On the 23rd of June I am to give a week-long seminar to the other teaching staff at my University which I've titled Effective Strategies for Teaching English. It appears, as I have been approached to conduct this seminar, that the strategies I myself have devised have had some success. But, of course, they work for me: I'm only too aware that we are all very different beings and I am aware that some, at least, of the Chinese teachers would not be comfortable doing things my way.

I have mountains of research at my disposal but I would like to hear as well what other people think. Even those who have not learned another language could give me valuable input as to what they consider sparks interest and enthusiasm in a classroom situation.

For those who do not know: Chinese education is taught by rote: i.e. traditionally a teacher talks AT the students, they listen, go away and learn vast tracts by rote and regurgitate it at exams. So even strategies that are basic to other systems are not familiar here. Traditionally too, English teaching relies on text books and piles of English CDs (which the students HATE).

How wonderful that a language teacher is starting this thread. Why can't you teach our poor students here in Australia?

I was the one who is frustrated by the half hearted manner in which LOTE is taught here in Australia and complained that it is not rigorous enough.

My daughter is taught French through immersion. Presently I'm doing Spanish, also primarily through immersion.

One of my sons did one year of Indonesian with a Swiss (!) teacher and loved it. Why? Because he could converse at a basic level after one year. He had done 3, yes 3, years of Japanese previously and could hardly introduce himself. He hated it.

Here in Australia there is this enormous resistance to teaching vocabulary. Yet, when done in context with whatever the lessons are about and then practice, practice, practice using those new words, they suddenly start to sound familiar. Just like you cannot learn how to do maths without knowing numbers and time-tables you cannot begin to speak without knowing words.

There is barely any reading of texts. Often our understanding of a foreign language is greater when reading than when hearing somebody speak. So reading and understanding, even if all the words are not known, is enormously encouraging. Wow! I understand the gist of that!

With my language learning at school, reading books were part of that. One of my sons did German till year 12. Not a single German book was part of his curriculum. How can you seriously learn a language and not be expected to read any literature in that language?

Though my daughter is taught French very well, to my horror there are no books, or any other texts, in French at her school library. I've bought her 'the little prince' in French. To her sheer delight she can read and understand it. That is what is fun about learning another language. That you get access. Not just the ability to introduce yourself.

Dear Romany,

I remember how my parents hated the methods used in the 1950s to teach them English. The very simplistic texts that were available at the time. My mother was a teacher of English - in Europe - so she simply improved her skills by reading the women's magazines (Australian Women's Weekly) that she enjoyed.

It took my father much longer to learn. Even though he spoke several languages, he found English not to be "logical." And I remember the day that he left a note for the man who delivered the bread to our home. We were going to be away that day, and dad wanted the bread to be left on our back verandah, instead of the front porch, which was the usual spot. Dad was proud of the note he left, thinking it made perfect sense. Well, our bread delivery stopped for the rest of the week. When my mother spotted the delivery man in our street the following week, she asked him what had happened to our bread deliveries? The man showed mum the note dad had written, which made mum laugh. It said, "Put your bread on back-side." Dad meant the back side of our house - the verandah. That's not how the delivery
man saw it.

Anyway, sorry to have digressed here. The point that I'm trying to make is - I feel that any language can best be learned by constantly being forced to hear it. Slowly and surely you start to learn the words their meanings, and uses. Language tapes in both languages would
be great, as would audio-visual material.

Hope this helps.

Romany best of luck with the seminar. It is often difficult to offer an alternative approach when another system is so firmly entrenched.

As far as personal experience - I studied German as a second language at school and then went over to Europe and learnt more German in six weeks that I did in four years of high school. That is probably an unfair comparison to some extent because obviously I came equipped with some good groundwork in the language. Speaking really does force your brain to scramble for the words you are after and continuous use consolidates.

For me I find watching films (even with subtitles) helped to refresh my language skills.

As an adult I tried two other languages for a while as an interest and found the film approach useful as well. I tend to learn well by rote when learning vocabulary but remember more if I have to use it in real life - ie. speaking in role play situations or at functions where you are only allowed to speak the language you are learning. I found listing words and putting them on the fridge helped - 30 new words per week and would force myself to use the words whenever possible.

Gaelic is next on the list (if I ever get around to it) although I am not sure even my part Irish roots could get my tongue around some of the pronunciations. :)

A WHISTLEBLOWER'S ACCOUNT [free down load explains the whole thing]
you might as well know the whole truth
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/MomsPDFs/DDDoA.sml.pdf

Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, former Senior Policy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Education, blew the whistle in the `80s on government activities withheld from the public. Her inside knowledge will help you protect our children from these controversial methods and programs.

- how good teachers across America have been forced to use controversial, non-academic methods initiated via carnagae educational grants that re-educated the teadchers into whole education[not by breaking down words into their sub meanings [like with latin]

"school choice" is being used to further dangerous reform goals, and how home schooling and private education are especially vulnerable.

workforce training (school-to-work) is an essential part of an overall plan for a global economy, and how this plan will shortcircuit our children's future career plans and opportunities.

- how the international, national, regional, state and local agendas for education reform are all interconnected and have been for decades.

A CHRONOLOGICAL PAPER TRAIL

the deliberate dumbing down of america is a chronological history of the past 100+ years of education reform.
Each chapter takes a period of history and recounts the significant events, including important geopolitical and societal contextual information.

includes Citations from government plans, policy documents, and key writings by leading reformers record the rise of the modern education reform movement.
all ages will welcome this free expose of what really happened to what was once the finest education system in the world

more details
to untie a knot it is important to know how the knot was tied
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDyDtYy2I0M

exposing bad science
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,,1564615,00.html
http://www.badscience.net/?p=84
that makes us accept any thing [no matter how logical [like war on drug users][or anything they put into statistic or seemingly authoritive [scientific?]sources.
there are several goals
Excessive focus on rote memorization rather than on developing problem-solving abilities;
http://hometown.aol.com/tma68/7lesson.htm
http://mhkeehn.tripod.com/ughoae.pdf
search out John Taylor Gatto thoroughly documents in his book
''The Underground History of American Education''.
revealing;
A shift toward reductionistic and often simplistic ways of defining problems;
A corresponding shift away from empirically effective traditional methods that may be perceived as having a lower scientific and social status;
A channeling of institutional resources into promoting professional economic power and status, even at the expense of the core clinical curriculum.
According to conventional wisdom, accrediting organizations are supposed to help a school improve its educational programs - that is, unless they are driven by a hidden agenda,

this link is about aquapunture but has great insights about the problem
http://www.acupuncture.com.au/articles/viewarticle.html?id=043

Thank you to those who have contributed.

I find it heartening to have my ideas about reading books validated. For over a year I have been in consultation with colleagues at UQ who have so far sent 20 Australian books. Throughout this semester, I have had English Majors reading and assessing them for suitability in a Chinese context. My ambition is to make English contemporary literature a component of English classes at all levels. Rather a confronting task for a lowly foreigner.

Although the suggestion re language tapes (CD's these days) is good, as I said in my opening post, the students hate them. I don't blame them, and refuse to use them in my classes. They just don't work for many reasons:they all employ American English; they are situationally unrealistic; language is delivered so slowly that students are completely confounded when hearing English spoken in situ.

Movies are also good - I make it a rule only to show Australian, English, South African etc. movies to accustom the students to different ways of speaking English as well as to different cultures. One free period I showed "Strange Bedfellows": unexpectedly Hoges in China had one of the most interesting impacts of all the movies (apart from "Hotel Rwanda") I have ever shown!

Yvonne - why don't I come home to teach? I got embroiled in the clutches of Centrelink and for 7 years - admittedly 4 of which I was a student; though desperate for part-time work as a single mum - the only jobs I was offered (and had to take as work for the dole) were as a cleaner or kitchen-hand. Yet I landed this job with exactly the same qualifications I'd had before my Dram/Lit degree - the same experience, the same persona and intelligence. Yet here I have won awards, conducted other seminars, delivered papers at international conferences and designed language programmes and courses.

I have this fear that if I come home I'll be set to scrubbing out other peoples toilets again!

I very recently started teaching English as a foreign language - the very little experience I've had so far basically is along the lines of what you were saying.
The English classes I sat in on tended to consist of repetition, and while I suspect most of my lessons will be attached to the english curriculum being provided, I can also see opportunities to make it a little more interesting for the students.
The greatest difficulty I perceive so far is making lessons that can accommodate the distinct gap in English language skills between the more inexperienced and experienced students.
Though I'm very interested to see the contributions to this thread.

Hmmm, under one God, using the American Education System compared to ours is like using a train wreck compared to an Australian beach.

Romany

The best advice I can give for 'reaching' your students is to localize and personalize the lessons (e.g., make them relevant to the specific students and geographical area in which you are in by asking the students - how do you do or say X in your language/culture/country). All cultures have life events like weddings, holidays, etc., so all students can relate, and the differences are in how they are done (which gives them something to talk about).

BTW: There are some very good ESL resources available on the internet, which you could use to supplement your classroom activities: lesson plans, online listening, speaking, reading and writing activities, discussion groups, etc. Try doing a google search on "esl" or "esl resources" - Dave's ESL cafe is a good starting place. News sites like the BBC also have language learners sections with video clips, activities, etc. Asking your Chinese students to also search for interesting/useful sites gets them involved.

Go for it Romany! Reading and understanding the text in a foreign language is so encouraging to continue learning. Understanding the rapidly spoken words from native speakers takes more time than learning the language itself to read. And then all those accents come into it!

Of course, native speakers in any language also have difficulty understanding some accents in their own language. When learning a new language that is important to remember. 'This problem is not unique to me'.

I hated tapes (I'm pre CD's), made me feel inadequate, especially when I had no idea what was said.

But, I could read very sophisticated literature and answer in writing complex questions in English before I could fully participate in spoken English. Movies were also great. Language in context, but not aimed at me, as with tapes/CD's.

My daughter has just started corresponding via e-mail with a French speaking student learning English. French from her and English comes back. They help each other and lose some of that self consciousness that often stops new learners practice their skills. Both learn that the primary goal is to get the message across, if the other understands that means successful communication, finesse comes with practice.

She also has a few favourite French movies which get watched regularly. Every time she understands more of the spoken words.

Regardless of your previous experiences, sounds to me like you have a lot to contribute towards language learning. This coming seminar will look great in your resume when you're ready to come back!

There are many great ideas here from other posters.
Foxy, that story about your dad's note is hilarious!
My compliments to you, Romany, for your hard work and talent in this area.

When I was at school (in Holland) we were taught French, German and English as foreign languages and English was by far my favourite language, and was popular with all my classmates, too, because we had so much fun learning.

One lesson out of 6, taking turns, someone could bring in a lyric from a favourite song.
If it was your turn, you had to bring in a tape with the song, a printed copy of the lyric and tell the class what you thought the song was about.
If we didn't get the translation right the teacher would help us translate it properly, and we had to make a list of the new words and learn them as homework.

The teacher sometimes used drama as well- e.g. having an English tea party (and drinking real English breakfast tea) and discussing certain topics including the weather.

Like Yvonne said, we had to read quite a lot of books, I remember "Lord of the Flies" being one of them.

Yvonne - Yes, one of the biggest problems language teaching here is that 99% of my students have never actually heard English spoken by a native English speaker. Those who can plough their way through Jane Austen and are billed as top students are completely nonplussed when greeted with anything other than "Hello, How are you?" as its always written in their text books. I have devised a system therefore where I teach them phoenetically.
Celivia - Yep - amazing how music can break down barriers and spark interest, isn't it? Theres an interesting article over in the other section which was posted about just that.
Foxy - Got a grin also out of your story: however even native English speakers can make boo-boos. When my (very English) parents first arrived in Australia a neighbour invited them to a party with the injunction to bring a plate. This worried Phyl and Gee a little so, on the night of the party they hurried off a little early, delighted they could help their new friends, and carrying a large box apiece. No food or nibblies though. Thinking their neigbour was worried she wouldn't have enough plates they took an entire dinner service!

"Theres an interesting article over in the other section " Thank Romany, I'll read it tonight, haven't had much time to read the article section lately.

Love the plate story :)

Something similar happened to us after we arrived in Australia.
My colleague invited us to her house for tea one night, at 7pm.
We made sure we ate early before we left, because we had no idea that 'tea' meant 'dinner'.
We ate as much as we could on top of what we'd already eaten but we had to explain why we ate so little.
Luckily, my colleague saw the funny side of it.

There have been quite a few of these incidents because we misunderstood the meaning of something.

I am really enjoying reading this thread.

Romany you sound as if you are doing a wonderful job. Your tale is unfortunately a common one, with many talented people having to "clean toilets" instead of making a contribution to Australia with their skills.

Loving the stories of misinterpretation. But you can be a born and bred English speaker and still run into confusion in another English speaking country.

Take the USA (pleeease)

I lived there for a while and being a sympathetic sort of person would express my concern when an American told me they had "lucked out". To an Australian this sounds like someone has lost out on being lucky. I didn't twig to the real meaning until I had been very lucky in something and I was congratulated for having "lucked out" that time.

That said, I really regret not having my second language studies at school, even though it was French and a bit useless here in Australia, I understand that once you have mastered a second language learning more is easier.

The little bit of teaching I have done (instructing adults to use computers) always worked best when humour was a part of the method.

And if the joke is on you, it simply creates an open path of communication with your students.

This is such an enjoyable thread! Love the stories of misunderstandings.I can distinctly remember, I was about 12, confusing the word difficult with easy. I could hardly face the little group afterwards when I realized my mistake, that I must have sounded like a right up-myself boastful prat, when I really meant to lament the difficulty of something, not the ease! I survived the embarrassment when I consoled myself with the thought that I still spoke English better than they Dutch.

Romany, just a thought, if some of your students can read English well, but are stumped when it is spoken, how about listening to a tape of the book being read while reading along?

Celivia sounds like she had a great English teacher. Amazing to think that we took it for granted that we had to learn 3 foreign languages! That's why I think it funny when I hear the groaning about ONE foreign language!

Yvonne, yes I was very lucky with my English teacher.
I have forgotten almost all of the French and German by now because there was no need to keep it up.
But my brother speaks these languages fluently since he makes sure to keep it up by going on holidays to France and Germany and read books in these languages, too. He was taught Greek and Latin at school as well, but he speaks only the basics.
Because he loves Italy, he is learning Italian now, too.

Do you have people here in Australia to speak Dutch with?
I regularly chat with friends and sometimes phone family in Holland and my mother always sends me the latest "Jan, Jans en de kinderen" for my birthday. (It's a comic that I love).

Still, according to my brother, if I'd visit Holland today, I'd sound old fashioned! The language is always evolving and there are so many words that are just not part of my vocabulary, and I seem to use some words that are 'out'.
Sheesh I feel old and stuffy, I should pay more attention to the words Katrijn and Catootje use (the teenage characters in the comic) and remember to use them next time I phone my brother!

Celivia, yes that's one problem, keeping your language 'up to date'. I knew I had a problem some years back when helpful shop persons started speaking to me in English when I was last in that kouwe kikkerlandje! That's why the internet is so marvelous. You don't need to travel to up-date skills and fluency.

Newspapers, especially opinion columns, Youp in NRC Handelsblad (een beetje grof)for instance, and debate forums are a great source, so are blogs.

You might be surprised how much German and French you remember. I love Googling on Google.nl or Google.de etc.

Currently I'm getting my skills back in Spanish.

Celivia and Yvonne -

As the initiator of this thread I feel a little like the host of a gathering who snuck off in the middle of it. However, I can see that one of the positive aspects of this particular conversation is that the two of you have initiated a dialogue together, so I just backed off to let you get on with it.

As far as I am concerned that is one of the purposes of discussion communities like this: - to get to know other people and find commonalities. It saddens me that the most "action" takes place not around getting to know one another (and so what impels the views we profess), but on getting to slag one another! Vanilla and I now subscribe to each other's blogsites and chat on-line and though we have never met I now count her as a friend - not just another on-line stranger.

I can't speak for her, but if either of you would like to have the occasional ('cos thats how much I update it) look at my blog feel free to contact me on faedoh@gmail.com.

Hey Romany, Celivia, Yvonne and Fractelle.

I'm happy for you to pass on my blog address too, Romany, if anyone's interested. I'm doing more blogging than posting here these days, fer sure.

Meanwhile, on topic, I taught English as a second language for two years but I haven't really felt I've got much to offer on this thread because I don't think I was very good at it. I treated it like a stand-up comedy gig and was always more interested in entertaining than teaching. Ethical discussions always worked well for me in terms of teaching vocab, because everyone got so involved. So did creative writing exercises. Oh, I always relied on my students' insatiable curiosity about Australia. It's all so long ago I can barely remember. I wish I could help more Romany — I'll keep thinking.

Hi, Romany, Vanilla, Yvonne and Fractelle :)

Vanilla, you sound like an ideal language teacher 'coz would've made my day. I always valued the socialising part of school more than the educational part.

To get to talk about pet topics in class as part of the learning experience rather than the 'no talking in class' approach is mere bliss.

Romany, thanks for your email address, I will send you an email today with my contact as well.
I'd love to have a look at both yours and Vanilla's blogs, too.

Hah! So this is where you all got to (she said, wandering onto the verandah with a half-eaten tray of dip n' rye and a fresh bottle of wine). Didn't know this was still happening - I tend to lose threads once they have slipped off the screen.

No, but see - its not so much about wanting tips for myself (though they are always welcome)as to what to tell these Chinese teachers? My methods include taking them out on the grass and making them take their shoes and socks off (shock! Horror!) and feel the dew. Or getting them to follow me around jumping from desk top to desk top etc.

Chinese methods are to sit down at the desk (never done that yet) and read from a book for the entire hour and a half throughout term and follow that up with a whopping exam. I can't just say "Hey, your method sucks, guys" now can I?

I argue with students and prod them and tease them and challenge them...and they rise to it fantasticly.

But what do I advise people who have been teaching for years in the Chinese way? I am, after all, the foriegner here. Its a sort of manners problem as much as anything else too, I guess.

Oooooooooh, ok, got it now. We actually downed a bottle while you wandered off so I, for one, was not at my sharpest.

Surely there must be some research you can show your colleagues that proves that a mixture of traditional rote-learning is most efficacious (that is a word, isn't it?) when combined with interactive activities? That is, couldn't you flatter them with an appreciation of their approach, particularly when it comes to learning grammatical forms, but suggest they mix it up — extensively — with conversational approaches to expand the students vocabulary and, most importantly, their confidence. What, after all, is the ultimate goal here? Not to read Dickens, but to conduct personal and professional relationships with native English speakers.

I don't know if this will be relevant to you, but one thing I did in Vietnam to discourage rigorous wrote-learning as the ONLY method of studying English was to point out the English did not have the same tonal system, and therefore it was easier for an English speaker to interpret what a non-native speaker was saying even if they made some mistakes. (Whereas, in Vietnamese, if you say "ma" with an upward inflection instead of a downward inflection, people stare at you blankly with NO IDEA what you might be trying to say, because you have actually said something, it's just that it didn't make any sense.) Better, then, to practice conversation and make mistakes rather than become grammar-perfect but be unable to converse.

Oo, here's an idea. As an exercise during your seminar, divide the teachers into two groups to teach them some new vocabulary they may not be familiar with — medical terminology, for example, or botanical names or something. Give one group the vocab and tell them to memorise it, then take the other group yourself and make them do doctor and nurse roleplay and have some fun. Then, test both groups.

Of course, this would be a disaster if the rote-learning group scored better.

I'll keep thinking.