Higor Cavalcante
When boredom sets in, students walk out.
It has always been a challenge for me, and in my experience as a teacher trainer for most – if not all – teachers, to add the elusive variety to my classes. Penny Ur says there's a great difference between a teacher with twenty years' experience and one with one year's experience repeated twenty times (probably my favorite TESOL quote ever), while Jeremy Harmer conversely says that the constant repetition of classroom routines can dent even the most ardent initial enthusiasm. The same happens with students, and it seems obvious to me that one of the most important things to keep students motivated and eager to come to our classes is variety, which is a just a very big word for FUN. In this first International House São Paulo talk at DISAL, we'll discuss how to lower affective filters and keep students on their toes. Games and game-like activities, songs, video and much more will be addressed in this talk.
Swap session: At the end of the talk, we'll have a swap session. You're asked to bring 50 copies or so of an activity you have successfully used with your students of any level (It can be a song activity, a video activity, grammar, vocabulary, culture, speaking, listening…). The only criterion is it has to be original and prepared by you (meaning it can NOT consist of photocopies of copyrighted materials!). Hopefully, by the end of the session, besides all of the ideas we'll have discussed together, you'll be leaving with 50 (or more!) copies of previously tested activities devised by teachers from various schools, all ready to use.
(Be sure to include your email address at the bottom of your activity so as to make it possible for us to keep in touch).
When students feel good in the classes, they go the distance.
Higor Cavalcante has been in the TESOL area for over 10 years, and has worked for various institutions in Brazil as a teacher, teacher trainer, pedagogical coordinator and pedagogical consultant. He holds, among others, the Cambridge CPE and CELTA, and is currently working on his DELTA and preparing for the Trinity Diploma. He has published articles on using video in the classroom, has trained teachers all over the country, is the author of the brand new blog www.friendsintheclassroom.blogspot.com, and will be working as a teacher and teacher trainer at the new International House São Paulo from January 1st, 2011. You can contact him at higor@ih-saopaulo.com .
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