ELTeaCH

I got asked to write an article for Praxis Grundschule in German but then they changed their minds about the whole edition!! So I will simply paste it here for anyone looking for some useful ideas!! PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS IS UNEDITED!! Fuzzy, was he? Clear as mud. “What’s this supposed to be? The picture is not clear!” Is there any value in poor-quality or misleading pictures in young-learners’ classroom? A slight mistake in teaching has now turned into a principle: the worse the picture is, the more language learners produce – children talk and think about it. The following article will provide you with a concrete example of how as well as some other ideas for communicative activities based on images. The value of good pictures and their use in scaffolding learners’ understanding of words and concepts is clearly mentioned in many a textbook and through basic searches on the topic. However, adding the word “fuzzy” or “unclear” to the word “picture” or “image” does not turn up any...

 I am too lazy to update my website, so I will put my workshop for January 14 and 18 here!  Speaking Activities – Computer Resources   http://www.michellehenry.fr/pronounce.htm --> spend time getting ideas for teaching and have fun practicing your own English. Go to http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/ and search for “Pron Pal”. Install the ‘app’ and play around with it. Go to http://americanenglish.state.gov/trace-effects . Play the Trace Effects game. How might your learners use this? ABC Teach ( http://www.abcteach.com ); Login:laura.buechel@phzh.ch; Password: cook90. Search for words such as word walls, bingo (sounds bingo ), …. a topic you’ll teach in the near future Bogglesworldesl ( http://bogglesworldesl.com ) (CAREFUL!! No WWW!!) Look around everywhere (also in the adults section). Also use the site search to search for things like ‘pronunciation’ or a topic. Check out http://www.epals.com/ - what sorts of things make sense her...

In an attempt to put all the cool and interesting things we discuss and stumble upon in our family into some sort of structure, I will reopen my blog! Last night we discussed the following NPR article: Struggle For Smarts? How Eastern And Western Cultures Tackle Learning and pondered the following points. 1) Do our own children have enough perseverance? 2) Did the teacher judge the moment in that he knew that the child would succeed by the end of the lesson? What would have happened if that child had NOT succeeded? 3) Where have our own children had these "AHA" moments and been publicly praised? 4) What can we take on from other countries into our existing behaviors? And much more.... I read about a really cool app for English language learners - useful for Swiss kids : English Train by Kaplan I saw this teacher's website and found it really cool: http://bossysmile.wordpress.com/resources/images/traffic-lights/ And here is a picture of Zoe (toothless) and A...

We are currently in the US. If you wish to follow our travels and thoughts, you can go here: Buechel Family Travel Blog http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/laura.buechel/1/tpod.html

Sonnenaufgang in der öden Wüste von Rats County. Ein neuer Tag beginnt. Ein neuer Tag voller ungesühnter Gewalttaten und Gaunereien, denn die Justiz von Rats City hat die Kontrolle über das Gesindel und die allgegenwärtigen Desperados längst aufgegeben. Der Sheriff will eben eine neue Flasche Whisky aus dem Keller holen, um den Tag möglichst schmerzfrei anzutreten, da blitzt eine Idee durch sein ansonsten vernebeltes Gehirn. Statt in den Keller steigt er in den Estrich und schnappt sich die Kiste mit den verstaubten Sternen. Er geht damit von Haus zu Haus, schreckt jeden ihm bekannten rechtschaffenen Bürger, und ja sogar die rechtschaffenen Bürgerinnen aus dem Schlaf und steckt den Verduzten einen Stern ans Pyjama. „Ich ernenne dich hiermit zum Deputy von Rats County. Wach auf, zieh dich an und geh die Stadt säubern!“ Die folgenden Jahre brachten viel harte Arbeit. Die Koordination der Hilfssheriffe verlief nicht immer reibungslos, und viele Male musste der Sheriff in letzter Sekunde u...

Today I taught a group of students at the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich). I corrected the following utterances: “What means ‘intelligible’?” (should be “What DOES ‘intelligible’ mean?”) “Last year I have gone there, it was great!” (should be: “Last year I WENT there…”) [eye roll] How many times I have corrected these ‘miscues’ or ‘mistakes’? However, did these utterances hinder the students’ ability to communicate? No! Did the students know the rule? Yes! Were they able to correct themselves? Yes! Did they say it incorrectly again after being corrected, made to repeat the expression correctly and write it down to remember? Yes!! What does this example show us? It shows that language is not learned in isolated moments of “learning the present perfect”. It shows us that noticing language takes place all the time, in different contexts. Some things, like the present perfect, are so different from German, that it is only in extended exposure, use in different...