Beer and English

[ajhoge]

On the subject of the future of classroom teaching.... here's an idea.

A school-bar combination (for adults obviously). God, where is it written that a school must be a stuffy, bleak, dehumanized warehouse? Are flourescent lights, cramped desks, tan carpet, and whiteboards mandated by the UN?

If I had the money and the lifestyle (ie, I could stay in one place more than 2 years running) here's what Id do: Id open a TESOL pub. The "school" would completely capture the pub vibe: hardwood bar and decor, dart board, intimate corners with track lighting, etc.

The TESOL pub would serve good beer and a small selection of pub snacks (pub grub). Students and teachers would sit at tables in the bar during "class". [In fact, there's a study that shows that one drink improves language acquisition in most participants

See http://sdkrashen.com, http://www.effortlessacquisition.blogspot.com

[strider]

What a great idea!

(the drinks would be free for teachers, obviously...?)

[LarryLatham]

...better have cots in the back room for teachers too--especially those with a full schedule of 8 "hours" a day!

Larry Latham

[joshua2004]

I have heard of someone doing something like that, I think it was in China. I think there is a market for it, granted not the whole market. But definitely a market. The trick would be to offer perhaps more than just conversational English, maybe movies?

[Sally Olsen]

I taught in a coffee house atmosphere very similar to this in Japan but without the alcohol. The teachers and students could have coffee and cakes while having a class. It was a great atmosphere as the mostly ladies liked to go out to the coffee house during the afternoon. It is often the only place they smoke. It was a tiny bit hard when there were three or four teachers in the room to hear what was going on at your table but it did add to the atmosphere and teachers were in a tiny bit of a competitive situation to keep their students interested as you would hear one table or another burst into laughter and have to keep up. It was not a stressful competition though and kept us on our toes. We also had school parties there with games for the whole group and goodies that were a lot of fun at the end of the year or major holidays. We had sort of booths on wheels so the noise was cut down a bit and something on the roof to reflect the sound. I think it was the nicest place that I taught and I still have friends I made in those classes visiting me in Canada. The classes lasted an hour. We did have a rest room for the teachers and there was a TV in the lobby permanently tuned to CNN with subtitles so that the students who were waiting could listen to English. It seemed to be successful for the owner and was always full as people could see who was coming to lessons and I think a few high profile clients spurred the rest to sign up. Mrs. Yakimoto is taking English lessons at the coffee house school, so I guess I should sign up, kind of thing. I would imagine the same thing would be true of the pub but you would get more businessmen and perhaps learn a less formal style of Englsh which they would need with their business partners. Depending where you are you might have to provide an escort home for the women teachers though.

[LarryLatham]

I guess this is where we have a (show and) tell about what we used to do and where we've been.

In Taipei, I often taught evening classes (daytimes were normally one-on-one, small groups of 2 or 3, or company sponsored classes) running from about 6:00 to 9:00. Sometimes (maybe once a month), I invited my students to join me at a nearby coffee house for java and conversation after class. Usually about 2/3 of the class took up the offer and so about a dozen of us would descend upon the place, find a big table (usually not a problem at that time of night) and just gab and guzzle. It was no class, as they had just had three hours of that, where I worked them pretty hard. Most of those who attended seemed to enjoy the opportunity to "just talk" with a native speaker. I offered no 'corrections' and no 'explanations', although when I did not understand something, I inquired for clarification. In this setting, I was "Larry" and not "lao-shi" (teacher).

Whether this accreted to their knowledge or skills in English, I cannot say. But I enjoyed the experience, and so did they. Perhaps that's reason enough for this kind of thing. As with Sally, some of those students remain in contact with me, quite a few years later. (Taipei, by the way, is generally quite safe at night, even for women alone walking the streets, or on busses. Taking taxi's is sometimes a different matter.)

Larry Latham

[Andrew Patterson]

While I was in Istanbul there were a couple of teachers who would actually hold private lessons in some of the pubs - books, paper and all. They were such regular customers that the management didn't mind. I wasn't one of them I hasten to add.

I don't know if that still goes on. Give me a private message if you want to know which pubs.

[aschwar]

I visited an "English Cafe" in Wuhan, China where they sold coffee and taught english lessons. I heard their was also a "English School" that served beer elsewhere in town.