missteacher

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25 February 2007

This blog will close soon...

As my disk space is full, I´ve decided to open a new website - but a real one, not like a blog except that there will still be a blog section. I will devote an entire section to lesson plans and to links. I think I will also do a "teaching tips" section...
If you have any suggestions about new sections / topics you would like to see, just tell me.

I´m currently building the website. It´s already online actually but there´s nothing on it so I don´t want to give out the URL. I will transfer all the lesson plans on it and will continue the blog too.
I will post the URL as soon as it´s ready - meaning in the next few days, hopefully before next week-end. So keep checking!

11:26 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: new website about teaching

17 February 2007

A teacher's blog has just ended

I know my disk space is full and that I should seriously think about opening my website but I still want to post this note, an important one for me.
I was reading a teacher's blog for some time (it's in my list on the left). He was a maths teacher in a very difficult area. His school was on the verge of anarchy; many things were happening and he was telling how difficult it was. Apparently, his blog and identity were discovered by his hierarchy. The blog has been closed and his future is now uncertain.
I just wanted to give all my support to him. That should make us all think a bit more before posting. How sad!
Have a look here.

10:22 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this | Tags: banning of a blog

13 February 2007

My disk space is full !!!!

That came quicker than I thought. It's because I started to upload my lesson plans and I've now used nearly all my disk space. :-(
What am I supposed to do? Delete the files? the pictures? I don't want to ! I still want to share my documents and my work. I don't want to change the blog, I like it that way!!!!

I've just realized that a blog is maybe not the right "format" to do what I want to do. Or I have to upgrade the blog (to 250MB disk space) and give up the free version. Or maybe I should just open a website.
Or I just create another blog but soon I'll be faced to the same problem and I can't open blogs over and over again.

I'm new with this kind of problem so if you have any suggestions, I would be glad to read them. Are there any good offers on the market for space ? All I need is space basically to upload my lesson plans.

Thanks for your help.

19:31 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: limited disk space

12 February 2007

A good diet - a lesson plan

With my lower intermediate level, I chose to tackle the topic of food and diet to introduce MUST/MUSTN'T.
The idea came up thanks to a dialogue I found in a French school book (Enjoy 6è- éditions DIDIER). The dialogue is on page 55. It's a dialogue between a young boy and a vet. The vet is telling what the dog must eat and mustn't eat (because he is too fat).
I introduce the theme thanks to a great article I found in a magazine for learners of English. The references and the sheet are in the attached file.
My sheet (with fat pets on it) had a LOT OF success in class!!!! They loved talking about the images and it was a great way to start the topic.
Then we listened to the dialogue and made a summary. Then I asked them to imagine they wanted to lose weight. They had to tell me what they must do:
I must stop eating.... I must eat more.... I must eat less/fewer... That's when I introduced the concept of countable nouns and non-countable nouns. It went ok.

In the end, I ask them to write a dialogue between a dietetician and a patient, using all the structures and vocabulary we saw.
I'm starting the dialogues this week. Hope it will be fine.

5eme-MUST.pdf

17:26 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: must, mustn't, more, less, fewer, lesson plan, food

08 February 2007

On strike

Today, I was on strike, for the first time in my (short) career. I know what you're gonna say (especially the non-French readers): typically you!!!! French and teacher: on srike!!! You can't do better!
Well, we strike a lot in France, right. Fine. But I don't think that's a problem.
I don't like striking for bad or vaguely known reasons. But this time I had one good reason. The governement wants to change our working conditions. Teachers, according to our minister, should be able to teach two subjetcs. Substitute teachers (like me) should be able to teach all the time in another subject. This is what the new law is saying.
I'm even not talking about suppressed hours and jobs in all the schools around. Less this and less that, let's save money on everything guys and that'll make our kids learn better!!!!

I believe in the value of education. And I believe in my job. I teach English. I studied for this. I passed an difficult state exam for this. I was trained for this. And for nothing else. I'm not able/willing to teach any other subject !
And I believe education should be a priority, not the kind of thing you can think of saving money on.

That's why I went in the streets today.

17:25 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: on strike, politics, teaching another subject

05 February 2007

Super Hero Test

This is a good idea following my lesson plan about super heroes. If you're lucky enough to have a computer room at school, have your pupils take this test (see the link at the bottom).

Your results:

You are Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman 75% You are a beautiful princess with great strength of character. Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test 20:10 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: super hero test School in England, a lesson plan I wanted to talk about cultural matters with my beginner level. It's hard to talk about the anglophone countries at this level because their English is often not complex enough to comprehend such topics as identity, way of life, etc. So you have to start with basics. Some topics are simple enough to be dealt with at a low level, like the theme of school. It allows you to talk about habits (using simple present), about obligations (using must) and vocabulary (subjects, timetable, uniforms, etc). That's why I chose to work on this topic with my beginner level. I propose you a lesson plan with several documents, all of them representing one aspect of the lives of British pupils: the uniform, the dress code, the school system, a typical day at school and the timetable. The goal for the pupils is to create questions to integrate in the next test. I advise you this very good website: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/ Here is the lesson plan: 6e-School_in_England.pdf And the sheets to use with the overhead projector: 6e-transparents.pdf 19:37 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: school in england, lesson plan, the uniform, the dress code, the school system, a typical day at school, the timetable. 03 February 2007 Valentine's Day is coming up! Hi There! Valentine's day is a good opportunity to talk about love with the pupils in a funny way. I chose to do it only with my older pupils (14 year-olds) because I didn't have many ideas for the lower levels. Making cards is fun but I didn't feel like doing it. I find it hard to make the topic linguistically interesting; I mean it's hard to practise the language with such a topic, especially with beginners. There's not much to say. That's why I created a lesson plan for my older pupils, which could also fits High School students. I chose to introduce love with the theme of advice: should / if I were you, I would... Pupils are confronted to love problems which they have to solve. The first one is introduced through an oral comprehension, from this page. You can capture the sound with a software such as audacity. Pupils will have to give advice to Alice, whose heart is broken. Then I chose to work on an extract from "Friends". Did I tell you how much I love the series Friends???? I own the 10 seasons (big fan!) and I find them great to watch and use in class. The situations are often interesting to describe, as well as the themes and the characters' actions. I really would like to work more with Friends, to create lesson plans based on the series, to make a list of all the themes/scenes which are worth using in class. Creating a new blog would be great for that but I'm afraid I just don't have the time. Anyway, Friends are full of scenes about love, argument, cheating, relationships and so on. Take season 3, episode 8 in which Chandler learns that Janice is cheating on him. The episode shows several scenes in which the characters questions their feelings and wonder what to do. Those are perfect scene to ask the pupils: what would you do? What should he do? I then want to finish the lesson plan with dialogues made up by the pupils (see the list of themes in the file) in which they will have to give advice. Here's the lesson plan:3e_LV2_-love_problems.pdf 14:40 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: love, st valentine's day, teaching with friends, should, If I were you, I would 01 February 2007 A Jazz Chant I don't use Jazz Chants usually in my class but I thought this one was good and it fitted perfectly with my lesson plan about simple present. The most famous Jazz Chants are made by Carolyn Graham. I'm not a big fan of Jazz Chants, they are nice to use a couple of times a year but not more, because I think it gets boring in the end. It's better to try other types of songs. They are great for rhythm and intonation! (what our little francophone pupils have trouble with). I propose you some ideas about how to teach this song: Jazz_Chant_exploitation.pdf Here are the lyrics: JAZZ_CHANT.doc And the chant: click on "podcast" otherwise the song is too fast, I don't know why. (for MP3 format, please send an email). A page about Jazz Chants: onestopenglish 17:25 Posted in lesson plans | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: Jazz Chants, carolyn graham, simple present, 6ème