from Gothenburg
by anna_joh_t on October 27, 2007
in visitors
Never enough time… It was really good to hear from you all. Albert – you put some pressure on me to achieve a little more than I usually do… Anyway, I think the Pilgrims course changed my quite traditional teaching a bit and it has helped me in many situations when I find the course book unbearably boring.
I used the family tree idea with my beginners of Swedish and I could hardly make them stop working! (Their family trees were not at all as imaginative and open-minded as ours, but the students did use a lot of Swedish and felt proud of themselves.) I am not as dedicated as Silvia so I ended up using black and white pictures that I found on Google – but that worked out well.
I’ve also enjoyed watching my students angry, happy, sad etc… when acting out dialogues – and it was great to see them experiencing feeling in the new language.
This year I’m very fortunate because I only have twelve students – (which is of course costing the school a lot) so I can quite easily make them walk around, talk a lot, change places, sit in a circle and talk.
Next week the students are on leave and I only work Monday and Tuesday. I will make an effort to find the surface of my desk… Wish you all a nice weekend.
Thank you Anna, it’s a pleasure to read messages like this. I hope the pressure was gentle, not too forceful. But what is this ‘little more than you usually do’, just to reveal a bit of mystery behind your words?
Speaking of pressure, I think each of us felt the positive energy of Canterbury in the summer and if it continues to resonate within us, what else to wish for. I think it really does and our yahoo group is the best evidence. Don’t you all feel slightly more relaxed now, mid-atumn, after the hectic beginning of the schhol year?