Why are they such a pain?

Sometimes I wonder whether teens wake up in morning saying: Today, I´m going to make someone´s life very difficult!!!! It´s amazing how good they are at pushing our buttons (by the way, they know exactly where each button is) , even the most experienced teachers have to figure out ways to deal with their constant nagging, candy eating - which they insist on doing although you have told them a million times not to - their eye rolling and more than ever before, their fiddling with their cell phones. Urghh!!!!!!! Those cell phones!!!! It makes me wonder what´s so important that can´t wait till the end of the class. Task assigned today: a written one. They were supposed to discuss and write about an ad for a travel agency tour. When I said the word write, they all started whining...annoyingly by the way. They only gave in when I told them what that writing would become afterwards. A digital project, in which they are expected to make a poster (with GLOGSTER) with information on the tour and which will provide them with an opportunity to use the vocabulary learned in the lesson. GLOGSTER (www.glogster.com) is a tool that allows us to create colorful posters with pictures, text and videos. Totally awesome. 

Why are they such a pain?

Sometimes I wonder whether teens wake up in morning saying: Today, I´m going to make someone´s life very difficult!!!! It´s amazing how good they are at pushing our buttons (by the way, they know exactly where each button is) , even the most experienced teachers have to figure out ways to deal with their constant nagging, candy eating - which they insist on doing although you have told them a million times not to - their eye rolling and more than ever before, their fiddling with their cell phones. Urghh!!!!!!! Those cell phones!!!! It makes me wonder what´s so important that can´t wait till the end of the class. Task assigned today: a written one. They were supposed to discuss and write about an ad for a travel agency tour. When I said the word write, they all started whining...annoyingly by the way. They only gave in when I told them what that writing would become afterwards. A digital project, in which they are expected to make a poster (with GLOGSTER) with information on the tour and which will provide them with an opportunity to use the vocabulary learned in the lesson. GLOGSTER (www.glogster.com) is a tool that allows us to create colorful posters with pictures, text and videos. Totally awesome. 

Keep swimming ...keep swimming....

Every time I watch the animation Finding Nemo, I have fun with Dory. Especially because she reminds me of myself (I also happen to be forgetful and absent-minded), but recently, I have been experiencing her persistent optimism. There are times when teaching becomes really difficult, a struggle per say, either because we have to deal with so many different people at the same time - people who have different ways of seeing the learning of the language and I dare to say that some resist that in every way - or because all the aspects involved in this craft  demand attention, responsibilities, time, response and dedication. And I have been trying to insert my students in this world called "digital". Writing digital to be precise. And I got to tell you all that "keep swimming" is my latest motto now. I have an intermediate EFL group and since the first week, I´ve been persistently encouraging them to post material in my wiki. I assigned two activities actually, in which they were supposed to describe  a party they´ve been to and also post a link or a picture of a popular festival around the world. At first, nobody did it, which did not surprise me. I expected they wouldn´t. But after some time, little by little, (I mean "reeeeeeeeeally slowly) they started posting. Even the ones I thought would absolutely not do it at all because they didn´t care. For my surprise, they did. And Dory came to my mind. Keep swimming... keep swimming... I´m glad I persisted and I´m happy with the responses I have had so far. 

Keep swimming ...keep swimming....

Every time I watch the animation Finding Nemo, I have fun with Dory. Especially because she reminds me of myself (I also happen to be forgetful and absent-minded), but recently, I have been experiencing her persistent optimism. There are times when teaching becomes really difficult, a struggle per say, either because we have to deal with so many different people at the same time - people who have different ways of seeing the learning of the language and I dare to say that some resist that in every way - or because all the aspects involved in this craft  demand attention, responsibilities, time, response and dedication. And I have been trying to insert my students in this world called "digital". Writing digital to be precise. And I got to tell you all that "keep swimming" is my latest motto now. I have an intermediate EFL group and since the first week, I´ve been persistently encouraging them to post material in my wiki. I assigned two activities actually, in which they were supposed to describe  a party they´ve been to and also post a link or a picture of a popular festival around the world. At first, nobody did it, which did not surprise me. I expected they wouldn´t. But after some time, little by little, (I mean "reeeeeeeeeally slowly) they started posting. Even the ones I thought would absolutely not do it at all because they didn´t care. For my surprise, they did. And Dory came to my mind. Keep swimming... keep swimming... I´m glad I persisted and I´m happy with the responses I have had so far.