BEING A TEACHER IS A DIFFICULT TASK NOWADAYS, SO I DECIDED TO FOLLOW THIS PIECE OF ADVICE BY BRUCE LEE:
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
No way!! Long time ago I must admit I used to be a bit strict with my students, but now that I even have my old students' children, I'm no longer as bad as I used to be!!
I know times are changing, but it should be for the better. Although the latest students coming to our school haven't been the best, at least the promotion of students that has just started their secondary education is quite promising.
I'd rather say "Not a good moment for teaching in general". It's rather difficult to motivate our students nowadays, even if it is a subject such as English, which will later enable them to communicate with the rest of the world when travelling, to understand their favourite songs in English, to read newspapers or any authentic documents, to watch their favourite films also in their original version...
My master (Our great master) used to tell us that there are two kinds of motivations: the intrinsic motivation, that is, when you want to learn because you enjoy doing it and you find that knowledge interesting or useful expecting no external reward, and the instrumental or extrinsic motivation, that is to say, when you learn because you have to do it so as to have, for example, a pass in that subject. Well, unfortunately most of the times that is the sort of motivation I need to make my students do their job. As I said in my previous post, I have to twist their arm trying to persuade them to work.
Anyway, this instrumental or extrinsic motivation will eventually, and hopefully, lead to the desirable intrinsic motivation. That is why, years passed, old students are still happy to come across certain teachers who have made a real impact on their lives and have left some kind of mark in them.
Here are some activities for my students:
in 1º ESO
Have a look at this city plan.
Fill in
the gaps with the following prepositions (next to, opposite, near) according to
the plan.
The post office is ______________ the railway station,
__________________ the church and ______________ the National Bank.
Draw a bus stop in front of the Italian restaurant and
a newsagent’s behind the church.
Put these directions ( It’s at the end of the street
on the left//go straight on//go
past the pet shop// take the second
turning on the right ) in order to go from B to the PARK.
Here are some more activities for my students:
