Comments on: Karenne on teaching- interview Part Two

By: Darren Elliott

Darren Elliott — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:54:57 +0000

Some can but some can’t Karenne. I used to “train” unqualified, inexperienced teachers recruited in their home countries to come and work in private language schools here in Japan. Some had a natural ability to make things simple, to respond to the students as fellow humans, but others just found it hard. I helped a few people hone techniques and access their creativity, and after a few months most teachers in the job most teachers improved from their starting position – some became excellent teachers, most were decent.
But sometimes you would come across a person who didn’t have the personality for it – they couldn’t connect to people. So shall we say dogme is an attitude to life, that becomes far easier with experience?

By: Karenne Sylvester

Karenne Sylvester — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:10:32 +0000

Oops, sorry Alex – you’re right, sorry I didn’t answer that (not intentional – I cut and pasted and missed it).

“Are there any kinds of classes or students you think your approach wouldn’t work with?”

I don’t know.

It has always worked for me. My colleagues have always put the way I turn any student/ any group of students into fluent speakers down to “personality” -something that has always pissed me off because in fact, I’m not always nice… but I always work for the people in the room and not my bosses (when I had them).

I’ve worked with so many different kinds of students, from the little ones to exam groups to mature (60+ students) – my BEC group were the first to get the BEC in Ecuador… but whether this approach works for all students, how could I possibly answer?

Adam, Darren –

When I started teaching I didn’t know what I was doing yet taught for 2.5 years before getting certified.

Without blowing smoke myself, I’m an intrapersonal learner and teacher – the only real resources I had in Hong Kong were my learners.

In most cases, in the beginning, they knew much more about grammar than I did so to be honest, I sneakily let them teach each other – when this worked, I simply continued it and found that in general, the more that actually came from the learners themselves and their peers, the more they retained the vocabulary and structures.

I was dogme way before I knew what dogme meant.

Even when I eventually got around to doing my certTESOL I instinctively knew that “my way” of teaching – using the learners in the room – was much more effective than the PPP I was taught to do so I ditched it and continued focusing on figuring out what the students needed and wanted.

But can any new teacher do this, I’ve no idea!

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:37:59 +0000

Actually, I think that was one of the questions I sent that Karenne didn’t choose (part of the plan- there were far too many!):

“Are there any kinds of classes or students you think your approach wouldn’t work with?”

By: Darren Elliott

Darren Elliott — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:02:26 +0000

Quite a good point, actually. I’ve had the same ＊whisper＊ at the back of my mind for a while…..

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:46:36 +0000

Dogme is experience disguised as methodology. I fully appreciate what you’re saying and see its positives, but would you recommend it as an approach to a new teacher, rather than, say, allowing dogme to gradually come into the way you handle your time in the class?

I love your blog, Karenne, and thank Alex for some thoughtful and probing questions.