This seminar is for students who wish to experience the adventure of teaching English! We will study how we can make learning a pleasure. In order to experience teaching English, you will “teach English” to your peers in the class in small bits and to others outside of class, and thus learn more. We will learn a lot from helping each other. The main idea is that we learn things much better when we have the chances to teach others. (Teachers actually learn the most in schools!) So it follows that if you want your students to learn more, you will get them to teach each other a lot. Language, to be learned, needs to be used. Narau yori nareyo! Language teaching too often teaches about language without getting students to use it. In this class you will use it! And making mistakes is OK! Relax.
This seminar will work more as an active workshop. We will begin with a framework and a menu of possible content and activities from which you can select and add to. Students are invited to take an active role in the direction of the course, create materials, activities, and lesson plans. (Please review the new attendance policy and note that your grade generally goes down one letter for every missed class. Please come and enjoy.) Texts and materials to be announced (and sometimes produced by YOU).
Some of the topics/activities we may cover are:
Playfulness in the classroom, songs, organizing interaction and repetition, demonstrating & explaining, total physical response, your language learning history, your language teaching history, good and bad teacher qualities, materials production, tutoring, activating passive students, scaffolding low level learners, group dynamics, survey of methods, post-methodology approach, content based instruction, eliciting student voice and participation, etc.
About the teacher
Tim Murphey is starting his second year at KUIS. He did his PhD on the use of music and song in language learning, taught in a Swiss sports camp for children for 15 summers, coached tennis, basketball, and taught skiing. He travels a lot and loves doing new things and collaborating with students in their learning.
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