My Coaching Reflections

Lesson1: Teachers need to know and trust me. Together we have to build relationships and plan with an end in mind.

Lesson 2: The development process has to be collaborative and actively sustained, with a regular cycle of trying, reflecting and adjusting.

SISC+ ... Am I relevant?

I have learnt that the following are BAD PRACTICES:
1. forcing teachers to abide by a list of so-called best practices,
2. generously handing out tips and tricks to teaching,
3. fixating on structures for lessons,
4. parroting pre-prepared lesson plans.

What I should be doing is:
1. identifying teacher development needs based on learning needs,
2. focusing on ways for the teacher to help students,
3. collaborating with and supporting teachers,
4. ensuring coaching process is sustained and following cycles of trying, reflecting, and adjusting

All of the above with focus on improved STUDENT LEARNING - NOT TEACHER BEHAVIOUR!!!!

EMPOWERING QUESTIONS

Sometimes, when people are acting in unempowered ways that diminish their ability to act, you can help them get their life back with empowering questions.

Challenging limiting belief

Many of us have limiting beliefs which stop us from thinking and acting in ways that could help us achieve our potential. Questions that can help here should highlight the belief and offer challenges to help the person consider limitations and alternative.

Why do you think that?

Do you really believe that?

Who else believes that?

What else could you believe?

What if you believed something different?

What's the worst thing that could happen if you did? What's the best thing?

Exceptions to extremism

When people do not want to argue about something they tend to use comments that push everything to extremes. This is in order to

Everybody's got one.

You always do that.

I'm totally depressed.

It is as if they are

Finding the exception

A way to address extreme statements is to find one or more exceptions. This is best done by asking questions:

Is there anybody (other than you) you who hasn't got one?

Do I always do it? Every time? Can you remember me not doing it?

Could you be even more depressed? Might there be someone more depressed than you?

From possibility to action

Sometimes people deal in impossibilities. Perhaps because they are afraid or failure or maybe due to other limiting beliefs or maybe even laziness, they just declare things impossible.

Jeff wouldn't like that at all.

We just don't have the time.

It'll cost far too much.

I'm not good enough for that.

I just don't know.

A simple way of breaking this mindset is to inch forward into possibilities.

What if we could find another person to help?

How can we do it for less money?

What if you just did it anyway?

If you did know, what would you say?

KIPLING QUESTIONS

Rudyard Kipling wrote a short poem outlining a powerful set of questions:

I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

Whenever in doubt as to what to ask, just dip into these questions.

What

'What?' often asks for noun responses, seeking things that are or will be. They may also prompt for verbs when they seek actions.

'What' questions include:

What are you doing?
What shall we do next?
What happened?
What is stopping you from succeeding?
What is the most important thing to do now?

Three 'Whats' that may be asked in sequence to solve problems are:

What are you trying to achieve?
What is the real problem?
What is the solution?

Why

Asking 'why' seeks cause-and-effect. If you know the reason why people have done something, then you gain a deeper understanding of them. If you know how the world works, then you may be able to affect how it changes in the future.

Asking 'why' seeks logical connections and shows you to be rational in your thinking. It can also be a good way of creating a pause or distraction in a conversation, as many people make assertive statements but without knowing the real 'why' behind those assertions.

A reversal of 'Why' is to ask 'Why not', which is a wonderful creative challenge for stimulating people to think 'outside the box'.

Why questions include:

Why did you do that?
Why did that happen?
Why is it important for us to try it again?
Why not give it a try?

When

'When' seeks location in time and can imply two different types of time. 'When', first of all, can ask for a specific single time, for example when a person will arrive at a given place or when an action will be completed. 'When' may also seek a duration, a period of time, such as when a person will take a holiday.

When will you be finished?
When will you give me the money?
When are you taking your holiday? (next Summer)

How

'How' seeks verbs of process. They are hence good for probing into deeper detail of what has happened or what will happen.

How did you achieve that?
How shall we get there?
How will you know she likes you?

'How' may also be used with other words to probe into time and quantity.

How often will you see me?
How much do you owe him?

This can be quite effective for diverting attention away from the real question. For example in the first question above, the attention is on 'how often' and 'seeing me' is assumed.

Where

'Where' seeks to locate an action or event in three-dimensional space. This can be simple space, such as on, above, under, below. It can be regional space, such as next door or in the other building. It can be geographic space, such as New York, London or Paris.

If something is going to be delivered or done, then asking 'Where' is a very good companion to asking 'When', in order to clarify exactly what delivery will take place.

Where will you put it?
Where will they be delivered?

Who

The question 'Who' brings people into the frame, connecting them with actions and things. The 'Who' of many situations includes 'stakeholders', who are all the people with an interest in the action. Key people to identify are those who will pay for and receive the benefits of the action. Of course, you also may want to know who is going to do the work and whose neck is on the line -- that is who is ultimately responsible.

Who is this work for?
Who will benefit most from what you propose?
Who else would be interested?

Assumptive questions

Kipling questions provide a simple method of using assumptive questions that act as if something is true, then hide it in a question:

How much do you care? (assumption: you care)
How will you persuade her? (assumption: you will seek to persuade her)
Where will you buy it? (assumption: you will buy it)
When will you make the change? (assumption: you will make the change)

Solving problems

A simple framework for solving problems may be defined by combining What, Why and How, as follows:

1. What is the problem?
2. Why is it happening?
3. How can you fix it?
4. – Fix it! –
5. Why did it work or not work?
6. What next?

QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES

Asking questions is a fundamental part of finding information and for subtle (and otherwise) persuasion. Here are various pages on questioning:

• Closed Questions: That seek short answers.
• Chunking Questions: Chunk up and down for more or less detail.
• Clear Questions: That are simple and unambiguous.
• Columbo Technique: Asking stupid questions that get the answers you want.
• Double Bind Questions: Whichever way you answer, the result is the same.
• Echo Questions: Repeat what they say as a question.
• Empowering Questions: That release limits on people.
• Funnel Questioning: Seeking more detail or more general information.
• Group Questioning: Tips for asking questions of many people at once.
• Interrogation Questions: Questions that lead to answers.
• Kipling Questions: Rudyard Kipling's six servants.
• Leading Questions: That may or may not be a good thing for you.
• Open Questions: For long and detailed answers.
• Open and Closed Questions: yes/no or long answer.
• Positive Questions: Deliberately leading the other person.
• Probing: Digging for more detail.
• Probing Questions: Specific questions for finding detail.
• Rhetorical Questions: Questions without answers.
• Socratic Questioning: Socrates' method of questioning in order to elicit learning.
• Tag Questions: Some questions encourage agreement, don't they?

Songs to Teach Grammar

Arif Saricoban & Esen Metin

For teenagers or adults in the intermediate or advanced level, it is better to use more meaningful or popular songs, which not only review or introduce grammar points but also reflect cultural aspects. At the primary level of singing the song, the prosodic features of the language is emphasized. At the higher levels, where the practice of grammar points is at the foreground, songs can be used with several techniques. Some examples of these techniques are:

• Gap fills or close texts
• Focus questions
• True-false statements
• Put these lines into the correct sequence
• Dictation
• Add a final verse
• Circle the antonyms/synonyms of the given words
• Discuss

A teacher's selection of a technique or a set of techniques should be based on his or her objectives for the classroom. After deciding the grammar point to be studied, and the song and the techniques to be used, the teacher should prepare an effective lesson plan. Since songs are listening activities, it is advisable to present them as a listening lesson, but of course it is necessary to integrate all the skills in the process in order to achieve successful teaching.

When regarding a lesson plan, as a pre-listening activity, the theme, the title, or the history of the song can be discussed. By directing the students toward specific areas, problem vocabulary items can be picked up in advance. Before listening to the song, it is also beneficial to let the students know which grammar points should be studied. At this stage, pictures may also be used to introduce the theme of the song. In the listening stage, some of the techniques listed above can be used, but among them gap filling is the most widely used technique. Through such gaps, the vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation are highlighted. This stage can be developed by the teacher according to the needs of the students and the grammar point to be studied.

In the follow-up, integrated skills can be used to complete the overall course structure. Since many songs are on themes for which it is easy to find related reading texts, it may lead the learner to read a text about the singer or the theme. Besides, many songs give a chance for a written reaction of some kind. Opinion questions may lead the learner to write about his own thoughts or reflections. Some songs deal with a theme that can be re-exploited through role plays. Acting may add enthusiasm to the learning process. Finally, some songs deal with themes, which can lead to guided discussion. By leading the students into a discussion, the grammar point could be practiced orally and, in a way, naturally.

Exploitation of songs for grammatical structures can be illustrated through several examples. For present tense 'Let It Be' by the Beatles, for past tense 'Yesterday' by the Beatles, for present progressive 'Sailing' by Rod Stewart, for present perfect 'Nothing Compares to You' by Sinead Occonor, for past perfect 'Last Night I Had...' by Simon and Garfunkel, for modals 'Blowing in the Wind' by Bob Dylan, and for conditionals 'El Condor Pasa' by Simon and Garfunkel can be used. However, it should be kept in mind that songs, which provide frequent repetitions, or tell a story, or provide comments about life, or introduce cultural themes are the effective ones, since they provide authentic and meaningful material.

As a consequence, the use of songs in language classrooms provides many advantages. They entertain and relax the learners while they are learning or practicing a structure, and they often eliminate the students negative attitude towards learning. Through providing authenticity and context they make the grammar points more understandable and easy. As language teachers, we can benefit from using songs, since our concern is to motivate the students and draw their utmost attention on the subject during teaching.

A lesson in grammar with Mr Holmes

by Guy Deutscher

The teacher claimed it was so plain,
I only had to use my brain.
She said the past of throw was threw,
The past of grow – of course – was grew,
So flew must be the past of fly,
And now, my boy, your turn to try.

But when I trew,
I had no clue,
If mow was mew
Like know and knew.
(Or is it knowed
Like snow and snowed?)

The teacher frowned at me and said
The past of feed was – plainly – fed.
Fed up, I knew then what I ned:
I took a break, and out I snoke,
She shook and quook (or quaked? or quoke?)

With raging anger out she broke:
Your ignorance you want to hide?
Tell me the past form of collide!
But how on earth should I decide
If it’s collid

(Like hide and hid),
Or else – from all that I surmose,
The past of rise was simply rose,
And that of ride was surely rode,
So of collide must be collode?

Oh damn these English verbs, I thought
The whole thing absolutely stought!
Of English I have had enough,
These verbs of yours are far too tough.

Bolt upright in my chair I sat,
And said to her ‘that’s that’ – I quat.

CRAZY ENGLISH.

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Then shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England .
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
And get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?

And if people from Poland are called Poles
Then people from Holland should be Holes
And the Germans, Germs.

And lets not forget the Americans, who changed s to z, but that's another story.

The Reflective Teacher

Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works - a process of self-observation and self-evaluation. By collecting information about what goes on in our classroom, and by analysing and evaluating this information, we identify and explore our own practices and underlying beliefs. This may then lead to changes and improvements in our teaching. 

Why it is important
Many teachers already think about their teaching and talk to colleagues about it too. You might think or tell someone that "My lesson went well" or "My students didn't seem to understand" or "My students were so badly behaved today."
However, without more time spent focusing on or discussing what has happened, we may tend to jump to conclusions about why things are happening. We may only notice reactions of the louder students. Reflective teaching therefore implies a more systematic process of collecting, recording and analysing our thoughts and observations, as well as those of our students, and then going on to making changes.
If a lesson went well we can describe it and think about why it was successful.
If the students didn't understand a language point we introduced we need to think about what we did and why it may have been unclear.
If students are misbehaving - what were they doing, when and why?
Once you have some information recorded about what goes on in your classroom, what do you do?

Think
You may have noticed patterns occurring in your teaching through your observation. You may also have noticed things that you were previously unaware of. You may have been surprised by some of your students' feedback. You may already have ideas for changes to implement.

Talk
Just by talking about what you have discovered - to a supportive colleague or even a friend - you may be able to come up with some ideas for how to do things differently.
If you have colleagues who also wish to develop their teaching using reflection as a tool, you can meet to discuss issues. Discussion can be based around scenarios from your own classes.
Using a list of statements about teaching beliefs (for example, pairwork is a valuable activity in the language class or lexis is more important than grammar) you can discuss which ones you agree or disagree with, and which ones are reflected in your own teaching giving evidence from your self-observation.

Read
You may decide that you need to find out more about a certain area. There are plenty of websites for teachers of English now where you can find useful teaching ideas, or more academic articles. There are also magazines for teachers where you can find articles on a wide range of topics. Or if you have access to a library or bookshop, there are plenty of books for English language teachers.

Ask
Pose questions to websites or magazines to get ideas from other teachers. Or if you have a local teachers' association or other opportunities for in-service training, ask for a session on an area that interests you.

Source: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/reflective-teaching-exploring-our-own-classroom-practice 

Prudential: Project Listen

Please go to http://projectlisten.com.my/Written_story.php?name=R.Malar  and read my story.

6th. International English Language Teaching Conference (iELT-Con) 2013 

Conference 

17th   to  19th April 2013 
Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia 

Website: http://eltcon.webs.com/ 
Contact person: denise quah 

An international gathering of ELT professionals in a conference that strives not to dazzle you with numbers but rather a warm cosy environment for professional development and social networking. 

Organized by: Penang English Language Learning & Teaching Association(PELLTA) 
Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 31st January 2013 

Reading Strategies

Reading and Word-Attack Strategies

Reading is not just pronouncing words—it requires understanding. Most experienced readers use a variety of strategies to understand text. Research has shown that teachers can, and should, teach these strategies to beginning readers. The following strategies can help students understand any text in any subject.  

Make PredictionsPredictions encourage active reading and keep students interested, whether or not the predictions are correct. Incorrect predictions can signal a misunderstanding that needs to be revisited. Instruct students:

• Look at the pictures, table of contents, chapter headings, maps, diagrams, and features. What subjects are in the book?
• Write down predictions about the text. During reading, look for words or phrases from those predictions.
• While reading, revise the predictions or make new ones. 

VisualizeMany students think visually, using shapes, spatial relationships, movement, and colors, and can benefit greatly from this strategy. Instruct students:

• Imagine a fiction story taking place as if it were a movie. Imagine the characters' features. Picture the plot in time and space.
• Imagine processes and explanations happening visually. Use nouns, verbs, and adjectives to create pictures, diagrams, or other mental images.
• Use graphic organizers to lay out information. Make sketches or diagrams on scrap paper. 

Ask and Answer QuestionsHaving students form their own questions helps them recognize confusion and encourages active learning. Instruct students:

• Before reading, think about the subject based on the title, chapter heads, and visual information. Make note of anything you are curious about.
• While reading, pause and write down any questions. Be sure to ask questions if there is confusion.
• Look for the answers while reading. Pause and write down the answers.
• Were all the questions answered? Could the answers come from other sources? 

Retell and SummarizeRelating the text in students' own words clears up language issues. Retelling challenges them to aim for complete retention. Summarization allows students to discriminate between main ideas and minor details. Instruct students:

• During reading, note the main ideas or events. Put a check mark in the book or write a note to point out a main idea.
• At the ends of chapters or sections, review the information or story. Note main ideas or events and the details that support them.
• After reading, retell or summarize the text. Focus on the important points, and support them with relevant details.
• Refer to the book to check the retelling or summarization. 

Connect the Text to Life Experiences, Other Texts, or Prior KnowledgeConnecting a text to students' experiences and knowledge helps students personalize the information. It also helps students remember information when they link it to their lives. Instruct students:

• Is the subject familiar? Do the characters resemble familiar people? Have you learned about the concept from school, home, or other experiences?
• Is the style or genre familiar? Does it resemble other texts? Television shows, movies, and games can be considered "texts."
• Write down similarities between the current text and experiences, knowledge, or other texts.

Word-Attack StrategiesWord-attack strategies help students decode, pronounce, and understand unfamiliar words. They help students attack words piece by piece or from a different angle. Model and instruct students:

Use Picture Clues

• Look at the picture.
• Are there people, objects, or actions in the picture that might make sense in the sentence?

Sound Out the Word

• Start with the first letter, and say each letter-sound out loud.
• Blend the sounds together and try to say the word. Does the word make sense in the sentence?

Look for Chunks in the Word

• Look for familiar letter chunks. They may be sound/symbols, prefixes, suffixes, endings, whole words, or base words.
• Read each chunk by itself. Then blend the chunks together and sound out the word. Does that word make sense in the sentence?

Connect to a Word You Know

• Think of a word that looks like the unfamiliar word.
• Compare the familiar word to the unfamiliar word. Decide if the familiar word is a chunk or form of the unfamiliar word.
• Use the known word in the sentence to see if it makes sense. If so, the meanings of the two words are close enough for understanding.

Reread the Sentence

• Read the sentence more than once.
• Think about what word might make sense in the sentence. Try the word and see if the sentence makes sense.

Keep Reading

• Read past the unfamiliar word and look for clues.
• If the word is repeated, compare the second sentence to the first. What word might make sense in both?

Use Prior Knowledge

• Think about what you know about the subject of the book, paragraph, or sentence.
• Do you know anything that might make sense in the sentence? Read the sentence with the word to see if it makes sense.