGH… I hope this flight into fantasy will work with them. School IS different from this setting.

Yesterday we went back to school after a three day vacation + the Sabbath.

The first thing I noticed was that the computer wasn’t properly covered by the brown tablecloth I use and that the monitor was on. Odd – I’m pretty careful about checking the computer before I leave for the day. I turned on the computer and saw that it worked. Felt relieved.

Then I noticed some items weren’t where I left them. The metal closet door was bent slightly out of shape but  its doors were locked.

THEN I discovered that the rectangular windows, above the whiteboard were open. They are sliding windows so the whole length of the whiteboard (a small one, by the way) was open. I never open those windows. The other ones, at normal height have bars on them.

FINALLY, I discovered that the side of the computer’s CPU was just leaning against the computer and some cut wires were on the floor. They had a “thingie” that said “speakers” on them. My volunteer hazarded a guess that the sound card was taken. Couldn’t check as I don’t have speakers connected to the computer.

I taught straight through all day yesterday and also needed to collect my emotions before going to report the incident. I must admit that my first thought was : Oh, NO! They’ll take my computer away!

I reported it this morning, to the woman in charge of the computers at school. She just said that she would send the technician to check the computer. No drama at this stage. Whew!

We’ll see what happens next…

I’m reading this in Hebrew, translated from Italian.

What an unusual book! Reading this book is not just about following the story line (the story is told from the point of view of an orphan boy growing up in Naples after World War 2). The descriptions, the comments about life and the use of language in general is simply amazing! Different from anything I have read before.

My husband said that his book “God’s Mountain” is even better than this one. A trip to the library is already planned!

Whether you begin celebrating tomorrow or not:

May you have a good year, a successful year, a peaceful year, an interesting year, AND a healthy year!

I know this clip is everywhere, but if you haven’t seen it – enjoy! And don’t miss the part where they dip the APPLE in honey!

This is the second year that I have been giving homework online. I have discovered that it has unexpected benefits.

I give homework once a week on our class site. The homework is short, highlighting one specific point each time (for instance, the phrase “in order to” which is frequently used in texts and causes confusion”). I find that it is helpful for my students to highlight isolated points.

I began giving homework online because I wanted to be able to use color, pictures and video clips.

In addition, and just as important, I needed a better way to keep track of the homework. As I teach so many different levels at the same time, I found it very difficult to check everyone’s homework when their homework assignment was a  page in their course books (we have about 10 different course books in use for the different levels). There were times when I did not check homework or did not check everyone’s homework. And collecting the students books to check after school was no solution – they were too heavy to carry home!

Not only can I now report that I use pictures and video clips, every homework assignment is now checked and commented on in some way. Often the comments are short (“Excellent work!” “Keep up the good work”) but occasionally I comment on some personal content the pupil added.

But the amazing thing is, it isn’t the comments themselves that make the students feel noticed (though that certainly helps), it’s the fact that there is now a close watch on whether or not they do the homework! Obviously, I hadn’t been able to show them in the past (in a clear enough) manner that I care whether they do the homework or not. When a student got away with not doing homework because I missed him/her because of all that was going on in class, he/she did not feel noticed enough IN GENERAL, not just related to homework.

It is been less than a month into this new school year so I still remind and talk to the students who haven’t done homework before typing the information into the school online grade system. But even when I stop reminding and type the information in directly, the issue comes up in class in many ways.

Another unexpected benefit was the issue of copying. Although theoretically a student could email others the homework assignment I have not seen any indication of such behavior. Copying answers into the course book or worksheet is usually done on the same day of the lesson (think 5 minutes before class) not planned in advance. There were some students with whom such behavior was “an issue”. At home, they do the homework on their own.

There is, of course, the issue of the role Google Translator plays in their homework assignments (and whether or not my tasks are designed well enough to be effective despite of it), but that’s a topic for a different post.

last year it wasn’t easy to get the students used to the idea of online homework. Now that I have a computer connected to the Internet in class it is so much easier to get them onboard! Hurrah!