TWALT is the future

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:49 am

Great new methodology here.............

www.webspawner.com/users/twaltingwithlondo

coffeedecafe · Post by **coffeedecafe** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:56 am

2 possible activities for TWALT
1.glass lifting exercise, and toast teaching," T' WALTS, in all of their glory>"
2. T'WALTZING MATILDA dance training, complete with cutting in. should be scheduled before activity 1.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 1:52 am

I'd like to sit in on one of your classes, c-d-c. I think I'd see something more interesting than prosaic TWALTing (which according to my philosophy is the natural and most frequent result of a world ruled by Penny Ur and her droogs).

coffeedecafe · Post by **coffeedecafe** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:20 am

oh, that would be hard to do woodcutter, as i am not officially a teacher and many who post here should have their ideas considered superior to mine due to longer experience. i do find dave's esl interesting and may yet take some official position in this very helpful enterprise. as to my twalt level, i believe it is somewhere below 20%.

Londo Molari · Post by **Londo Molari** » Wed May 25, 2005 3:51 pm

Greetings! Glad you liked my new methodology. The only difference between TWALTs and non-TWALTs is that non-TWALTs do all the garbage in class, participating fully, and actually believe it works! Long live the TWA!

joshua2004 · Post by **joshua2004** » Wed May 25, 2005 9:10 pm

Twalt. hahahahahahahaa. that's a classic! Sadly it describes most education today. Have you read "The saber-tooth curriculum?" It also is a scarily realistic paraody of traditional education.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Wed May 25, 2005 10:46 pm

I'm very disappointed in you, Londo. This is a serious discussion forum, for dull teachers.

Coronation Street is on the TV and you are wasting your time here!

Londo Molari · Post by **Londo Molari** » Fri May 27, 2005 1:13 pm

I AM dull. Well, I'm cynical. Does that count?

Yun Zhong Jian · Post by **Yun Zhong Jian** » Sat May 28, 2005 12:26 am

My class was recently monitored by an official from the Ministry of TWALT. During the break he had a go at me for not speaking English! When I defended my position by pointing out that none of my students can understand English, he got a bit agitated. Well for Chinese students that are non English majors, it clearly makes more sense to communicate with them in Chinese.
Having been soundly defeated he then pursued another line of attack accusing me of being nothing more than a glorified 'button pusher'. The class was in a so called state of the art 'labguage lab' with as many buttons to push as there are on Jumbo Jet flight deck.
When I pointed out this was a 'listening' class, he got even more agitated. Then I told him the true story about the Chinese pilot who crashed an MD 80 in 1993. The pilot's last words were: 'What does pull up mean?'
As a marxist ( Karl and Groucho), I am also a cynic. Until the revolution Teachers should use the classroom time to practice speaking the native language of those they are supposed to be teaching. So, if you are in the Middle east for example treat the whole thing as a chance to improve your arabic. If you get abducted by terrorists you can use your knowledge to save your life. Who knows, if you get fluent enough, they might even offer you a new job as interpreter. If you got to Latin America, then of course it's Spanish, and so on.
Viva La Revolucion!

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Sun May 29, 2005 7:02 pm

So, if you are in the Middle east for example treat the whole thing as a chance to improve your arabic. If you get abducted by terrorists you can use your knowledge to save your life.

Very, very bad advice. Firstly you are likely to greatly increase your chances of being abducted in the first place. Westerners learning Arabic, especially non-Moslems, are suspected of being CIA agents.
Secondly if you are abducted and they find you can speak Arabic, it greatly decreases your chances of getting out alive. They reckon you might have picked up too much information. Those kidnapped in Beiruit in the mid 80s did the best they could to hide the fact that they could understand Arabic.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Mon May 30, 2005 12:39 am

Like Londo, I have given a lot of thought to laziness and teaching.

It seems to me that my time is viewed as worthless. I was trained to teach like an enfotainment machine gun, with a level of preparation that could not possibly be maintained in a language-mill school.

I read respectable articles that say things like "my research showed that when students prepared individual folders and had one on one help from the teacher their work improved considerably", as if that was not obvious, and as if this was something I should therefore do, unpaid.

Personally, I try and keep preparation to something of a minimum. I generally use the spare time to become a more aware teacher, and a better educated person. I was attracted to teaching partially for the time you should get to do just that. I only feel marginally ashamed of myself!

Like Yun, I have also failed to stamp on L2 in the class simply because I wanted to hear it! That is naughty though. I will put myself in the corner for a while.

joshua2004 · Post by **joshua2004** » Mon May 30, 2005 2:00 am

I am licensed to teach 3rd through 9th grade in the states and have my masters of education. I felt that my drive and abilities were greater than what modern educational systems allow you to practice. So I started my own school. I can now do things the way I want, the students learn, I can practice Spanish since I am constantly communicating in Spanish to my beginners and intermediates, and the time I spend preparing is worth it since I can use the same lesson for many lessons (TWALT-a-riffic!). I definitely don't think the dream is lost. I believe one can effect positive change in the world through education, just not in the traditional system that exists now. I think the TWALT parody of education is an accurate representation of where our education system can go; a cautionary tale. But, I do believe in a true learning-place where teachers and students are happy to go, people's lives are better for it, and I make some money! (and learn more Spanish)

Londo Molari · Post by **Londo Molari** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 4:57 am

In case you missed it, there is a section on TWALTing in the primary school language classroom added since the original post. It is based upon my years of 'teaching' English at elementary school in Japan. 'Hey, Kids! Let's sing a song, play a game and jump up and down! That way they'll all learn fluent English in no time!' ...In your dreams!

Oops! I shouldn't say things like that on an ESL site should I? After all, CLT is the sine qua non of language teaching methodology and woe betide if you dare even to hint otherwise.

Londo Molari....on the run from the ESL thought gestapo!

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 2:29 am

Well, if you crave an alternative take on things, then I humbly encourage you to read all my old posts.

I was failed on my MA course for suggesting that CLT was not necessarily the way to go about it in Asia. (non-specific! blasphemy!) Well, it was either that or being generally inept at essay writing and not reading enough books, I dunno.

It seems that anyone who undertakes an MA has to define CLT at some point, so since I'm starting a new one I must try again. CLT was a return to the methods long practiced by the sane after a period of warping due to pseudo-science, audio-lingualism etc. Unfortunately, since the return to sanity was fuelled by more pseudo-scientific essays, "communication" was not necessarily preceded by any language input. Doh!

Joshua - would you accept applications from a guy named Revel? I think it is great that you have your own school and can teach in the way that suits you. However, remember that if you employ people and tell them your methodology with too many shining stars in your eyes, TWALTing will surely ensue in your own school..........

coffeedecafe · Post by **coffeedecafe** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 8:40 am

here is a sample of statements that may, or may not be considered proper twalting:

the teacher should never be so intersting, that the students forget what it is they are learning.

groucho marx was the far superior philosopher.

the better the student, and more absorbed the student, the less the teacher should interfere lest the spell should be broken.

the best learning is always fun, and even rote memorization can be enjoyed for the challenge.

if a student will stay motivated and self-educating with lessons once a month, instead of weekly or daily, why not make more per lesson, while taking less funds from each individual?

it may be that brooklyn bridge salesman are a neccessary part of the scheme of the cosmos.

students should be taught to speed read with prizes going to the fastest esl reader. comprehension is compression and only slows you down. honestly now- have you not had a conversation with a very rapid native speaker who was like totally understandable even when somewhat illogical, dude?

is there really any good reason the songs of hiawatha by longfellow should not be the first english that an esl should learn? after all piano players usally have one or two concert pieces practiced up far above their ability to sight read new material. many native speakers study vocabulary just to be erudite.

is the true purpose of crashlanding into a new language, to reach the point of sight reading material, and lip reading individuals?
-i know - too long post-

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