what are you doing saturday? if you're in montreal you should come to....
La Maison de l'Amitié language school is looking to develop and implement environmental education units as part of its french and english classes. This initiative will be a joint effort between Maison de l'Amitie, Mouvement Interculturel pour l'Environment
(www.miemontreal.wordpress.com) and Greening Duluth.
I would like to gather a group of members from both organizations and teachers from Maison de l'Amitié for a visioning and brainstorming session of how this project can play out. The session would include discussing the clientele and logistics of the language program and how environmental education can enrich their time at MA. As well, brainstorming ideas for lesson plans and social activities that raise
environmental awareness.
We'll be meeting Feb 16th from 11-13h at La Maison de l'Amitié. If you would like to bring a bunch/lunch dish to share we will be able to nourish ourselves a bit as we brainstorm!
Showing posts with label teaching english. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching english. Show all posts
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
teaching english continues to go well! and i've been getting good feedback from my students. it's hard to believe that today was only my 3rd class. i'm proud i already have everyone's names down pat. (julieta, gerardo, emilio, yuki, xavier, jean, didier, roni, isabelle, maria....)
for tonight's class we did a quick review of the future tenses from last class. then we went on to explain modal verbs (would, could, may, might, should, must). I had a handout made up with each modal verb, its different usages (possibility, obligation, permission, etc) and then examples for each.
then in order to practice the verbs, we read an article on global warming out loud together and i had them find the modal verbs in the article and define their use. then we moved into a discussion on global warming and what should we do as individuals and what our governments should be responsible for extra. As a group they were pretty well informed about the issue, but there was a lot of emphasis on the government's responsibility to impose changes and respond to global warming rather than individual's obligation to act.
I tried not to give my own opinion too much, but did try to play the "devil's advocate" (which i admit was sometimes my own opinion) in order to keep the discussion going and interested.
personally, i believe that we don't have time to wait for governments to respond to global warming- yes governments do need to take action, a lot lot lot more action- but it at the same time, individuals are going to realize that we can't go on living the same way we do. we have to make sacrifices, and we have to start now! to start examining the way we live next class I'm going to show a short film called the the story of stuff .
its a 20 minute film that you can watch online or download. its all about being conscious and rethinking of cycles of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. take a couple of minutes to check it out! i'll be sure to blog about how showing it in class goes.
for tonight's class we did a quick review of the future tenses from last class. then we went on to explain modal verbs (would, could, may, might, should, must). I had a handout made up with each modal verb, its different usages (possibility, obligation, permission, etc) and then examples for each.
then in order to practice the verbs, we read an article on global warming out loud together and i had them find the modal verbs in the article and define their use. then we moved into a discussion on global warming and what should we do as individuals and what our governments should be responsible for extra. As a group they were pretty well informed about the issue, but there was a lot of emphasis on the government's responsibility to impose changes and respond to global warming rather than individual's obligation to act.
I tried not to give my own opinion too much, but did try to play the "devil's advocate" (which i admit was sometimes my own opinion) in order to keep the discussion going and interested.
personally, i believe that we don't have time to wait for governments to respond to global warming- yes governments do need to take action, a lot lot lot more action- but it at the same time, individuals are going to realize that we can't go on living the same way we do. we have to make sacrifices, and we have to start now! to start examining the way we live next class I'm going to show a short film called the the story of stuff .
its a 20 minute film that you can watch online or download. its all about being conscious and rethinking of cycles of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. take a couple of minutes to check it out! i'll be sure to blog about how showing it in class goes.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
my first evening teaching english yesterday went well! i really like my students. they are a really an interesting and diverse group (brazil, haiti, lithuania, colombia, japan, france, mexico, mexico, mexico, mexico,mexico....) they all seem enthusiastic about participating and want to learn so they can get better jobs, improve they're immigration chances, etc. Many of them are on student visas, one is a grad students, another is a lawyer, one's a dispatcher. i feel challenged, but in a motivating sort of way, to live up to them and their desire to get the most out of this clast.
also, it is a bit strange being the person in charge while being, by far, the youngest. so i hope my abilities can outweigh that.
i've just spent the last hour preparing exercises on the future tenses for tomorrow's class.
also, it is a bit strange being the person in charge while being, by far, the youngest. so i hope my abilities can outweigh that.
i've just spent the last hour preparing exercises on the future tenses for tomorrow's class.
Monday, January 14, 2008
teacher teacher! 
ben, you are no longer the only english teacher in the family!
at the MA language program we were yet to find a level 3 english teacher (and classes start in less than a week!).
i have been feeling more and more overwhelmed with the sheer amount of hours (20/week) of my evening french classes and have been questioning how much learning nit-picky french grammar is really relevant for my future. so, i decided to drop the french and teach the english class, which is more like 10 hours a week rather than 20. i'm getting really really excited for the opportunity!
the level 3 is our highest level at MA (about intermediate level speakers). it is basically focused on improving conversation /oral skills. my main task will be coming up with ways to get people talking and participating. i'll also have to be teaching a bit of grammar, which i will have to teach myself first (like what they heck is a modal verb?!!). i'm especially excited to plan a big environmental issues unit into the lesson plans and take my students on some sweet field trips!
i think i can assure you that this new position will be quite a fruitful move for my blog- i should have some funny, probably embarrassing, and hopefully insightful stories to tell!
ben, you are no longer the only english teacher in the family!
at the MA language program we were yet to find a level 3 english teacher (and classes start in less than a week!).
i have been feeling more and more overwhelmed with the sheer amount of hours (20/week) of my evening french classes and have been questioning how much learning nit-picky french grammar is really relevant for my future. so, i decided to drop the french and teach the english class, which is more like 10 hours a week rather than 20. i'm getting really really excited for the opportunity!
the level 3 is our highest level at MA (about intermediate level speakers). it is basically focused on improving conversation /oral skills. my main task will be coming up with ways to get people talking and participating. i'll also have to be teaching a bit of grammar, which i will have to teach myself first (like what they heck is a modal verb?!!). i'm especially excited to plan a big environmental issues unit into the lesson plans and take my students on some sweet field trips!
i think i can assure you that this new position will be quite a fruitful move for my blog- i should have some funny, probably embarrassing, and hopefully insightful stories to tell!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Empanadas! 
i forgot to mention in my last post that last night my roommates and friends had an empanada party. we did this as a send off for tyler, who is leaving to columbia with CPT next week. Empanadas are made throughout central and south america, and as far as Spain and the Philippines. (have you had any ben?)
ours turned out really good!
basically you make a dough very similar to pie crust. roll it out, and then fill it with things like meat or tofu, potatoes, cheese, carrots, other veggies and spices. then you bake or deep fry them (we opted for the baking). you can also make dessert empanadas. we made some DELICIOUS ones with cream cheese and mango filling and topped them with cinnamon sugar!
check out this step-by-step guide for making your own!
i forgot to mention in my last post that last night my roommates and friends had an empanada party. we did this as a send off for tyler, who is leaving to columbia with CPT next week. Empanadas are made throughout central and south america, and as far as Spain and the Philippines. (have you had any ben?)
ours turned out really good!
basically you make a dough very similar to pie crust. roll it out, and then fill it with things like meat or tofu, potatoes, cheese, carrots, other veggies and spices. then you bake or deep fry them (we opted for the baking). you can also make dessert empanadas. we made some DELICIOUS ones with cream cheese and mango filling and topped them with cinnamon sugar!
check out this step-by-step guide for making your own!
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