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Games, activities and teaching ideas > Why so many great contributions by teachers from hispanophone/lusophone countries and Eastern Europe?
Why so many great contributions by teachers from hispanophone/lusophone countries and Eastern Europe?
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blunderbuster
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Why so many great contributions by teachers from hispanophone/lusophone countries and Eastern Europe?
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Hi there,
I don �t know about you, but I have been wondering why so few of the contributions here are made by teachers from my country, Germany. There are so many German members, most of whom have little more than 0 points.
On the other hand, I have noticed that teachers from certain geographic regions are extremely creative and prolific. Why is that? Why are they willing to or do they invest so much time in making their own materials? Do these teachers make more of their own materials or are they simply more willing to share with others?
What can this phenomenon teach us about the environments in which these teachers operate or "have to function"? (What) can this teach us about the quality of teaching in our own environments?
I am very keen to hear what you have to say.
Regina
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17 Apr 2010
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Lina Ladybird
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@class centre
Why is that?
Because this is an ESL site: ENGLISH as a SECOND LANGUAGE!!
For British teachers and British students English is the FIRST language. ;))))
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17 Apr 2010
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blunderbuster
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@ topolina:
ESL refers to teaching in anglophone countries (English as a Second Language), EFL (English as a Foreign Language) refers to teaching in non-anglophone countries.
I have a TEFL certificate and there is the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)
So, especially in England and all other anglophone countries, people teach ESL, so, you and I and the people mentioned in the heading teach EFL.
;o)
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17 Apr 2010
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Lina Ladybird
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Thanks for telling me, blunderbuster!! But it doesn �t really matter if British teachers teach ESL or EFL. This website is predominantly aimed at teachers of children, judging from what kind of printables are uploaded here every day. I guess if you teach EFL, you have more adults to teach or at least learners who are older than 4 years. Am I right? E. g. as an EFL teacher I also teach Business classes, and materials for this kind of English class are not so much wanted here I suppose.
BTW, I know that my comments don�t really answer your questions, but I simply don�t know the answer to them. ;))
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17 Apr 2010
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Catalina Sorina
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I teach children aged from 9 to 14. Maybe it has to do (at least in my case) with the fact that I teach the same textbooks I learnt from as a child (I �ve got textbooks older than 10 years), but the syllabus has changed. Sometimes I have to design my own worksheets because I simply cannot use the textbooks I have.
Maybe this is an answer to your question.
Catalina |
17 Apr 2010
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Ahlam
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Salam,
It �s truely great to share not only ws bt thoughts and constructive ideas. I am an EFL and English is a foregin language for me as well. Most of my students are either false beginners. I teach English where all other subjects are taught in Arabic including maths, science....etc. So it �s a big challenge, the more challenge i face with my Sts the more it makes me think of creating ws or whatever ideas to motivate my sts to learn English and develop their skills.
Besides, all other teachers contributions here have been of great help not only for my Sts bt also encourage me to share more and create more.
Rgards
Waiting to hear from others too |
17 Apr 2010
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lshorton99
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I think the environment has a lot to do with it. I rarely made materials until about a year ago. My powerpoint skills were just above zero and my worksheets were mostly made my cutting and pasting from other books. My school had recently installed interactive whiteboards which changed a lot for me. Along with the whiteboards, they set up a sharing place, similar to this, but only for teachers of my school - called the �staffroom �. I think this encouraged me to start making materials I actually thought worth sharing. This was mostly powerpoints at first and then I started making worksheets, mostly inspired by this site, which really motivated me to do more.
So, is it possible that the schools in the areas which make more materials have better facilities? But then, I always thought the German education system was excellent so I �m not sure that can be the reason! My school actively encourages teachers to create so maybe that has something to do with it!
What surprised me most about this site when I first started contributing was that nearly all the materials I download are from non-native speakers. There is a tendency in EFL/ESL to look down on them - my school, for example, will only employ native speakers as full-time teachers. I used to be fairly critical myself! But when you look at the quality in the materials or on the forums, it really changes your perspective!
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17 Apr 2010
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aliciapc
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In my case, I �ve always had to prepare extra material to use in class, apart from textbooks, mainly because in a class of about 20 -25 you �ll always have some ss who are slower at learning than the rest. It �s common practice for me that some students need scaffolding for some time while others don �t, so for those I need extra ws to give for homework or to work with them in particular while fast finishers do sth else.
Besides, I don �t have access to the web, not very often at least, and of course no interactive whiteboards ... I guess that makes teachers in my situation "produce" more while maybe others are lucky enough to have many more resources ...
What I �ve found amazing here was, not only the quality of ws, as Lindsey says, but also the way they are presented ! My computer skills are no good so my ws have never been as attractive as the ones here! I started using them last month, when classes began, and ss have had nice comments on the pictures and design of the ws, I guess it �s more attractive for them, too! |
17 Apr 2010
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mena22
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Hi Regina! Once somebody asked here in the forum how come there were 4 Portuguese among the members with the most downloaded worksheets. I had no answer for that, but in my case I can say that I have always loved creating resources for my students and I see it not as "work" but as a "hobby". I know it �s difficult for some to understand that, but the fact is that inventing a story, creating a character, designing a new layout... well, that relaxes me.
We have textbooks at school, but every week I use some of my own material. Besides, as Alicia put it, there are students who need scaffolding for a period of time and many of my worksheets are used as remedial work to be done at home. Students take the key home in the next lesson and take control over their learning.
I must say that at my school there are about 24 English teachers and each of them enjoys creating his/her own resources, some more than others, that �s true, but generally speaking they all create worksheets or powerpoints for their students. No one likes just "to follow" the textbook.
The fact that teachers of each year/grade plan the lessons together may also contribute to creating more material. Sometimes we have such good ideas that we simply can �t resist planning a lesson with them.
Have a nice evening,
mena
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17 Apr 2010
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zailda
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Hi!
Before joining this site I had no idea how good the Spanish and Portuguese ESL teachers are. In fact my admiration grows day by day when I see the wonderful resources they provide.
Of course we also have extraordinary resources by other members from different countries and we have to face it: the teacher �s skills and knowledge are not specially related to the country s/he came from, but to the effort and dedication to his/her students� learning and practice.
Have a nice day/ evening.
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17 Apr 2010
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marta v
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Hi!
I create my worksheets because I believe none of the coursebooks or grammar books I �ve used so far actually provided the skills and knowledge organised well enough for students to find it both motivating and easily absorbed.
The other reason is that the teaching materials in our schools are pretty scarce - coursebooks, blackboard, chalk, maybe whiteboard and a CD player. So we HAVE TO be creative in order to keep the students interested.
Marta
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17 Apr 2010
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