Partnership for Teaching 2007: Egypt-Morocco

Happy new year

2010-08-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

To all my friends on blogger happy new year Ramadan is coming soon

I miss you all Egyptian and Morocian 2006

2010-04-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Students can learn something useful from the books or the films they like most by taking an active part in the activity. They also can distinguish the similarities and the differences with their partners in the subject” my favorite book or film”. In the meantime, Students can learn to how to select the books or the films appropriate to themselves or others, and help them get advanced, develop their ability of practice and communicating.

2010-04-11T03:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
I'm Shady Ibrahim. It has been ages since I contacted you. Actually, I'm lucky that I know all of the people in this blog. I can't forget my P4L members either from Moroccow or Egypt. I also know P4T members as I shared my experience with them in Fulbright building before their departure. I hope you are all ok. I'd like to activate our exchange via the blog. If anybody still remember me, Please reply to my message.
Best Regards,
Shady

Repeating and re-phrase techinque

2009-11-03T02:24:00.000-08:00

The repeat and re-phrase technique is effective in classrooms because a student may know various vocabulary words and now know the ones that the teacher is using. By using this technique the teacher exposes the student to new vocabulary that can be associated with the old to acquire a meaning. The student benefit by both the repetition, as the source of learning new vocabulary, and the use of old vocabulary to form a re-phrased question in order to acquire a new and better understanding of the English language. - This techniques can be used during oral instruction given to the class or an individual student. It can also be applied during question and answer time in class, and is optimal for such a use as it provides students with an opportunity to better understand the question and answer it without help. This promotes a higher level learning, understanding, and self-confidence in students.- The repeat and re-phrase strategy is used in the classroom to promote, achieve, or ensure, understanding of a given topic, standard, or question. For example: if a student doesn’t understand the question “what is the meaning of an adjective?” Then the teacher can respond by either repeating, and/or if understanding is still not reached, re-phrasing the question to promote the student’s application of knowledge. The question could be re-phrased as: “What does an adjective do?” This also helps with future questions as the student will better understand the meaning of the posed question.

Increasing Classroom Interaction

2008-02-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

Dear colleagues,

Let me share with you some of the most interesting techniques I learnt during the last MATE middle school seminar in Ben Slimane. This workshop presented by Professor Joan Kang Shin evolved around increasing interaction between students at all levels through group and pair work activities. The goal of the workshop was to give students chances to equally interact a great deal with one another. The facilitator started by explaining that the following experiential activities are used on a scaffolding basis to practice new knowledge and skills in a safe environment. She also stressed that such activities are usually linked to students’ real contexts.

I- Little Bit of language input – check activity:

This is a controlled pair work activity which consists of:

1. Giving students a “small bit of input”, that can be a grammar definition, a definition of a word …etc. For example:

T: Skimming means reading quickly for the main idea.

2. Checking comprehension using Q and A to model the interaction desired :

T: Khadija, what does skimming mean?
K: Skimming means reading quickly for the main idea.

3. Have students in pairs do the exact same interaction.

T: ask your partner what skimming means?

II- Integrated skills pair work:

This is an information gap and problem solving activity. Students in pairs can be provided with scenarios on different topics such as taking a trip. This activity was divided into the following 3 parts:

1. Getting information:
Students in pairs are asked to read about 2 different countries and fill in a sort of questionnaire or a foldable by asking each other questions and writing down answers. This activity offers practice in scanning information and engages students in real life interaction. The facilitator stressed the importance of providing students with sample questions and reading texts especially at very beginning levels.

2. using information:
Once they have information about 2 countries, students individually decide on which is the best country to visit and justify their choice.

3. Problem-solving negotiation:
Pairs discuss their choices and try to reach an agreement on the best country to visit and state the reasons behind their choice.
Joan Kang Shin provided this interesting world travel guide, which can be used as a teaching resource: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/

III- textbook exercises:

This technique aims to provide students with opportunities to interact while working in groups to complete textbook exercises. Below are the steps Joan Kang Shin suggested to implement this activity in the classroom:

1. Students in groups are asked to complete an exercise on the textbook or a task sheet.

2. They are asked to choose a leader whose responsibilities are :

Leading the discussion,
Keeping track of time,
Eliciting responses from the group members,
Making sure that all the group members participate equally and
Calling on students to share their answers with the whole class when the task has been completed.

3. Students should be given clear language models to successfully lead the discussion. Model questions should be adapted to students’ level and written clearly on the board or wall charts.

4. After the discussion, the teacher calls on each group leader to elicit a response from one of their group members and share it with other groups.

5. Group leaders are assisted to use the language accurately.

This workshop was a great opportunity for me to learn useful techniques and reflect on my own teaching, which was more focused on Teacher- student interactions. It has successfully convinced me that all students need to speak out and consequently we have to establish situations and encourage them to interact with one another.

Reference:

Workshop: Increasing Classroom Interaction with group and pair work. Joan Kang Shin. University of Maryland, Baltimore County. MATE 2nd middle school seminar. Benslimane, January 26-28, 2008.

Spelling Relay : - How to play

2007-12-30T02:16:00.000-08:00

Skills focus: Practice spelling words with this excellent stirrer.
How to Play:
Separate the classroom board into two or more equal parts by drawing rows and columns. The students will spell words in the rows. In the columns above write team names. (You can create more rows and columns depending on the number of teams.(tip- more than four rows is not advisable).
Give each team a board marker or chalk depending on the nature of your boards.
Make an equal line up of first relay runners of each team.
The teacher then says a word s/he wants the students to spell. Each runner runs to the board and writes the beginning letter of the word. He/she runs back to team members and hands the chalk or board marker to the next runner in the team. Each team takes turns writing a single letter until the word is completely spelled.
The first team to finish spelling the word correctly scores a point or gets some form of praise.
Tips:
This is an exciting game. Relay runners have a tendency to stand up before the marker or chalk is handed to them. Make sure relay runners are not doing similar unfair practices.
Start with easy words that students can spell
This is a stirrer and can be physically demanding. Some students might be good at spelling but not good runners. Mix students according to intellectual and physical strengths.
Generally, in all games of competition, make sure there is a balance of abilities in teams- physical & intellectual.
Try to help weak teams score points.
As a general rule, don’t always let one team win thrice in a row. This might discourage the other teams.
Keep the competitiveness by helping the weak teams in a way the winning teams do not judge unfair. But in the end give every team what they deserve.
Watch out for students who cannot handle the physical demands of the game. Pause occasionally and give students a few minutes to rest.
For higher levels don’t just ask them to spell a word. Describe a word and they guess and spell.
Adapt games according to the situation of your classrooms and students.

Three Activities to Promote Learners' Autonomy

2007-12-17T04:23:00.000-08:00

Introduction:
I believe that many EFL teachers, like myself, have experienced the frustration of investing endless energy in designing interesting, from the teacher's point of view, tasks and organizing various activities for students, but getting little response. Learners are often reluctant to use the target language in pair/small group work. Students do not reflect on their mistakes and, consequently, do not learn from their errors. Even really motivated learners do not always seem to attain their potential.
The common phenomenon among learners is a passive role they assume in the process of learning -- they rely on teachers too much and are reluctant to develop a sense of responsibility for the outcome of their learning. This holds for other subjects as well as for foreign languages.
It is unreasonable to expect that encouraging a student to become more independent, or autonomous, in acquiring language skills will bring about any tangible changes. Learners have to be taught the skill 'how to learn'. Learning this skill is a slow process and can only be perfected in a step-by-step manner.
First, learners need to become aware of the ways they learn best, which involves their learning styles and strategies (Brazis, Kavaliauskienë, 2000). Naturally, it takes time for learners to find out what are the most effective techniques and activities for each person.
Second, learners have to change their passive attitude to learning to a more active attitude, i.e. to become less dependent on the teacher and take charge of their own learning (Wilga M. Rivers, 1992). Teacher's role is to involve students in search for interesting materials, e.g. surfing the Internet, or finding pen-friends on the Internet, taking part in competitions, chat-clubs, encouraging to read English books, newspapers, magazines, etc.
Finally, learners have to be given a chance to gain experience in 'swapping places' with a teacher, which means changing the traditional role of a teacher, developing the art of negotiation, emphasizing the importance of self-assessment, etc. (Grudzinska, 2000). This involves tasks and activities designed and administered by the learners themselves. The diversity of tasks may cover grammar, games, written work, audio- and video- recordings, news items, translation -- you name it -- anything that interests learners will benefit them.
This article presents some techniques I have used in order to involve my students in active preparation and administration of activities. I hope my experience may be of interest to other English teachers who like experimenting in the classroom and trying out various techniques.
Crossword Session:
GOALS:
Recycling vocabulary, peer assessment and self-assessment, students' communicative interaction and cooperation, enhancing motivation
LEVEL: intermediate & above
LANGUAGE FOCUS: giving definitions, evaluating performance
PREPARATION: pair work in class, between 7 and 10 minutes
DELIVERY: pair work, time limit -- about 10 minutes
In this activity students assume the teacher's traditional role of designing a task and carrying out the activity.
For many students learning professional vocabulary is a tedious task. Learners find it difficult to retrieve a specific item impromptu (speaking or writing). The possible cause of this failure is that vocabulary items have not been consolidated, i.e. have not been transferred to a long-term memory and either remained in a short-term memory or have been forgotten. Some items might be recognizable when encountered by learners, but usually learners complain that they are short for words and use rudimentary vocabulary because appropriate terms have not been effectively activated.
In this activity a situational context and a lexical content are intertwined. Students use the wordlist of target vocabulary from the topic-based reading materials. Students choose the items they want to process and design a crossword working in pairs. It is advisable to limit the number of vocabulary items (about 10) and to set the time limit (7 to 10 minutes). Each pair is expected to deliver their crossword either on the chalkboard or transparency using an overhead projector. One student reads the definitions, and another writes the item as soon as somebody generates the answer. Students are awarded a point for each correct answer. In case of an inaccurate definition, a point is awarded to a person who corrects it. The guessing activity should not take longer than 10 minutes. The idea is to have a fast performance and delivery. The activity also helps develop fast-thinking, which is necessary in spontaneous speech. It can be administered as a warm-up or between other activities, like writing or reading, for students to unwind. The crosswords designed by other pairs should be administered in the follow-up lessons, one at a time. Thus, learners will be able to recollect and process the task-based vocabulary during a few weeks. Naturally, different pairs will choose diverse vocabulary items, which also encourages revising. Learners' interaction, cooperation, assessment and self-assessment is lively and takes place in a friendly atmosphere: students argue over definitions, pronunciation and spelling, and enjoy awarding the titles of 'the best', 'the second best' and 'the third best' performers.
An example of a crossword and definitions are presented below. This crossword example was prepared by a pair of learners using vocabulary from the reading text 'The Law and the Family' (Powell, 1993). Although the visual design may seem unprofessional, this crossword puzzle serves the goals.
DOWN
1 A legal document in which somebody states to whom they want their property & money to be given after their death (WILL)
2 The duty and the right of a parent to keep and bring up a child after divorce (CUSTODY)
3 Husband or wife (SPOUSE)
4 Born of parents who are not married to each other (ILLEGITIMATE)
5 A person who is being sued for divorce (RESPONDENT)ACROSS
6 A legal statement declaring a marriage null and void (NULLITY)
7 Dying without having made a will (INTESTACY)
8 Sexual intercourse between a married person and somebody who is not their spouse (ADULTERY)
9 A condition or requirement in a legal document (PROVISION)
10 Money paid by the state to the person responsible for a child under 16 (BENEFIT)
Grammar Training:
GOALS: identifying the right tense, self- & peer correction, self assessment, generalizing from examples, developing an autonomous learner
LEVEL: pre-intermediate & above
LANGUAGE FOCUS: usage of appropriate tenses within the context
PREPARATION: pair work, authentic materials
DELIVERY: pair work, handouts or transparencies (use of overhead projector)
The usage of English tenses is rather problematic to Lithuanian learners. The most likely cause of students' difficulty is a difference between grammar systems of English and the mother tongue. There are only three tenses in Lithuanian -- Present, Past and Future. There are no notions of either Continuous or Perfect tenses and learners find the usage very confusing. Although students are very familiar with the structures of all the tenses, they tend to simplify their usage to simple forms. The technique presented below demonstrates an opportunity for students to practice the usage of various tenses within the topic-based context.
The activity is prepared at home and administered by learners in class. Learners use authentic professional materials either from professional journals, CNN or BBC news, newspapers and so on. Each pair prepares a passage in which verbs are replaced by infinitives and reproduced on transparencies or handouts. In the classroom, all peers exchange their ideas and suggest the choice(s) of a tense. All students are involved in the discussion and present their arguments for or against the suggested usage. This activity is very lively, particularly when there is an alternative possibility. Learners argue the points enthusiastically, and as a rule a final decision is reached without the teacher's intervention. Learners enjoy awarding 'prizes' to their peers and demonstrate the ability of being objective in their evaluation. It is noteworthy that students should complete the activity during the lesson, and the teacher's feedback should follow the learners' self-assessment. It is advisable to have no more than one such activity during a lesson, so that students do not get bored or frustrated in case it is rather hard.
Here is an example.
BICYCLE PATROLS
The use of bicycle patrol (1) ___________ foot patrol in many areas. (REPLACE)
Lately US law enforcement agencies (2) _____________to recognize the many benefits of patrolling
on bikes. (BEGIN)
Patrolling on bikes (3) ____________ high visibility, accessibility and mobility. (PROVIDE)
Bicycle patrols (4) _____________ crime by the capability to approach crimes in progress without
being seen or heard. (REDUCE)
The element of surprise (5) _____________ police to catch more suspects.. (HELP)
Police bicycles (6) ______________ with radar or computerized communication systems. (EQUIP)
Electric bikes travel up to 20 mph and (7) ____________ pedaling. (NOT NEED)
Answer key
1 replaces / has replaced 2 have begun 3 provides / has provided 4 reduce / have reduced 5 helps / has helped 6 are equipped / have been equipped / were equipped 7 do not need
VariationA possible variation of this activity is combining two tasks: selecting the word order and the tense. A useful tip: usage of tenses is better understood and learnt from a context. The choice of tenses out of the context is often ambiguous. The following example is a part of a passage, which is meant to demonstrate the format of the exercise. Students-peers have to determine the logical word order and choose the appropriate tense:
/ a student / for two years / to juvenile offenders' / be sent / institution / for making / death calls / anonymous / / until his trial / be remanded / accused of harassing / in custody / young girls / the youth / last month /
Answer Key: A student has been sent to juvenile offenders' institution for two years for making anonymous death calls. The youth accused of harassing young girls was remanded in custody until his trial last month.
TranslationA way towards bilingualism :
GOALS: developing bilingualism, peer- and self-assessment, fostering formal vocabulary and style
LEVEL: intermediate & upwards
LANGUAGE FOCUS: adequate translation of legal excerpts from L2 into L1 and back from L1 into L2
PREPARATION: handouts of legal passages
DELIVERY: peer analysis, class discussionDeveloping bilingualism in learners demands their awareness of the word-combinations and options that language allows (Kavaliauskienë, Janulevièienë, 2001). Students find it hard to understand the language of agreements, contracts, treaties, laws and conventions, although they seem to know the meanings of most words.
This activity is designed to give students practice in translating short legal excerpts from English into the mother tongue. It is advisable to select two passages of similar scope that do not contain new vocabulary items. Prepare two passages of approximately the same difficulty and scope. Divide the class into an equal number of pairs and give different passages to the students sitting next to each other. Ask students to translate their passages into the mother tongue and set the time limit for translating.
As soon as students have finished translating, collect the original English texts and ask students to exchange their translations in mother tongue. Set the time limit and ask them to translate their peers' work back into English.
As soon as students have finished the translating, give them original texts and let the pairs who swapped their translations compare and analyze their work. The emphasis is on the difficulties they encountered in translation both ways. A whole class discussion is a follow-up activity.
The final stage is to provide a copy of an officially approved legal document in the learners' mother tongue so that learners can compare their own understanding and translation with the official version. As it is obvious from my description, this activity is time-consuming, because learners need some time for reflection, analysis and discussion. Discussions concern different aspects of language -- a choice of vocabulary, collocations, structure of sentences, style, etc.
I applied this technique for fostering comprehension of the Schengen Agreement documents. The majority of students were baffled by the usage of vocabulary items like 'alien' which they associated with 'a being from space' and not 'a foreigner'; 'a technical support function' has been understood as some 'computer software' which actually is 'a service' in the Schengen Information System; the term 'Contracting Party' some learners have understood either as 'a political party' or 'an entertainment contract'.
It is noteworthy that the use of the translation technique is not the old-fashioned way of teaching languages that was common in the middle of the 20th century. The communicative approach to translating is a useful means for teaching comprehension of legal texts, which are hard to follow because of the formal wording and change in the meaning of otherwise familiar vocabulary. Now that my students are aware of translation benefits, they bring their own legal excerpts into the classroom for peers to translate, analyze and discuss.
References:
.Brazis, R and Kavaliauskienë,G Application of Multiple Intelligences Theory to Teaching English, in 'Network', A Journal for English Language Teacher Education, Vol. 3, No 2, April 2000, pp. 47-51.
.Powell, R Law Today, 1993, Longman Group UK Ltd.
.Rivers, Wilga M. Communicating Naturally in a Second Language, Theory and Practice in Language Teaching, 1992, CUP.

Using bilingual glossaries to teach new vocabulary items.

2007-12-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

Hello dear colleagues,

Let me share with you some activities I have just tried successfully with my students. Actually, they were about teaching new vocabulary items related to Food, drinks and cooking utensils. From my past years experience, I noticed that students liked this unit so much and they expressed curiosity and enthusiasm to know more about the mentioned above items. They used to ask me for words translation as they have very few resources if none at all. To face these constraints and satisfy their curiosity, I created a 2 page bilingual glossary encompassing the maximum “cooking” jargon. Actually, this idea was inspired by the Oxford English Arabic Picture Dictionary. So I gave students copies of this glossary, which served as a vocabulary resource for the lesson. They were happy to keep the copies for their own use later on. Below is a detailed description of that lesson steps.

Objectives: Students will

acquire new vocabulary items related to Food, drinks, cooking utensils and practice them in meaningful context as in their everyday life
talk about their favourite dishes and describe the process of making them.

Materials:

Copies of the glossary encompassing English Arabic word lists related to: vegetables, fruits, spices, kitchen utensils, drinks and some key action verbs.
Copies of recipes with pictures and phrases describing the process.

References:

The Oxford English Arabic picture Dictionary. Norma Shapiro and Jayme Adelson Goldstein
English for everyday activities. A picture process dictionary. Lawrence J. Zwier.

Time: 45 minutes.

Steps of the lesson:

Students are shown some pictures of some food and drink items to determine what they already know.
Students are given the copies of the bilingual glossary and asked the following questions to make them go through the glossary and get familiar with the new items and their pronunciation:

- Which vegetables do you eat raw / cooked?
- Which fruits are sold in the summer / winter in Ouarzazate?
- What kitchen utensils do you use in making Spaghetti / Tajine …?
Students are given copies of some dishes‘ recipes with pictured actions .Then they are asked to work in pairs, read the process and complete the following information :
Ingredients :
spices :
Used utensils :
Method/ Process
When they have completed the task, some volunteers come up to the front of the class. One reading out the recipe while the second miming the actions.
As a follow up activity, students are asked to describe some local dishes their way.

To conclude, students were so much excited during this lesson and were happy to get copies of the glossary . I think it will be beneficial to apply the same technique while dealing with the next topics.

Effective Ways to Use Authentic Materials with ESL/EFL Students

2007-12-02T04:53:00.000-08:00

This paper explains how authentic materials can be effectively used in the ESL classroom. Each pair of students is given a copy of the authentic material accompanied by a set of questions about the contents of the handout. Students work together with a partner to extract pertinent information that is necessary to answer the questions.

The Authentic Materials
Background
We have been using authentic materials for over 10 years and have found that they complement English classes by enlivening the class and creating a more positive attitude toward learning. We now have an extensive collection of materials that include menus, maps, newspaper inserts, store advertisements, travel brochures, catalogs, phone books, real estate pamphlets, and various pamphlets of sightseeing and tourist information. We have found that using sets of materials are particularly appealing. A set could include a map, a travel guide, a menu, and a store advertisement from the same town -- all of which are interwoven, immersing the student in a multidimensional English experience.
Choosing Authentic Materials:
There are several important points to consider when choosing authentic materials. You should make sure that you have enough copies of the materials to be used so that each student or pair of students can have a copy to use. It is best not to use material with too many pages, unless the pages are clearly numbered for easy reference. If you plan to use the same materials in more than one class, it is important that they be hardy enough to withstand a lot of handling and they should be easily refolded and put back together. Materials with multiple pieces or pages that fall out or come apart should be avoided. Also, keep in mind that some materials are more easily dated than others. For example, last season's catalog does not have the same impact as a current one which is filled with items which the student could actually order. A menu, on the other hand, can be used as long as the prices remain contemporary. Students are generally uninterested in special events, for example an Expo, that have already past. Remember to choose material that is appropriate for the students' level. However, a certain amount of adjustment can be made depending on the type and level of questions used in the accompanying question handout.
Using Authentic Materials:
When we first began using authentic materials, we handed out materials to each student and had them work individually. However, experience has shown that having students work in pairs is a better approach because they tend to be more enthusiastic and work harder. We give each pair the authentic material and a question handout. Interestingly, the student with the stronger command of English is not necessarily the one who is able to extract the most information from the material. Students of different abilities tend to complement one another and, as a result, do not get bogged down easily. Students tend to contribute individual strengths to the completion of the task. We usually tell students that question handouts will be collected since this keeps them more focused on the completion of the exercise. The teacher's personal anecdotes and other background information should be shared before the students begin concentrating on the material.
After the authentic material has been distributed, we give a brief explanation and point out, for example, the importance of the table of contents in a pamphlet or the legend in a map. We point out small print and other parts of the material that are easily missed. We have found that pointing out Japanese words and products raises the level of interest in the material. This is a good time for the teacher to explain measures, abbreviations, and difficult words and expressions.
While the students are working on the assignment, we help them by answering questions and commenting on their work. This is also a good chance to give hints to those who are stuck on a particular question.
Once the allotted time is up, we collect the material along with the question handout and go over the difficult questions with the class. If the handouts are to be factored into the students' grades, it is a good idea to make sure they have a chance to work with various partners over the course of the semester.
Putting the Question Handout TogetherFor the authentic materials to be effective, the questions must be well constructed to (a) give the students the opportunity to practice English, (b) help the students gain confidence in their English ability, (c) expose the students to cultural differences and customs, and (d) help the students develop their ability to find pertinent information quickly.
Tour QuestionsThe first part of the question handout should contain easy multiple choice or fill-in factual questions. These questions give the students a 'tour' of the material and exposes them to a variety of question types. The students gain an overview of the material as they answer these initial easy questions and this makes them feel confident enough to tackle more difficult questions later.
Cultural and Personal Choice QuestionsThe second part of the handout should contain questions that can be used to bring attention to cultural differences in packaging, sizes, and pricing. Authentic materials often contain references to cultural events such as holidays, and questions can be used to bring these to the students' attention. Questions which require one word or written answers could be used at this stage. Furthermore, students are familiar enough with the material at this point to answer personal choice questions. These questions usually require the students to choose items from the material or a course of action based on personal preference. These often lead to lively discussion because students must agree on what answer to write.
Challenging QuestionsThe third part should have questions that are more challenging and time consuming. Because of the differences in abilities (and sometimes luck), the time it takes students to complete a question handout can vary considerably. The more challenging questions at the end of the handout tend to work as 'equalizers' and slow down faster students so slower students can catch up. Questions can involve reading the small print, be especially detailed, or involve deductive reasoning. When students are working on the challenging questions they often begin to compare their progress to that of their neighbors'. Deliberately misleading 'red herring' questions add to the competitiveness while developing the students' critical thinking.
Types of Questions and Sample Questions
Multiple Choice:
How many Navel Oranges can you buy for a dollar? a) 3 b) 4 c) 5
Which is the cheapest? a) orange juice b) grapefruit juice c) tomato juice
One Word Answer:
What country are the seedless grapes from? __________
On the back page it says Chilean Asian Pears for $1.00 each. What do you think "Asian pears" are called in Japanese? _________
Written Answer:
Why are the strawberries on the back page called California Strawberries?
How do you order coupons on the Internet for this store?
Lists:
You want to make sandwiches for your family. What would you buy?
Stone Ground Wheat Bread - 2 loaves - $4.00
_________________ - _______________ - $ ______
_________________ - _______________ - $ ______
_________________ - _______________ - $ ______
_________________ - _______________ - $ ______
You are having a party for five friends at your house. You can spend only 50 dollars. What would you buy for the party?
Cape Cod Potato Chips - 4 six ounce bags - $6.00
_________________ - _______________ - $ ______
_________________ - _______________ - $ ______
_________________ - _______________ - $ ______
_________________ - _______________ - $ ______
Factual:
How many large brown eggs can you buy for $1? _________
How much are two jars of Mayonnaise on page 7? $ _____
Analytical (multi-step):
How much do 10 ears of Florida Super Sweet Corn and 2 pounds (lb.) of Fresh Ground Round cost? $ ______
Which costs more, one lb. of Fresh Boneless Shark Steaks or one lb. of Whiting Fillets? ________
Personal Preference:
Look at the back page. What fruit would you like to eat? __________
What flowers do you want to give to your mother on Mother's Day? ________________________________ $ ______
Conversion:
How many ounces are there in a two liter bottle of Pepsi One? ____
How many grams of Florida Red Potatoes can you buy for five dollars? One pound is about 453 grams. _________
Red Herring:
One Florida Juice Orange costs $2.00. True or False (NOTE TO TEACHERS: The advertisement says one bag is $2.00.)
Which is cheaper, one lb. of Whiting Fillets or one lb. of Crunchy Clam Strip? ________
Obvious:
What is the name of this store? _____________________
What month is the Mother's Day Sale? ______________
Challenging:
Find something that is cheaper in Japan than in the USA. ________.
What can you buy in a glass jar that is usually sold in a plastic bottle in Japan? _________
ActivitiesThere are other methods of using authentic materials. Some of these can be used as a supplement to the question handout, or on their own, for variety. Here are four examples of effective activities with brief explanations.
Word Search
The students search for parts of speech such as adjectives on a given page or search for certain categories of things. An advantage of this activity is that students do not need identical copies of the authentic material.
Crosswords
The teacher prepares a crossword puzzle using words from the handout. The questions for the handout can also be presented as crossword clues. Crossword generating programs found on the Internet make this easy.
Personalizing
The students write a list of purchases for an imaginary party using a supermarket handout, plan a trip using a travel brochure or plan a meal with a menu. The students could also be asked to fill out a mail order form with an imaginary order of purchases for family members, boyfriends, girlfriends, and themselves.
Pair Practice
The students ask and answer the printed questions on the handout and are encouraged to ask their own questions. The students can role play the parts of customer and clerk either following a sample conversation provided by the teacher or making up their own.
Internet
The Internet can be used to provide authentic material as well. The teacher can search for sites that focus on a specific topic, make questions, and post them online. These online lessons can be completed by the students on their own. Although the Internet has many advantages, it cannot replace the hands-on, three dimensional quality of real materials brought into the classroom by the teacher.
Conclusion
When used effectively, authentic materials help bring the real world into the classroom and significantly enliven the ESL class. Exposing the students to cultural features generates a deeper understanding of and interest in the topic. On one hand, the students develop their ability to zero in on relevant information, and on the other, they learn how to disregard what is not relevant. As students pool their individual strengths they gain confidence in being able to function in an English-speaking society.

The importance of eye contact inthe classroom

2007-11-21T05:40:00.000-08:00

Teachers often complain about discipline, about lack of attention, about the use of L2 in the classroom and many other problems, many of which amount to a breakdown in communication between teacher and students or between students themselves. It is well known that speech is only one part of communication, yet teachers often forget about or underestimate the importance of non-verbal communication in their own and their students' performance. One aspect of non-verbal communication is the use of the eyes to convey messages. The eyes are a powerful tool for both the teacher and the learner, yet much classroom time is spent with eyes firmly fixed on the book, the board, the floor, the window, or roaming randomly around the teaching and learning environment.
Teachers working in all disciplines in secondary schools have always been advised to develop 'the look' as part of their teaching persona. 'The look' ranges from 'be quiet please', through 'I'm not going to tell you again' to 'don't mess with me, sonny', and in this respect is seen as having a disciplinary function. Meanwhile, the business world has accepted eye contact as an important component of achieving success in giving presentations and improving rapport between representative and client, while these days it is possible to find many websites offering advice on how to forge personal relationships through the judicious use of eye contact. Researchers and practitioners in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) have brought the notion of body language and eye contact back to the attention of language teachers, but largely in the context of providing clues to the nature of the learner rather than in terms of a teaching tool. We have recently had the pleasure of observing English language classes at the Izmir University of Economics, and have seen a lot of pairs of eyes performing a lot of functions.
Here are some of the things that we have been reminded of or learnt anew:
'The look' still works, but don't overdo it or you will become a caricature of yourself.
Establishing a management role in the classroom involves eye contact from the outset. Be in your classroom before your learners, and welcome them individually with a combination of eye contact and their name as they enter the room.
Talk to your learners, not to the book, the board or the screen.
Eyes can set the tone of a lesson. As the lesson starts, walk around the room looking to checkwhether the learners are ready -- books out, pens and paper handy, mobile phones off. If not, eye contact should suffice to rectify the situation.
Try teaching part of a lesson without saying anything. This should remind you of how important paralinguistics is as well as helping to control your teacher talking time.
Good eye contact does not mean staring or gazing. Many learners are likely to find this uncomfortable and consequently avert their own eyes and lose concentration.
Neither does good eye contact mean eyes darting from learner to learner around the room -- this has no effect whatsoever. It is recommended that there should be three to five seconds eye contact for non-verbal communication to take place.
Watch your learners as well as listen to them, particularly while they are performing tasks.
Look for signs of being bored or being lost.
Encourage your learners to make eye contact while they are working together in pairs or groups. Start by training them to listen to each other using non-verbal responses only.
Research shows that there is a strong link between the amount of eye contact people receive and their degree of participation in group communication -- in the number of turns taken in a group conversation for example.
The NLP approach to eye contact is holistic and individualistic, but is soundly based on the premise that good eye contact increases rapport.
Save time and effort with specific messages delivered by eye and facial expression. Show praise, encouragement often, and disapproval occasionally. Remind learners that they ought to know an answer or that they could provide a response if they tried.
Use eye contact as a correction technique.
Nominate and invite responses by eye. If the nominee is not watching, someone will give him/her a nudge.
Eye contact is, fundamentally, time and effort saving. Much of the above is likely to seem transparently obvious, only natural, and an aspect of human behaviour either innate or developed over time. But watch yourself, watch your colleagues, and watch your learners!

Teaching listening activities

2007-11-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

Dear colleagues,

Here are some listening activities I tried successfully within my last classes. They are actually adapted from Deborah Detzel’s workshop “Teaching listening”. The objective was to give students an opportunity to:

Use vocabulary items related to family members, possessive adjectives and the genitive apostrophe,
Talk about their families and get to know each other in lifelike interactions.

“Obeying instructions” activity:

I ask students to stand up if they have a brother or if their father is called Mohamed for example. Those who don’t have should not stand up. Then I keep asking them using if statements till I have covered the maximum of previously taught vocabulary items.
“Guess who” activity :

I ask students to work in pairs and complet a kind of questionnaire by asking the other classmate in his/her pair. On the board I write down questions to make the task easier. Below are examples of questions I used.
- How many brothers and sisters do you have?
- What’s your father’s name?
- Do you have any cousins?
- What are their names? … Etc.
When they have completed the task, I ask them to write on a draft paper a small paragraph in which they talk about their classmate’s family. They have to write his/her name on the top of the paper then start the paragraph with: He/she has …………
I collect the paragraphs when they have finished writing.
At random I read a paragraph this way: Guess who has ………..
Then students have to make guesses and find out who is subject of the paragraph before I move to another paragraph.

These activities successfully helped me meet the outlined objectives and gave an injection of vitality to the lesson. So thanks Deb!

Naima

Using humour in our classrooms

2007-11-19T04:52:00.000-08:00

Introduction:
This article examines how humour can be an effective tool in teaching and in creating the affective second language classroom. It will also examine the reasons why humour is sometimes avoided, and will dispel the myth that one must be a comedian to use humour in a language classroom. The focus is on the use of cartoons with practical examples of how to use and adapt this particular resource. One doesn't have to be a gifted humorist to reap the benefits of using humour in the classroom.
" Classrooms in which laughter is welcome help bring learning to life."
Much has been written in recent years about the importance of the affective environment in the second language classroom. Such classrooms are ones in which learners are not afraid to take risks and use their second language. Students are encouraged and praised for their efforts to always use their second language in class. Students don't face ridicule, nor negative criticism. Error correction is appropriate, timely, constructive and seeks to instill confidence in each student.
However, at times we overlook humour as an important element in teaching, in teacher training and how humour can contribute to a positive environment for learning. Students of education are not always given the opportunity to examine the impact of their own preferences of teaching style or their own willingness to use certain strategies, such as humour in the language teaching. Because of the lack of time to explore such personal views we may be missing an opportunity to enhance learning in our classrooms.
Kristmanson (2000) emphasizes this need to create a welcoming classroom for language learning;
"In order to take risks, you need a learning environment in which you do not feel threatened or intimidated. In order to speak, you need to feel you will be heard and that what you're saying is worth hearing. In order to continue your language learning, you need to feel motivated. In order to succeed, you need an atmosphere in which anxiety levels are low and comfort levels are high. Issues of motivation and language anxiety are key to this topic of affect in the second language classroom."
Why Haven't We Been Using Humour in Our Classrooms?
For many the simple mention of humour condors up notions and protests of, "I'm not funny, I don't use humour." " I can't tell a joke; let alone use one in class." For others it is something to be feared, synonymous with classroom disorder and chaos. "I'm not about to start telling jokes, it will mean complete loss of control."
For some this resistance to using humour may simply be a lack of knowledge as to how one may use it effectively in class. " I enjoy humour, but I don't know how to go about using it, so I don't. I don't want to look foolish." Others associate humour and its use with non-productivity. Students can't be learning if they are laughing. Yet humour is as authentic and as communicative a human reaction and social skill as is greeting and conversing with friends.
Commercial language teaching methodologies have tended in the past to avoid the use of humour. It is one thing to train or explain to teachers how to teach the future or passe compose, however, it is a more evasive concept to train teachers to have a sense of humour or even develop such a human characteristic.
The humour discussed in this article however requires no form of humour training, nor requires that a teacher have the humouristic skills that would match the Robin Williams of the world. It will demonstrate a simple yet very beneficial use of humour, the use of cartoons in the communicative teaching of a second language.
Why Should We Use Humour in Our Classrooms?
Humour and laughter are areas that have not been closely studied. Their role in education and medicine has been briefly examined as far back as Wells (1974) to as recently as Provine (Dec. 2000) in, "The Science of Laughter", Psychology Today .
Loomax and Moosavi (1998) in an article on the use of humour in a university statistics class point out that anecdotal evidence in past studies consistently suggests that humour is an extremely effective tool in education. These same studies suggest that the use of humour in the classroom reduces tension, improves classroom climate, increases enjoyment, increases student-teacher rapport and even facilitates learning.
Regardless of what evidence there may be, we all have personal views on the value of humour, as depicted in the film "Patch Adams" and for years in Reader's Digest, "Laughter is the Best Medicine." Yet, there is little in literature that speaks of its pedagogical value and in particular in second language teaching and in second language teacher training.
According to Provine (2000) laughter is generally subdued during conversation. Speech will dominate and laughter serves as a phrase break creating a punctuation effect in language. Laughter therefore has a specific role in conversations and is not random. Therefore, as in authentic communication, humour in the classroom shouldn't be random. It shouldn't be used without preparation and a clear objective. It may be simple or complex in nature. It is your decision as to how, when and why you will use it.
One reason for using humour is that as a human trait it is a self-effacing behavior (Provine, 2000). It can allow the shy or timid student in your class to participate with the group. If it is used properly humour allows the student to feel a part of the class and possibly contribute without loosing face, feeling exposed or vulnerable. This is of particular importance in a communicative classroom where the accent is on verbal authentic communication, participation and interaction. It's a way of reaching out to those students who are too afraid or nervous to attempt expressing themselves in their second language. Humour is as human and as authentic as the need to communicate. As with other facets of our lives it plays a major role in our every day social interaction. We should therefore not ignore it but instead make it part of our everyday classroom learning.
Laughter helps us forget about ourselves, our problems, our fears and allows us to lose ourselves momentarily. This momentary loss may be interpreted by some teachers as a loss of control, poor classroom management and therefore something to be avoided. However, humour as with all activities in the communicative language classroom, must be well prepared and have a specific objective.
Interestingly enough, Provine (2000) also discovered that even though both sexes laugh a lot, females laugh more. It might explain why the females in our classes seem to enjoy more the humour used in the classroom. Although, as Provine points out, males appear to be the initiators of humour in any culture, beginning in early childhood.
As was stated earlier, Kristmanson (2000) stressed the importance of the affective environment in second language teaching. It can't be emphasized enough that students are more willing to participate and take risks in using their second language in a classroom that allows them to do so without fear of criticism and ridicule. It's important for the teacher to create a "positive atmosphere" for learning. Humour, by decreasing anxiety and stress can, contribute to this positive classroom, to class unity and learning.
"Indeed, the presumed health benefits of laughter may be coincidental consequences of its primary goal: bringing people together.
Guidelines for Using Humour:
"The job of the teacher is to get students laughing, and when their mouths are open, to give them something on which to chew. "
Although the above quote is an interesting and humorous way to describe the use of humour, it is not our role as teachers to be stand-up comedians. Nor will we all use humour in the same way, or use the same humour. With this in mind there are certain points to consider before using humour in your classroom. Proper preparation is key as in all language teaching preparation. In so doing we really will have something for the students to "chew on."
1. Don't try too hard. Let humour arise naturally, encourage it, don't force it. Don't be discouraged if the first time it doesn't meet your expectations. As Provine (2000) states, your reaction to their non-reaction (to a cartoon for example) may be the most amusing part. Like all things, proper preparation is needed for proper delivery.
2. Do what fits your personality. Never force it, it won't work. You might want to venture outside your comfort zone and try a different genre, cartoonist, or style of humour. Remember you class is made up of individuals with different tastes.
3. Don't use private humour or humour that leaves people out. Your goal is not to become a comedian. The humour described here is through cartoons. It doesn't make fun of any particular group, nationality, etc ... Private humour, if you use it, should be for affective reasons as well, used carefully, never demeaning or sarcastic.
4. Make humour an integral part of your class, rather then something special. Humour works best as a natural on-going part of classroom learning. Be careful not to over use it, it could loose its value and effect. With practice you will develop a style and comfort zone with humour.
The use of humour will depend on the content you are teaching and the availability of appropriate humorous material. Have specific goals or objectives in mind. Using humour, like teaching, has to be well prepared. With time you will become more and more at ease, or self assured with its use. Allow yourself time to experiment and see what works well.
"When humour is planned as part of the teaching strategy, a caring environment is established, there is an attitude of flexibility, and communication between student and teacher is that of freedom and openness. The tone is set allowing for human error with freedom to explore alternatives in the learning situation. This reduces the authoritarian position of the teacher, allowing the teacher to be a facilitator of the learning process. Fear and anxiety, only natural in a new and unknown situation, becomes less of a threat, as a partnership between student and instructor develops."[6]5. Humour and cartoons should be related to what your are doing in the classroom. Humour may be used to solicit dialogue, conversations and develop vocabulary. At times you may want to use it as a break before going on to something else. However, the cartoon should always be of an appropriate nature and interest to your students.
It is useful, on occasion, to present a cartoon on an overhead projector as students come into class. The humour can relax and re-energize the students for class. It can also prepare them to converse in their second language. The cartoon can become the signal that they are now in French or ESL class. To help the students shift from their first language to their second language they could enjoy a lighthearted moment of discussion or interpretation of the cartoon. This interaction is authentic and can stimulate real discussion and or debate, so much so that at times you may have to bring the discussion to a close to proceed with the class.
6. The extent to which you use humour will vary on your class. Interpretation, discussion and analysis will vary on the proficiency of your class. The humour must be comprehensible, with themes that your students can relate to.
As with all communicative learning activities, prepare your students. Begin by discussing cartoons; what are their favorites, what are yours. Tell them you are going to use cartoons to illustrate what they are learning and to have fun. The pedagogical reasons for their use can be known by you. What the students will know is that the cartoon will help them better understand and learn the language.
Remember, it is important to keep it simple, with a specific objective. Don't attempt to use, for example, the future, passe compose, verb agreement and the use of idiomatic expressions all at once. You may want to use a specific cartoon again to illustrate another point. Although I recommend that you use a different cartoon and enjoy the humour more.
A Practical ExampleIn the past I have generally used cartoons with multi panels. They provide more material for communicative questioning and discussion. However, the choice of carton that you choose to demonstrate or practice a particular point will naturally depend on the theme, grammatical or cultural component you are teaching or examining. It is important to decide beforehand why you want to use it and how you want to use it. Ask yourself the question, "What knowledge do I want the students to demonstrate by interpreting this cartoon?" As mentioned previously try not to deal with multiple aspects at one time. Perhaps you simply want to illustrate or have the students demonstrate their knowledge of vocabulary or expressions related to emotions. However, nothing is stopping you from returning to the cartoon at a later date to talk about intonation and stress in the language and how it can change the meaning of what is said. As before, don't overuse the cartoon. I suggest you keep it simple and use other examples to illustrate supplementary points.
The absence of a title or any written dialogue allows your students to use their imagination and express themselves orally or in written form (I have primarily used cartoons to stimulate oral expression. I have used writing as a possible extension, a re-investment of the activity). Such an exercise allows students to defend their point of view and also to explore their interpretations of possible dialogue and scenarios.
It is motivating and interesting to have students suggest a before and after sequence to the situation illustrated by the cartoon. Students willingly offer possible "before" and "after" segments and delight in coming up with the most original. This particular aspect of the lesson can take place after each individual panel or once all panels have been shown.
To add variety to the use of such cartoons you may want to present the first several panels together and solicit an ending to the story or an interpretation of the story. Presenting the panels one at a time makes the activity more communicative and intriguing as students confirm or don't confirm their interpretations of what will happen next. More discussion and fun is had as the story unfolds with each segment. Anticipation builds as you approach the final panel. The ending takes on a greater value as everyone waits for the true ending!
Another approach is to ask your students to actually create, or imagine the dialogue for each panel. It could be an opportunity to introduce or review expressions of emotion, in this case, anger and despair. For example one could use a cartoon that depicts, what one would assume, is a mother scolding her child. However, in the final panel we discover that it is the house pet. If the class was an ESL class students could possibly come up with the following examples of ways to expression displeasure and disappointment:
"I'm not very happy with you."
"I'm very upset with your behaviour."
"I'm very saddened, unhappy, disappointed, bitterly disappointed..."
"I'm very annoyed."
"I'm very disillusioned, discontented, heavy-hearted..."
"I'm so ashamed, pained, ..."
"We (speaking for both parents) are so weary, tired, disgusted..."
"We are furious, incensed, infuriated, enraged by this behavior... "
"We feel blighted, dejected by this whole affair."You may want to examine the role of intonation, stress and syllabication related to such a situation, on another occasion or at another point in your lesson.
Vocabulary work begins immediately with the presentation of the first panel, when the class begins to describe the scene and brainstorm what they see and understand to be happening. Examples of open-ended communicative questions that force students to go beyond a simple "yes" or "no" could be:
"Describe what you see in the first panel." "Where does the story take place?"
"To whom is the woman speaking?" "Imagine what she is saying."
"What do you think happened before this story began?"
"How will the story end?"As with the multidimensional approach we seek to have students reinvest what they have learned by completing an extension activity or enrichment activity. A possible example suggested by Lavenne (1988) and enjoyed by students is to write the story as if reporting the news for a newspaper, if the cartoon can be adapted for such a reinvestment. If students aren't aware of the structure of a newspaper article it would be good to review it and provide authentic examples. Students can then model the style correctly in writing his or her own news report. Another option is to have students write out the dialogue. As in the case of this cartoon, researching and writing the dialogue to share with the class could be fun and entertaining. Such an exercise is motivating and enables you to see if students have mastered, in written form, the point of grammar, structure, vocabulary or expressions of emotions you have taught and have examined with them.
Conclusion:
Humour can contribute a great deal to the second language classroom. It enables you not only to create an affective or positive environment, but is a source of enjoyment for you and your students. Language is seen in authentic and real life situations. Humorous situations allow your students to express themselves without fear of ridicule and criticism. Anxiety and stress is reduced and your students are encouraged to take more risks in using their second language.
As with all language activities care must be taken to prepare students before the activity and guide them along the way. Although the teachers may perceive the exercise as a lighthearted moment in the course of their lesson plan, humour should be an integral part of a positive learning classroom environment. Specific goals and objectives must be pre-established and clear in the mind of the teacher. Humour, along with encouragement and praise should be one of the many useful tools used by language teachers to make their classrooms more inviting and conducive to learning.

Teaching the simple present tense meaningfully

2007-10-30T04:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
I’d like to share two activities I have just experienced with my students after they have been introduced to the simple present tense. These activities offered a good opportunity for students to use this tense meaningfully and do enjoyable tasks that focus their attention on its forms. They have also been incredibly productive in terms of the amount of language use. The following is the plan of the lesson in which I used the 2 activities. I hope to get feedback from you soon !

Lesson topic: teaching the simple present tense using communicative activities.

Level: beginning

Skills emphasised: integrated skills.

Target language: verbs related to daily routines and professions and WH questions.

Objectives: by the end of the lesson students should be able to:

Acquire and use new vocabulary items related to daily routines and professions.
Practice the forms of the simple present tense meaningfully.
Share information about their daily routine.

Materials:

A handout questionnaire to fill in with daily routine activities.
Individual sentences on slips of papers about professions.

References:

Penny Ur, 2006. Grammar practice activities.
Jeremy Harmer. The practice of English language teaching.

Activity I: daily routine

Teacher presents Fatima’s daily routine on the board. Actually it’s a two-column chart labelled: “time” and “activities”.
Teacher writes down time and activities. For example: 7am : I get up. Teacher uses gestures and mimes to present the new vocabulary.
When the chart has been completed, the teacher asks students comprehension questions about Fatima’s routine. The aim being to show students that verb forms change when the subject is in the third person. These are examples of the questions I used: When does Mary get up?, What does she eat for breakfast?,How does she go to school? ...etc.
Students are asked to work in pairs and get to know about each other’s daily routine.
Each Student is given a questionnaire which he should fill in by asking the other person in his pair.
When students have completed the task, the teacher asks them to write a paragraph in which they describe the different activities their classmate does as part of his or her daily routine. The questionnaire answers serves as a source of ideas.
Teacher gets a student up to the front of the class to read out his paragraph.
Teacher collects students ' writings for evaluation and feedback.

Activity II: professions

On the board, teacher draws a chart with many columns each labelled with a different job.
Students are put into groups.
Each group is given individual sentences on slips of papers. Actually each sentence describes an activity a person would do in the course of one of the jobs indicated on the chart.
Teacher makes sure that groups understand the meaning of the sentencesa and provides help.
Students read the sentences and match them with the jobs.
A representative of each group is asked to write on the board sentences underneath the appropriate job.

The English alphabet

2007-10-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

I noticed that some of my students do have some difficulty in pronouncing some words because they don't know even most of the alphabet.In fact, they would like to learn ,but they find this hinderance.Therefore, Idecided to start my lesson with the English alphabet.I asked some of my students about the English alphabet.I asked students to listen carefully .I played the tape recorder.I distributed sheets where there are some blanks to fill in.I asked the students to listen and to write the missing words. I asked some students to read what they have written.I asked pairs students to compare their answers.Then ,we had a correction on the blackboard.I had also a lesson about days of the week and I used jazz chant following the same previuos steps.I was very glad because when I meet some of my students ,I hear them singing the songs they have learnt in class though nobody of their parnts know any word of English.

Using games in teaching grammar

2007-10-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,
I’d like to share an interesting and meaningful grammar activity I have just practiced this morning. It’s actually the famous game "don’t say yes or no" adapted from “Grammar practice activities” by Penny Ur. I used this game as a supplementary follow up activity to consolidate students’ knowledge and use of short answers to yes no questions. The procedure of the game is the following:

1- On the board I wrote down names of different people and their professions. I used some pictures to present professions .

2- I explained the rules of the game as follows:

A student is asked to stand in front of the class and answer his classmates’ questions.
Other students in turn ask him/her about any person they choose from the list concerning his/her job. They have to use yes no questions. For example: is Leila a teacher?
The answer must be in the form of a short answer without saying “yes” or “no”.
The winner is the one who answers correctly the maximum of questions.

This activity was a good opportunity to present new vocabulary items and manipulate yes no questions as well as short answers forms in an interesting, funny and contextualized way.Give it a trail, I’m sure your students will like it!.

Report about the P4T Summer Institute 2007

2007-10-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

The Partnership for Teaching (P4T) Summer Institute sponsored by the American Department of State and hosted by the University of Delaware started on July 7, 2007 and ended on Aug 18, 2007. The program was organized for the Moroccan and Egyptian teachers of English as an initiative to help the ministries of education in both countries to improver the teaching of English in public schools. The participants had the opportunity to improve their teaching skills, update their academic knowledge, and discover the American culture through two main ways, the academic activities and cultural trips and meetings.

The Academic Activities

These activities consisted mainly of workshops and tutorials that aimed at raising the participants’ awareness to a number of issues related to ESL/EFL such as using drama in teaching, strategic interaction, Story telling, teaching listening, etc. such activities aim also at correcting some misunderstandings that the participants might have about ESL/EFL teaching practice. Most of the workshops were in the form of interactive presentations that gives a theoretical background and practical tasks.

The merit of these activities resides in the fact that they combine theory with practice in dealing with any issue in ESL/EFL. This gave the participant a clear picture about the issues discussed. Another merit is the fact these activities was the fact that most of the presenters used cooperative approach to learning. In other words, the participants contributed their ideas to the workshop and helped to make it a success.

The academic activities were concluded with a final mini-conference that was entirely prepared by the participants. The conference topics featured what the participants learned from the whole training either in terms of form or content. In terms of form, most of the workshops presented at the conference reflected the techniques of presentation stressed during the training. In terms of content, most of the conference topics reflected either the issues dealt with during the training or the participants’ cultural experience during the training. Even if there was not enough time to prepare for the mini-conference, the participants managed to demonstrate their understanding of the different workshops and cultural activities. The mini-conference was also a form of preparation for the participants for the follow-on conference in the home country either in terms of organization or delivery.

The Cultural activities

On the cultural level, the P4T summer institute was an opportunity for the participants to discover the American culture, since it was the first time for all the participant in the USA. This objective was achieved through a number of cultural trips to monuments and places that constitute landmarks of the American Culture such as Dover, Philadelphia, New York, Lancaster, and Washington D.C. In addition to that, the cultural aspect of the training was fostered through a number of meeting and social gatherings with people from different walks of life and professions. Examples of these meetings are The People-to-People dinner, the Dover teacher meeting, and The ELI teachers’ lunch. These gatherings provided opportunities for the participants not only to improve their linguistic abilities but to foster their cultural awareness and understanding as well.

Mohamed ELFATIHI

The training program

2007-10-13T04:14:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues!Infact all what we have learnt in Delaware is so beneficial to me,all what I would like to say thank you for all people who endeavered to make of this program a success both the Moroccans and the Americans .Now in all my classes I am trying to use all the techniques and the skills we have learnt in Delaware:songs,chants,games,drama,puzzles,crosswords....etc.For the activities I am trying to use different forms:multiple choice,word and sentence order,gap filling,sentence completion,wh-questions.....etc.What surprised my colleagues is the life the Amish people are leading,It was the first time they have heard about them.In short everything we learnt in the USA was wonderful from society to pedagogy.Thank you and I really miss you:all the people whom I met there .I hope to see you here in Morocco so that you can discover the beauty of Morocco.You are welcome..........

2007-10-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I wrote in the Blog. We began our school year about four weeks ago.I have put a plan since I ARRIVED IN EGYPT.I made some copies for all my colleagues about what we have done in the USA AND EVERYDAY WE HAD DISCUSSIONS about how to adapt these new techniques in our school and according to the commercial curriculum.
At first I put the idea of my PORTFOLIO into use for integrating writing daily and it was really a success. It was at first difficult to have positive results but through trials my students liked the idea very much.
Second, I made use of our workshops about how to teach VOCABULARY in an easy and expressive way.
Now I am thinking of how to solve my students' problem in speaking as some of them are shy to speak in front of others and this could be solved through group work , but others get afraid of making mistakes , it is my duty to help them speak freely.
If I have any new idea or technique , I would keep in touch.
LAMIA

Using jazz chants in listening activities

2007-10-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,
I'd like to share with you a lesson that both my students and I liked so much. Students learnt many things and had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to your comments. Thanks!

Lesson plan

Lesson topic : listening using jazz chants

Students Level : beginning 1

Time : 45 minutes

Skills emphasized : Listening and developing oral intelligibility through appreciation of the rhythm and intonation patterns of spoken American English.

Target functions and structures :

asking for names and their spelling,
greeting others and asking about mutual friends,
introducing friends in a casual and frequentely used form,
using short forms of the verb Be.

Objectives : By the end of the lesson students should be able to :

review the functions and vocabulary previousely taught: asking for names and their spelling , age, using short forms of the verb Be,
get used to the sounds and features of American English,
be aware of the striking difference between written words and their spoken forms.

Materials:

Small talk Book and cassette by Carolyn Graham
tape recorder
Task sheet with written conversations .

Activity I : warm-up

T briefly reviews the previous lesson by asking students about their names, how they are spelt, their age, their home towns......

Activity II : Listening

Students listen to chant n°1 on the cassette
Students listen once again and try in pairs to fill in blanks with words from the chant. They are already given a task sheet.
Class correction of the exercice with answers on BB.
students repeat sounds they find difficult.
teacher along with students establish the rhythm by snapping fingers, then students repeat each line of the chant after the teacher
Students listen again to the chant on the cassette
Class is devided into 2 groups ( 2 rows for each group). Each group is given a role and repeats his lines after the teacher.
The 2 groups perform the chant without the teacher modeling.
the groups exchange roles while keeping the rhythm with their fingers snapping.

Activity III : practice

Students in pairs write a dialogue in which they use all what they have just learnt using their names ..etc.
Students act out their dialogues to the whole class.
Teacher helps them retain the rhythm and intonation paterns.

* The same activities were repeated with all the other chants in units 1 and 2 in the jazz chants book .

References :

Small Talk book and cassette by Carolyn Graham. Oxford University press.
Workshop on Rhythm, Stress and intonation with jazz chants. Marybeth Worillow. P4T Udel 2007.

New eJournal about the English language

2007-10-04T22:54:00.000-07:00

Below you'll find the link to a new online journal on a topic we all know and love: the English language.
Check out the new eJournal, Dynamic English online: http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0807/ijse/ijse0807.htm Or as a pdf file: <>
Enjoy the journal.
Kamal Hadder

remember the blog

2007-09-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

hi everybody
it seems that you forgot the blog. Please remember to post your ideas and feeling on it. I will busy for another week as I will be the vice president of a voting office. that's so much work.
buy now

hello everybody

2007-08-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

hi everybody.Now ,it's time for hard work. I wish you good luck and see you all in the day of the conference .I hope that we will share different ideas and experiences.

Good Luck Guys

2007-08-08T17:04:00.001-07:00

hey up there, you must be having hard times preparing for the conference. Don't worry, everything will be alright inchallah. I know you are able to do it. please, prepare for that with a good intention and leave the rest for God.
Best of luck

Using music to teach the four skills.

2007-08-08T16:58:00.000-07:00

Using music to each the four skills

This workshop, presented by Janet Louise, is about teaching the four skills using music. The majority of teachers believe that the use of music in their classrooms is only to teach listening comprehension. Throughout all the school year, students are exposed to a variety of selected songs by their own teachers. The aim of which is to improve students’ listening to English language. On the contrary, music can be used to teach all the four skills: listening comprehension ,reading comprehension, writing and reading. What a teacher has to bear in mind, though, is that not every song is ideal to use in the classroom. This means that teachers have to go through the following steps to select a specific song to teach:
- Intelligibility: may the students understand the language of the song? Keep in mind that with a certain amount of written explanation and vocabulary presentation on the blackboard can help the students understand more than expected.
- Appropriateness: many songs are morally inappropriate to young children. Thus, students and the community must be respected. In addition, teachers have to choose songs that actually have positive moral and ethical message or which challenge the students to think at a more mature level.
-Appeal: the song must be appealing and engaging to the students. If it is just because the teacher likes it, there is no reason then to use it.
- Language objectives: the songs must emphasize particular linguistic, curricular or thematic objectives.
- Length: the song must fit available class time.
By doing so, the selected song attracts students’ attention and teaches some natural and interesting language without offending anyone.

Summarised by:
Jamal LATRACHE

Summary of the workshop on:

2007-08-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

Summary of the workshop on:
Communicative language teaching using Drama by Dr. Scott Stevens

Naima Leghtas and Halima Elhanani

Drama is used to develop communicative competence in language classes.

I- why do we use drama ?

We use it for the following reasons:
1- motivation: it inspires students to learn a foreign language in a funny way.
2- self esteem : it makes shy students more confident in using a second language and in developing their characters and personalities.
3- creativity: students become more creative and show their talents.
4- cultural proximity : students learn about the target culture through slang, idioms, non verbal communication ....... etc.

II- How to use drama in a classroom:

1- Group development: drama develops group unity through trust.
2- voice or stage speech: students improve their oral intelligibility because the voice used in drama is one of power, volume and enthusiasm.
3- observation : drama reflects life . So students get more aware of the world around them and so more able to improvise.
4- Energy : it refers to the inner power in voice and movement which is necessary to keep the audience attention all along the show.
5- Movement : it means body language which is associated to culture and language.
6- concentration : students learn how to bring an intensity of effort to their own performance.
7- Spontaneity : students don’t need to memorize their scripts.
8- Creativity : students should be given the chance to write and act out their own ideas.
9- Mechanics: such as transitions between scenes, acts entrances, exits, pausing dialogue, sensitivity to pops, signals for beginning songs ...... etc.

III - Steps of using drama:

1- Physical warm up activities : games like great shake, eye got you, mirror movement.
2- voice warm up activities : such as voice mirror, projection scales, projection variation, partner fluency fighting......
3- Rehearsal performance : statue making, mime practice, moral fables .........
4- cool down activities : in this stage students are asked to perform . Tasks are better assigned one day before the class meets so students can have time to get well prepared.

Teaching Listening

2007-08-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Listening and speaking are the language Skills that are used most frequently. It has been estimated that students spend almost half their communication time listening. In our classroom, students listen more than they read or write. But in real life, listening is used 40 %, speaking only 30%. (slide N 3)

why do we listen to others?. there are many purposes for listening, some of which are: listening for sounds, for meaning, for comprehension, for a specific idea, and for pleasure.

Listening involves a sender, a message, and a receiver (the listener). It also involves a canal and a code. When someone says something, it goes first to the ear, then to the brain to analyze it. then the brain sends another message to the mouth to answer. Listening to someone else and trying to make out what s/he says becomes difficult when s/he speaks a second or foreign language.

Listening strategies refer to the way the listener tries to understand the message. there are actually two strategies: Top-down strategies and Bottom-up strategies. Top-down strategies start from the generral to the specific. The listener taps into background knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the language. This background knowledge activates a set of expectations that help the listener to interpret what is heard and anticipate what will come next. Top-down strategies include
* listening for the main idea
* predicting
* drawing inferences
* summarizing

Bottom-up strategies are text based; the listener relies on the language in the message, that is, the combination of sounds, words, and grammar that creates meaning. Bottom-up strategies include:
* listening for specific details
* recognizing cognates
* recognizing word-order patterns

Some exercises for top-down processing are the following: use key words to construct background ideas; understand roles in a situation; isolate details from important ideas and understand intention in conversation. For bottom-up processing, we can use the following exercises. recognize word boudries (where a word ends and the other begins); distinguish key words; recognize word order in a sentence and interpret stress and intonation.

The class was not only theory, Mrs Detzel Deborah introduced us to some exercises especiallythe ones on Indonesian vocabulary and the story. we aslo raised the question about whether teachers test the listening ability or the students memory.

people to people dinner

2007-08-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

People to people
Very interesting people.

Today is the first of August .we consider ourselves very lucky to attend the people to people dinner meeting at delcastle country club
We arrived their at about 6:15 pm .there we had the pleasure to meet great people who are from different nationalities, colours, cultures. All mingle together with great variety of clothes from different countries; Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine, Argentina and of course the United States of America.
All those wonderful people met us with warm feelings and hospitality. We talked about many topics and discussed many issues from food to policy, we found out that we may have different prospective for things but we still share one belief that where ever you seek peace you can find .peoples are the same everywhere, they want to have life ,freedom and love.
The people to people organization are really caring people who are eager to break the misunderstanding and diversity among people as much as they can .they work for the sake of humanity .we also realized that this organization through their
cooperative attitudes they want to clarify that they have big heart that can welcome anybody ready to plant tree of love and peace.

The Assessment of ELL writing skills

2007-07-31T16:37:00.000-07:00

All languages have consonants and vowelswhich can be at the beginning ,in the middle or even in word final position.Many Hispanic and Afro-American students do not pronounce consonants which are in word final position when there is a consonant cluster.for example,i missed(st) the bus,she walks(ks) to school,hold(ld) my hand,friend(nd),first(st),It`s the man`s(ns) book ,I see three girls(lz),etc.Therefore ,these students do not write the consonants they do not pronounce.Hence, Hispanic and Afro-american students may not use the simle past tense(e.g.burned),third person presnt singular(sings),possessive(the teacher`s book),plurals (cars),etc.In this case , how can the teacher score his students?
THE ASSESSMENT OF ELL WRITING SKILLS:
First,there are different types of writing.For example,descriptive,narrative,expository and technical.Moreover,different techniques are used while writing.For instance,definition,comparison \contrast,analysis,cause\effect,enumerate and examples.
Second,teachers may use two ways of scoring ELL writing skills: analytic or holistic.
O n the one hand,for the analytic scoring , the teacher takes into consideration the relevance of content, the adequacyof vocabulary for purpose and grammar(including spelling and punctuation).Concerning the advantages of this type of scoring, it can be used with proficiency and achievement tests, it can also be used for diagnostic purposes and the bases of norm referenced permits the comparison of students on an ability continum.However,students anxieties are much higher and it is difficult to match results with instructional objectives.
O n the other hand,the holistic scoring gives much importance to the evaluation of larger components(e.g.ddressing the topic ,the development of the topic with appropriate examples,cohesion,etc.)For the advantages of the holistic scoring,the criteria referenced students are not evaluated by comparison with other students, tests accurately reflect teaching objectives(e.g. comparison writing,etc.) and the students` anxieties are much lower. Nevertheless, students are unable to compare their performance with other students, objectives are often too limited and students are not encouraged to reach higher standards of excellence.
a summary presented by LOUBNA ZOUHRI

culture in the language classroom

2007-07-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

Culture in the language classroom

JoAnn(Crandall):
Dear colleagues:
We have been in the u.s.A for three weeks.wouldyou mind if we share opinions in this cross culture initiative from the university of Delaware and cooperative Extension department ,university of Dlaware.AS we learnt,culture is not just a simple word,contains letters C.U.L.T.U.R.E each letter represent an aspect, we can say:
C----communication
U--- understanding
L--- love
T---transformation
U--- unique
R----- relevant
E--- education
No body can communicate with others without understanding the different levels of their culture aspects within their community and this may reflect a unique or relevant orientation of each one’s culture it may be my culture or yours,but you couldn’t transfer your culture without putting it through “a content” “meaningfull,relevant input”. Also exchanging opinions on different issues that relate to their own culture way of believe, thinking,refusal”for/against “or other views may form as outlines for different cultures. This could lead you to demolish the bridges that others made.If you let all restrictions, made by man and try to form your own true believe that we are all the same, we are all humans, we share many many wonderful and great things,yes,all of us are the creation of our creator. keep fear away, start to shape your way with an open eye,ear and also your heart to communicate with each other,arabs.americans,Africans,Asians,from every part of the world. When love lives in our heart and reject all wicked effects influence your life ,the whole world will turn to be the most beautiful place to live in. I found myself eager to write these words to all of you:
Here we are, hand in hand
Cross the bridge to the
Fancy land,
Where God celebrates our
Devotion to him
Is there anybody to understand
Just keep ahead in serving your God
Giving a hand for anybody to ask
Sent by: Manal Eweis

Culture Assessment Session

2007-07-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

It was difficult for me to sum up Dr. louis's biography to give the readers of my summary a brief excerpt of his career. At first I would like to point out some of this great modest man's experiences and posts. From Georgetown University, he got his PhD in linguistics and Japanese language, from Villanova University, he got his MA in philosophy and from Georgetown University, he got MS in psycholinguistics and his BA in Japanese language.This great man has held alot of posts in different universities.
Experiences
University of Delaware/ professor (1967 -1985)
UD writing center / director (1967-1985)
UD ELI / Director / founder (1972-1985)
University of Hawaii / professor (1966-1968)
Sophia university(Tokyo) / professor (1964-present)
Summers and Sabbatical Leaves
Georgetown University / professor (1963-1964)
University of Rome -La Sapienza-Italy / professor ( 2002-present)
Related Experience
Consultant, Delaware Department of Education for testing 2nd languages
Chairman, TOEFL Committee of Examiners
Consultant , E.I. Dupont de Nemours & co., Inc (Legal Department)
President, Board of Directors , Mary Campbell Center
( Residence for persons with severe and multiple disabilities)
On our arrival , we were welcomed warmly by this great and his attendants. There was a group of American teachers who deal with different subjects that are taught in English.
We got mixed in order to get the chance of cross culture. From Dr. louis's point of view , English is an incredible language and the schools' role is to motivate learners to learn.To teach English as a second language requires giving an overall idea about culture. As we know, culture is cosidered a vessel of different ideas like values, morals, belief, knowledge, family, race...........etc.It is the glue that combines the whole society and it can also covers different concepts . If we want to give a meaning to " family", some will define it as father, mother, sister, brother, the dog and may be the fish whereas the others will say that "family" is the whole society.
One of the greatest features of this lecture was putting a criteria for culture as follows;
Cultures of Doing Cultures of Being
(1)-Time/ Task Oriented Person oriented
(2)-Earned status Ascribed/ Inherited Status
(3)-Flexible roles Fixed roles
(4)-Nuclear family Extended family
(5)-Change, Movement, Progress Stability, Harmony and Tradition
(6)-Monochronic Orientation Polychronic Orientation
If we looked at time/ task oriented and person oriented, we would find out that in some cultures people focus on what the person does, whereas others would focus on what the person is. In some cultures , they don't pay attention to the past , they are just present/ future oriented while in other cultures they should look to the past to learn from their mistakes ,so the past is meant to be directive to their present.
It is clear that culture can either be of "Doing" or "Being", so our task is toknow which one we are from.

Presented by ,
Dr. Louis A. Arena PhD
Linguistics Department
University of Delaware
Summarized by/ lamiaa kamal

2007-07-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

hi
how are you all I don't know whether you can see these words or not the blogger is mad with me somtimes lets me get in and others time not

summary of the visit to Thurgood Marshell

2007-07-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Hi we are Ahmed and Sayed sending the summary for our visit to Thurmarshall Good school we will begin with

a biography of Thurgood Marshall

( Source: This biography is provided by Thurgood Marshall College. ):

Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice
Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908, Thurgood Marshall was the grandson of a slave. His father, William Marshall, instilled in him from youth an appreciation for the United States Constitution and the rule of law. After completing high school in 1925, Thurgood followed his brother, William Aubrey Marshall, at the historically black Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania. His classmates at Lincoln included a distinguished group of future Black leaders such as the poet and author Langston Hughes, the future President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and musician Cab Calloway. Just before graduation, he married his first wife, Vivian "Buster" Burey. Their twenty-five year marriage ended with her death from cancer in 1955.
In 1930, he applied to the University of Maryland Law School, but was denied admission because he was Black. This was an event that was to haunt him and direct his future professional life. Thurgood sought admission and was accepted at the Howard University Law School that same year and came under the immediate influence of the dynamic new dean, Charles Hamilton Houston, who instilled in all of his students the desire to apply the tenets of the Constitution to all Americans. Paramount in Houston's outlook was the need to overturn the 1898 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson which established the legal doctrine called, "separate but equal." Marshall's first major court case came in 1933 when he successfully sued the University of Maryland to admit a young African American Amherst University graduate named Donald Gaines Murray. Applauding Marshall's victory, author H.L. Mencken wrote that the decision of denial by the University of Maryland Law School was "brutal and absurd," and they should not object to the "presence among them of a self-respecting and ambitious young Afro-American well prepared for his studies by four years of hard work in a class A college."
Thurgood Marshall followed his Howard University mentor, Charles Hamilton Houston to New York and later became Chief Counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During this period, Mr. Marshall was asked by the United Nations and the United Kingdom to help draft the constitutions of the emerging African nations of Ghana and what is now Tanzania. It was felt that the person who so successfully fought for the rights of America's oppressed minority would be the perfect person to ensure the rights of the White citizens in these two former European colonies. After amassing an impressive record of Supreme Court challenges to state-sponsored discrimination, including the landmark Brown v. Board decision in 1954, President John F. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In this capacity, he wrote over 150 decisions including support for the rights of immigrants, limiting government intrusion in cases involving illegal search and seizure, double jeopardy, and right to privacy issues. Biographers Michael Davis and Hunter Clark note that, "none of his (Marshall's) 98 majority decisions was ever reversed by the Supreme Court." In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson appointed Judge Marshall to the office of U.S. Solicitor General. Before his subsequent nomination to the United States Supreme Court in 1967, Thurgood Marshall won 14 of the 19 cases he argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government. Indeed, Thurgood Marshall represented and won more cases before the United States Supreme Court than any other American.
Until his retirement from the highest court in the land, Justice Marshall established a record for supporting the voiceless American. Having honed his skills since the case against the University of Maryland, he developed a profound sensitivity to injustice by way of the crucible of racial discrimination in this country. As an Associate Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall leaves a legacy that expands that early sensitivity to include all of America's voiceless. Justice Marshall died on January 24,
1993.
A Thurgood Marshall timeline: provided by A Deeper Shade of Black .
1930
Mr. Marshall graduates with honors from Lincoln U. (cum laude)
1933
Receives law degree from Howard U. (magna cum laude); begins private practice in Baltimore
Receives law degree from Howard U. (magna cum laude); begins private practice in Baltimore
1934
Begins to work for Baltimore branch of NAACP
1935
With Charles Houston, wins first major civil rights case, Murray v. Pearson
1936
Becomes assistant special counsel for NAACP in New York
1940
Wins first of 29 Supreme Court victories (Chambers v. Florida)
1944
Successfully argues Smith v. Allwright, overthrowing the South's "white primary"
1948
Wins Shelley v. Kraemer, in which Supreme Court strikes down legality of racially restrictive covenants
1950
Wins Supreme Court victories in two graduate-school integration cases, Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents
1951
Visits South Korea and Japan to investigate charges of racism in U.S. armed forces. He reported that the general practice was one of "rigid segregation".
1954
Wins Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, landmark case that demolishes legal basis for segregation in America
1961
Defends civil rights demonstrators, winning Supreme Circuit Court victory in Garner v. Louisiana; nominated to Second Court of Appeals by President J.F. Kennedy
1961
Appointed circuit judge, makes 112 rulings, all of them later upheld by Supreme Court (1961-1965)
965
Appointed U.S. solicitor general by President Lyndon Johnson; wins 14 of the 19 cases he argues for the government (1965-1967)
1967
Becomes first African American elevated to U.S. Supreme Court (1967-1991)
1991
Retires from the Supreme Court
1993
Dies at 84

then that is our observation about the visit:

we met the principle who gave us a brief discription about the school. the school has 767 students 53% of them are white and 23% of them take free breakfast and lunch as they came from poor families.It's a half day prgramme from 8am to3pm .They have one day off a week.The school have a computer lab which contain 30 computers .There acurriculum they follow for all the students.There apartinership with ELI in teaching .They provide them with teachers to teach music clsses . The school is integerated so they have different levels of learning abilities, the average number of students in class is 24 students , there is a nurse room , the students have their meals in the carfateria there is a gymnasium hall and also students go to the library half an hour a day before the class, there is also an art room where they can practise music and drawing we found some paintings in the school. We entered class 11 the teacher is called Ms George there were 14 students ( 9 girls & 5 boys ) we showed the students our country ( Eygpt )on the map and they did the same. The students were born in different countries and they speak spanish as a first language and speak English as a second Language
we found the students having their breakfast in the class because it was a test day and they didn't go to the cafateria, the age of the students is between six and nine ( repeated student ) . The class is well equiped, there were a computer ,printer, over head projector, a rest room ......etc.The desks in the class were in a random way there wasn't any kind of rows or column or any shape. The teacher was a nice one who was helpful and friendly I observed that she deals with the students as if they were her kids , she played with them a game called ( saimon said ) I felt when she played with them that she is one of them not the teacher and that is good to make the students love school and learning. the teacher told us that she concentrated only on reading and writing skills because they are not native speakers and they can find many ways to acquire the skills of speaking and listening but they would'nt find many opportunities to learn reading and writing The teacher was giving them a writing test she gave them an example about the person who is special to you and why and she asked the students to write about a person who is special to them three of the students could write few sentences some students couldn't write a word at all and the teacher gave no interest to them. We have a conversation with some students we asked them some questions and we realized that they could hardly speak or understand English.

Stress, Intonation, and Rhythm through Jazz Chant

2007-07-18T16:43:00.001-07:00

This workshop presented by professor Mary beth Worrilow evolved around the teaching of suprasegmental aspects of pronunciation through jazz chant. The presenter started by establishing the importance of jazz in teaching pronunciation. Her anecdote about learning Spanish helped a lot clarify the point that pronunciation is better learnt through jazz chant. Some of the most effective techniques used in the ELI for improving pronunciation are shadow talking, jazz chant, and poetry. Later, the presenter drew attention to the origin of jazz as a genre of music and its relation to the stress-timed nature of the English language. Some of the pionneers of jazz chant were mentioned by the presenter, such as Dr. Seuss and carolyn Graham. Moreover, professor Worrilow stressed the point that jazz chant can be used to teach vocabulary, grammar, and culture, which are all ingredients of any language class. The second half of the workshop was devoted to practice. The participants worked in groups to creat their own jazz chants and design a lesson plan for teaching them.

Summarised by:

Mohamed ELFATIHI

Moroccan group 2007

On American Culture

2007-07-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

The lesson on 'American culture' enlightened me with several new facts that I did not know before. It was so interesting, especially that Mr. Christopher Wolfe used a lively and attractive manner of explanation.

He started with apologizing to students from Columbia and Chilie, because when they say the american culture this refers only to the culture of U.S.A. while in fact the adjective 'American' means all countries that are in north and south America. For him, this is sometimes offending.

He also said something, although briefly, on the history of America. the early settlers, who were they and what they came for.

Many people refer to the U.S. as the melting pot. For the teacher, it isn't. Rather, it should be called a salad pot. In a salad, even if you mix ingredients, they are still in their natural shape. but melting means that they have become homogenous.

He also presented some statistics to show that U.S.A. is a nation of immigrants who bring with them different languages and values.

Some of the general characteristics of the Americans are the following: Individual freedom, self-reliance, informality, equality of opportunity, value of time and respect for law.

Cross-Cultural communication (Workshop)

2007-07-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

{Cross Cultural Communication Workshop}

The First Part
(Journal Thinking) By :Maryam and Oudad.
1-Asking the learner to repeat a sentence quickly (Individual work)
(Proper Copper Coffee pot)
2-Distributing papers with mixed letters to form the correct idiom(Groupwork)
-Asking each group to write it on the board
-Discussing the answers .
They were nice and well organized presenter

The second part
(The Workshop)
Dr.Jody Introduced herself and welcomed us with a lovely smile.
She asked us to have a name tag .
Mr.Brett helped us to have one.
She used the power point and handouts.
She spoke clear English because we couldnot understand Delaware accent.
(1)She presented a picture for a bridge to represent the role of culture in connecting places and people.
(2)She explained the meaning of a goal.
(3)Then introducing (Cultural prespective Exersises)
( The first)
Think of someone whose differiences are hard for you to accept or understand without names.
-eliciting answers and discussion.
(The second)
Presenting a picture about the sun and asking.
-Who is the center of the universe?
(The Third)
Try stepping outside the center.Let us live another different plant .
Now what you see?
(The fourth)
Imagine that you are now in the others person body and mind .what donot you like about him?What is the thing that irritate you?
Shift your point of view.
(The Fifth)
What maks people different?
Dr.Jody explained (1)Biology (2)Culture
Using the powerpoint to show a list of items related them.
(The sixth)
(Face-to-Face Communication)
She explained the importance of eye contact and face to face communication.
(The seventh)
Presenting a map and asking the Moraco,Egyptian,Jordanian and Syrian to show their countries on the map.
(The Eighth)
Presenting a good point (Mistakes are the beginning of Communication)
Asking us to repeat these sentences during a game .To stretch our hands ,sit and stand.
(The Nineth)
Explaining the different ways of Greeting .
-By shaking hands.
-By waving.
-By saying Hi ……….
(The Tenth)
Dividing us into a group of men and a group for women .Eliciting opinions.
(The comments)
1-Men and women are equelled .women are helpful and active.
(By:Nawal –Egypt)
2-We are people from Moraco.Muslims are not terrorists.Aterrorist doesnot represent his country or religion
(By:Maryam-morraco)
3-We seek peace (By;Nina-syria)
4-Islam hates terrorism and violence (By:A Jordanian lady)
It was like a successful Arab conference

Then greeting each groups
(The Eleventh)
Answering Page 6 in the handsout
I liked ending the workshop by saying (To change your attitudes you should listen to other stories)
The End Of The workshop

Learning Styles And Strategies

2007-07-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

After reading the results of my learning styles questionnaire, I found out that I am fairly well-balanced on the two dimensions of the scale . I just want to say that a teacher could apply the style of technique that is suitable for clarifying the material which would be explained.I think whether with writing short summaries of readings or making class notes, a teacher has the ability to use a mixture of different styles. As a result a good teacher and an effective problem-solver must function both intuition and memorization.
Through my experience in my classes during the past five years, I found out that using both kinds of visual and verbal techniques will have effective results on reaching the extreme limit of learning, so the teacher can use these techniques in various ways. Finally, I think that accuracy and a good organization of the material would highlight the whole picture of the prepared lesson with all its steps.
Prepared by / LAMIAA KAMAL

Amercan Culture/ American Ways

2007-07-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

I would start my summary with a definition of culture in general. Culture is a vessel of many things such as; language,habits, history,gestures, knowledge, weather, surrounding environment.......etc.As every world has its different culture , most people come to be shocked if they are given the chance to live in another world with another culture.
Someone of the wisemen said;"I can't understand my own culture until I live in another culture". That means that everyone is exposed to experience some similarities and differences if he/she gets the chance to live in the American society. One of these differences is clearly shown in the structure of the society itself.The American society is a mixture of different nationalities living together and getting a mutual effect from each other on a basis that all people are treated equally.
As the Americans are aware of their individual freedom, they do and say what appeals to them. In fact , although most of the Americans are immigrants, they have the same rights in this big society. One of the clearest differences in the American world is self-reliance. "Help yourself" is the main motto in the American society. Everywhere you should do what you want whether you are in houses,stores,supermarkets,petrol stations...........etc.
No doubt that all the Americans are aware of their strong privacy. They believe that power isn't the main factor of a strong government. Lord Acton assured that when he said;"Power is just corrupt".Americans also think in a futuristic way.They look to the future ,not the past,so they miss their experiences with mistakes.They don't pay any attention to the past, so they may make the same mistakes. Time is a good factor in having progress because there is a strong belief that ;"Time is money".They also keep in their mind that progress depends on change, but not all changes are good and they mean change that leads to progress. As for language , it is regarded an important criteria and a main feature of culture. Language can mean words, sentences, movements, and gestures, so our behaviour may affect language.
Presented by,
Dr/ Chris Wolfe
Prepared by,
Lamiaa kamal

2007-07-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

Workshop Design and facilitations:
Presented by:
Schumacher: July, 16
Dear colleagues,
We, today, dealt with a very energetic and motivating workshop that focuses on:
-Setting differences and similarities between teacher-class and teacher-workshop. We learnt a large number about them e.g.
-You have first to have a full evaluation of the level of the trainees.
- Know the participants needs.
- Presenting new materials.
- Teaching as practice approach.
- Discovering them, initiative.
- Interactive process through giving more opportunity for everyone to take with him as a facilitators or a presenter.

Effective/behavior :
- Techniques of the a presenter that forms a successful beginning:
- Structure: Logical
- Interrelated
- Discussions -brainstorming –handouts =role play –problem solving
- use of technology –group work-reflection-evaluation forms anecdotes
- games—creating themes-arguments.
- Behavior:
- Energetic- element of surprise –skills to facilitate
- Sense of humor-value time
- Master his work
- Elicit knowledge
- (Convince me by involving me)
- It is important for the trainee to value the workshop not the presenter.
Power point, used to show what they are dealing with in a sequence
It is not preferred to read aloud the data on the PowerPoint.
-It is important to plan, design before the workshop.
(what was new to me to know the word ----gimmics:-different types of using tricks using PowerPoint. It is a waste of time.

Finally, workshops are useful for every teacher to develop and consolidate his teaching process through these workshops teachers find variety of skills and motivated methods to adapt to his /her students suitable for their environment

Improving student writing and communication skills

2007-07-16T16:44:00.001-07:00

Writing is an analytical tool.It is the most discrete form of self expression.
Writing is necessary for many reasons.For example,to remember,to develop the skill,to become autonomuos,to demonstrate critical thinking,to express one`s point of view,to understand personalities and ways of thinking,to test students, to check memory,make students active learners,to get insight into other cultures,to enable students to be reflective,creative and productive.Moreover,it promotes learning,thinking and problem solving.Furthermore,there are many factors that help students to be good communicators,like,emotioal involvement ,influantial teachers,sufficient data,feeling comfortable with the audience.Besides,communicators need a context.In other words,a problem that calls for writing,a sense of purpose,audience,genre,constraints and a sense of how it will be evaluated.In addition,genres of writing differ.for instance,letters,eulogy,manuals,directions,editorials,reports, arguments,cards,memos,data presentations,diaries,brochures,essays,e mails,critical thinking problems,forms,regulations,policies...etc
in short,the pen is stronger than the sword.thus,teachers need to know the best method for helping students to be good writers.

American Culture by Christopher Wolfe

2007-07-15T06:34:00.000-07:00

American culture
-What is culture?
It’s the values, traditions, customs, arts, history, folklore, literature, beliefs, life –style, clothes, food, celebrations, festivals, architecture, media, education, social relations, instruction, that a group of people share who are unified by race, ethnicity, language, nationality or religion. Every culture has these components and you have to understand the culture to understand the law of every culture. When you go to another culture, you have to adapt with it to learn again. You should have the ability to see differences and similarities. Consequently, You can see yourself in comparing to other worlds.
U.S is a nation of immigrants. All those who live in U.S are immigrants but there were some who immigrated in the past and others who will immigrate in the future. The American culture is a western culture, and has been developed since long time before United State became a country. What is meant by American culture is not only the culture of the United Statian but it is the culture of all other millions who lives in America, Canada, Latin America, in all the American Continent.

Today U.S is a multi-Cultural nation. It has been tradionally known as a melting –pot. But recent academic opinion is tending towards cultural diversity and the image of a salad bowl rather than a melting pot. This means that the differences between American sub cultural, making American Cultural heterogeneous.

There are some general cultural values and descriptions that most of Americans would agree with the general accuracy of them. E.g. Individual freedom and self-Reliance, equality of opportunities, strong sense of individual privacy and suspion of strong governments, time is a resource to be used, and progress equals change and vice versa. Americans think that educational system is not only the transfer of information but it should be a mixture of hard work and fun. They also think that the consistent system of law applies to everyone, regardless of his social statues or position.

This is Iman hassan from Egypt

oral intelgibility By Dr Steven Scott

2007-07-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

hi dear coleagues
we had today an amazing lecture called (oral inteligibility).we have already refreshed
ourselves with lots of curcial aspects you have to bear in mind while you are teaching your students (How to speak the English language well) specially we are stcking now on the commmunicative approach more than the traditional one.

What matters herte is to what extent your language a competent one.In our country
teacing English as a second language has elements to be remembered they are:
-segmental - supersegmental
-stress:-longer -Donot forget:
-higher intonation -rhythm(fluency-speed) follow the rhythm;
stess-timed:linking-reduction you will not get lost
-on-verbal:gestures;use of hands sent by:manal
mokhtar
-volume louder proxemics-posture-eye contact 7-12-2007
-word level
- -sentence level -projection(confidence)

summary of oral intelligibility

2007-07-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Dear all my friends,today we had a very interesting lecture about oral intelligibility.we learnt that there are many ways in making someone intelligible:
1- pronunciation.
2- intonation which identify the emphasized word.
3- stress on words and sentences.
4- rhyme,fluency and speed.
5-nonverbal communication like gestures, use of hands and eye contact.
All the previous things are important to be understandable,also to gain awareness and to mentain attention

untitled

2007-07-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

Dear All
how was your experience with creating an account in blogg.com. Did you have a headache?
i hope not

Hello again

2007-07-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

I am Mohamed ELFATIHI. I am so glag to take part in this wonderful program with all these nice guys.

hi

2007-07-11T08:33:00.001-07:00

peace be upon you,i am your sister halima from morocco,nice to meet you all.really,i enjoy being with you in america

hello

2007-07-11T08:32:00.001-07:00

thanks for people who help others kindly

warm greeting

2007-07-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody
am glad to make your friendship. I hope we will exchange information, experiences and ideas.
see you.

hi

2007-07-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

hello I am Nawal I am from Egypt

saying hi

2007-07-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

hello every body
iam manal .i hope you are doing well.iwish you all the best.great sucess.as we are in the u.s.a do not waste your time thinking too much.seize the chance and enjoy your adventure
see you

hello

2007-07-11T08:27:00.001-07:00

Hi I'm Ahmed here with you in the blog

Hi

2007-07-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm Amira .How r u?

hello

2007-07-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

hello I am ouidad I am a teacher of English from Morocco. nice to meet you every body.

2007-07-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

hi,I'm greeting you all

Hi

2007-07-11T08:17:00.001-07:00

hello

2007-07-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

hello every one nice to meet you on the blog, I am Mohamed Laimouna from Morocco, One of the participant in the P4L 2007. I will be meeting you once in a while to impart you with all updated ideas on the teaching of english as a foreign language.

hello

2007-05-17T02:30:00.000-07:00

Hello my dear friends from Egypt, Moroco and America,
I hope you are all in a good health. I am looking forward to seeing you all again, but I don't know how?
I wish you the best of luck.
Nasr Abou El Seoud
Egypt

Hi dear friends

2007-04-18T01:44:00.000-07:00

Hi All my friend from Egypt and Morocco. I messed you all. I hope to see you all again. I heard the news about your great confernce. I think that Hassan Badr has attended it. I hoped to be there but my heart was with you.
I didn't senf for a long time bercause I faced some problems concerning logging on to the blog. But I created a new account.

Safe Home

2007-02-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

Dear All Colleagues,
A very big CONGRATULATIONS on the great success of your conference.Really it exceeded all the expectations due to your hard work.I heard some folks talking about the self-confidence and the enthusiasm with which you conducted your workshops.Also they spoke well about the accommodation and the Hospitality of both the Hotel in Assuit and the American PEOPLE.Many of the participants wish to be able to present a workshop like yours and we wish them all the best.Finally I wish you all safe journey to your families and a wonderful time at your schools.
Yours
Hassan Abu Ali

2007 Assuit /Conference

2007-02-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Colleagues,
Just two days left and we reunite again in Assuit for the purpose of a successfu conference (In Shaa Allah).Hope we are all ready for a more active workshops 'No lectures" Baerbel said.We will meet a lot of challenges , but we can overcome them all (In Shaa Allah).I'm sure you are all up to it .We are to meet in the Hotel inside the University Campus on Monday starting from 12 AM as Baerbel and Deb are arriving at 1 PM O'clock Egyptian time.Of course you can come earlier if you wish for the purpose of meeting your colleagues and discussing your past experiences with them till the arrival of The two very nice ladies.If you need any information about anything feel free to phone me on my cell phone which is ( 0105630151 ).Wish you all a safe journey to Assuit, a nice stay at the hotel and a successful conference.Don't forget to bring you as many themes as possible for the workshops and for the conference itself.
Take care
Yours
Hassan Abu Ali

conference preparation

2007-01-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

Dear colleagues,
How are you doing all?Hope you enjoy your Mid-year vacation.very warm wishes to our colleagues from Morrocco.May I remind you of some points about the forthcoming conference.
1- We are to meet in Assuit University on the 12th Feb.,for our colleagues from Minia.The hotel is inside the University Campus ,So it is not easy to miss it.It is located in the main Administration building just before the main resturant.
2- On the first day,we will discuss the schedule ,the abstracts and the handouts.Besides, brainstorming and finalizing the necessities for the conference.
3-May I remind you that everyworkshop will be 45 minutes including the feedback and anticipated questions.Sometimes 2 workshops will run simultaneously.There will be accommodation for those clleagues from Minia,as for the Assuit Group I think there is no need for accommodation.Correct me if I'm mistaken.
Wish you all the best and hope you will enjoy your time in Assuit.
yours
Hassan Abu Ali

Happy new year every1-1428-

2007-01-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

Salam dear colleagues-I 'd like to share with u an activity which I conducted last week.Students found it very interesting and funny.Even shy students were eager to take part.It is the whisper game:Students come to the board in a group of six.the first student whispers a sentence or two to his friend,and the latter reports what he was told.

This game can help students learn possessive adjectives,the negative form and other linguistic or communicative items.what about u dear friends?let me know of ur news.

And don t 4get,the conference is around the corner.Good luck 2 u all

2007-01-03T09:43:00.000-08:00

on the right side,this is a picture of me and some of the colleagues when i was showing them the books in a box. the teachers find the books interesting and useful.

on the left side, that was my presentation.

Thank u guys for sharing and on this occasion of the New Year 2007, i wish u all a Happy and a Prosperous New Year.

houria kouka, Morocco

2007-01-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

hi dear friends, this houria kouka from the Moroccan group, i miss u all and am glad to write today in the blog.
i just want to share with u some of the activities i've been working on lately with my colleagues here in my city Agadir in the south of Morocco.
during the English teachers' in- service training seminar hold on the 25th- 26th od December 2006, where more than 30 teachers were present , i took the chance to share the books in a box and give a presentation about using storytelling and drama in the classroom.

Eid Said friends

2007-01-03T03:44:00.000-08:00

Hi dear friends
Eid said for you all.
Kamal (Egypt)

Hajj (Pilgrame)

2007-01-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

Hajj (Pilgrame)
The annual pilgrimage to Makkah - the Hajj - is an obligation only for those who are physically and financially able to perform it. Nevertheless, about two million people go to Makkah each year from every corner of the globe providing a unique opportunity for those of different nations to meet one another. Although Makkah is always filled with visitors, the annual Hajj begins in the twelfth month of the Islamic year (which is lunar, not solar, so that Hajj and Ramadan fall sometimes in summer, sometimes in winter). Pilgrims wear special clothes: simple garments which strip away distinctions of class and culture, so that all stand equal before God.

Pilgrims praying at the mosque in Makkah Pilgrim tents during Hajj

The rites of the Hajj, which are of Abrahamic origin, include circling the Ka'ba seven times, and going seven times between the mountains of Safa and Marwa as did Hagar during her search for water. Then the pilgrims stand together on the wide plain of Arafa and join in prayers for God's forgiveness, in what is often thought of as a preview of the Last Judgment.
In previous centuries the Hajj was an arduous undertaking. Today, however, Saudi Arabia provides millions of people with water, modern transport, and the most up-to-date health facilities.
The close of the Hajj is marked by a festival, the Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated with prayers and the exchange of gifts in Muslim communities everywhere. This, and the Eid al-Fitr, a feast-day commemorating the end of Ramadan, are the main festivals of the Muslim calendar
happy new year for all my friends

HAPPY 3ID EVERY1

2006-12-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

Salam dear friends and colleagues.I hope that u r all fine.I wish u all a very happy 3id and I am looking 4ward 2 seeing my friends from the Moroccan group in the spring conference.Till then, I wish the best of luck.
AZIZ

2006-12-31T09:58:00.000-08:00

2006-12-28T13:33:00.000-08:00

Eid Mubarak !, Online Eid Ul-Adha Arabic Cards

2006-12-28T13:31:00.000-08:00

Hope you get the Card this time

Eid ul-Adha Cards, Eid ul-Adha Greeting Cards, Free Eid ul-Adha Ecards From 123Greetings.com

2006-12-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

Dear colleagues,
Eid Adha Mubarak to all of you,Merry Christmas to all brothers and sisters and Happy New Year to all the world.WIsh you a happy and enjoyable vacation to get ready to the conference.
Yours
Hassan Abu Ali

Hi Friends

2006-11-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

Here are all the cell phone numbers for the Egyptian group to facilitate communication during the preparation period for the conference

Abdel rahman Eliwa 0101047850
Taha Samir 0124034423
Ahmed Abdelrashid 0103390955
Kamal Eldeeen Albadry 0103898210
Shady Mohammed 0101826139
Mohammed Lotfy 0107670238
Ramdan Hassan 0121599502
Hassan Badr 0105630151
Tarik Mohammed 0104107019
Nassr Abuelsoud 088/ 2357891

The fruit game

2006-11-20T04:56:00.000-08:00

I tried the games we took
Hi dear friends:
The aim is to revise the past simple tense.
I have tried some of the games that Dr. Steven has given us. Do you remember the game about a group of six each three have the name of fruit? I used it in my classes and it was very wonderful.

In this picture you can see the students while doing the game. I was holding the camera. I asked three students to come and I gave them the name apple. And I asked other three and I gave them the name banana. And I asked them to be seated in seats in front of the class. Then I began telling a story in the past simple tense. I told them that while telling the story I’m going to mansion the name of a fruit so they have to change seats and I’m going to take one of your seats. So the one who will remain without a seat is going to tell us a story in the about something happened to him in the past.

I began the game and at the begging the students were puzzled and after that they got the idea. They enjoyed the game very much. I tried it with another class as you can see from the pictures.

After doing this game each week my students ask me about new games we can do in the class. Nearly I’m trying everything we learned in USA with my students and they enjoy very much. Can Dr. Steven send us more games I didn’t expect that the students will get benefit from these games in addition to the amount of amusement and joy that my students feel when they’re in the game.
Next week I’m going to try using drama with them to dramatis some of their book’s lessons.
Thanks very much.
I hope to read your comment and advices about using these techniques.
Kamal Eldeen
Egypt

The Spring Conference

2006-11-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

Dear Colleagues,
Hope you are all fine and doing well in life.I'd like to inform you that Hesham Kanona of the American embassay is coming to Assuit and Minia next week .He would like to meet Minia group on Monday in Minia at 8 o'clock pm and Assuit group at 8 o'clock pm in Assuit to discuss some points related to the conference as it is supposed to hold it in either Assuit or Minia.I will tell you the exact time and location as soon as I know.Till then, I wish you all the best.
yours
Hassan Abu Ali

Happy Feast

2006-10-28T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hi dear friends happy Ramadan feast.
Hi dear colleagues. Happy feast. I hope that you all are Ok.
Kamal (Egypt)

Happy Id every1

2006-10-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

Salam dear friends from Morocco,Egypt,Jordan and Syria.I hope you are doing welllll.
On the occasion of Id Fitr,I wish u a happy feast and that u spent a prosperous Ramadan.

2006-10-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,
Hope you are all fine and "Many Happy Returns of the Day'on the Occasion of "Eid Elftr' .Hope that God bless you all during those Holy days.Again I send my invitation to those who are interested to present in the mini-conference That will be held in my school after the "Eid Elfetr' vacation.The workshops will be 45 minutes each.You can consider it as a practice for the big conference next spring.Thank you for your co-operation and Happy Feast.
Hassan Abu Ali

Samia Kamel -- Egypt

2006-10-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

Hi ! This is Samia Kamel Egypt. How are u ?
I missed u so much. I’d like to thank u again 4 every thing u have done 4 us .
I”ve sent u 2 photos as an attachment.
The first photo shows the meeting that I held wiz my colleagues& among us is sitting our school director who was a teacher of English too.
The aims of this meeting
To give my colleagues an idea about the programme that I attended in the US.
To show them the box of books.
Every one of my colleagues has borrowed a book from the box to select the most attractive & applicable activities / topics to be ready to take turns to demonstrate them during our staff meetings.
NOTE :- At first I didn’t expect their enthusiastic reaction. They were very pleased to see this treasure (the box of books) & willingly offered to participate in the meetings and to apply the technques inside their classrooms.
To give them the coppies of the Forum that I have received by mail.
To assign a notebook specially for P4L.

The second photo:-

This is my class , the photo couldn’t hold my all 68 studients.
Two of my colleagues visited me to observe my class.
In the picture all my ss are wearing large letter name tags that they ‘ve designed&decorated themselves.
The wonderful idea of having a box of concern (Mail box) for each class , also I didn’t expect the wonderful outcome of using this box that could create a friendly atmosphere between me as a teacher & my ss since it maximized the
Teacher/students interaction.
One of my studients is holding a theatre, the same as that one that Dr Stevens has shown us in the US ,but I have substituted the characters wiz the characters of our textbooks .I wish I could send this photos to Dr Stevens but I missed his e- mail so if u don’t mind send them 2 him
I’m looking forward to your feedback . and if you don’t mind send me Dr Stevens’ e-mail . love Samia kamel . my new e-mail is samiakamelegypt@yahoo.com

The "What are you doing?" game

2006-10-21T04:19:00.000-07:00

I tried this game in my classes

Hi my friends
I tied the games that Dr steven tought usI tried the game of " What are you doing?"to revise the present continuous tense. It was very successful.

The students enjoyed it very much. I played the game with a student then I asked two of them to come out and play it in pairs.I aimed to revise the present continuous tense.I asked two students to come out and I told them that we are going to play a game. The game was to make the two students ask each other about what he is doing. and the other student tells him and acts the action.

Then the second student who is acting asks the first student about what he is doing. And he acts the action.The students enjoyed the game very much and they practiced the present continuous tense. So they formed complete sentences in the tense.

Dictation Lessons

2006-10-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hi dear colleagues
I have tried one of our friends from Syria techniques. They showed it in thier conference. To dictate English in a funny and interactive way. It was very wonderfl to my students. I wrote the group of words which I want the students to remember in two pieces of paper and hanged them on each board side. Then I asked two volunteer groups of students to sit in groups. I told them that they have to choose one of each group who is good in writing. Then with time each group member comes to the board with his pencil and reads as much as he can memorise of the words and puts a mark with the pencil where he reached and runs back to the group's writer and dictates him the words. At the same time another member of the group runs to the bourd and does the same but begining where his friend has just put the mark. So it becomes a competition between the two groups. And the winner group is the one that writes the most words in due time. My students enjoyed this game and they learned with great fun.
I hope to read your comments dear friends.
Kamal Eldeen Albadry
Egypt

hello dear friends

2006-10-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

i must admit that i have to aplogize for not writing earlier in the blog, may be i have been lazier these days ,i am implementing gradually the methodes that we have learnt there in delaware, but as you may know that we start with outr students from the scratch, i found them very enthousiastic to learn using jazz chants, while i have introduced scenario to higher levels and it was really wonderful to them .
i am still looking forrwardto meet my superviser , it is very difficult to teachin ramadan , it seems that eveyone is suffering from laziness and insomnia.
i hope to send to you all soemthing intersting next time
driss

2006-10-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,
Hope you are all fine and doing well.I have good news for those who are interested.I am going to hold a mini-conference in our school .I have discussed this issue with the school director and she willingly agreed.The conference is going to be held after Aid El-Fetr.That is after 2 weeks from now.So please ,those who are interested to conduct a workshop, send me an e-mail through the blog with title of your workshop to include you in the schedual.All colleagues from El-Minia and Assuit are welcomed.Also you can tell me any suggestion about the conference. Have a peaceful time with your families in Ramadan.
Hassan Abu Ali

2006-10-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

Dear respectful colleagues,
I'd like to congratulate you all on the occasion of 6 October.Last week has been the week of my favorite technique which is using debate in the classroom especially if the topic is exciting and negotiable .Last week I held 3 debates with my students about three very important topics
1-For or against the work of woman
2-For or against the examinations
3-For or against Using Arabic inside the Classroom.
The result is not as important as the ideas and the language the students used to get their ideas across to the audeince.Some of my colleagues were there and they approved the idea .By the way , I have been using Debate for more than 7 years and every time it proves more success and my students and myself learn something new.If you want more information about how to conduct a debate in a class just e-mail me it is an easy task yet so fruitful.
Hassan Abu Ali

Happy Ramadan everyone

2006-10-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hello there.I hope u r fine.I was so busy lately that is why I could not write earlier.Yesterday,I called driss and Abderrahman and they r both ok.I applied 4 a master in E nglish and hopefully I passed the written exam.Can I manage b/w teaching and studying!! I hope so.Anyway,I began teaching 2 weeks ago and I think I am already applying what we did in Delaware.
I taught the English alphabet 4 the ninth grade which is an elementary level and I did it this way;
A B F Q I O
H C L U R
J D M W Y
K E N
G S
P X
T Z
V
I found this way very helpful in the sense that they r presented in term of similar pronouciation.
Later we shifted to speaking about jobs using the structure-THIS IS-
EX- This is Paul.He is a student.
This is Nancy.She is a doctor.
This is Tim and Jim.They are tennismen.
Students were meant to grasp subject pronouns and speak about jobs.
Then , we did it in circle game-Students made a circle and each one was supposed to introduce themselves and their friends.they imagined different jobs.In the outset, they were reticent but they liked the idea by the end and so did I.
What about you-I hope 2 hear from u soon.Untill then, I wish u all the best.

2006-10-02T04:04:00.000-07:00

My dearest brothers
Peace be upon you . I couldn't figure out how I have become too connected to you all until I settled here among my family and friends . I miss you a lot and I pray to Allah to gather us again in the the Paradise if not possible on Earth . Sorry for not being able to keep in touch as earning a living here takes up most of my time. Also I am so overburdened with working in two schools and supervising ten primary schools .
All the best to you . My Allah accept our fasting and our good deeds . Do you keep in touch with others in Morocco or in other countries? Remember me to them.
( Abdel-Rahman Eliwa , Egypt)
I can feel a new look in my way of doing things inside classes and with colleagues .

Happy Ramadan

2006-09-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone ,
I wish you a very happy and prosperous Ramadan ! May the blessings of this month remain with you throughout your life.
Imane.

Greetings &feedback

2006-09-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hello friends from Delaware,
Hello Moroccan friends,
Hello Egyptian friends,
Happy new year and happy Ramadan.I missed you so much. I have some good news. I used four techniques with my 8 grade students and they worked very well. The tecniques are: 1-the warmer.
2-catch my eyes.
3-the mirror.
4-what are you doing?
Hoping to hear from you soon.
Nasr Abou El Seoud

Happy Ramadan

2006-09-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

Dear colleagues,

Happy Ramadan to all of you in Morrocoo and Egypt .Hope this Holy month gives us all a new push in our spiritual life and in our carreer too.Yesterday I applied using scenario in my classroom .It was a great success and all my colleagues in my school liked the idea as I invited them all to attend and the students standard was so high that it impressed us all including myself.I will try it tomorrow again with a new class.Wish me luck.Thank you all and miss you all.

Hassan abu Ali

new scholastic year

2006-09-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

Dear All,
Hope you have recovered your jet lag and culture shock.Also hope you are spending a nice time with your families.Now it is time for us all to make a diffrence in our schools .I know that the school year stated in Morocco yesterday and it will start in Egypt tomorrow.So it is the awaiting for chance to accept the challenge in our educational system by applying some of the applicable things we have learned in the US .So let me remind myself and you of some useful topics to start with in the first week.
1- The wonderful workshops of Dr. Stephen on DRAMA.
2- The unorgetable workshops of Deb on STORYTELLING.
3- The very nice workshops of Mary on JAZZ CHANTS.
4- The very effective behavior of control and problem solving of BAERB.

Just to mention 4 as a starter.So it is our time to put our action plan in Action.

Hassan Abu Ali

hello

2006-08-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hello there.I am at home at last.I hope that everybody had a safe comeback.The program has changed my life utterly be it on the cultural side or the academic level.I'd like to thank Dr Steven,Bearbel,Deb,Brett and Janissa for all that they did for us.They were really helpful,kind and friendly.My experince in the States will never sink into oblivion-my teachers, my host family and the so many friends I made from different countries-I will never forget our stay in the dorms and our trips to New York and D.C.It was really very enriching.I'd like to extend my thanks and gratitude to all my colleagues from the Jordan-Syria group as my presence during your conference made me overcome my stagefright.I hope we will keep in touch and share our teaching experinces.
Thanks to the E.L.I for putting us on the right track.

teaching vocabulary by-DEBORAH DETZEL-

2006-08-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

The lecturer conducted a very useful worksop on teaching vocabulary.It lasted for two hours.

Deb started by asking the audience if vocabulary can be taught as a seperate skill.Then, she used a Moroccan textbook to speak about vocabulary.

The second phase of the lesson was devoted to collocation as an efficient means of dealing with vocabulary .It started by ditributing some hand-outs whereby we were asked to underline some collocations that were were written on the board afterwards.Then, she shifted to some useful methods to memorise vocabulary such as traditional word lists, lists by topics or lists by themes.She gave us a concrete example with the verb -break-its meaning and the words that can collocate with it.

Finally, she provided us with some ways that enable students to store, remember and retrieve vocabulary.However, the focal points was on teaching vocabulary in context.

The New York trip

2006-08-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

Our trip to New York lasted fot three days:we arrived on Friday at 11 o'clock.We took the ferry from Manhatan past the Statue of Liberty.Then, we went to the U.N where our Austrian guide provided us with a lot of information about its history, role and aspirations.

We stayed in the New Yorker hotel in the heart of the Big Apple, a very comfortable one.Nevertheless, the group got very dissappointed not only because we didn't go to the Broadway Show as It was cancelled, but also because the trip didn't go sometimes according to the schedule:we were supposed to go to the Empire State Building on Saturday, but we went sightseeing instead.So , many of us went there paying 16 dollars.The following day, Brett gave us tickets to go to the same building.We were also given the privilege to have a ride on those open buses toring New York.

We were back to Delaware on Sunday night.Our thanks go to Brett, Janissa, and Carly for doing their best to make our trip as successful as possible.

hello

2006-08-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

hello.I joined the blogger at last
dqaqi abdelaziz

Discipline and classroom management

2006-08-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

Focus of the course: Discipline and classroom management: comparative discussion with UD course participants.
Presenter: Professor George Bear.
Date: Thursday, June 27th, 2006.
Location: Willard Hall.
Audience: Moroccan, Egyptian and American teachers.
Summarized by: Imane Karaman.

Before attending Professor Bear’s session, I thought that he was going to provide us first with the theoretical part of disruptive behavior and classroom management; that is, define disruptive behavior and then give clues to classroom management. To my surprise, he did not proceed in that traditional way of lecturing. On the contrary, he divided the class into groups. Each group comprised Moroccan, Egyptian and American teachers. All the members of each group introduced themselves briefly, the school they were working in and students served. In this way all teachers had the chance to exchange ideas. It was more beneficial.

Teachers were free to ask each other questions on discipline problems. To make discussion more reasonable, there were some questions already written on the board, which should be included in discussion. They were the following:
- What do teachers and parents in your country view as being the primary problems in the schools today?
- Are discipline problems common in your school? What kinds?
- What do teachers view as being the primary causes of behavior problems in the school?
- Do parents work closely with school?
- How do teachers (and principles) respond to common behavior problems? Is corporal punishment used? Suspension? Placement in special schools? What do you consider to be the most important in preventing and correcting behavior problems?

As answers to these questions, all the members of the groups agreed that problem behavior is considered to be one of the most important anxieties that trouble the teacher in his/her profession. Students, individually or in group, present problems that even experienced teachers may find it hard to handle.

Considering behavior as a disruptive one differs from one teacher to another. What may appear a problem to one teacher may not appear so to another.

All the teachers agreed that there seemed to be some possible reasons for disruptive behavior; namely, the teacher, the student and the institution.

- The teacher’s personality and attitude are very important in the classroom. They have a major effect on discipline.
- The student’s attitude. A lot depends on how the student views the class, the teacher and the subject being learnt. It was agreed on the fact that boys are more disruptive than girls.
- The institution. A lot depends on the attitude of the institution to discipline and students’ behavior. If the institution does not work hand in hand with teachers, it then contributes a great deal to establish a disruptive undisciplined school. Unfortunately, most teachers from Egypt and Morocco suffer from lack of coordination between teachers, parents and the administration. In the US, it is the administration that handles discipline problems more than teachers.

To conclude, all teachers deduced that discipline behavior is a problem which imposes itself on every teacher everywhere. And each teacher deals with it from his/her own perspective. Students all over the world are similar.

2006-08-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Partnership 4 learning
Jordanian and Syrian
TESL Conference
University of Delaware
24-25 July 2006

Many hands make light work.

Workshops were titled as :-
- Personalization.
- Using Power Point in Teaching Vocabulary.
- Well Done While Having Fun.
- Teaching Modals Using Games.
- The Art of Asking Good Questions.
- Collin Writing Program. Teaching Present Continuous through Drama.
- Getting Students to Write Even They Hate Writing.
- Interactive Dictation.

- Using Windows Movie Maker as a Teaching Tool.
- Integrating Grammar into the Skills.
- Teaching Grammar Interactively.
- Fluency Practice through Listening and Speaking.
-Using Stories and Story Telling in Teaching.
- Recycling Vocabulary.
- Teaching Grammar Using Games.
- Turning Mirrors into Windows through Critical Thinking.
- Using Drama in SL Learning to Reduce Students Anxiety.
- Jazz Chant for Conversation.

Teachers from Egypt and Morocco have been invited to attend this conference. In fact, the benefit has been multi doubled because there was a wide interaction between people from five different countries; Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and the USA, who have different backgrounds and different experiences.
Those two days passed like a dream. Everything was well organized; the agenda, timing, equipments, seating... etc. The presenters were responsible for every bit in the conference. They worked and acted together as one team.

The Conference Management:-

-Different roles have been distributed among the presenters .Every presenter has introduced one of his colleagues to the audience (the idea of having a buddy for every presenter.)
· Among the presenters, there was……… a time keeper, a group organizer ,an equipment handler ,and a cameraman/woman………….
- Many useful handouts have been distributed to the audience.
- Time management was very successful.
-Feedback sheets are designed for each presenter.
- It was obvious that most of the presenters have instinct sense of humor that added color to their presentation.

The conference has succeeded because of the great efforts that have been exerted by our colleagues from Syria and Jordan, who put their heart and soul on work, and because of the facilities that have been offered by P4L University of Delaware. The presence of Ms Rozina Damanuela from the United States Department of State, Dr Steven Scott, Ms Baerble, Mr.Tomasheck Ms Janissa. Their presence was a great support for the group.

Really, the ELI is a big school for culture and education.
The Egyptian / Moroccan group wishes you every success in your life .

We are looking forward to our conference that will be on August, 11 & 14(2006).

By: Samia Girgis Kamel
Marsil Samir Hanna
Taha Samir Taha
El Minia

EGYPT

Scenario

2006-08-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Scenario
1) Part A:
You are traveling on a road. Suddenly in a remote area your car breaks down.
You try to get help. You try to stop a car to help you or takes you to the nearest
garage or phone. You stop a big lorry carrying an expensive cargo. You try to
Convince the driver to help you.

Part B:
You are a lorry driver. You are on a road you have a expensive cargo on your lorry.
You see someone on the road who wants help. You feel sympathy with him but you
Can’t take anyone with you on the lorry.

2) Part A:
You are a husband talking to your wife about saving money to your children’s
school fees. You want to save money for them, so you want to delay the summer
holiday this Year to a resort.

Part B:
You are a wife. You get tired of log school year and work.
You have been dreaming of a nice summer holiday in a resort.

3) Part A:
You are a careless friend. You have borrowed an expensive camera from a
Friend to take shots of a wedding party. Although your friend told you that the
camera is expensive, you’ve broken it. You try to delay the time of returning it.
Part B:
You have an expensive camera, a friend asked you to do him favor and give him a
camera. You gave him the camera but not to keep it than two days .you meet your
friend and he tries to delay the time of giving the camera back
4) Part A:
You are a trader; you have a business a appointment in Broadway street in New York.
There is much time you decided to go by common means of transport, there is a
bus .You told the driver about your destination ,but the bus was going to the west
Broadway street .you want east Broadway you missed the appointment.
Part B:
You have stopped at a stop, a passenger asked you to go to Broadway but you have
to ask him which Broadway Street he wants to go.

Prepared by:
Tarek Mohamed Ramadan Hassan

2006-08-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

Summer school visit : Caln Elementary Thorndale Pennsylvania
Posted by : Abderrahman BOUKHAFFA

This visit was divided into two parts; there was some observation time which gave the Moroccan/Egyptian teachers an idea about the level of students and eventually the approaches adapted by the American teachers.
For the session I personally attended, there was an exercise about the efficient use of punctuation. It was a short sequence of about 20 minutes. The students were asked to read a paragraph and put the right punctuation marks as well as capitalization.
Afterwards, we were given the floor to interact with students; it was a sort of team teaching. The objective was to enhance the cross cultural awareness in students. Thus, we tried to give them some hints about Morocco and its famous tourist and historic places. We got started by introducing ourselves and asking students about their names and the countries they came from. We asked them to guess where we are from. Then, they tried to locate Morocco on the map. Afterwards, we tried to elicit from them the things they know about our country. The students were given some brochures about different historic and imperial Moroccan cities and were asked to choose one place to visit and give reasons for their choices. We were moving around them to monitor their work and provide necessary information and help. They were so eager to know about Moroccan food, clothes, currency…etc.
We wrapped up the visit by having a short discussion with the teacher.

Writing scenarios

2006-07-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

Writing scenarios

Prepared by:

Nasr Abou El Seoud

Mohamed Loutfi

Scenario1:

Role(A) You are travelling on a train and sitting next to a person who looks like your son that got lost fifteen years ago.You want to find out if he is your lost son or not.

Role( B)You are travelling on a train and sitting next to a person who stares at you.He seems to be mad.

Scenario2:

Role(A)You are a mother and you are sitting with your daughter trying to convince her to marry someone who has proposed to her.You talk about his merits.

Role(B)You are sitting alone with your mother and you took the chance that she is in high spirits to tell her about someone who you are in love with.

4 - H summer camp visit

2006-07-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

4-H Summer Camp Visit Summary

PROGRAM: 4- H Summer Camp
DATES OF VISIT: July 14, 2006
PARTICIPANT: Moroccan and Egyptian Teachers

Introduction

The 4 H summer camp is a program of the Cooperative Extension System of the U.S Department of Agriculture, state- land universities, and county governments. Many of the 4-H members work with livestock, crops, poultry, forestry marketing and farm machinery. Girls and boys learn new farming methods, do experiential research, and have fun as well.

Program Description.

In the July 14, 2006, at 8 o’clock, we started our journey to 4- H summer camp. The journey took 45 minutes. When we arrived, we found the participants as well as monitors waiting for us. The program started with an introduction phase in which Mr. Scott introduced the staff working in that summer camp, Abdelrahman introduced the Egyptian teachers and Idriss introduced the Moroccan ones. After the introduction, we had a10- minutes discussion with kids participating in that camp. We asked them about their opinion of the summer camp and about some school matters. After that, Mr. Scott asked us to divide ourselves into three groups. The first group played volleyball with the kids, the second played soccer, and the last group went to visit the forest surrounding the camp using the GPS. At the end, after having some food and drinks, we took some pictures, and we left.

Reflection on the 4- summer camp

Even though the summer camp visit was short, and only some of us had the chance to have a tour in the camp, the visit proved to be of great benefits. To begin with, the 4- H camp visit provided an opportunity for us, Moroccan and Egyptian teachers, not only to see in depth the advantages of the summer camp but also to enrich our knowledge about the American summer camps. Furthermore, the visit provided a unique opportunity for me to meet and mingle with American students participating in the program and thus have the opportunity to ask them in depth about their experience in the 4 – H summer camp.

prepared by:

Kamal ELHADRI

the visit to the OLd New Castle

2006-07-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

This is a small summary of the visit that we have made to Old New castle
The history of the city
New Castle, originally named Fort Casimir, was founded in 1651 by Peter Stuyvesant, who was sent to provide the Dutch with command of all river traffic. Because of its strategic locations, ownership of the settlement was constantly changing. The flags of the Netherlands, Sweden and Great Britain have all flown over New Castle.
The three counties which make up the state of Delaware were added to William Penn's lands in America. In 1682, Penn came ashore at New Castle and took possession, but these counties, which were well established, became dissatisfied with Penn's rule. In 1704, when he granted them a separate legislature, New Castle became the colonial capitol of Delaware. The lively town also briefly served as the first state capitol, and continued as the county seat until the 1880's.
New Castle's location made it an ideal transfer point for trips up and down the coast. As a result, New Castle was a thriving community throughout the 1700's and early 1800's. The courts and general assembly also attracted various judges, lawyers and government officials who built handsome houses, many of which still remain. The Great Fire of 1824, which started in the stables behind the Jefferson House, claimed many of the inns and warehouses located on The Strand. Among the building destroyed was the modest home of George Read, signer of the Declaration on Independence and the Constitution.
Unlike many historic communities, New Castle is a residential town where people live and work. Each house reflects the individuality of its past and present owners. Because New Castle has been named a National Landmark Historic Area, all renovations and restorations are carefully supervised

II-The benefits of this visit
This trip was beneficial to understand the history of Delaware and also of Pennsylvania; we had a tour of the courthouse which is a model of the colonial period and the post independence era. Also, it was of much of benefit to understand the American culture based on the spirit of independence and national prosperity.
I think the visit even if it was short was very valuable to us in term of understanding American history.

Attending a lecture at ESL teacher training institute

2006-07-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

Date :7/26/2006. Place: Paradee center.
Presenter: Louis Arena Ph.D., the course Director at the institute.
Topic : Increasing L2 reading rate in science and technology texts.

* As soon as we had arrived at the center,they welcomed us and asked us to feel at ease.They asked us to spread out and sit among other teachers of different nationalities.Before beginning the lecture,we had a diagram that shows the number of English Language Learners(ELL) students in Delaware and countries from 1999 to2004.Then the spokesperson began to talk about the objectives of the institute . After that she told us about the president's plan(NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND) which means that all the American children must pass an academic test of reading,writing and Math.She told us that they have to create effective programmes to be effective and to reach the goals of the center.
*Then Dr Louis Arena began the lecture by introducing himself to us.Really he got all the attendants' admiration through his sense of humour,his abundant knowledge and his simplicity in presenting the techniques.Dr Louis Arena gave us the opportunity to introduce ourselves in public and to talk about our jobs,schools,students and our countries.This gave us the chance to recognize different teachers from different parts of the world.some of those teachers teach students with special needs,some teach business English, and others teach subjects like history,geography and English.
After that he began to talk about the topic"Increasing L2 reading rate in science and technology texts".He began by defining reading as looking at words and understanding them.He said that when the reading rate increases,the comprehension rate increases too.He explained the features of good and bad reading.For example he began to read separate words very slowly "childlike reading" but this is a dull way.He told us that the sentence without a verb can't indicate the action or the state.He added that in sound reading we should follow the punctuation rules and use the correct stress and intonation.He said that we should read in the form of clauses
to give an understandable meaning.He told us that reading from 180 to 200 per minute is good for L2 learners and from 200 to 600 words is better but the rate of reading differs according to the kinds of texts.It differs if we read for comprehension or scanning.In scanning the person can read 1000 words per minute because he looks for specific words or information.
*Then he gave us a scientific text called " changes in matter" and began to apply his technique.He gave us limited time to read and then he asked us to stop and count how many words we could read.He did that three more times. Then he began to select different teachers to tell him how many words they could read.Then he gave us a story called" An old fisherman"and showed us the clause analysis techniques that we should follow.At the end he said that"You can't cook spaghetti unless the water is boiling."This means that the reading rate should be appropriate to the comprehension rate.
During this workshop we had the opportunity to talk to teachers of different nationalities and we practised English with them.We exchanged e.mails for more cooperation in the future.
Summarized By
Mohamed Loutfi Moursi
Egypt