I teach 7th, 10th, 11th and
12th graders in my Advanced English classes. I also teach 7 hours of general English (all
with 7th graders), but I’ve been told not to worry too much about
that part of my work. We’re paid to
teach the ones who want to learn English; the others we’re just
babysitting. Hmm… well… I dunno about
that, but I’ll focus on what I’m told to do.
My 12th graders are really bright, but the class
is quite serious as this might be the last year of school for many of
them. I’ve got to teach them up to
nearly college level English. We don’t
have that much time for fun. My 11th
graders, well, I’m working on them.
There is sort of a bad attitude in the whole classroom. Frankly, with my 7th graders, I
want to pull my hair out sometimes. I’ve
yet to win them over either, but I will do so.
In my first three weeks here, I have yet to bring out my ‘big guns’,
i.e., brought the ukulele to school, but these rowdy boys may be the first to
be ukucated.
The 10th graders are a class I really enjoy as
their English is pretty good. I’ve done
well in keeping their focus through fun activities while also making sure they
learn something every day.
We started a new module this week with the topic of
inventions, and I decided a fun activity would be for them to do a little
writing assignment where they have to describe a new invention. If I had them come up with their own
inventions, it would double the time it would take to do the assignment as it
would take them 20 minutes just to think of something. So, I came up with some silly ideas for new
inventions and had them take a crack at describing and drawing them.
The results were just wonderful. I’ve laughed so hard looking at some of these
(which they did in pairs). The kids had
fun too and gained valuable experience in writing English and speaking it (I
watched which of the pair did the actual writing and had the other one come up
and read it). I wanted to share.
I joked with my Thai teaching assistant that this first
invention may one day replace her. I’m
not sure if that is a teachers’ cane…err… pointer.. or a sword. Look out for ‘The Teaching Robot’.
Now this next one is something that I’m pretty sure already
exists in the current trend towards wearable technology. Me, I haven’t worn a watch since I got a cel
phone (that changed when I came to Thailand and I didn’t have a cel phone for
my first month). This “Camera Watch” is
something I would definitely want one of…
There’s player pianos… Why not an “Automatic Guitar”?
This was my favorite one.
If you care for your feline, buy it what every cat wants and needs: Wings For Cats.
Good work. I bet that class went very quickly for you and the student.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post, more like these please. Love to see the kids work. I just started following your blog and really look forward to it. It looks like you are enjoying your great adventure.
ReplyDeletePut The Cat Here-->
ReplyDeleteI love it. Was very surprised by the spelling "crever." I suppose ZI should not have been. Wish you had been my teacher That exercise sounds like so much fun.
ReplyDeleteBlessings
wow this looks like fun! i have to say that i'm impressed that you thought about giving them the inventions, since the whole purpose of the exercise was to practice english - well done! thanks for sharing. it helps me feel a little close to the place i love.
ReplyDeleteVery amusing inventions. I cannot choose one as the best. The watch with the destroying properties is a must have. Guitar looks funky, they will have to be introduced to your ukelele!
ReplyDeleteFor only 100,000,000 dollars my cat can escape from dogs and catch birds! Truly remarkable. You should get a patent on these inventions before these kids run off with their genius ideas and become millionaires.
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