Snakes and ladders and young EFL/ESL learners

Snakes and ladders, originally uploaded by deebeeandswivel :D.

Over the last couple of years I have been doing more lessons with younger learners of English. It makes a welcome change from the usual exam obsessed classes I teach. However, it does involve approaching the subject from a completely different angle.

Here is a teaching idea that you might find interesting as it can be used to recycle/revise a whole range of ideas using snakes and ladders. Currently I'm using it to help revise numbers 1 - 100 but that is just the beginning (click here to play online).

1 Some alternatives might include creating questions for each ladder or snake. When you land on a snake or ladder to go up or avoid dropping down you have to answer a question correctly. This could be anything that you have already covered.

E.g. What is this (showing a picture of a pen/chair/notebook etc)

or

Count up to ten.

2 When you throw a six you answer a question. Get it right you double your score. Get it wrong you do not move.

3 Every time you throw you get the chance to double your score if you answer a question correctly.

As you can see the questions can be about anything so the possibilities are endless.

To involve the students more you could get them to write their own questions or vote on the rules they want to play by. In addition younger learners could make their own boards.

Teaching EFL - ESL in Greece

Tested to death, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Lately,I have been receiving emails from people who would like advice on getting work as an EFL - ESL teacher in Greece. I suppose that they have looked in Google and come across my blog. In the beginning I was careful not be appear too negative and so just said that they should check out the ministry of education's website for the requirements and be sure that they know their work rights before signing any contracts with schools here. .

However, I have come to the conclusion that somebody who is serious about teaching would be best off going to another country and that the conditions in which teachers, both foreign and Greek are currently working are going from bad to worse.

It is not just the low pay (try living on 700-900 Euros in today's Greece) or that you're only fired every summer holiday, it's also the fact that the treatment of educators in the private sectors has fallen to an all-time low. High graduate unemployment and a struggling economy means that there is a seemingly endless stream of people willing to work in foreign language schools. As a result the value put on educators is minimal and this is reflected in the rapidly deteriorating working conditions. Summary dismissal, abusive behaviour and irrational demands are now par for the course in many schools.

Thankfully,I have manged to avoid most of this, however, many of my colleagues have not been so lucky. A case in point is Lambrini, a hard working teacher wth many years experience and mother - of - two. Like many others, she too was looking for a new position in a language school this September. During her search for work she came into contact with a possible employer via Hyphen, "an ambitious company dedicated to inspiring realism, quality standards and viable practices to educational businesses throughout Europe ".

After phoning the school and talking about working there part - time Lambrini, mentioned the fact that there might be a possible timetable clash with her other job and asked to postpone her decision for a day or two so as to re-arrange her programme in order to accommodate the school.

Apparently, this so outraged the school owner that she immediately contacted Hyphen to complain. In turn Hyphen then sent the following email saying that Lambrini had been "blacklisted".

"Dear Mrs. M#######,

We had received your Curriculum Vitae for a potential Teaching position September 5th, 2008.

During that time, we were pleased to hear you had accepted a teaching position at Mrs. K##### Foreign Language School at Evosmos,

however, much to our disappointment, we were informed that after you had agreed to a cooperation with Mrs. K######, you decided to terminate that cooperation in a rather sudden manner.

Please note that we only accept professional behaviour, be that of potential teacher applicants, or school owners.

We consider your behaviour was not of the standard we require and for that reason, you have been blacklisted.

In addition, we have also informed Foreign Language School owners of the above.


Sincerely,

Tina #####

Academic Project Manager

hyphen (engineering education)

As you can see the situation is truely dire when simply asking for more time to make a decision is grounds enough to get you blacklisted. Nor are such extreme reactions isolated incidents. In Athens, Thanasis Papadopoulos, a teacher of German working for the Europaiki Poreia language school was fired and then sued for "abusing the honour and esteem" of a student when he dared take his case to the local teacher's union. Not content with this the school owner also took union representative, Dimitris Papadopoulos to court for "slandering" the school's "good name".

These two cases are just the tip of the iceberg. In many language schools poor wages, chronic job insecurity and abusive employers are now par for the course. Bugged classrooms, teacher reduced to tears by screaming bosses, non-payment of bonuses and insurance contributions no longer raise eyebrows.

So, if you are considering teaching EFL/ESL in Greece, you seriously need to think about what you are letting yourself in for.

Using L1 in the EFL/ESLClassroom

Classroom, originally uploaded by SM Photo.

As part of the SEETA (South East European Teacher's Association) moodle discussion on the uses of L1 in the EFL/ESL classroom, Penny Ur made a call for teaching ideas that allowed students to use their own language in the classroom but allowed them to learn English more effectively. At first this may seem like a contradiction in terms as the more students use English the better they become. However, to ask learners to totally abandon something as important as their mother tongue is neither practical nor desirable when teaching.

So here are some ideas to integrate both L1 and L2 in ways that encourage learning.

1 - Play Telephone. Give a short passage in English, either spoken or written to a student.They then translate it into their own language and then pass it on to the next student. This student then translates it into English and then passes onto the next person in line who translate it into their own language and so own and so forth until the message ends up back at the beginning with the teacher.

You could then discuss what happened to the message and why perhaps it changed in meaning.

2 Use comic strips (I talked about this exercise on my blog previously, click here to see). The basic idea is to get students to attempt to translate the humour in comic strips such as Doonesbury. Can it be done? Are the obstacles cultural, linguistic or is there something else?

Then ask them to translate a cartoon or comic from their own language into English. Check out Arkas as an example in Greek. If possible compare their examples with other official translations. Is it faithful to the original? Is it still funny? Can it be improved?

3 Watch a short part of a film on DVD without sound but with the subtitles in the students own language. The students then translate into English the dialogue, utterence by utterence. This could be down by students working on their own at first. Then they get into groups and compare their versions and agree on a common translation.

4 The students then watch the film (with or without English subtitles, depending on the level) and discuss why their versions are different. Is it a matter of right and wrong? Or are there other matters at issue such as the inability to translate between languages without losing some of the original meaning?

In this particular activity a badly translated movie is just as useful as a well translated one.

Job search

If anyone is interested in doing English lessons in the Thessaloniki area or would like to hire an experienced, qualified EFL/ESL teacher for the next academic year. I can be contacted at this email address; cpwefl2003@hotmail.com.

To see my CV click here.

Teaching English using mobile phones

A couple of days ago I mentioned an idea for using audio tours as the basis for an efl/esl lesson. The actual lesson plan was for more advanced students and perhaps would not be useful for many teaching situations. So here is another idea which can be used for post beginners/intermediate students and can be more easily organised in a classroom context.

Lesson plan

1 Explain what a audio tour is. Ideally, have one ready top play on your mp3 player/mobile/PC etc. Click here to see a list of Lonely Planet Travelcasts to get some ideas.

2 Students listen to a short, easy section and then ask them in groups to discuss how this could help a tourist or visitor to their country.

3 Now explain that they are going to do their own mini audio tour/podcast/travelcast. However, this is not going to be about historic sites or landmarks but about their own home.

4 To help them with this work on the kind of vocabulary needed to describe the outside of somebody's home. Elicit ideas for categories;. For example;


type: flat, two bedroomed semi, etc.
size: small, huge, square metres, etc.
location: in the centre, next to a park, on the corner, etc.
other: old, modern, etc.


5 Students then write a short description (2 to 3 sentences) and check it with each other. the teacher quickly has a look to help or correct student work.

6 Now ask students about ways in which they can describe the inside of their home. What would we need to know?

rooms: kitchen, living room etc
colours, light yellow, bright white,
shape: square narrow, low,
atmosphere: friendly, cosy etc.

7 Explain to students that they are going to give a tour of their home and record it. The easiest way to do this is to use a mobile phone. Most models now have the ability to record audio which can then be transferred to a PC (though this is not necessary).

8 To help students oragnise their thoughts get them to draw a floor plan of their home. It maybe necessay to draw one of your own on the board to make sure they get the right idea.

9 Students then outline the route the tour will take on the plan.

10 Help them with useful phrases such as;

On the left you can see....
straight ahead is the......
just opposite......
etc.

11 Students write out their descriptions, either in full or in note form. Remind them that they are going to talk for just a few minutes and that they do not need to describe everything in too much detail. However, do get them to add a few personal details such as;

"This is my study where I revise for my exams etc."

12 Students record their descriptions on their mobile phones. Encourage them to repeat the process until they are happy with their presentation.

13 The descriptions can be posted on a class/personal blog along with either pictures or video if the students wish . Once again the mobile phone is an ideal way of doing this.

As you can see this lesson allows students to revise many areas of vocabulary such as shapes, colours, rooms, housing vocabulary, adjectives describing personal feelings etc. In addition it allows them to personalise their learning experience and finally, the act of recording and listening is a wonderful way to improve speaking skills.

For more teaching ideas using mobile - cell phones click here.

The power of lists

Top 10 list, originally uploaded by jennifer*clare.

This is something I've been doing recently with my private students as a way of getting them to use their blogs. Basically, I ask them to write a down a list of their favourite cars/songs/film/musicals etc with a picture/video to illustrate them. The idea is that they write a paragraph for each of their choices and add an appropriate link. However, to make things more interesting I then ask them to use this material as the basis of a short video in which they discuss their lists.

With either Windows Movie Maker or Photostory 3 they use photos and/or video to narrate a short clip explaining their choices complete with music and titles.

Taking exams

Photo by Mr Phillip

Today my students were taking their interviews. The written paper was yesterday. We just got together and chatted before they went in, the idea being that they have done some kind of warm up in English so they don't have to make the jump from Greek to English in the interview room. Once again we were the only ones there doing this in the school yard. As I told my students, not doing this is like a Olympic sprinter getting ready for the final race by drinking a coffee and having a quick ciggy.

Anyhow, if you want to see a ECPE past exam (including mp3 download of the listening section) click here.

Kantalk - Using the internet to practice speaking skills

Photo by Splorp

One of the problems students face when studying English is that they have limited chances to speak the language outside the class. Unless you're lucky to move in English speaking circles then you are going to find it hard to practice these skills. Luckily, once again the internet has the solution in the shape of Skype.Now anyone with a fast internet connection and a microphone can speak free of charge. Even better Kantalk has been created for those who want to practice foreign language skills with others from all over the world.

Taking this concept a step further they have now created lesson plans which allow people to discuss various topics with others online. Check out their lesson on TV here.

Back in the day

I think it is indicative of the way EFL/ESL seems to lag behind the rest of the educational world the fact that we still have to use audio and video cassettes instead of CDs (mp3 anyone?) and DVDs when teaching English. Just like the books they accompany the cassettes are stuck in the 80's desperately hoping to ignore the changes that have happened over the last 25 years.

However, I see a ray of hope as more and more of my students are complaining that they can't use the cassettes as they don't have a cassette recorder at home. Maybe, just maybe the publishing companies might cotton on to the fact and start releasing their stuff on CD. Radical thought, huh?

Starting back

Luckily, more and more of my students have access to the internet at home and more importantly, access to ADSL. This is going to make life so much easier for me and learning a lot more fun for them.

I've been putting this into practice with two private lessons I stared this year. In the first case Stathis and Sofia are young learners who have completed two years of English. We've only done a couple of lessons so far but yesterdays internet lesson was a great success. I decided that a great way to start was with the British Council's Learning English Kids page which is full of brilliantly executed teaching activities. The Story Maker activity proved to be very popular and even if it was a tad difficult for their level the fact that it was so well thought out meant that they were willing to deal with any language problems. Next stage is for the students to perform their story. They have until next lesson to make sure they fully understand it and can read it aloud with confidence.

I've emphasised the fact that I don't want them to learn it by heart but rather be able to perform it as an actor might. We will record this performance next lesson using a digital camera an when they are happy with their performance we'll post it on their blog.

My second example comes from Kyriakos, a bright teenager who has just started his own blog. We ran though the basics such as adding text, pictures, video and links and now his homework is to write about the DVD I gave him last week (Final Fantasy) and add suitable photos, links and a video of the film's trailer.

This is just the beginning, of course, once the students (and parents) become comfortable using this technology then the next stage is to get them involved in projects with students from other parts of Greece and the rest of the world. if I have time I' d ideally like to set up a Moodle which would act as a hub for my students' efforts and allow them the chance to check out each other's work at a glance.

One cautionary note, however, comes from the other experience I had teaching yesterday. With another student virtually everything we tried to do connected with the computer and the internet ran into technical difficulties. A poorly maintained PC, out of date software, ignorance of basic internet safety procedures meant that the student's computer thwarted our attempts to do some pretty basic stuff. I didn't have the time to fix the problems during the lesson nor did the student have the knowledge to do it on his own.

Unfortunately, most people who buy a computer for their kids are blissfully unaware of things such as firewalls, anti-virus programs etc. As a result they leave themselves vulnerable. Sadly, the computer studies lessons the students do at school are of little practical help. Indeed I have been told by kids of weeks going by without them even touching a computer, let alone doing something useful with one. Instead, they read endless pages of theory which is unlikely to help them.

Essay writing revisited

Photo by Don McCullin

This year I'm going to be teaching a writing class and I thought I'd post this idea about how to make discursive writing a little more modern. Basically,the idea is that students have to produce a slide show which accompanies their essay. The concept comes from watching something similar on the Magnum agency website. Since the technical skills and software are readily available and easy to learn I thought that this would also be a great opportunity for my students.

Script by Robin Lustig

Lesson plan

1 Tell your students that they are going to see a presentation on war.

Be warned - some of the images are shocking. If you feel that this slide show is not suitable for your class then choose another podcast from Magnum's extensive list.

2 They have to make notes and write down as much as they can about what the narrator says. Please remind them that it is impossible for anyone to write down anything and they should just get what they can.

3 Show the video above.

4 Students then compare notes.

5 Ask students what they think is the message of the piece. Students write down their personal answers and then discuss in pairs/groups.

6 Elicit suggestions from the class.

7 Now play the video again and ask students to choose two images which they consider the most powerful/moving.

8 Students discuss this in groups and try to come up with a choice which they all agree on.

9 Now write the essay title on the board;

"Only the dead have seen the last of war."
Attributed to Plato.

10 Ask students what they think this means and if they agree.

11 Divide students into two groups according to what they think. Each group writes down 3/4 reasons and provides examples/reasons etc to support them.

12 Now ask each group to think of 1/2 reasons why the opposite side might disagree with their side's view and what we could say to counter such arguments.

13 Put students into two groups with representatives from each side.

14 Students discuss the question.

15 Students then write up their opinions in the form of an essay for homework.

16 After you've corrected the essays explain to students that they are going to create their own slide show that will accompany their essay in the same way that we saw previously.

17 For this students need to collect images from the internet that reflect their essays or illustrate their examples. Flickr would be a good place to start.

18 Next show them how to use either Windows Movie Maker (which is already on most PCs) or Photo Story 3 which can be downloaded free from Microsoft (click here). Make sure they understand how to record their own narration and add background music/sound effects.

19 Students the do this for homework and post their results on their class blog/wiki etc.

As well as providing students with a model to emulate this exercise also also gives them valuable speaking practice. Most importantly, they are required to listen to how they speak in English which is a must if they want to improve their pronunciation skills.

Using songs in EFL/ESL

This is the an exercise I've been using over the last week to finish off my opening lessons. It's easy, requires little preparation and is fun. Basically, all you need is some source of music which can be played in class. I used my mp3 player and grabbed the speakers from the secretary's PC.

Lesson plan

1 Ask students to discuss the last film they saw with the person next to them.

2 Tell students that you are going to play a piece of music and that they have to imagine it is from a movie. They have to answer the following questions;

What kind of movie is it?

Where is it set?

Who can you see?

What are they doing?

What is the movie called?

(It may be a good idea to revise/teach different film genres at this point using examples).

3 Remind students that there are no wrong answers to this and that they should use their imagination.

4 Play part of the song.

5 Students discuss their answers with each other.

6 Repeat this two or three times.

TED talks and teaching discursive writing

Whilst surfing over at the TED Talks site I came across this video - Steve Pinker - The Myth of Violence. It's basic premise being that society has become less, rather than more violent with the passage of time. An interesting, if counter - intuitive idea. This got me thinking about how he presented his argument and what lessons could be learnt by my advanced ESL/EFL students who have to produce discursive essays as part of their examinations, albeit in a more simplified form.



An mp3 audio file of this talk can be downloaded from here.

Lesson plan

1 Ask students if they think the world is getting more or less violent. Then get them to think of three reasons or examples that support their argument.

2 Students then present them to each other, and then you elicit answers from the class as a whole. Odds on they'll say that the modern is more violent than ever.

3 Now tell the students that they are going to hear a talk by Steven Pinker that argues the opposite and that they are going to analyse both what he says and how he presents it.

4 Luckily, the video is divided into different sections. First play the introduction (28 secs till 2 mins 10 secs.) and ask students to describe how he introduces the subject.

5 Students listen then form groups to compare answers.

6 Elicit responses and ask students to think about why he choose this particular approach.

7 Next explain to them that in the next section(s) - 2 mins 10 secs to 9 mins 30 secs he gives shows us how much violence has declined. What evidence does he give? How would we characterise such evidence? Statistical ? Literary? Expert opinion? Play the video.

8 Students discuss their answers with each other in groups. Elicit answers.

9 Next Pinker asks a rhetorical question. What is it? What evidence does he give to support his answer? What kind of evidence does he give? Play the video - 9 mins 30 secs to 17 mins 30 secs.

10 Students discuss their answers. Elicit answers.

11 Now explain that Pinker is going to come to a conclusion. Ask students what that might be.
Students discuss this in groups. Elicit answers.

12 Play last section 17 mins 30 secs to 18 mins 15 secs. What is his conclusion?

13 Students discuss answers in groups. Elicit answers.

14 Ask students if they agree with Pinker. Why? Why not?

15 Homework - Write out and essay plan for Pinker's argument and decide think of possible weaknesses in it.

16 In the next lesson students compare plans and critiques and then work together to create their own essay plan arguing the opposite point of view which they write up for homework.

Unphotographable

"This is a picture I did not take of a woman in fitness workout wear; running shoes, shorts and an active top; standing by herself in a deserted aisle of a flourescent-lit supermarket, her arms crossed in front of her chest, tears smearing her cheeks while she unwaveringly stared at the store's selection of baby diapers."

copyright 2004-2007 Michael David Murphy

I came across the Unphotographable site a few weeks ago and thought that it would be a great way to teach my students story telling skills. Michael David Murphy gives a short description of something that he has seen recently. A word picture of beautiful intensity. In addition he has recorded these in the form of a podcast (click here) which are wonderful.

Lesson Plan

This is aimed at upper intermediate and advanced ESL/EFL/ESOL students.

1 Give the students a copy of the story above and ask them to read it. deal with any difficulties in vocabulary etc.

2 In pairs students discuss what the background to the situation might be.

3 Elicit answers from the class.

4 Divide the class into two groups. Ask one of the groups tp leave the classroom for two minutes.

5 Tell the other group that they are going to hear a description similar to the one they have just read.

6 Play one part of Micheal David Murphy's podcast (twice if necessary) and ask the students to listen carefully and write down as much as they can.

7 This griup then leaves the classroom and compares their notes.

8 Ask the other group outside to come back in and get them to listen to another short section.

9 When both groups have had enough time to discuss their answers everyone comes back into the class and gets into pairs (one from each group) and discuss what the other person heard.

10 Play both sections again and ask the students to comment on how accurate their partner's description was. If necessary give them a printout of the descriptions.

Follow up exercises could include;

A Their own descriptions which could be writtean and recorded on their cell/mobile phones.
B Finding a picture on the internet which could go with the text.

EFL/ESL teaching and web 2.0 - an introductory course

emile, originally uploaded by smallcaps.

As the new school year is nearly upon us I would like to repost something I did last year. Basically, it is an introductory course in the form of a Wiki for teachers wishing to use web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Although designed primarily for EFL/ESL it has ideas that could quite happily be used teaching any language. Click here to see the course in full.

An Introduction

The aim of this site is to provide EFL or ESL students with enough technical knowledge to use the internet independently to study. It covers a range of skills from basic file management to producing podcasts. It is aimed at those with limited or minimal computer skills and so often deals with very basic issues which may put off more advanced users. However, in classes with mixed levels of competence in computing the more knowledgeable can quite happily be used by the teacher as a learning resource.

In terms of linguistic competence, I would argue that the course is pitched at upper intermediate students and above. (Common European Framework B2 to C2 levels). However, with enough linguistic support, it could be used with students at lower levels.

The course could also be used to introduce L2 teachers to the use of technology in their lessons.

The lessons are designed to be as "hands-on" as possible. In every lesson the learner has to produce something tangible at the end of the time, be it a blog entry, short podcast, a Wiki etc. In addition group and pair work is absolutely vital if the skills taught are to be mastered. At every turn I have made every effort to make the exercises collaborative, taking as much responsibility for learning out of the hands of the teacher and putting it into those of the learners.Click here to see the whole course.

If you need any help you can email me.

Special thanks to Vicky Davis (Cool Cat Teacher) for making the Wiki space look as good as it does.

Using mobile - cell phones in the EFL/ESL classroom.

phones, originally uploaded by Phil Sharp (Hog).

Unlike the internet which is still a novelty for many in Greece, the mobile - cell phone is king. It is rare to find anyone who doesn't own at least one. Therefore, people are familiar with the technology and most importantly for me as a teacher, it is the one thing I can guarantee that my students will bring to class with them.

The latest generation of phones have mp3 players, a half-decent camera and video recording capabilities. Put all these together and what you have is a language lab that fits neatly in the palm of your hand.

So, some ways to use your mobile to help learn English.

1 Use the mp3 player to listen to podcasts.

2 Use the player to listen to audio books while following the printed version.

3 Record yourself doing the second section of the FCE/CAE/CPE interviews. Then transcribe what you actually said.

4 Listen to small section (1 min) of a film you like on DVD (easier if you put on the English subtitles) and act it out. record your performance and then repeat until you are happy with what you hear.

5 Use the video camera on the phone to record a short segment which can be posted via Youtube to your blog.

6 Make your own music video. This can be done with either video footage or still photos. You can either use Windows Movie Maker or Photostory 3.

5 Use the camera to video sections from your course book e.g. the dialogues.

6 Get a friend to record/video you doing a FCE/ECCE/CAE/CPE interview.

7 Students video a recipe.

8 Students video a tour of their home/school/neighbourhood.

9 Students use audio recordings to create a podcast. Ideas include movie reviews, my favourite cafe, a typical day etc.

10 Record your own news story. Take a news story off the internet and change the details so that it is about you. For example, change the names, place etc so that you were the hero who saved the cat from the burning building. Then record the story.

In this way students can use digital technology even if they don't have access to a PC.

Using mobile - cell phones in the EFL/ESL classroom

Unlike the internet which is still a novelty for many in Greece, the mobile - cell phone is king. It is rare to find anyone who doesn't own at least one. Therefore people are familiar with the technology and most importantly for me as a teacher it is the one thing I can guarantee that my students will bring to class with them.

The latest generation of phones have mp3 players, a half-decent camera and video recording capabilities. Put all these together and what you have is a language lab that fits neatly in the palm of your hand.

So some ways to use your mobile to help learn English.

1 Use the mp3 player to listen to podcasts.

2 Use the player to listen to audio books while following the printed version.

3 Record yourself doing the second section of the FCE/CAE/CPE interviews. Then transcribe what you actually said.

4 Listen to small section (1 min) of a film you like on DVD (easier if you put on the English subtitles) and act it out. record your performance and then repeat until you are happy with what you hear.

5 Use the video camera on the phone to record a short segment which can be posted via Youtube to your blog.

6 Make your own music video. This can be done with either video footage or still photos. You can either use Windows Movie Maker or Photostory 3.

5 Use the camera to video sections from your course book e.g. the dialogues.

6 Get a friend to record/video you doing a FCE/ECCE/CAE/CPE interview.

7 Students video a recipe.

8 Students video a tour of their home/school/neighbourhood.

9 Students use audio recordings to create a podcast. Ideas include movie reviews, my favourite cafe, a typical day etc.

10 Record your own news story. Take a news story off the internet and change the details so that it is about you. For example, change the names, place etc so that you were the hero who saved the cat ffrom the burning building. Then record the story.

Teaching

Soon I'll be starting back and so I have to get back into teaching mode. One of the things I've decided to do at the beginning of the new school year with my new classes is do a lesson on how to use mobile phones in the classroom. Over the last few years I have been doing something similar with the uses of technology in order to learn English outside the classroom (see here) with DVDs, Wikis, blogs, podcasts etc.

However, this has had mixed results in the classroom as we don't have PCs and often students don't have internet at home. As a result they see such activities as an optional extra which can easily be discarded. I can't say I blame as the ideas are new, often difficult to understand, at least in the beginning and add to their already overloaded timetable.

Ideally, I would be able to teach and supervise such learning in lesson time, but that is not possible. The educational system I work in seems to loathe and reject any form of technology or innovation. Instead of new approaches we simply introduce yet more exam practice materials. i.e. yet more books filled with mock tests thinly disguised as course books.

I think a good analogy would be that of a runner preparing for say, 100m sprint. The person does nothing other than sprint 100m for a year. There is no stamina training, no weights, no special diet.In fact their only training is running the same distance over and over again.

Many parents teachers and students are convinced that unless you do activities which are in the final exams then you're wasting your time. So, for example, the only way to prepare for a cloze test is to do hundreds of other cloze test. It doesn't matter that the test is different each time or that you're ignoring the underlying skills and knowledge required to do the exercise succesfully.No, if the test has this form what you have to do is blindly repeat it endlessly.

Making mistakes

One of the greatest street photographers has to be Garry Winogrand and I was lucky enough to come across a documentary about him at 2point8 (you've just got to love the internet for allowing us acdess to such material). In it he says;

"What I found out, over photographing a long time - the more I do, the more I do. When you’re younger, you can only conceive of trying a limited amount of things to work with. The more I work, the more subject matter I can begin to try to deal with. ____. The nature of the photographic process - it is about failure. Most everything I do doesn’t quite make it. The failures can be intelligent ____; nothing ventured nothing gained, I mean. Hopefully you’re risking failing every time you make a frame."

This just about sums up my philosophy as far as learning more about photography is concerned. Also his idea that learning is about failure resonates, especially when it come to learning a foreign language. We will fail, we will get it wrong most of the time, at least in the beginning but given the right environment we use this to get better. You go out, try your best, get it wrong and then turn up again the next day and at some point it all just flows.

BBC photo essay competition

For anyone interested, the BBC has invited people to send in their own photo essays (click here to see the site). I'm going to write up one in the next few days

"Have you been to an unusual event? Do you want to shed light on a subject or place that you are interested in, or would you just like to show off your best pictures?

If so then we want you to send us between eight and 10 photographs with captions for presentation as a gallery on the In Pictures page."

You can send it as an email here - yourpics@bbc.co.uk

Also it gives some good advice on how to approach this. I think I'm going to be using this as the basis of a few lessons/class project in the following school year;

Guide to shooting a Photo Essay

Photos:

Ideally, you should aim to take a variety of photographs - it's a good idea to plan the story before you start. A good first photo would be one that introduces the subject to the readers.

YOUR PORTFOLIO Kamyar Adl's photo gallery on life in Tehran

Make sure you take some close-up photos as well as some wider pictures to show the subject's environment, but remember to include something in the foreground to add impact.

When you take the picture, remember to look up or down to see what is around you. You might get a better shot if you kneel, or find a position to look down from.

The completed photo essay will have no more than 10 photographs, but you can send us more to choose from.

Make sure you have permission from anyone pictured before submitting the photographs.

Words:

Each picture will need a caption.

Who, what, why, where and when is a good place to start when gathering information for the caption, but where possible quotes from those pictured and a description of how you are feeling will help bring the essay to life.

We don't need many words - no more than 40 per picture.