Tag Archives: motivation

Occupying The ‘Clash-Room’ By Banning Censorship In The Classroom

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Closed For The Duration“Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?”
– Kurt Vonnegut

 

“Fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is the loftiest form of cowardice.”
– Holbrook Jackson

 

Ask yourself the following questions:

  1. How open-minded are you?
  2. What role do you have in terms of choosing material or designing the syllabus?
  3. To what extent do you censor yourself in the classroom?
  4. What sort of topics are you most likely to censor?
  5. Who died and left you free rein to censor anything?
  6. Why are you stunting your students’ growth as individuals in society?

Oh, do I have your attention now? Good! Welcome to the real world and a discussion on banning censorship in the classroom, with a view towards helping you ‘occupy’ your teaching practice.

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Keeping Ahead Of Disruptive Behavior

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One of the jobs teachers have is to foster student participation. After all, ‘class time’ is for students to practice and produce language expression and skills. I’m sure you will agree it’s not for ‘teacher talking time’ (TTT). However, if you find yourself ‘all talked out’ at the end of a lesson, it’s useful to examine whether most of your time is spent explaining things, and how much of your time and effort is spent trying to maintain discipline and interest levels.

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Inspiration from afar from those who play guitar!

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It’s often been said that inspiration can come from the strangest of sources. Some years ago, inspiration for my teaching came in the form of a practical article on methodology titled “99 Ways to PLAY BETTER NOW”. No, it wasn’t an EFL or ESL related article. In fact, it was an article that appeared in ‘Guitar Player‘ magazine (May 2006). The piece was a compilation of tips on “tone, technique and creativity“ passed down by guitar playing idols. You see, one of my colleagues and I play together in a makeshift guitar band, so I’m always on the lookout for interesting articles which will help me be a better guitar virtuoso… not that I have any inclination of giving up my teaching career! Well, at least not yet!

While reading these musical pearls of guitar wisdom, it occurred to me, being the reflective practitioner I am, that there was even some wisdom to be gleaned and applied generally to my teaching practice. So the following, dear colleagues, are some of my abstract connections between the world of guitar playing and the world of teaching. I encourage you all to find your own sources of inspiration from interests or hobbies you enjoy, even if they, at least on the surface, have nothing to do with teaching. After all, what is professional development without personal development and vice versa? And, please remember as always that teaching, like guitar playing, is an art!

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Affect, Effect, Reflect

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ELTvistaNote: The following article has been re-edited from its original form, first published in ELT-Vista in 2005.

As I mentioned in the previous post, this blog has evolved from a magazine I used to publish called ELT-Vista. Now, upon deciding for a name for the publication, I heard that Microsoft had announced that their new, though eventually ill-fated, PC operating system would be named Windows-Vista. I thought the word ‘vista’ had potential since to me the word had an arts connotation … and obviously some built-in marketing ‘oomph’ compliments of Bill Gates and company!

Before finalizing my decision, I thought I would ask a few students and colleagues to define the word ‘vista’ for me, just to see what images the word conjured for them. For the most part, they suggested the following: a beautiful view that one reflects on from a high place; an outlook or mental view embracing a series of events; a range of exciting or worrying new ideas and possibilities; the possibility or prospect of new experiences or events.

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