Job Discussion Forums

Sashadroogie · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 10:19 pm Post subject:

If teachers really must engage in this sort of thing, then you might find this of some use:

http://www.amazon.com/Singing-Grammar-Teaching-Cambridge-Collection/dp/0521625424

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:11 am Post subject:

OMG,if teachers must engage in this sort of thing,,,,wtf?
You would think he was suggesting the kids eat doggie do covered in melted chocolate, get a life!
Unlike your suggestion its at least free to try if you feel the need to take a risk, why run the guy and his ideas down, what have you done lately?

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:44 pm Post subject:

Well, I have supplied material, and I haven't misunderstood another poster's comment. What was your contribution to this topic again?

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 7:47 am Post subject:

Yeah, thats right you did, you supplied material in the form of a copy and pasted link, wow that was hard. Pity about all the negativity before that wasn't it?
Me on the other hand?
Well I'm gonna use this stuff, if it falls flat at least I know I have tried to use it, what you gonna do with it?

Sashadroogie · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 8:48 am Post subject:

I've used many songs with Turkish students. And while some of them say they like music, many of them do not see the point of it in a classroom. All too often they see a teacher foisting his musical preferences upon them, with no real learning aim in sight. Just filling time because he is too lazy to plan a 'real' lesson.

If you view someone else sharing their experience as just 'negativity', fair enough. You can go and fall into the same pitfalls as more experienced teachers in your location before you have all you like.

As for the link, the smarter posters will know where to go to download a PDF of the title, once they know the title to look for. True, it is not hard. Simple, when you know how.

So, what did you supply to this thread again? Apart from the attack post.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:25 pm Post subject:

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:47 am Post subject:

Not all books are always available for all teachers everywhere. So it can be useful to have an e-copy available if nothing else is. And then, when your desired book is in stock, you can buy the paper version.

VietCanada · Joined: 30 Nov 2010 Posts: 590

I used to carry books with me but there comes a point where that is simply not a realistic option. If I find a link to dl a book I can assure you I will not do a search for 'title of book" + "I want to pay for it". That's patently absurd. If all links lead to the PDF and a fee well I'll look for the lowest fee of course. Can't beat free if that is an option. It'snot like websites say here is the pirated version to dl. I have no idea whatsoever whether PDFs I've dled are pirated versions or not.

As for singing- that is a valid teaching method. So are role playing and drawing. If you have a class in which every student agrees to a single method then go for it. I don't believe it's wise for a teacher to chose one method and impose it. I do believe that trying to incorporate different methods into a course and focussing on those that achieve results is probably a good idea.

I've had a couple of classes where most students enjoyed writing plays. The others were happy to go along with it. But I've never had a class where everyone wanted to sing all the time.

I had an adult class that expressed an interest in music so I created subtitles for a couple songs they liked. It took a few hours. The students were not interested when I played these at the next lesson.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 4:25 pm Post subject:

Might be worth remembering that not all song-based lessons need to have the students singing. In fact, instrumental works can often be more effective in communicative lessons.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:39 pm Post subject:

Fair enough if you're e.g. with VSO in Outer Mongolia and being paid very little for your efforts, but anybody else (teachers if not schools) could~should be actually purchasing a bit more stuff rather than just pirating it (or is mere kudos enough for the authors to live on?). I don't think anyone would frown at one making scans for one's own convenience (portability) of books one had already purchased, though. And it has to be said that there are some books that ultimately don't have enough valuable content in them to have warranted being published, let alone being purchased much! Oh, and I just thought, a lot of activity books probably allow for a reasonable amount of photocopying anyway (when limited to within the school that purchased an original copy), so maybe a few more copies (albeit pdfs) aren't going to matter too much if they're strictly for personal use.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 9:26 am Post subject:

That is a fair point, Fluffy. But what about countries where there isn't any copyright agreement to begin with? Is it still unethical for teachers to download materials then?

Could be a good topic for a poll...