The Last Lecture (well, workshop)

ER Program Design and Implementation

Extensive Reading World Congress, Toyo Gakuen, Tokyo
Friday August 4th, 15:30-18:00

At the beginning of next month I’ll be doing a pre-conference workshop at the Extensive Reading World Congress in Tokyo. This will be my last presentation on education.

The title is the same as the book I have been thinking about writing for the last few years. The content too. In a way, it’s the summary of the last ten years of my work as a teacher. I hope it comes together the way I would like it to. If it does it should be a pretty comprehensive introduction to all aspects of designing and running an extensive reading program at the institutional level.

It’s a workshop, so we’ll be doing work. I’m going to use the PDR (preparation, discussion, reaction) framework to structure the group discussions and will cover the following areas:

  1. Designing a Program
  2. Selling a Program
  3. Setting up a Program
  4. Running a Program
  5. Leaving a Program

If you come to the conference I hope you will consider spending a couple of hours with us on Friday. I can almost guarantee you will find it useful.

If you have any questions before the event feel free to post them in the comments below.

25 Jul 2015, 1:26pm
eikaiwa kids teaching
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Freestyle warmups for children’s classes

warmup

Recently I have been doing these kinds of freestyle warmups with children’s classes. They are easy, fun, interactive, and break up a regular class well.

Start by introducing the language on the board. Then practice orally. Finally have students write their personalized version in their notebooks. The whole thing takes about ten minutes.

Global Teacher Prize

 

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Global Education and Skills Forum in March this year, where the first Global Teacher Prize was awarded.

One thing that struck me at the time is that of the 50 finalists, not one was from Japan.

Japan has a huge number of passionate educators who deserve recognition. I would love to see some of them in the finalists for the 2016 Global Teacher Prize.

Teachers of children between 5 and 18 years are eligible, and the judges are looking for:

  • Recognition of a teacher’s achievements in the classroom and beyond from pupils, colleagues, head-teachers or members of the wider community.
  • Encouraging others to join the teaching profession. Contributing to public debates on the teaching profession, whether through writing articles, blogs, media participation, social media campaigns, events or conferences.
  • Employing innovative and effective instructional practices and achieving demonstrable student learning outcomes in the classroom.
  • Achieving demonstrable student learning outcomes in the classroom.
  • Achievements in the community beyond the classroom that provide unique and distinguished models of excellence for the teaching profession and others.
  • Ensuring children receive a values-based education that prepares them to be global citizens in a world where they will encounter people from many different religions, cultures and nationalities.

If you know a great teacher, why not nominate them for the ‘Nobel Prize of teaching’ here?

REVIEW: Lifer, How to be a Bald Middle-aged Conversation Teacher in Japan

Lifer

I’m really pleased to kick off 2015 proper with a review of Lifer: How to Be a Bald Middle-Aged English Conversation Teacher in Japan. Based on the blog of the same name, it is written by the teacher behind Good and Bad Japan, a whimsical look at daily life here.

I think Carl must be a bit like me, because I suggested he turn his hilarious blog into an ebook years ago, and it’s only just come out 🙂

Lifer is probably the best book I have read about teaching English in Japan. Most of the time I could imagine that he was writing about my life, as I have lived many of the scenes in the book. A lot of the time it is laugh-out-loud funny, but the best thing about it is the author’s love of Japan and teaching that shows through the cracks in the anecdotes.

Please buy a copy immediately if you teach English in Japan or are considering doing so -not only will you enjoy it immensely and probably learn some things, but if it does well enough Carl may even get around to writing a sequel.

Everyone is weird

Some are weirder than others

bill gates

This article (thanks Ryan) made a lot of sense to me. It’s basically talking about how incredibly successful self-taught people (like Mr. Gates, who is currently trying to remake education in his own image) may have a view of the world that is skewed towards their own experiences and abilities.

I often find something similar in my teaching. I love reading and don’t enjoy deliberate study, so I often encourage my students to do the same. Invariably some of them don’t enjoy reading and do enjoy studying, and a few enjoy neither of those activities.

I think it’s important for teachers to keep this in mind: we are not the same as our students, and their preferences are likely not the same as ours either. It’s easy to forget, but something I keep coming back to.

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