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LEARNING FROM THE TWO CAMBRIDGES

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Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die Video on TED.com

ENGLISH WORDLES

THE POETRY SECTION

My literature students are very talented and gifted writers. They are now experimenting with poetry and this is just to show you a little bit of the many things they can do.

Instructions for students: Please, write your poem in the comments area. This way, you will share your poems with me and with the rest of your partners. Thank in advance for sharing your talent with us.

Your literature teacher.

WHY AM I A TEACHER? WHY AN ENGLISH TEACHER?

Ever since I started to read, I got curious when I tried to read and understand some books written in English that were there in my house, because my God father, who had always studied English had left them there.

I remember asking my mother who those books belonged to and what language that was (I was about 5 years old, then) and she explained to me whose they were and why they were there. Since then, I knew there was another way to communicate with people.

I decided to study "Applied Linguistics" when I finished High School because English had always been a subject I had done very well in and I had very good teachers in Junior High School and High School, so I guess, somehow, they had set a very good example and become my role models.

When I was doing my first degree, I was always reluctant to teaching. I had never considered teaching because it had been an environment I had never liked very much, due to the fact that, as you all know, here in Mexico, it is involved in a lot of problems, specially surrounded by corrpution and lack of support.

However, the very first time I stepped into a classroom in front of a class, things were different. The joy of being surrounded by souls who are eager to learn, was and has been my prime motivation.

I have never made a lot of money for being a teacher and I don't expect to do so, teaching is not a career you can become millionaire, if you do, that means that you may not be teaching, you may be taking advantage of naïve people in need and we know there are a lot of people of this kind, both, millionaire and naïve in this country.

I am teaching for the joy of sharing what I know with people who want to learn and for the joy of learning from them and every experience I have. After all, that's what we are invited to do while we are alive, LEARN.

And you, why do you want to be an English teacher?

BACK FROM A LONG JOURNEY

It's been a very long time since I haven't had a chance to write and edit this blog. I hope I am doing this on time to be able to share all what I've learned so far with my students and colleagues.

It's been long and also many things have happened which I will share with you later on.

Looking forward to your comments!

Myrna

What kinds of technology training have you received in the past? From these workshops or classes, which skills do you continue to use? Why do you think some skills "stick" with you, while others are quickly forgotten? If you know of a "best way" for you to learn and remember new skills, describe this process.

I haven't received much training as I have never had the opportunity to be in a course which involves learning about all the skills I have tried to develop so far. I had the opportunity to be in an 8 hour course of learning how to use the Internet to teach English. Another opportunity I also had was an e-tutoring course, where I could develop ideas to use in CMC (platforms) systems in order to be able to do on-line tutoring. It was a very useful course and I learned to appreciate all the options we have on-line to use with our students.

A way that I think helps me keep the things which I learned from my courses is by doing it, that is to say, if I learned to use the Internet, I have to look for places which can be useful for my students, take my students to the language laboratory, pilot them and then see whether they could work or not and see how useful the activity was for my students. If I learned to e-tutor my students, create some activities which could help them be directed from the computer so that they can work from the laboratory (or if possible from home) so that they can see how useful the computer can be as a tool.

With this, I think I just can sumarise that for me the best way to keep things with me when I learn something new is by "doing" them, try as much as possible to develop the ability and keep practising so that I don't forget it quickly. I could also say that when I don't practice that what I have learned for some time, obviously I forget and when I try things again, it takes me longer to remember and sometimes I even get discouraged from doing the thing I wanted simply because it took me too long to do it.

That's at least what happens to me. What about you all?