Teaching English Tips to Stay in Control of a Large Class

Teaching English with games is becoming standard through out ESL classrooms of the world. And this is good news, because children love to learn through games, and become much more motivated students as a result. However games often make children excited, and if you have a large class you need a few things up your sleeve to bring the class into line immediately if things get a little over-heated.
Here are some tips and ideas to help you contain your pupils’ enthusiasm and manage your large class. There are three sections. Essential basics, useful tips, and attention grabbers.
1. Some essential basics to manage a large class
Together with your pupils define the rules in the first lesson, and post them on the classroom wall for reference. Knowing WHY a rule is in place makes it easier to keep. You must establish the rules on day one and stick to them!
Be consistent in applying your rules. If you are arbitrary about how you dish out your rewards or ’consequences’, or punishments you will undermine the rules themselves.
Praise good behavior to generate love and self-esteem. Whatever you do, avoid being like so many parents who spend their whole time telling their children, "don’t do this", and "don’t do that". By focusing on the positive in order to draw more attention to it you apply the universal law of "you attract what you focus on"
If you are working in a school know the law and rules of your institution before you go into the classroom for the first time, and work in harmony with the school.
Start out strict and fair - and stay that way! Being strict is not about looking stern and being bossy. It is about making sure the rules are kept, in a firm but fair way. You can still be a really fun, loving teacher and be strict with your class at the same time.
2. Useful Tips
Don’t break your own rules by raising your voice to be heard. Instead talk quietly or stop and wait. Your class should know that for every minute you are kept waiting they will receive extra English homework, or whatever consequence you have designated.
Children love the sound of their own name more than anything else. So use an individual’s name for praise and avoid using it when telling someone off.
Create teams and deduct or reward behavior points to a team’s score during a game. Your class will respond naturally by using peer pressure to keep the naughty children from misbehaving.
Empower your children with choices. For example, ask a naughty child, "Do you want me to speak to your Dad?" By asking a question you give the child the power to choose, whereas if you use a threat such as, "I’ll call your Dad if you don’t behave", you take the initiative away and seem tyrannical.
You can also say things like, "you can either play the game properly or you can sit in the corner". The child will probably choose to play the game properly, and you make them responsible for their behaviour.
Prevention is better than cure, so try giving boisterous children an important task BEFORE they start to play up. They may respond well to the responsibility.
It is important, especially with a large class, to hand things out quickly or use a system to have this done, such as giving the well-behaved children the task as a reward. Sing a song together or do some counting or a quick game to occupy the class while materials are handed out.
Play a mystery game and, before you start your fun game say that during the activity you will be watching the whole class for 3 well-behaved children who will be rewarded.
Only play games where you know you can keep a handle on the situation. For example there is no point playing a boisterous game with a lot of movement if you have more than around 20 children. With large classes, including classes of up to 60 children, you need special games where the children have limited movement - such as standing up or making gestures but while remaining in their seats. You can sign up to receive free games in the resource box below, and some of the free games given out are suitable for very large classes.
Attention grabbers
Start an English song the children know and love – they will all join in with you and at the end you’ll have their attention.
Clap out a pattern which the class must clap back, or start a rhyme they know with actions.
Use quiet cues such as heads down or lights off. Vary these with other fun quiet cues such as "Give me five".1--on your bottom, legs crossed; 2--hands folded in your lap; 3--face the speaker; 4--eyes and ears open; 5--mouths closed.
You teach this repeatedly in the first lessons and after a few weeks, you only have to say "Give me five:1,2,3,4,5", and the children will do it.
You can also use the Magic 1 2 3 idea. When a child does not comply start counting 1, 2,…The child knows that if you get to 3 there will be some sort of consequence, such as missing out on the next game. If you use this and you reach 3, you must follow through with an appropriate consequence consistently.
To summarise, establish the rules and consequences for good and bad behavior, apply them consistently, set a good example, use peer pressure and points, and use attention grabbing cues such as favorite songs, English rhymes with actions and countdowns. Above all play suitable games where you know you can keep in control of your class.
You can be firm and fun at the same time, and if you cannot manage your class, you should realize that, although it sounds harsh to say it, you are wasting their time.
Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com - By: Shelley Vernon

Can you learn Spanish without a formal education?

A question I get quite a lot is "Can I really learn a language properly without going to formal classes?". And it is a fair question. Traditional thinking would suggest that in order to learn something like a language, you must go to school-like classes. And before the internet became so wide spread, I would have agreed to a certain extent. These days though, you can learn a language just using your computer and a little nouse.
One thing that has improved is the amount of high quality books and audio products that are available these days. Wander into any bookstore and you will be amazed with the amount and quality of what’s available. As far as books goes, I really only recommend a dictionary and perhaps a phrase book. They are tools that complement other things, I don’t really think learning 100% from a book is that effective.
What I do think is very effective is using the combination of software and audio programs. Not only do you learn what you would learn in a book, but you actually get to experience the language. Hearing and speaking the language you are learning is so much more effective than just reading it in a book and imagining it in your head. And in recent times, the quality has just risen and risen. There are some that are definitely better than others (You can see the best ones at my site) and products for all budgets. For a full review of what I think are the best 3 products, you’ll have to visit my site.
Something else thats able to take your language learning to the next level is Myspace. In the "olden days", people would often grab a penpal from overseas and send letters back and forth. But this wasn’t very effective for learning a new language. These days, with the invention of the internet and the rise of Myspace, meeting native speakers for language learning is a real possibility. All you need to do is create your own profile in Myspace, which is free, then look for speakers of your language of choice that also speak English. And considering there are over 100 million users worldwide, it is not hard to do this at all. It’s just a matter of sending a message to possible partners and within days I guarantee you will have more than enough people willing to help you out. And this isn’t a one way street. You can also help them improve their English, which is great fun as well.
While I may be a bit biased here, I also think that content based internet sites can be very beneficial. It’s not just my site either, there are tons of high quality sites out there, offering you all sorts of learning benefits. These sites are especially helpful if you don’t have the funds to purchase one of the software/audio products. Most of the time, they really can get you through.
So, next time someone asks me if they really need to go to classes to learn a language, instead of listing all the reasons why not, I’m simply going to send them this article.
Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com - By: Anthony Dwyer

Spanish Love: Spanish Poets and Their Spanish Poems

Love and its attendant passions has been the favorite subject of Spanish poetry since the time of the troubadours, medieval poets who earned their keep by singing for the people at the village square or for the nobility during royal gatherings at the palace. Composers in their own right, these court poets sang about courtly love and the bittersweet pain of unattained love for an idealized woman using the jarchas, a form of love song that was actually poetry written in very short stanzas.

It is important in the study of Spanish love poems to differentiate between poems that originated from countries outside of Spain including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, The United States, Uruguay and Venezuela which were written in Spanish but whose authors were not from Spain. All these poets and their respective poems have contributed in some way to the development of Spanish Poetry as a genre because they all wrote their work in Spanish albeit in the form of Spanish common to their country of origin. Although some of them wrote patriotic poems about their motherland, most of them utilized images of love to depict the sorrow of a country that has lost its freedom.

Some of these well-known Spanish poets and their popular poems are:

Carlos Alberto Garcia – Amor
Que soy
Quisiera
Yo te conozco
Olvidarte
Nestor Oscar Morris – Quiero decirte algo
Pienso solo en ti
Jorge E. Diaz Leyton – Tu
Manuel M. Mendez – Pertenencia

Focusing attention on Spanish poets who trace their origins to Spain, however; poets who lived, loved and wrote their best work within the Spanish Peninsula or the so-called ‘Poetas de Espa?a’, we come up with a list of illustrious writers whose works contributed to the development of Spanish Literature as it is today.

* Rafael Alberti - La Amante
* Vicente Aleixandre ( Nobel Laureate 1977) – Destruction of Love
* D?maso Alonso – Hijos de la Ira
* Gustavo Adolfo B?cquer – Rimas y leyendas
* Saint John of the Cross - Dark Night of the Soul
* Luis Cernuda - La realidad y el deseo
* Francisco Domene - Arrabal?as
* Le?n Felipe – Drop a Star
* Federico Garc?a Lorca - Sonetos del amor oscuro
* Luis de G?ngora - Soledades
* Jorge Guill?n - C?ntico
* Miguel Hern?ndez - Nanas de cebolla
* Santa Teresa de Jes?s - Laughter Came From Every Brick
* Juan Ram?n Jim?nez (Nobel Laureate 1956) – La Poetica
* Antonio Machado - Nuevas canciones
* Jorge Manrique - Coplas por la muerte de su padre
* Emilio Prados - Veinte poemas en verso
* Francisco de Quevedo - Flores de poetas ilustres
* Ana Rossetti – Where is My Man
* Pedro Salinas - Ayer Te Bes? en los Labios
* Garcilaso de la Vega - Hora de Nuestra Se?ora
* Lope de Vega - La Arcadia
* Esteban Manuel de Villegas - Las Er?ticas
* Leopoldo Mar?a Panero – Dedicatoria

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com - By: Philip Nicosia

Selecting The Best Language School For Your Needs

Some people decide to work abroad, some decide to study abroad, some just want to learn a foreign language, or just need to brush up on their current skills. There are any number of reasons that people what to learn a second language.

When it comes to choosing a school, the choices can be overwhelming. Here a few things to consider before you select a Language School.

School Reputation:
There’s no better way to judge a school than by its past successes. Any reputable school will be able to refer you to previous students that were happy with their service. If a school can’t supply a list of testimonials, you have to ask yourself, why not?

Class size:
Class size is definitely one of the most important considerations in choosing a language school. As with any type of education, people tend to learn quicker in small groups. Look for a school that will specify a maximum class size. Individual attention quickly disappears in classes of more than 10 – 12 students.

One on One Instruction:
Whilst one on one tuition can work very well for intense periods of revision or to work on a specific area of weakness. In a general learning situation, especially with beginners, students tend to learn quicker when mixed with students on roughly the same level.

Small Group Classes:
In small groups of say, six to eight students, each student gets the benefit of learning from each others triumphs and failures. Plus the chances of getting individual attention when it may be required are much improved. Smaller groups tend to bond better, and assist each other to a much higher degree than happens in larger groups.

As in any other learning situation, repetition and reinforcement are the tried and tested methods that bring the fastest results. In small groups each student benefits from the opportunity to interact with others in the group more regularly than they would have the opportunity to in a larger group.

Private Tuition
Private tuition can be advantageous where a student has a particular problem such as with syntax, grammar or structure, that would benefit from some personal one on one attention. Another instance where private classes would help are when an advanced student needs some intensive coaching in a particular area, eg. in relation to the specific needs of a particular profession.

Standard versus Intensive Classes
Many schools offer both Standard and Intensive courses. A Standard Class will typically run for 4 hours per day, and an Intensive Class for up to 6 hours.

Both classes will cover the same syllabus, with the only difference being the extended time available for coaching. The Standard class is best suited to the requirements of most students, as it provides a good blend of class time and revision time.

This information should serve as a list of basic things for you to think about when you are looking to choose the language school that will best suit your individual needs. The single smartest thing you can do before making your final decision is to ask lots of questions, particularly about testimonials from people that speak your native language.

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com - By: David Neehly

By degrees: The different German dialects

German is one of the most popular languages in the world. In fact, the Guinness Book of World Records has listed the German language as one of the three languages that are learned the most by people. It is also included in the ten most spoken languages in the world. In the European Union it is the second most known foreign language.German is also one of the agreed upon official languages of the EU and is also chosen, along with English and French, as one of the three working languages used in the European Commission.

German is also considered as a pluricentric language much like English and French. With the wide scope of usage for this language, it would be quite expected to think that a person who knows German would be able to go to any part of Germany and be expected to communicate effortlessly. Unfortunately, this is quite far from the truth. In reality, the German language has many dialects that are spoken in a large part of the country (and even in other countries).

The German dialects are not mutually intelligible to each other. This means that people who only know the different German dialects and not the common German language will not be able to understand each other.

How did the dialects evolve into this? Each dialect has evolved to contain typical words that are not considered as cognates of the words used in standard German this makes it quite difficult to understand in areas where the dialect is not spoken or an area where a different dialect is used.

There is a so-called dialect continuum in countries where German is spoken. During normal situations the dialect that is used by a neighbouring region is understood quite well even if it is also distinctly different from the dialect that is used in the adjacent region.

The so called Low German dialects that are used in the Northern part of Germany are considered mutually intelligible but it still remains not understood in other parts of the country. Of the other remaining dialects, the German dialects used in Switzerland, Southern Bavaria, Austria, and the West Bank of the Rhine are notoriously known for being very hard to understand outside the regions in which these dialects are used. On the other hand, the so called Central and Eastern German dialects are seen to be more understandable in other parts of the country.

Low Germanic dialects are those dialects that were not affected by the High German consonant shift. The Low Germanic dialect is comprised of two subgroups – Low Franconian and Low German.

The High Germanic dialects are broken down into Central German and Upper German subgroups. The Central German dialects include Ripuarian, Moselle Franconian, Hessian, Thuringian, South Franconian, Lorraine Franconian and Upper Saxon. Upper German dialects include Alemannic, Swabian, East Franconian, Alsatian and Austro-Bavarian. The Upper German dialects are also used in certain parts of the Alsace, as well as in southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and in certain parts of Switzerland and Italy where German is spoken.

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com - By: Philip Nicosia