Days when it pays to teach unplugged...

                                                      Image by Aleksi Aaltonen

So today the one photocopier / printer in the college stopped working ... again! Why we can't have a backup printer is a question that has been asked many times with an answer yet to be forthcoming!

Everyone panicked... calls were made etc... I started to march over to management to voice my protests when I stopped. I thought about the classes I'd planned for tomorrow ... and had an amazing realisation ... both my sessions were completely material free.

It was a total accident but I felt great.  Plus I was then able to share round some ideas... to a certain level of scepticism... combined with growing interest :-) It was the Mike Harrison idea that brought one of my friends round :-D

So if anyone's interested... my plan for tomorrow's E1 class is to start with "Something we did" p36 of Teaching Unplugged and see where it goes. If you haven't got a copy I'd highly recommend it. Followed by a slightly adapted version of Mike Harrison's excellent lesson on reverse reading.

With my E3s... I'm planning to go out and buy some A4 notebooks tonight. Then we can start using notebooks as coursebooks as per another amazing lesson shared by Jason Renshaw . I actually found that post through Chris Miner's new blog where he describes a great session. The learners are already primed to bring in their own texts so we'll see how it goes. Plus if there's time I'd like to do a bit of vocab revision using this fun, interactive idea from Cecilia Lemos.

Once again many thanks to bloggers all over the world for sharing their inspiring teaching moments online and particularly the ones above who have helped me plan my first unplugged day! I am feeling quite chuffed... I'm a long way off being fully unplugged but tomorrow is looking pretty good and perfect timing as well ;-p

Comments

[Harrisonmike]

Excelente!!

Happy to have helped - hope the activity (and the unplugged day) goes well! I can hardly claim to be fully unplugged ever myself, and am not about to go plug myself in to recharge after one loooooooong day!

Mike =)

[Harrisonmike]

Whoops, I 'am about to go and plug myself in...' Long day!

[Account Deleted]

Fantastic Anna!!!! how about a post telling us how the students liked / worked with the unplugged class? I'd love to read it! Thanks for sharing your ideas as well - am a regular reader! ;-)

Cecilia

[Anna Rose]

Hi Mike - thanks for dropping by... it was a good day ... well worth repeating I think. Everyone loved the reverse reading... so simple yet so effective! Hope you got your charge back ;-p and looking forward to pinching many more of your ideas in the future!

Thanks so much Cecilia (sorry I spelt your name wrong btw - now rectified!) Very flattered and encouraged by your comments... and a follow up post is on its way! :-)

[DavidWarr]

Great idea to get your learners to use notebooks as coursebooks. You could even get them to make their own, much cheaper too. Just get blank paper, some stiffer paper for the cover, a hole puncher (the ones that have lots of holes look neater than the ones with just two), and some wool to tie the pages. Using wool means you can cut and add extra pages from time to time, especially if you've got some handouts. Get them to write in each others' books, and as you teach mixed language ESOL, they can write short messages in their L1s. At the end of the course, they all write farewell messges so that in years to come they'll have a lovely record of the class, more personal than any coursebook could ever hope to achieve.

[Anna Rose]

Thanks David - wish I could claim it as mine but it's another Renshaw jewel! ;-p

That's such a great suggestion... I've been really thinking about how to incorporate their own notes / work but also the occasional sheet that we produce together. This could really work ... hmmm going to have to do some experimenting! I've just gone out and got them all notebooks but next time that's an idea that will come in very handy.

The personalisation idea is lovely. I like the idea of creating something in class that has longevity rather than a folder stuffed full of mish-mashed lessons that they invariably leave behind at the end of the year.

Thank you :-)