Growth – Page 3 – The Americanoid Blog

January 27, 2020January 28, 2020

DEAR BASKETBALL – A LESSON PLAN

Level: A2 and higher

Kobe Bryant’s Dear Basketball: a love letter to a sport that is now a poignant epitaph

The NBA star’s Oscar-winning short film, in which he mused on his post-basketball future, now has a new layer of sadness and irony. May his soul and of the others in that fatal accident rest in peace.

Watch and read Bryant’s letter:

Dear Basketball,

From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:

I fell in love with you.

A love so deep I gave you my all —
From my mind & body
To my spirit & soul.

As a six-year-old boy
Deeply in love with you
I never saw the end of the tunnel.
I only saw myself
Running out of one.

And so I ran.
I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.
You asked for my hustle
I gave you my heart
Because it came with so much more.

I played through the sweat and hurt
Not because challenge called me
But because YOU called me.
I did everything for YOU
Because that’s what you do
When someone makes you feel as
Alive as you’ve made me feel.

You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream
And I’ll always love you for it.
But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.

And that’s OK.
I’m ready to let you go.
I want you to know now
So we both can savor every moment we have left together.
The good and the bad.
We have given each other
All that we have.

And we both know, no matter what I do next
I’ll always be that kid
With the rolled up socks
Garbage can in the corner
:05 seconds on the clock
Ball in my hands.
5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1

Love you always,
Kobe

kobe

Oscar for Kobe – Complete with the verbs in the right form. You will have to use some of the verbs more than once:

WORK CREATE BE TELL USE ANNOUNCE WRITE WIN EARN RETIRE FALL

In a 20-year career in the NBA, Kobe Bryant (1) _____________ five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, (2)___________league MVP in 2008 and (3) _____________All-Star honors 18 times. In 2018 he (4) _______________ another honor: an Academy Award for (5) ___________ the year’s best animated short film. At the 2018’s Academy Awards ceremony, Bryant (6) ____________ the coveted gold Oscar statue for “Dear Basketball,” a movie based on a poem he (7) _____________ when he (8) ___________ he (9) ________________ from the NBA. After (10) _____________ an Oscar for his very first film, Bryant said “I feel better than (11) ____________ a championship, to be honest with you.” The movie (12) ____________how Bryant (13) _____________ in love with the game and (14) _____________ hard to achieve success and greatness. He created it with Disney animation artist Glen Keane. The “Dear Basketball” movie (15) _____________ art to help tell a story.

Oscar for Kobe (answer key)

In a 20-year career in the NBA, Kobe Bryant (1) WON five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, (2) WAS league MVP in 2008 and (3) EARNED All-Star honors 18 times. In 2018 he (4)EARNED another honor: an Academy Award for (5) CREATING the year’s best animated short film. At the 2018’s Academy Awards ceremony, Bryant (6) EARNED the coveted gold Oscar statue for “Dear Basketball,” a movie based on a poem he (7) WROTE when he (8) ANNOUNCED he (9) WAS RETIRING from the NBA. After (10) WINNING an Oscar for his very first film, Bryant said “I feel better than (11) WINNING a championship, to be honest with you.” The movie (12) TELLS how Bryant (13) FELL in love with the game and (14) WORKED hard to achieve success and greatness. He created it with Disney animation artist Glen Keane. The “Dear Basketball” movie (15) USES art to help tell a story.

In the newspaper or online, find and closely read a story that interests you. Use what you read to create three drawings that could illustrate key facts or events in the story. Share with the class.

Common Core State Standards: Using drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points; reading closely what a text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it.

January 13, 2020

LEARN ENGLISH (OR ANY OTHER LANGUAGE) IN 2020

Last week I came across a video on YouTube where Christian (from http://www.canguroenglish.com/) talked about resolutions for students to effectively learn English in 2020.

He listed nine reasons that could beautifully sum up steps that would open the door towards learning and I decided to create step by step posters of his tips:

Tip #1: Practice actively – don’t just sit passively in front of your computer watching YouTube videos. Read, speak, write, repeat. F827E6F9-50B0-482F-94CA-D0646AA6B321

Tip #2: Don’t believe the lies – You can’t learn English in 90 days or while you’re sleeping. It requires time, effort, commitment. persistence.

Tip #3 – Have realistic expectations – don’t expect to be making phone calls or understanding Shakespeare after 2 classes.

Tip # 4 – Grammar is important – understand about verb tenses and modal verbs, for example. But it corresponds to only a tiny part of the language and your communication skills.

Tip # 5: Forget about exams – yes, Universities will require exams but if your goal is just to get a passing score, you will be missing out on the opportunity of actually learning the language – you’d be better off then just focusing on the tricks of exam’s questions and timing. Tip # 6 – Stop trying to sound like a Native – some people have lived for 30, 40 even 50 years in an English speaking country and have NEVER lost their accent – which has not held them back from enjoying their adoptive country to the full. Embrace your voice and accent, that’s part of your identity. Tip # 7 Mistakes are Learning – yes, you say you’re a Virgo and a perfectionist – I don’t care, and most other people don’t either. You will make mistakes and learn from them. Instead of just kicking yourself, pay attention to the mistake and try to avoid repeating it again and again and again. Move on to the next one. Tip # 8: Use your English to do things – watch TV, read, travel, do whatever you would do in your mother tongue, start experimenting with the language you’re learning. Tip # 9 Have Fun – it’s impossible to have fun every single moment – but enjoy the ride – if you enjoy the journey, your destination will feel even sweeter. Happy learning in 2020!

Cheers,

December 10, 2019

Native teachers – busting a myth

Last weekend we were celebrating my birthday at the home of a dear couple, Mari and David, who even surprised me with a deliciously personalized Black Forest Cake. They were so excited to have that cake made especially for me and quickly apologized saying that the cake maker had mislabeled it with “Congratulations” instead of “Happy Birthday”.

Black Forest Cake — Happy Birthday Teacher

We had a wonderful time together and talked about nothing and 1001 things. At one point, my wife ask Mari about her English classes.

Mari works in marketing and customer service for an international company and needs to improve her language skills so that she can participate in global conference calls and presentations.

The last time we had talked about it, Mari had told us she was having online classes with a “native” teacher and that she found it hard to study and focus but she was feeling she was making some progress.

This time, she said, “now I am having face-to-face classes at a language school near my office, after work. But… my teacher is ‘NATIVE’ “.

My astute wife shot back right away: “why are you saying he’s ‘native’? What difference would it make if he wasn’t native?

Mari stood there (or sat there as I remember) with her mouth hanging open searching for good reasons. She realized I’m an English teacher and I am not “native”. So she said, “Yes, Mo, but you are native-like”.

Agreed, my English is amazing (may modesty take a hike for awhile), but what makes me a great language teacher (there I go again) is not simply the fact that I can speak English and can lead some people to believe I am an American, or Australian, or Canadian, or Irish etc… depending on the nationality of the students trying to guess where I am from.

I am a great teacher because:

I am knowledgeable /an expert in the subject I’m teaching.
I know how to convey information in a simple, brief and clear way.
I’ve been there. I know what it’s like to be trying to speak another language: Empathy.
I am patient.
I motivate, correct, exhort, encourage learners to aim to a higher level with my own passion for the language learning process.

A couple of weeks ago I came across a post written by Justin Murray (a ‘native’ teacher of English) on the English Experts website:

“[…] Another advantage about native speakers is that their students generally feel more motivated to speak in English in class. The fact that the teacher is from an English speaking country and not the country of the students generally works as an unconscious trigger for the student to speak the language. This may have nothing to do with the teacher’s proficiency or teaching ability.”

“The final advantage, which is the most popular, is that a native born teacher will teach or transmit much better pronunciation. This is for sure an advantage, but what a lot of people don’t know is that it’s difficult for beginners and lower intermediate students take advantage of this. In my opinion, upper intermediate and advanced students will benefit a lot more.” https://www.englishexperts.com.br/are-native-english-speakers-really-better-teachers/

Having read the quote above, I risk repeating myself:

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what planet your teacher is from, what will matter is the learner’s commitment, focus and effort (time, money, skills) to learn and improve their language skills. If having a native teacher makes you feel better, knock yourself out. But that doesn’t mean you’ll learn any faster or better.

The teacher, either Native, Native-like, or Martian will be just a facilitator and provider of resources.

Happy teaching and happy learning,

(The cake was amazing, by the way)

November 27, 2019

Learning a language on your own

This week I received the following question from one of our Sabbath School podcast listeners:

“I’d like to know if reading books in English (reading a lot) will enable me to learn the language?”

“I can’t afford a language school/course. My English level is very good. I can understand about 80% of what I read. But I find it hard to speak and write. Would it be possible for me to reach a higher level by reading and listening only? Your Sabbath School podcast (Believes Unasp Sabbath School Podcast – https://player.fm/series/2424793) has been a great gateway for me. I’m loving the audio practice! It’s been helping me a lot.” Jefferson F.

Image result for learn a language reading

Hello Jefferson, your question is pretty fair – can anyone learn English (or any other language) just from reading? My first answer: That depends.

Of course, there are many people who have learned the classical languages – Greek and Latin or Hebrew and Arabic from just reading texts.

Can you learn a language by yourself? Yes, depending on your will, time and natural skills.

But the learning process can be more comprehensive (and more fun) if you incorporate all four skills:

Reading and Listening are receptive skills while Writing and Speaking are predominantly productive skills. Of course, if your goal is to understand or translate sacred texts, for instance, that’s where your efforts and focus should be. But…

You can and should (as much as possible) develop your “proactive skills”: speaking and writing.

Most definitely today there are millions of opportunities to practice your listening in your target language (literally). You can listen to many podcasts and documentaries, interviews, etc. Reading opportunities are basically infinite online… or at least they would last you all your mortal life and then some.

Now, in ‘modern languages’ one important challenge is to be able to communicate – either through speaking or writing – and you can practice that by finding people who are also learning or are native speakers of your target language. Email them. WhatsApp them, Facebook them.

Let’s say in the worst case scenario you have no one to practice with – start reading aloud and training your speech, pronunciation, listening to your own voice how you can improve your intonation, linking words, etc. Record yourself (even if you hate the sound of your voice – tough it up!).

Regarding the fact you can’t afford a language course, there are many courses offered in Brazil by public universities (state and federal institutions) which offer some language courses for Specific Purposes at zero or low cost. Google them up. And make YouTube one of your teachers.

So… Finally, I’m answering your question with a resounding YES! Yes, You can learn English (or any other language all by yourself).

Now if you would like to have a language expert, enabler, facilitator, provider of positive feedback… feel free to contact me. Your investment will be worth your while.

Cheers,

November 19, 2019November 19, 2019

The Seven Deadly Sins of Language Learning

Image result for seven good habits clipart Many people around the world are interested in learning a second or foreign language, be it English, Spanish, French or any of the 6,500 spoken languages in the world today. It would do good to any of us to try to avoid these 7 Bad Language Learning Habits That Turn People Off. Image result for seven deadly sins of language learning

Speaker and author Julian Treasure gave a popular TED Talk in 2014 that explained how anyone can speak effectively, whether in a conversation or in front of a crowd.

Here are the bad habits you need to avoid if you want to learn another language, loosely adapted from Treasure’s “seven deadly sins of speaking”:

1. Worrying about what others will think and say

If you worry that other speakers will be judging you and that they always speak better than you and more fluently and effortlessly, that will only hold you back.

2. Setting unrealistic goals

“In 3 months I’ll be speaking the Queen’s English” – Well… that will depend on what queen you’re talking about.

3. Being negative

“I’ve been learning ___________ (fill in the blank with any language) for X years and I can’t get above a pre-intermediate level conversation. My listening sucks. I’ll never speak like my friend/ enemy/ boss, spouse, etc.”

4. Complaining

Complaining easily becomes a habit, and before you know it, you’ll be known as the person who complains about the weather, the news, work, and about the language you’re learning. It’s what Treasure calls “viral misery.

Guess what happens if you keep saying: “This exercise is boring… it’s too difficult … it’s too easy, why do I have to learn this grammar point? … “

Some people have a “blame-thrower,” Treasure says, putting the blame on anybody and anything except themselves. “I don’t have anyone to practice my language with”. “I don’t have time; I have 2 wives and 1 child to provide for”; etc

6. Not using the language you’re learning

It’s a waste of time and energy to only spend 45 minutes a week in touch with the language you’re learning. You have to find ways to listen, read, write, speak (even if only to yourself) in your target language outside the classroom environment, be it physical or virtual.

7. Being lazy or a sloth

see item 6 – you see? – you not even want to refer back to the previous topic (yes, I told you you won’t learn if you don’t invest time and effort).

So what can you do to enjoy you’re learning journey?

Start using the little of the language you already know, not worrying what other people will say.
Set realistic goals. Be aware that the you’ll be learning the language for years to come.
Be positive. I’ve been studying this language for X amount of time and I already can … “Today in class I learned x, y, z.” I was watching a movie in my target language and could understand some words here and there”.
Suggest alternate exercises, topics or activities that might be more appealing to you.
Own up to your duties in the language learning process.
Use the language you’re learning as often as possible. If not daily, at least every other day.
Don’t surrender to the sin of laziness. Just do it.

Happy learning,

Cheers,

November 5, 2019November 7, 2019

Song about Domestic Violence – Lesson Plan

Level: intermediate and higher

Duration: 60 minutes

Teacher’s Preparation Time: just a few minutes

It all started when I was thinking of a song to use with my students today – students love songs, but our music taste can be quite different. But since I am the one planning the lesson and having ALL the work I’ll use a song I like. If they don’t like it… tough! I remembered this great song from the 80s and 90s – “Luka” by Suzanne Vega – I’ve always enjoyed its melody and the serious subject it represents through those strong words and a solid story.

You can introduce the theme:

Write the word “domestic” on the board and hold up the picture of the house. Ask Ss what they think domestic means. Write any appropriate answers on the board.

Then write the word “violence” on the board and hold up the “anti-violence” picture. Ask Ss what they think violence means. Write any appropriate answers on the board. Finally, ask Ss what they think “domestic violence” means. Discuss.

1. What is domestic violence?

2. How is domestic violence revealed? Physically? Psychologically?

Luka

Suzanne Vega

My name is Luka
I live on the second floor
I live upstairs from you
Yes I think you’ve seen me before

If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was

I think it’s because I’m clumsy
I try not to talk too loud
Maybe it’s because I’m crazy
I try not to act too proud

They only hit until you cry
After that you don’t ask why
You just don’t argue anymore
You just don’t argue anymore
You just don’t argue anymore

Yes, I think I’m okay
I walked into the door again
If you ask that’s what I’ll say
And it’s not your business anyway
I guess I’d like to be alone
With nothing broken, nothing thrown

Just don’t ask me how I am
Just don’t ask me how I am
Just don’t ask me how I am

My name is Luka
I live on the second floor
I live upstairs from you
Yes I think you’ve seen me before

If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was

And they only hit until you cry
After that, you don’t ask why
You just don’t argue anymore
You just don’t argue anymore
You just don’t argue anymore

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Suzanne Vega

Luka lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

The song is available on YouTube here’s one link: http://tiny.cc/fanwfz

Students listen to the song and try to get its gist – with lyrics in hand.

1. What is the song about?

(one of my students asked – “does she live in a dangerous neighborhood?” – as if domestic violence only happened among the poor)

How naive or blind can one be?

2. Who is Luka talking to?

3. What is she trying to explain?

As a teacher you prepare a cloze exercise – to fill the gaps with information, or verbs, or nouns or prepositions.

Example: Students listen and fill in the gaps

My name is Luka,

I live on ______________________
I live _____________ from you
Yes I think you’ve ________________ before

Or Students read, fill in the gaps with the right preposition and then listen to check:

My name is Luka,

I live _________ the second floor
I live upstairs ___________you
Yes I think you’ve seen me _______

For lower levels, students can write their own versions with actual or imagined facts

My name is Halala

I live in a house

I live next door

Guess you’ve never seen me before

The song can be followed by a discussion on domestic violence and what we can as individuals and as a society do to put an end to this “silence”

The Minnesota Literacy Council has prepared a whole lesson plan on Domestic violence and it’s free (https://mnliteracy.org/sites/default/files/int_-mlc-_echo_-_domestice_violence_unit.pdf)

Some key vocabulary on this subject:

1. Abuse –
Hitting someone or saying bad things to them is a type of abuse.
2. Abuser –
Suzanna’s dad hurts her. He is the abuser. He makes Suzanna feel pain.
3. Victim –
Suzanna’s dad hurts her. She is the victim. She feels pain because of her dad’s actions.
4. Physical abuse –
Suzanna’s dad hits her. He sometimes chokes her—he puts his hands around her throat
so she can’t breathe. This is called physical abuse.
5. Emotional abuse –
Suzanna’s dad hits her but he also says hurtful things to her. He calls her stupid. This is
name calling. He also says no one will ever love her. This is called emotional abuse.
6. Power and control –
Suzanna’s dad is bigger than she is. He uses his strength and hurtful words to have
power and control over her.

October 28, 2019October 28, 2019

Improving your Business English

How many times have you felt that your language learning has stagnated or you’re not finding time or ways to stop from sliding back? Yes, language learning is not a precise science and if you love Math or Physics chances are you would hate learning something abstract with tonnes of rules and even more exceptions. But don’t lose heart. There is still hope. First stop considering language learning as one more academic subject. It’s a communication tool. Plain and simple. Here are seven steps to help you move forward in your language learning adventure. It’s no rocket science but it works. Try it.

1. Set specific goals – they can be as simple as learning how to use sentences in the past tense, or using the verb to be in the present (stop saying “you is“) to improving your pronunciation. But small goalposts will help you move ahead.

2. Create linguistic habits – my best time to be learning something is the morning, but you can choose any time you feel more comfortable with reading, listening, writing in your target language. You would like me to say that 15 mins would be enough but actually, until you settle down 5 to 10 minutes will have already passed… so set daily blocks of at least 30 minutes. The longer you practice the faster your progress will be.

3. Believe in yourself – yes, yes, it sounds like an old cliche but it’s true – if you try to learn something already thinking you can’t do it… what will your chances of success actually be?

4. Enjoy the learning experience – choose things you like to focus on… what’s the point in reading an article about something you hate or know nothing about? Do you like songs, for example? Focus on a song you like, try to get the meaning, the key words, pronunciation… of course, there are songs AND SONGS, if you get my gist, some songs are not suitable for language learning… that’ll depend on your common sense. Like movies? Ok, focus on a section to learn the vocabulary, pronunciation, practice telling the story (plot), rehash the dialog, even.

5. Use authentic material – read a book in the original language. Depending on your level you can buy bilingual books (those books with the text in English paralleled by a translation). In Brazil, the Folha publisher launched a whole series of literature classics in a bilingual format.

6. Join a positive learning community – one of the problems we have when learning a foreign language is finding opportunities to practice it. Today with the internet you can find virtual friends literally anywhere in the world – even language partners. Also every large city will have some places where you can practice your target language. For example, in São Paulo there is a weekly bible study class in English open to anyone interested in practicing the English language for one hour and a half and free (Unasp SP at 10:30 am – every Saturday)

7. Ask for feedback – we are always our worst critics – so it’s important to have someone who’ll provide some tips and even raise our awareness regarding some problem areas. I remember back in the 90’s I partnered up with a Canadian friend and asked him to correct me when he felt it was necessary. Most of the time he didn’t have to correct me, just the fact he hadn’t understood what I was saying would alert me to some mispronunciation or wrong vocabulary use.

Happy growth,

Cheers,

September 18, 2019September 18, 2019

Five Components for the Development of Digital Skills

Image result for digital ambition

This morning I was leafing through the Brazilian entrepreneurship magazine Você S/A ( and mind you, it was the paper edition of September 2019) and came across a list of five components for the digital survival of professionals in any industry. They will, most certainly, also apply to language teachers either employed at a school or university or self-employed just like little me.

The five components for the development of digital skills for now and the future as a self-employed professional are as follows (loosely adapted from the infographic in the magazine):

1. Business Vision – understand what you’re doing, how you’re doing it and most importantly, WHY you’re doing it (stress on the WHY as emphasized by my HR expert student Livia S. Sant’ana)

2. Adaptability – Be flexible and curious – always be open to new methods and approaches – use face-to-face classes and online classes. Explore pre-recorded and live sessions, for example.

3. Cultural & Social Understanding – Empathy for what do your clients think they need, learn to listen to them and build bridges. Don’t see others as mere competitors or potential clients – view others as human beings with their own needs and goals.

4. Cooperation – Create a network of colleagues – there will always be those who you Image result for digital cooperation can help and also grow with. And let us not deceive ourselves. Colleagues can help you expand your circle of influence.

5. Systemic Thinking – aka in non-Academic circles as Pattern Thinking – it is a simple technique for making sense of challenging situations and developing simple interventions for transforming them.

Like it or not, the more you take charge of your future the better prepared you will be to face it.

Cheers,

July 22, 2019July 22, 2019

Nativism revisited

Last Saturday we invited a new friend for lunch at home. Ivonne arrived from Bolivia back in February where she had been an English teacher and aesthetics consultant (sic) and had a dream to move to Brazil, where she would have more opportunities.

When she arrived she soon started voluntarily teaching English to a group of senior citizens at an NGO. “The experience was interesting”, she said.”But people don’t value things offered for free”. The students’ attendance was terrible and when they did come they wanted to chitchat and not really “study English”.

I warned Ivonne that getting paying English students in Brazil would be difficult in her case because despite her 5 years of English studies with US missionaries in Bolivia, she still had a very thick Spanish accent, including the infamous “Jew” when she means to say “you“.

She said, “Ay, Moacir, I need a job fast”. I told her she could apply at language institutes and private schools to be a teacher of Spanish as soon as she had her transcripts registered in Brazil. But any teaching at a language academy would take time for training. In the meantime she is selling honey sachets door to door.

But what Ivonne said about language teachers startled me:

“Ay, Moacir, Jew speak like an American and jew’re tall and white” – (anyone is tall to her since her height is less than 150cm /4ft) – I won’t get a teaching job here.” “In Bolivia I always wanted to have only native teachers for me. That’s how jew learn. Jew ask them a question they know the answer. A Brazilian or Bolivian teacher won’t know how to respond”.

“The same thing goes to teaching Spanish,” she went on. “Los brasileños think that Spanish is easy but when they start to see the grammar and the verb tenses they go crazy.”

I tried to reason with her “Come on, Ivonne. I’m not a native speaker of English, but I’m an excellent teacher, as you know (to hell with self deprecation)”. She nodded in deep admiration. “And for over 25 years I’ve been teaching English to high executives and people who’ve travelled around the world and it has never been a disqualifying point. I’ve also taught in Canada, the US and Ireland and it’s never been a problem. Yes, it’s true a native speaker may know more phrasal verbs but that doesn’t mean he’ll be able to explain to you how to use them. He’ll pronounce a word his way which can be very different between US and British English, for example. More than once have I seen a native speaker not know how to pronounce a word or what it meant. And in addition to that, if the gringo doesn’t know the local language, he won’t understand why you find it so difficult to say girl, or world, whirlwind”. “Actually, many (not all) native teachers abroad have their own agenda and baggage: either they want to convert somebody, or see the world, or escape from their own world.” Believe you me, I’ve seen some native teachers (mostly from Oceania) that didn’t have a loose screw, they had lost that screw a long time ago. What makes a good teacher will be based on 3 very solid foundations:

1. Language knowledge (yes, you can’t teach English or French or Arabic if you don’t speak that language either), learning one’s own or adoptive language is an ongoing process; but that knowledge must be supported by

2. skills (natural and learned) – how many times have you attended a lecture or lesson by a renowned Professor who knows everything about, let’s say, quantum physics but he can’t teach it?

3. Finally, a good to great teacher will be empathetic. He will try to understand and seek for ways to best transmit his subject.”

Ivonne carefully considered all I’d told her, clapped her hands and cheerfully exclaimed:

“Jew don’t need to be a native to teach English. Now I got it. I’ll start applying to be a teacher of Portuguese!”

Sigh.

Good luck, Ivonne,

Cheers,

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019

Class cancellation (and the 24/7 availability fallacy)

Growing up I often heard people saying: “if work were meant to be pleasant it wouldn’t be called WORK “.

Don’t know the origin of that saying but it’s quite easy to understand it’s meaning. Maybe it is inspired by the biblical curse God placed on man after he ate of the forbidden fruit:

“And to the man he (God) said,

“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree

    whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,

the ground is cursed because of you.

    All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it
It will grow thorns and thistles for you,

    though you will eat of its grains
By the sweat of your brow

    will you have food to eat

until you return to the ground

    from which you were made.

For you were made from dust,

    and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:17-19 (NLT)
Yes, mankind would have food to eat by the SWEAT of our brow. But despite that curse it does help to choose a job or career about something that you like doing. The curse can even become a blessing. 
Working as a language teacher has many positive features: I can “select” my students; I can determine my hourly class rates/pricing; I can develop a curriculum that best fits my students’ needs; I love speaking other languages; etc. 
But one of the hardest “bones to chew” refers to Class Cancellations.
One-on-one teaching leads the learner to take the teacher for granted, at their beck and call. So they cancel their classes, try to reschedule the rescheduled classes – I’ve had students who rescheduled three times the same class – and if they don’t effectively have that lesson they demand for a refund or discount. The fact that the student must pay for his class cancellations should serve as a deterrent. 
So let me enlighten both teachers and students:
When you agree on a day and time, that time is sacred… both students and teacher have entered into a covenant and will do their utmost to honor it. Now, when there’s a cancellation, can you make that time come back? No? What makes you think that your class time can?! Or that you’re paying for 24/7 English? Of course, there are reasons and reasons for a class cancellation. You had to go to the hospital or a funeral? Let’s accommodate that. You only had that day and time for a doctor’s appointment? Hmmm. Your sister is visiting? Uh, nope. You’re not in the mood? Is it cold outside? Not good excuses. Got it? 
I’ve always tried to present very simple rules:
1. Any cancellation must be informed at least 24 hours in advance.
2. Cancellations within less than 24h notices, classes will be charged and not rescheduled. 
3. Make up classes will be rescheduled if / when teacher is available (let us say the teacher and student have agreed on four 1-hour classes a month. Student cancels once. Will the student be willing to pay for a 5th hour? Uh huh, I thought so. What makes him expect his teacher should work a fifth hour for free? 
Simple. Isn’t it? 

Last week I came across this blog post where the teacher even went on suggesting she would record a short video and send it to the student as a “make up class” so that the student wouldn’t feel left behind. She added:

“So here’s my thing and a lot of teachers’: we don’t want students to miss class. We love our job. We spend our time preparing what to do and want students to succeed. It’s not productive from an educational point of view and, at least to me, it means getting paid without doing what I like the most. I want to earn a living teaching, not sitting around. Bearing that in mind, I came up with an excellent alternate solution, which I am now calling “The Substitutive Class”; feel free to rename it.” . https://www.lbenglishteacher.com/blog/substitutive-class“.

I make mine those words.

Cheers,

Mo.

And no cancellations, please.😉

	joannaesl on Rules Refresher for Zoom …
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	joannaesl on Rules Refresher for Zoom …
	rubiescorner on Breaking the Silence: stop the…
	ketaninkorea on Technology in Education
	Mo the Americanoid on Class cancellation (and the 24…
	harbidemyalabi on Motivating and empowering…

1. Worrying about what others will think and say

2. Setting unrealistic goals

3. Being negative

4. Complaining

5. Making excuses

6. Not using the language you’re learning

7. Being lazy or a sloth