Thursday, July 25, 2013

30 Goals Challenge: Goal 8 Extend the conversation #30GoalsEdu

When I saw the first 9 challenges, I immediately knew what I am going to write about....
I admit that every single of my posts has a connection to each other, it is just when I think what to write about on thing, another idea pops in mind. Something like that happens in my everyday life as well. For example, when I am on the bus going to my lessons, listening to music as always, I hear a song or I see something and suddenly I have a new lesson idea!

Anyway back to my Goal number 8: Extend the conversation. Well,  I'll be extending a lesson plan (which has to do with Goal 7 as well!!)
Working on Goal 5, I created a presentation about myself on power point. That's when it came to me.
If I can do this, my students can do it better!!
So why not create a pecha kutcha presentation about various subjects?
It doesn't have to be 6:20 minutes or  lots of speakers. The only drawback is that students have to be B2 level at least to take part)

For example:
The class has a specific subject in the coursebook, i.g. Tourism
Divide them into groups of 2 or 3 and give them sub-categories to work on.
1st group:
  • Difference between tourist and traveller
  • Benefits of tourism to the land
  • Benefits of tourism to the tourists themselves
Second group:
  • Disadvantages of tourism to the land
  • Jobs that are created through tourism
  • Theme vacations
Third group:
  • Suggestions where to go in our case in Greece ( the homeland of the students)
  • Is it important for the tourists to know about the civilization of the visited country and why?
After the presentations the class can have a discussion on the particular subject.
This was only an example, we can have presentations like this every time we want to introduce new vocabulary to the students.
You could also invite parents to the event. That way they can see their children's progress.


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

30 Goals Challenge Goal 7: Share a lesson plan #30GoalsEdu


When I saw this goal, from the very beginning, I knew exactly what I would post!
Working with music and songs is a must in almost every lesson of mine. I constantly keep searching for new songs and new ideas for my students.
Music was also part of the two joined presentations with Maria, at the TESOL GREECE Conventions in the past couple of years. (more info over here)
I am going to combine Goals number 4 and number 2  - revisit two music ideas and also present theme songs for my teaching!
First one: working on adjectives and nouns with "Ain't no mountain high enough"
Second one: working of conditionals with a wonderful song called "if"

Enjoy!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

30 Goals Challenge: Goal 6 Choose your battles

This is a really difficult one. I know that I don't have to complete all 30 Goals, and I would rather skip it, but..... my GOAL is to complete all 30, so here I am....

So what does the phrase "choose your battles" actually mean?
In our daily lives we all have to face numerous situations both at work and in our personal lives. One thing I have realized all these years is that you simply cannot do everything...
Unless you are Batman, that is...

You cannot be an excellent teacher, a great administrator, a wonderful parent, a fantastic housewife etc... Maybe you are a very good actor, if you give that impression....
So we all have to choose between small things and things that matter. We choose not to tackle with something temporarily, if it is less important. Yes, you can deal with it later.
What do I mean by this? An example:
In a classroom, the teacher has to handle with different issues. As I said before, we are not just instructors, but also educators.
So, let's say you have a student who constantly makes the same mistakes, you have a very aggressive student who brings chaos into the classroom and you also have this very shy student, who is very good, but his shyness does not let him make a difference.


Yes you do your best to deal with everything, but you have to get your priorities straight.
What bothers you the most? What deters the progress of the class? Who will you help first?
I will not say what I would do, it depends on each one of us, how he/she would handle the situation.
What I am going to say is that ...
  • We have to have some kind of plan.
  • Don't nag about it... Do something about it.
  • Talk with a colleague, a second opinion could help you decide  what matters the most.
  • Monitor and adjust to the situation
Sometimes it is better to  pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.

Friday, July 12, 2013

30 Goals Challenge: Goal 5 Step out of your comfort zone

Stepping out of my comfort zone means that I also have to conquer a fear... So I am combining this post with Goal number 9 (I have to see how this one is going to do and write about that later on!!)

I have to admit that when I don't know how to do something, I have the fear of the unknown. I keep putting it off and off... That's why I never learned how to drive.
But if I want to consider myself a professional I just HAVE to do some things on my own.
I decided to write this post because I feel a bit guilty. Although I do use the internet and the various apps all the time, I have never got down to learning how to make a presentation on Power point on my own. And because I was afraid that I would mess it up, I always let other people do it.  And this happened not because I wanted to take advantage of them, but just because I was afraid I would ruin everything!!!
Taking part in the 30 Goals challenge, has made me realize that I have to push myself to the limit and not depend on other people to help me all the time! Asking for help is good, but you just have to do it on your own, when you know you can.
When you go into the classroom, you are on your own. You have to make things work.
So, I made a video for challenge number 5:
I used Power Point to do a presentation!!! It's an introduction of myself and my work. Since I love Pecha Kutcha events, I tried to create something in this style.  It is really simple and I've had some technical problems, but I am really proud to have made it!!! I hope you enjoy it!!!


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

30 Goals challenge: Goal 4 Revisit an idea


Some years ago, when I was still working at a language school, I set up a class blog. We worked on various projects, I think that we were from the first classes in Greece that actually used a blog to show their work.
One of our projects in German was "mein Lieblingsding" (my favourite thing), where students posted a picture of their favourite thing, with a small paragraph describing it. This could be done with all levels. Juniors just wrote what the object was e.g. a pink doll, while C2 level students could write the story behind the object.
Some examples:
http://theodorapap.blogspot.gr/2007/05/mein-lieblingsding-simon.html
http://theodorapap.blogspot.gr/2007/05/mein-lieblingsding-georg-und-fotini.html
http://theodorapap.blogspot.gr/2007/05/mein-lieblingsding_334.html

Now that we are more technologically advanced, I thought we could use more than a blog to do this and not only with my German students, but also with my EFL students.
Mural.ly for example that Shelly suggested is a fantastic idea to gather information and opinions and also tumblr as a photo blog.
So this old idea will come out of my closet this year and I hope the results will be wonderful!



Monday, July 8, 2013

30 Goals Challenge: Goal 3: My personal theme song

It may seem a bit childish, but my favourite theme song comes from the Spongebob Squarepants movie! It's not about the lyrics, it's the combination of the text and the music that give me motivation and a sense of accomplishment!



This was really a beautiful idea, though and I am going to have my students present their own theme songs and tell me why they chose them!!! Nice way to start a lesson after a long summer vaccation!!!
 

30 Goals Challenge : Goal 2: How to avoid burnout #30GoalsEdu


This is  a really tough one.... If you ask me, if you are a teacher for more than 10 years, you simply cannot avoid burnout... The thing is how to get over it.
We all come up to a point when we feel tired, sick of what we do and complain all the time about everything. And that happens of course just because we are tired....
How can we return to our old selves again?
There are a lot of things we can do.
  • I know that this may sound radical, but, if you are really sick and tired of your situation just change it!!  For example, when I felt "trapped" working at a language school I just stopped!! I am now freelance, teaching individuals and small groups and I am much happier. Of course this was a great risk, since you don't really know what will happen if you are on your own.
  • Another less radical thing you could do is find time for yourself! You should not work work and work all the time. Devote one hour a day doing something else that you really enjoy. For me it is the gym, for somebody else it may be reading, cooking, drawing....
  • Have at least a day off work. I always have Sundays devoted to my family. No reading no marking no nothing.
  • Try new things in class! Challenge yourself! Avoid the book! Do fun stuff with your students!!!
I just remembered I had written sth about it years ago, so here's the link to my previous burn out post

 Have a nice summer everybody!

30 Goals Challenge: Goal 1 #30GoalsEdu

I've been reading other people's blogs about this 30 Goals challenge for months, and I wanted to take part, but never got down on it.... Until now! I think that Shelly's idea is a wonderful one and it gives reasons to some people (like me) to go on! I just wanted to add that it is much easier to have a subject to write that keep on searching for ideas all the time (which is very creative but sometimes you get "blocked")

So here it goes:
Goal 1: Define your moment

I believe that each of us does not have just one moment. A group of moments and actions define us as an individual, as an educator, as a professional, as a parent (in my case at least)

So one of MY moments is when I enter a new classroom,  when I meet a new student, when I plan a new lesson, when I read an interesting blog or article and most importantly when I do things to make myself better.

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