WHY YOUR STUDENTS DON’T REMEMBER WHAT YOU TEACH

I would like to share an article written by Terry Heick, Founder and Director at TeachThought, author, and former classroom teacher interested in how and why people learn.

Why Your Students Don’t Remember What You Teach: The Overwhelming Power Of ‘Place’ In LearningA decent question: Why don’t your students remember what you’ve taught?

A better question: Why don’t they understand what you’ve taught?

A better question still: Why don’t students understand and use what they’ve been taught to create a better world?

The answer may have something to do with a kind of cultural schema. Place. The value of ‘place’ in learning lies in its function as context: People seek to know things in order, usually, to do things, and these things are done–without exception–in a ‘place’.

What is the difference between a location and a place? One distinction is that of fullness. A location is geographic and singular; a place is artistic and whole. Location would be the address you were married, or had your first kiss. The ‘place’ would be how that place sits in your memory.

If we assume that education is, in part, about “career readiness,” then one overarching goal of learning might be for each learner to understand not just how to “get a job,” or even how to work, but rather how to work well, and how to decide what their work might be.

A person’s work, as opposed to a job, is about their ability to know what can and should be done, and to bring their experience and affection to bear on that work to do it, and do it well. Parenting, for example, isn’t a job, but a matter of work. Teaching is work, too. The underlying thought process behind the decision to be a teacher might go like this:

1. It is necessary for people to know things, and how to do things related to what they know.

2. Teaching is one important way to support this.

3. Teaching, then, is work worth doing.

4. I am going to decide how to teach, and then over the years learn to teach well.

But what it means to do something well depends on context. Who is being taught? Where have they been? Where are they going? What do they need to know as a result? How can I help them come to know this content or these skill? To further clarify the necessary specificity, the pronouns have to be singular, not plural. Not “What do they need to know?”, but rather “What does this child, in this place, need to know?” This is the foundation of personalized learning.

How Learning Changes Us 

In terms of function, learning might look like this:

1. Incrementally acquire new data

2. Synthesize that with what you already know

3. Experiment with that new mix by application

Find something, combine it with what you already know, and try to use it to see if it works the way you expected. Readjust perception, and repeat endlessly.

This is how to divide. How does that compare to multiplication? Where is this useful? How is this similar and dissimilar to what I already know? Let’s give division a try by solving these three problems.

This is the definition of literary symbolism. It is similar to a metaphor and related to an allegory; symbolism itself isn’t limited to literature, but extends to everything from flags to wedding rings to hip-hop wordplay. Let me see if I can identify the symbols in this song, and figure out how the songwriter is using them for some kind of effect. 

Of course, this is not limited to academic knowledge. The same applies to learning ethics, problem-solving, decision-making, and so on. It’s easy to see, then, how learning changes beliefs. And it’s all unique to each learner. When you learn to play the violin, or learn how special effects are used to create illusions in movies–that knowledge is internalized inevitably through your own native–and quite personal–schema. That is, you interpret ideas through the ideas you’ve already had, and each idea impacts the rest.

In terms of sequence, the process of learning might go something like this:

1. Awareness leads to thoughts.

2. Thoughts both reflect and create knowledge.

3. Knowledge lead to emotions.

4. Emotions lead to behavior.

Learning, therefore, results in both personal and social change through self-knowledge and behavioral change. That is, learning changes how you think, feel, and behave or it isn’t learning at all, but rather more of a kind of exposure that incidentally yields to illusory gains on assessment forms too crude to know what real understanding looks like. Roughly and abstractly put, that’s learning.

Personal change is process; social change is a process. Both are effects of understanding.

And it all happens in a place.

Don't Quit

One interesting word in English: Oxymoron

Oxymorons are figures of speech in which two contradictory terms are combined in order to create a rhetorical effect by paradoxical means. The word oxymoron is derived from the Greek for pointedly foolish (oxys = sharp/keen and moros = foolish). Oxymorons are extremely useful in written English because they can make effective titles, add dramatic effect, add flavor to speech, and can sometimes be used to achieve a comedic effect. Here is a comprehensive list of 64 examples of oxymorons in sentences. In each example, the oxymoron is underlined.

Examples of Oxymorons in Sentences

1.    This is another fine mess you have got us into.

2.    There is a real love hate relationship developing between the two of them.

3.    Suddenly the room filled with a deafening silence.

4.    The comedian was seriously funny.

5.    You are clearly confused by the situation you have found yourself in.

6.    Her singing was enough to raise the living dead.

7.    Do you have the original copies that we requested?

8.    This is a genuine imitation Rolex watch.

9.    I really would like to try that new jumbo shrimp restaurant.

10.  His new girlfriend really is pretty ugly.

11.  Sorry, I can't help you out right now, I am involved in my own minor crisis.

12.  Give me the fifty dollars you owe me or pay for dinner, it's the same difference.

13.  My trip to Bali was very much a working holiday.

14.  I let out a silent scream as the cat walked through the door carrying a dead bird.

15.  You are going to have to take the job as an online proofreader, it is your only choice.

16.  The seventies was the era of free love.

17.  I will ask the professor for his unbiased opinion.

18.  The constant variable is the one that does not change.

19.  The sermon lasted for an endless hour.

20.  We laughed and cried through the tragic comedy.

21.  Parting is such sweet sorrow.

22.  They couldn't wait to get out alone together.

23.  We'll use plastic glasses at the picnic.

24.  The student teacher explained how to complete the homework.

25.  The gossip is old news.

26.  The lady he eventually married is painfully beautiful.

27.  Wow! This ice cream is disgustingly delicious.

28.  Be careful in the playground, run slowly.

29.  Your apple pie is awfully good.

30.  A small crowd gathered to watch the concert.

31.  It's an open secret that they have been having an affair for the past six months.

32.  He has a real passive aggressive personality.

33.  You were awfully lucky to escape the car crash unscathed.

34.  Stop being a big baby.

35.  I am sure I am growing smaller as I get older.

36.  She is my least favorite relation.

37.  The story was based on the concept of  a true myth.

38.  That is an example of the typically weird behavior she continually demonstrates.

39.  He has become an extremely unpopular celebrity.

40.  I'm on a heavy diet until my wedding day.

41.  I am a deeply superficial person.

42.  I like a smuggler. He is the only honest thief.

43.  Good grief, we're really late.

44.  I can't make any promises but it's a definite possibility.

45.  She was terribly pleased with her Birthday present.

46.  The army returned friendly fire as the enemy approached.

47.  He installed the new wireless cable in the television room.

48.  He was forced to stand down from his position as president.

49.  There will be zero tolerance in the future.

50.  I had no choice but to do what I was told.

In which context are these two words used?

Abstemious & Abstinent

The adjective abstemious means 'sparing in consumption of food and drink, not self-indulgent'. The word comes from the Latin abstemius from ab-, abs-, 'away from' + temetum, 'alcoholic drink'. Abstinent comes from a different Latin word, abstinere, 'to abstain', from ab-, abs-, 'away from', + tenere, 'to hold'. It means 'denying one's appetites completely; doing without'.

Abstinent differs from abstemious in two respects: first, it refers to all appetites and desires, whereas abstemious tends to refer only to food and drink, or even specifically to alcoholic drink alone; secondly, abstinent suggests total self-denial, abstemious simply suggests moderation. 

The noun derived from abstemious is abstemiousness; abstinent has two related nouns-abstinence and abstention. Abstention, unlike abstinence, has no suggestion of denying the appetites: it refers simply to refraining from something-a single act of abstaining(commonly, abstaining from voting). Abstinence suggests continuous abstaining (as from drink). 

What is Emotional Intelligence?

The concept of emotional intelligence has become a very hot topic of psychological research in recent years, especially in regards to how it affects today’s workforce. Businesses are essentially people, so anything that impacts the effectiveness of people’s minds also impacts the businesses they run or work for. In fact, many experts now believe that a person’s emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) may be more important than their IQ and is certainly a better predictor of success, quality of relationships, and overall happiness.

It’s interesting to note how the concept of emotional intelligence has evolved over the years, from its inception as something called “social intelligence” all the way back in the 1930’s, to “emotional strength” in the mid-20^th century, to its current terminology, “emotional intelligence.”

But whatever we call it, emotional intelligence is, in layman’s terms, our level of ability to:

Recognize and understand our emotions and reactions (self-awareness)

Manage, control, and adapt our emotions, mood, reactions, and responses (self-management)

Harness our emotions to motivate ourselves to take appropriate action, commit, follow-through, and work toward the achievement of our goals (motivation)

Discern the feelings of others, understand their emotions, and utilize that understanding to relate to others more effectively (empathy)

Build relationships, relate to others in social situations, lead, negotiate conflict, and work as part of a team (social skills)

So, why is Emotional Intelligence Important?

Leadership – The ability to understand what motivates others, relate in a positive manner, and to build stronger bonds with others in the workplace inevitably makes those with higher emotional intelligence better leaders. An effective leader can recognize what the needs of his people are, so that those needs can be met in a way that encourages higher performance and workplace. An emotionally savvy and intelligent leader is also able to build stronger teams by strategically utilizing the emotional diversity of their team members to benefit the team as a whole.

Emotional intelligence is still not completely understood, but what we do know is that emotions play a very critical role in the overall quality of our personal and professional lives, more critical even than our actual measure of brain intelligence. While tools and technology can help us to learn and master information, nothing can replace our ability to learn, manage, and master our emotions and the emotions of those around us.

What do you think? Do share your views!!

Ref: Lifehack

 

The rules for the capitalisation of letters in written English

• Capitalise the first word of every sentence.
• (see emboldened letter of first word of this sentence), and every new line.
• Capitalise the first word of quoted sentences.
• He said to her, “You have betrayed my trust.”
• Capitalise proper nouns.
• I want to holiday in the Himalayas.
• Capitalise words derived from proper nouns.
• I want to study English and history in college.

‘English’ and ‘history’ here serve as the subjects that the speaker wants to study in college, so they are both fundamentally common nouns; however, the subject title ‘English’ is derived from the proper noun ‘English’, which refers to the language. Hence, it must be capitalised.

Capitalise a person’s title when

   - it precedes his/her name,

       President Sharma

   - when it follows his/her name on an address/signature line,

       Regards,

       Sharma, President

   - AND when used as a direct address,

       What is the verdict, President?

    - Do not capitalise when the title is used after the holder’s name to describe him/her.

       ‘I call this meeting to order,’ said Sharma, the president of the club.

Capitalise cardinal directions when they are used to refer to specific locations.

       I am headed to the South this summer.

Capitalise the first and last words in titles of publications, and all words in between except for

    - Little words like a, an, the, but, as, if, and, or and nor, and

    - Prepositions, regardless of length.

       One Hundred Years of Solitude

       War and Peace

       Down and Out in Paris and London

Happy learning!!

Know how to Use the Word “Actually” in English

The word “actually” is a false cognate. The word “actually” has several different uses in English and is very common in spoken language. As we will see, it is an important word to learn how to use because it allows you to change your mind about something that you say.

Actually meaning “Thinking again”

This is the most important meaning of “actually” to learn how to use properly. If you say something that you don’t mean and want to take it back, or if you say something incorrectly and want to correct yourself, you can use actually at the beginning of your sentence to signify that you changed your mind. This is similar to how alias is used in Portuguese. For example:

“Do you have a pen I could borrow?”
“No I don’t. Wait! Actually I have one right here.”

“Alberto Santos-Dumont was the American inventor who first invented the airplane. Actually, no, he was Brazilian.”

Actually meaning “In Fact”

This use of the word “actually” means “in fact” and is used to point out something that was unexpected. This usage is similar to how na verdade is used in Portuguese. For example:

“Are you American?”
“Actually, I’m Australian.”

Actually meaning “Really”

The word “actually” can be used interchangeable with the word “really” in some cases, similar to how realmente is used in Portuguese. It is used to emphasize that something someone has said or done is surprising.  For example:

“Did you hear that Isaac is in Saudi Arabia?”
“I heard, but I can’t believe he was actually able to get a visa to go there.”

“Did you hear what Mary said to Joe at the party last weekend?”
“I can’t believe she actually said that, that was really mean.”

Actually as a “softener”

If you are giving someone unpleasant or unwanted information, “actually” can be used to soften the blow of what you tell them. It is similar to para ser sincero in Portuguese. For example:

“Are you coming to the party next week?”
“No, I have to work actually.”

“Dad can we go to Disneyland?”
“No we can’t. We ran out of money paying for your college actually.”

“You’re still coming tomorrow, right?”
“I won’t be able to make it, actually.”

Thanks to Josh who is an English teacher in Belo Horizonte. He helps foreigners learn Portuguese and teach English in Brazil .

Tips and tricks to memorize grammar rules

There is no shortcut for learning grammatically correct English. It takes time to understand and put to use the rules of English grammar. But, there are ways to remember the grammar to help you speak correctly.

Try to speak English the way you write it. Spoken English is pretty relaxed and you can get away with grammatical errors most of the time, but it pays to speak correctly. Hence, the golden rule would be to talk just the way you would write it.

Tense

Start with working on the tense. Tense dictates the verb. It defines the timeline of action. You have to memorize the verb forms. Truth is we do not use all the tenses in spoken English. Interact with good English speakers to get the hang of which of the tenses are actually used.

Common Pronoun usage He/Him, She/Her, They/Them, We/Us, I/Me

I, He, she, they and we are subject pronouns. When the subject is doing the action you use these pronouns. Example: I spoke to her.

Me, him, her, them and us are object pronouns. These pronouns do not do an action. They simply receive an action. Example: Give it to me.

Never start a sentence with me. If there are two or more people involved, always start with other people’s name and end with referring you as ‘I’. Example: Raj, Sanvi and I went to a movie.

Voice

Active voice is simple to frame and speak. Active voice has a subject as the doer of the action.

Remember that whenever you change a sentence from active to passive voice, the subject and the object swap. And if that involves the pronouns, they will swap to their relative object or subject pronoun form.

Example: Wrong: The movie was gone to by Raj, Sanvi and me.

Right: The movie was watched by Raj, Sanvi and me.

Prepositions

Preposition brings out the relationship of an object to its surroundings. Preposition is always followed by the object of the sentence. So first the P and then the O.

Strictly speaking, you should never end a sentence in preposition. But spoken English is very forgiving in that regard.

Few other miscellaneous tips

Questions tags are always opposite in sense to the question. If the question is positive, the tag will be negative.

Example: You didn’t do it, did you?

He came last night, didn’t he?

‘Does’ is answered by ‘s’ in the verb form. ‘Does’ is used for singular. ‘Do’ is answered by the present tense of the verb and is used for plural.

Examples:

What does he do? He teaches.

What do they do? They dance.

The machine does the drying by spinning.

The machines do the drying by spinning.

These tips are just guidelines and not mathematical formulas where substituting one verb with another gives a new sentence. These rules are purely for understanding. Listening to native English is one of the proven ways to improve your grammar and spoken English.

Keep learning and don't give up!

Ref: urbanpro

English is a Stress-Based Language

A Tool for Learners of English as a Second Language

By: Judy M. Thompson

English is a difficult language. It does not sound the way it looks. Learners are often frustrated trying to understand what others are saying and too self-conscious about their accents to speak. The good news for ESL students is that one tiny piece of information takes the mystery out of the spoken language: English is a stress-based language. What that means and how that impacts students is easy and fun to explore.

Learners are tragically misinformed about the significance of individual sounds in conversation. It is important to know that native speakers find accents charming and communication does not break down because of them. The seat of miscommunication in English is not in mispronounced letters, but in absent or misplaced word stress. If the boss called for a meeting on „VENS day‟, everyone would show up the day after Tuesday, but if he said the meeting was on „vensDAY,‟ no one would know when the meeting was, and they couldn’t guess. The truth is, native English speakers have tremendous latitude for accommodating sound variations, and do not rely on perfect pronunciation for understanding.

The Impact of Word Stress in ESL – Maria’s Story

Maria is Latino, plucky and gorgeous. Her warmth and charm transcend any language or cultural barriers. She moved to Canada from Central America many years ago with her husband and four small children. As is often the case, she was extremely isolated in her new country. Her children learned English in school and her husband learned it at work. Thirteen years after leaving El Salvador, she spoke no English and had no friends. Fortunately, Maria did understand that domestic violence is not tolerated in Canada. When she had finally had enough, she left her abusive husband and started a new life for herself and her children.

Maria rented an apartment, applied for social assistance, and enrolled in school. Her kind, effervescent personality was an asset to our ESL classroom. But one day she arrived sad and depressed. Everyone noticed. “What is the matter?” they wanted to know. Maria told a story every student could relate to. It was her eldest son‟s sixteenth birthday and she wanted to take her family out to celebrate. She couldn‟t afford to take everyone to dinner, so she took them out for breakfast. When it was her turn to order, the server asked what she wanted and she said, “Coffee an pekundaneesh.” The server asked her to repeat her order. Beginning to feel uncomfortable, Maria repeated, “Coffee an pekundaneesh.” The server turned on her heel and walked away, scoffing, “Why doncha speak English?”

Maria was devastated. The celebration was ruined. She told the class she was never going to a restaurant again. After we talked about her disappointment, we resumed our lesson on Word Stress. Maria learned that there is one and only one „stressed‟ syllable in any word. She learned that the stressed syllables are higher, longer and louder than other syllables, and if the word stress is missing or in the wrong place, native speakers cannot understand what is being said no matter how perfectly the individual sounds are pronounced. At the end of the day Maria stood up and shouted, “PE can DA nish!” She understood the lesson – and the breakdown that happened in the restaurant the day before.

Monday morning Maria bounced into the classroom, her cheerful, energetic self again. Everyone noticed. How was your weekend? In her adorable Spanish accent, with her hand on her hip and her index finger wagging, Maria filled us in. “Yesta day, I go back to dat restrant, I see dat lady and I say to she - I wanna PEcan Danish! An she bring me.”

The crowd went wild. When her classmates‟ clapping and cheering died down, she made a graceful curtsy before taking her seat. I have only an inkling of the courage it took for her to go back and face that waitress, but her triumph over word stress and restaurants was a triumph for us all.

The Lesson: English is a Stress-based Language

Most languages are sound-based, where each letter represents a different sound and every syllable is equally important. When East Indians, Arabs or Asians speak, they sound like sewing machines to native English speakers. Native speakers can‟t hear the „stress‟ because there isn‟t any (apart from the anxiety everyone feels about not being able to understand what is going on). Word stress works differently in Spanish, French and German than in English. “Ze frENCH have ze acCENT on ze deffeRENT syllaBLE” – again charming. Word stress is so important in English that if the stress gets moved around, the word changes meaning. PROduce is a noun meaning fruit and vegetables, and

proDUCE is a verb that means to manufacture. CONtent is a noun for what is inside something and conTENT means happy.

There is virtually no indication how a word is going to sound from its spelling, but its context, or the words around it, can often give a clue.

 Rule of Thumb

 80% of two-syllable nouns have the stress on the first syllable. TEAcher, STUdent, DOCtor, RUler, COffee, ANgel, PEOple, PAper, PENcil, SUgar,

ORange…

Conversely, most two-syllable verbs have the stress on the second syllable.

enJOY, beLIEVE, surPRISE, deLAY, emPLOY, reLAX, conSERVE, emBRACE, suPPORT…

For words longer than two syllables, sorry, you are on your own.

HOspital, TRIangle, baNAna, poSItion, tangeRINE, engiNEER

Summary

The meaning in English is not in the production of individual sounds but in finding the correct syllable to pronounce higher, longer and louder than the rest of the word. ESL students can stop worrying about their accents. Accents don‟t prevent ESL students from being understood, and native English speakers find them charming.

LEARners must GEnerate EMphasis to be sucCESSfully underSTOOD.

As published on: EzineArticles.com, GoArticles.com and ArticleCity.com