Comments for The English Teacher http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com The Life and Times of The English Teacher Online... Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:11:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Comment on MY FAVOURITE LESSON by Kathleen http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/my-favourite-lesson/comment-page-1/#comment-1130 Kathleen Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:11:37 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1316#comment-1130 I am a "blackberry chick" as well and would never give up my 'bberry as my cell phone. However, I do have an iPad and absolutely and unequivocally love it! I think having the two is the best of both worlds. My blackberry is my lifeline - I would have to admit I take it into the bathroom with me on occasion. It is my device for social networking on the fly, email, IM etc. My iPad is my mobile laptop replacement. It allows me to work from virtually anywhere without feeling a technology pinch or the concern of a quickly draining battery. It seems iPhone owners are forever tethered by that conspicuous white charge cord wherever they go. I am a “blackberry chick” as well and would never give up my ‘bberry as my cell phone. However, I do have an iPad and absolutely and unequivocally love it! I think having the two is the best of both worlds.

My blackberry is my lifeline – I would have to admit I take it into the bathroom with me on occasion. It is my device for social networking on the fly, email, IM etc. My iPad is my mobile laptop replacement. It allows me to work from virtually anywhere without feeling a technology pinch or the concern of a quickly draining battery. It seems iPhone owners are forever tethered by that conspicuous white charge cord wherever they go.

]]> Comment on MY FAVOURITE LESSON by Jose Blanco http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/my-favourite-lesson/comment-page-1/#comment-1129 Jose Blanco Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:29:18 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1316#comment-1129 My students use their iPhones to record their homework assignments. I see them checking email and even reading online magazines. I wonder if the Apple iPad will prove useful in the classroom. It is very portable, although somewhat expensive. My students use their iPhones to record their homework assignments. I see them checking email and even reading online magazines. I wonder if the Apple iPad will prove useful in the classroom. It is very portable, although somewhat expensive.

]]> Comment on MY FAVOURITE LESSON by Hank Kellner http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/my-favourite-lesson/comment-page-1/#comment-1128 Hank Kellner Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:47:31 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1316#comment-1128 Hello, I enjoy reading your blog. I hope you'll take a look at mine, hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com. Sincerely, Hank Kellner Hello,
I enjoy reading your blog. I hope you’ll take a look at mine, hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com.
Sincerely,
Hank Kellner

]]> Comment on MY FAVOURITE LESSON by Tweets that mention MY FAVOURITE LESSON -- Topsy.com http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/my-favourite-lesson/comment-page-1/#comment-1126 Tweets that mention MY FAVOURITE LESSON -- Topsy.com Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:24:44 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1316#comment-1126 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Shelly S Terrell, Laurie. Laurie said: RT @TferThomas: I am sure @Loz62 will like this one....MY FAVOURITE LESSON courtesy @TheEngTeacher http://viigo.im/3Wl5 I like it and agree [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Shelly S Terrell, Laurie. Laurie said: RT @TferThomas: I am sure @Loz62 will like this one….MY FAVOURITE LESSON courtesy @TheEngTeacher http://viigo.im/3Wl5 I like it and agree [...]

]]> Comment on IN THE CORNER… by admin http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1125 admin Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:42:41 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1125 Thanks to you all for the feedback, reminds me I must write a new blog post sometime, am getting really rusty at this point ha ha. It seems there is a mix of what goes on around the world but the Italian system is some what 'crazy' as Daniel puts it. Another thing about Italian schools especially where English is taught, is the teaching is very much based on the grammar and when the kids leave school they can't speak a word of English, that can't be quite right can it?! Thanks to you all for the feedback, reminds me I must write a new blog post sometime, am getting really rusty at this point ha ha. It seems there is a mix of what goes on around the world but the Italian system is some what ‘crazy’ as Daniel puts it. Another thing about Italian schools especially where English is taught, is the teaching is very much based on the grammar and when the kids leave school they can’t speak a word of English, that can’t be quite right can it?!

]]> Comment on IN THE CORNER… by Daniel Stephens http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1124 Daniel Stephens Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:21:49 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1124 Interesting topic. My kids are in Italian schools (age 6, 9 and 10) and fortunately get great grades. But I often teach young people who have got "insufficient" grades at the end of the year and need to catch up over the summer before being re-tested. Every country has it's "culture" of education, and often these things persist in time because each generation has gone through it and so thinks it's "normal". Many things about the Italian education system are crazy (for example, the fact that teachers hold their union meetings DURING school hours, so the kids lose lessons), but this at least has the effect of setting clear quality standards from an early age. Where I grew up, in Britain, many more young people seemed to leave school with no qualifications at all than they do in Italy. Interesting topic. My kids are in Italian schools (age 6, 9 and 10) and fortunately get great grades. But I often teach young people who have got “insufficient” grades at the end of the year and need to catch up over the summer before being re-tested.
Every country has it’s “culture” of education, and often these things persist in time because each generation has gone through it and so thinks it’s “normal”. Many things about the Italian education system are crazy (for example, the fact that teachers hold their union meetings DURING school hours, so the kids lose lessons), but this at least has the effect of setting clear quality standards from an early age.
Where I grew up, in Britain, many more young people seemed to leave school with no qualifications at all than they do in Italy.

]]> Comment on IN THE CORNER… by Enid Moxon http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1123 Enid Moxon Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:52:14 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1123 <i>I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.+1</i> +1 I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.+1
+1

]]> Comment on IN THE CORNER… by chinabyte.com http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1121 chinabyte.com Thu, 20 May 2010 19:00:52 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1121 <i>I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.</i> +1 I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.
+1

]]> Comment on IN THE CORNER… by Smaragda http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1082 Smaragda Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:27:16 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1082 I don't have mahy positive comments to make on the Greek schooling system. In high school (3 years) and lyceum (3 years) students are constantly tested (i'm talking about A LOT OF TESTS) and then take exams at the end of the year. If their average isnt over 10/20 they can retake exams at the end of summer. The biggest problem is that due to the insufficiency of public schools and the great number of lessons, students then attend private schools to learn everything that schools can't teach them. After-schools lessons are a big thing here. Parents pay huge amounts of money so their children can learn maths, ancient Greek, science etc. The same applies to English lessons. These types of schools are a big business here. Towards the end of lyceum, this is considered a must and costs quite a lot. To sum up students attend school in the morning where they learn nothing, and then attend more lessons all through the afternoon to acquire the basic knowledge necessary to pass a class and hopefully gain entrance to a university. I don’t have mahy positive comments to make on the Greek schooling system.

In high school (3 years) and lyceum (3 years) students are constantly tested (i’m talking about A LOT OF TESTS) and then take exams at the end of the year. If their average isnt over 10/20 they can retake exams at the end of summer. The biggest problem is that due to the insufficiency of public schools and the great number of lessons, students then attend private schools to learn everything that schools can’t teach them.

After-schools lessons are a big thing here. Parents pay huge amounts of money so their children can learn maths, ancient Greek, science etc. The same applies to English lessons. These types of schools are a big business here. Towards the end of lyceum, this is considered a must and costs quite a lot.

To sum up students attend school in the morning where they learn nothing, and then attend more lessons all through the afternoon to acquire the basic knowledge necessary to pass a class and hopefully gain entrance to a university.

]]> Comment on IN THE CORNER… by Jo Hawke http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1072 Jo Hawke Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:11:48 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1072 That can be a serious issue in middle school (grades 6-8 around here), especially, since kids mature so much around age 13-14. And it's been my experience that the schools tend to push kids through as much as possible to avoid the inferiority complex, as you said, but also to avoid any difficulties with much more mature members of the opposite sex around, if you know what I mean. In high school, it's not as much of an issue, I don't think. Kids' friends may not even know exactly which classes they're taking, since everyone's kind of on their own, so they have less embarrassment (those who actually are embarrassed; you'd be surprised how many of my students really don't care about grades at all...). We're on a year-long schedule, so if kids fail, they do have to repeat the class the next year (if they don't take or fail summer school), but I prefer the block schedule I've worked with in the past, where students take fewer classes at a time and classes are over at the end of the semester. Repeating a class, then, can be done before the year's over. That can be a serious issue in middle school (grades 6-8 around here), especially, since kids mature so much around age 13-14. And it’s been my experience that the schools tend to push kids through as much as possible to avoid the inferiority complex, as you said, but also to avoid any difficulties with much more mature members of the opposite sex around, if you know what I mean.

In high school, it’s not as much of an issue, I don’t think. Kids’ friends may not even know exactly which classes they’re taking, since everyone’s kind of on their own, so they have less embarrassment (those who actually are embarrassed; you’d be surprised how many of my students really don’t care about grades at all…).

We’re on a year-long schedule, so if kids fail, they do have to repeat the class the next year (if they don’t take or fail summer school), but I prefer the block schedule I’ve worked with in the past, where students take fewer classes at a time and classes are over at the end of the semester. Repeating a class, then, can be done before the year’s over.

]]> Comment on IN THE CORNER… by theenglishteacher http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1071 theenglishteacher Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:59:37 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1071 Hi Jo, that's interesting! I think here the system has its pros and cons - but some kids who are perhaps good in languages but not so good in theory of other subjects are somewhat penalized - and to make them re-do the whole year is not always a solution - this can backlog and some kids will find themselves older than the average age of their fellow pupils this can cause an inferiority complex if you ask me... Hi Jo, that’s interesting! I think here the system has its pros and cons – but some kids who are perhaps good in languages but not so good in theory of other subjects are somewhat penalized – and to make them re-do the whole year is not always a solution – this can backlog and some kids will find themselves older than the average age of their fellow pupils this can cause an inferiority complex if you ask me…

]]> Comment on IN THE CORNER… by Jo Hawke http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1070 Jo Hawke Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:29:25 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1070 I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don't have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate. I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.

]]> Comment on TEACHING ON SECOND LIFE (PART 2) by TheEnglishTeacher http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/teaching-on-second-life-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1054 TheEnglishTeacher Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:35:28 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1171#comment-1054 Thanks for all your comments - hi Ross, I can understand you being stuck on an island, most people seem to at the initial stage lol. Second Life is very time consuming I spent last summer practically living on it, so it does take time but a great alternative to offer your students - let me know when you have some free time and we will try to work something out - that said it's been a busy period for me too so we will work our way around it. thanks for stopping by :) Aniya Thanks for all your comments – hi Ross, I can understand you being stuck on an island, most people seem to at the initial stage lol. Second Life is very time consuming I spent last summer practically living on it, so it does take time but a great alternative to offer your students – let me know when you have some free time and we will try to work something out – that said it’s been a busy period for me too so we will work our way around it. thanks for stopping by :) Aniya

]]> Comment on TEACHING ON SECOND LIFE (PART 2) by Ross http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/teaching-on-second-life-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1052 Ross Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:25:49 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1171#comment-1052 IT's great Anyia I would like to have a toor of second ife have an avatar but stuch in the first island.....would be nice t have an insight guide and see how I could use it for my italian lessons! IT’s great Anyia I would like to have a toor of second ife have an avatar but stuch in the first island…..would be nice t have an insight guide and see how I could use it for my italian lessons!

]]> Comment on TEACHING ON SECOND LIFE (PART 2) by vanessa http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/teaching-on-second-life-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1049 vanessa Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:37:50 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1171#comment-1049 Great post.. thank you for sharing! I heard about this once.. think I'll look into it. Great post.. thank you for sharing!
I heard about this once.. think I’ll look into it.

]]> Comment on WORDS… by Ryan http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/words/comment-page-1/#comment-1044 Ryan Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:35:20 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1276#comment-1044 Very cool! This is something that you could get caught up in for hours. Very cool! This is something that you could get caught up in for hours.

]]> Comment on ENGLISH TENSES WITH CARTOONS by learn english beginner http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/english-tenses-with-cartoons/comment-page-1/#comment-1043 learn english beginner Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:03:04 +0000 http://theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=205#comment-1043 To these immense, early s A?Are walking without, Her name was.As Frankie Valli, room? and royal.You DONT have learn english beginner, best reasons to be more readable.Products and customer, the imagination When., To these immense, early s A?Are walking without, Her name was.As Frankie Valli, room? and royal.You DONT have learn english beginner, best reasons to be more readable.Products and customer, the imagination When.,

]]> Comment on ONLINE STUDENTS FARE BETTER by Education Tay http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/online-students-fare-better/comment-page-1/#comment-1042 Education Tay Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:51:51 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=931#comment-1042 Online learning attracts all types of people from professional learners with qualifications to no prior learning. Courses for online learning attract can from law, medicine, finance and other subjects with many years of experience. Many learners online are motivated and fees paid by employers, although other students do not have these benefits. Learners taking a range of qualification do learn at a different play and use varies styles of learning. Online learning attracts all types of people from professional learners with qualifications to no prior learning. Courses for online learning attract can from law, medicine, finance and other subjects with many years of experience. Many learners online are motivated and fees paid by employers, although other students do not have these benefits. Learners taking a range of qualification do learn at a different play and use varies styles of learning.

]]> Comment on WORDS… by uberVU - social comments http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/words/comment-page-1/#comment-1040 uberVU - social comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:37:10 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1276#comment-1040 <strong>Social comments and analytics for this post...</strong> This post was mentioned on Twitter by ShellTerrell: Thought-provoking quotes of the decade http://bit.ly/chYvw3 via @TheEngTeacher... Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by ShellTerrell: Thought-provoking quotes of the decade http://bit.ly/chYvw3 via @TheEngTeacher…

]]> Comment on OUT WITH THE OLD…IN WITH THE NEW… by 21st century education http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/out-with-the-oldin-with-the-new/comment-page-1/#comment-1026 21st century education Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:36:34 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1260#comment-1026 I really learned a lot here. And thanks for introducing some blogs that can also help us. I really learned a lot here. And thanks for introducing some blogs that can also help us.

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