[etni] Fwd: teachers........
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- Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:19:13 +0200
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From: phyllis oded <phylliso@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: teachers........
I would like to share some of my thoughts as a teacher with you.
I hope you enjoy my poems. Phyllis Oded
Eenie, meenie, minie, mo.
Eenie, meenie, minie, mo.
Where did all the good English teachers go?
They are overworked and underpaid,
Fewer come to teach and fewer have stayed.
Way too many students in a class
and too much pressure to make them pass.
New immigrant teachers don’t know what grammar to teach,
but anyway they are thrown into the breech.
The results are noisy classrooms and ineffective teaching,
high teacher turnover and over-reaching.
Eenie, meenie, minie, mo.
Where did all the good English teachers go?
Most likely to hi-tech where they can earn more money.
Definitely to give private lessons…………and it isn’t funny!
And what does the government have to say?
“Work like a dog and get less pay!”
The government no longer cares about education,
and this is not a new revelation!
Eenie, meenie, minie, mo.
Where did all the good English teachers go?
I know the answer and so do you,
but is there anything we can do?
I remember the teachers’ strike over twenty-five years ago.
We wanted teachers with a B.A. to be linked to the salary of engineers
with a B.A.
For six weeks we were on strike.
The results: The government agreed that we deserved to have our
salaries linked to those of the engineers, BUT there was no money.
Consequently, we were given a raise of 10 shekels a month, that’s all.
OUR CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE! They are the best investment we can make.
A COMPLAINT: ONE OF MANY
Part one; Read the poem below aloud to your class.
It seems to me that all I do is read and write the whole day long
with no time to see my friends. Something here is definitely wrong.
I seldom have a free minute to even go shopping at the mall,
except maybe before a holiday, but then that’s no fun at all,
because hundreds of other people are there, all of them shopping too
and it’s so, so crowded; I feel like I’m in a zoo!
I have to get up so early and I’m in school most of the day
where nobody seems to listen to what I have to say.
Teacher after teacher has often complained to me
that the students today just aren’t what they used to be.
Although I really try my best, I don’t always succeed
to teach my students all I know that they will need.
Part two: [Write this assignment on the board:] Choose one: You are
one of her students. Write a reply to this teacher [about 100 words]
OR: You are another teacher. Write a reply to this teacher above
[about 100 words.]
Use and underline all of the following petrazillia:
Not only // In addition to + verb // Despite // In my opinion // As a result
What my English teacher did after getting home yesterday:
[Teacher: Read the poem aloud twice to the students. Purpose of this
exercise: listening comprehension + reviewing the past simple
including making questions.]
Possible Pre-reading vocabulary to be put on the board and discussed:
1. broom 2. messages on an answering machine 3. to grade papers 4.
a full moon
5. to decide 6. to turn around 7. to turn back 8. food 9. to unlock
a door 10. to enter a room 11. she lit the fire 12. to wave]
[Teacher can bring pictures of: a witch with her face on it/a broom/etc.]
POEM:
What my English teacher did after getting home yesterday:
She unlocked her door and entered the room
before putting away her fast-flying broom.
She lit the fire and fed her black cat,
then sat down to take off her black, pointed hat.
It was time to grade papers; she had hundreds to do,
Some from YOUR class; some even from YOU!
My English teacher sat down, a red pen on the table
and began to grade papers,………..as many as she was able,
till she was too tired to grade any more;
then she took her broom and flew out the door.
UP, UP she went with her cat at her side,
both of them enjoying the full moon and the ride.
She waved when she saw me doing homework in my chair.
Then she flew higher, till they were no longer there.
The moon was full and the night was black,
When she finally decided that she had to turn back.
Home again…she listened to the messages on her answering machine
from other witches it had been a long time that she had last seen.
She made a few phone calls and spoke with her friends
And THAT dear students, is where this story ends!
THAT is what my English teacher did when she got home from school.
Like HARRY POTTER, she thought she was cool.
What my English teacher did after getting home yesterday: page two:
Possible oral questions for the students to answer after hearing the
poem read twice to test their listening comprehension:
1. What do we know about the broom?
2. What do we know about the cat?
3. Did the teacher have a lot of work to do? How do you know? What
work did she have to do? Did she finish all her work?
4. Why did she stop grading papers?
5. What did she do next? Was she alone?
6. How did she know YOU were doing homework?
7. What kind of night was it?
8. What did she do when she got home?
9. Could this be YOUR English teacher?
REVIEWING PAST SIMPLE: [This part is given to the students. 15 verbs]
The CAT tells her story:
I [sit] ________ by the window all day and [wait] ________ for Mrs.
Witch to come home. She [fly] ________ to the door on her broom and
she [be] ________ happy to see me. She [give] ________ me some food.
Then she [sit] ________ down to grade papers. She [not finish]
________ them all, there [be] ________ so many. At 9 p.m. she [take]
________ her broom and [call] ________ me to get on it. We [go]
________ out the window, high in the sky. We [look] ________in the
window of her student’s house and [see] ________ him doing homework.
Then we [turn] ________ around, because it [be] time to go home. We
[have] ________ a nice time.
Write two questions you want to ask this teacher:
a. ___________________________________________________________?
b. ___________________________________________________________?
Write two questions you want to ask the cat:
a. ___________________________________________________________?
b. ___________________________________________________________?
NOT AGAIN!
Sit down!
Open your books!
Where is your homework?
Don’t give me those looks!
Copy from the board!
Take out your pen!
Why must I tell you
again and AGAIN?
Pay attention!
Listen to me!
Is that an SMS message on your phone
that I see?
Turn off your cell phones
and put them away!
Hurry, hurry,
I don’t have all day!!!!!
Lesson plan: Read aloud to the class; pick one student to direct your
story to. Then have a student pretend that s/he is the teacher and you
are the student and have him/her reenact the above.
Written assignment: Write your answer to your teacher, [based on what
s/he has said to you above.]
Read the poem below TWICE to your students. THEN give them the written
assignment. Write it on the board.
All day long I read and write.
No time for friends. Something isn’t right!
There’s rarely a free minute to go to a mall
except on a holiday, but that’s no fun at all
because hundreds of other people are there too
and it’s so crowded; it’s worse than a zoo!
I get up so early and I’m in school all day,
but nobody listens to what I have to say.
Teacher after teacher has complained to me
that students today aren’t what they used to be.
Although I try my best, I don’t always succeed
to teach my students all the material that they need.
Oral discussion:
When did you realize the narrator was a teacher and not a student?
Do you agree with the teacher’s complains. Explain.
Do you think that except for the last two lines of the poem, it
couldhave just as well been written by a student? Explain.
Writing assignment: Write a reply to the speaker above.
Choose one: a. you are one of her students.
b. you are another teacher.
ESSAYS
I graded essays yesterday and also the day before.
So many papers, I can’t LOOK at anymore.
The longer I sit here, the unhappier I feel
Maybe I’ll finish tomorrow; [it’s really no big deal.]
The ideas in their essays are sometimes not connected.
Do my students even bother to read what I’ve corrected?
…..Or do they just look at the grades and toss the essays away
[and go on to make the same mistakes…………………………. day after day after day?]
Although I correct and explain, most students don’t seem to care.
They write the same mistakes over and over again till I’m tearing out my hair.
ANSWER ME, dear students! Do you really care at all?
……because instead of wasting time on your essays,
…………………………………. I could be shopping in the mall!
Writing Assignment: opinion
Write an answering letter to this/your English teacher. 120 words
Give your point of view on writing [and correcting] essays.
Use: In my opinion//Not only// However//As a result//….stop… //
Only after //To sum up
A TEACHER AGREES
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL TRIPS
Alone!
No one around.
Nothing moving.
Nowhere a sound.
Alone!
It’s quiet! I can relax.
No cell phone. No computer.
No bells. No fax.
Alone!
No essays to mark.
No quizzes to grade.
The students are on a trip.
Today I have it made!
TWO BUSES
Two buses stop at my corner, only TWO buses in all.
One goes to my school; the other one goes to the Mall.
I waited very patiently for my bus to come,
But it didn’t………so after 10 minutes……..I took the OTHER one!
If I miss few classes, who will even know?
I’d much rather go shopping, so…..shopping I will go!
The Mall is so lovely; it’s air-conditioned everywhere.
If I’m not in school today, will anyone really care?
I walked around the Mall; I took the escalator from floor to floor.
By the time I had finished my shopping, I could hardly fit out of the door!
I bought some shoes; I bought some jeans; I bought and bought a LOT of things.
And don't forget the jewelry: I bought a gold chain and some rings.
What a lovely day! Signed, The Teacher
Oral questions:
1. When did you begin to realize it wasn’t a student who was telling the story?
2. Which, if any of YOUR teachers might be tempted to act as this
teacher did? Why do you think so?
3. Explain this picture in connection with the story above. =
Written assignment: Choose one: You are the principal//one of the
students in this teacher’s classes. Write a letter to her about her
missing school that day. 100+ words
DEEP IN THE FOREST….
Deep in a forest, where no one else can see
my English teacher lives, as quietly as can be.
No T.V., no video, no computer, no noise
And most of all, no girls and no boys!
She locks her door and closes her drapes
and sits down to eat some melon and grapes.
Then she takes off her shoes and picks up her red pen
and begins to grade more quizzes again.
Hundreds of papers: essays and tests.
Look how hard she works; she never rests!
Book reports, homework, she checks them all,
before putting them in her bag that’s waiting in the hall.
Deep in the forest where no one’s around
she climbs on her broom and soon can be found
flying to school on her trusty old broom……………
and she’ll soon be landing in YOUR class room.
[***Teacher: hold up a small broom and say loudly: “HERE I COME!!”]
1. Write three sentences you remember about this English teacher.
2. Why do you think she lives in such a quiet place?
3. She eats ‘melon and grapes’. Name 5 other kinds of fruit. Can you spell them?
4. She takes off her shoes. Name 3 other articles of clothing. Can you
spell them?
5. She picks up her red pen. Name all the colors you can think of. Can
you spell them?
Review of yes/no questions in the present simple
Teacher: Review the following vocabulary, according to the level of
your class 5,6,7th grades:
spouse//cupboard//eraser//to grade papers//to plan lessons//to pop out
When you read this poem aloud, stress the words in bold.
I WONDER……
I have often wondered what teachers do
at the end of the day, when we’ve left school.
Do they have any friends to sit with and talk?
Do they ever go to a Mall or a park for a walk?
Were they always teachers? Were they never young?
Do they do anything besides teaching to ‘have fun’?
Do they all grade papers half the night
and then plan lessons till the next morning’s light?
Do you think they have children and maybe a spouse?
Do they eat food like we do and live in a house?
OR
Do they stay at school at the end of each day
and, like a pen and eraser, get put away
into the cupboard till the next time we come?
THEN out pop the teachers with the morning’s sun!
Now reread the poem and have the students come up with their answers
for the 10 questions asked in the poem and give reasons why they think
so.
Teacher’s answer:
I am a teacher, I want you to know.
I don’t live in school. I have places to go.
At the end of each day I go home, just like you.
I have friends AND hobbies and lots of things to do.
nobody knew the answers
Nobody knew the answers;
I could see it on their faces.
Some students seemed in shock;
others were turning in their places.
I had told them what to study;
I had asked lots of questions, too,
but it seems that they didn’t study
as they didn’t have a clue.
Maybe they’ve learned a lesson
and in the future they’ll study more.
Maybe they just don’t like me
and think that I’m a bore.
Maybe they’ll pay attention
the next time that I say
that they HAVE to go over the material before a test.
It’s the only way.
OPINION ESSAY: YOU are the student. Answer the teacher above. 100+ words\
OR oral class discussion
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