By Rosemary Moore

I never expected a visit to Google headquarters in California to make me a better teacher, but it did.  Google is the company known for its exceedingly fast Internet search engine.  You type in a few words and in less than a second get 300,000 plus responses, many of which will probably answer your question. How do they do that? And what does this possibly have to do with education?

Google and other hi-tech corporations – Yahoo, YouTube and eBay – are successful because they have learned how to unleash creativity.  That is what our schools should be doing, too.  The time-honoured method of teaching – lecture – requires brain surgery: opening students’ skulls and pouring information in (what psychologist and author, Carl Rogers, called the “mug and jug” theory of education.) Students study and are expected to recite what they have read, or what teachers have told them. Lecture is an efficient way to deliver concise information. However, the message is clear: “These 30 pages of text on the Civil War are all you need to know about the subject.”

 
Rather than diluting, distilling and spoon-feeding information, our job as educators should be to help students discover themselves, their talents and the exciting questions that need to be answered. We must encourage their creativity and their output. How can we do that?

 
I see a model for schools everywhere in what I observed at Google in Mountain View, CA .

 
•    Google workers are connected to the world through the Internet. They have access to all the information currently available to answer their questions.

 
•    Google workers eat nutritious meals and snacks. You won’t find a soda dispenser on their campus. You will be able to savour three, free, healthy meals daily, as well as snacks.

 
•    Google workers collaborate on their projects. They share ideas and make discoveries. They spend their mealtimes eating outside on a patio, playing with ideas and sparking one another’s imaginations.

 
•    Google workers are free to stop “work” and play volleyball on a sand court, play an etude on the grand piano, take a walk or a swim.

 
•    Google workers have both individual offices and quiet open areas where they can think and complete their projects.

 
And, my favorite:

 
•    Google workers are expected to spend 20% of their time on the job pursuing an idea that interests them, chasing a sunbeam that may have no connection with their assigned work. At every turn they are rewarded for taking initiative.

 
If that’s not enough to motivate, Google corporate will financially support an innovator’s new ideas if he or she can convince two co-workers that the idea has merit.

 
Sounds like a dream, and perhaps you doubt that high school students are capable of learning in an environment like PhDs. But I believe that students are capable of learning in a structured environment that offers comparable benefits.

 
Schools can offer every one of the Google incentives: Internet connections, brain food, time for play and collaboration, quiet space and community space, and time for individual projects.

 
I am not advocating the Summerhill School of the 60s in which students make all the decisions. I am advocating an environment in which students are given responsibility for their own learning and opportunities to explore their own interests – interests that will lead to a productive career and an inspired life.

 
The mission of educators is to break down the walls in our schools and provide opportunities for students to develop the inquisitiveness, collaborative framework, research skills, and confidence they need to meet the future.

 
One of Google’s mottos is: “Work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun.”  Education should also be challenging, and the challenge should be fun.  When we create an environment that fosters initiative, creativity, collaboration, and responsibility, we create life-long learners whose ideas may change the world.

Materials: Crayons, markers, and construction paper
Create a Culture Web

1. Write the word culture in the centre of a piece of chart paper and circle it.

2. Ask students to brainstorm associations with the word, record the words and phrases that come up on the chart paper, and connect them to culture, creating a web.

3. Discuss the web with the students and agree on a definition along these lines: culture is the values, beliefs, and traditions shared by a group of people.
Introduce Cultural Banners

1. Distribute construction paper and markers or crayons.

2. Ask students to write their name on the banner and any symbols (words or pictures) that show values, traditions, activities, and places that are important for their family. Encourage them to use words or drawings to represent holidays, foods, sports, flags and so on.

3. After they have created the banners, ask students to pass the banners to their neighbours and keep doing so until everyone has had a chance to see every banner.
Discussion
How was this activity for you? What did you learn from doing it?
What are some of the cultures represented in the group?
Follow-up Suggestions
For the next week or two, take a few minutes of each class period to give several students a chance to explain their banner to the class.
Have students work in groups of four to share their banners with each other.

Shyness is often misunderstood because it is not one emotion, but a mixture of fear, tension, apprehension and/or embarrassment. Shy children seem to lack confidence and are self-conscious especially in new surroundings or when they are the centre of attention. Changes in the environment and school pressures are also factors that affect a child’s demeanour. Symptoms of shyness may include gaze aversion, a soft tone of voice, and/or hesitant or trembling speech . It is noteworthy that shyness is not necessarily a negative attribute. Many shy children exhibit an ability to please and think for themselves. Being reserved can also be a worthy personality trait. It is when shyness is severe that educators need to be concerned.

Heredity, culture, and environment can each play a role in a child’s shyness. If a child’s family tends to be aloof and sequestered, there is a likelihood that the child will be somewhat inhibited. In addition, if the adults in a child’s life constantly call attention to what others think of the child or allow him or her little autonomy, shyness may result.

The problem with a child being extremely shy is that he or she may be perceived by peers as unfriendly and disinterested. Children may avoid playing with a shy child, thus hampering his or her social development and increasing the chances of a child having low self-esteem. With few friendship or communication skills, shy children may become lonely and depressed, which can interfere with reaching their full potential. Educators can assist children, whose shyness interferes with their social development and learning, by helping them relate comfortably with others. If no assistance is provided, shyness may worsen.

It should be noted that the process of socialization takes time. In order to feel safe, shy children often stand back and watch an activity. They begin the socialization process by observing and listening to the interactions of others. When they feel comfortable they move closer. Later, they may speak to a teacher or peer, and after time begin to relate to other children.

What can educators do to facilitate the development of a shy child’s social skills?

1. Create a caring relationship with the child by attempting to understand his or her thoughts, fears and other emotions. Reassure the child that all children feel inhibited at times.
2. Since a shy student may become more self-conscious when confronted with a loud voice, speak softly and clearly. Be prepared to wait patiently for a reply to a question because the child may need time to respond.
3. Be accepting of a shy child’s reticence to participate. Allow the child time to adjust to a situation. This will increase his or her sense of security and self-confidence.
4. Refrain from forcing a child to participate in group activities. Instead, provide nonthreatening ways for the child to interact with peers. Sometimes pairing a quiet child with an extroverted child can produce a positive learning experience for both students.
5. Notice and comment on a child’s strengths including qualities such as kindness and athletic or academic ability. If you feel the attention will embarrass the child make the compliment in private.
6. Help the child see that everyone makes mistakes and that no one is perfect. Encourage him or her to keep trying by emphasizing that making an effort is what you consider important.
7. If you label a child as “shy,” your description may become a permanent characteristic of the child. Instead, say something like, “Everyone is different. Melissa is a thinker. She watches and learns about what’s happening before participating.”
8. Teach specific social skills through various means including role playing, and/or using dolls or puppets. Have the children practice:

•  Holding their heads up, smiling and making eye contact when they are speaking. Say, “If you look at me while you are talking, I will be able to hear what you have to say.”
•  Greeting a peer with enthusiasm. For example, have the children say things like, “Hi, my name is Tommy! What’s your name?”
•  Beginning a conversation by saying, “What school did you go to last year?” or “What do you like to play?”
•  Listening, smiling, and enjoying social interactions. Have them smile and say things such as, “It’s fun to play this game with you!”
•  Making simple conversation about school work, sports, or television shows. Comments the children may make are: “I like reading too.” “What sport do you like?” or “What’s your favorite TV show?”
•  Being good listeners and not interrupting.
9. Meet with the parent or guardian. Ask the parent to reinforce the social skills listed above. Encourage the parent to help the child do things for him or herself. Brainstorm ways to increase positive peer interactions for the child so that he or she can become more outgoing and independent. Stress that the parent should not label their child “shy” or call the shyness a “problem.” Instead, have the parent call the child a “thinker.” Help the parent recognize that every child is different and that it’s okay for a child to take time before responding or participating.

If the above measures are unsuccessful and extreme shyness and/or anxiety persist, refer the child for additional professional help.

* Setting the context
This is perhaps the most important thing to do – even most exams give an idea about who is speaking, where and why. In normal life we normally have some idea of the context of something we are listening to.

* Generating interest
Motivating our students is a key task for us. If they are to do a listening about sports, looking at some dramatic pictures of sports players or events will raise their interest or remind them of why they (hopefully) like sports. Personalisation activities are very important here. A pair-work discussion about the sports they play or watch, and why, will bring them into the topic, and make them more willing to listen.

* Activating current knowledge – what do you know about…?
‘You are going to listen to an ecological campaigner talk about the destruction of the rainforest’. This sets the context, but if you go straight in to the listening, the students have had no time to transfer or activate their knowledge (which may have been learnt in their first language) in the second language. What do they know about rainforests? – Where are they? What are they? What problems do they face? Why are they important? What might an ecological campaigner do? What organisations campaign for ecological issues?

* Acquiring knowledge
Students may have limited general knowledge about a topic. Providing knowledge input will build their confidence for dealing with a listening. This could be done by giving a related text to read, or, a little more fun, a quiz.

* Activating vocabulary / language
Just as activating topic knowledge is important, so is activating the language that may be used in the listening. Knowledge-based activities can serve this purpose, but there are other things that can be done. If students are going to listen to a dialogue between a parent and a teenager who wants to stay overnight at a friend’s, why not get your students to role play the situation before listening. They can brainstorm language before hand, and then perform the scene. By having the time to think about the language needs of a situation, they will be excellently prepared to cope with the listening.

* Predicting content
Once we know the context for something, we are able to predict possible content. Try giving students a choice of things that they may or may not expect to hear, and ask them to choose those they think will be mentioned.

* Pre-learning vocabulary
When we listen in our first language we can usually concentrate on the overall meaning because we know the meaning of the vocabulary. For students, large numbers of unknown words will often hinder listening, and certainly lower confidence. Select some vocabulary for the students to study before listening, perhaps matching words to definitions, followed by a simple practice activity such as filling the gaps in sentences.

* Checking / understanding the listening tasks
By giving your students plenty of time to read and understand the main listening comprehension tasks, you allow them to get some idea of the content of the listening. They may even try to predict answers before listening.

Selection criteria
When planning your lesson you should take the following factors into account when preparing the pre-listening tasks.

* The time available

* The material available

* The ability of the class

* The interests of the class

* The nature and content of the listening text

The choice of pre-listening task also gives you a chance to grade the listening lesson for different abilities. If you have a class who are generally struggling with listening work, then the more extensive that the pre-listening work is the better. If, however, you wish to make the work very demanding, you could simply do work on the context of the listening. Thus, the same listening text can provide work for different abilities.

Personally, I feel it is important to devote a fair proportion of a lesson to the pre-listening task, should the listening warrant it. For example, the listening about an ecological campaigner lends itself well to extended knowledge and vocabulary activation. However, a listening involving airport announcements may only need a shorter lead-in, as the topic is somewhat narrower.

Overall, training your students to bring their own knowledge and their skills of prediction to their listening work can only help them when listening to the language outside the classroom. These skills are as much a part of listening as understanding pronunciation or listening for details.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

How about this: Buffalo buffalo, which Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo

Try saying it aloud in different ways. Can you make it make sense?

I thought not, but… if you know that Buffalo is a town in the U.S.A. and that a buffalo is an animal, and also that there is a verb “to buffalo” meaning to bamboozle, bewilder or trick someone, then it can make some sort of sense: Buffalos from the town of Buffalo, which other buffalos from the same town bamboozle, bamboozle buffalos from Buffalo (I’m glad I’m not a Buffalo buffalo).

So, you can also say something meaningful, though it may not seem so at first.

People often liken grammar to a skeleton – it is rigid and supports the language use (words), much as our bones don’t move, but we can do whatever is physically possible using our muscles. Other common similes for grammar are blueprint, glue and building blocks. They convey the idea of grammar as either a structure or an adhesive.

Well, whatever your preferred simile, here’s a definition: grammar is a communicative device which is functionally motivated. What grammar we use depends on choice and point of view.

E.G.: “The bill hasn’t been paid yet.” vs “I haven’t paid the bill yet.”

Here the passive would be used to shift responsibility. The fact of the unpaid bill is the same in both sentences.

E.G.: “I lived there…” vs “I was living there…”

They both tell you when; the fact is the same, but the attitude different.

Grammar can be seen as expressing distance, which can be:

* Psychological: “The boss says we have to work on Saturdays…” vs “The boss said we have to work on Saturdays.”

What’s the difference? Both sentences are relaying the same information. I met with the boss yesterday and that is what he told me. Why would I use the present simple “the boss says” when it’s about a past conversation? Well, the present simple conveys permanence. (The sun is in the sky.) What was said in the past can be negotiated. So, by using the present simple, I am closer to the boss’s wishes.

* Social: “Would you please pass the water.” vs “Chuck the water over, mate.”

Here, the intention is the same – I’m thirsty, give me the water – but I can choose quite different grammatical structures, depending on my relationship with the person I’m talking to.

* Hypothetical: “I wish I were a millionaire. / If you loved me, you would buy me a diamond ring.”

Why in conditionals or wishes do we use tenses one step back? I want to be a millionaire now, so why use the past tense? It’s because there’s a distance from reality.

* Temporal: “Spain beat Germany.” “Spain are the European champions.”

Obviously here the past is used to describe a particular event which is over and the present to say what is true now.

Now, a few thoughts on teaching grammar. The most common ways are:

* Inductive: Write an example “I am standing.”

Explain the rule

Practice applying the rule

The students are given the rule

* Deductive: Demonstrate meaning with examples

Orally produce forms

Grammar is elicited after practice

The students work out the rule

* Task based: The students pick up regularities intuitively as they did their mother tongue.

What’s your method?

Finally, we like to think there are grammar rules. We read them in books and pass them on to our students. Here are “rules” that teachers give. What do you think?

Rules: are these true or false?

Some does not occur in negative sentences.

Would is the past of will.

Uncountable nouns are singular.

Must is stronger than have to.

Will is the future tense.

Double negatives are wrong.

You can’t use will after if.

We always use the past perfect to talk about something that happened before something else in the past.

I didn’t do it yet is wrong.

It’s a lovely day, isn’t it is a question.

Maybe you agree with most of these statements. Well, none of the rules are true. Check out these sentences and the comments.

(youtube: Noam Chomsky on Grammar)

Here’s something you might try with higher level / age groups. Give them some of the phrases in groups (don’t do them all in one session) and ask them to come up with ways in which these sayings might or might not be true and whether they agree with them. This can lead to a whole class discussion. The activity helps develop the six elements of critical thinking that will help improve reading comprehension:

* Interpretation
* Analysis
* Inference
* Explanation
* Self-regulation
 
Amor vincit omnia
Love conquers all.

bonitas non est pessimis esse meliorem
It is not goodness to be better than the worst.

exitus acta probat
The result validates the deeds.

errare humanum est
To err is human.

fabas indulcet fames
Hunger sweetens the beans.

facta non verba
Deeds, not words (Actions speak louder than words).

fallaces sunt rerum species
The appearances of things are deceptive.

flat justitia ruat coelum
Let justice be done through the heavens fall.

in vino veritas
There is truth in wine (truth is told by him who has drunk wine).

lex non distinguitur nos non distinguere debemus
The law does not distinguish and so we ought not distinguish.

legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus
We are slaves of the law in order that we may be able to be free.

multum in parvo
Much in little.

memento mori
Remember that you will die.

mendacem memorem esse oportet
It is fitting that a liar should be a man of good memory (liars should have good memories).

mens sana in corpore sano
A sound mind in a sound body.

minima maxima sunt
The smallest things are most important.

nemo liber est qui corpori servit
No one is free who is a slave to his body.

non est vivere sed valere vita est
Life is not being alive but being well (life is more than just being alive).

non semper erit aestas
It will not always be summer (be prepared for hard times).

non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ut aurum
Do not take as gold everything that shines like gold.

ne quid nimis
Nothing in excess.

nemo dat quod non habet
No one gives what he does not have.

non est ad astra mollis e terris via
There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.

nosce te ipsum
Know thyself .

omnia mutantur nos et mutamur in illis
All things change, and we change with them.

omnia causa fiunt
Everything happens for a reason.

parva leves capiunt animas
Small things occupy light minds (small things amuse small minds).

pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes
Flatterers are the worst type of enemies.

possunt quia posse videntur
They can because they seem to be able to (they can do it because they think they can do it – the power of positive thinking).

proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris
It is human nature to hate a person whom you have injured.

perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim
Be patient and tough; some day this pain will be useful to you.

quod me nutrit me destruit.
What nourishes me also destroys me.

qui tacet consentire
Who is silent gives consent.

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Who will watch the watchers themselves?

radix omnium malorum est cupiditas
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Avarice is the problem, money itself is not evil.

respice, adspice, prospice
Examine the past, examine the present, examine the future (look to the past, the present, the future).

sic transit gloria mundi
So passes away earthly glory.

sedit qui timuit ne non succederet.
He who feared he would not succeed sat still.

struit insidias lacrimis cum femina plorat.
When a woman weeps, she is setting traps with her tears.

timendi causa est nescire
Ignorance is the cause of fear.

tempus fugit
Time flies.

una salus victis nullam sperare salutem
The one safety for the vanquished is to abandon hope of safety (knowing that there is no hope can give one the courage to fight and win).

ut sementem feceris ita metes
As you sow so will you reap.

veritas vos liberabit
The truth shall make you free.

vincit qui se vincit
He conquers who conquers himself.

vir sapit qui pauca loquitur
That man is wise who talks little (know when to hold your tongue).

verbum sat sapienti
A word is enough for a wise man.

vox populi vox dei
The voice of the people is the voice of god.