I was standing outside the building where my office is Thursday morning thinking about various things, as one does, listening to Marina & the Diamonds’ Hollywood, and a revelation occurred to me about celebrity and education and how messed up society’s values can be.Read More »Obsessed with the mess
Do your colleagues know much about your language teaching background beyond a list of qualifications and positions of employment? Sharing where you began, your process of growth, and goals for the future can help inspire, foster and contribute to growth in members or your community, not to mention build a connection to individuals where there may have been little before. I hope sharing mine supports one of these.Read More »Turning points in your story
Less than 48 hours ago, I made five statements about myself, lying about two of them. Then, through a brutal series of interrogations from members of my PLN, I am here to confess.Read More »Interrogation over. You win.
Remember Balderdash? That game we played as kids with the lies? Our truth or lies getting-to-know-you student activity reminds me of it. I often don’t do it anymore because…Read More »Interrogate me
A very valuable member of my PLN, Brad Patterson, initiated a call for images that were similar, yet different; look alike but have very contrastive features; or require critical thinking to notice subtle, yet important differences. Essentially, these photos combined together create material that can be utilised when learning language to compare and contrast. I wondered though, when do we compare and contrast things at any length in reality? Read More »Comparing and contrasting
These flamingos apparently arranged themselves into this particular shape, which may only have been noticed from an aerial shot like this one. When it comes to arranging themselves into the best groupings, my students are not flamingos. Read More »My students are not flamingos
The first students I encountered after the twin towers had been destroyed were on the morning after. I went into the private language school in Seoul I’d been working at for over a year for a 7AM class, eager to not only connect with my American colleagues, but also gauge the students’ reactions to this tragedy. How could one go about class like any other day? Would I be met with crying students or angry students or even cheerful students? To my sadness, I was faced largely with indifference.Read More »Connecting to students through important events
Who said January is the time for change? For us, it’s more often a September calling. Opportunities pop up all around. When the window for change comes, do you teeter on the edge then back in where it’s safe? This message is for everyone who is comfortably stuck and knows it.Read More »Are you ready to jump?