Leaving voicemail. Today we’ll be working on that in class. My course book offers a list of four useful phrases that one can use when leaving messages. It also has an audio clip of a person leaving a message and a gap activity for students to try and “catch” what was being asked for. And then there are few role play activities for students to practice.

But no added value of maybe challenging the way you give effective voicemail. There’s likely an effective way to do it, and there’s likely an ineffective and boring way to do it too. (I bet most people, and I include myself) could learn how to turn up their voice mailing skills. Like handling money, making power point presentations, and hand shaking, I think we often just do what we see or hear everyone else out there doing. But just because everyone else is doing it a certain way, doesn’t mean it’s the best or most effective way to get the job done, right?

So, break way. I went online to see if I could find some trusted resources to help me fill out the great, but incomplete start my course material gave me.

Here’s what I found…and what I’ll be using.

Voicemail (Video)

Article (Incidentally by Chris Brogan as well.)
Make Voicemail a Production

How about you? Where do you go and what do you do when your course material just doesn’t give enough?

“Hello, my name is X.”

“Hello X, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Y.”

“Hi, I’m Z.”

“Hi, Z I’m B.”

You know the drill. Students listen, and fill in the blanks. Then they have to try and introduce themselves to each other in the class. Am I missing anything? These typical conversations may even venture briefly into talking about where you are from, what you do, and how you spell that odd last name of yours.)

But there’s way more to the art of meeting others than what course books explore. Burning questions which I think haunt us all when we meet others.

1. How much is too much personal information?

2. How much should I talk about myself? (Time.)

3. When I do talk about me, what should I say and more importantly: HOW should I say it? – Key language.

4. How and if I should hand out my business card. Is there a good way to ask if someone would like my card?

Interested in the points above? Here are some ideas to help augment your next class on meeting people:

1. Try reading Chris Brogan’s article with your class: Meeting. (This would go great with Pre Intermediate students and above.) For beginners, you may want to take chunks from the article and read it with your students.)

2. Discuss: Help your students express what they learned, what they thought, and what they’ll start doing as a result of this article.

3. Model. Course books provide lots of opportunities to practice simple greetings. But you should set up some practice time on how to be confident – or at least project confidence with eye contact, firm handshakes etc. (extended practice helps a lot! ), how to offer/exchange business cards, following up with a new contact via email later,  and providing brief info about what you do  - think: elevator pitch.

4. Provide regular practice. The more, the merrier. I think I’ve been surprised at how useful these activities really are for my students. I guess you should never assume that they already know how to do it, or that they’ve had enough practice already. (Obviously, don’t overdo things either. But wouldn’t you agree that the tendency is to under practice these points?)

How about you? How are you handling the art of meeting people in your ESL classes? Do you find the course book is enough? What do you do if it’s not? I’d love to hear from you! Comments are wide open!

Photo by Sam_Butler

We created an artificial environment that provided more opportunities for practice in a shorter period of time.

via E-Learning & Instructional Design 101 » The Rapid eLearning Blog.

There are a lot of things to think about here. Things that I think I need to think more about. And maybe…hopefully, there are a few things for you think about as well.

While this post is about eLearning, there are some great points that are valid in any learning environment, being online or face to face.

Favorite point: “We learn all the time.” As Kuhlmann points out in the first few paragraphs, people are always on. Always learning. They’re not just waiting for us to build something for them to help them learn.

I think that’s true about English courses as well.  I’ve noticed that people are always on, but not always “on” to your channel. Know what I mean? They’re engaged, but with something else. Everything else, BUT what your class is about.

What Kuhlmann’s point here made me think: If people are always in the “learning on” position, how can you design your next class to help them “change channels” from their work channel, for example. How can you design your class to earn their attention, and keep it?

I know. This wasn’t really Kuhlmann’s intent with this comment. But I think it does matter. Ever see a BlackBerry being used in your class? Text messaging? Eyes…distant…glazed over….lost somewhere out the window, but definitely NOT in your class? Maybe there’s a bit of channel interference going on. You haven’t won them over yet. Why?

How to Earn Attention: And you do need to earn it. Just because you’re a teacher, doesn’t mean you automatically command the attention in the room. Speaking about adult business students here: They don’t have to give you their undivided attention. Have you ever thought about all the things THEY need to think about in a day? What pressures are they under? What deadlines are looming? What bosses are making their lives difficult? What conference call presentation has them sleepless? In short: their day does not revolve around us and our class.

This makes me think that we need to be special. Create art, as Seth Godin so often writes about. Make them WANT to be in your class. Not because they “HAVE” to learn English to survive, but because they really like what they experience when they’re with you.

• Be unusual. How out  of the box can you make your next grammar lesson?
• Surprise! Do things that are unexpected to get your point across.
• Be Practical. Design activities that mirror what your students do each day in English. Do they conference call a lot? (Is it painful to them? Find out why.) Hold a few conference call classes, where they have to present what they’d normally present in English – and you’re there to coach and give feedback on how they can present it better.
• Ditch your course book when you start to feel glued to it. Monotony = Boredom. Boredom = Disconnection from “your channel.” Your student’s body may be in the room with you, but their mind may not be.
• Be Energetic. If you’re engaged and having fun with what you have to teach today, chances are good that your students will feel the same way.

What have you been doing to earn attention?

Photo By dan taylor

We created an artificial environment that provided more opportunities for practice in a shorter period of time.

via E-Learning & Instructional Design 101 » The Rapid eLearning Blog.

There are a lot of things to think about here. Things that I think I need to think more about. And maybe…hopefully, there are a few things for you think about as well.

While this post is about eLearning, there are some great points that are valid in any learning environment, being online or face to face.

Favorite point: “We learn all the time.” As Kuhlmann points out in the first few paragraphs, people are always on. Always learning. They’re not just waiting for us to build something for them to help them learn.

I think that’s true about English courses as well.  I’ve noticed that people are always on, but not always “on” to your channel. Know what I mean? They’re engaged, but with something else. Everything else, BUT what your class is about.

What Kuhlmann’s point here made me think: If people are always in the “learning on” position, how can you design your next class to help them “change channels” from their work channel, for example. How can you design your class to earn their attention, and keep it?

I know. This wasn’t really Kuhlmann’s intent with this comment. But I think it does matter. Ever see a BlackBerry being used in your class? Text messaging? Eyes…distant…glazed over….lost somewhere out the window, but definitely NOT in your class? Maybe there’s a bit of channel interference going on. You haven’t won them over yet. Why?

How to Earn Attention: And you do need to earn it. Just because you’re a teacher, doesn’t mean you automatically command the attention in the room. Speaking about adult business students here: They don’t have to give you their undivided attention. Have you ever thought about all the things THEY need to think about in a day? What pressures are they under? What deadlines are looming? What bosses are making their lives difficult? What conference call presentation has them sleepless? In short: their day does not revolve around us and our class.

This makes me think that we need to be special. Create art, as Seth Godin so often writes about. Make them WANT to be in your class. Not because they “HAVE” to learn English to survive, but because they really like what they experience when they’re with you.

• Be unusual. How out  of the box can you make your next grammar lesson?
• Surprise! Do things that are unexpected to get your point across.
• Be Practical. Design activities that mirror what your students do each day in English. Do they conference call a lot? (Is it painful to them? Find out why.) Hold a few conference call classes, where they have to present what they’d normally present in English – and you’re there to coach and give feedback on how they can present it better.
• Ditch your course book when you start to feel glued to it. Monotony = Boredom. Boredom = Disconnection from “your channel.” Your student’s body may be in the room with you, but their mind may not be.
• Be Energetic. If you’re engaged and having fun with what you have to teach today, chances are good that your students will feel the same way.

What have you been doing to earn attention?

Photo By dan taylor

I read Love Is the Killer App by Tim Sanders a long while ago, but I really loved it. Today, he posted about it again and just made me remember something that is so important: you should focus on the success of others if you want to get ahead today.

The most powerful force in business is Love.  It’s what will help your company grow and become stronger. It’s what will propel your career forward.”

Today I believe that statement more than ever.  The downfall of shark companies, moguls and take-no-prisoners bizfolk prove my point.  If you want your success to last, build it on the platform of BizLove.  Promote success in all those you do business with – treat your employees and customers like you’d treat your family. (Tim Sanders, Why Love is the Most Powerful Force in Business.)

How to Focus on Student Success?

Believe you Can and Should! Believe it or not, you’re not just teaching English. As you get to know your students, your roll can AND SHOULD go deeper than just teaching. On my first day ever of being a teacher, my trainer told me something that I’ve never forgotten, mainly because I’ve seen it come true time and time again: Teachers have several different hats (or jobs) as they go through their career. They are the teacher, but many times….many, many times, they become their student’s psychologist. Make sure you know how to switch hats when needed! Again, this level of relationship with your students is earned over time, and never forced. But it sure does happen. When it does, when a student opens up with you about a personal/professional area of their life that is not classroom related, you shouldn’t be afraid to step respectfully into their life – as far as they let you in. Where you feel comfortable, give advice if they are needing it. Encourage, if they are feeling down. Brainstorm with them if they are stuck. Suggest books that you think matter to their situation. If they’ve let you in, find out how to help them succeed in whatever area they’ve given you permission to enter.

Get to know your students. I think this is elemental. Do refrain from being cool and distant from your class. Some of the most effective teachers I’ve ever had were ones who took the time to get to know me. (And the rest of the class.) They shared of themselves, and showed genuine interest in us. Today, 15+ years after my school and university experience, I still remember them as if we spoke  yesterday. I remember a few of their lessons. I remember things they spoke about with passion. I remember their voice, their smile, their laughter, but most of all I remember their impact on my life. Even ESL teachers have this power – and it all comes from relationship.

Read Wide. I should be reading more than I do, but what I’ve read has often been very useful for promoting student success. I follow a wide range of blogs – from marketing and sales to management, leadership, planning, and customer service. Read wide so you have something to offer your students. I can’t count the times I’ve been able to help out by simply pointing them towards something I had just read or am still reading. (Sanders talks about this at length in Love is The Killer App) After you point, invite them to talk about it with you. Engage around the topic, and see if you can help them draw ideas out of it. Your students will love you for it, and I promise that you’ll get plenty of learning done yourself.

So think about this today: What can you do to promote the success of your students? Would you share your ideas with me? I’d love to hear from you.

Photo by Savara

• Different culture = different expectations on how you say hello.
• In some cultures (United States and Canada, for example.) the handshake is often vital to forming first impressions about you. In other words, people will judge you on how you shake their hand.
• An energetic, firm handshake paired with a great smile and eye contact can speak volumes about you in BODY LANGUAGE. It says: I’m friendly. I’m open and WANT to meet you, and most important: I’m confident. Coolest of all: you can send this message EVEN if you don’t feel confident if you learn how to give out great handshakes.
• Handshaking is something to be practiced. I was amazed. When we started practicing with each other, there were actually quite a few mistakes. I have 5 adults in my group. While two practiced in front of everyone, the others watched and gave feedback based on what we had been learning about re: proper handshaking. Issue One: Hey, show more energy  when you meet someone! The first few handshakes were dull, but very quickly picked up as students caught on.  Issue two: The other person’s hand is not 100000 degrees. Don’t let go so fast! You don’t want to hold a person’s hand too long in a greeting (uncomfortable and strange) but you also don’t want to drop it after 2 seconds of contact. This one took some time to master, believe it or not.
• Women give and get firm handshakes. Why? Because they’re equal members of the business world. No limp wrists please. (No hand crushing either…just nice and firm.)

See what I mean? There’s more to a handshake than meets the eye.

What I learned from this class: how important it is to make time for practical activities like this. Make time to practice. (My students LOVED it. They did feel weird at first…but by the end of the activity, they were totally into it.)

Most important of all: I learned to never assume that “a simple thing” like a handshake is really that simple. Sometimes there is more to it than meets the eye. Think about making eye contact, for example. In some cultures, this is considered rude. In others, it’s a basic requirement to help establish trust. How well do we ever explore those vital areas of relationship building with students?

Photo by Artotem

Perhaps for lower level students, maybe beginners and pre intermediates, this approach is useful. But as language confidence builds, I think students approaching intermediate and above levels of English should start deepening their engagement with the language in order to succeed.

Quick think: What does Engage Mean? One of the meanings of “Engage” is to be absorbed by something or someone. He, she or it OWNS your complete attention. (Wouldn’t that be a good thing to have happen in your classroom? ) Would you agree that the more your students engage with the process of  learning English – let it own their complete attention – that they will experience greater success?

Via @NikPeachey – A few ideas from Harvard U: Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in your Frist Year at Harvard.

• Encourage students to take notes, as if they were in a conversation with the author as they read. Students should write up their text. Mark it up with questions, observations, new ideas, disagreements, but do it as if they were talking with the author AND themselves – right there in the material. Interact with it, don’t just read over it.
• The Harvard document warns to move beyond simply highlighting text, which could “lull one into dangerous passivity.”
• Encourage students to ask questions about the material before, during and after the text.

Get in the habit of hearing yourself ask questions—“what does this mean?” “why is he or she drawing that conclusion?” “why is the class reading this text?” etc. Write the questions down (in your margins, at the beginning or end of the reading, in a notebook, or elsewhere. (Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in your Frist Year at Harvard.)

So how to improve Reading Engagement? Take some time before you begin your next reading activity and teach some of these points.  Explain that marking up the reading material will help students move into an active, more effective reading mode.

Model it: throw a paragraph or two up on your whiteboard. Read it together with your class. On the margin, begin inviting comments from your group. Ask: What’s the author trying to say to me? Why is he/she saying this? Is this information surprising? What exactly surprised me? Do I agree / disagree strongly with the info? Why? Note it down. Be brief, but note it down. Then say: we just interacted with this text – now you give it a try.

The Harvard site calls these “habits.” Remind students that they should be marking up on a regular basis. Don’t just read your course text – interact with it.

What can you do today to help your students interact with their texts?

Photo by _maddin_

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Check out the video, and see what you can take away from it to apply to teaching. What got me thinking:

• How often do we focus only on the “what” of our lessons. (Bare bone facts. Grammar etc.)
• When we focus on fact without inspiring, we don’t engage our students. They won’t connect, and won’t take on our lesson content effectively. We need to move our teaching to communicate the Limbic area of our student’s brains. (Focus lesson content around “why” about grammar or phrasal verbs etc. How can you share your passion about these items in English?
• Consumers buy “what” they buy “why.” (See video.) Conversion to Classroom: Students don’t learn “What” they learn and own “Why.” Could this be true?

Start/join the conversation: Do you think this video could speak to teachers and how we do our job? How? How will it change the way you teach in your next class?

• How often do our classes resemble those brainless commutes to work where we switch off, and arrive on autopilot. No thinking required. You and your students pass along through course book activities, page by page. Unit by unit, until you reach the end. (But did anything valuable REALLY happen?)
• I totally remember a few of my high school teacher’s lectures simply because they decided to defy “normal” classroom action. The most vivid: My grade 8 science teacher bringing in two human lungs. The real deal. One was a weird pink color (healthy) and the other black through and through. (He even cut it open for us to see.) He later went on to explain that the pink lungs came from a person who died of natural causes. The other: Lung cancer victim. A full time chain smoker. That day a few of my buddies gave up smoking cold turkey, and I’ve never forgotten my science teacher’s talk about cancer and how smoking often plays a deadly roll its cause.
• Successful “Sticky” lessons are ones which break away from what normally happens in class. They, to paraphrase the article above, make your brain jump up and pay full attention.
• Brains often fall into slumber mode when they know they are about step into a predictable routine. (Heck, they say, I’ve done this so many times I don’t even have to look anymore. Can’t you hear the poor things yawning? Think: those mindless commutes to work when you sometimes arrive without knowing how you did it. As the article states: that’s pretty scary! )
• Do your students’ brains a favor: surprise them with your next lesson . (You’ll get bonus points if you surprise yourself surprising your students! And you may just find yourself ENGAGING YOURSELF with your lessons if you do it well…)

Break Normal: Grammar

Normal: (To be said in a boring robot voice) “We use the present continuous to talk about things we’re doing right now.”

You open your course book and have your students read the rule with you – “We use the present continuos to blah, blah, blah, and blah.” How many student brains just shifted over to that numb autopilot mode? Has yours yet?

What could be done differently? How could you present with a SURPRISE?

Well, instead of droning on about grammar rules and how to use them, what if you suddenly pulled out an enlarged picture or a power point slide with a picture of someone doing something exciting. Think: rock climbing: find a pic of someone hanging from a huge rock face. Look for sweat. Look for strain. BLOW IT UP to full size. Look for someone Y-E-L-L-I-N-G  into a telephone.  Or go opposite: look for someone bawling their eyes out sad. A person hanging their head over a toilet, sick as a dog.  Show the pick, whatever you find that suits your work for the day, and ask your students to tell you what is happening.

What’s that? You say this is their first time meeting Present Continuous? Great! Try modeling a few pictures first, with words/phrases and pictures they already know.  Take the cry picture. Likely your students know what cry means. Try starting by holding the picture up. “Hey everyone, what word does this picture remind you of?”

Students: “Cry.” “Sad.” “Depressed.”

You: “Cry! Great! That’s right. This person is sad.” – Here comes the intro – emphasize your words – “This person is CRYING right now, right?”

Students: “Yes.”

You: “This person is crying right now. In this moment.” (Now ask your students.) “What is this person doing right now?”

See? You’re not droning on and on about grammar rules yet. (Don’t start if you don’t have to. There are some people who do love a good grammar rule…but try to avoid grammarizing when and where you can.)

Bring up another picture with a word your students would know. Again, go for high energy pictures. Repeat the above process. Model. Invite students to use it, just like you.

You can do the same thing even if you’re introducing a new word with a picture. Model it. The picture will help students capture the true meaning of the word. Invite students to use it.

As students become comfortable with the continuous form, let them tell you what they notice about the construction of this tense. Maybe throw up a sentence in the continuous form (preferably one you’ve just encountered in your exercises) and ask: What do you notice that is different about this sentence? Coach them along until they notice the -ing ending.

Fireworks! Jump for joy! Praise your students like crazy – “That’s right! When you want to talk about things that are happening right now, you need to add -ing to the verb. Any questions?”

Great job! You’ve just done a grammar lesson without beating anyone on the head with rules or boring “official” terminology that not even native speakers care about when they talk. They just do it. And that’s what you’re trying to help your students do too, right?

Now it’s your turn. What can you do today, in your next lesson, to spark your lesson with SURPRISE! I’d love to hear about it…send me some comment love.

Photo By CarbonNYC

Three Ways to Break Boredom

1. Ask yourself if YOU’RE having fun. A sure sign that your students are bored with you as their teacher, is if you are bored with what you’re doing as their teacher. Check in with yourself. Were you excited and engaged with what you were doing with your last class? If you were, try to figure out why. Is it your material? Is it the content? Is it your students? Or maybe it’s just you.

If it’s the material, what don’t you like about it? And better yet, if you don’t like it, do you REALLY  HAVE to use it? (Talk with your supervisor or manager to see if you can change it.) And have you tried bringing in alternate sources?

Content Boredom: Same solution as above. Talk to the people you may need to talk to about making changes, and whenever possible bring in material that you think would be more exciting or engaging for your students. (And maybe even yourself.) Variety is the spice of life.

If it’s the students, then it’s likely time you ask for a rotation. Chemistry matters in class – there should be a “click” between you and your students if good things are going to happen. If you’re not “feeling it” then maybe you should ask for a different group of students.

What if it’s me? – Life has a way of speeding up,  doesn’t it? Have you ever gotten to the end of a week and wondered what the heck just happened? I sure have. (I think this week was one of them.) It’s so easy to jam our lives with being busy that we easily forget to pause, and relax, rest and not work. (Happens to me often, too.) But one thing I’ve noticed above all, when I don’t get enough sleep, life just seems to look darker. Normal schedule for me is to rise and shine between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. Monday to Friday. (And I’ve got two young kids, so Saturday and Sunday are early ones too.) But the worst, is finding myself going to bed late. Lately I’ve been working hard to put myself in bed and sleeping by 10:00 pm. I’ve noticed a pick up in spirits the next day. Happier. Less cranky. More patience. (Kids like that.) So if you find fun to be hard to get to during your class, make sure you’re getting enough rest. It does make a difference.

2. Don’t Marry your Course book. Course books are there to support you, not carry you. They are powerful little things though: as you get using them,  you feel like you shouldn’t deviate from them. Ever. One page after another. One exercise after another – if you’re not careful, the mighty course book can suck you in and steal your creativity. Don’t let this happen. Plan breaks away from your course book work. Look at what exercises are trying to accomplish, then see if there are outside sources which can help you achieve the same results.

3. Think: Intrigue. How are you going to earn their attention today? Flex your creative muscles. How can you get your students curious or interested in grammar today? How unusual can you be? How unexpected can you be? Again, don’t just feed students grammar rules, hunt around for creative and fun ways for students to connect with them.

This post was inspired after reading The Fun Theory in Language Learning.

What are you doing to bring fun into your classroom?

Photo by kevindooley