Teaching Matters: How democratic is your ESL classroom?

“Education is a kind of continuing dialogue and a dialogue assumes, in the nature of the case, different points of view.”   ~Robert Hutchins (1899-1977), former President of University of Chicago and educational philosopher   Continuing on the theme of creating a better classroom this semester, it is essential to make sure there is an ongoing dialogue between teachers and...

How democratic is your ESL classroom?

Who gets to speak in class? Whose ideas count? Who chooses the assignments? How do students receive feedback? Do students have a chance to conference with their instructors? Can YouTube be a valuable source for homework assignment? Do you want your students to become self-directed – or autotelic – in their studies? Here’s a quick checklist that ESL teachers that I created for a...