Teaching Strategies

For those of you who stumbled here from one of the teaching forums I frequent, I am going to try to share some of the teaching strategies/activities that have worked well for me.

Spaghetti Marshmallow Challenge

One of the courses I was teaching this semester was IGCSE English. The course included a unit on Wonders of the World. I wanted to find a collaborative project where students create their own wonder. I found the Spaghetti Marshmallow Challenge on the Internet.

http://marshmallowchallenge.com/Welcome.html

http://marshmallowchallenge.com/TED_Talk.html

Part One: Students answer comprehension questions about the TED Video

Part Two: Students collaborate and problem-solve in English to build the biggest tow.

Part Three: Students write a reflection about things that went well and how to improve in the future.

The first team to finish.

Largest tower in less than 18 minutes.

Largest tower ever! Took more than 18 minutes though.

Review Board Games

I’ve seen and heard of other teachers using board games as a course review. I tried it with my IGCSE English class and found it worked really well.

Period One: Plan the game and the materials they will need to complete it.

Periods Two and Three: Creating the game.

Period Four: Students play other teams’ games.

Here are some of the finished products:

Hop Scotch

My wife Lyna was teaching toddler and nursery classes at the same school I was teaching at. She was spending many evenings cutting up numbers and animals. I couldn’t figure out exactly what she was planning to do. Here is the hop-scotch game she created for her class. At the end of the semester I could see a lot of wear and tear on the game. I guess that means the kids liked it.

Pig Man

This is not a teaching strategy, but an excellent piece of graffiti I would pass any time I chose to walk to or from school.

First Half of Bali Trip

Some scenes from our 17 day stop in Bali on our way from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur.

We’ve been hanging out in the Kuta area for our entire trip so far. This is mostly due to the fact that I had been working on a paper for a course I’m taking. I’m done that now, but we still have moved out of Kuta.

There are some positives and negatives for Kuta, Bali from my point of view. The beach is great for watching surfers and the sand is ok, but it’s not a good beach for swimming. Another very positive thing is that the food is outstanding. There is so much variety and it’s not too expensive. Having said all that, a major drawback for me is that Kuta is a young person’s place. At 32 I feel like an old man. I recommend up to three days in Kuta, but any more and it starts to get a bit boring. Problem is I haven’t been anywhere else yet, so I can’t make any alternative recommendations.

Here’s Lyna at one of the clubs on the main strip. The action really starts after 11pm which seems really late to me. I’m not sure what everyone is doing up until that time.

This was the site of the 2002 Bali bombings.

Hands down the best salad I have ever eaten. Lyna ordered the same one a few nights later, but the magic could not be recreated.

A picture of me at our happ hour watering hole.

I loved the Engine Room. It was full of females hunting down Kuta cowboys.

We went to Bubba Gump Shrimp on Saturday night. The place was absolutely packed. Pints of Heineken ran at over $8.

Bali Part Two coming soon.