Blog Challenge: Compare and Contrast Photos

I previously mentioned in my Free iPad Apps for the ELT Classroom post that I used these photos in a recent class, and Brad Patterson's compare and contrast photo blog challenge gives me the opportunity to go into a little bit more depth about how I used them.

Taken from the Guardian eyewitness iPad app

Taken from the Life magazine iPad app

It was the day after the riots in London escalated and became international news. My student (in a one to one class) is an anglophile, having lived in London for a year, so there were was only one topic of conversation in that lesson. She's an intelligent person who is prepared to speak about almost any subject and can really engage with meaty subjects.

The conversation turned from what happened to how and why it happened. In my opinion, these are complex social matters that cannot be discussed glibly and I was delighted that we were able to have such a high level conversation. I made the point that I think there are some serious problems within British society that will take generations to solve, if the population is willing.

Where the photos came in was that I was quickly and vividly able to illustrate my point. The first photo was taken during the riots, a stunning image that captures the intensity of what happened. The second was taken in 1940 as London came under attack during the Second World War. The point I wanted to make with these similar images was that a huge project of rebuilding was undertaken with political consensus after the war, so there is no reason that it couldn't be done again. I think that by using these similar images I was able to reinforce my point without needing to resort to rhetoric or time consuming online research.

The lessons I learned from this were:

•  images can be compared to emphasise arguments, which could be the grounds for an interesting activity in the future.

• we don't always have to think of these resources as the seed of an activity. We can just as easily use them during our natural conversation with the student in all manner of ways (to illustrate, to explain and to refute for example).

• never underestimate the students ability to engage in high order thinking. Their difficulty may be in the ability to express those thoughts, but that doesn't mean they won't surprise you if you give them the opportunity. It also displays how much you respect them as an individual, not just as a student.

• don't be afraid of expressing your own opinions. Obviously you have to be able to read the situation and react sensitively, but in general my students are paying to have lessons with me and if I can, I will be myself. Conflict isn't good, but conversation and the sharing of ideas is always healthy.

You can read plenty more posts in this blog challenge. Go to Brad's original post for links (here).

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A Weekend in Zug

Beautiful Zug

On September 17th I was fortunate enough to attend the English Teachers Association of Switzerland Special Interest Groups Day in gorgeous Zug, just a short train journey from Zurich. Among the many fascinating attendees were Mike Harrison, Ania Musielak and local resident Vicky Loras. As a way of reflecting on our weekend at the conference, we asked each other two questions to answer on our blogs. You can read Mike's answers here, Vicky's here, and my and Ania’s below.

First up, my answers...

Mike’s questions

Did anything surprise you about the conference? What and why/why not?

There were no surprises for me, but since they are not always a good thing, I was pleased about that. I expected a well run, enjoyable conference with great presenters and that’s what I got. The venue was perfect (apart from the lack of wifi!) and the whole event was very well put together.

Tell us one interesting thing you learnt about teaching.

Only one? I really enjoyed Anthony Gaughan’s demonstration of a simple and effective dogme class. There are a lot of misunderstandings and misrepresentations of what dogme is and how it works, so it was great to see such an excellent example in action. Anthony is an excellent presenter and I would encourage anyone who gets the chance to go and see him.

Despite appearances, Anthony's talk was well attended!

Vicky’s questions

Who did you meet for the first time there?

This was only my third ELT conference, and my second with a PLN, so it was a chance to catch up with some friends I’d met at IATEFL (Ania, Vladka Michalkova) and spend time with people I’d only met briefly (Mike, Ken Wilson, Mike Hogan). It was also great to meet some people for the first time. Vicky is well known to everyone on Twitter and the PLN for her energy and enthusiasm, so it was fantastic to find out she’s just like that in real life! Chuck Sandy’s appearance was also a pleasant surprise as I didn’t know he was going to be there until I saw his Facebook status update that morning. I look forward to seeing him in Paris in November.

What did you like the most about Zug?

It wasn’t the weather! From what I saw of it, Zug is a lovely small town. I just wished I could have stayed there longer, and that the weather had been kinder on the Sunday morning when I had some free time. I’ll have to make up for it next year.

Ania and Vicky enjoying Zug's nightlife

Ania’s questions

Which idea taken from the conference have you already used with your students (or are planning to use)?

It’s tough to choose just one. I’ve been very influenced by Ken’s suggestion that we need to choose more thought provoking and engaging materials for our students to read (see this blog post to learn more). I also really liked some of your (Ania’s) practical suggestions for positive feedback and reinforcement. Using the coloured blocks as a way for the students to subtly express how they’re feeling about the activity is a great idea, and the demonstration of sandwich feedback was very effective. And Mike Hogan showed us that we can use business with beginners, which is something I'll be looking at more closely.

Did you have enough time for networking and meeting friends?

There’s never enough time, is there? But since we got to meet up from Friday night to Sunday morning, I can’t complain! I find that the opportunities to meet up with everyone, which have been facilitated first by Twitter, then by blogs and Facebook, mean that the social aspect of a conference is just as important as the presentations. It all adds to a really rewarding weekend. 

Now it’s Ania’s turn...

Mike’s questions

Did anything surprise you about the conference? What and why/why not?

I was surprised by how friendly and open everybody was. And not at all afraid or shy to participate in the workshops (well, some needed a push, like a bag of candy as a reward, yes James, I’m talking about you ;) ). I also felt very comfortable when it comes to finding my way around the venue – IATEFL Brighton was a huge event and I often got lost!

Tell us one interesting thing you learnt about teaching.

I would have to say that Ken Wilson’s workshop on drama gave me a lot of new ideas.  As I use drama in my classes, I always look for some activities, especially for elementary students, that can help them open up. And Ken proved again that even the most basic conversations (like “What time is it?”) can be delivered with flare and passion. He made us use two (very old) mobile phones and have this exchange in an angry mood, which we later switched to a calm one.

Ania in action.

James’ questions

Apart from giving your own presentations, why did you want to go to the conference?

I love attending conferences as they provide me with so many ideas that I can use in my classes. Observing other teachers motivates me to be a better educator. Conferences are also a wonderful opportunity to talk to friends and share our thoughts about teaching (well, not only teaching ;) ). But I guess I would have never come if it hadn’t been for Vicky and her encouragement and huge help.

Apart from your own presentations , who were you most looking forward to seeing present?

As Vicky Loras, Mike Harrison and Vladka Michalkova were presenting at the same time as me, I couldn’t attend their sessions. But I was really looking forward to seeing Ken’s plenary and his drama workshop (which was amazing, but that is not surprising as he’s the Drama King ;) ). I was also very happy that I managed to attend Anthony Gaughan’s session on recycling vocabulary which showed how to use the language that occurs on the lessons.

Vicky’s questions

Who did you meet for the first time there?

Oh, so many people…But I loved meeting Chuck Sandy and Andreas Grundtvig face to face.

What did you like the most about Zug?

It’s such a wonderful city, I love the lake, the open-air restaurants and the castle in the Old Town. I also liked the chocolate and delicious cakes served in cafes – the apfelstrudel was yummy. Next time I’m going to try the Kirschntorte which is strongly spiked.

Ania, James, Mike and some swans. 

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Free iPad Apps for the ELT Classroom

One of the great things about having an iPad in the classroom is the quick and immediate access it gives you to relevant and authentic content. It’s the perfect tool for a materials light, one to one teacher like me because something interesting can crop up in conversation and I can almost instantaneously bring up a great resource to share with the student.

Recently, a student told me that she was tired of all the lies in the media and I jumped on YouTube and showed her a clip of Bill Hicks talking about “the truth” (she’s the kind of student who’s not offended by Bill Hicks!) Another time she told me that her favourite place in London was Waterloo Bridge, and one minute later she’s listening to Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks.

So it goes without saying that YouTube is an essential app, but since I’ve had my iPad for a couple of months now, I thought I’d compile some of the apps that I’ve found most useful in the classroom, or see potential in although I haven’t had the opportunity to use them so far.

Images

Here I go, banging on about the Guardian again, but their Eyewitness is a beautiful and simple app that have used several times. It’s a ‘picture of the day’ app, so every 24 hours there’s a new sumptuous image that could be used in a variety of ways. The photograph below was very useful after the London riots, especially used in tandem with the next app.

The app from Life Magazine has collections from their extensive photography vaults. It begins with a handy map of the world, so you can check for pictures for the area your students are interested in. You can also search by theme. I used the collection of London during the war photographs to contrast with the riot photo from the Guardian app.

For more images, you could also try the Heritage app for pictures from UNESCO world heritage sites.

News

For news, there are plenty of interesting apps that give you quick and easy access to what is going on the world. BBC News is clear and easy to use, as is the Channel 4 news app. I also like the News360 app because you scroll through news stories by picture alone, and could get the students to choose a story based on nothing other than the image. Newsy is also a good source for up to date content.

Hitpad is another interesting way to access what’s going on in the world. It presents the news in a series of streams (news stories, videos, tweets, photos and web). It’s a great resource for getting information on a topic from a variety of sources.

Video

ShowYou aggregates a variety of different and unusual videos from a range of sources (which you can preset, if you wish). It has an almost unlimited potential to give you something interesting to use with your students. Square Eyes is a similar app.

Videojug specialises in ‘how-to’ videos, so if you’re looking to use an instructional videos, they have a huge selection to choose from.

And of course there is TED, which has two apps, the normal TED app and, especially for learners, a fantastic app with subtitles. The script scrolls at the bottom of the screen, and can be used to control the video. So if the learner wants to go back because they didn’t understand a particular phrase, they just touch that line in the script and the video will jump there. I think it’s pretty obvious how useful that could be.

Business

For business students, you can download copies of the Economist’s Intelligent Life magazine and Entrepreneur magazine for authentic and interesting materials.

Books

If you’re lucky enough to use literature with your students, there are thousands of free books available. However most of them are out of copyright, and being over 80 years, they may present a challenge even for advanced learners. My favourite books app, apart from the native iBooks app, is the aptly named Free Books, which is browsable by topic area, such as epic epics, banned books, ghost stories, pulp and young readers.

Other great book apps include Shakespeare, Poetry (a random poem generator), Stanza, and the British Library’s beautifully presented 19th Century Books app.

Teacher Tools

From a more obvious educational standpoint, there are some lovely whiteboards apps such as Screenchomp, where you can record what you write or draw and send it to the students, and ShowMe, which is very similar. I’m also very curious about SpeedGrader, which seems to allow you manage your classes homework, amongst several other things, but since I’m teaching one to ones at the moment, I haven’t really explored.

Finally, I’m not a fan of using the phonetic chart in my classes, but if you are, then you really need to download Macmillan’s gorgeous app. Not only do you have the chart in your hand, but you have the sounds too, in either British or American English.

I’m always looking for new apps, so if you have any that you’d like to recommend, leave a comment below. Thanks.

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Getting to know you activity: personality test

At this time of year, it seems appropriate to share a ‘getting to know you’ activity. I came across this quickfire interview (for want of a better word) with the singer Emmy the Great in the (occasionally NSFW) music magazine The Stool Pigeon:


I thought it would make an interesting way to introduce yourself and the students to each other at the beginning of a new class. Obviously, you need to make your own (I dream of having a class where I can discuss the relative merits of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy vs Bill Callahan!), but I think it’s easily adaptable for any type of class.

Here’s how I’d use it in my classes:

1) Give the students the following on a handout:


2) Explain that this list is a way for them to find out more information about each others personalities. Write the first line on the board. Explain that on each line there are two choices which could be considered opposites, using the line on the board as an example.

3) Explain that you want to make sure they understand all the choices before they make a decision. Ask them to read them to read the options and discuss any problem vocabulary with a partner. Do a CCQ to make sure they understand exactly what you want them to do, especially since you don’t want them to take the test yet.

4) Get feedback and discuss any new vocabulary as a class. Make sure that you don’t give anything away about your own personality at this point.

5) Now ask them to individually take the personality test, highlighting or underlining the choice they think best reflects their personality.

6) Once they tests are complete, ask them to compare their answers with their partners and discuss their similarities and differences.

7) As a class, get some feedback from the pairs. Ask them to share some of the similarities and differences they found.
8) Ask everyone to stand up. Tell them that you are going to divide the class into two groups, so we can find out more about each other. Choose one of the lines from the test and divide the class into two groups by the preference. For example, you could ask the ‘cat people’ to stand on the left and the ‘dog people’ on the right. Put them into smaller groups if there are too many people on one side, and ask them to discuss why they chose cats over dogs or vice versa.

9) Do this three or four times with different lines from the test.

10) To sum up, ask the class if there was anyone who was in the same group every time, or 3 times.

11) Now ask them students in small groups to create four or five (depending on the size of your class) personality quiz choices to find out more about you. Once they’ve finished, depending on time and the size of your class, go round the class and answer the personality test questions they’ve written for you.


Note: There’s a danger that this part could become too teacher centred (“Now it’s your chance to learn alllllll about me...”), but I think this can be avoided by not spending too much time on it and by doing the activity after they’ve had the chance to speak to each other first. You’ve already shown them that they are the priority. It’s also worth remembering that the students really do want to learn about you, so I think in this early class you can be a bit more egocentric than usual.

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Ideas from the Guardian: Experiences

Generally I’m not in favour of promoting products or companies in my teaching activities, unless I’m trying to engage my students in critically analysing a subject, for example advertisings effect on children. I’m going to make an exception here though because the Guardian is a news organisation that I think deserves any publicity it gets. I believe it through it’s pursuit of quality investigative journalism, it is actively trying to make the world a better place. In this series, I’m going to share some of the ideas that I get from its online content.

I was lucky enough to see Ken Wilson’s talk Ten Things I Think I Know About Teaching and Learning at IATEFL Brighton 2011. One of his ten things was about integrating material into lessons that is more thought provoking and stimulating for your students than what you find in your average coursebook. He used the following fascinating article as an example:

“I've Eaten Only Crisps for the Past 10 Years.”

Here’s an idea for how I would use the article in class.

1) Begin by asking the students to discuss their eating habits with the following questions as prompts:

a) Do you consider yourself to be a healthy eater? Do you think you need to make any improvements in your diet?
b) Do you have any food ‘guilty pleasures’? (Explain if necessary)
c) Is there one food, healthy or unhealthy, that you eat more than any other?

Note: Try to keep the mood light, food can be a serious subject especially if you have students who have or have had difficulties with food in their lives. This can be true of many subjects though, so I wouldn’t hesitate to introduce it.

2) After they’ve finished their discussion, get class feedback by asking students to share some of their perspectives.

3) Tell them they are going to read an article with the headline “I've eaten only crisps for the past 10 years.” After making sure they know what crisps are, ask them to predict, with a partner, what kind of person they think this article is about and write down 5 brief facts about them.

4) After 3 or 4 minute discussion, ask one person from each pair to simultaneously write their five predictions on the board. Hopefully you should have a board covered in weird and wonderful descriptive ideas. Ask the students to read each other ideas and call out any similarities between them.

5) Now it’s reading time. This can be done in a number of ways, such as reading the whole article through once or breaking it down by paragraph and discussing it as you go along. You may want to create skimming and scanning activities. You will presumably also want to deal with vocabulary at some point. The most appropriate way depends on the nature of your class, so that’s up to you.

Note: You may want to edit the text to suit your students. The language may need some adjustment for their level or you may want to edit out some of the more challenging content if you think it’s inappropriate. Personally, I would like to keep it as intact as possible in order to make their experience as authentic as possible, but there may be quite understandable reasons why you want to make some changes.

6) After the main reading activities are complete, refer the students back to the board. Ask them to reflect on what they predicted about the subject of the article now they’ve read it. Were they close, or completely wrong? This should be quite fun as they are probably more likely to be wrong then right.

7) It would be interesting to encourage a more serious discussion after. The students could discuss if they think the woman needs medical or psychological help. They could talk about what they would say to her if she was a friend or family member. The tone of this discussion may need to be carefully managed based on the dynamic and sensitivity of your class.


Hopefully the students will have found this unusual story engaging and thought provoking. The woman’s unorthodox story offers them a chance to read an authentic text, encounter a fascinating life and engage critically with some moral and social issues. Much more valuable than what you usually find in a text book, I’m sure you agree.


You can find other similar articles in the Guardian’s Experiences section, from the fun “I Own a Back To The Future Car” to the probably too challenging “My Husband Died On Our Honeymoon”:

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