Grammarrrrrr

Hi,

Go to the following page for great tips on teaching grammar.
http://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/articles/70-characteristics-good-grammar-presentation.html

Netproverbs???

Just read this at http://www.rogerknapp.com/knap/inspire.htm and had to share it ....
PROVERBS FOR THE MILLENNIUM
1. Home is where you hang your @.
2. The e-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail.
3. A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click.
4. You can't teach a new mouse old clicks.
5. Great groups from little icons grow.
6. Speak softly and carry a cellular phone.
7. C:\ is the root of all directories.
8. Oh, what a tangled website we weave when first we practice.
9. Pentium wise, pen and paper foolish.
10. The modem is the message.
11. Too many clicks spoil the browse.
12. The geek shall inherit the earth.
13. There's no place like www.home.com
14. Don't byte off more than you can view.
15. Fax is stranger than fiction
16. What boots up must come down.
17. Windows will never cease.
18. Virtual reality is its own reward.
19. Modulation in all things.
20. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to use the Net and he won't bother you for weeks.

A Great Song to Teach - Josh Groban's 'You Raise Me Up'

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

My guv is in Poland

Yeah, I call my daughter 'Guv'. In a way, she does govern my life. She has made me a far better person than I could ever hope to be. oh... my gal is the one in blazer n pants. The rest are her ex-schoolmates who so kindly dropped by to say sayonara to my gal.
I miss her so much I cannot bear to enter her room. I know I may sound overtly pompous but seeing her off to Poland as a JPA scholar knocks sense into me...that I must be a 'cool' mom.
AS mom and a teacher, I realise all we need to do is provide them a stable and love-filled home, educate them like there's nothing more vital, and just be there for them. Every hour they toil in study, we should be their 'rock', pat their backs, tousle their hair, make them a good cup of tea/coffee and just listen to them. She is my first PhD thesis for real, two more coming soon (I pray that be true!).
I know I had better stop my prattle...but what better reward could a mom and teacher get other than watching her child/learner realise her dreams.
To all the other 8 moms who had to let go of their babies that day on the 25 August...I salute you all!

Where the Wild Things Are

A great book to use for the Chapter Book idea I posted earlier would be the all-time favourite book by Maurice Sendak. It may contain few words but the illustrations by such a master story-teller would be ample stimulus for you to use in class. The film version is coming out soon. My class is already working on a readers theater script based on this book. My student Luqman, who reads the part of Max is already my favourite reading model. The possibilities with this masterpiece is endless. If you have not read it............DO SO NOW!

Using books in class

Chapter Books
Have you ever found a great book that you would like to use with your class, only to find you don't have enough copies for an entire class set? Perhaps all you have is one copy. Chapter Books is an activity that might help solve your dilemma. With a single copy of a novel you can provide your students with some great learning experiences.
Directions:
A. Select a novel appropriate for your class's reading level and interest. Make sure this is a copy you don't mind destroying (literally).
B. Separate the cover of the book from the pages, being careful to keep it in one piece.
C. Separate the chapters from each other. You may find that you have to make machine copies of certain pages since the last page of a chapter may be on the back of the first page of the next.
D. Orally read chapter one to the whole class. Develop comprehension by asking literal, inferential, and evaluative questions about the content. Discuss literary aspects of setting, characters and their traits, plot ( a must for this activity), suspense, etc... Record the responses for each skill on separate pieces of chart paper.
E. Divide the class into three or four groups. Give one of the separate chapters to each group.
F. The group is to read the chapter, write three comprehension questions about its content, and discuss whatever literary skill on which you wish to focus.
G. Next the group records its responses on sheets of chart paper, beginning with the plot and ending with the comprehension questions complete with answers.
H. In chronological order, the groups share the content of their chapters and display their charts for the entire class to view.
I. After all the groups have shared, read the next chapter orally to the entire class, once again discussing and recording your areas of choice.
J. Assign separate chapters to groups, repeating steps F-H until all chapters but the last have been completed.
K. Make sure the last chapter is one that you orally read to the class.
L. Provide a culminating activity for your students that focuses on the content of the entire book.

In Praise of Good Teachers

We are all indebted to our teachers
These are the teachers who taught us
all the things we know and do today
Now you ask – who are these teachers?
Teachers are the instructors, trainers,
tutors, coaches, lecturers and professors
from the kindergarten to the university

Teachers taught us how to read and write
They explained how to search for the logic
behind every statement and argument
Teachers demonstrated to us in many ways
how to approach problems and solve them

Whenever we make mistakes and commit errors
Teachers always remind us that there is
nothing to be ashamed of because
we are still apprentices and not yet masters
Sometimes, when we are depressed
our teachers are always there to motivate
us with sweet words of encouragement

They taught us that the world we live in
is a planet which rotates and revolves
That on this planet there are two-legged,
four-legged and multi-legged creatures
That human beings belong to the two-legged
species and have many colors and languages

Our teachers taught us that one man can
make a difference in the world we live in
Men like Abraham Lincoln, Mao Tsetung,
Lenin, Mandela, Mohammad Ali and Bill Gates
Our teachers are sources of inspiration
Can we live without teachers? You decide!

By Julius Babarinsa

Hennaed palms...

This picture depicts one of the most memorable moments of my time in the USA. Here we were, women from almost ten different nations, of varied cultures and ethnicity, of different religions and belief systems. Yet we bonded on this one rainy evening. We celebrated the fact that we were women and teachers. We celebrated our differences. We rejoiced in each others happiness. For that one evening as rain poured outside, we washed off our preconceptions, peeled layers off our warped world views and we celebrated each other. We celebrated each and every one and the fact that we had been put together by IREX in Kent State University because we deserved to be there.
Therefore, ladies of IEP Kent State U, 2007... I salute you! Thanks for the memories.

New Must READ Book...

Do read Cindy O'Donnell-Allen's The Book Club Companion: Fostering Strategic Readers in the Secondary Classroom, Heinemann, 2006, 192 pages.
The author provides much needed guidance in the preparation and facilitation of book clubs by answering questions such as "How do I prepare students for choice in texts?" and "How do I support my students in using open-ended responses?" You will find strategies such as 1-2-3-Predict, Mind Map, and Picture This; The Punctuation Prompt, Quotation and Response, Real Book Letter and The Sticky Notes Bookmark.
This is a really great book for teachers who want to be agents of change and get students to direct and take responsibility of their own learning.

Co-Academic Activities

I just returned from a 3-day, 2 night workshop on how to administer co-academic activities for the English Language Clubs/Societies held at Swiss Inn, Sungai Petani.
Other than getting to meet fellow English teachers, I also got to learn quite a lot. It's amazing how much more there is to learn and unlearn and then relearn. Over more than 100 teachers from the state of Kedah got insights into how to train choral speakers, debaters, public speakers and drama actors. What's more is that we got illuminated on how to judge these competitions and thus be able to train our students better.
English teachers tend to be a fun lot and this fact was proven true yet again. I managed to meet a few old friends and forge new friendships.
Now what I cannot wait for is to find the students to train for public speaking.

Imaginative materials: yummy yummy yummy!

Came across these interesting teaching ideas at http://www.onestopenglish.com

1. There are lots of lovely idiomatic uses of food and cooking language - for example ‘That’s a meaty problem.’ ‘It was a half-baked plan.’ ‘Oops - now I’m in the soup.’ ‘She’s full of beans.’ ‘What’s cooking?’ ‘It was a piece of cake.’ You can spice up your lessons (oh, there’s another one!) by making up a short story that includes five or six of them. In class, don’t mention the food idioms. Tell the story and let students enjoy it and discuss its basic meaning. When you think they have a good understanding, explain that you’ll repeat the story - but this time they should listen for any idioms connected with food or cooking. Tell the story again and at the end review all the idioms and their meanings. Make sure students also get practice trying to use the items themselves.

2. Choose our cheese!

• Record a food advert from TV, if possible with an advertising jingle (it doesn’t have to be in English).
  
  
• Show it, then give students a food item, e.g. tinned beans or chocolate and ask them to prepare a short TV advert themselves (which they can show the class later on).

In sickness and in ...

Seriously not feeling too well lately. The downfall of being diabetic. On a 2 day medical leave, hence absent in school. Wonder if my students went 'YAHOOOOO!!!!' or did they lament that their English teacher was not there to ignite their brain cells.
Been thinking of what I could do to further spark their thinking skills. I would love to bring in songs and movie clips but sadly, facilities aren't available.
On a brighter note, my darling first-born got her official A-level results today.......straight As! Way to go girl! I am brimming with pride...hope my cuppeth don't runneth over! My second-born got a haircut today and she was practically hopping mad that I refused to tell her hair-dresser what to do with her hair...well, it is her hair and being almost 16 she should make up her mind. My third-born, my one and only son...hmmm...nothing much to say about him as I hardly get to see the lil guy. He's either too busy with his computer, books, TV or his phone calls. Yeap, phone calls... not from adoring gals (not that I know of yet!) but guys who need aid with their computers.
How these kids grow!
I miss my mom. Watching my own children and how they react to me remind me how much of a mother she was to me. So where ever you are Amma..........I hope you are proud of your grandchildren.
*Forgive the personal tone in my post today. After all a teacher is first and foremost a child, a sister, a wife, a mother. These roles define me. Pray to God I am all these to the best of my ability.

on Yasmin Ahmad

Go to http://yasminthestoryteller.blogspot.com/

Rest in Peace Yasmin Ahmad

It just came to my attention that Yasmin Ahmad has passed away. How sad that a wonderful human being has left us. I admired her work. Remember those Petronas commercials...those were the one thing on local TV that I looked forward to. She captured emotions of harmony, peace, friendship, love and togetherness that is so lacking on TV commercials these days.
This is definitely a loss for the nation. Her commercials reminded me so much of my primary school days. Ahhhhhhh...

Awakening

Einstein said that 'the supreme art of the teacher is to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge'.
But everyone knows well that most times we teachers do nothing to awaken anything. We teach our students to pass exams and score the As. I tried something today in a class. I instructed my learners to write-in-role (a Process Drama technique). We used 'The Phantom of the Opera' and students wrote a journal entry as Erik, the Phantom. I made the students close their eyes and listen to expressions Erik must have heard over and over again..."Monster! Ugly! Abomination! Cover your face! I don't want to touch you! I hate you! Don't come near me! Hideous! Murderer!" (I think you get the picture.)
I told my class to write what they felt hearing those terrible remarks. I told them to cover their faces as if shielding the scarred face from unfeeling eyes.
THEY WROTE!
These wonderful children actually wrote and wrote!
For a brief moment I saw how much I have undermined these children. Today in class, these darlings taught me a thing or two (actually much more!) about the emotions Erik lives through.
At the end of writing, one sweetheart told me she was overcome and exhausted. Another said he would never ever call anyone ugly.
And I felt Einstein would have been proud of me! (okay, maybe not too much....a little perhaps?)
The moral of this narrative: Never underestimate these kids! Let your students teach you! Allow them the space to imagine and create!
Next week ...the boys are Raouls and the girls will be the opera darling, Christine.
With my students' permissions, I will post a few of their creative masterpieces.
One last thing.....Dr Anthony Manna, THANK YOU!

Numbness of the brain

Hi everyone. This is my first posting. I have thought long on what I should say but my brain is numb. Not so much because I have thought long and hard but more because of total inactivity. Sometimes it hurts to think about where the future of English to leading to amongst young learners. People say..."Hey Teach, don't think about it - just teach!" But really, how can one teach words not thought of. I know many English teachers tend to get demotivated. Who really cares about punctuating correctly, writing grammatically accurate sentences or even speaking coherently?
My question to all of you is this..."How can an English teacher afford to be demotivated? How can we rise up and tell our children at school that English is so much fun? How can we convince them that speaking English will not erode their cultural heritage?"
I know I sound distraught and fallen. I know....
I am going to sleep with those questions pounding mercilessly in my mind. Perhaps my muse will appear and inspire...perhaps not. But how can I give up on myself...uh?