Teaching Matters: How to Add Student Voices to Classroom Discussions
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” -Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), British author and Nobel laureate This Teacher Edition Tuesday post, a weekly series based on ten teaching tips from the recently released Compelling American Conversations – Teacher Edition, addresses classroom participation and bringing more international student voices into community...
Read MoreTeaching Matters: Discussing Stress in the Classroom
“People who want to do everything all at once generally don’t get anything done.” —Jerry Brown, Governor of California This Teacher Edition Tuesday post, a weekly series based on ten teaching tips from the recently released Compelling American Conversations – Teacher Edition, deals with the concept of stress and how to talk about it – in English. When was the last time you were...
Read MoreTeaching Matters: Preparing Student-Centered Materials for the Classroom
“If it is language that makes us human, one half of language is to listen.” – Jacob Trapp (1899-1992), American religious leader Part 3 of Teacher Edition Tuesday, a weekly series based on ten teaching tips from the recently released Compelling American Conversations – Teacher Edition! We previously discussed the importance of classroom design in fostering a communicative learning...
Read MoreContext Matters with Conversation Idioms
“Confidence contributes more to conversation than wit.” ~Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680), French writer Conversation styles are wonderfully varied. Just as one size never truly fits all, one conversational approach may not be appropriate depending on the situation. Fortunately, in the English language there are myriad idioms we use to distinguish these different modes...
Read MoreTeaching Matters: How much can we rely on standardized tests to assess?
“Education is helping the child realize his potentialities.” ~Erich Fromm (1900-1980), German social psychologist and pscychoanalyst By Andrea Schmidt, Guest-writer Standardized tests: how helpful are they in assessing one’s true skill level? This question has been asked by students and teachers alike, time and again. There is no denying that these tests’ formulaic...
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