Week 41

This week the main discussion topic in our 'Coffee mornings/afternoons/coffee and conversation' -groups was tv, but we had different types of exercises compared to the sessions last week. This week we played the word explanation game Alias using different tv-programmes as the words to explain. I got the impression that people were pretty well able to explain the words to each other, and also got a pretty good grasp of what their partner was trying to explain.

I also made role play -cards, where there was a certain situation or a problem between two characters. Then the idea was that people would pretend to be that character described in their card and talk about the situation or problem given to them. Some people in the groups said that this exercise was nice and a lot of fun, but some said that it was too difficult for them. Luckily, I had prepared a few different sets of cards using different characters, and I was able to change the cards for some pairs to easier ones. That helped the situation a bit!

One of the challenges of being a teacher is trying to find or make exercises that are challenging enough but not too challenging for people. It is a tricky thing trying to figure out what people already know or don't know and act accordingly. Naturally, the skills of different people can vary tremendously, and you still have to try to give something new for everyone. The reality is that you win some and lose some also in this case, but I think all you can do really is to try your best and hope for the best!

Next week (week 42) there won't be lessons because of the autumn break, so we'll meet again for some coffee and conversation the week after that (week 43)!

Week 40; the beginning of October

This week the topic in my conversation groups was tv. I thought it would be a straightforward topic; something that everyone knows and has opinions about.

I was right. It was exciting to hear how people use tv, and what kind of programmes they usually like to watch on tv. Some people watch tv only a little (just certain programmes and not much else), whereas others have loads of different programmes they are more or less addicted to.

People in my starter courses are also starting to have grammar in their lessons, and during these past few weeks we have been practicing questions like 'where is'.. and  'what is'.. It seems to me that people in these groups are enjoying themselves and are not afraid to try. I think it's great! They bravely use new grammatical features I try to teach them, and also good pronunciation appears to be important for them. It is true that the English pronunciation is a tricky thing for a Finn because of the differences in the sound systems in these two languages. But quite honestly, pronunciation is not always easy for a native speaker either; just thing of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady when she tries to say the sentences like "In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen" or "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain"...

Next week we will be continuing with the same topic (tv) in the discussion groups, but the exercises will be quite different from those we did this week...

The third week of teaching; week 39

During this week's lessons with the discussion groups we continued to talk about travelling. This time we dealt with something that is important when travelling abroad: accommodation. We had exercises where we compared different hotels, and discussed the pros and cons of each of them. We learnt that certain people appreciate a central location of the hotel, whereas others don't mind staying a bit further away from the centre. Also different services within the hotel are important to some people but not to everyone. A lift is essential for some, and some people definitely need a shower - a bath just won't do!

We had interesting discussions, and people said that they learnt new, useful vocabulary as well.

Next time we will talk about tv-programmes and the different habits of watching tv.

The second week of teaching; week 38

I had a busy week, I can honestly say that! First of all, it takes a certain amount of time and effort to plan my own lessons for different groups, but also other aspects of my work have kept me busy this week. I was busy organizing new groups for courses that were overcrowded or full, and also had to cancel some groups or courses. It is Friday now, and I feel a bit more restful since a lot of the issues have been settled during this week.

 

The people in my starter -groups are so wonderfully enthusiastic! We have been practising words, numbers and pronunciation in general. Mouths, lips and tongues have been twisted in different positions as we have been trying to pronounce voiced and voiceless th-, s- and other sounds correctly. I admire the people for their passion for practising new things.

 

Also the discussion groups met for the second time during this week. It seems that people in the groups are starting to get to know each other, and also me, and the discussions this week already started to be more natural and people were able to relax and talk more freely. It is nice, and we have been able to have interesting conversations during our lessons.

The topic in our discussions this week was just simply travelling, and we talked about the places people have already been to, or places they would like to visit in the future. We also did some excercises that had to do with asking and giving directions, and we also had an exercise about asking and telling about the weather in different places. Next time we will continue with this topic a bit more before moving on to other areas of interest.

Conversation groups; first meetings

Our autumn semester began, and I met my new English groups for the first time. All in all, last week was exciting and interesting. I met a lot of new people and I'm trying to learn loads of new names and faces! The people in my groups seem nice, and I think we are going to have nice semesters together!

The main topic in our first sessions was, quite logically, introductions. The main focus was to get the students to talk in English again, because some people have had a long pause since they've used the English language. Another aim was to to get to know and learn new things about each other. That was done with the help of picture cards. There were different activities with the cards, such as picking a card that reminded the students of themselves, or picking a card of something they liked or disliked. We had interesting conversations, and really did learn a lot about each other. Someone is afraid of cats and somebody else loves them, somebody hates football, someone thinks he or she is like Donald Duck or a rhino, and there are some of us who just cannot stand winter and slippery roads!

The topic in our next lessons will be travelling.