Unit 3 Education Part 4 Teaching Lead-in

50. Go over the humorous quotations below. As many a true word is spoken in jest, extract the bit of truth, if any, and share.

    For every person wishing to teach, there are thirty not wanting to be taught. Anon	Teachers are overworked and underpaid. True, it is an exacting and exhausting business, this damming up the flood of human potentialities. George B. Leonard		The decent docent doesn't doze: He teaches standing on his toes. His student doesn't doze – and does, And that's what teaching is and was. David McCord
    Show me the man who has enjoyed his schooldays and I will show you a bully and a bore. Robert Morley		Like so many ageing college people, Pnin had long ceased to notice the existence of students on the campus. Vladimir Nabokov	I was a modest, good-humoured boy. It is Oxford that has made me insufferable. Max Beerbohm

51. All of us have been to school. In the aftermath, some may look back to that time with scepticism, others with gratitude. Listen to three interviews by people sharing their memories of their favourite teachers. The third interviewee had two. Note down the bits that made those teachers pedagogues with a capital P.

Mrs Collen

Mr. Steadman-Jones

Mrs Birtwell

Mr Ben Johnson

52. Did you have a best teacher at school? What part did he/she play in your life (if at all)? In what way was he/she special?

53. Now it's about teaching again and you are about to listen to some advice for parents, who are always anxious about their toddler being already too old to start their English. Read the sentences below and, as you listen, jot down the missing information that could fit the gaps.

Parents should heed advice from Britain's

Tony Buzan.

Within a short period the kid can progress to

For productive learning the child needs

If you want to be successful in teaching a child English sessions should

Songs practice

To avoid children becoming bored and uninterested you should

keep the activities short and varied.

Puppets afford to invent

can all become part of your child's English experience.

Children who have a rich experience in their first language

54. Refer to the tapescript at the end of the book and make a synopsis of the text in about 10-15 sentences. Then imagine that one day you find yourself on a call. The hosting family have a three-year-old child whom they are teaching some English. They are enthused about their experience, but, being lay people in TEFL³, get it wrong. They want to ask you for your opinion, which will be much appreciated, but you must be unobtrusive and tactful in giving it. Now, how will you respond if the mother says the following:

… Sometimes we think that our child should follow in your steps and take an EFL degree. English is so important nowadays. But we aren't sitting idle, you know. Now and then we learn words together. He/she can already ask "When is the next train to Liverpool?" Can answer questions like "How old are you?". I usually ask him/her "What is the English for so-and-so?" and he will go like "a cup of coffee" or "whiskey and soda". So, we have made some progress already!