Teacher Discussion Forums

Thanks Ouyang - I managed to post a diagram on this forum using photobucket. I have been using articles from "Japan Times" , which is by the way an excellent newspaper. I took a headline dealing with the three big automakers and discussed it in class. Regarding the first 2 diagrams - which of the 2 ...

Hi Ouyang, How interesting - I have my beginner Japanese students colour coding tenses in their essays. Along with this they have been identifying the type of verbs involved. Perhaps similar to what Sally Olsen has been doing. When I master the "photobucket" I will post some examples and when I have...

Dear Jotham,
That is such an encouraging reply. A good point about the visually oriented! I will certainly keep you posted.
Jack

Dear Ouyan, Many thanks for your reply. I prepared an interesting Kellogg Reed diagram and scanned it and then tried to paste it to Dave's forum. - to get your response. No good! Would you be so kind as to walk me through pasting a diagram to the forum. I have discovered SenDraw software so I can su...

I have been teaching in Japan for eleven years and love the work but progress is painfully slow and I have used probably every textbook and approach known to man and beast. After a M.Ed(TESOL) I became enthused with some aspects of Systemic Functional Linguistics and have had some interesting and po...

With the young children's class the simple stories have to be explained at first in Japanese. With my two trial lessons this was a simple matter, and afterwards almost all of the class proceeded in English. The literature that you referred to is very similar to that which David Rose sent to me - tog...

I have contributed to this forum over the past few years and here I am again with a new request. Is there anybody out there similarly enthused about the teaching approach used by Prof.David Rose of Sydney University – in particular his work teaching English with Aboriginal children in remote parts o...

I skimmed through the previous very impressive discussion on phonics etc. I am not trying to open this discussion again. I am asking if there is anybody interested, or trying to introduce the method developed by Prof. Rose of Sydney University - the super scaffolding approach he is developing succes...

The following was written by Professor David Rose of Sydney University. I think it sums up really well his SFL approach: "In our functional model, language is a resource for meaning - a multidimensional stratified system. In simple terms a text only makes sense in relation to the cultural context th...

Sally and Iolwhites,
I am not arguing for one way being better - but I am trolling through my online forums to find if there are any teachers - in TEFL - who are using this approach. (In Australia apparently it is being introduced in TESL).

Sally, Wonderful to hear from you again. I haven't seen that 2000 DVD video but undoubtedly it is from the same prof.at the Sydney School. My recent video DVD shows mothers reading to their aboriginal children. The simple stories have to be especially interesting and appealing and they are read agai...

Iolwhites

Prettty obvious one-liner - can't you add a little more!

geordie

There must be a better way of teaching English in Japan - say I after 10 years. I have worked through all the approaches -CLT, task-based etc.etc. bought each promising textbook as it came on the market. Did a Masters in my spare time. Now I am enthused by a Sydney Uni. Prof. who insists on a top-do...

PS Stephen
Re "Barmy" I am off shortly for a holiday with my grown-up children and spouses in Adelaide. Will be joining the "Barmy Army".
John Curran

Sally Thanks for the email contact. I read your report on Register with interest. Unfortunately with my level of students this is not relevant - but personally helpful with my final three units. As mentioned previously I have to keep my private students happy and returning - to maintain my frugal li...