Comments for Talk to the Clouds

Comment on Eight Quick Tips by Adam

Adam — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:42:35 +0000

Thank you for some really nice tips.

Comment on Eight Quick Tips by Clarissa

Clarissa — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:26:16 +0000

Thanks, Mohammed. It’s often a struggle for me to wait long enough, but I’ve asked people who’ve observed my teaching, and they said even when it felt like an eternity to me, it was still just a brief pause. Our anxiousness can make that time feel so long! It’s true; if we just wait, a lot more
of the students’ creativity will have a chance to make its way out…

Comment on Eight Quick Tips by Mohammed Rhalmi

Mohammed Rhalmi — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:06:42 +0000

Nice tips, especially, “the cutdown suggestion”. Probably because of our tendency to hasten a response we miss an opportunity to let students work independently, be creative and come up with original ideas. The tip is particularly useful when giving students pbs to solve. Teachers have just to wait… Thank you Clarissa

Comment on Eight Quick Tips by Clarissa

Clarissa — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:32:19 +0000

Nice! I’ve had teachers who had students raise their heads or look forward, but that’s easily mistaken for just looking up or something. A finger on the paper is deliberate and hard to miss.

Maybe we could get a collection of secret signals for a future post…

Comment on Eight Quick Tips by Clarissa

Clarissa — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:29:39 +0000

Group roles are a nice thing to use for lots of reasons! Sound like that’s working well in your classroom.

Comment on Eight Quick Tips by Sputnik

Sputnik — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:21:12 +0000

Some great tips here – I really like the one about cleaning the board up and down – I would never have thought of that. Anyway, just to add to your secret signs, I still use a tip from my first teacher trainer who advised us to get students who finish an exercise/reading first to put their finger on the paper rather than shout out ‘I’ve finished!’ thereby disturbing everyone else.

Comment on Eight Quick Tips by Neil Barker

Neil Barker — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:42:21 +0000

Great tips. I like the idea of a small, whiteboard – I’d like to try this when I become a freelance teacher in a few weeks. Example ad absurdum is another one I use with my Korean adult business English students. The visualization and absurdity of a role play situation really helps reinforce vocabulary and expressions.

To get students attention, the program I teach with has a group leader/chairperson each day. For each class, the teacher usually gives them an agenda for that class, and they’re expected to manage their time. It’s interesting because other group members will often chime in and remind their chairperson, “Group leader, shouldn’t we move on to the next activity?” It takes a week or two for them to get used to the format, but it works well once it’s established.

Comment on Life/Learning Skills by Neil Barker

Neil Barker — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:48:39 +0000

I teach adults here in South Korea, and most of them are fanatical about eating 3 square meals a day. One of the first greetings I get each morning is “Have you eaten breakfast?” It’s actually a translated phrase from Korean that’s used as a general hello sometimes.

As for Korean students (who I think must lead the world in total hours of schooling per year), I’m not really sure. In a former life, I was an English teacher at an academy in Seoul, and if I remember correctly, most students ate a bowl of steamed rice, a few side dishes, and maybe some soup.

I have to admit it though, I’m like the Japanese mentioned in the post, I usually survive (thrive?)on a few cups of black coffee with a pastry or piece of fruit.

Comment on Life/Learning Skills by Alex Case

Alex Case — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:31:09 +0000

I would (and hopefully will now that you’ve made me think of it) include it on a lesson on study skills generally, probably as discussion questions or a ranking task. You can also tie it in with grammar points:

“If you got one hour more sleep, how much would it increase your effectiveness of learning?” etc

Comment on Life/Learning Skills by Eric

Eric — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:33:30 +0000

Is good nutrition and sufficient sleep the key to learning … English?

You’ve nailed two biological barriers to many adult and college students performing at peak levels. In the United States, the federal government has released some rather stunning statistics over the last few years on sleep deprivation. Did you know that more car accidents are from lack of sleep than excessive alcohol or cell phone use? Also the government estimates that over 40% lack adequate sleep. Finally, a principal reason for both the subsidized breakfast and lunch programs in K-12 remains research linking lack of breakfast to an inability to concentrate among youth. In short, both these biological factors remain real, persistent problems – at least in the United States.

How do I deal with this in the classroom? I nudge them to sleep at least six hours just to pretend they are mere mortals. Sometimes I include sleep on the homework list. Sometimes I even encourage students to go see a doctor and make clear that President Obama wants everybody who might have the flu to stay home. Everybody includes all of us in this class. You and me.

Students seem to appreciate the concern – even if they fail to follow this simple advice!