When someone says thank you, how do you reply? A nice video about different ways to say thank you, by someone who genuinely seems to enjoy telling us how! An excellent way to show your friends that you know a few different ways to reply. Can also be used by teachers.
Some years ago, I had the opportunity to work for Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam – see a website about Yusuf – www.yusufislam.com ), a well-known pop-star from the late 60’s and early 70’s.
In case you’re wondering, I was certainly not teaching English, and neither did he have an English Institute. So what does this have to do with TESOL and teaching?
Okay, let’s take a step back, and think about ourselves as teaching professionals. First, how many years have you been teaching? Second, how many subjects have you taught; third, how much are you earning compared to other professionals?
Let’s assume the answers to the first two questions are “quite a few”, and for the third, the answer is “pretty average”. Having said this, if money was a primary motivator for you, then you would probably have gone into another profession.
Question: How many supplementary materials do you produce per lesson, per day and per week? Now, calculate the number of supplementary materials you produce per year, and then multiply this into the number of years you’ve taught.
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Here’s an example:
Subjects taught a week =4
1 supplementary sheet (S.S) per week created for each subject =4 (S.S) per week
The teacher works 50 weeks a year =4 (S.S) x 50 = 200 (S.S)/Year
The teacher works 10 years =200 (S.S) x10 = 2,000 (S.S)
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Now, how many TESOL teachers are there out there? Let’s assume 20,000.
Taking the figures above, this means that 40 million supplementary sheets are produced for each generation of teachers.
What happens to supplementary sheets? Well, they’re stuffed in envelopes or filed away to gather dust. Who knows, they may be re-used but ultimately, this vast knowledge is being thrown away. How much knowledge have we lost in the last 100 years or more? How could this knowledge have helped us in our teaching and research today?
Each one of us is a container (or silo) of knowledge. Where is that knowledge going? It’s going in the bin of history. There is no library out there of supplementary materials, and so that knowledge is going to waste.
Now back to Cat Stevens (Yusuf). Musicians write songs, and some even produce the music. Long after Yusuf had left being an active musician, he was still receiving money for the work he had previously done. Wherever and whenever a song was played, be it on the radio, be it in an advert, a royalty would be earned. So despite the fact he had written the songs 20 years earlier, he was still making a living on the work he had previously done. The musicians who had collaborated with him in the past also got a part of the royalty. This is standard practice across the industry.
Now, some of you may have worked out what I’m trying to suggest here, which is that the supplementary materials we produce is a valuable resource of knowledge, something that each one of us produces without even a second thought. It’s part of our job. But what happens afterwards?
Ladies and Gentlemen, you are repositories of knowledge, the work you produce is invaluable, and in reality all of that knowledge is going to waste.
Why can’t we have a library of supplementary materials in e.g. cyberspace, let’s say something like Amazon.com, where teachers, students, materials seekers, curriculum writers and even policy makers, can go to and download a copy of one of the masterpieces you have produced. Every time they download your work, you get paid a modest amount, a ‘supplementary materials royalty’.
In a world where iPhones, iPads and various digital tablets exist, in a world where everything and everyone is connected via the net, and in a world where for our students this is the norm, why don’t we take the next step? Imagine you are teaching and then you ask all your students to download materials from cyberspace. Who knows, there may be enough relevant materials out there that you may not even need a textbook. Every time a download occurs, someone somewhere will receive a small royalty.
In this world of transmedia, where publishers are making a killing with their books, CDs, DVDs and online resources, why don’t the rest of us also make use of this opportunity? No one is saying that you are going to make a ‘ton of money’ but at least you can get back something for the work that you produced with your own creativity, your own passion, with your concern for your students, without even a thought that you should get a monetary return. Who knows, with a ‘supplementary materials royalty’ we may survive the unpredictable financial world we currently live in.
So now that I’ve provided the idea, are there any takers out there who can make this a reality?
Can you describe how to tie shoelaces? Watch the cartoon and start describing! Write or speak. A test for the natives too!
Hi! Although many of us may eat with a knife, a spoon or a fork, there are a lot of people who eat using their hands.
Before you start thinking that it is rather disgusting licking your fingers after the end of a meal, research indicates that licking fingers helps the digestive process because it results in the release of appropriate fluids to help break down the food further. I usually eat with utensils such as a knife and fork, and sometimes use my hands when eating pizza.
However, when in the mood, I’ll eat rice with my hands. Usually at home but even sometimes at weddings in Saudi Arabia. When in the UK (England) and in a public place, I revert to knife and fork. To be honest though, there is nothing like getting your hands dirty with some rice and lentils.
How do people eat in your culture? Please add a comment below.
An excellent video in which the person speaks very clearly about a particular topic. As your English develops, you need to be able to speak about more complex subjects using more complex and advanced vocabulary. Importantly, it’s not the accent that matters, it’s the clarity which you need to aim for. And for those who are watching out of curiosity, what you say, counts too.
Task?: Write down your core values below. Come on, show us you understand the video, and write about it. We want to hear from you ‘the people’!
Learning steps:
Step 1: Play the video and just listen to it. Make notes if you want.
Step 2: Try to answer the questions below.
Step 3: If you can’t remember everything, play the video again
Step 4: Try to answer the questions again.
Step 5: Now think about the video. Did you like it? Was it boring or exciting? Was it clear?
Activities:
What three things do you need to write a gadget?
How many steps are there?
Can you remember two steps?
How much does the average family spend on gadgets a year?
After the video has finished:
Write a few questions about the video to ask your classmates/friends/colleagues
What does tech-savvy mean? Are you tech-savvy? Discuss with your classmates/friends/colleagues
Watch, Listen, Make notes, Read your notes, re-write your notes, write some questions about the video to ask others, Speak about the video. What were the things that you remember. Were there any new words you learnt?
Students, watch/see, listen, write, read and speak (see below)
[howcast url=’http://www.howcast.com/videos/2997-How-To-Never-Lose-Your-Luggage’ height=’240′ width=’360′]
There are no published materials out there that easily combine video and use this as a starting point for teaching language.
Here’s an idea: (1) Students watch/listen to the video, (2) They make notes of what they hear (listen to), (3) They then write down some questions relating to their notes, (4) They ask their classmates or instructor questions about the video. So, the process is as follows: Watch/see, listen, make notes, write questions based on information collected, read out questions and then speak.
English and other useful knowledge to improve yourself 