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22 December 2006
MERRY CHRISTMAS
I won't be able to blog for some days, so I wanted to wish you all a :
in advance! :-)
Talk to you soon.
19:49 Posted in missteacher's private life | Permalink | Comments (8) | Email this | Tags: merry christmas
21 December 2006
Just a note
I've noticed that traffic on the blog has been increasing (nearly doubled) since I started to post lesson plans. Well, I'm happy that people are interested. But just a couple of remarks:
- if you download files and actually use the lesson plans, some feedback would be great ! Tell me how it went and how your pupils liked it.
- if you post the files or their content on your website (or make them public in any other way), please quote your source. Put my blog's name on the file or below, I would really appreciate.
Most of the files are a product of my work, and not the product of anyone else.
So please do not make people believe they are from someone else. Thanks a lot. :-)
19:40 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
An advertisement
Another lesson plan today ! Well, don't be too enthusiastic, I don't have that many to share !!
Today is a lesson plan I did last year when I was teaching in High School. I liked teaching in High School because the range of possible subects is much wider than in secondary school. But I LOOOOVE teaching in secondary school level. The kids are simply great.
Anyway.
This lesson plan is about advertisement. I chose one particularly ad, which I found really funny and surprising.
This lesson plan not in conformity to the European Framework of Language Teaching since I was not as well trained last year as I am today.
Ads are great to study with the pupils because they are short, often well-made and the level of English is usually adapted to teenagers. Choose funny ads, your pupils will love them. Go a bit beyond the first level of comprehension and make them talk about the way the ad is made and for which purpose. Try to make them aware of the power of advertisement (spoof ads are good for that).
Here is the lesson plan: ad_lesson_plan_-_missteacher.pdf
The ad (a Toyota ad): Toyota_VIOS.mpeg
A great French website to find ads: http://www.pubstv.com/advert/pays-a-a/pub.html
Spoof ads: http://adbusters.org/spoofads/index.php
Other ads to download (English website): http://www.absolutelyandy.com/tvadverts/
To watch the video without (or before) downloading:
Don't hesitate to share your links and to comment.
19:30 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: ads, toyota ad, spoof ads, teaching with advertisements
17 December 2006
Lesson plan: coming back from a trip
It's important to take every opportunity to make the pupils talk about their personal experiences. Trips are great for that. If they're gone on a trip with the school (it may be any kind of trip), don't hesistate to talk about it in class - before or after, or both.
Before the trip, you can talk in the future tense: make them talk about their planning : what they're going to do, etc.
When they come back, use the preterit tense and make them talk about what they liked/didn't like. They will have a lot to say !
You can have them work on a summary of their trip or a kind of journal.
I chose to have my 3ème (learning english for 2 years) write a thank you note to their penpals and their family. They spent 10 days in a German family so it's a good opportunity to write a small letter and teach them:
-how to write a letter
-how to say thank you
-how to say what you liked
The fact that it's a german family doesn't really matter. Some of them spoke English anyway during their trip. The most important thing is that this task is real and it will therefore make sense for them.
Here is the lesson plan (in French):3eme-back_from_a_trip.pdf
20:00 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: thank you note, trip, opportunity, writing a letter, saying thank you, saying what you liked
15 December 2006
100th comment
The 100th comment was posted today. Thanks to Charlottina and the rest of you. :-)
20:36 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
13 December 2006
Lesson plan: It's (almost) Christmas !
I started typing my lessons on the computer so that I'll be able to share them online. So I begin today with two lesson plans about Christmas for young learners of English (level A1-A2 of the European Common Framework).
I'm sorry to say that they are in French and therefore not usable for anglophone teachers who may have foreign pupils (learning english as a second language). You can still download the document and just use the pictures / the english parts, etc.
I hope I'll be able to share more lesson plans with you (and that other people will share lesson plans with us!).
Don't hesitate to tell me what you think about it.
Here is the first lesson (corresponding to "6ème" form):6eme-Xmas.pdf
I'm giving you external links for the other documents because they are too big for the blog. In any case, don't forget to scroll down the page and click on "download for free with filefactoy basic". Then, on the next page, scroll down again and click on "begin your download".
The images (coming from http://www.tiboo.com/tibooparc/jeux/livre_noel.swf): http://www.filefactory.com/file/ad275e/
The song (coming from the British council website):http://www.filefactory.com/file/b5058b/
Original page: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-santa.htm
the vocabulary sheet (I didn't do it myself but I unfortunately don't have the references - please if you know them, tell me): christmas.pdf
Another lesson plan (corresponding to "5ème" form): Xmas-_5eme.pdf
the vocabulary sheet going with it: Xmas_traditions_matching.pdf
13:40 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: lesson plans; christmas, 6ème, 5ème
03 December 2006
School Books
I don't like school books in general, and particularly the French school books for learners of English. They're nearly all bad and I've got trouble using them. I usually end up making up my own lesson plan out of materials I found here and there (mainly the internet though). It takes time but it is also kind of entertaining!
And the funny thing is that I've been proposed lately to participate in the improvement of an existing school book, published by one of the main school publishers in France.
Well, they contacted ME because I had sent them a piece of my work just to know if they were interested in it. They were not but were interested in my ideas and my conception of teaching.
So I'm in charge of re-reading chapters, making improvements, indicating mistakes, etc.
This is actually very interesting; I really like it. (And sure I'll be paid for all that).
I start to think it might be a second career for me. Let's face it, I'm not going to teach for 40 years. I mean... I don't feel I can; it's too demanding. But working for school books, why not ?
I've accepted this job - although it's not very well paid- just because I think it can be valuable on my CV and that it may be useful one day or that it is PERHAPS a way to enter this unknown but fascinating world of publishing.
We'll see what comes out of it.
But I have to say the authors' job is kind of... bad! I've been correcting some serious mistakes and arguing about the whole conception of chapters!!!
17:04 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (5) | Email this | Tags: publishing; school books; new career