To the adult beginner thing

My previous post had been written before a first lesson with an adult beginner (who finally decided to have lessons alone, supposing he was not good/fast enough to couple up with someone who might be more proficient and a better learner (?).

What I had expected turned out to be true. The phase when I try to find out of the learners aims, language learning history, somewhat of learning styles or attitudes and the length of time they can devote to learning English a day was 45 minutes!

Why?
Do you know why? It was all self-criticism, he told me repeatedly how slow he was, how old his brain was at his age (born in the same year as me, dammit!), how much worse men are at learning languages and what an anti-talent he was. Should I re-think my ambiguity tolerance mania and pushing learners out of their comfort zone project?

Good start:/

 Ban schools! Or someone please tell all the teachers that making sweeping judgements about their students abilities may turn into to self-fulfilling prophecies, hence this is NOT a valid tool!! Grrrr!!!

I believe in life on Mars but nay the existence of the zero beginner EFL adult learner

If I were told to play the part of a first lesson adult learner on the stage of an improvisation theatre, I would be sitting in the limelight, saying very bravely:

“I am a total beginner, I have never learned English ... OK, I’ve been taught hahaha ... but my knowledge of the English language is zero ... and I want to start the whole thing from the start line, teach me as if I were a kindergartener ... especially focus on grammar ... I want to start with a clean sheet ... and what book should I buy?”

I rather believe in life on Mars. And I believe there are false beliefs about language learning. It took me long years to recognize that I have two options as an English teacher:

• play the role of the big white magician who knows the secret, does the mambo jumbo, takes revenge on the homework-non-doers
• train learners how to learn and share responsibility

I’m not a good actress, opt for the second one and make sure I take the following precautions :

I usually explain the difference between skill and knowledge. 

I draw the attention to the fact that the (here) so popular grammar-translation method (which they were most probably exposed to as kids) is the one that has proven to be inefficient forthem. I try to convince them that in spite of their memories of the 5th grade Russian teacher this is not necessarily the way to learn English this time.

Typically they agree with me, very happy, enjoy the lesson without the book, but soon the regression comes along: they want a book, they want a text, they want to read and translate it sentence by sentence. Bummer!!

Ok, this is not typical, this is the extreme, but it’s still in the air.

If a student who has just decided to start learning English (again) insists on the clean sheet idea (stupid stage image above), I (pretend to) accept that. But also tell them that they are about to unlearn things that they already know, which requires more effort than making use of them.

Another thing to mention is my view that it is not the lesson where the majority of learning takes place. Somehow I’d like to show them that the ownership over their own learning is a great thing, it is simply a good feeling, rather than a weighty responsibility.

Years have shown that merely sharing my experience about language learning with students is not enough. I’m trying hard to find or device activities to make them feel how it works the more fun and efficient way.

Some rough plans for a first lesson, primarily aiming to bust the clean sheet myth:

Signs

As I  live in a tourist place, many of the signs are written in English.

I spent 15 minutes walking around and taking photos and I made some clippings (http://pic-collage.com/). The game is to guess where the photos were taken. Apart from proving that my learners do know some English, it is a chance for them to pick up names of places, learn or revise prepositions. (I bet they are false beginners :))

The second photo will reveal the places and you never know what else emerges.

Songs

Nearly everyone is exposed to pop music in English and nearly everyone has been a teenager with even more extensive exposure to pop music in English.  

Song lyrics are somewhere in our brains, so let’s get them out. The magic words are “doodle music videos”:

The task here is to collect language from the videos. Watch the videos twice and take notes of language that you understand. Then swap notes, discuss.

TV

This is not to show how much they already know, rather a link to the English speaking world. 

Soap operas and sitcoms are language acquisition boosters, that’s pretty well known. However many learners don’t watch them in English, they find them too fast, too difficult, they feel uneasy when they don’t understand every single word. Or they just don’t like them :))) But those who do usually attribute a huge part of their development to TV shows.

Extra English is a great bait, a sitcom designed for language learners, someone uploaded countless episodes on YouTube :O. I hope my new students will somehow get hooked on the genre by this.

First lesson first homework: watch the first episode and see if you want to watch the others.

If it should turn out to be unpopular, Peppa Pig is still at hand!

Cognates

Any language is a window to another language, L1 as well as a known foreign language. Many people use German here, a knowledge of it may be of some help.http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Transwiki:List_of_German_cognates_with_English

Another piece of homework: choose minimum 7 words worth remembering, check their pronunciation on translate.google.com and see how cool you are with so much you already know in English.

Student Appreciation Week? Hmmm? Hö?

Student Appreciation Week

Emergent language when it's an unplugged huge-egg-lesson with a very young learner

Easter is approaching so why not make a huge paper-mache egg in the 1-2-1 lesson with a very young learner?

One very uncool (and I'm being mild) thing that happened today

Perhaps nothing to do with Mike's challenge, I'm juist a bit upset. Actually furious, literally swearing non-stop.

This is 15th March 19.15 p.m.
Yesterday in the morning hours it started to snow in my tiny country. It all turned into a severe blizzard that took for over 24 hours.More than 10000 people spent the night in cars on the roads. (Some of them are still there.) They were cold, hungry, thirsty and what's probably the worst part, had no idea when they would escape. Rescue professionals were working hard. And thousands of everyday people were ready to help. I saw the thing this morning, I read the news on Facebook and listened to the radio. On Facebook I saw an update by a guy who was stuck in his car, letting us know about a young couple (with a chihuahua) who were giving away food from a giant bag. Guerilla helpers.I thought I could help if there were people in need around here. I wanted to find a map or some practical info on where and how to help, but no use. The websites of the authorities/state services/etc. were just useless or not even working.I spent the morning sharing updates from people who sought help and others who wanted to help. I wished for some central hub for all these, to coordinate it all, finally by the afternoon there was that map. A group of volunteers created a simple Google map to coordinate it, thanks to them, marvellous people. I’m sure there have been examples of human kindness and help in numerous other cases, and I hope finally everyone is fine and I’m happy to know that our society has ample resources of humanity and care. 

The thing that bothers me is that ... I know how fast it can be in the 21st century to connect. I wonder what would have happened if we were more aware of ... that, we had more 21st century skills and tools up our sleeves.
So .. I’m sure those in governmental positions and the relevant offices are very intelligent professionals and they must hold excellent qualifications and certificates with the best grades and stuff.But ... what if that map had been created by those officials who are supposed to be in charge of these matters? Yesterday afternoon let’s say.
They just didn't think of that?



What I’m getting at is ... Do we really need to make kids memorize and regurgitate things at school? Do we really have to tell them what to do step by step, without making them aware why? Shall we go on spoon-feeding them? Isn’t it high time to do a bit more of project work? Problem solving? Creativity? Communication? Collaboration? Collaborative ICT tools? Responsibility? Ownership? Decision making? Setting up priorities? Dealing with unexpected situations? Snow in March? (It wasn’t an earthquake, for God’s sake.) Am I still the weirdo with those video projects? Should I really be entertaining my students and call it motivation? Shouldn't we rather kick their asses to get up and do something ... before LIFE gives that painful kick?


Just asking myself, never mind. Sorry, I’m very pissed off.

Ah, the ill-targeted text from the Ministry of Interior. saying "We're going to help you. Don't leave your car. If you run out of petrol, sit in another vehicle." Sent to ...everyone? I don't even have a car.

Early March Love Story

It all started with these two pre-schoolers, who left their Miss and Mr Potato here in the armchair. 

Two lessons later L arrived (a nine-year-old girl) with a booklet. It had girls and stickers of clothes in it. Obvious, let’s do something about clothes.
Then she spotted the two potatoes....

I took a picture of them and got the ShowMe app and asked her to draw clothes on the potatoes and I recorded a description of their outfits. She also drew a speech bubble in which Mr Potato showed his affection towards Miss P.


-


Then we somehow started to play with Miss and Mr Potato, she was the girl, me the boy.
This was the moment it turned out that Miss P didn’t reciprocate Mr P’s feelings, because she found him too fat.
I thought he could do something about it and suggested the diet and some exercise.
Unfortunately a potato won’t get any slimmer. Then L said this knife thing... And it was inevitable: Mr P had a plastic surgery!
So we recorded this video. L carved the he-potato :)

Then I thought it was time for a bit of reading: while L was doing the first and the third tabs of this and this I wrote the story on sticky notes. 

Then she ordered them to put the story together again. Then we recorded this video and drilled the text a bit. 





Now all the stuff is on her blog and hope she’ll have a look at that.

How will I test her on it? That’s the part that is not exciting at all for me... hmm... suggestions?

Off Facebook day diary

Update 5 / 11.40 PM


One and a half hours to go and I'm back.

True that I haven't read so many websites today, I haven't listened to so much music, I haven't laughed or smiled so much, haven't got so much inspiration and haven't seen so many stunning photos. I haven't been exposed to so many real people's true stories and have't shared moments with so many. But I haven't fallen into the multitask-trap either and I focused more easily. I've been quite productive.

And I think I'm not addicted to social media or FB more closely. I'm addicted to people.

My dilemmas answered? (How I think about them after a day off FB)

Am I so much used to Facebook that I can’t see it’s flip-side?
------What is the flip-side? The articles based on studies and research on FB in mass media? Still can't give a damn, sorry :) Nobody has ever researched my newsfeed, my behaviour and my network :D

Have I been so heavily devoured by social media that I can’t see real life?
------Real life? Life viewed from my own frog-perspective, from which I only see the leg of the table? Is that real life? HAHAHA

Am I an addict? Pathetic? Narcississsiissssiissstic???
-------If I am, I am anyway. Without FB just as much of a moron as with it.


But but .... that is the source of my daily online professional development! Or is it just an illusion?
-------No, not and illusion. Reading is reading and not reading is not reading :)

I’m connected with like-minded “friends from all over the world! Is that all fake?
-------No, still seems real.
Do I really harness Facebook and use it consciously or I'm just driven away by its devil 24/7?
-------I make quite a lot out of it. Now I feel my mission is to drive others away from more manipulative, fake mass media products. This is not about devillishness, it's about angelic qualities :D

What will I refine about my own FB behaviour? 

I won't open all the links to have 47 open but unread tabs per device by the end of teh day.
I won't interrupt myself when cleaning the toilet or mopping the floor just to have a quick look at my newsfeed.
I will poke more people.
I will wish more happy bdays :)
I'll cut down on my in-the-lesson and while-working-on-something FB peeping.
I'll not exclude and use more of other news sources  (Twitter, Scoop.it, RSS)




Update 4 / 5.04 PM

• So in the middle of my Facebook abstinence day I ended up on Twitter :) (I posted this on Twitter and  @michaelegriffin replied, and @abfromz retweeted it XD). Funny, anything I tweet appears on FB, I tweeted the updates here, so I was on FB and I wasn't.
• And I seem to have a potential new FB friend (@michaelegriffin), that shows how much more suitable FB is for me, although I know that those names and tiny avatars are people, FB seems to emphasize the human-like attributes of users (to me).

• And yes. Sometimes .... when my lesson is not so intensive (my student does something I'm not needed for).... yep... I check FB... Now she is doing an activity with her new vocabulary  online :D and I'm writing this now. The latter observation means I'm not a FB addict, I'm just hyperactive. She's doing sooo fine!!! Love that girl :)

• I'm hungry-> I feel I want to see what's going on on FB :))

• Not entirely cut off, chatting with a friend on Skype. Good, good, but I can't see the newsfeed behind tha chatbox.

• And since last night I haven't read a single word about teaching. Ok, get back to Twitter, find something to read. (That is, I'm not a FB addict, I'm an information addict. I could as well be reading Kiskegyed (a boring women's mag in Hungary), aren't I better off with this? ... let's find something .... http://langwitches.org/blog/2013/02/03/ipad-fluency-in-kindergarten/  <--this li="">

• Now I remember a day when I wanted to write something. there was no straight deadline, which always activates my procrastination genes. So I realized I was wasting time on FB instead of writing. Writing something is anyway difficult for me as there is a constant layer of self-doubt under it. So I said no, for an hour I wouldn't use FB! And I didn't. But I noted down each time I wanted to log on. Only the times. In the first half an hour  it was every minute! Then gradually less frequently, finally I managed not to think of opening FB for 17 minutes!! :D That time I wasn't distracted by FB for an hour. Distracted? This is weird! Normally nothing distracts us, it is us, who click there :) I was in control. XD
• Many times people complain that their kids waste time online, a standard reaction is to cut them off the internet totally. I don't know, this is something like chocolate. Of course all the kids would want to eat chocolate all the time, all day, for breakfast too. During our childhood we are not deprived of choc altogether, our parents train us, they (hopefully) tell us about how bad it would be for us to eat choc all the time. Then we grow up, we could eat choc non-stop but we don't. Because we have learned a set of principles and a couple of habits concerning that. While being brought up we CAN eat chocolate, it's not like 18 years no chocolate and then you are liberated! (Similarly) I have/had to teach myself the FB principles and habits, my parents had no chance to do that back in the 70s and 80s :)

• I wonder how many notifications I will have...

• Academic research on FB habits. Does it make sense? Just as much as how to teach young learners. Which young learner? :D ok, there are basics and facts but honestly, as a practising teacher I would say individual differences are huge.
  Like FB habits. And my individual FB habits keep changing as well.
• To know how to improve anything in life you need to reflect. Academic research should be unplugged or what :)) <><><><><>If you want to teach kids the smart use of social media, you should know how they are using it now. Research it. But that makes no sense, that is individual. Rather tell them to observe reflect on what they do, make conclusions and improve habits. 

Update  3 / 11.59 AM

• My colleague  I told about here said she was not interested in the stuff on Facebook. What is that stuff? Is she aware that the "stuff " there is not like the "stuff" on TV, with frequent stupid stuff pushed right into your face. Does she know that Facebook "stuff" (call it content) is customisable by you? Does she know she can have control over that?
• Modes: I've recently discovered my teen students' modes, they operate in different modes. (zombie mode, learning mode, creative mode, good guys, badasses, depending on who they want to please, teachers or peers :))----I wish they were able to switch modes. It seems that they can't really, it's the environment tat serves as a trigger to put them if specific modes. Now I can obviously put myself into and out of FB mode. Good news really, it is important  to be able to put yourself into modes, not to be be susceptible to outside factors that are harmful to your life/progress.
• Self-direction is a skill to be promoted, isn't it? The role of control over your life is crucial. (Part of it is switching modes.) If you have control overt your life... even the illusion of that control leaves you with less fear or stress. As for media,  If you are not capable of controlling what media you digest ... what are you capable of doing then?  To what extent much are you manipulated? How big surface of you is exposed to media, stories, messages effects that have an impact on your life? Can you control that? Do you want to? Are you critical? What sources do you trust? What machineries are you ready to enter and go through? Do they (the designers of those machineries) really know what is good for you? Is it still your life or are you living up to the ideals you are given? TV commercials and soaps?
• I miss good people and  good things and social media, now I feel it. I'm happy I know I can go back tomorrow. Life is great here, no problem, it's warm in here, the snow is nice (bit grey though), I love my students, ... but there's more good in the world that I have no access to at the moment.

• Checking FB too frequently is a bad habit of mine, it's an annoying frequency... now no problem with this, good news, its the question of determination :)
• Doing cleaning: triggers the itch to check FB, checked emails instead and the stats of this blog :)
• I'm hungry for immediate reactions/praise. I might be addicted to people's reactions. Dilemma: am I an attention prostitute? Am I moved entirely by external motivation  of just seeking immediate praise or reaction to my existence :) ? Is it a sin? :) Even in real life I'm a clown...
• Habit revealed: right after my lessson, the moment my student and her mum left I automatically wanted to resort to FB. Is that my home screen? My den? The virtual place I retire to? OK, I've been working for this and this long, now I need a bit of separation from it. FB is my caesura? Now I think I've identified a point where I am  often driven away from my plan and get distracted. This is a typically weak moment (feeling I deserve some goodie, let myself carried away by FB. I think I'll be a more aware and conscious user in the future.

• Bad news: someone has just died in my family. I'm thinking of his son. Terrible, I want to comfort him. I can't of course, just want to do something for him. How I cope with bad things myself,  using FB? I post it (in some likeable format possibly), people react, I feel better. It took me bitter times to learn that I'm completely alone, no matter how good friends I have, I'm alone. Fact. Everyone is alone. You have to do it alone. But you can use help. Thoughts created and posted on FB are my help, these will invite people's thoughts in the form of comments, messages and updates, or other content.
• Now my immediate problem: I've got to let my grandma know about the death of that relative.  I hate this, I don't want to tell her. But I've got to go and tell her. And after that I can't go to FB to get my thoughts driven away from her tears and recollection of all the sorrow we've lived through together during recent years (literally everyone died around us). Poor her ... how can she take this all?
• Dilemma:  Facebook shows me that the world is big , if I have a problem it doesn't mean it has to grow over everything. Having this kind of view on the world gives me the chance to step back and not let myself be buried under adversities and negative feelings OR it's just an escape from the problems. No, that's not a dilemma.  I solve the problems after all. It's just the explanatory style that is different.

 Update 2 / 8.29 AM:

• Revelation: on Facebook we often talk about Facebook. There is this Facebook meta-language.
• Whose birthday is it? What happened at night on other continents? Now I realize that every day FB reminds me that it is someone's birthday. It's always a birthday! And FB made me understand that the earth is a globe and there is always someone awake. Sure I learned that at school but had never really felt before chatting with Rose in Brazil and Chuck in Japan at the same time. He getting up, Rose having the day, me going to bed.
• I woke up, lucky I remembered it was the no FB day, and I missed the updates of that certain page, tech in education, don't even remember the name, can't find it now so easily, but I like the morning tech goodies ... So I'm already missing the RSS feed/newsreader function of FB.
• And I fell back to sleep. An extra hour.
• I have this feeling that I will be more focused throughout the day today doing anything: the dishes, the laundry, cleaning, etc. now that I won't check the news on FB every ... 2 minutes. We'll see.
• It's snowing quite strangely... horizontally. Normally I'd post it on FB.

Update 1 / 1:20 AM:
Uh! It WAS difficult to switch FB off.
Hey, wait! Am I not updating my status?????http://rbie.blogspot.hu/2013/02/have-myself-merry-little-off-facebook.html