Learning Strategies

Personal Learning strategies

Being a teacher for more than 14 years, I believe in professional development. This means that I am not only teaching, but acquiring as well new things. Learning is a long life process. I have never stopped learning and improving my teaching strategies and exploring and implementing some best practices that I would come across or learn from seminars, conferences and study days that I have been attending, either as participant or speaker. I want to improve my public speaking skills; hence, I should correct my personal pronunciation.

Certainly, I have a fossilized pronunciation that I have to address because I am a language teacher. I am not a native speaker of this target language. That will not discourage me form improving my voice production. Sometimes, I feel I am not conveying my message successfully, by making my interlocutor struggle hard to decode what is said or what is meant. I speak too quickly. I have to slow down when speaking. I surely use different techniques to promote my teaching performance. I should be giving role model to my students.

I consider the following techniques effective to better my utterance. I would watch the same movie for countless times to hear and watch how the actors speak. My favorite movies are: “Gulliver Travelers” written by Jonathon Swift; the second is “The Lost Secret” series which I used with my students. I unquestionably learnt by hearth some phrases and words from these movies. Radio is of equal importance when you have the journalist and program that you like best. My much loved one is Akron Radio station in Cleveland. Television is very essential as well, namely, morning shows as fluent speakers are selected for discussion.

I am trying to practice my pronunciation by listening to my beloved collection of songs, especially pop and country music. I also use audio dictionaries on my computer to check my pronunciation. There is a motto which stresses that we should check even the utterance of the familiar words.

Engaging in different conversations with native speakers is excellent. I will be learning ‘best from lectures, tutorials, tapes, group discussion, speaking, web chat and talking things through’. One of the best things is used with my students is using various scenarios to put them in a creative ways.

Case Wetern Reservre University Conference

Food Workshop

In Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, I attended a conference about leadership Journey Series, spring 2008. I participated in 3 different workshops which appeal to my own interest. But the most important, unplanned workshop was about the etiquette of having a meal with a American business or the upper classes families.

My first workshop was about ‘The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People’. Actually it is centered on the best practices that the person inspiring to be a leader or improving the skills and knowledge of leadership. The second one is essentially ‘being an integrated part of the community’ but, I attended another one by mistake because the speaker taught that her workshop was for the Greek community. Then, I attended “living your Rituals’. I did not like it as it is on lecturing. There was no valuable interaction. My third workshop was ‘creating Competency Portfolio” it dealt with techniques of having portfolio for live is a long process and wait for no lazy people. We have to update our portfolio to best introduce ourselves to our institutions which take them as benchmarks tom select the appropriate person. It is a reflecting mirror to see what to improve. It is to give a model to other people or students to use.

Other benefits would be the ability to step in to improve our public speaking delivery. Most workshop have a limited numbers of participants who contribute successful the discussion and the fostering of knowledge. I like going to different presentations in different locations, though; they were non-stop conferences. There is a chance different participant in each presentation, but with similar opinion and sharing the interest.

The food workshop was of equally significant, by Lorrie Thompson Bossart, the Etiquette Consulting/ training expert. She did a great job to teach us a lot of the American table etiquette. What have I learnt then?
The gentleman on the right of each lady sitting in the same table has to assist her to sit down or stand up to harmony the chair she wants to sit on. It is his responsibility to lend a hand to every lady in the table if he is the only man there. He is supposed to be alert to offer help every moment a lady stands up. In case of conversation, you are required to speak to speak on your right after the salad or main course. There should be no use of mobile or text-ing use, there are people around, and they want to hire you for their own business! If you have an emergency call as a doctor, you have to go out to answer the coming call. You have to watch out your resting position as well.
The napkin must be put in a particular manner! That’s your role to for more information using custom location perhaps Google.

Tips:
- You knife should not be facing your neighbor.
- Waiters serve from left and clear up from your right
- Cut bread in small pieces, then add butter to eat
Activity:
Match the pictures with the suitable caption:

I am done, the waiter can clear the dishes
I am not done. The waiter cannot clear the dishes. I am resting.
I do not want to be served any other dish

The lab

Today is Feb. 13, 2008.

We have been to a highly sofisticated and equipped computer. It is what we need to better implement and integrate technology in my classroom. The teacher is given the opportunity to explore and enhance the process of learning and teaching.

If I was given the chance to have this laboratory, I would motivate my students and encourage them to be autonomous learners. They would contribute a lot and save time to be used and invested on other projects and learning materials.

If teachers are highy motivated and has the skills, with this lab, they would create miracles

Immigration

Immigration is a phenomenon which results from many causes. Immigration can make a lot of problems that appear in the conflicting relationship, especially between immigrants and local people.
Immigration is due to a lot of reasons. Many people are forced to leave their homes as refugees, usually because of political, religious, economic or social motives. Numerous students immigrate so as to continue their studies. Moreover, a great number of people immigrate to seek for a job or to improve their incomes and livelihoods.
There are many problems that immigrants can face. Migrants can find it difficult to keep their mother tongue. They may not find a common use of it. It is probably not easy for several settlers within new cultures, customs, and ways of behaving. Above all, natives may be racist towards the guests. The latter could be blamed for making use or the existing job’s opportunities and sharing the same social offered social services. These immigrants could be victims of various criminal and terrorist acts done by the host country, particularly in times of turmoil and during any political campaign.
Regardless of the causes that immigration may comprise, the hosts and guests should cooperate for organizing a better further scale in the human correlation among them. This is a suggestion to overcome the difficulty that can be engendered in misunderstanding the other’s practices, traditions, and evolution.

From Students

Women

Women’s work has been a new phenomenon in the Arab countries. What are some advantages and disadvantages that can be relate to this observable fact?
There are various good sides of women’s work. To begin with, women can gain and have a personal source of money. They may have experience in life. They can be confident in themselves. They may be liberated from their husbands. They won’t be fully dependent on their spouses, in getting their needs.
There are loads of inconveniences, too. Women can’t look after their children and husbands because they haven’t sufficient time. They could not do the housework properly since they come back late from work. They may have problems at home with their husbands as they do not assume their responsibilities as they should be.
In my opinion, women’s work is very important because it facilitates their commercial life, despite its inadequacy

Noha

Nowadays, women’s situation has more importance as is used to be two decades ago. They have invaded all domain of work even those which was restrict to man only. As a result women have become more added more competitors to men. It is usual to see a famous woman on TV as far as their jobs and achievements are concerned. That’s why women are considered as an additional value of economy. If they are given all their rights and the independence they merit. In other words, it is imperative to remind ourselves that the role of each housewife is at home to realize true success.

Adil