You Can’t Fix stupid
So, the other day, I had a very bizarre discussion with some EL teachers and EL learners from the former USSR who were making fun of other teachers because they had a Slavic accent. They claimed that if one speaks with a thick accent or with an obvious accent, then natives make fun of the m and consider them as second-class citizens. I tried to debunk this stereotype to no avail. I pointed to the factors such as inflexible vocal cords, a lack of ear for music, etc, that may not allow an individual to reduce their accent. I mentioned Joseph Conrad’s phenomenon. Moreover, I stated that there are people who do everything to retain their accent as it is their cultural identity and they value it. Alas, my words fell on deaf ears. Try as I might, I failed to at least make them doubt their racist and discriminatory beliefs.
It’s unfortunate that these very people are the ones who encourage, promote, and strengthen native speakerism. They are the drive behind native speakerism. I see a lot of teachers on Instagram who shame people for their accents and try to convince them to take classes with them. I hate reels like “Wanna sound like a native speaker?” or ” People mistake me for a native speaker, so I can help you get rid of your accent.”
Why can’t they embrace the diversity? Why can’t they listen to what the message is? Instead, they focus on the outside picture. Are they really so superficial and shallow?
I guess the answer to these questions is “you can’t fix stupid” as my spouse likes to say.
However, I won’t keep my head down and my mouth shut. I will call on such heinous opinions whenever I can. If I manage to convince at least one person to change their mind in this regard, I will consider it a victory.
Culture Notes
When I taught in Kazakhstan, I noticed that some students couldn’t find a proper equivalent in the target language to some vocabulary that was used in their native language. So I thought that it would be a brilliant idea to put some kind of glossary together to assist them in expressing their ideas when they talk about KZ culture and lifestyle. It is always advisable to explain some words related to your culture because an English speaking person who you are sharing your culture knowledge with may not know what they mean. So don’t just say “We drink kymyz/kumys.” But instead say: we drink kymyz/kumys which is fermented horse milk. It’s a very popular drink among nomadic cultures such as Central Asia.”
Some Cultural Terminology that Might be Useful
Участковый – Neighborhood Police Officer
ЦОН –Public Service Office
Субботник (Subbotnik) –unpaid volunteer work for the community which usually happens on Saturday
ЦПМ – Professional Development Center
ЗАГС – Civil Registry Office
Директор Школы – School Principal
Факультативные Занятия-Extracurricular activities
Самопознание – Self Discovery / Cognition
Уроки труда – Home Economics
Завуч – Deputy Head Teacher / Director of Studies
Ректор –Vice Chancellor
Чак-чак- Central Asian dessert made of deep fried noodles which then are mixed with honey and garnished with nuts and raisins.
Шелпек – Central Asian flatbread
Бешбармак –a traditional Kazakh food made of noodles and different kinds of boiled meat including horsemeat.
Казы -a traditional sausage made from the rib meat of horses
Куырдак is a national dish made from cow’s, horse’s or sheep’s chopped heart, liver, kidneys boiled in oil, and served with onion and pepper.
Кумыс -a dairy product made from horse’s milk fermented in big skin bags.
Баурсак – Asian doughnuts
#teachingenglinkazakhstan #culture #proudnnest
Should teachers conduct free demo lessons?
As an online English language instructor, I do understand that in order to attract potential students, I am expected to conduct demo lessons to showcase my skills and expertise. However, I’m adamant that it is crucial to charge for your demo lesson, even if it is a reduced rate. By charging for my demo lesson, I demonstrate that I value my time and expertise. It communicates to my future students that I am a professional and that my time is valuable. It enables me to set a standard for the value of my services.
This practice helps me weed out potential students who are not serious about working on honing their language skills. If they are reluctant to pay even a small fee for a demo lesson, they may not be committed to investing in my services in the long run.
To conclude, the refusal to conduct free demo lessons enables me to avoid burnout and being inundated with requests from people who most likely aren’t going to be committed to investing in my services.
So, don’t be afraid to charge for your demo lesson – it’s an investment in yourself and your teaching practice. Respect yourself and your time.
@cicanobre
@teacherhellenhaga
Whaddya think?
Do you always stick to the plan?
So, I had a completely different agenda for today. The plan was
✅️to make breakfast trying a new recipe for lazy khachapuri, ✅️to enjoy my weekly cup of joe,
✅️finish two lesson plans that I started working on last week,
✅️to start a new worksheet for one of my students (yup, I do my utmost to custom make material for my students),
✅️go for a brisk walk at the nearby park, and finally,
✅️to try a new recipe for chicken liver muffins.
What have I done instead? Khachapuri and chicken liver muffins – check. Coffee – check.
The rest of the to-do list was replaced by 5 hours of deep cleaning.
➡️I’ve vacuumed cleaned the apt, ➡️shampooned the carpets, ➡️washed bathroom rugs, ➡️scrubbed the floor in the kitchen and bathroom,
➡️deep cleaned the dishwasher and garbage disposal as well as the washing machine.
➡️Oh, yeah, you can eat off the floor on the balcony since I washed the outdoor furniture and the floor.
➡️I’ve also scared the crap out of our cats and traumatized them for the rest of their lives. They haven’t come out of wherever they’re hiding at. My spouse most likely loathes my guts.
How often do you deviate from your plan? Do you think it’s a good thing or not? Do we have to stick to the original plan? Or is it ok to play by ear and just follow your heart instead of rigorously adhering to the plan?
I always have a lesson plan for each of my students. Sometimes, I have lesson A and lesson B in case things go awry, eg. a student fails to do homework. However, at times, despite my lesson plans, my students come with their own agendas, and as a flexible educator, I have to just play along.
What’s your take on that?
Circle one’s wagons around someone
GOP (Grand Old Party) означает партию республиканцев, ктр грудью встали на защиту Трампика, и в связи с этим почти на всех новостных каналах можно услышить идиому:
✅circle one’s wagons around someone;
Вы не в курсе текущих политических событий США? В прошлый понедельник произошло беспрецедентное событие в истории США. ФБР обыскало одну из личных резиденций Трампа и изъяли 11 документов, 5 из ктр имели категорию “свехсекретные”, “секретные”, и “конфиденциальные”. Это три разные категории для засекреченных государственных документов. Очень ограниченное количество людей могут иметь доступным к таким документам. Среди документов есть один с пометкой TOP SECRET/
✅circle the wagons against someone
“занять круговую оборону для защиты себя от опасности извне” или “кидаться коллективно на чью-то защиту” и как субстантивное словосочетание
➡️the circle of the wagons, то имеет значение “группа людей объединившихся ради какой-то идеи или защиты кого-то/чего-то”.
Пришла в язык в 19 веке благодаря американским первопроходцам искавшим землю обетованную. Благодаря вестернам считалось, что таким образом они защищали себя и свои семьи от набегов индейцев по ночам. Это миф. Индейцы были довольно дружелюбно приветствовали европейских переселенцев. Достаточно вспомнить историю происхождения Дня Благодарения. Кровопролития начались именно благодаря агрессивности вторых. Но это уже другая история.
Дело в том, что первопроходцы имели скот, и самым простым способом создать стойло для того чтобы животные ночью не потерялись, они
строили круг с помощью повозок внутри ктр и сгоняли всё стадо.
SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION, т.е. такая, ктр даже эти люди не имеют доступа без чрезвычайной необходимости. Согласно Тhe Presidential Records Acт (1978) ни один бывший президент не имеет право забирать подобные документы по окончании своего срока. Акт был принят из-за Ричарда Никсона, президента США вынужденного преждевременно покинуть пост из-за знаменитого Уотергейтского скандала. До этого, президенты могли забирать любые документы из Белого Дома на память.
Using Proverbs and Quotes to Enable Learners to Develop Fluency and Expand their Lexis
and represented the target language culture. They are also lexical chunks with which learners can build their fluency, expand their lexis in context, and boost their confidence. Most proverbs and quotes contain figurative language which adds color to their language.
How can you use proverbs and quotes in class? The most basic way is to use a quote or a proverb relevant to the topic of the lesson as a lead-in. Show it to learners and encourage discussion about the message. You can also use quotes or proverbs as writing prompts. Choose the ones that provoke thoughts and can be easily connected to your students’ personal life or current situation to personalize their writing. Set the time limit to train them to write against the clock, which is a valuable skill for effective exam taking. Upon completion, to promote learner autonomy, have them swap their writing pieces and use peer-editing guidelines to foster peer feedback. If
your learners are pre-intermediate or higher, proverbs and quotes can be
used to develop improvisational oral skills. While working in pairs, learners
are given a quote or a proverb and asked to evaluate the message of the
quote and give reasons why they agree or disagree with it. You can set a
time limit to prepare them to speak against the clock. To provide your
learners with a meaningful task-repetition opportunity, you may have them
swap partners and talk about the quote or proverb with another partner.
To foster debate, give the class a controversial quotation. Divide your
students into two groups. At this point, it would be advisable to go over the
useful language for a debate. Show them the quote and ask group A to come
up with five reasons why they support the message. Group B is expected to
find five reasons why they do not agree with the quotation. Allow them 5 to
10 minutes to complete the task. Then, have them sit into in two parallel
lines: one group opposite the other. While they are debating, record the
most common errors to address them later in the lesson. Also, note who is
more dominant in the debate and how they encourage each other to
participate fully in the debate.
Another way is to prepare cards with different quotes or proverbs and place
them face down on the desk. Invite a student to choose a card. Then they
have two minutes to prepare their monologue addressing the message in the
quote. They step out of the classroom for the designated time. The other
students are shown the same quote so that they can prepare follow-up
questions based on it. The speaker comes back to class and delivers their
presentation, whereas the other students listen and use a feedback form
make written notes to provide their feedback to the speaker. Encourage
them to include both positive and negative comments. Continue until all
students have a chance to speak. This activity works best in a small size
group.
In order to enable your learners to practice their comprehension and
grammar skills in context, you can choose 10 different quotes based on the
same topic. Create a worksheet using these quotes, but remove one word
from each. In class, distribute the worksheet and allow them to try to
complete the quotes on their own first, followed by a pair work where they
compare their answers. Then, show them the words that you removed and
ask them to complete the quotes using the original words. Draw their
attention to collocations and have them create their own sentences using
them. As a follow-up, you can either use these quotes as a springboard for
discussing the quotes they agree or disagree with or introduce grammar structures in the quotes.
HOW TO EXPLAIN THINGS (B2-C1 lesson)
- Listening and analysing explainer videos covering a range of topics
- Identifying vocabulary for structuring and clarifying explanations
- Giving a verbal explanation of a procedure (‘How to‘) and a concept
- Reading and comparing two texts about how to explain concepts effectively.
This is the main student page for this lesson. To download all the materials for this lesson, including teaching notes, please visit https://payhip.com/b/7mRO3. You can also find one of the worksheets as a free download, at https://payhip.com/b/pBkva.
1. Introduction
Answer the questions in a pair or group:
a. Which jobs require people to be good at explaining things?
b. Can you think of a time when someone explained something to you and you didn’t understand? What went wrong?
c. What tips or techniques can we use to explain things in a more effective way?
(To go to the next page, scroll down and click on ‘2’.)
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Thesis on Current ELT, Part Two
Introduction
In part One, I suggested that coursebook-driven ELT is a prime example of the commodification of education. Here, in Part Two, I focus on the Common European Frame of Reference (CEFR) and high stakes tests. The global adoption of coursebook-driven ELT is illustrated by the increasing use of the CEFR, which informs not just coursebooks, but the high stakes tests which loom large in the background. I rely mostly on the work of Glenn Fulcher and on Jordan & Long (2022).
18,1. As Fulcher (2010), argues, citing Bonnet (2007), the CEFR is increasingly being used to promote a move towards “a common educational policy in language learning, teaching and assessment, both at the EU level and beyond”. The rapid spread of the use of the CEFR across Europe and other parts of the world is due to the ease with which it can be used in standards-based assessment. As…
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Working with words
I found this vocabulary activity in the article written by Keith S. Folse for English Teaching Forum magazine Number 3, 2008. The article mainly focuses on developing and reinforcing vocabulary in an EFL or ESOL classroom. The author describes the five types of words and vocabulary learning: a single word, a set phrase, a variable phrase, a phrasal verb, and an idiom. Further, he elaborates on additional aspects of vocabulary knowledge that ELLs must master to expand their lexis. He also shares ideas on the factors that enable English language teachers to select vocabulary for teaching and provides six vocabulary activities that teachers might find useful. The activity that I specifically like is labeled as Vocabulary Ladder Puzzle. In this task, the teacher creates a list of five words that all consist of the same number of letters. The second requirement is that each word is only one letter different from the word immediately above or below. For instance,
✅pen
✅pan
✅can
✅cap
✅cup
Then the teacher creates 5 sentences that serve as clues. The words should be replaced by dashes the number of which depends on the word length. If the words have 3 letters, then there are three dashes. The final version looks like the example below.
1. __ __ __ I need a ________ to write a note to my supervisor.
2. __ __ __ She put cookies on a _______ and baked them till they
were cooked.
3. __ __ __ I was thirsty, so I bought a _______ of Coke.
4. __ __ __ It’s hot and sunny outside, so if you don’t want to get a
sunstroke, wear a ______________.
5. __ __ __ I like to start my morning with a _______ of coffee.
In class, students work in pairs trying to figure out the words in the puzzle. If they cannot guess a word, they can move on to the next ones. Once they have some answers, they can rearrange the letters to identify the missing word. Since I mainly teach one-on-one classes, I use this activity as a warm-up or a five-minute filler at the end of the lesson. I consider this activity useful because vocabulary is introduced in the context and students are encouraged to talk about the words many times, which produces multiple encounters with the words.
A PROUD NNEST 