How can we design better courses?

Go to this PINTEREST page and ask, "How do many people learn?"

How can we design better classes?

What can we do in class?

GO HERE

Here are a few of the questions author Jeannette Campos suggests asking yourself to effectively create a learner-centered classroom: 

As an instructor, am I encouraging interaction among my learners whenever possible?  

Is my content formatted in the most engaging 

 way?  

Have I created opportunities for the learner to reflect on the learning process?  

Only in a learner-centered classroom can you foster the four types of learning relationships: 

learner-to-instructor, 

learner-to-content, 

learner-to-learner, and 

learner-to-self.  

Go to this PINTEREST page

A remarkable class from 14 July 2015 -- what will we learn next?

We teachers often focus on what "we teach" -- what do we select to deliver?  
How do we deliver the information?  
What procedures do we ask the students to do?  
How do we check the information in the student's head?

But we need to focus also on 
WHAT DID THEY LEARN?  
HOW do they learn best?  
What do they want to learn?  and at the end of the day, 
WHAT DID THEY KEEP IN THEIR BRAINS?

This blog is about Amazing
Remarkable
Inspired
Capable Learners.
RemarkableLearners.Blogspot.com
For example, on 14 July I met some remarkable students
Cristina, an architect
Veronica, a radiologist
Alejandro, a surgeon
Dawoon, a website designer and software engineer

They wanted to improve their fluency
their pronunciation
their vocabulary

Here is what happened in class
1.  The 14 sounds of English

PronounceC Steve McCrea Part 3 of 4 Free English Lessons

▶ 4:58

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYgGT4mpCL8

Aug 19, 2006 - Uploaded by Steve Mistermath

pronounce mccrea teacher ESOL ESL pronunciation steve "Free English Lessons" ... Standard YouTube License ... It Sounds Like(2) American English Pronunciation withSteve's sun moon cat dog ... Daily EnglishDictation 26 & Listening Comprehension - Duration: 14:01. by dailydictation 46,427 views.

T or D -- pronunciation practice with Steve McCrea ...

▶ 1:51

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Sznc9gLN0

Dec 27, 2008 - Uploaded by freeenglishlessons

Many students make this error, so let's learn the rule about T or D. ... 2:14. Learn EnglishPronunciation: /t/ /d/ and /ɪd/ sounds in the past tense - Duration: 4:51. by Englishlink - FreeOnline English lessons 8,158 views. 4:51. ItSounds Like (3) American EnglishPronunciation with Steve's sun moon cat dog  ...

It Sounds Like (1) American English ... - YouTube

▶ 2:15

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLE23gtmh2k

Dec 27, 2008 - Uploaded by freeenglishlessons

It Sounds Like (1) American EnglishPronunciation with Steve's sun moon ...FreeEnglishLessons.com to get a chart of these 14 sounds. day cat  ...

For the Future:  "How about the consonants?"
How can we practice and improve the consonant practice?
ANSWER:  manythings.org


2.  "What newspapers do you read?"
Some of the students receive twitter feeds from TV and newspapers in SPANISH.  So my job as a teacher is to give them NEWSPAPER links for English info.
CNN
Manchester Gu_rd___n
T_mes of L___don
Chic__go Tr__b__ne
Los Angeles T___mes
N Y T___es
W___sh__ngt__n P__st

What is interesting to you?
Tell us about a photo or an article you are reading in this moment.
PROCEDURE:  I passed out National Geographic magazines and the students each described a photo that they found...  (they practiced presenting information)

WHAT CAN YOU PRODUCE IN ENGLISH?
A Digital Portfolio  see TinyURL.com/ExampleDP

What can you do with the information in your head?  Show us something that you know.
EXAMPLE:  A book.
25 Bad Breaks and The Amazing Technology that Fixed Them by Alejandro Herrera  (a future book)
This is my proposed book for the surgeon in our class.  Why?  He has experience of 600 operations ... and he has examples of x-rays in his phone.  Select 25 of these photos showing BEFORE and AFTER the surgery... it will be an EXCELLENT short book.

Puns
Headlines by Jay Leno
Can you find the joke?

Cartoons and Comic Strips in the newspaper
HOMEWORK:  Bring or send me photos of comics that use IDIOMS and jokes.

Tell me about a remarkable place to visit.

Click HERE

(I showed a WHALE WINE BOTTLE and showed them photos.  I showed a photo of Venice and a hotel in France.  See more photos at JK MCCrea

CLICK to see "Eternal Curves"

Manythings.org  Pronunciation Practice

THE IDEA:  The lesson in the classroom is 10 PERCENT of the lesson.  Cristina, D the web designer, and Veronica the Radiologist have interests.  They can look at articles and books and they can send the links to the teacher.  Then the teacher recommends other articles  ...  "Eternal Curves Psychology Today" is an amazing article about the importance of omega-3 in the diet of mothers.

http://stevemccreadp.blogspot.com/
my Digital portfolio.   Why not create your Resume online?http://www.cbn.com/tv/1907175377001
How do you use the RADIO?
"We listen to Delilah.  She has excellent advice and she listens to crazy questions.  I have three boyfriends and I don't know what to do."  

Click here

EXCELLENT.  That's one way to build vocabulary.


TED TALKS

Click here and join the millions.
 Let's get 1 billion views... we
are 3% toward this goal of 1 GIG

Good idea to listen, but also you can READ THE TRANSCRIPT and get additional vocabulary.
We recommend "Schools Kill Creativity Ken Robinson"

Get the transcript

You can get the transcript in your language and send it to schools in your country to encourage change in schools.

The QA English app for practicing pronunciation.
PLease look at the app.  The description is on this link.

QA English on the App Store on iTunes - Apple

https://itunes.apple.com/kn/app/qa-english/id588287157?mt=8

Free - ‎iOS

Read reviews, get customer ratings, see screenshots and learn more about QA English on the App Store. Download QA English and enjoy it on your iPhone, ...

The QA English App for iPhones, developed by Steve ...

▶ 3:08

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiSITNZqPkU

Dec 24, 2012 - Uploaded by freeenglishlessons

Search for "QA English" on Apple's APPSTORE 20 views in the first day,. JK says, "You've got good ...

Click HERE

We discussed other topics.  I invite each of you to send me a list of new words that you learned, and to give suggestions about the NEXT Class that we can have (even if we do the work virtually).
THE JUMBLES Example:  "Steve, let's each find a newspaper article and explain what we liked or didn't like about the topic."

PERFORM and then let others ASK QUESTIONS.
Each student presents for one minute
(the way I recorded your voices about the photos in National Geographic)

Send your suggestions to SteveEnglishTeacher@gmail.com or to my phone at (954) 646 8246