L'anglais et le français avec Elena/ English and French with Elena

Why Are We Afraid of Changes or Is How More important than What

2011-05-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

This month I had a situation related to teaching, changes and communication. A case that made me surprised, then frustrated, then angry, then thoughtful, then greatful. What I am writing here is the conclusion I am drawing to make sense of what happened and hopefully to never walk on that mine again.

I have been working for a while as a kind of supervisor- kind if is emphasized here:)- for a group of students who are having a year of full-time training at our school. A year, 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. Not easy. Then not long ago, I had already gathered some 3 complaints from students that they found their afternoons very tiring, so I thought I'd speak about that matter with the teacher who works with them in the afternoons.

I will not go on describing what was said and implied, but let me just say shortly and sweetly that the teacher didn't like at all being told- the verb suggested didn't come to her mind- how to do her classes.
This is what brought up some questions:

Are we so used to doing some specific things that any new suggestions are scary? Is there a difference in the teaching done by younger and older generations? Is this a generation gap problem or is it just unwillingness to change? Why are we afraid of changes? Why and how are we allowing our habits to petrify and become who we are, when in fact, with a little volition, we can change our habits by mere curiosity and open-mindedness?

I definitely need a teacher-brunch with all my ESL and FSL teachers friends to discuss all these questions and see what is the error we commit without even wanting to do so. Personally, I think that teaching is a job like any other that supposes a gathering of experience over the years. After 25 years of successful teaching, it is only normal to have concrete, well-tried ideas that worked 99% of the time, and that we use all the time because we have come to believe that these ideas work the best. It is also very normal to teach like we've been taught; what we know is 90% what we've been told or what we've read in books in our adolescence and young adulthood. It is abnormal though to think that the ideas we use with all kinds of students, in all contexts, with all ages are the only ones correct. It is also abnormal to let our Ego take over so much that any new idea, suggestion or comment is received as criticism or insult. It is lastly wrong to think that other teachers are our rivals: we are all colleagues, working towards the same goal- having our students succeed in exams, graduate universities, succeed in life if you want!

I have to also admit honestly and openly that the way the suggestion was given could have been different. Had I known more about the human behaviour, I would have been more diplomatic maybe. There is a slogan I always keep in my mind: It doesn't matter what you do; what matters is how you do it. I guess the situation I found myself in is another proof that my favourite slogan works well.

I sincerely hope that one day the Dog-Eat-Dog philosophy in our workplaces will disappear, and the teachers working at the same school will feel like a family, eager to help each other and free to give suggestions if the situation is asking for it. I personally am always happy when other teachers share with me their experience- I find this exchange very enriching.

Always yours,
Elena

Having more than a teacher for a group: is it beneficial or stressful?

2011-04-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

on a sunny Sunday with my friends- 4 of them are ESL teachers!

From the teacher's point of view (at least mine), learning English or French full-time is as hard as working on a a new job full-time. Not only does the student have to assimilate material daily- memorize, associate, match, pronounce, etc.- but he or she also has to sit in class 7 hours a day, focused at what the teacher is saying and constantly trying to improve the new language that surrounds them all day. Usually full-time learning requires big efforts from both students and teachers alike.

That is why at l'Estrie, we like team-teaching as a method to help students cope with language training when they learn the language full-time. Usually we have 2 teachers - one in the morning, another one in the evening, and sometimes we can have 3 teachers if need be.

I personally think having more than one teacher is beneficial and actually required, especially for the students who want to take an exam and pass it successfully. Many teachers means many teaching styles, accents, focuses; multiple teachers also brings different versions of the same grammar, i.e. different ways of remembering, using and making it work; finally, many teachers means encouraging students in many ways, because there is always a personal involvement in a student's progress and desired success. Motivating students who already speak the language to believe in themselves and be confident when they go to the exam is crucial in language training especially at higher levels. It is one thing when one teacher says:"you are ok, you will pass the exam, just breathe and concentrate on the question, and you will pass it", imagine 3 teachers who all agree that you are ready for the exam and the only challenge at this point comes from within you? Now if I were a student, I would definitely feel like listening to more then one opinion. If I were a language student, I would require at least 3 teachers actually... but I am happy not to be in those shoes now.

When I was a student at university in Moldova, I had a great English teacher, Nathalie, whom we adored. At the end of the year, she told us another teacher would be with us in the second year of studies. And we cried like babies, all of the 8 girls in the group- we were begging her to stay for another year with us! :) Three years later, when I graduated, I smiled at those tears, because having more teachers showed me how others taught the language and thus, I could find my own way.

Life is full of experiences. If one takes it this way, then anything one does is regarded as another experience that will make one stronger, kinder, smarter, more open-minded, more beautiful, more engaged, more human, more interesting to others, etc.

Always yours,
Elena

How do you ensure good and natural usage of Present Perfect?

2011-04-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

For anyone learning English, one of the most daunting tasks to do is understand, recognize and use Present Perfect Simple. Not easy, but doable!

Let's see the rules first:

2. when we speak about things done recently (with signal words like already, yet, just): Have you done your homework yet? I have just finished reading this book and it's amazing!

3. when we express a duration of the action, connecting the present with the past (for and since being here the indicators): I have worked here all my life. Since I came to Montreal, I have never been to that restaurant.

The rules are more or less clear. Now do you get your student to use this tense?

My phone classes helped me in fact. We were speaking about vacation and my student answered one of my questions saying: No, I never went to the States. And I asked her: when? She said: never! And I said: Well, "went" needs a "time expression" like in "went there last year, 2 days ago or when I was a child". If we speak in general about our past life, we use PP. She said "aaahhhhh!" and then I decided to guide her with my questions, sort of make her use it without realizing it too much. So questions like " Tell me about your hobbies. Have you ever taken dancing classes? What do you think about recycling?" followed, and she had to use PP to tell me " I like hockey, I have always liked it! "

It's never easy to ensure good usage of verbs. This is an ongoing activity, class after class, and the teacher is the patient mentor who chants like a mantra, again and again, "One day you will acquire all these verbs, don't worry, it's not that hard the English grammar in the end, is it? :))

Have a nice weekend all!

Teaching English as a Volunteer or Eloge a l'enseignement des langues

2011-03-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

Teaching is scarce these days. I do a lot of administration work related to teaching, teachers and their needs. Timesheets, wages, schedules, replacements - all of this is important as well. So the only possibility for me to feel the high of teaching is by offering some english classes to a bunch of beginners, people of Romanian origin, who bring their kids to Junimea Romana, an association that ensures continuity in the Romanian diaspora with lessons of Romanian language, literature, history and civilization. And while children learn the language of their parents and grand-parents, parents want to master the second official language in Canada- English. Here they are, my 5 friendly, cheerful and really motivated students who are tackling another language to integrate more successfully in the Canadian society: Carmen, Alex, Claudia, Lucretia, Ion and Cornelia.

I know that they make really big efforts to be studying on Saturdays morning after a working week. Honestly speaking, it takes me, too, some effort to be active and enthusiastic on Saturdays am, but oh what a worthy effort this is! I am simply delighted to be helping these nice people see how English works...and since we all speak Romanian, I love it when they sometimes make jokes about this or that and I understand by that they need a break. Only not too long- otherwise I lose them to Romanian! :) And not that I want to be strict, but I want to make the most of the only 2 hours I see them once a week.

Teaching is my love forever. I like my work now, with all the multiple responsibilities and different tasks, but teaching makes me feel more alive somehow. This exchange of all kinds - spiritual, intellectual and moral is irreplaceable. In addition, these students are different because we have the same roots, the same traditions, the same kind of humour, the same mentality! and I dare say teaching to my people is really different from teaching Canadian francophones. Which is more or less understandable...

Au cas ou mes étudiants voudront lire mon posting, voici quelques mots en français. Je suis ravie d'avoir la possibilité de vous voir et de vous enseigner l'anglais, mes amis. Je veux le faire sans penser a l'argent et donc ce serait mon premier travail comme bénévole ou je m'investis a coeur plein et pur chaque samedi matin sans me sentir forcée a le faire. Ce cours est en fait un petit experiment pour moi. Je veux voir si, dans cette société consommatrice, je peux faire quoi que ce soit sans faire le lien avec l'argent car on doit l'admettre- rien ne se fait sans intérêt financier ici, n'est-ce pas? Ca fait un mois que je donne ce cours et mes sentiments n'ont pas changé, ce dont je suis très fière!

aves des pensées de bien, and always yours,
Elena

Language Classes Are Not Always Only about Languages...

2011-01-13T11:55:00.000-08:00

Last week was a memorable one...

Last week I had an English class as usual, and I realized how a shift occurs in attention, and students cease to think about learning English and concentrate instead on what they say rather than how they say it. Of course this is a sign that learners are getting more and more comfortable with the language, but this also shows that acquiring a language gives people a great occasion to express ideas in that language. Grammar or pronunciation mistakes don't matter as much as the content the students think about and try to convey to their group-mates. Especially now, with all the issues societies have to deal with: pollution, poverty, diseases, natural disasters, war, corruption, malnutrition, so on and so forth. As soon as you, the teacher, bring to class a topic that students' reality resonates with, your class will go on smoothly and all you have to do is guide the learners. They will just continue talking, sharing ideas, getting surpised, learning new things, and then sudenly you see that your class is not about learning the language anymore! It becomes an opportunity to socialize and share, learn and exchange, and this is what I call a great language class!

Last week I read Rajesh Setty's ideas on enrichment. They are the five Cs I live my life according to- at least from now on:): Commit, Care, Connect, Communicate and (expand) Capacity.
1. Commit to lifetime-relationships that span events, companies, causes and geographic boundaries.
2. Care for the concerns of others as if they are your own.
3. Aim to Connect those who will benefit and enrich each other's lives in equal measure.
4. Communicate candidly. Tell people what they should hear rather than what they want to hear.
5. Aim to expand people's Capacity to help them give and get more from their own lives.

AND THE PEARL: You are only as rich as the enrichment you bring to the world around you.

My language classes enrich the students' experiences through sharing and exchanging. I enrich myself, I learn, I fully benefit from the exchange occuring in class. We spoke about recycling and multinational companies who should be covering this problem in entirety. There were ideas from people from France, Quebec, Algeria and Italy, but we all thought that something must be done now!

Last week I spoke to Olga K., a mysterious yet so familiar woman to me! We spoke about taxes, child-bearing, food industry and consciousness, and the 20-minute conversation opened a door into some incredibly reasonable and priceless ideas. I am still figuring out what exactly I am geetting into, but so far, what I saw and began reading looks very promising!

- La Belle verte, by Coline Serreau
- Anastasia, by Vladimir Megre
- Жар-птицы стаями не летают, by Al. Markitanov

If you heard of any of the previous workd, then you know what I am talking about.
These works are about us and our souls and our egos. They are about our wishes, hopes, fears, problems, and illusions. They are about our planet and what we do to it. They are about Life and how we live it. And since a good teacher never stops learning, there is so much we aren't even aware of, that sometimes a lifetime seems not enough to actually get a tiny bit closer to the mystery called Life on Earth.

Last week I opened my mind'e eye. We all do at a certain point in time. And I can't help wondering how fascinating our existence is, with all the enquiries, and little miracles, and the sheer human happiness we all share, but do not acknowledge often enough...I can't say thank you enough to my life for all the opportunities it offers. Either through teaching or through programming, through treating people in hospitals or through driving kids to school, we all have to say Thank you to Life for everything we have.

Always yours,
Elena

Wish You All a Happy 2011 Year!

2011-01-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

Dear friends and ESL teachers and learners,

Let the beginning of a new year be the generator of new ideas and their accomplishment. Let us breathe in the air of change and dive into our future confident and eager. Let us trust ourselves and the opportunities our life brings to us, and let us resolve to become better, stronger, smarter, richer- in friends and in smiles-, and let us grow!

I hope you have spent lots of magical moments near your beloved. Winter holidays are always there to remind us how important family is to us, and how important we are to our family. Winter holidays make us think of the past year, take note of what we have done and what is left to do, and resolve to do more in the coming year- learn, inquire, dare, ask, and grow! The spiritual growth has been on my mind for the last 2 weeks as if the new year has entered my life saying: Ok, Elena, let 's go, my dear! Don't fear me! I am your ally!

I wish you spiritual growth in 2011.

I wish you no fear on your way to harmony and happiness.

Always yours,

Elena

Importanta Limbii pentru Imigranti sau Imbratisarea Canadei

2010-12-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

Simbata trecuta am fost la un seminar organizat la comunitatea moldovenilor din Quebec pe tema valorile societatii quebecoaze si valorile noastre. Si am fost placut surprinsa ca persoane venite de 3 saptamini impreuna cu cei de aproape 5 ani aici au vazut ca nu mai sint ele atit de diferite, valorile umane. Toti avem nevoie de aceleasi lucruri: mincare, haine, serviciu pe plac, bani in deajuns, familie, prieteni, hobbi-uri, fie ca traim in Moldova sau Quebec. Daca le avem pe toate, sintem mai linistiti, mai impacati si capatam armonie si pace in suflet...

Cei care imigreaza in Canada trebuie sa se confrunte cu feluri de a face si de a gindi diferit. Anume acest fel diferit e provocarea noastra a tuturor, nu clima, sau produsele, sau limba. Si pentru a imbratisa Canada, limba si produsele si clima sint factorii care decid cit de rapida si eficienta va fi integrarea noastra in societate. Atunci cind facem fata acestor factori, atunci simtim ca vedem si ne incadram in felul localilor de a face si de a gindi. Deci totul este legat reciproc.

La seminar s-a vorbit de importanta limbi, si eu nu obosesc sa zic ba chiar si sa strig: trebuie sa invatasam limba, si sa ne lasam un pic dusi de limba caci ea poarta in sine mentalitatea celor de aici. Imigrantii ar face bine sa se relaxeze launtric si sa lase noul sa bata la usa si sa intre. O limba e o entitate vie, apar cuvinte noi, dispar cele vechi, se capata cuvinte din alte limbi- fie ca-s mai simple, fie ca-s limbi mai des auzite-, se uita multe din concepte dar si se capata noi concepte care nu sint intotdeauna mai rele. Noul nu e totdeauna amenintator; noul poate fi revigorant: el ne ajuta sa vedem probleme si situatii din multiple puncte de vedere, el ne ajuta sa devenim prieteni cu pesoane care ne inteleg, ne sustin si ne vor binele si succesul; noul ne ajuta sa avem mai multa incredere in noi si sa ocupam anume postul care ne aduce si placere nu doar bani; noul ne ajuta sa depasim obstacole si sa ne mindrim ca am putut-o face; finalmente, noul e acea putere care ne aduce faimosa libertatea morala despre care am trimbitat la seminar si care nu poate fi de fapt definita decit daca e simtita.

Teaching English to Kids- shall we?

2010-12-03T13:34:00.000-08:00

Hello again!

I spoke to a family from Moldova last week and they told me they would like to have their son learn English at the weekend. Okaaay.. I said and thought that actually teaching kids is a completely different story than to adults- it is fun!!! So I proceeded by looking at ESL sites for kids. Here is what I have found so far:

http://www.esl-kids.com/index.html
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/
http://www.rong-chang.com/kids.htm
http://bogglesworldesl.com/cards.htm
http://www.eslkidsworld.com/
http://www.teachchildrenesl.com/worksheets.htm
http://englishavenue.com/index.php
http://www.kidsenglishbooks.com/ilikeapples.html
http://storynory.com/2010/07/18/the-leap-frog/
http://www.britishcouncil.org/parents-help.htm

Now all these sites are great, but I also know that each teacher is special as much as the children are. So I am going to consult all these sites, print out some materials to come up with an outline that would help the teacher choose materials for each class, and then hopefully we will begin teaching kids, from 8 to 10 year-olds, at the CMQ, situated at 6767, boul. Cote-des-Neiges n weekends. They will have two 40 minute-classes with a 15-min break in between. You can bring your kid too for some fun activities in English to help him or her advance at school.

Phone Coaching: How Good Is it?

2010-11-01T13:10:00.001-07:00

English classes on the phone, how strange is that? some of you might ask... Some others will say, yeeeah, I did this and it really helped me improve my speaking skills. Let us make an attempt at clarifying why this kind of classes help some learners improve some skills- mind you, the most important word here so far is some.

We all have different needs in life. Some of us want a bigger car, some others want a vacation in Alaska, while others just hope to be bilingual one day! ;) Phone coaching will help especially the people from the third category mentioned above: it encourages speaking, conversation, exchange of ideas, and therefore, a good spoken language, be it French or English.

When we are on the phone, we can not see our interlocutor. We hear them, and hearing is the only sense put in motion. There is no eye contact, no body language to help us see what the person means or wants to say and therefore, we are forced to rely only on voice, tone, intonation, and word choice to be able to engage into the conversation.

I have a "phone" student these weeks. This is a lady who has good grammar but needs to practise speaking to put her grammar to work! So we talk once a week, for an hour, about everything and nothing, and try to see better ways of saying things. Sometimes, she has to paraphrase and all I can do is listen carefully and follow her ideas. I asked her how she felt in this kind of classes, and she told me "It is hard in fact!" but also rewarding and very useful, because she is forced to use all the vocabulary she knows to explain something to me.

On my side, I will admit that sometimes I close my eyes for better concentration on her mistakes and points for me to cover. It turns out I have never thought that we have so many distractions in our life. We are distracted by so much noise, and objects, and ideas, unbelievable! And the phone coaching helped me realize that.

Jokes aside, I think that phone classes are great for busy profesionals who are also parents and spouses and who want to save some time on commuting to and from language classes.

Cum invatsa franceza si engleza lumea nostra VERSUS cum invatsa engleza quebecozii

2010-11-01T13:08:00.001-07:00

Cit sintem de incordati!
Cit sint de relaxati si linistiti interior localnicii!
Cam la atit s-ar rezuma concluzia mea dupa 5 ani de predare a englezei quebecozilor.

O lectie cu localnicii e o perioada de relaxare pentru ei; e un refugiu pentru ei sa faca putina engleza sau franceza- care si ce- dupa o zi incordata de lucru. Noi insa vom lucra 10 ore in sir si o lectie de engleza ne incordeaza mai ceva decit un interviu pentru un post nou! O limba noua si mai ales o cultura si civilizatie noua - e atit de dificil de acceptat pentru noi!

Organizing Language Courses with CMQ (the Moldovan Community of Quebec, CA)

2010-10-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

Honestly speaking, I don’t know why I wanted to begin these courses so badly, but I did!

I actually thought of beginning a business in the language industry- you must remember my course in Business with Compagnie F taken in summer 2010- but I realized at the right moment what fierce competition I would have to face, and so, moved into the quasi-volunteer idea of giving language classes to the community I belong to- CMQ.

I would never have begun this project without the generous donation of Margaret Wells, a friend, a tutor and a previous employer of mine. She gave us 55 books of English grammar, pronunciation and exercises, and I thought: this is the moment! I began calling my closest friends to tell them about my idea and, with my boyfriend’s and all my friends’ support, I announced that the English courses were to begin on September 20. Today, I am proud to be part of the teaching team (composed of Marketa, Simona and Eve-Lyne), we have 5 students regularly attending the English classes, and we also began teaching French last week, with a student who is delighted to have a private course!

I am certain more people will join our groups as soon as they hear about us. Why? WE ARE EFFICIENT, COMPETITIVE, AND DYNAMIC. Come see us on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and you will see it for yourself!

Thanks to this project, I have learned that some vital qualities are to be acquired if one wants to become a good manager. They are: communication, openness, availability, good mood and good memory, resistance to stress, keeping your goal in mind, asking for help, and believing in people!

Always yours, and always looking forward to your comments,

Multi-Level Groups: How Do We Proceed?

2010-10-15T05:55:00.000-07:00

Still replacing an instructor from our school, I have this really interesting group to teach these days: 6 people, 3 levels- from beginner to advanced. All in one group. You can see the challenge now: how do you teach English in a multi-level group?

Actually, I will admit that I wanted to do some research online to see what others have said abou teaching in multi-level classes. And the best I found is this article, which proposes some strategies on ensuring smooth English classes, even if students have different levels.

On the other hand, I can not ignore mine and other teachers' experience on this topic. I asked 3 ESL teachers about their way of tackling this problem, and my conclusion is one should proceed in either one of these ways:

Bring more activities than you had previously planned to class; have multi-level exercises involving all 4 skills: speaking/writing/reading and listening, and as soon as a stronger student finishes his/her exercise, give them another one- they will appreciate it and most importantly, they will see that there is no waste of time in class with you;
Have weaker students work with stronger ones in pair-work, which is what encourages and empowers both types of students.
As Lenore Baliro says in her article Ideas for a Multi-level Class, have topic-driven rather than level-driven classes. I like this idea! It means that you should bring a topic, watch and/or listen to multi-media material related to this topic, read texts and learn vocabyulary related to the topic, then discuss as a class, and then have your students write answers to different questions you can ask them. Each student will write at their own level, no one will feel intimidated by his/her coleague's great English, and everyone will improve, one way or another.
Raise the bar of your activities and while correcting, observe who is struggling the most. If out of 20 students you will have 4 who have a lower level, then you will bring to those 4 students activities that they can do as a group.
Group work makes me think of projects. Projects invite everyone to participate equally, so use projects when more then one level of language skills can be observed in class.

What is certain is that multi-level groups will make you sweat more as a teacher. But they will be so rewarding because every student will leave your classroom smiling, thinking that you helped them feel comfortable and feeling that they made the most of their time while in class with you.

Have great classes, dear Colleagues!

As usual, waiting for your comments, ideas and suggestions.
Always yours,
Elena

Advanced Level Students- Is it Easier or Harder to Teach (Than the Beginners?)

2010-10-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

Last week I was asked to replace a teacher for an Advanced level group. And I was left pleasantly surprised! flabbergasted actually! and beautifully convinced that English can be mastered in the end!

I then began thinking about our approach to teaching in an advanced group, because what is obvious is that we can not bring the same activities as in an Intermediate or Beginner group. So after asking some other teachers from my school, after some research and some thinking, I came up the following ideas that should help me (and hopefully any other teacher who needs to teach Advanced students) have efficient learning, even in classes where people speak as well as me! :)

1. Bring articles about current events: everyone likes news, and everyone likes discussing news as well!
2. Bring Idiom-exercises! There is nothing more rewarding than having your students use the right idiom in the right situation!
3. Phrasal verbs: another point to consider. Get off/along/by/off/ out of/away with- which one is which?
4. Watch documentaries and then discuss: CBC is your best friend here!
5. Bring lists with questions and have them choose one and come up with an answer right away! It can get a bit stressful, but we all know about the "good" stress, so no worries, they will like it!
6. Debates.

Do you know of any other ways of improving English even in advanced level groups? Please share your experience with me!

Thank you , and have a great week ahead!

What Made You Become a Teacher?

2010-09-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

"What I like about teaching is the continual research for better, more efficient and easier ways of transmitting my knowledge of the language to my students. I find this job very rewarding and forever needed, since there is nothing more important in a society than a teacher and a doctor. Besides communications skills, I have the passion, the motivation and the skills one must have to become a great teacher. In a nut shell, I am a teacher who learns from her students, and recognizes the power of exchange in the classroom. I pretty much feel lucky to have this opportunity in life: teach and learn at the same time!" - Elena B.

And you? Why do YOU teach?

Web Applications and Teaching- Do They Go Together?

2010-09-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

Please go to OXFORD University Press Blog, which features today the Web Applications and teaching. How do you use the World Wide Web and all its gadgets to teach Languages in class?

Children and English Language Classes

2010-09-07T06:04:00.001-07:00

As I could see from the poll, adult learners are more challenging to teach than children. And I have to agree... Even if discipline-wise children are harder to handle, they assimiliate words, structures and sounds much faster and much more easily than adults. And what's curious- or maybe obvious- they don't ask that many questions, either! :)

I remember teaching 7-9 year-old kids some 5 years ago. It wasn't easy, but is was definitely a lot of fun! They love singing, drawing, and dancing, so as soon as there was an activity to do that prevented them from sitting down for 40 minutes, the class was a success! Of course there were tests to be done as well. Then the class was boring to hell to them-- but very important to me because tests showed me what they had remembered and what needed some more attention.

Children have a surprisingly huge capacity to memorize words just by being exposed to them. Meaning that if you talk to a child in a specific language, they don't need to answer to you for you to know they understand. They do, believe me, and when they feel comfortable, they will ask you something in that language with such perfect pronunciation and accent that you will be flabbergasted! :)

Way Ahead by Macmillan was the book we used to bring to class for activities, songs, games and dictation. I liked it very much for the stories in sequence-children remember everything, remember ;)-, the songs, the games and of course the tests that we did as a class sometimes- especially when the children were tired.

Would I challenge myself with ESL classes with children now? Oh definitely yes!

How Do We Correct our Students' Mistakes?

2010-08-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
After 2 weeks of vacation, back to school! Back to learning and reflecting upon learning. Now in a position of pedagogical advisor with the school, I have more time to do research, ask teachers, do surveys in order to find answers to questions concerning teaching and learning.

Today we are going to speak about mistakes and their correction. Does direct correction encourage students or lower their self-esteem? How many ways of error correction can we think of? What is the most effective way of correcting their mistakes?

We will all agree that mistakes are inevitable. They are actually the basis of learning because once you made a mistake, and if you have been told it was a mistake, then you can correct yourself and never make it again. Thus, learning is in progress. So, mistakes and their correct correction will make learning advance. But how should the student be corrected when in class?

As a great teacher I know says: One should choose their battles. Meaning that the teacher should choose to correct those mistakes that are pertinent to the grammar , vocabulary, pronunciation, etc. point she or he is making on that particular day and correct them! Thus, while reading out loud, if phonetics and pronunciation is on your mind, then that's what you correct. While drilling students on Present Simple, then you correct only the mistakes pertinent to this form. This seems to be the most reasonable way to correct students without scarying them or extinguishiing their pasion and enthusiasm for the language!

We should also mention the direct and indirect correction, with teacher interfering every time there is a mistake while student is talking, and writing down mistakes and correcting them as a class later on. The latter is more impersonal, therefore more appealing, especially with adult learners.

I personally think adapting to each student and their wish as how to be corrected is the best approach. There are some who don't mind being interrupted, but there are others as well who lose their train of thought if too much corrected. Personalized correction, I would say, is the best type of correction.

Finally, I would like to encourage students to look at correction as a necessary part in the learning process. No one wants to diminish you, we just want to clean up your grammar so that it is clear and concise what you are saying!

With regards,
Elena the teacher, who is also most of her life, a student!

"Plateau-ing" in Learning or Quand serai-je bilingue?

2010-07-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

Dear teachers,

This posting is for you. I am sharing here my thoughts regarding stagnation in the learning process that occurs usually after some 5 months of intensive learning. You must have noticed how our students find their comfort zone and use the same words, again and again, to express their ideas.

Alors on va s'imaginer que nos étudiants parlent assez bien pour se débrouiller dans une conversation sur leurs occupations, leurs routines, leurs enfances, leurs ex-copines, etc. Leur grammaire leur permet de s'exprimer bien dans le passé, le présent et le futur. Ils font des fautes parfois, mais on comprend bien ce qu'ils nous disent.

But, we want them to get more comfortable while speaking, to choose much more easily the precise word they need and most importantly, to enrich their vocabulary. What are we to do then? I am sure each of us has his or her own methods of tackling this huge challenge- taking our students from the intermediate to the advanced level- but here are some of our ideas:

1. On commence a apprendre les 'phrasal verbs' et les expressions idiomatiques.
2. On apporte des articles pour chaque étudiant pour faire une présentation devant la classe. Ils écrivent les mots nouveaux sur le tableau, les expliquent aux collègues, en bref, deviennent le prof pendant 10 minutes.
3. On parle des nouvelles et on veut savoir leurs opinions.
4. On lit beaucoup, on explique les mots nouveaux et on construit des phrases avec ces mots.
5. Les débats sont des outils excellents a faire parler nos étudiants. Avec des mots nouveaux, persuader quelqu'un est provocant, mais faisable!
6. On encourage le travail en 2, quand un étudiant parle et l'autre corrige ses fautes.
7. On décourage l'utilisation des mots-parasites qui signifient rien mais qui alourdissement la parole.
8. On écoute des vidéos et on discute ensuite en utilisant les mots nouveaux.

I am looking forward to reading your ideas about this phenomenon, sometimes called plateau-ing. How do YOU help your students become bilingual, if this is ever possible?

Teaching- self-employed or for a school as an employee?

2010-07-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

Ça fait 10 ans que j'enseigne pour des écoles de langue. Cet été, je me suis dis: et si j'essayais de devenir mon propre patron, de faire mes impôts, ma comptabilité, de chercher mes étudiants, en bref, de travailler pour moi-même? Bonne question! Vous êtes-vous déjà demandé si vous pouvez changer de chaise et devenir celui qui décide de tout dans votre compagnie? Bon, moi oui, c'est pourquoi j'ai suis un cours de lancement d'entreprise avec Compagnie-F. Je suis en train de le finir, et alors il y a des points à regarder et à considérer.
Dans la photo, moi et ma conseillère, Josée Gaudreault, au vernissage organisé par Compagnie F au mois de juin.

Ici moi avec Geneviève, une fille géniale qui fait du design d'intérieur, ma collègue de cours de business.

Le 30 juillet 2010 - Finissant les derniers papiers a rendre pour le cours de business, je m'écoute et je décide de choisir la stabilité offerte par une école, celle de l'Estrie, pour grandir en tant qu'enseignante, pour acquérir des connaissances et de l'expérience en gestion de cours et pour m'offrir plus de temps-a moi et a mon amoureux. Dans 5 ans, on reverra cette décision.

Mais quelles sont mes conclusions après avoir suivi ce cours de lancement d'entreprise?
1. N'aie pas peur! Si tu veux le faire, vas-y de l'avant!
2. Il y a des organismes qui t'aideront, sois certaine!
3. Ton expérience est précieuse! Travaille, sois a l'affût de ce qui se passe dans ton domaine et grandit en tant que spécialiste! Tout ce que tu fais t'aidera a un moment donné-c'est certain!
4. Un site cool et un blog mis a jour continuellement sont des excellents outils pour parler au monde de ton business.
5. Parle a ton entourage de ton idée, écoute-les, demande-leur des questions, sois curieuse!
6. Fais-toi des amis dans ton domaine, un bon réseautage représente parfois 50% du succès!
7. Fais des économies! You never know what you might need some more cash for!
8. Know your competitors!

So many so far... I will try hard to finish my business plan, to take part in different networking opportunities and to grow as a language specialist.

T'as un petit accent, toi... tu viens d'où?/That`s a curious accent you have... where are you from?

2010-07-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Today, I want to speak a bit about accents.
How hard is it to understand someone who has an accent? Can it influence our understanding of what the person is saying? Should it prevent us from talking to people in the streets when they address us, or make friends at school, or get closer to people in a society in general? I will try to answer these and other questions about accents and how important - or not important - they are in the process of language acquisition.

I visited some friends a couple of weeks ago and there was a young lady there coming from Moldova who said: Oh, I understand English pretty well, I studied it for 2 years back home, but I feel embarrassed because of my accent, so I just listen, I never speak English. Her statement really shocked me. And a question appeared: why would someone learn a language and not speak it? Is it really because of the accent, or is it because of unwillingness to speak it? You might say the woman is really self-conscious. Yes, we all are. We are social beings, we live in a community, we care about other people's opinions. However, one can not let others influence their decision to talk with others and more importantly, their only means of communication because of the accent. Especially in Montreal, which is a city that abounds in nationalities from all over the world and so, the accents are so numerous and colouful!

I strongly encourage all my students to care more about the CORRECTNESS of the language they are learning and speaking than the accent they have. When you speak correctly, precisely and with a smile, nobody will ever mention your accent in a negative way. In fact, you might get a compliment because who knows? maybe your interlocutor loves your accent and will find it attractive. Making friends does not require a specific accent, it requires openness and willingness to communicate and share.

People do not only see the bad in things. Immigrants have to learn this lesson.
And forget about your accent, focus on WHAT you say rather than HOW you say something.

The good news is: you will never lose your accent.
The bad news is: you will never lose your accent.
Accept it and talk!

The Language Courses I offer/Les cours de langues que j'offre

2010-07-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends,
It`s Sunday, and it`s time for blogging again!

Today I am going to tell you a bit about the courses I offer:

- You get Language Courses General - for anyone who needs a general overview or initial acquaintance with English of French at your pace and your schedule respected;

- You get Language Courses Groupe/Forfait - for friends who wants to study together an save some money but have lots of fun especially in conversation classes;

- You get Language Courses Premium - for professionals who need to clean-up their grammar, boost their confidence or increase their business or work-related vocabulary;

- You get Language Courses En Deux - for couples, for those who want to study together with their spouse for encouragement and saving some money;)

There is a waiting list for group courses; aaaand the first class is absolutely free of charge!

I also offer translations from Romanian and Russian into French and English at reasonable rates.

Any questions? Feel free to leave me any comments or questions: I would love to get back to you with more details!

Have a great week!

La traduction dans les cours de langue: on la fait ou non?

2010-06-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

La semaine passée j'ai eu une conversation assez intéressante avec mes amis et mes étudiants par rapport à la traduction. Quand on enseigne, est-ce qu'on fait recours à la traduction dans la langue maternelle pour faciliter la compréhension de l'écrit ou pas?

Quand j'ai une étudiante qui carrément me dit que la traduction l'aide à voir les notions et les concepts et à les comparer dans les deux langues, je lui traduis le mot. Pourquoi? Parce que je lui facilite et accélère la comprehension du texte.

Toutefois, quand j'enseigne la grammaire, et un exemple comme I have been living here for 5 years n'est pas très clair, je vais 1. le montrer par un dessin au tableau, 2. le paraphraser et 3. donner d'autres exemples pris de la vie de mon/mes étudiants. Pas beson de traduire, surtout parce que le français n'a pas de Present Perfect comme forme verbale temporelle.

Historiquement parlant, la traduction a longtemps été partie de l'enseignement des langues. Ce n'est plus le cas aujourd'hui. Avec la communicative approch (CA) comme base du processus de l'apprentissage des langues au 21e siècle (pour plus d'info sur le CA voir ici), la traduction n'est pas invitée au party. Mais, come on le dit en anglais, the exception proves the rule, alors je suis certaine que dans certaines situations, la traduction va aider plus pour comprendre mieux un concept ou une idée.

Qu'en pensez vous de la traduction au cours de langues?

The Poll Results on Private and Group Classes

2010-06-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

Both private and group classes have their advantages and disadvantages.

In a one-on-one class, the student gets to talk more, the teacher corrects and guides him or her, and so, the results are being seen faster. However, a ping-pong conversation with only one person gets uninteresting after a while, when all impersonal topics have been covered.

In a group, the student gets to have the teacher`s attention less, is always exposed to hearing other students`mistakes and thus, more prone to repeat them as well. A group class can get noisy and if one of the students is the leader, the others follow and this is not always a good thing. However, being in a group allows students to learn from each other`s mistakes, have pair work and group work, which in the long run is more interesting, fun and challenging even.

As we can see, both group and private classes are a must if you are a language learner, but I have to say that private lessons are more beneficial for beginners, whereas people who can converse and have a pretty good level of the language should join a group for conversations, discussions and sharing ideas.

Remember the poll I had on my blog last week? Not surprisingly, 40% of the people who voted like private classes better; another 40 went for the group classes, and only the remaining 20% said the more students in the group, the merrier.

To my mind, private versus group classes is a matter of sociability as well. The more outgoing the person is, the more she or he will tend to join a group. Shy people will prefer private lessons. Money is another factor here. Private classes are usually more expensive, with the group ones being cheaper. The results tend to be there faster in private, of course. But then, it is a personal choice to be made in the end.

Whatever the type of class you choose, be involved in learning, ask questions, propose, suggest, inquire, your teacher will always appreciate any ideas you will bring to table, and your results will always be there!

Privately or in a group?

2010-06-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

J'enseigne ces jours-ci 3 groupes. 1 des 6 étudiants, un autre de 2 étudiantes, et un groupe formé d'une etudiante seulement.
Je me demande alors dans tous les 3 groups, quelles sont leurs idées à propos de l'apprentissage en groupe ou en privé. Je vais leur demander, vous, mes chers amis, svp votez, et la semaine
prochaine on aura les réponses.

Qu'en pensez-vous?
Merci, et bonne semaine!

Ma première invitation en tant que spécialiste en formation langagière des adultes

2010-05-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

Samedi, le 15 mai, j'ai été invitée par la présidente de la communauté moldave à Montréal, Ala Mindicanu, à une conférence dédiée aux femmes immigrantes et aux problèmes qu'elles ont à dépasser pour s'intégrer dans la société québécoise. On a parlé de la grossesse, de l'empoi, des finances, des impôts, des loyers, mais surtout, je suis très contente qu'on a eu la possibilité de parler de l'importance des langues. On habite une ville bilingue et parler le français et l'anglais représente un des plus grands défis des immigrants.

Dans les 5 minutes disponibles, j'ai tenu à surligner le fait que l'industrie de l'enseignement des langues à Montréal est très différente de celle de Moldavie. Etant donné que les médias ici sont bilingues, les cours sont plus axés sur la conversation et le partage des idées. On ne corrige pas la prononciation, on a tendance à négliger la grammaire, ce qui mène à un apprentissage trop long de l'anglais avec un progrès ralenti. On n'utilise pas des manuels, on apporte des articles pour des discussions, et ceci est, selon moi, une approche plus libre que j'utiliserai seulement à un niveau avancé.

Les cours que j'offre sont différents: j'utilise les manuels Headway, du niveau débutant au niveau intermédiaire. C'est un kit de 2 manuels que vous allez utiliser, accompagnés d'un CD et des tests. Chaque cours dure 3-4 mois, dépendamment du temps que vous consacrerez. Les 3 niveaux- débutant, pré-intermédiaire et intermédiaire, sont une garantie de succès. Grammaire situationnelle, conversation, écoute avec exercices, exercices de vocabulaire, écriture - tout est là!

Je vous invite à suivre mon blogue qui touche aux langues en général et à l'enseignement (pour les profs) et à l'apprentissage (pour les étudiants) en particulier.

Si vous avez des questions ou des commentaires, n'hésitez pas!