Sunday, January 26, 2014

#30GoalsChallenge: Goal 1: Preparing for the journey

My first post for Cycle 5 will not be a video or Prezi (this is a presentation presenting myself for #mentorevo)  or Gloster or something impressive...
Just a plain blog to remind myself that it is NOT a competition....

As Shelly said, this post should be "celebrating an achievement and determining what we want to accomplish in 2014"

3 Things about me:



I am from a beautiful city in Greece, Thessaloniki

I have a wonderful 12 year old son
 

I am totally kineasthetic

 2 Things I want to accomplish:



Complete the Distance DELTA 
 

Get a Spinning® Instructor Certification 
 

1 Achievement I am proud of from 2013

  



Coordinating an international cultural exchange project which will be presented in the TESOL Greece convention in March
 
 

 

How should a good mentor be?





Homework time!!
Question? What characteristics should a good mentor have?

I am not going to write much.
The most important skill someone should have if they want to be a mentor, a teacher is EMPATHY.
Being able to feel what the other person feels, being in their place, being able to listen, feel the situation.
Being ready to give, being ready to learn, being ready to embrace new ideas.

Give without thinking what they will get in return.

This doesn't have to do with who is the best, who is more experienced.  Mentoring is not a competition. You should not expect being looked up to.

What you should expect though, is the moral satisfaction that we will feel when the other person succeeds and the feeling that you will be remembered somehow...

Something to watch:








Something to read

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Learning Vocabulary through Facebook??


I was having a lesson today talking about emotions and brainstorming vocabulary.
And then it just hit me!
Why not use the "feelings" section from Facebook?
Show them the feelings emoticons from the Facebook status. After you have explained all the new vocabulary, tell them to pick an adjective and write a Facebook status.
For example: I passed my exam (feeling excited) on the board.
Have your other students make comments on that under the sentence on the board as if they were commenting on Facebook, using an adjective as well!
 

As homework: Pick an "emotion" adjective  and have the students write a composition starting with:

I was very (Adjective here i.g. anxious) when....

And most of all: HAVE FUN!



Tuesday, January 14, 2014

\ˈmen-ˌtȯr, -tər\


: someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person

 a :  a trusted counselor or guide 
 b :  tutor, coach

 : a wise and faithful adviser or teacher

 To tell you the truth, I didn't really know the real definition of the word "mentor", even if it is a Greek word. I thought that a mentor is the synonym for "teacher" which is actually correct, but it isn't quite that....

For me, a mentor is somebody who stands by you when you are trying to go further. Someone who gives you advice, from their experience and knowledge.

Who should be a mentor? Should they be young or old? Should they have experience or not?
In my opinion, experience in a field is needed, how would you give advice on something you don't actually know?

Why a mentor? Why not? It is so rewarding to see that people learn from you, avoid mistakes. You see the world from somebody else's eyes.... From a new perspective... This goes for both the mentor and the mentee...

Being a mentor also makes you self-reflect on your own actions, it makes you think.... What would I do in my mentee's place?

In my opinion, a mentor should be a selfless person. Somebody who wants to share. Somebody who is sympathetic to others. Somebody whose only reward is to see other people shine through him or her.

Should we be able to choose our own mentor? Definitely! Not everybody is compatible with everybody. The relationship between a mentor and a mentee is close as it is.

A big thank you to Debora Tepovich for her real interesting questions and views on the subject and the #ELTChat summary on Mentoring

Monday, January 13, 2014

Instructions: Handle with care...


This post is a self-reflection, maybe a warning to my potential students and their parents...
Maybe I shouldn't expose myself so much, but I've got nothing to hide!
So here it goes:
  • I don't go by the book! I do use a coursebook and grammar and test books but this is not everything. I use songs, videos, magazines, pictures from Facebook, Instagram, even Quotes from people on Facebook, as prompts for discussion.  I also use these apps as a break when I see that my students need time to unwind... Yes we lose maybe 3-5 minutes from the lesson, shoot me!
  • I don't like exams. I don't believe in this "certificate - system". For me learning a language means knowing how to use the language, not pass the exam or get a certificate...
  • My primary goal when I start working with new students is to make them love the language, get them interested, motivated. Covering the whole book is not important...
  • And yes, it is not that important to take 1000 tests and essays before the exam... It just makes the students stressed. I do not believe in pressure.
  • Am I strict? NO I AM NOT! I don't believe in commanding my students as if they were soldiers. This doesn't mean that I am against strict teachers. It's just not my style.
  • Am I close to my students? Yes I am! I am their older friend. I know that most people do not believe that this can happen. I am there for them. I share my life with them, they share their life with me. They trust me. That's good....
  • No I am not a traditional teacher, I am a little crazy, isn't everybody?
  • Yes, sometimes I get tired,especially if I have worked for 8 hours straight. Sometimes I get sleepy... I am only human...
  • I am totally kinaesthetic. If I don't move or do something with my hands, I cannot concentrate. So when I have a private lesson you will always find me writing or drawing on my books, switching on and of my mobile phone, even browsing pictures on instagram or facebook. This doesn't mean I am not concentrated on my work or that I am chatting online during my lessons!!!
  • I don't keep things from people. When there is a problem I say it. And I appreciate straight-forward people. Holding grudges or intentionally keeping secrets from me is as if you told me that you consider me a stupid blonde (although I am not a blonde anymore)
  • Am I a good teacher? I don't know that. I know that I totally love my job, I give my whole self to it. And I don't do it for the money. It's because I want to pass my knowledge to people. It's because I am proud of all my students, old and new. I am proud of everybody who studies or works abroad and I know that I helped a bit too to make it happen! I am proud when I see that my students become teachers, I am proud when my students are able to communicate when abroad. And I really love it when after years they come and say hi!
My writing all this doesn't mean that I don't respect other teachers and parents who have different opinions. But I believe that honesty IS the best policy.
Maybe I am not the best teacher for everybody, maybe some people find my ways TOO innovative or too "rebellious" and I don't blame them.
But being open-minded is not a bad thing... giving new ways a chance is something we should all do.

I started writing this because I got really upset today. Some people told me not to take things personal, but I do take it personal when somebody judges me on my work without seeing the actual results.  
Anyway... that's it... feel free NOT to agree with what I said...

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Mentoring EVO


Recently I discovered a great opportunity for professional development and on-going learning.
The Electronic Village Online sessions. Free Courses for Teachers by Teacher and the chance to get to know people with the same interests and concerns from all over the world.

Although my time is limited, I enrolled in one of the courses, EVO Mentoring, I think I will learn a lot of things and also share what I know!
Our first pre-task was to introduce ourselves in a 3-2-1 things bout ourselves.
It was the first time I got to use Prezi and I got really enthusiastic about it!!
Here is my attempt:
My first prezi

More info on Mentoring EVO :
Yahoo group
EVO mentoring Blog

Sunday, January 5, 2014

"Rapping" our way to new vocabulary



Jason R. Levine is a very motivated and accomplished teacher, who uses rap music to teach English. I really love the energy and all the work he does.
This particular song is teaching new vocabulary for exams like TOEFL, SAT, GRE etc, which is particularly difficult to memorize.


Since I have a lot of TOEFL, CPE and ECPE students this year, I got really enthusiastic with this song!!
How will I use it?

  • Play the video to my students and have them write down as many words they can.
  • Have students explain the words (if they are not familiar with the vocabulary try to guess, having in mind the explanations given in the song)
  • Give them some synonyms and ask students to find the words while listening to the song again
For example:
  1. agree,comply:
  2. ease, help:
  3. move, pull to another spot:
  4. provoke:
  5. raise one's spirits:
  6. intensify:
  7. distribute:
  8. mourn, grieve:
  9. waste away:
  10. cloud, fog:
  • Students can use online dictionaries or thesaurus to find the definitions or synonyms of the vocabulary (like wordreference or  thesaurus.com)
  • As homework, they could write sentences with the vocabulary given 
  • A more difficult task is choose 10 words and have the students include them in a story

Saturday, January 4, 2014

What's new!

First post of the year.... I have been thinking a lot lately what I am supposed to write, I have so much to do lately that it's a bit difficult to think of something new.
So, I thought I should write about what is going on and what is going to happen during this year.
I am working on three projects lately, although I don't really know how to start or what to do!

First big project is the on going #30GoalsEDU Challenge. I have started during the summer with Cycle 4 and moving on to Cycle 5. #30Goals is  a blogging challenge for educators initiated by Shelly Terrell. We were given 30 different blogging tasks. Participants wrote their ideas on their interpretation of the Goal. The goals were proposed by Shelly and in the last cycle some of the Goals were also proposed by us the participants. This year, it is somehow different. We will not be using our personal blogs anymore, but write about a Goal of our choice (new or old) on a specific site, along with information about our country.


Second big project is the ELT Reading club! Initiated by Maria Sachpazian, who managed to gather colleagues from our hometown Thessaloniki, who are interested in reading. Our goal is to meet up every two months or so and talk about books, blogs, articles we have read and exchange opinions on case studies. 2 or 3 members have the task to make a brief presentation of the materials they have read and also write a blog about it afterwards. This will be a great opportunity for further development.
Of course I wouldn't miss the chance of being one of the first presenters. My book is about discipline and limits and I am sure this will bring on a great discussion (and why not a workshop for a next convention???)

Third big project is TESOL GREECE Convention in Athens.  I am so excited that I am going to present again this year. It is going to be a bit strange presenting alone this year ( I am really worried how I will manage on my own since I don't have much of technical knowledge).
This time it will not be a workshop (like the previous projects), but a presentation of my students work (and not only).
"We're on the air" project has started as a fun video among students, turned out to be a cultural video exchange for several countries around the world. In this presentation I will show you how the idea begun, the stages of our students' work, and finally what we have achieved so far.  

Have a great New Year everybody!

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