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Message board > Amazing students!!
Amazing students!!
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jamiejules
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Amazing students!!
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hi, I just wanted to share with you how great my students are 
I asked them who Shakespeare was: they think he �s Britney Spears �s father!
Help!!!
another one is: where is China? (I teach in France) and some kids put it where England is!!
It is getting hopeless...
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23 Feb 2009
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Zora
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Don �t worry, you aren �t the only one - I teach in Spain -... I asked who Napoleon was the other day and got blank stares... Oh, and "Frankenstein" - everyone knows him, or so I thought... but some kids didn �t...
Kids nowadays need to be taught more cultural in a generalized sense. Not knowing who these people are is shameful and a poor reflection of where our society is headed!
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23 Feb 2009
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mysweetself
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Hi,
Don �t get frustrated...Actually everyone in this site have this problem....Kids don �t read or search for general and useful knowledege these days....My students are into Hana Montana and High school musical...If Iask them any question about these two they will answer in a second without blinking their eyes.......but when I asked them the other day where is vince ?All of them were like that..... 
I get used to it ...but I try to give them general knowledge tips through my lessons...I hope it helps them |
23 Feb 2009
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Ivona
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It �s not hopeless as long as WE are around. We, who care.
When an 8th grade student told me there were "ummmm ... a hundred?? continents", i didn �t freak out. I told him the correct answer and also urged others to applaud him because "he got smarter by one thing today". And they asked for more!
Give them quiz games in which you �d teach not only english, but culture as well. Here are the first two Qs i gave them in my quiz ...
What is Prada famous for? a bags b coats c shoes d swim suits? (they could revise clothes)
Which was NOT written by Shakespeare? a The Merchant .. b Romeo ... c War and Peace d Othello ...
Their reaction was "But we don �t know answers to these Qs!". I said "Try to guess." They worked in teams and it took them a little bit of thinking to decide which answer might be correct. This gave way to weaker students to earn a point, not just the good ones, and feel good about �beating � the good ones. As they �re finished, the teams give their answers, I write them on the board and then give them the correct answers. (cheer) In the end we sum up the points.
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23 Feb 2009
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cheezels
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When I taught native english kids as a primary school teacher I had a class (London) and one of the modules in the Literacy hour is comparing fairy tales.. like three little pigs to Cinderella to little red riding hood....(good guy, bad guy, hero, plot, themes, characters etc)
What shocked me completely (I was a recent arrival in the UK from NZ...) was that the kids, except for a few, had NEVER EVER heard of the stories, or had been read to as kids.... We had to start from absolute scratch with reading and talking about the stories... I remember when as a kid I was read a story every night by an adult, mum, dad or grandparents....
It seems like a lot of children are missing out on the pleasure that sharing stories brings. Famous tales are being binned in favour of playstation and TV.
It was a delight sharing these stories with my class, they loved them! If only their parents had spent that extra 10 minutes in the evening reading with them, then they could have witnessed and shared the enjoyment that I did!
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23 Feb 2009
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Akanah
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Another good one. I saw an interview to american high school students. They were asked where Spain is and they said near MEXICO!!!
Nowadays kids only know cartoons characters, football players and Play Station.
We teacher can do little if parents don �t start thinking about their kids future. Because of their jobs, they can only spend 2 or 3 hours a day with them. And the best solution they find to make up for this lack of attention, is giving them everything they want. Thanks God not all the parents do that, they find a way to have lunch at home, help their kids doing homework...
I thought we have this problem in Spain because of the education system change, I can see is all over the world... what a pity.
Regards from Spain
ps: we teachers don �t work this week in Andalucia!!!!!!! |
23 Feb 2009
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Zora
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@Akanah,
You think that is bad, ask them where Canada is? You will get amazing replies like in Europe, under the US... in some state... 
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23 Feb 2009
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nebo_Londona
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or people thinking that Ukraine is still the part of big Russia!!!!
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23 Feb 2009
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Akanah
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Oh my!!!! sometimes they don �t even know their own country!!!!! |
23 Feb 2009
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giovannademartin
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...and all streets here in Brazil have monkeys and snakes... |
23 Feb 2009
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You think that �s bad???? Try people saying they thought NZ was a little island as a part of Australia!!!!