Set books for FCE

I was just over at FCE Blog and I came across this link which is a PDF file by Penguin with some interesting ideas about how to use set books for FCE students.

Claudia says;

"This is a possible reading path:

Useful pages for students
Pages 6, 7 and 8 include brief descriptions of the type of text you will produce, style, target reader, organisation and content. A detailed analysis of your response to the book as well as exam tips.

Useful worksheets for students
2- FCE question types. The 10 examples given are taken from UCLES 1997- 1998 sessions.

3- A sample essay. Based on Wuthering Heights, it includes questions to analyse how the task was achieved.

5- Analysis of the plot. A chart to take your notes while reading.

10- Personality chart. There is a collection of adjectives to help you describe main characters.

14- Evaluating the book. Set of model sentences to include your opinion of the book."

I don't usually prepare students for the set book but I do like the idea of them reading extensively and always give my students audio books in MP3 format as a way of getting exposure to literature. If you would like a copy of a DVD with audio books (I have dozens) email me here with an address and I'll send it.

Hi also to Proficiency 2c

From left to right

Chris, Eleni, Maria, Eleni, Evi, Maria and Bill

Check out their blog here.

Hi to DP1

From left to right

Penelopi, Chyrsa, Maria, Leonidas,Chris, Nick, Kostis, Alasos, Hari and Kalliopi

Check out their blog here

T-shirt lesson plan for EFL/ESL

T-shirt lesson plan

I've been experimenting with some t-shirt designs over the last couple of days. My inspiration comes from various stores that I've seen lately that have some absolutely brilliant t-shirt designs and I thought that we could do something similar in a lesson.

You'll need to get some blank t-shirts and transfers for all the students in your class.

1 Explain to students that they're going to design a class t-shirt and that have to find an image or logo from the internet.

2 Students spend 10 to 20 minutes on the internet (if they have access in class). Otherwise set this for homework.

3 The students bring the images to class (they can be e-mailed to the teacher, posted on their blog or students can simply make a note of the address).

4 The students the debate which image should be used. This could be done as a pyramid exercise. You could also ask them to come up with a class slogan or nickname.

5 When students have decided the print out the image as a transfer, most printers, even the cheapest ones (like mine, for example) can do this.

6 Take a group photo with everyone wearing their t-shirts and post it on their blog.

Why do all this? Well, I believe this builds up community in class and that, on its own is a tremendously powerful tool for achieving our educational goals. Also, it is cheap and easily done. What more could an educator want ?

A warm welcome to LC1

From left to right:

Alex, Theodore, Dimitris, Dimitris, Kostas, Bill, Claire, Dafne, John (sitting) and Anthi.

Check out their blog here

Moving on

From left to right

George, George, Nefeli, Jim Nikki, Fedora and Louiza

I started my lessons with Proficiency 1e last night and as it was their first one we set up a class blog, proficiency1e2006.blogspot.com. This year I'm going to try and integrate blogging more closely into what we do in class. Also I talked to them about how we can use technology such DVDs, internet and mobile phones help us outside the classroom.

Exam Preparation Tips

This is a list of different things you can do to improve your English outside class.

1 Use the internet - How ?

a Surf the web on a regular basis - 10 to 15 minutes a day is enough.

b Use chat rooms - Mirc or Yahoo have easy to use (and FREE) chat services.

http://www.mirc.co.uk
http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/chat/chatbylycos.html

c Listen to radio or download podcasts from the net.

www.cnn.com/services/podcasting/
www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

Or download a book and listen to it. It costs nothing.

http://freeaudio.org
http://www.scottsigler.net

d Set up your own blog (web page). It's easy and costs nothing. Also it is a great way to practise your writing skills.

www.blogger.com

2 Watch DVD's - without subtitles - at least once a week. This is a great way of preparing for the the listening test.

3 Read something other than your course books. Literature, short stories, magazines, newspapers; In fact just about anything you can find in English. All reading is good practice for the Reading Comprehension part of the Cambridge exams.All these things can be found at the kiosks in Aristotelian square or in central bookshops.

4 Record yourself. If you have a cassette recorder, mobile phone that can record or a microphone for your PC, record yourself speaking. It's a great way of correcting errors in your spoken English.

5 Speak only English in class. This is probably the only chance you'll get to speak English before the exam so make the most of the opportunity.

Nobody expects students to do all of these things but if you try some of them during the course of the year then you'll see a great improvment in your language skills and of course you'll greatly increase your chances of getting a good grade in the exams.

Coming down to earth with a bang

I had a great time over the weekend and I was really pleased with how my presentation went, I got a lot of positive feedback which makes all the effort I put into it worthwhile. However, this week is the first "real" one back at work. This means back to a routine of manically racing around Thessaloniki (which is a sprawling city of a million plus inhabitants) going from one private lesson to another then making sure I get to the language school on time to do yet more lessons.

I came within a hair's breath of quitting my job today, I was so angry I could have quite happily just walked out of the school and never gone back. I'm tired of being treated like some kind of insolent school child every time there is a disagreement. It is rude, unprofessional and demeaning.

I was told tonight that we have a meeting on Thursday morning at 10am, which is outside working hours for us and, of course is unpaid. When I said that I had organised an appointment at that time I was told in no uncertain terms that it was my fault for forgetting that we always have meetings on Thursdays. One this is not actually true and secondly, since we've just started back at work after a five month break a reminder would have been welcome. What really made me see red was the fact that I was addressed as if I were a naughty pupil, making up excuses about why he hadn't done his homework.

I tell you I'm out of there as soon as I get another half decent offer of work. I'm also taking down any links to the school from this blog. They don't deserve the publicity.

The conference is over

Yep, and I got to do my presentation on blogging at the TESOL Maceonia-Thrace Conference. I have to admit that I was very nervous as the possibilities of thing going pear shaped were very real indeed. So I spent most of the weekend running around making sure I had the right connectors, software, internet cards etc. In the end I think I took with my every plug, adapter and cable known to Man. I probably had enough electronic equipment to hotwire a space shuttle.

In the end it all went off smoothly (well, smoothish, as the internet connection died on me half way through) and I think I gave people a taste of how blogging can be used in teaching foreign languages. So thanks to everyone who turned up. Remember that the blog we set up during the presentation can be used by anyone at anytime.

tesolmacedonia2006.blogspot.com


I also had the chance to check out several talks over the three days but I'll post more about them over the next few days. To tell you the truth I'm exhausted. Once again, congratulations to every at Tesol for organising a great event.















Just one last thing It's my blogiversary today, I started this blog exactly one year ago!!! It's strange how something that started off as a kind of experiment has taken on a life of its own.

Blog presentation handout

BLOGGING: EFL WRITING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

BY CRAIG WHERLOCK Ma(TEFL) ASTON

http://teacherdudebbq.blogspot.com

Blogging offers a simple, cheap way to allow our students to share their work and interests with people from all over the world. With little or no technical expertise we can set up our own web page ina matter of minutes. It provides us with a great way to get students to write and communicate with others, both inside and outside Greece (see here for the rest).

BLOG PROVIDERS

www.blogger.com

www.myspace.com

www.edublogs.org

www.yahoo360.com

STUDENT BLOGS

http://antonisbinias.blogspot.com/

http://retzikigirlstrikesback.blogspot.com/

http://profintensive.blogspot.com/

http://proficiency1e.blogspot.com/

http://proficiency1c.blogspot.com/

TEACHER BLOGS

http://teacherdudebbq.blogpot.com/

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com//

http://360.yahoo.com/profile-pbUe9lUla6dzKEbEX89HHPox2_HWDF8-?cq=1/

http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs//

http://teacherindevelopment.blogsome.com//

http://danielsblogfolio.edublogs.org//

http://fceblog.blogspot.com/

http://autonolearner.blogspot.com//

OTHER LINKS MENTIONED

www.youtube.com

www.odeo.com

www.flickr.com

http://earth.google.com/

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/geovisitors/

www.sitemeter.com

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/podcasts/

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/mfle/creativeteaching/index.asp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kBE4vkmVxk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29

My blog presentation - so far

BLOGGING : EFL WRITING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
by Craig Wherlock Ma (TEFL)

email

WHAT IS A BLOG ?

Put simply, a blog is a site on the internet that you can set up in about ten minutes which costs nothing. There are currently approximately 70 million blogs and thousands of new ones are created every day. They can be about an conceivable subject, anything from the state of modern Chinese politics to what I did at the party last night. The majority of people who have a blog are below 25 so it is very much something to appeal to young people like those we teach.

What I hope to do today is show you;

–some compelling reasons a blog can help your students learn English,

–how to set up a blog for yourself and your students,

–work on some teaching ideas that incorporate blogging in EFL.

WHY BLOG ?

Perhaps the most important reason why your students should know about blogging is that it gives them the chance to reach a wider audience than just you and their classmates. When I started my blog about 31 people read it in the first month. That figure is now 1500 plus. Likewise students now have the opportunity to reach out to a potential audience of millions.

Imagine if their piece on football teams in Thessaloniki could be read and commented on by say, somebody in Brazil, and of course, visa versa. That has got to work as a far greater incentive than simply getting a grade from you.

Another added bonus is that since the blog is going to be read by “real people” i.e. Not just you, the teacher, there is an added incentive not to make mistakes, to get things right so as not to appear stupid.

As blogs can literally be about anything students can write about any subject they like. Films, sport, parties, gossip can all be included on a student's blog. This also means that virtually every level of English can be catered for.

Finally, the blog offers a permanent record of our students work which can be reviewed by the student and seen by you at any time. Also it can form the basis of any future e-portfolio.

HOW TO SET UP A BLOG

Today we are going to set up our own blog as a group using Blogger. There are other sites that offer the same service and I've chosen this one simply because I'm most familiar with it. You could also look at

MySpace (which has a younger audience)

Edublogs (which is for educators)

Yahoo 360 (general audience)

Don't worry about writing all this down as a transcript of this talk along with all the site addresses will be posted on my blog. I will give you the address at the end of the talk.

STEPS

1 Go to www.blogger.com

2 Fill in the necessary details

blog name: Tesol Macedonia – Thrace 2006
blog address: http://tesolmacedonia2006.blogspot.com
user name: conference2006
password: learning

3 Choose template

4 Start posting

What I'd all like you to do is write a short description of yourself, a kind of professional autobiography in 50 words or less.

E.g. My name is Diana Jones and I work in X school of languages. I graduated y university in 1996 and have taught xyz levels etc.

5 CHOOSE ONE OF THE STUDENTS AND ASK THEM TO WRITE THEIR BIOGRAPHY ON THE BLOG.

6 Take the student's photo and show them how to post that on the blog.

7 Now add a photo of the Capsis hotel to the blog.

8 Post and view the blog.

REMIND PEOPLE THAT WITH THE USER NAME AND PASSWORD ANYONE CAN ADD WHATEVER THEY LIKE FROM NOW ON. PARTICIPATION IS NOT LIMITED TO THE DURATION OF THE SEMINAR.

THINGS STUDENTS CAN DO WITH A BLOG.

1 What I'd like to do now is show you examples of various exercise I have done with my students on their blogs.

My visit to .....

Film review

A description of my holidays

My friends

Round the world trip

2 Now all of these activities all very much text based with some photos added. That reflects the fact that most internet connections here are slow so we can't do things like add video or mp3s yet. However, all of that is set to change in the very near future.

When that time comes we can ask students to prepare videos using a digital camera or their mobile phone, put songs and discussions on their blogs, use more complicated web tools such as YouTube or Odeo.

Here are some ideas that I've been playing with and hope to use in the very near future in my classes.

Video your course book

Lydia's Chatterbox stuff

Create your own song videos

See Billy Joel “We didn't start the fire!”

Create and record a tour of your school/neighbourhood/city

See Guardian city tours

Cookery programmes

See The Daily English Show

How - to lessons

Magic tricks

Work shop ideas

Now what I'd like you to do is get into groups of three or four and think of a way you could use this stuff in one of your lessons. Remember that as well as text and photos many of the latest mobile phones take record video and audio.

school
hobbies
favourite places
sport family
grammar points
vocabulary areas
writing skills


If time permits get them to write up ideas on the blog.

Teachers who blog

Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ
Ewan McIntosh
Cool Cat Teacher
Theodora P
Daniel's Teaching Blog
Autono Blogger
FCE Blog
The Open Classroom
Teacher in Development


I would like to thank Ewan McIntosh especially for letting me steal shamelessly from his presentation ideas. If you can, check out his podcasts at his website.

Starbucks Thessaloniki

I would like to say thanks to everyone at the Starbucks on Leoforos Nikis, Thessaloniki for finding my digital camera. That aside, they are the nice bunch of guys and serve the best coffee on the seafront, not that I'm biased. To say thanks I got them some patissiries from Terkanli. Once again thanks to everyone there.

Malcom X

Some video to go with the mp3 speech I linked to in the earlier post.

Martin Luther King Jr - I have a dream speech - Aug 28 1963

The Ballot or the Bullet vs I Have A Dream - a lesson plan

The bullet or the ballot as Malcolm X once put it. This is a lesson plan I've been playing with for the last couple of weeks and I thought I'd post it and see what you think. It is definitely aimed at advanced learners of English, or indeed you could use it in a social studies class. It is ambitious in its scope, but I believe if you ask a lot of your students then, most times they far exceed your expectations.

Lesson Plan

1 Ask students to write down or research what revolutions/rebellions have taken place in their country over the last 100 years, this can set for homework prior to the lesson or done via internet if ou have access at school. In Greece this is a tall order considering the country's turbulent history during most of the 20th century.

2 Students compare their information in groups and report back to you.

3 Now ask them if drastic social change ever comes about peacefully. Once again they discuss this in groups and emphasise the fact that you want concrete examples to support their ideas.

4 Explain to students that they are going to see Mississippi Burning (either in class or for) homework. If you can, show the trailer for the film to the whole class and ask them to write down;


what kind of film it is
where it is set
when it is set
what the basic plot is

5 Student watch the movie and for homework write down what would they have done if they had been born Black in such a community.

6 In the next lesson students discuss their answers with each other.


7 Now explain to the students who Martin Luther King and Malcom X were. Make sure they understand that both of them were black leaders who lived and campaigned in the same era as Mississippi Burning was set (the early 60'), yet both had very different ideas about how the Afro-American community should deal with racism.

8 Divide the class into two groups and give them links to either "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech  (this is an extract) by Malcolm X or the "I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King (it might be a good idea to give them the transcripts as well - (see here for Malcom X and here for Martin Luther King.)

9 For homework, student listen to the speeches and write down what each leader thinks should be done  to improve the situation of their community and why.

10 Now explain to students that they are now either Martin Luther King or Malcolm X and they have to debate what is the best way to deal with the problems Black Americans face in the society shown in the film. Students should use the ideas in the speeches to put support their ideas.

11 Organise a class debate

12 Essay question.

"Who would you have followed if you had been a Black American in the 1960's?"

Free EFL/ESL speaking and listening course

As I have to come up with a teaching course that prepares students for the speaking and listening sections of the CAE/CPE and ALCE/ECPE exams for the school, I decided that I would share this with all of you out there, whoever you may be.I decided that I would create a Wikispace, as I did with my previous course, EFL and Web 2.0 tools. It's still very much a work in progress so please forgive any typos and the like.

I hope in the course of the next two weeks to have it all ready and find suitable links online so that you will have access to video audio clips etc.

Here is a small taste;

SPEAKING AND LISTENING SKILLS COURSE FOR EFL/ESL STUDENTS

This course is intended to help prepare advanced students (the Council of Europe levels C1 and C2) for the interview and listening sections of examinations such as;

CAE
CPE
ALCE
ECPE
IELTS
TOEFL
TOEIC

Whilst the lessons do not follow any one particular test format, they do help students practice the core skills required by any high level EFL/ESL examination. The course needs to supplemented by examination practice activities such as past papers and mock tests to make sure that learners feel comfortable with the format of the examination they are doing.

The material consists of thirty lessons which are divided into three categories;

1 Short exercises - these are designed to be done in 30 minutes or less and can be repeated as many times as you like during the duration of the course.

2 Long exercises - these are designed to be done in either one or two 45 minutes teaching periods.

3 Projects - these are designed to be done over a longer time frame and can either be done in the lessons or set as long-term home work exercise.

Course Principles

Every activity described in this Wikispace follows the same core principles when it comes to learning to produce and understand spoken language.

1 Design your lessons for success.

Any lesson should be designed so that even the weakest student has been given the chance to make a contribution. Otherwise it's like inviting a friend to dinner and not giving them anything to eat. Questions, therefore are open ended whenever possible.

2 Always prepare your students for what they are going to do.

You must allow your students the chance to prepare for what they are going to say or hear. few people speak well without such preparation, even fewer understand. In real life context provides us with a wealth of information which allows us to comprehend what other people are talking about. Hence all the exercise are designed to get students thinking along appropriate lines before doing something else.

3 Group work is absolutely vital

"Two head are better than one". Not only do we give students the chance to practice what they want to say before the risky task of saying it in front of a whole class, group work also allows everyone the chance to say something. Group and pair work are built into the very fabric of each lesson.

4 Shut the teacher up, please!

The more you talk as a teacher the greater the disservice you are doing to your students. The exercises are designed to shift the focus of attention in the classroom away as much as possible from the teacher. You already know how to speak English, you don't need the practice, your learners do.

5 We all need feedback.

The abilty to record ourselves without using expensive, specialised equipment is one of the great boons to come out the recent digital explosion of the last decade. We can record video or voice using a cheap digital camera, mp3 player or mobile phone. In terms of learning most of our students now possess a language lab which fits comfortably into their pocket. This means that they know have the ability to hear what they really sound like in English and, if necessary take steps to improve. Not asking students to do this is unacceptable - would you ask them to write a years's worth of essays and never return them? The activities often include students producing something which can be recorded and saved digitally.

6 Realia is king

For advanced studenst there are no compelling reasons not to use realia, and as we can easily find material on the internet etc our choice of teaching material should reflect what is important to them and what is happening in the world now. Everything in the course comes from non-EFL/ESL sources.

7 Engage the whole brain

Too often foreign learners of English are treated by course book writers as idiots unable to absorb "complicated" ideas. The exercises are designed to make the learner think not just about grammar, vocabulary and the like, but also deeper, more challenging themes.

8 English is not a dead language, so lets feel it.

Emotion is not a dirty word. The more you can create strong feelings in the course of the lesson the more likely students will remember what they learnt. The exercises are designed to make people feel something. Learning a foreign language is not the same as doing a crossword.

Preparing a presentation on blogging

Next weekend I'm doing a workshop on blogging and EFL Writing at the Tesol Macedonia-Thrace conference, which means that I have to create a presentation of some kind. I don't have Powerpoint and so I'm learning how to use Keynote on my ibook. It's the little stuff that seems to be the hardest to figure out; like how to I make the text smaller? Why doesn't the picture seem to fit the space provided. Anyhow, I have worked my way through most of these technical hitches and the presentation seems OK.


It's been a long time since I've done something like this and a mite nervous to tell you the truth. Of course, since I'm going to be using a laptop, projector and live internet access via wifi, you know that something is bound to go wrong. LOL. I'll be left standing in front of a blank screen saying,

"Well, if you could see this very interesting web site then I'm sure you'd agree it has lots to offer educators, but as there is nothing to see let's get a drink and forget about the whole thing."

Picture of the day

The school year begins

I started my first lesson with Proficiency 1F today, most of whom I taught last year, so it was good to see so many familiar faces.It's also nearly a year since I started this blog. It's scary how time flies by so quickly.

Problems in the city - An EFL role play activity

Lesson Plan

1 Ask students what they would change about the city.


2 Elicit answers from the class and write them on the board. Students then work in groups to rank them in order of importance.


3 Divide students into four groups. Hand out the photocopy and assign each group a problem.


4 Their job is;


- to think of many reasons why this solution is the the most suitable and


- one problem with each of the other solutions.


5 Rearrange groups so that there is a representative from each group in the new one. Their job is to discuss the various merits of each solution and then come to decision.


6 Students create a 30 second radio/TV ad to promote their own favourite solution. This can be recorded on a digital camera or suitably equipped mobile phone.

Problems in the city

1 Unemployment:

Possible solution: More civil service positions.
Cost: one billion euros per year



2 Traffic:

Possible solution: Ban all cars from the centre and create a Park and Ride scheme
Cost:1,3 billion euros


3 Drug abuse

Possible solution: Heavier police presence on the streets.
Cost: 2.2 billion per year.



4 Pollution

Possible solution: A ban on all new factory building within the city limits.
Cost: 0.9 billion euros per year

Dilemma

General hospital

The situation: Imagine that you are in a small hospital in a poor part of the world which has only a limited number of beds. There are three patients who require urgent medical treatment, however, there is only one place available.


DOCTOR 1


You are the head of paediatrics. You have in your care a seriously ill young girl who needs an operation on her spine. If she does not have an operation within the next 48 hours it is almost certain she will be paralysed from the waist down.


DOCTOR 2


You are a neurologist. You have in your care a sick pregnant woman who must undergo brain surgery to remove a tumour. Without the operation her chances of survival are 50/50.

DOCTOR 3


You are the local GP. You have in yout care a father of three.The man has a heart condition caused by heavy smoking. If he doesn't have open-heart surgery immediately he is likely to
suffer a heart attack and possibly die.

Lesson Plan

1 Explain the situation to the students, deal with any problems with grammer or vocabulary. It is very important to make it clear that only one person can be operated on.

2 Divide the class into three groups and assign each group a role.

3 Students think of as many reasons why their patient should be treated and the others should be refused.

4 Put the students into groups of three, with one person from each role. They should then argue their point of views and within ten minutes come to a conclusion.

5 Ask each group what their decision was and why they made it.

This exercise always makes for heated argument, so be on hand to dampen down any debate that threatens to get out of hand.