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.