Monday, August 22, 2011

Job hunting...

The time has come.... And yes I am looking for a job!
I've been teaching German and English as a Foreign language since 1994. Looking for a job in Thessaloniki, Greece.

For a CV and further info send me an e-mail: dora-pap@hotmail.com




Saturday, August 13, 2011

New blog in town!!


I usually do not advertise other blogs but I sould make an exception for my dear friend and colleague, Maria, who is not only a talented singer, but also a fantastic teacher with great ideas!
This year we are going to be working together on a "secret" teaching project, as well!
More info on Maria's blog:
http://mariatheologidou.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Do you really mean what you say?






Do you play with words? Intonation?
When I was in college I was in a class called "Semantics", where we studied the structures and the meaning of words and phrases.
It is really amazing how we can use a word or a phrase in various situations and with various meanings. We can change our intonation and change completely what it means.

A good example is an experiment I once read about many years ago.

We all use the phrase "how are you?" when we meet somebody, it doesnt' matter if we know them well or not. It's just a phrase without particular meaning. We ask "how are you?" and we are expecting to hear "fine" or something like that, without really giving it further thought. So believe it or not we have changed the meaning of the phrase through the years.

There was a linguist once (whose name I do not remember right now) who tried this "experiment" at a party. When she was asked the "stantard" question - how are you - she answered with the phrase "I just killed my husband with an axe and I feel just fine!!". To her surprise, only few people noticed what she was saying!!!


When teaching vocabulary, it is not possible of course to teach every single meaning of a word.
What I try with my students is "act the phrases out" . Try saying a word with different intonation, showing feelings, like happy, angry, sarcastic etc
Another idea, if you have students with artistic talent, is to draw the expressions. Literally depict the words. Most of them will be really funny, so they cannot be forgotten!!

How do you deal with vocabulary and meanings?

Monday, August 1, 2011

The Reform Symposium - Impressions


To tell you the truth, I had never been to a webinar before. I know what it was, people have been talking about them quite some time now, but I didn't know how it worked.
I saw this picture in Shelly Terell's page on Facebook and I thought I should give it a try. I had briefly met Shelly in person in Athens, during the TESOL Greece Convention and right from the start I was convinced that she is a person who can do lots of things online and offline. So I wasn't surprized when I saw hat she was one of the organizers!
Unfortunatelly I had been not able to attend many sessions, but I was glad to make it to the ones I did.
I got the chance to meet so many wonderful people with lots of inspiring ideas.
I am giving you the link to the Symposium's schedule. There is info on every one of the speakers, incuding their sites/blogs. You can also find the recordings of the sessions in the Reform Symposium site

RSCON3 Schedule



Wising everybody a great summer....

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