Last week I worked with three of my groups on storytelling. Wonderful and imaginative topic but I guess not that much when you have to come up with a story, write it and present it in 90 minutes in classroom. It is not always easy and so we often tend to give it as homework.

I decided to do it all in classroom and make it as fun as possible.

• We started with titles. After a short discussion we decided that a good title includes key words and evokes curiosity with a bit of mystery behind it. I handed out blank papers and asked them to write down the title; not thinking too much about the story behind it. Just title!
• Next step was swapping the papers randomly. Each student gets a paper with a title on it (as they already know, title has key words but the story is hidden). At that moment, student might get excited about the strange title and come to realization that soon they will write stories. Well, not really at that stage (surprising moment ).
• Ask your students to draw lines so that their paper is divided into 6 squares.

We talked about the parts of the story:

1^st square – what/who      2^nd square -where/when      3^rd and 4^th square – what happened (plot)     5^th square – climax          6^th square – feelings/impact of the story on the main character (“It was exciting/disappointing/thrilling/disgusting…”).

• They don’t write but draw simple sketches into each box.
• They swap papers again (you can give it back to person who wrote the title or random again) and think of the story behind the pictures. It is their turn now to write down the story using the pictures.
• Last stage is pair work (person who wrote the title and the story with the one who drew it). They sit together and compare the stories. Usually their stories differ at least a bit.

I found out that on one hand it saves a lot of time in the class when they works in such stages (when you just ask them to think about the story and write it down, it takes ages) and on the other hand they feel more secure and comfortable to share and present their stories because after all it is always the work of more than just one person!

I tried this way of telling the stories with kids as well as adults and levels from pre-intermediate to upper intermediate. They all really enjoyed it and were happy not only to share but also listen to other stories because their sketches and titles were interesting and evoked curiosity – they all did a great job!

…and at the same time lesson that was dynamic, meaningful and far more personal than unit from the coursebook.

Last week I talked about motivation with my students and when we were trying to describe it, I got an idea. Motivation, as we all know, means something else for everyone so why should we try to give it one definition?

I wrote down the word MOTIVATION and asked my students to think about the word. They had time to come up with a word for each letter that would be related to motivation as they understand it in their lives.

They had some really interesting words! They had to recycle their vocabulary a lot and were happy to learn some new if they needed. They all had it unique and after presenting their works, they found even more inspiration in the words of others.

I just finished reading the first book in 2012 – The 1% Solution for work and life by Tom Connellan. It was a book that I came across by accident and had no idea of its existence before. What a lovely coincidence tho!

Not only does it perfectly fit to one of my recent classroom activities – “Bookmark your dreams” but also encourages anyone who wants to be better and looks for some encouragement and advice.

What are your dreams and what do you need to do to achieve them?

How specific or big your dreams are?

How successful are you in achieving your goals and dreams in general?

These are some questions I asked myself after reading the book. I have to confess I feel like I know how to start! Just small steps at a time!

“It is more useful to compare you to you. What matters most is that you become 1 percent better than you.”

The key to reaching your goal is knowing where you want to go and which actions you need to do to get there-and then persistence and effort will get you there…you can think about tomorrow, and maybe dream a bit about future-but doing your best in the present has to be the rule.”

It is not a groundbreaking discovery but it is nice to be reminded and motivated

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” Stephen A. Brennan

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”  Confucius

1. I work on my dreams every day by taking small steps
2. I think carefully what actions get me there
3. Support is important
4. I try to challenge myself and change every day tasks to deliberate practice
5. I recharge my batteries

These are the points I try to remember – inspired by the book but personally adapted. What are your ways?

 Good luck with your goals!

It is my pleasure to inform you that on March 10th we are organizing a unique day full of presentations, workshops, fun and networking for teachers of English.

I will be happy to meet everyone who is interested in learning more and getting inspired and motivated.

 Live surpr@isingly!

“A single metaphor can give birth to love.”

 Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

       SURPRISE + PRAISE

It’s amazing how a metaphor can help you see more clearly what you have always understood to be true. This is what happened to me when I used crayons to form a new word on the poster I was preparing for TESOL France last year. As I took the words surprise and praise and turned them into surpr@ise I saw how this word frames my philosophy about what happens in good classrooms. In the classrooms I enjoy most, teachers surprise their students with interesting tasks and activities. Then they praise them for trying new things and taking risks. This is what I do in my own classroom, too. It’s a simple but very powerful idea and I have been very happy to see that the idea of surpr@ise has begun to resonate with other teachers around the world as well and is now part of their working vocabulary.  Since on it’s first birthday this has become a small organic movement, now might be a good time to share some principles of surpr@ise.

       WORKING PRINCIPLES OF SURPR@ISE

1.     Surpr@ise is for everyone

Every single teacher can work with surpr@ise no matter what method or technique you use, no matter whether or not you like using coursebooks, no matter whether you are an experienced or newer teacher.  No matter what kind of class you teach,  I believe it’s important for both students and teachers to stay motivated and by doing so  to move education forward. You do this by providing students with unexpectedly interesting, even challenging tasks and activities, working with them as a fellow learner, and encouraging and praising them for their efforts and attitudes. That’s surpr@ise.

2.     Surpr@ise starts with your smile

Surpr@ise is not only about activities. It’s also about attitude. Most students have come from traditional classrooms where teachers teach in unsurpr@ising ways. As you introduce more unexpected activities into the classroom, some students might be a bit uneasy. If you have been a more traditional teacher, it might make you feel a bit uneasy at first, too. Take things slow.

Be gentle and encouraging with your students and yourself.  Start with a smile.

 3.  Provide a Map

As you introduce change into the classroom, make sure to explain the reasons for the change to your students. As you choose tasks over exercises, everyone needs to understand why. Of course students will see why when you finish doing a project, for example, and see the results but as they work, students need to see where things are headed. Show students the finished product and then break it down into small steps. This is like a map that leads to treasure. Without it, students are likely to get lost or lose their motivation.

 4.     Surprise should always be positive.

A whole body of research suggests that we learn more deeply when encountering anything surprising, shocking, strange or unique. In the world, it’s true that we tend to remember bad things that happen even more easily than we do ordinary everyday things. It’s also even more true that we not only remember but also hold on to the very good, happy things that happen to us. We want to remember things that made us feel good and happy because by remembering them we get to experience them again. This is why in the classroom we want to always

create positive experiences for our students. Create a meaningful context for what you want to teach. Make everyone feel good about what they are doing. Smile and make others smile as well.

 5.  Praise should be more than just words.

Everyone likes to be praised but simply saying good job or well done is not enough. Praise needs to be accompanied by useful feedback on how to move forward. This is why I like the idea of medal + mission.  Handing out medals is praise. Giving students feedback that allows them to see how they can become even better is the mission. As they work to achieve a goal or complete a project, students will see the results so you don’t really need to say too much — just enough to be encouraging while helping them keep the mission in mind.

 6.     See how surpr@ise works when you step back.

As your students work, step back far enough to allow them room to be creative and do things in their own way.  Don’t worry. You’re not about  to lose control in your classroom. If you include them in the planning and stay involved by empowering and encouraging them, then follow the medal + mission model of providing feedback as students work, they will very likely end up surpr@ising you with results better than you even expected.

This pretty much sums up my basic ideas about surpr@ise one year after I first came upon the idea. So far it’s been a really useful framework for me to think about teaching and learning. Still, like with any idea, it continues to change as I do and as more teachers share their ideas with me about surpr@ise in their own classrooms. If any of this resonates with you, I’d love to know about it and share ideas.

“Stay committed to your decisions,

but stay flexible in your approach.”  

 ps:  In November, I’ll be talking with teachers about surpr@ise at TESOL France and then giving a Pecha Kucha about creating surpr@ising environments in the classroom in Tokyo at the JALT (Japan Association of Language Teachers) Conference.

Last few months I have been truly impressed by the project that will surely  influence and maybe even change the education of teachers. I know many readers of my blog know exactly what I am talking about and in case you don’t, please visit http://itdi.pro/  and feel free to ask anything else you are interested in as everyone is welcome to join this great community of teachers who care and believe in change and in education.

Anyway, what I would like to write today about is the way this inspired me to change the traditional “holiday” project works and try the similar structure (iTDi is a course for teachers by teachers) with students.

Every single year we are supposed to work on projects with our students before holidays such as Halloween, Christmas or Easter but somehow every year all the resources are more or less the same. Well, of course they are! Is there anything new they could write about those holidays?

I tried something else (though surely not groundbreaking!).

I empowered my students, stepped back and let them choose what could be the best for other students.

Their task was: Here are a bunch of words related to Halloween. How would you teach them to younger students?

They could use colours or just write, they worked in small groups of three and the result was amazing as always when I trust in their abilities and encourage them a bit. Just note – my students are 14-15 and pre-intermediate level so please forgive their mistakes.

If you like their work, feel free to use them with your students . They would be proud to know that!

Happy Halloween!

One of my dreams came true this summer. I always wanted to teach English in English-speaking country and even though I always knew it’s not easy to get a job as an English language teacher for a non-native speaker there, I tried this year (many thanks to my dear friend and a great teacher Ania Kozicka for support and encouragement and David Meddows DOS for trust in me and my abilities) and was thrilled to find out they offered me an interview and later even the position of a teacher in summer school. However, I fully realized what it all means, to teach English in summer school, sometime in the middle of the summer. Honestly, a few weeks before I left for the UK, I was pretty much nervous and even insecure whether I meet their as well as my expectations.

I loved that summer and I learned so much about myself and teaching!

The whole experience was pretty challenging and demanding but I am grateful for it as a teacher as well as a learner.

Before I will share what I learned about teaching and learning during summer, let me introduce my classes a bit. I was teaching 5 lessons a day and had 10-12 students in a class. Students were from different countries (Italy, Spain, Mexico, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, France, Ukraine) and aged between 8 to 17. Of course they were divided into classes according to level and age but as you can imagine it’s not always so easy.

  1.  Is that Dogme teaching? (I am still not sure what it is J)

In fact, it was my very first experience with teaching little kids and with no chance to use their own language for either giving instructions or explanations. With class full of kids from different countries and cultures, you need to be careful with the choice of activities and course of the actions. I learned that some kids love learning and working in groups while others are individuals. I learned that there are kids who love presenting their work to others and kids who are happier with writing their opinions down. I learned that no matter what country or culture they come from, they love sharing with others about the things are know a lot about. So it made me think and I did my best to use that during lessons – their strengths, preferences and previous knowledge.

2.     Take away value – projects

I have never done so many projects with my kids as this summer. There were moments when the project work was planned and perfectly followed what had been learned before as well as moments when I decided to do some project in the middle of the lesson. We worked on newspapers but in fact the content was so various that it could be also called “the portfolio of my time in summer school”. And it gave each project even greater value. However, the best of all was seeing their faces the day before they left and every one of them got a copy of “newspaper”. They talked about it, proudly showed it to their friends or group leaders and realized the purpose and beauty of their works.

I kind of learned what a project work is about – brainstorming, discussion in groups, sharing information, visual presentation, oral presentation, explaining your opinions or asking additional questions and fun! Moreover, as a teacher you can easily include any grammar practice in the project work so help students realize how grammar works in context.

3.     Dynamics – games and breaks

Kids love structure and surprise at the same time. I did that with short 5-10 minute games I used either at the beginning or anytime during the lesson. They loved to play the games again and again once they learned how the game works. They loved easy though challenging word games and were happy when I announced a short game “break” anytime after some more demanding activity. Moreover, the best about all those games was the fact they wanted to be in charge and choose the words for my “wipe-out” game or hangman. Just give them simple rules and it will be fantastic way to recycle vocabulary from the lesson.

4.     Creativity – haiku

One of them most amazing and surpr@ising moments for me was when one day I took the kids outside and we talked about the things around us and finally we decided to create haikus on what they see and feel around themselves. It was the day when a few new students came and it was their first summer school lesson. Kids have such wonderful ideas and working on something like that you realize how much they perceive the world around them and how beautiful and precise those perceptions are.

5.     Empower your students – wipe out game and editors

As I mentioned earlier, kids love being in charge and even in the position of a teacher. What can I add? Give them this opportunity, step back and let them learn even more from it. We, teachers, were taught that by explaining something you learn and understand better so why not use it in the classroom. Use the classroom dynamics, find out about the strengths of your students and encourage them to come to the front. Firstly I played my wipe out game with me in charge. Then I asked students to come and choose the words and “test” the others, they loved it even more. Firstly, I suggested topics for our newspapers. Later I empowered the public person in the class to be an editor and they all enjoyed it even more. I learned that as a teacher I don’t have to be afraid of losing some control over the actions in the classroom.

So much was already said and mentioned about the power of PLN > it’s your 24/7 virtual staffroom, the people there are friendly, inspiring, encouraging and always ready to help or share. Well, if you are not on Twitter and don’t have your PLN that may seem as a cliche. Though, think about it for a minute! There must be a grain of truth in it if everyone is talking about it all them time!

And what a pleasure it is to meet them in person at the conference and find out that they really are so kind and lovely!

Tara Benwell is an important member of my PLN and now, after IATEFL 2011, I can say my very good friend.  She is funny, creative and full of positive energy. Lovely person you want to have in your PLN > @tarabenwell.

She does an amazing job on http://my.englishclub.com/ > site for teachers and students from any part of the world to learn and share together.

And before you will learn more about her from the answers (on the questions we all agreed on), here is a short animoto video I did for her > some of her pleasures and joy along with the photo of us from IATEFL this year (well, that could be a hint when you want to please her a bit ).

Dear Tara, keep smiling and shining!

Tara and her little pleasures

1) If your students were to label you with 3 adjectives, what might they be?

I went through my MyEC wall to search for some of the nice comments that English learners have written on my page. I think what they appreciate most is that I let them into my life. I hope they consider me to be positive, approachable, and dedicated to helping them love the English language.

2) What would we find in your refrigerator right now?

My fridge is a bit of a disaster right now. There is a tub of pineapple that my hubby cut up last week for our “new table” nacho party (we didn’t touch it), plus a bag of sliced pineapple that he cut up this weekend (Do I sound annoyed?). You’ll also find some lactose free milk for my son, and some mango chipotle salad dressing that we are currently using as marinade for everything now that it’s BBQ season here in Ontario.

3) If you weren’t a teacher, what might your profession be?

I’ve always wanted to be a librarian. When I was a child, playing library was my favourite game. All of my books had pretend library cards in them. Last year my seven-year-old daughter Jackson and I had a sleepover at our local library. It was a dream come true! I applied to do my Masters in Library Science after I graduated from U of T, but was told that I was one credit short of the requirements. Instead of waiting a semester and taking the extra credit (which I swore I didn’t need) I moved across the country to BC where I met my husband, became an English teacher, and started a family. I still think about going back to do my masters, but the thought of being a student again scares me a little now that my kids are in school. For now I’m content working in the ESL-Library.

4) What do you find most difficult about the teaching profession, or What has been your most difficult class as a teacher?

The most difficult thing about teaching is convincing English learners that learning a language is a lifelong challenge no matter what level they are. Many have unrealistic expectations and they want to know a secret to learning English quickly. My best piece of advice is always for them to take baby steps.

5) What was the last book/movie you read/saw, and what have you seen/read way too many times?

The last book I read was Meghan O-Rourke’s “The Long Goodbye“. I bought the audiobook version after reading a review that said it was a memoir written by a writer who lost her mother to cancer on Christmas Day. I lost my mother to leukemia on Christmas Day ten years ago, and I also wrote a memoir about it. Finding Meghan’s book proved to me that if you don’t do something that you feel called to do (such as polish and publish that book you wrote), someone else will. I finished listening to “The Long Goodbye” last night while I painted an old computer desk. I tweeted the writer as soon as I was finished, and wrote a review on Amazon. The book was an absolute treasure; the writer a genius. I love how social media has made it so easy to correspond with authors.

The movie I’ve seen way too many times is Top Gun. I have a new excuse to watch it again, because my four-year-old son Joey is obsessed with planes. We fast forward some parts, though he enjoys the volleyball scene.

Thank you dear Tara!

Slovakia, my little big country is busy and lively these days. The planes from different countries are arriving to Bratislava and Košice, you can hear people talking about the same thing on the bus, in shops or streets and Slovak flags are on the cars, windows, everywhere. It’s all because Ice hockey world championship begins this Friday in Slovakia. And I live in one of the cities where it takes place!

Slovakia is really hockey republic. It is probably the most popular sport here (and football of course). And even though it’s truly little country, we won the championship in 2002.  This year it’s our turn to organise the championship in our country and of course, we aim to win again.

I have also prepared a short lesson plan for my students to bring this topic to classroom as I am sure my students will be more than happy to talk about it even in the school!

You can try it with your students and I will give give you further information if you do.

Even if you don’t plan to use this topic with your students, you may want to try out my little chalenge. Look at the word cloud and come up with the story from my life > one of the most important stories in my life! You can ask Y/N questions.

Ice hockey championship 2011

Official trailer IIHF 2011 Official trailer IIHF 2011

The first workshop I attended was Ceri Jones’s Unleashing the power of images.

From that time on, I took pictures of shadows, close ups and absolutely anything that could lead to further use and discussion in classroom. What I learned is that you don’t need technology in your classroom to use images with your students. You can use their own memories through mental images – what a great idea. You can also use the images of the places your students are familiar with and don’t be afraid to use only fragments of the places (let them visualize the rest of the place, time, people and atmosphere). Help your students speak confidently about the places and things they know and include all of the senses when talking about it.

This is the picture of Tara’s book and the shadow of my hand. What is the story behind the picture?

Use all the senses to describe familiar places.

The next session that gave new perspective to my teaching was Jamie Keddie’s Authenticity trap.

Go off the piste when you are teaching and use authentic materials but choose carefully what is authentic and what purpose it serves in your classroom.

Ken Wilson also mentioned that we should be careful when working with course books because not everything there is meaningful and useful for the students and serves as a source of further discussion, collaboration and motivation > Do you want to read about full English breakfast or the future menu consisting of really nutritious and tasty insects?! So try authentic materials, play with them but always keep in mind why you are using them and how your students can benefit from them.

I was surprised and pleased that I learned many useful and interesting ways of using mobile phones with classroom at Shelly Terrell’s workshop. Do your students have smart phones? Let them use the applications while learning. It’s the cheapest technology you can bring to classroom. And in case you or your students don’t have ones, use their mobile phones to record their voices, interview each other, take pictures or any other collaboration. It’s fun!

Shelly’s favourite app called Mouth Off!

Russell Stannard, our Jing King, was also talking about super easy to use web applications and websites and he again proved that everyone can use them and there is really nothing to be worried about. He showed us great tool called Word magnets for which you don’t even need internet connection! Just be creative, playful and make your teaching (and your students’ learning) motivating, enjoyable and appropriate for the 21^st century.

David Warr showed us his brilliant idea of word planting and many ways of using and playing with them in the classroom. And I thought that it’s pity I am not a student anymore when there are such incredible things to use. And we’ve also learned Swahili language > using word plants, so nice!

Using word plants gives you and your students opportunity to remember phrases in chunks!

Sue Lyon Jones also asked in her talk why the teachers are so afraid of using technology and what’s the big deal when there is always plan B! Anyway, it’s just technology, it should serve us and not vice versa. Go and give it a try.

And then I heard some brilliant ideas on improving students’ writing through reading from Cecilia Coelho. We can help our students with writing by using storm writings or their supporting their imagination when describing characters in details that were not covered in the book. And you can enrich the project by using wallwisher notes where students can collaborate or even set up the class blog or wiki on the books and writings.

One of the books Cecilia used with her students!

The future of teaching is in technology whether we like it or not (well, I like it and don’t mind learning all the stuff!). We live in the 21^st century when all the kids have their own mobile phones, laptops, iPads and they want to use them. So why not using what they like when they are learning. It’s the most natural way of learning.

In all of the sessions I attended (and mentioned above), technology played significant role whether it was a direct use of it or it was just a medium for something else.

Eric Baber, new IATEFL president, also said that we must embrace the digital age!

And the last but not least I would like to thank OUP team for the opportunity to attend this amazing event and become a member of their social team during the conference. It was lovely to meet all those friendly people who work hard for OUP. My thanks go to Naomi Moir, Shaun Wilden, Dan Bond and Alex Williams and other great people I could meet! Amazing team!

TEACH – TECH  > not a big difference in the spelling but huge difference when they both meet in the classroom!