So I'll write about the fun I had teaching English to 15 year old boys and a few girls yesterday (Saturday). They are such a challenge and often skip, but they knew something special was planned so most showed up. I decided to give each student a different English name on the name tags sent by friends at General Mills. Previously we'd an English class learning the words for personality traits so why not ask each student about their own. They wrote characteristics on the back of the name tags and then I went around the room and printed a different English name for each student. They loved it! Both that they got a new American name, but that they could speak about something more than "I live in Azerbaijan. I have one brother. I am 15." No. They stood up, said their new class-only name and then 4 - 5 character traits.
The best were the 2 boys sitting next to each other who tend to be quiet and not speak during class. When I gave one of them the name "Tom" he immediately ask that his buddy be given the name "Jerry." Those cartoon characters play very well over here, so what could it hurt!
The excitement continued after class when they wanted to have their picture taken with me, but they had already taken off their name tags. Of course, one class decided to give me an Azerbaijani name so I picked Aynur out of a hat. (It means Moonshine and I love it!) I'm never without my camera, so after the requisite cellphone photos, one of the girls snapped a couple photos on my camera.
There's nothing like a site visit from a PC TEFL Program Manager to get those creative juices flowing with new ideas for teaching English. Check out the bed, sunrise and shower I drew on the blackboard to teach "get up"and "shower." That's my 5th grade teacher in this photo who also brought in a visual aid on the same day. Teachers here don't feel comfortable drawing on the blackboard, so I might run a "chalk talk" camp for teachers this Summer. Everything I know about drawing, I read in a book!
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