Category Archives: teaching language

Full of Win

Posted on March 20, 2010 by Meg

My high-school students had the word fiasco on their vocab list today.  I asked if anyone already knew the meaning, and they defined it as epic fail. Tweet this!

Posted in teaching, teaching language, teaching teenagers | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Apathetically Playing Charades

Posted on April 15, 2008 by Meg

I played Secretly Eating Pizza, an adverbs/verbs charades game with my teenagers yesterday and today. I put together this one for my Yantai drips, asa reward for all their hard work learning the difference between adjectives and adverbs. The game … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching language, teaching teenagers, Yantai | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

My Sister The Pirate

Posted on March 27, 2008 by Meg

My sister Bethie just returned from three months of sailing the high seas, so naturally when I got to talk to her tonight, I asked her all about her pirate life. “Did you call your friends, ‘me hearties’? Do you … Continue reading →

Posted in ESL, teaching language | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Adventures In Tutoring

Posted on March 7, 2008 by Meg

I met Joe about a month ago when he asked me to sub for Christina’s class one day, and he’s offered me occasional tutoring and substitute gigs since then. Subbing in an American middle school looks like torture, but subbing … Continue reading →

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I can feel the wrinkles already…

Posted on February 28, 2008 by Meg

I was tutoring a teenage student last night, and we did a reading about finding jobs in America. The passage talked about looking in the paper to find a new, and I mentioned that it’s a bit out-of-date, and people … Continue reading →

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Teaching Little Ones

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Meg

My first two days of classes were great, but also overwhelming. I have 6 classes of 25ish kindergartners per day. Fortunately I only work 3 days a week, oddly enough it’s Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, which were the days I … Continue reading →

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Meaderthal

Posted on August 3, 2007 by Meg

Meaderthal — 1) n. A dull-witted student moving through his workbook at his own special pace. 2) v. The behavior of such a student. Usage: John’s parents were so wealthy and well-connected that he meaderthaled through three years of English … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese life, ESL, teaching, teaching ESL, teaching language | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Portuguese Igloos

Posted on May 3, 2007 by Meg

I gave my students a writing warm-up exercise today. A lot of my students come straight from work, or from picking up their kids, etc. and I thought it would make a good transition into English class. And it rewards … Continue reading →

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Academic Triage

Posted on March 14, 2007 by Meg

Some of my students will learn English whether I’m a good teacher or not. They are the most fun to teach, and they ask the most interesting questions, but I spend most of our class time on the middle of … Continue reading →

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Meg vs. Mandarin, again.

Posted on February 8, 2007 by Meg

Yesterday I started taking a beginning Chinese class. I’d forgotten how much better I liked my life without anyone saying “no, no, is zh not zh“. At least the prof doesn’t giggle when she says it. She has the same … Continue reading →

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