MariaVlachopoulou

In September I always give a welcoming letter to my 3rd grade students. They are the ones who are about to do English for the first time at school.  What I try to stress in this letter, among other things, is the idea that learning English IS fun (of course we all know that it can be dead boring sometimes, but this is something I omit on purpose!). And this is somehow a promise to them and a reminder to myself to try incessantly and make it fun for them. I believe it is crucial to make a good start when you start learning a language. So throughout the year I am trying to put my words into practice and maintain their interest for the language as keen as possible! Here are some ways I rely on-everyone has their own, and there is always room for trying something new! Vary the way of starting and ending a lesson . Ken Wilson in his plenary in Tesol MT, March 2015 said that apart from teachers we are human beings and we might  (just an idea) start a lesson differe...

New technologies and social media are very popular with students nowadays, so educators should take advantage of this advancement and use it to engage their students and allow for communication and collaboration with peers around the world. Participation in collaborative projects with classrooms from other countries can have many advantages and help students develop some of the 21 st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation. It can also broaden their horizons as they get in touch with students from different cultures and they are able to share their experiences with them. There are, however, some things you need to consider in order to participate in a successful project actively or even design it yourself. 1. There must be a clear timetable with carefully designed activities and deadlines. 2. Clear instructions for the activities should be given and other parametres should be defined such as “Is...

This is for Marjorie Rosenberg , who gave a wonderful plenary at the TESOL MTNG CONVENTION in March and inspired us to do some serious thinking about the ways we use to develop professionally.Thank you, Marjorie! As a student I loved English. Back then, however, I never imagined I would become an English teacher. I actually thought I wasn't cut for teaching, at all! And yet, here I am, many years later, an English teacher! A teacher who still loves the language, loves teaching it-and has never stopped learning it. Because teachers, especially  language teachers, are committed to life long learning. And this is a commitment both to themselves and to their students. Life long learning assists professional development and can prevent boredom and burn out! Professional development starts the moment you start teaching. Every day you teach you learn something new, you try new ideas and not a single lesson is the same with another lesson,even you follow the same lesson plan. ...

I have a dream! That my students: Always learn while exploring, creating and having fun are as much enthusiastic to learn new things as I am when I try new things with them see every lesson as a challenge to achieve something new, to go a step further think out of the box and stretch their comfort zones in order to be creative and original use English to communicate with people they wouldn't be able to communicate otherwise see English as a way to be united to the rest of the world share my enthusiasm when we create together feel proud of themselves every time they come up with imaginative ideas and make these ideas come true as much as I feel proud of them feel the love I feel for the language and for them With this humble dream I go to bed every night and this dream I meet when I get up. And I have made this dream my purpose as an educator and for this dream I try to make every day worthwhile!

I've been meaning to write about TESOL Macedonia-Thrace 2015 Convention for some weeks now, because I want my experience to be recorded. It's been some years since my last convention-back in 2012-and I felt I had to do everything possible to attend this one. When it was all over I realized I had done the right thing. It was just then that it occured to me that the last time I attended a TESOL convention I learnt so much for the years to follow and a whole lot I had been using since. I realised that this happens with every TESOL convention. And I made the promise to myself to try and attend every TESOL every year. I hope I will be able to keep it! A significant fact that made the difference for me at this convention this year is the people I met. First of all, old and dear friends. Then, people I knew from the social media but had never met. The feeling was unique! It was as if I had already known them in person for years. Last but not least, the new people I met at the...

Children in Greece strive for grades. They study to do well in tests. They study to pass the exams. And when they don't do well in tests or exams they are disappointed,  disheartened. They often give up! They don't believe in themselves. This is because our educational system rewards intelligence and not effort. It's the binary trap of success and failure that is the aim. Nobody has ever taught them that the aim of education is learning not grades. We see children with good grades as smart children, we tend to praise ability rather than effort. We say "You did it! Look how smart you are"! And if the ability isn't good enough, what can you do? If you fail, in spite of being smart, then what? Where can you go from there? So what should we do? It is my firm belief that as educators we can always make a difference! In this case we should try to create growth mindset environments for our students. And if the system doesn't promote such a mindset let's...

I have always said that I want my classes to be noisy! What I can't handle is demotivated students that are quiet and withdrawn. But when I say noisy, I mean noisy for a reason. I mean the buzzing of meaningful engagement, the creative kind of noise! So here are some tips on how to transform a noisy-without-a-reason class to a creative-noisy class. Tip 1: Never teach by the book- literally and metaphorically . Books address to a general audience. They cannot be tailored to your students' needs. Yoy are the one who knows their needs, this is why you have to make choices as to what should be taught and how you should teach it. Don't be afraid to be inventive and flexible. Supplement your book with your own material. Tip 2: Give your students a variety of activities.  A certain everyday routine is said to give students a feeling of security as to what they should expect in every lesson. Apart from this, though, try to vary the kind of activities you give your stude...