Archive for Teach in China

My Introduction To ‘Teaching Goes Massive’

February 11, 2016 · Filed under Teach in China · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

rainbowChina

I just a call to do a demo class for grade one students at a local primary school. Now when you are doing a demo class you don’t really know what you are in for. I had already been teaching kids in China for a number of years now, so I always expect the unexpected. But I never expected what I was getting myself into this time. Most schools have what they call a multi-media classroom that sits around 300 students. So when I got there, there were around 300 students sitting in their class groups and they were squeezing more in. The multi media classroom is like a mini lecture hall with the teacher at ground level and all the students are looking down at the teacher. All I had was a cordless microphone, a whiteboard and an overhead projector, and a whole bunch of flashcards I brought myself. The whiteboard was near useless as the pens were not very bright and the kids couldn’t read.

Anyway I turned it into an entertainment event. I would say “How are you?” and then point the microphone to the kids and they would yell back “How are you?” or “I’m fine and you” depending on how much English they knew. Then I would call out the class groups, like Class 1 and they would answer. I would do this hopping between classes. As I held out the microphone to each class, they tried to yell the loudest. Then I walked up and down the stairs to get a bit closer to the students. And they were making the most of the microphone. I would keep the questions really simple like ‘How old are you?” “What class are you in?” On the stairs I could ask “What is your name?” As long as all the classes had a chance to speak, they loved it.

Then I started showing the flashcards. They were simple animal flashcards ideal for grade 1. I would put the flashcards up on the overhead projector, sliding them into the light so the whole flashcard slowly slid into view. And the students had to guess what animal it was. It was actually dead silent in the classroom as I slowly slid the picture down into view. Then the yelling started. As they all tried to out yell each other. Then I would put the flashcard up on the whiteboard, with little magnets I used to carry with me. I made up sentences with the flashcards., like “What color is the elephant. Class 1?” Class 1 would answer and if they couldn’t I would call another class. As long as every class was involved they loved it A lot of fun had by all, and to date I would say that is my most successful class. It was my introduction into ‘Teaching Goes Massive’

Teaching kids in Asia is a ton of fun, but you need to put in a bit of effort. Kids love you if they can do things in your class, as there is a lot of pressure to succeed. If you can turn your class into a fun class and the kids learn a sentence or two, then everybody is happy.

For more information about teaching in China click here. http://animalsdinosaursandbugs.com/Teach-In-China.html

This article is copyright © peter legrove.

teach kindergarten

http://www.amazon.com/How-Teach-Young-Learners-ESL-ebook/dp/B01915020M

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Teaching With Flashcards

April 18, 2015 · Filed under Teach in China, Teaching Kids, Teaching Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

rainbowChina

A big part of teaching kids is flashcards. Kids love pictures, mainly because ‘a picture tells a 1000 words’ and it is easier to remember a picture. Have a look at the videos to see how I introduce a picture. I usually get the kids to show the flashcards.

   Now with flashcards you can do many things. As long as the flashcards are in plastic covers or basically indestructible there is a lot you can do. But your flashcards will be ripped, screwed up, thrown around and whatever else little kids can do. And you will be amazed at what they can do. I have my flashcards in plastic folders and the kids still manage to rip some. At one stage two kids both wanted the same card, and they both had half each and were pulling as hard as they could. The card survived but only after I took it off them. So expect the unexpected.

     For kindergarten the most common game is find the card – you put about 6 to 10 cards on the floor and call out one card and the kids has to find the card. I used to hang the cards on the blackboard, if the blackboard is magnetic. I hang around 10 on the board just high enough, so the kids couldn’t grab the cards. Then draw lines down between the cards and draw a little hand on the board. 

     To draw the hand I would get a kid to put his or her hand on the board and then I would draw around it. Next I would line up up to 10 kids, call out the name of the card, and suddenly realize how much the kids didn’t understand. Then I would call out another name, then another and another. 

     I do everything fast and the kids are running all over the place. They loved it. Next I’d get another 10 and start all over again. And that usually meant drawing the hand again. As some kids sole aim in class is to rub out everything you write on the board. This is easy to set up, just takes a few minutes and the kids love it. And you can do it many times. The kids don’t seem to get bored as they are running all over the place, and there are new pictures.

     If you do this on the floor expect the cards to be thrown around, trampled on, pulled apart and generally destroyed. So try and use the blackboard. If the board is not magnetic I have problems. In one class I tied a piece of string across the blackboard and used clothes pegs to hold the cards. It was OK except the cards keep falling of the string and then the kids would rip them apart to give them back to me. Magnetic boards are the best.

     I like to make sentences up on the board and the kids love it. See the video. Even though there are a bunch of cards on the board, the kids love it, as long as it is fast and there are not to many cards on the board. In the videos I use lots of cards, but usually I don’t use that many as the kids get lost and lose interest. 

For more information about teaching in China click here.

Peter Legrove spends most of his time in front of a mixed bunch of kids trying to instill in them some semblance of the road to survive the future.

This article is copyright © peter legrove.

You can use this article on your website or ezine but leave the resource box intact.

All the best teaching in China

Teacher Peter

Church in Secondlife

Click here to go to church online

 

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The First Teaching You Do Is A Demo Class

April 2, 2015 · Filed under Teach in China, Teaching Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

rainbowChina

Teaching Kids whether kindergarten or primary school in China is a wonderful experience. So start your working life after you leave university by going to China to teach kids. Or for that matter you can go at any age or anytime you need a change. Getting a job is really no problem, whether you get one before you leave your home country or after you arrive. Check out my book about getting a teaching job in China, and you will see how easy it is.
Now when you go for a job the first thing you have to do is a free demo class. You are put in front of a class and you teach it with a few teachers and administrators watching. So be prepared. If your demo class is good they expect all your classes to be similar.
Some demo classes are daunting. I don’t know if that is deliberate, or the school just wants to see what you can do. In some cases you are doing a demo in front of nearly the whole school. In some out of the way places that will happen, especially if you are volunteering and end up in a village. You could end up doing a demo in the village square, with the whole village watching.
I’ve had to do demo classes in a park with whoever wants to watch, watching. Quite embarrassing to say the least, but you have to soldier on.
It might be an idea to upgrade your public speaking skills. As I have had to do demo classes in lecture halls in front of around 1000 parents, teachers and whoever just dropped in. In one primary school they put me in the multimedia classroom and gave me a microphone. All I had was an overhead projector and a whiteboard. In front of me there were all the students from grade one, about 500 of them, sitting in their class groups. So expect the unexpected. For this class I used flashcards. The whiteboard was no good, because the pens where not dark enough, and the kids were too young to read. I used class groupings and the class turned out excellent. The students loved me, and that is what you want.

For more information about teaching in China click here.

Peter Legrove spends most of his time in front of a mixed bunch of kids trying to instill in them some semblance of the road to survive the future.

This article is copyright © peter legrove.

You can use this article on your website or ezine but leave the resource box intact.

All the best teaching in China

Teacher Peter

Church in Secondlife

Click here to go to church online

 

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Lesson Plan For Teaching Reading

March 16, 2015 · Filed under Online Learning, Teach in China, Teaching Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

rainbowChina

LESSON PLAN For Teaching Reading
A. Students and Setting

The students are kindergarten kids around 5 years old, They have been learning very simple English for 2 years now.
It is a private kindergarten part of a school complex in a big middle class to upper class housing estate in Foshan Guangdong China. There are 27 kids boys and girls in the class. I teach the class one 40 minute lesson everyday. I move from class to class, the kids wait for me.
B. Lesson Background:

This class will be the Thursday class so the kids have already had 3 classes on the same topic, and tomorrow will be the last class. We change topics every week. We are learning a little picture book so the kids should be able to read a few pages, usually they parrot it. Each class we review 2 days before so this class we are reviewing the preceding 2 pages in the book before bringing in the new pages. We do 2 new pages a class.
C. Learning Objectives/Expected Results:

The kids should be able to look at the pictures and read the page. Some can, others can’t, As a class they try to join in, and in small groups they join in, I don’t have them read by themselves, they are two small for that.
D. Materials and Sources:

What I do is photo copy a little book onto A3 size paper, basically I blow up the size of the book so the kids can see it. I use magnets to stick the paper onto the blackboard.
A book you can enlarge with a photocopier and something to stick it on the board.

E. Procedures / Timing:

To start the class we have a warn up song and a chant , then we play a little game usually the ‘bee’ game to try and wear the kids out a bit so they will sit down. I’m the bee and I buzz around chasing the students and if they are sitting down to bee chases somebody else. For the song we will use “wheels on the bus” , the kids like doing the actions. Then we will do another action song “AAA say OK” there is a lot of arm waving and moving so they kids love it. Also we do the song quite often so the kids know it and they like doing it. Usually between 5 to 10 minutes

http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/preschool_kindergarten_videos.html

We learn 2 pages a day
The kids are in a half circle around the blackboard. And I bring out the pages from 2 days ago and the kids read them off, as long as one starts the rest join in. To get them going I’ll sometimes say the first and second words, they ‘ll usually take off then, and I can’t stop them. Then I’ll use boys, then girls, then cut the class up into smaller groups.
I’ll point to the pictures and the kids should say in English what I am pointing at. I’ve been teaching this class for 2 years now so the kids know what to do. Again 5 to 10 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCcGVKRgYRY

Now I’ll put up yesterdays pages and see how much they know, usually not much, then after pointing at a few pictures and saying sentences they know we get off the ground. As long as someone starts the others will follow. If some don’t want to join in I’ll leave them, I do the same again breaking the class down into smaller groups, everything is fast, sometimes I get groups of over 5 students come to the blackboard to read the page. This takes longer as some sentences are still new. 10 to 15 minutes.

Now it is time for a new page. I usually just say the new words cause the sentences are very similar, and the kids can usually work it out as long as they know the new words. This is just an introduction to the new words so it takes 5 to 10 minutes

To close the class we sing another action song, this time ‘bar bar black sheep’ and ‘head shoulders knees and toes ‘ I try to keep it simple. The I try to sneak out before I get mobbed by the kids Less than 5 minutes.
Teacher does/says . . .
Students do/say . . .
Approximate Time
Can …….cat
Can I get a cat

cats
I like cats

pig
Can I get a pig

pigs
I like pigs
F. Alternative Assessment:

We don’ do much assessment, usually I am assessed. As long as the kids learn a few words everybody is happy. The kids are too little to write and they can barely speak. So the assessment is on class participation and reading the sentences and knowing what I point at in the picture. Some students are very good at reading the sentences and others are no good so I like the kids to join in the class and try. Even if they say nothing I still don’t let them get in a situation where they will be embarrassed.
The kids are learning new words from pictures and sentences that can be used in everyday situations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwftETvm80g

G. Reflection – Phase 1:

This lesson is appropriate to the kids as it is simple and the pictures with the words help the kids to understand what is going on. We are not really getting into too many integrated skills, just looking at the pictures and saying the words in English as well as reading the sentences in English and hopefully understanding them. The kids won’t assess themselves, if they can say English words and sentences after I leave the classroom that is a plus.
G. Classroom Management:
Kindergarten is not really as organized as a primary school classroom but I do try to arrange my classes into 2 groups so they can compete against each other. It is either in a half circle or 2 sides depending on the size of the class, and the amount of space in the classroom. This class is quite large so it is in two distinct groups. In China the students all have a number so I just call out a number and the student will answer. I don’t like to single out students so I usually get the whole group to answer or the boys or girls in the group.
Watch the video here to get an understanding of how I teach http://animalsdinosaursandbugs.com/PeterLegroveCV.html
As I have been teaching this class for a while now they know what to do and how to get into groups. I ask the kids for the name of the group and they call out a name, the name changes everyday. It is usually a word they know. To keep the class under control I use the 2 groups competing against each other and the group with the most points wins. The kids love it. They get stickers. I used to give them lollies but then I went healthy. Most students who take part in the class also get stickers.
I have used the group system in a very large class where I had the whole primary school grade 1 in a big lecture hall and the kids were in there class groups. They loved it as long as they knew the number of their class.

H. Reflection – Phase 2

I didn’t really change anything. We are teaching kindergarten and these kids love to play and mess around. But with the competing in the two groups it manages to keep them under control. As long as I manage to keep adding and rubbing out points or stars. We always have the warm up and the songs as the kids don’t like to sit still for very long. The songs do not change very often. If the kids like a song i’ll keep using it as when I bring in a new song they don’t always like it.
Integrated skills
The integrated skills are mainly speaking, listening and looking, matching objects with words and actions. Something like Asher’s TPR, we try and get the kids speaking in sentences as well as just words. ‘We are walking’ we are running’ while they are doing it. They all say ‘good morning’ but that is as far as we got they don’t say ‘good afternoon’ Kids love to show what they learn as we encourage them and give them stickers.

Alternative assessment
With this class the kids have to say words in English as they walk around the kindergarten. The Teaching Assistants will point to something and ask ‘What is that in English’ that is an ongoing that happens all the time. I’m also expected to that when I am with the kids.
The other form of assessment that is used is a little board with all the kids names on it and under everybody’s name there are stars and little stickers for things they do. And after they reach a certain number they get a small gift.

Differentiated instruction/individual learner differences
In the class I could have set up smaller groups so some kids could draw a picture of one of the animals and others could act like the animal. In the class we have kids act like the animal and I have face masks the kids can use. Even though I teach Montessori we haven’t mastered the art of letting the students do their own thing, so we try to keep the class together. In China it is all about control. When in groups I usually have a very good student showing the other what to do. When I bring out the sandpaper letters I need a student to show the others what to do. China Montessori hasn’t managed to bring in the mixed age group all the time, just for some of the classes.
There are learning stations set up in the class but in my class we do not use them as the kids are supposed to speak English. As I am the foreign teacher my classes are slightly different and there are Teaching Assistants in the class.

Classroom management
We set the ground rules for the class at the beginning so the kids know what to do. They give their own groups a name and that changes everyday. They wait for me to call on them then they have about 3 seconds to answer before moving on. All boys or all girls answer and the loudest gets a sticker. Even the ones who do not answer get a sticker. Motivation is for stickers and the more stickers they get the more stars and circles they get under their name.
In China classroom management is very important because of the large class size, so the students know what to do. I fit into their system. It is very flexible and the classroom teachers usually let the kids have fun.

Here is the pdf of the lesson plan
kindergarten lesson 3

secondlifechurch2aa1

I like the Montessori system of teaching writing and reading and this is the course I recommend

http://www.animalsdinosaursandbugs.com/Teaching-Reading.htm

Peter Legrove spends most of his time in front of a mixed bunch of kids trying to instill in them some semblance of the road to survive the future.

This article is copyright © peter legrove.

You can use this article on your website or ezine but leave the resource box intact.
All the best teaching your children
Teacher Peter

 

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Getting A Teaching Job In China

March 10, 2015 · Filed under Online Learning, Teach in China, Teaching Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

rainbowChina

Teaching Kids whether kindergarten or primary school in China is a wonderful experience. So start your working life after you leave university by going to China to teach kids. Or for that matter you can go at any age or anytime you need a change. Getting a job is really no problem, whether you get one before you leave your home country or after you arrive. Check out this book about getting a teaching job in China, and you will see how easy it is.
Now when you go for a job the first thing you have to do is a free demo class. You are put in front of a class and you teach it with a few teachers and administrators watching. So be prepared. If your demo class is good they expect all your classes to be similar.
Some demo classes are daunting. I don’t know if that is deliberate, or the school just wants to see what you can do. In some cases you are doing a demo in front of nearly the whole school. In some out of the way places that will happen, especially if you are volunteering and end up in a village. You could end up doing a demo in the village square, with the whole village watching.
I’ve had to do demo classes in a park with whoever wants to watch, watching. Quite embarrassing to say the least, but you have to soldier on.
It might be an idea to upgrade your public speaking skills. As I have had to do demo classes in lecture halls in front of around 1000 parents, teachers and whoever just dropped in. In one primary school they put me in the multimedia classroom and gave me a microphone. All I had was an overhead projector and a whiteboard. In front of me there were all the students from grade one, about 500 of them, sitting in their class groups. So expect the unexpected. For this class I used flashcards. The whiteboard was no good, because the pens where not dark enough, and the kids were too young to read. I used class groupings and the class turned out excellent. The students loved me, and that is what you want.
To find out how other teachers teach search ‘teach kindergarten and primary school’ in youtube and see what pops up. Watch some videos and get some ideas and start practicing. Master what you like so you can reproduce it in a class. Just remember it doesn’t have to be perfect, it should keep the kids happy and then your administrators are happy. I would spend a lot of time on youtube, Dave’s ESL cafe, jobteachworld and other ESL sites until you have a portfolio of material you can regurgitate in any class. Then over time you will perfect your style.
To practice your demo class stand in front of a full length mirror, so you can see what you look like, and teach to the mirror. If you do not have a mirror, turn your video cam on you and record your demo class, then watch what you look like. This way you can see what your students see and improve on it. Anyway it is a good idea to record you, so you can put your best video up on youtube or your favorite video site.
Youtube is blocked in China so use another video site. Also gmail and possibly google are blocked too now, so use another email site or take an unblocker with you, like ultrasurf. In China you can use youku and tudou, these are China youtube.
I put my video up on this site, so far it is not blocked in China – www.jobteachworld.com. This site has a section for video CVs. Watch a few of the other videos on the site to see how other teachers do their video CVs. When you have got it all together, put a video CV up so you can show the world and prospective employers your teaching style.
Your craft is teaching so perfect it. It makes life easier if you know what you are doing. And youtube can give you the ideas, you just have to practice them.

For more information about teaching in China click here.

Peter Legrove spends most of his time in front of a mixed bunch of kids trying to instill in them some semblance of the road to survive the future.

This article is copyright © peter legrove.

You can use this article on your website or ezine but leave the resource box intact.

All the best teaching in China

Teacher Peter

If you can’t get to church in China try this online church

 https://slangcath.wordpress.com/

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Are university rankings the death throes of a dying institution

February 17, 2015 · Filed under Online Learning, Teach in China, University · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When China started the rankings I would think it was just to give their universities something to strive for, so they could upgrade their universities to a world acceptable standard. Since then the fabric of the western world has been stretched rather thin, and now a university degree doesn’t automatically mean you are going to get a job. Since the financial crisis unemployment in the EU and the US is still a problem, and a lot of that is in the middle income brackets where university students find jobs. It used to be, you would work in fast food while at university, but now it looks like you keep working there even after you graduate.
Also debt is a big problem in the world and that includes student debt. When the government stops guaranteeing student debt then that will cause a problem for universities. Universities just can’t survive unless they are subsidized. They have come to the point that when the gravy train stops they just don’t know what to do.
And right now there is a trend starting that is away from a university education in favor of short course diplomas that set you up to do one job really well, especially internet related jobs. The top 10 in demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004. What can set you up faster to get into the workforce – a 4 year degree of which up to 50% could be obsolete before you graduate, or a 6 month diploma course you can do on the internet while you are working.
Now the rankings and joining up with sister universities around the globe could be classed as the death throes of a dying industry that is very close to its use by date. The whole education machine could be going the way of newspapers and anything to do with printing including the local printing shop on the corner, because the internet is here. And the internet is changing the world as we know it. The internet could have a bigger impact on the world than the printing press or fire for that matter..
But the biggest change will be when the internet generation or the igens or egens or internet natives or whatever they are called go to university. This is the generation that will be brought up with the internet. They are the generation that do not know life without the internet. And when they start going to university where will they go. Online or on campus what do you think? And in some countries they are already looking at university courses. Why have MOOCs taken off, they have only been around for a few years.
We are the baby boomer generation and we are on the way out. We have sold the house and most of the possessions, brought the camper van and driven off into the sunset, leaving the internet generation to change the planet in ways we never dreamed of. And one of those ways will be education. Already education standards are popping up in many countries, but that wont be able to stop the internet generation from changing a claustrophobic establishment, into something more streamlined and accessible from anywhere on the planet.
The baby boomer generation are running universities, and they are up against change. Are they willing to forgo everything they have dreamed of, to keep their universities as ivory towers of learning or will they join the cyber generation. Virtual universities are still empty now but what will happen when the igens start going to university. We are a few years away yet but we wont have to wait very long.
Why go to a physical campus when you can go to a cyber campus

For more information about teaching your child to read see http://www.animalsdinosaursandbugs.com/Teaching-Reading.htm

Peter Legrove spends most of his time in front of a mixed bunch of kids trying to instill in them some semblance of the road to survive the future.

This article is copyright © peter legrove. http://www.animalsdinosaursandbugs.com

You can use this article on your website or ezine but leave the resource box intact.

All The Best

Teacher Peter

https://slangcath.wordpress.com/

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Teaching English In China

November 24, 2014 · Filed under Online Learning, Teach in China, Teaching Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Peter Legrove has nearly finished his new book taken from his experiences of teaching English in China. He recommends after you or your children finish university spend some time teaching English overseas. It is a great experience and you might learn the language of the future.

Teaching English As A Second Language In China

China is screaming out for English teachers. Just go to any of the teach English job sites and you will see so many jobs you will be paralyzed. Go to Dave’s ESL cafe at http://www.eslcafe.com/ and see what you can find. There are many job sites like http://www.tefl.com/, but here they would like you to study for there ESL teaching certificate, but you don’t need really need one. No one ever asked to see my certificates.

After you get to China this is the job site to use http://www.echinacities.com, This is the job site for getting jobs once you are in China. If you just want to find out about life in China have a look there. Also try out this website http://www.jobteachworld.com and do the online CV so your CV is up online.

Just remember in China a lot of sites you use everyday are blocked in China. Like youtube and Facebook. But that is not a problem just take an unblocker on your laptop or on a stick. I use- ultrasurf -and that worked extremely well. Anyway someone in China will give you an unblocker. That is not a problem. You have to take the download with you as most unblocker sites are also blocked.

I put my video CV up online on jobteachworld as it is not blocked, whereas most video sites are blocked. But you can put a video up on the Chinese video site like youku and tudou. They are possibly the two most popular sites.

Now for an introduction to China all I can say is ‘Be amazed’. I don’t think anyone outside of Asia has any idea about what you will expect and neither do you. I say “Welcome to the next superpower” because that is where China is heading. The whole place is moving, everywhere you go there are people and lots of them. And they are all enjoying life, spending money, buying things, eating out and what ever.

Get a recent copy of “Lonely Planet China” and follow it until you have a fair idea of what you can do yourself. Landing in China is very daunting, you can’t read the language and you can’t speak it so follow the book. It is chaos to the max.

Japan is very organized, Korea is not crowded but it is a bit of a disaster, until you know what you are doing. At least you can get a seat on the bus and the trains. In China forget it. Standing room only on the buses and trains, you get used to it.

Buses have numbers so as long as you know the bus number you should be able to find your way around. The subway stations are in pinyin so you can read them and it is pretty idiot proof. And a lot of the subway people speak English, or they will find somebody who does. So it is pretty good.

If you start in Hong Kong the shock will not be so great. Hong Kong is an overcrowded place that used to be the Pearl of the Orient but it got left behind as China overtook it. I used to live in Hong Kong but I never go back there now. China is the place. Hong Kong has stayed the same while China just bounded ahead. But you can get acclimatized in HK to the chaos when you go across the border.

Years ago when you went across the border between HK and China you used to go back in time. Now you are going to the future. After you come out of the immigration building, you just stroll to the railway station, about 5 to 10 minutes. Your last quiet stroll in China.

Once you get to the railway station, welcome to China. The lines to the ticket windows can be anything from 20 people to the back wall. Sometimes less than 20 but not very often. When you get to the window just say “Guangzhou” and get your ticket. You need your passport to get a ticket so have it handy. Some windows have an English sign meaning they speak English, so it is pretty straight forward.

The tickets are pretty self explanatory with the train number, your carriage number and the seat number. The trains leave every 15 minutes, sometimes 10 minutes and sometimes 20 minutes. Usually you have to wait for three trains before your train number appears on the screen. Then you follow the crowd, you wont get lost, everybody is getting on the same train. When you are on the platform find your carriage number, climb in and find your seat. Pretty straight forward. You have about 10 minutes to board the train before it takes off. Then you are barreling along at about 160 kms/hour. Not bad for your first hour in China.

For more information about teaching in China click here.

Peter Legrove spends most of his time in front of a mixed bunch of kids trying to instill in them some semblance of the road to survive the future.

This article is copyright © peter legrove.

You can use this article on your website or ezine but leave the resource box intact.

All the best teaching in China
Teacher Peter

Church in Secondlife

Click here to go to church online

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In Most Asian and European Countries Now the Children Learn English

November 11, 2014 · Filed under Online Learning, Teach in China, Teaching Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In the growth economies of the world most parents want their children to learn English. And they are prepared to pay cold hard cash for after school and weekend classes even though the children learn English in school. While in the supposedly Developed English speaking world the experts have changed the way children learn to read and now kids are leaving school with below standard reading levels.

They changed the system from a very effective reading method to what we have nowadays. Yet in most foreign countries where English is taught in the classroom, the children are taught English using phonics. It is no wonder the children are leaving school better educated that we are in the west. English is a part of their way of life, and if they want to get ahead in the future they must know English. So children and English go together.

Now when children start to learn English as a second language they usually learn it very early. In Asia that usually means while they are still at kindergarten. Then at school they bring in the phonics in grade 5 when the children are 10 to 11 years old. Which is a good time to start the serious learning of English.

In families where the parents speak different languages you usually find the children struggle at school learning the language that is taught at school. But when they get to high school they are proficient in both languages. It is no wonder that Asian children are some of the best students even though English is not their first language. So it looks like English as a second language and children go together overseas. But here in the English speaking world the powers to be are doing their best try and stop struggling learners learning to read English.

For more information about teaching in China click here.

Peter Legrove spends most of his time in front of a mixed bunch of kids trying to instill in them some semblance of the road to survive the future.

This article is copyright © peter legrove.

You can use this article on your website or ezine but leave the resource box intact.

All the best teaching in China

Teacher Peter

Church in Secondlife

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Preparing Schools For The Future

November 2, 2014 · Filed under Online Learning, Teach in China, Teaching Reading, University · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Peter Legrove will be giving a speech to his daughter’s school about the future of education as it could evolve. The internet has changed the world as we know it, but education is a bit slow to change. Just remember the mighty dinosaur was replaced by a rodent the size of a cat. At the moment we do not know what is the dinosaur or what is the cat.

Hello parents, students, teachers, Members of the Board, I’m after a bit of information, thank you.

Has anybody here had anything to do with the Khan Academy, please? Khan spelled K H A N, Thank you, thank you. Has anyone taken part in the Khan Academy, please?
Now, we are at school so you can raise your hands. Thank you, thank you.

Now. What about OpenCourseWare please. Has anyone here had anything to do with opencourseware, like know what it is, or what it does, or have you doen anything from opencourseware. Thank you, thank you.

Now has anyone got any idea what a MOOC is, please. M O O C thank you. Has anybody actually done a MOOC. Thank you.
Raise your hands please we are at school, thank you.

One more thing ‘have you heard of “The Hole in the Wall Project” thank you.

OK thanks.
Now my question to you is. “How can you steer this school into the future, when you do not even know what the present situation in education is?

We are at school now, so for homework preferable this week, but definitely before you make any decisions on the future of this school, google, yahoo, bing or whatever search engine you use.
Khan Academy and watch one of the videos, or better still watch one with your daughter. Khan academy was one of the first threats to the schooling system of today. It started when one person wanted to help his school age relatives to get better at math. And it has now gone around the world. Khan Academy started in 2006.

Next up google MOOCS and find out what they are, then do one or better still, you and your daughters do a different one each. So you know what the present situation in education is. MOOCs are a disruptive technology, that is upsetting the entrenched bureaucracy of the established education industry around the world. MOOCs are changing education as we speak. They are less than three years old. If you do not understand what a Disruptive Technology is, there is a MOOC about it. Do it and find out the future.

Opencourseware is a free online lectures for world class universities around the world, We are talking M.I.T. Yale, Harvard. To be honest Massey is not there.

Now we move onto the “Hole in the Wall Project” An internet connected computer was put in a slum in India to see how the slum kids would react. And they taught themselves English with no teachers, no textbooks and no classroom. They knew English was important so they learned it. The kids taught themselves and each other. Do you know what this means for your daughters? It means your daughters are competing with the slim kids of Calcutta. To find out more, google it. This project was the winner of the TED talks award in 2013. To find out more go to TED talks and listen in on some of the videos, they are usually only 15 minutes long and are very informative.

Your daughters are up against the lifelong learners who learn math from the Khan academy, get qualifications doing MOOCs.

The internet has leveled the playing field in ways you cannot even imagine.

The top 10 most in demand jobs in 2013 did not exist in 2006.

That means life long learning is the future. The jobs your daughters do after they start their working life have not been invented yet. There are two skills your daughters need to survive the future in any profession. Does anybody know what they are? The first one is typing at 60 words a minute plus. Can your daughters type at over 60 words per minute? It looks like video is taking over the future, but the internet is still text on a page. And you have to type to put it there.

The internet is information and to absorb the information you need to survive the future. Your daughters need to be able to read fast and understand what they are reading. Therefore speed reading is part of your daughter’s arsenal for the future. And these two skills you have to learn yourself. Your daughters should start learning these skills now in their spare time, because they will need them.

After the financial crisis of 2007 the world changed. The middle class was destroyed, now the middle class is dead. How does that affect your daughters? Primary school prepared kids for secondary school, secondary school prepared students for university and university prepared young adults for the middle class. Now there is no middle class. If you want to find the middle class you have to go to Asia, Russia, China and India and possible South America. In Europe, America and possible in the Pacific the middle class is dying.

So you can ask, why send your daughters to university, when about half what they learn is obsolete before they graduate. Why let your daughters go into student debt when there is no guarantee of a job. The future is lifelong learning. So what are your daughters going to do. At present university is still on the road to the future and it is still recommended. But for how long.

The system we have in place now does not prepare you for the future. To become a master in your chosen field you need to do 5,000 hours of learning. To become a grand master you need 10,000 hours of learning. So start reading now and doing MOOCs.

The future is Asia. After your daughters graduate from university let them have the option to go to China, Russia, India or possibly South America, to teach English so they can also learn the language. The languages of your daughters generation are Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Spanish, and Portuguese for Brazil.

The future of this school is in the choices you make, but before you make them, google it.
Thank you for your time.

http://www.animalsdinosaursandbugs.com/
All the best teaching your children
Teacher Peter

secondlifechurch2aa1

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Montessori Phonics Is Still Helping Children Learn To Read Even After 100 years

August 19, 2014 · Filed under Online Learning, Teach in China, Teaching Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Phonics are the building blocks of learning to read. But lately they have taken a back seat to the Look See Method in some countries. Most students can learn to read, no matter what method they are being taught, but the struggling learners need phonics. It has been shown time and again, that phonics are a better way to learn to read, for struggling readers.

The Look See Method has the beautiful books with lots of pictures, while the phonic books are pretty drab, filled with rhyming text that don’t always make sense. But you need rhyming to learn to read. And students will learn to read using the Look See Method, but struggling students will have problems.

To be honest, I don’t know why some students learn to read easier than others, especially nowadays. But I think it has a lot to do with home life. Parents of reading kids help their kids. They don’t live in front of the tee vee, and they use the computer for knowledge, not to play games or watch videos. But that is not always the case. I had a brother and a sister in different classes, the sister was top of the class and the brother couldn’t even read. He left school to start a trade, and she went to uinversity.

In another extreme case, a girl was in the top of the class, every morning she could read the homework easily and perfectly. Then one day I asked her to read a different text in class, and she couldn’t read it. And I asked her why, and she said at night her daddy used to read the homework to her, and she would memorize it and spit it out the next day. I had serious problems with her, but with Montessori Phonics she finally learned to read. Montessori Phonics takes the student away from looking at the word to feeling the word, and that was the only way to get her to learn to read.

Back in my day when I went to school, we were taught synthetic phonics, where you learn the phonic sound then move onto words then sentences. Another method that has since become popular, is the phonics method where you start with sentences, and move back to words, then syllables, then right down to the phonic sound. Really it doesn’t matter which way your children learn to read, as long as they learn.

At the moment video and audio is taking over the internet, but to play around and work on the internet, you still have to be able to read and type. So to survive the future your children have to be able to read, write and type. Speed typing is a must for the future, as well as speed reading. There is so much information out there, that you need to process in work and everyday life, that you need to be able to process it very quickly. To survive the future you need these skills, and they all start with learning to read.

With the internet there are a number of online phonic sites, where you children can learn phonics and some are very good, I mean exceptional. But even with all the information on the internet some children do not learn by looking. Around sixty percent do, but reading starts in your ears, not with your eyes. You have to hear the phonic sound first, then match it with the written word. So if your children have problems learning to read, get their ears checked. There might be something mechanically wrong with their ears. Usually not the case. It is usually just a case of matching a learning method, with your child’s learning style.

I call this, the method of last resort, even though it has been around for over 100 years, and it started out teaching children with severe learning difficulties. This is the Montessori method of teaching reading, and if everything fails try this out. It is a hands on system of teaching reading. You just can’t plant your children in front of the computer, and expect the computer to do the teaching. You have to be there or an older sibling can help out. Basically you need to get hold of some sandpaper letters, whether block or cursive, depending on what you want to teach your children, then start teaching. You will also need a phonics chart, and some phonic sounds, which you can get of the internet for free. It is a very simple system, you make up a simple word, for example ‘cat’, in sandpaper letters. Then your child traces the sandpaper letters, while saying the word. You must emphasis the phonic sound, so your daughter can translate it to other words. Then repeat the system over and over again with many words that rhyme. A very effective system, it must be used when everything else has not worked. It is my last line of defense. If the Montessori system doesn’t work I’m lost. I don’t know if it works with dyslexic people, but it is worth a try.

Anyway for the future you need to be able to read, write, type and then learn to speed read. Probably in that order, except most students learn to read then go straight onto a keyboard, so writing gets left behind. Now it has been shown that people who write in longhand or cursive, write faster and they are also more creative. So if your children are aspiring to be creative writers, or into writing advertisements, then they should learn to write in cursive. Also at present when you sit an exam, you have to write in longhand not block letters. So until that changes, it might be an idea to bring in the cursive writing skills, to give your children the upper hand in exams.

To find out more about teaching reading using the Montessori method go to http://animalsdinosaursandbugs.com/Montessori.htm and click on the picture.

http://www.animalsdinosaursandbugs.com/

Peter Legrove spends most of his time in front of a mixed bunch of kids trying to instill in them some semblance of the road to survive the future.

This article is copyright © peter legrove.

You can use this article on your website or ezine but leave the resource box intact.

All the best teaching children

Teacher Peter

secondlifechurch2aa1

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