Blogs from Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, Asia - page 3

It's late Thursday night, July 29,at 2010. We're nearing the end of the 2nd week of the teacher training program. This week has been more manageable in many ways. I have a good idea of what my group of teachers can and cannot do. There are not new people coming in and out (well, maybe a couple) and they have some sense of who I am and what I want them to do. We are trying to focus on their English but at the same time focus on their teaching, particularly how they might use the book more creatively and at the same time meet the school's requirements that they cover the book and above all prepare the students to take the test. It's a tall order for the teachers. We started the week off as ... read more

It's Tuesday and we just finished another day of teaching the teachers. Monday was a little slow...in the class. I tried to concentrate on teaching reading...I think that this is a loathsome task for many teachers and this group is no exception. We began with a passage from the old elementary Grammar in Use book that I used to use with Level 1 or 2 -- I loved that book....it presents simple structures with a theme and usually introduces the theme and structures with lots of pictures...a picture story or a large picture with a lot of situations going on that can be used to generate a lot of language. We looked at the unit that focuses on past tense. The theme in this is olden times -- what the Pilgrims did in olden times and ... read more

Another day older....another day teaching...another day learning. We covered 'presenting structures' today...I presented a formula (which I usually don't like to do but thought it's probably the best route to take in training teachers, r ight?) My formula? Well, I walked through what I would normally do in teaching grammar explicitly...1) demonstrate the structure in a meaningful way to form an association with the meaning; 2) write the structure on the board and bring the students' attention to the form; 3) Make a couple of examples with the structure; 4) generate language to create new examples (brainstorming vocabulary or situations, for example) with the class (also to draw on language that they already have/know); and finally to provide opportunities for meaningful practice to use the structure so that all students will have a chance to develop ... read more

Zigen English Teachers Training Program, Shilou City, Shanxi Today we held registration in the offices of the Education Bureau for our English Teachers Training Program. Tomorrow we begin the classes. We'll start at 8:30 tomorrow morning with a welcoming ceremony hosted by the Education Bureau and Zigen and other officials. After the welcome and introductions we will teach and sing some songs and in the afternoon we'll do some games. The object is to make English fun and help teachers learn some games that they can teach their students to make it fun for the students. Tonight we were invited to dinner with some of the officials from the Bureau and the County Education Dept -- Mr. Wang who we had dinner with the first night; Mr. Song, County governmnet lead (zhru ren; and Mr. Tian, ... read more

Today we visited several schools in Shanxi...we went into the mountains, visited a village where Chairman Mao stayed for 1 night and visited the room where he slept...the houses are built in caves in the side of the mountains...out of stone, tiles, or a type of mud or shale that is part of this region's terrain. The government is engaged in a national initiative to create schools and to educate the children, particularly in the rural areas so we visited several recently constructed schools in rural villages outside Shilou. It was quite instructive to meet the directors and speak with the teachers who teach primary and middle school English. We are now trying to think about how to structure the training program for these teachers, whose English proficiency, educational background, and experience vary so greatly. This ... read more