ELTeaCH

We had another great day working with the kids! The kids made a variety of products and I did hear that many of them knew that dreamcatchers were not really Navajo and they knew the reason for some of the games they made - which specific skills they trained. I was really impressed with the boys who made the game where they rolled the big dreamcatchers and tried to catch them with the stick. Great idea! Students : Our students are super - I would be very proud if they were to teach my children! They are honest, communicative, trustworthy and pleasant. Don't be afraid to ask for a job recommendation. Assessment rubrics : Due to the mass of planning and organization of having all these kids at the PH, we have not been able to get the depth that would have been nice. Of course that was to be expected. And at the same time, I believe by simply having developed an observation rubric, having had to take notes and think about what they WOULD write, they have learned a lot about how t...

Today we had our first day of the project "Navajos don't live in tipis" at the PH! Kudos to you, students, for doing such an excellent job!!! Here are my initial thoughts: AFL: Well, you will get to try out a few things, but the entire process cannot be observed in 2-4 days at the PH. I am fully aware of the fact, but still, I think you perhaps learn how to take notes about children and what systems/strategies you need, especially with a larger group! And here you get practice in observation - the whole situation of having a new teacher for a while is a chance and a challenge on both sides, and how you document what you observed can be very important in forming an opinion and also not losing thoughts that you have at the time. I saw some good techniques that can fit into formative attitude towards teaching and these little experiences you have not will perhaps be remembered and used later. The topic: Well, I am not sure if we are breaking down cliches, but at least e...

Pegasus rocks!! Last week we talked about how to deal with English and French teaching. We discussed things like assigning homework on a strategy rather than language level, on contrastive linguistics, on the advantages of being qualified to teach both subjexts, on using music. And tonight, sitting here, Alison informs me that one of her classmates is related to Noah Veraguth! So we said, being really uncool parents, "Huh, who's that?". Upon further inspection we find out he's the lead singer of Pegasus and that he has a song with Stress (who we mentioned because he sings in French and English and German)!! So here is an example: See Noel's Room http://noelsroom.com/ for many other songs in both languages! Of course, there are other artists like Patricia Kaas, Raffi, Etienne, who sing in both languages, but here are some more modern ones. And next semester perhaps we'll develop some worksheets or some activities to teach the language of one of t...

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