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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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 Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:56 am Post subject: textbook freaks |
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To all you freaks out there with your textbooks, your role plays, idioms for idiots, ect- welcome to the digital age.
Youtube is the future of esl- start using it.
New teachers-please use video.
I was showing a university teacher youtube today and she said "is it free? " Wow just wow, she also said " Wow your 7 year old students sure speak a lot ".
I said thank you and went on to explain why. My students watch and listen to programs they feel interested in and are encouraged to use the words they already know to make up language.
We don't open a textbook even once.
We teach conversational English and it needs other parts of the brain to be stimulated than most esl teachers focus on.
It's the digital age baby - nothing wrong with your textbooks that are like listening to tapes. Tapes are great.
A student tuned in on youtube at home can learn English much faster. Travel around and ask people who learned to speak English well and they will say movies and songs. Ask someone who can't speak and they used books and not many digital aids.
Youtube is the esl teachers buddy.
Does a textbook equal a curriculum ? -hahahahahahahahhahahah. |
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andrewchon
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Location: Back in Oz. Living in ISIS Aust.
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:18 am Post subject: |
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| I agree. I wish I can use more but I haven't figured out how to justify it as 'teaching', yet. |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:36 am Post subject: |
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| To sum up the "digital age of teaching" with Youtube is a bit much. |
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withnail
Joined: 13 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul, South Korea.
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:35 am Post subject: |
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| Show your kids "trunk monkey" on youtube. It'll kill'em, I promise you! |
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AgentM
Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:47 am Post subject: |
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| Do people find that their directors are ok with them showing videos in class? |
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Carla
Joined: 21 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:36 am Post subject: |
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| AgentM wrote: |
| Do people find that their directors are ok with them showing videos in class? |
If your director doesn't like you then they hate you showing videos. They think you are just popping something in instead of doing work, even if you have like question sheets and discussions about it.
If your director does like you, videos every once in a while are ok (depending on the schools curriculum, sometimes very strict) as long as it's not too regular. |
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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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| AgentM wrote: |
| Do people find that their directors are ok with them showing videos in class? |
Using videos and showing videos are two very different things. I use video. Textbook freaks quite often use this as one of their fist lines to defend the " old way" . It is a good sign as resistance is one of the first steps on the path to change.
Rule number 1. You are a conversational English teacher.
Most teachers forget this and hang out in the zone somewhere between grammar teacher and their own English classes the had in school.
You are here to get the students to talk. |
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lifeinkorea
Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: somewhere in China
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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There is a "tune out" switch next to the part of the brain that takes in these tv, video, youtube stuff. As long as you don't "tune out", videos can be great.
I just wasted my weekend tuning out to movies. My whole weight was on the tune out button  |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| The children can watch YouTube on their own time. You are here so they can interact with a native speaker. A Korean teacher can push the play button on a video as easily as you can. |
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Elvis Gratton
Joined: 12 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, since Youtube has made American youth so terribly much smarter I guess it's only logical that the same will happen here too. |
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robot
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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| D.D. wrote: |
| AgentM wrote: |
| Do people find that their directors are ok with them showing videos in class? |
Using videos and showing videos are two very different things. I use video. Textbook freaks quite often use this as one of their fist lines to defend the " old way" . It is a good sign as resistance is one of the first steps on the path to change.
Rule number 1. You are a conversational English teacher.
Most teachers forget this and hang out in the zone somewhere between grammar teacher and their own English classes the had in school.
You are here to get the students to talk. |
You can't get them to talk with books? The only way to interest your students in your lessons is to dazzle them with flashing lights and edutainment?
How does YouTube by itself equal better conversational skill? Sure, there's the listening component, but what about their reading skills? How do they review at home with no books at all? Can they really sit in front of the computer for hours on end learning a language? And as ESL is a business, how can you show the parents their kids are learning, since they'll have no marked-up texts?
Sounds more like the bad idea of an lazy, amateur teacher. I'm all for incorporating technology in class, but there must be a balance.
http://www.bradfox.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/wrong.jpg |
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frankly speaking
Joined: 23 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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I will defend some of the concepts of DD. Multi media does add a lot to a lesson and can engage students unlike other educational tools. However, I am not a conversation teacher and neither should others just be. We are language educators and conversation is only one part.
You are right that EFL isn't like teaching English the way that we were, but it doesn't have to be a goof off class engaging in games and zoning out to the tube 100% of the time.
I don't see what is wrong with using text, since students need to read and write. It is important to encorporate all types of activities and lessons that maximize all learning areas of a student.
I too use a video, or audio or even animation portion to each lesson but it shouldn't be your entire curriculum. Students also need something tactile and interactive. Using a video to inspire a conversation or to model some form of communication is good but a nice paragraph can do that also.
I think the failure with most curriculums is that they favor one thing over another without equal balance. Not every student is a visual learner and therefore videos will often allow them to zone out rather than absorb.
Teaching isn't about absolutes. What you think is working might not be helpful in the long run. Students learn inspite of our best efforts not because of them. |
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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| The children can watch YouTube on their own time. You are here so they can interact with a native speaker. A Korean teacher can push the play button on a video as easily as you can. |
It is not watching youtube- it is using youtube to stimulate conversation. How do you go to such a polar extreme from what was actually talked about? |
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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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| robot wrote: |
| D.D. wrote: |
| AgentM wrote: |
| Do people find that their directors are ok with them showing videos in class? |
Using videos and showing videos are two very different things. I use video. Textbook freaks quite often use this as one of their fist lines to defend the " old way" . It is a good sign as resistance is one of the first steps on the path to change.
Rule number 1. You are a conversational English teacher.
Most teachers forget this and hang out in the zone somewhere between grammar teacher and their own English classes the had in school.
You are here to get the students to talk. |
You can't get them to talk with books? The only way to interest your students in your lessons is to dazzle them with flashing lights and edutainment?
How does YouTube by itself equal better conversational skill? Sure, there's the listening component, but what about their reading skills? How do they review at home with no books at all? Can they really sit in front of the computer for hours on end learning a language? And as ESL is a business, how can you show the parents their kids are learning, since they'll have no marked-up texts?
Sounds more like the bad idea of an lazy, amateur teacher. I'm all for incorporating technology in class, but there must be a balance.
http://www.bradfox.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/wrong.jpg |
It's hard to talk about on a forum but it works much better than textbook lessons. Students are dealing with things that they can see and hear and the interest factor is up 100%. Again why do you go to such negatives as talking about edutainment.
I want to freak when I see teachers putting their students to sleep with repeating drills and role plays that have little have little relationship to real things for the students. Fill in the blank sheets just don't teach how to think and make up your own sentences.
Talking about what is happening in a video does teach students how to converse in a real way. |
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robot
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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| D.D. wrote: |
Again why do you go to such negatives as talking about edutainment.
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Look at the title of your post. Which is addressed to "all you freaks out there". Where do you imagine the negativity started?
Your intentions to make material more revelant are good, but as you state that you haven't once opened a textbook, you're on the other extreme of the boring teachers who rely so much on just textbooks. A centered approach is best. |
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