Teacher's Time Out -- Bobby's version

This is Bobby writing. Long time no see! I am going to tell you about a simple technique that is called “Teacher’s Time Out”. This idea was originally written by Valerie Benson in New Ways in Teaching Reading (this is one of the New Ways in TESOL series).

How do you “teach” vocabulary? Isn’t it frustrating when some students know the meaning of the words in the text and others don’t. Until last year, I often told my students to draw lines under the difficult words with pencils. Then I walked around my classroom with a pen and a notebook to write down the words. After that, I came back to the blackboard and explained the meaning of them.

Benson’s idea was eureka! to me this year. I noticed that I could automate the process by asking students to go to the blackboard to write the words. Before letting them go to the blackboard, I took time for them to ask the meaning to the other members of their group. By doing this, students benefitted by teaching each other, and at the same time I was able to specify the words they didn’t know.

Oh well, the result is so far so good. When I explained the meaning, I could choose Japanese equivalent of the unknown words or its English definition.

Sad news

Dear friends,

I'm sorry to post this very, very sad news. The following is the quote from Judy's email to me today. I don't want to believe the news, but this kind of news can't be a joke.

"Last week we were shocked to hear the news that Terri Menacker has passed away. We don't have a lot of information as to what happened--we only know that she was found in her home and the death is under investigation. I dislike being the bearer of this shocking news, but I thought you would want to know. Please feel free to pass this new along to other EFL teacher seminar participants. I know you all appreciated her tremendously and learned a lot from her. This is a great loss to the ESL community in Hawaii."

With profound sorrow,

Bobby

Wassup

Hello everyone,

When I was looking for a funny commercial about Japanese canned coffee, I found a series of Bud commercial on YouTube. How do you like them?

Suntory Boss CM
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=hKeLrUC5KWg

Bud CM
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTZCgsZGeA&feature=related

Enjoy!

Bobby

Professional Development Seminar 2008

Hello friends,

Sorry for posting no messages for ages, but I can clearly recall everyone still now. Actually, I had a chance to talk with SuLing for four hours on an afternoon and talked about many of you. She remembers all the participant's name, face, what she/he did. She has awesome memory.

I wanted to let you know what happened in the seminar this year. The main event, I think, was going to the cave in the mountain. (Thank you, Terry, for driving the huge van.) We could go inside the tunnel which is the source of water in Hawaii. The activities were placed around the central theme of water. Those who couldn't come to Hawaii this year missed the chance of experiencing the exiting tour.

I hope you all keep having wonderful time in teaching and learning English. Oh, by the way, if you have time on the weekend of November 1-3, come to National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi, Tokyo. You can enjoy JALT 2008. http://www.jalt.org/conference

OK. Take care. Don't catch cold. Aloha.

Bobby

I Took TOEIC Again

Hello everyone,

I hope all of you are having a great spring time now. Cold winter is over and I am enjoying cherry blossoms even here in Akita. Today I received my TOEIC score. It was a little better than the last year's. Pheeew...sweat! I didn't use any test preparation materials this year. The only exception was _Triple Moshi 2_ which is published from The Japan Times. However, I have read many different sort of books since last year. I feel extensive reading really works for improving our language competencies. OK. I hope I'll see you this summer at UH. Take care.

Bobby

Hello, everyone. My name is Chihiro. I attended the EFL Teacher Training Seminar this summer for the first time. It was a very exciting and stimulating experience. I met Bobby, Shunichi, Yuki, and Jahee there. All of them were stimulating, too. I wish I had known the seminar when I was younger. But never too late to learn, I believe. Thank you for inviting me to this blog. (This is the first time I'm writing in a blog. )

The Theme is the "Theme"

Hello everyone,

How are you doing? I am in UH Student Center now to write this message. Shun-ichi, Yuki, and I have been attending the seminar this year. (Chihiro and Jae is also here. I think I will introduce them to this blog soon.)The overall theme is "theme" this year: CBI (Content-Based Instruction) is used as the main theme, and the essence of CBI is not only in its being the combination of subjects and English instruction but also of in its being a "theme" or topic. So the idea is not just a combination of nuts and bolts but an organic combination of instructional elements. Don't understand? Come back next year and you'll learn what it means. I am sure that you will have a life-changing experience in learning in UH. Those who did not come missed a big chance of getting a very, very interesting lectures of Terry, SuLing, and Alice. Hey, come back to Hawaii next year.

OK. Take care, everyone. Have a good summer holidays! Aloha!

Bobby

Integrated Skills

I'm intending to take TOEFL test in the near future. Of course, I took TOEFL test several times in the past. you know that there is a major change of TOEFL test this year. It’s called TOEFL ibt which have no Grammar Test any more. TOEFL ibt focuses on Integrated Skills: Speaking, Writing. I understand that EFL teachers seminar at UH OUTREACH Manoa this year reacts to this change. Now I’m interested in the program now.
As for my classes, I ‘rebuilt ’ my principles of class to keep up with Integrated Skills. My class has been changed drastically: students should work on all the items with summarizing in writing or speaking. And all the classes I teach are carried on only English like Bobby’s classes.

Shunichi

I took TOEIC test!

Hi friends!
How have you been doing lately? I took TOEIC test during my spring break and received the result today. The reason I am showing you my score is that I want most of you to use this chance of seeing my score as an opportunity to improve your English. Before taking the test, I studied for a few weeks for the test. You can read some useful advice for getting high scores in TOEIC in the following link. http://blog.bulknews.net/mt/archives/001853.html
Actually, I used some of these study habits. OK. Study harder!
Bobby

ETJ expo

Dear my friends,
Hi, everyone! It's December now, very very cold here!!
How have you been? Everyone's fine?
Last month I saw Satomi again at ETJ expo in Tokyo.
I was very glad to see my friend again even in Japan! Thank you, Satomi.
That was a great time. One class of the expo was similar to SuLing's poster session!
It's so important to keep studying and getting new ideas of teaching English.
I really think so.

P.S. I also tried Shadowing. I'd like to do it more next term.
See you!
From yogurt

More considerate toward Pair activities

I had thought when students are to be in pairs, teacher should be more considerate to how to pair. I was sure that pairing a student with the person next to is the best thing for students because most college students take seats with their friends. As a result, we had a lot of male-male pairs and female-female pairs.
But this time I tried to mix gender, I mean, literally Pairing, or male-female. Then I was so surprised that ‘Maximizing interaction’ took place. It seemed that all college students have been waiting for the chance to talk to people of the opposite sex. A male student who is shy and always speaks with little intonation began to speak loud and clear when a female student asked him to speak louder.
Hey! How many times did I tell him “Speak louder”? How many times did I say about the importance of intonation in English?
Anyway, I found out he is not shy. I’m so glad.

Shunichi

I tried 'Shadowing'

Last week I used shadowing in my classes which are preparation for TOEIC test.
First we ( all students and I) worked on grammar questions together and made sure of answer keys.
Secondly students were in pairs and picked up ten sentences. So one read out 5 sentences and the another did Shadowing. and then switched the role. All students have never done Shadowing before, but they liked Shadwoing so much and were really into it. I'm glad.

Shunichi

Schools

Hi, my friends. Everybody is fine?
Tomorrow my school will start the second semester (because of the system of second semesters).

I want to try something new teaching methods next semester. And Bobby's idea is great!
I'd like to arrange it for my high school students. I should have bought Tim Murphy's books and DVDs at UH.
If possible I want to try to speak English in my classes though my students don't like it. (even in ALT's classes, they are silent. They are typical Japanese students.)

And then I have a question. I want to know American graduate schools. I'm just interested in them. Maybe they are quite different from Japanese graduate schools. Right?
Anytime and anything is OK, so please let me know!

See you,
From yogurt

Action Log format

Hello friends,

I copied the following format in the Tim Murphey's book that I mentioned in my previous comment. (Sorry,you'll find the numbers that are squashed in this format.There are more spaces between them in the original.The figures were just under the words "Interesting", "Useful", and "Difficult". You know, this is an evaluation of the class by a student.)I hope you can modify it so that it becomes suitable for your classes. (I already changed some parts.)

Cheers,

Bobby


Get a B5 notebook. At the beginning of every class write at the top of the
page the date, your English target to speak (e.g. 80%) and who your partner is.
At the end of he class, write how much English you used (e.g.90%). After every
class, as soon as possible (so you remember well what happened), write a short
evaluation of the class: (1) List briefly the activities and evaluate them, and
(2)write a short comment about what impressed you in that class. Comment on
things you liked and could learn from or things you didn't like. Your feedback is
needed so that I can teach you better. I read your Action Logs and appreciate
your suggestions and will try to use them if possible. You can also take notes in
your logs!

Evaluate the activities in three categories, Interesting, Useful, and Difficult,
marking the extent of each using the following simple scale:

0=not al all; 1=not much; 2=OK; 3=good; 4=very good; 5=great!

An Example of an entry:
_____________________________________________________________________________
Spetember 14 (written Sept 14, 21:00)
English Target 75% English Used 80% Wow!

Today's partner: Yuki

(1) DID Interesting Useful Difficult
1. listened to a story 4 43
2. read a passage 0 1 5
3. discussion 3 3 4
4. teacher lecture34 2
5. had a quiz 2 2 2

(2) Comment:
I didn't understand some of the points in the reading: What is chunking?
Sometimes Mr. Murphy spoke too fast. Please speak slower. My partner today
was Yuki and it was fun to get to know her. We got a lot of homework, but it
looks like fun. I'm looking forward to the next classes. I'll prepare more for the
quizzes.
_____________________________________________________________________________

If you have anything else that you think the teacher should know (which
influenced your learning) please write about it. Please remember two things: (a)
Always put the date above the entry and the time when you wrote it in
parentheses. (b) Always use people's names when you refer to partners. Please
submit the Action Logs online at the end of every other week.

INPUT first for your English Skill

If I remember correctly, in Terri's class, we've learned that "Extensive reading is for the solution of students whose language environment is non-English speaking."Lots of reading is helpful. Recently, I like reading Sidney Sheldon which is easy to read but lots of slang. I mean, these kinds of book are full of authentic dialogues.
For instance, "If she can't cut it, she's out." from Sidney Sheldon's NOTHING LASTS FOREVER. 'cut it' means 'make it''do well'.
Isn't this authentic?
The more INPUT, the more OUTPUT.

Shunichi

Autonomy and Responsibitily

Thank you for your information, Bobby. I think that recent principles and methodology of TESOL focuses more on student autonomy. If I remember correctly, it was about 20 years ago when “New Innovated Method” like Suggestpedia or Silent Way were praised. Their principles are based on learners-centered and getting rid of learners’ stress as well. It seemed that these methods were the best and ‘like no others’. Although I’ve never tried these methods, I agreed to the point of getting rid of learners’ stress and I introduced the principle into my class.
So where has the stress gone?
It was ‘I’ who undertook all the stress and responsibility for the class. I believed this was the best way and my ideal was that students just only sit and were relaxed in class but finally I became suffering from ‘burnout’.

Thank God! EFL teachers seminar at UH this summer is my turning point. I’m going to transfer autonomy and responsibility onto students in class from now on. Student is not only a customer but also a producer of the class.

Shunichi

Action Log and Autonomous Learning

Hello friends! Thanks for keeping in touch. I’m sure all of you will be successful in the acquisition of English because you are all enthusiastic in learning. Don’t worry, even if you feel something is missing. You are on the right track. Just keep going.

I’ve been reading _Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classroom_ and watching Tim Murphy’s DVDs for the past few weeks, thinking about how to plan and carry out action log.

It took a bit while before I realize that keeping action log is a part of autonomous learning. Autonomous learning simply means that a learner has “freedom and ability to manage one’s own affairs, which entails the right to make decisions as well.” (Scharie & Szabo,p.4) So, the action log is supposed to be an activity that promotes learner’s autonomy. That’s the reason we’ll have to implement it repeatedly in our classes. Otherwise, students do not take responsibility for their own learning. I’ll tell you my negative experience.

I used a sheet of paper called “furikaeri shi-to” ( reflection log )in my classes last year. I just happened to find a format in an ELT journal and used it once without thinking about the meaning of reflection log and stopped using it. Thus, I lost the chance of developing responsibility in the attitude of my students last year.

The following is my plan of using action log in this semester: In the first class, I will probably use five to ten minutes to explain how to keep action log in a loose leaf. I’ll give them a feasible sample and have them write their own log within the class hour. From the next session, they’ll be asked to do it by themselves at home. I’ll check them once in a couple of weeks.

The books I’ve been reading are as follows: Dornyei & Murphey _Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom_ (Cambridge), Scharie & Szabo _Learner’s Autonomy_ (Cambridge), and Richards & Lockhart _Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classroom_ (Cambridge).

Cheers,

Bobby

Term Exams Will Start.

Hello, everyone. How have you been? I still miss Hawaii and of course you all!
Now so busy days have started. And my school will have term exams next week. So, last week we're busy teaching textbooks for the exams.
And so I have not started something new teaching method yet. Anyway I want to try something after the exams.

Recently there is another trouble which makes me busy. That is a student. After summer vacation, the student is very disobedient and breaking some school rules. That's very difficult age...

I'm sorry the second one is not related to EFL teaching. That's my complaint. Please don't care.
If you start something new in your classes, tell us in this blog.
See you.

From Yorgurt

You also Producer

Bobby gave us a chance to blog in EFL teachers' room. Let's make the best of this, guys.
Do you remember? In student-centered class, students are not only customers but producers for the class.
You are one of the producers of EFL teachers' room. Let's post your blog and comments.
Am I right, Bobby?

Shunichi

Burnout. Be careful.

As I mentioned in the blog “personal determination” posted by Bobby, I found the article “Burnout a reality for many in clergy” in Honolulu Advertiser (2006.08.20).
its first paragraph are as follows:

“Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship, hit the wall about two years ago. He went to see a psychiatrist, who told him he was on the road to emotional and mental breakdown.”

“Hit the wall” means “come up to the limitations or almost beyond one’s ability and exhausted” Although this article about a pastor, it ought to be a warning to us. There is a limit to everything.

What do you think about ‘Burnout’and teachers? How can we overcome?

Shunichi