Articles by July, 2010

Beginnings are important. Whether the class is a large introductory course for freshmen or an advanced course in the major field, it makes good sense to start the semester off well. Students will decide very early - some say the first day of class - whether they will like the course, its contents, the teacher, and their fellow students.

You don’t need to be at teacher to see how hooked our youth has become to music and their portable music devices — MP3 players, cell phones — they now carry more music in something the size of a lighter than all the CDs I’ve owned in my life.

Adults should set the terms when dealing with kids' behaviour... Ok, I know that sounds pretty obvious. Adults usually think they are setting the terms on kids' behaviour but the reality is often very different... Let me offer an example of what often happens... This example concerns yet other kid who has been presenting major problems in school and at home for years..

Excellent instructors know the power of metaphor, analogy, and story. They engage in elegant leverage by using something their students know well in order to introduce, explain, and anchor that which is being taught and learned. Additionally, systems thinking is rife with metaphor, analogy, and story. The simple diagrams of systems thinking serve to sketch reality, using circles and arrows and graphs we know and understand to create images that represent abstract ideas and complex relationships.

With my first batch of seniors safely across the stage, I am now faced with the toughest call of my teaching career thus far: Do I friend former students?????

There are several factors that underlie the effective teaching of pronunciation such as age, exposure to the target language, prior second language instruction, aptitude, attitude and motivation. Age in particular plays an important role in acquiring a native-like accent in second language acquisition.

Do you want to be successful and fulfilled in your teaching career? Take some time to know and develop the skills that will equip you to be a fantastic educator.

Most teachers will agree that having a good relationship with their students really helps in all areas of teaching. Classroom discipline, classroom management and general student performance can all be effected by the quality of the teacher-student relationship. But where to begin?

Speaking and listening skills are closely intertwined. Obviously, in any form of verbal communication, one party engages in speaking while the other does the listening or vice versa. However, the link between perception (listening) and production (speaking) is still not entirely clear. Listening can be seen as a more difficult skill to master than speaking.

Enhancing students' reading is one of the major concerns in the field of teaching. There are different strategies that teachers can follow in order to support and encourage students to read properly as well as developing their critical thinking. Among those strategies is scaffolding. Many studies have shed the light on the use of scaffolded instruction in the classroom. The present paper seeks to survey the literature in order to reflect on the following questions: What is scaffolding? What kinds of scaffolding strategies can teachers use to encourage students to read properly? How is scaffolding proved to be an effective strategy? Several definitions of scaffolding will be given. Next, the theory behind scaffolding will be highlighted. Finally, a review of related literature, starting from 1991 to a more recent research in 2008, will be demonstrated.