Teaching English Radio Live from Tataouine!

This month's programme was live from Tataouine,but not in some far away distance galaxy on the desert-planet Tataooine!, but the shorter distance of  531 kilometres from Tunis down in the south-west of Tunisia.

George Lucas was inspired by the town of Tataouine to use as an name for the sandy planet in the epic Star Wars films ; he also shot many of the scenes in the nearby surrounding desert.


click here for more information on Tataouinne

By the way there's the French expression 'Tataouinne-les-Bains' (go to Tataouinne ) which means to get lost at the end of the world!

Well,today's programme was on the topic of' 'Developing Teachers' English' and today's guests were Secondary and Primary teachers plus British Council Tunisia's English Project Manager Maria Norton.

The teachers discussed the importance of lots of exposure to English and though teachers might not always feel confident about speaking English in the class they mustn't be frightened of making mistakes 'mistakes are a part of life' ,in addition being well prepared for the lesson to avoid making mistakes in the classroom.

Maria emphasised how important a comfortable learning environment is for both the teacher and the students so that everybody is relaxed in the teaching/learning process.

One of the teachers mentioned the relevance of teacher development 'a teacher isn't static and needs to develop' ; to keep up with the students'. Hayet,the radio presenter said it's a case of 'keeping up with the Jones!'. One teacher advocated the idea of teachers having a weekly meeting discussing teacher development but conducting the meeting completely in English. Or having a 'Teachers Club ' where you chat about any topic that appeals to you!

Regarding resources to support teachers to develop/improve their language skills Maria mentioned the free resources/materials on the British Council Teaching English/Learn English/Premier English web sites.

Developing/improving your listening skills helps with improving your speaking and one of the teachers said he liked listening to songs for instance Michael Jackson and Marah Carey!

And finally another way to develop your English is to have a notebook and write some of the things you have done during the day and to make note of any new vocabulary that you have learnt writing down the definition with example sentences.

At the end of the programme Hayet invented her own proverb!
'An hour of English every day helps you on your way to improve your English!' One of the teachers said it was possible in Tataouine to find an hour 'we're in the middle of nowhere and Tataoiune is monotonous!'.

Today there were 4 winners of the quiz questions! Two people from Tunis,one from Gafsa and finally a winner from Tataoiune!

During my Saturday Young Learners class (students aged from 12 - 14) the students listened to part of the programme and agreed with the comment that a love of the English language and reading (newspapers,magazines,books and even e-books) was important in developing/improving Teachers' English.

Earlier on in my lesson some of the students had mentioned that their teachers of English at their school spoke mostly in French and Arabic;one teacher didn't speak in English at all whilst a couple of teachers spoke completely in English.Perhaps their teachers had listened to today's programme for some ideas!

In my lesson the students also discussed and wrote down their ideas for helping students develop/improve their English;here are some of the ideas that they mentioned:

• speak to your family and friends in English,
• talk all day long in English,
• write letters to your friends in English,
• learn the traditions of England to know the country and the language much better,
• set your phone,computer and television to English,
• have an English pen friend
• focus and concentrate on the lesson

Anyway my students had many similar ideas to the radio studio audience plus some extra ideas!

click here to listen to the programme

rtci tunisia podcast web page
'Teaching is an Art! ' Use it or Lose it!' 'An Hour an Day!
 'Keep on Sharing your Ideas!'

Well,it's goodbye from Tataouine! Enjoy your teaching!

Teaching English Radio back in Tunis!

We're back in Tunis for programme 5 of  Teaching English Radio!
This month the topic was 'Teaching Listening'.
In the studio this month:Ines Hfaiedh,Secondary School teacher in Bizerte,Hayfa Majoub,Secondary School in Tunis and Patric Fawcett teacher,ICT / ELT Coordinator British Council Tunis.

Getting Ready and Deep in Thought!

On the programme the teachers discussed finding a variety of materials to help students practise listening.
If there is an audio problem teachers can even act out the tape scripts from the book or adapt and create new listening texts.When we are able to record and play audio in class, there are many possibilities- including recording native speakers or playing clips from radio programmes.

Students need a purpose for listening- with activities before, during and after listening.
There are sub-skills we can practise; for example predicting, listening for the main idea or listening for specific details.Songs are a popular source of listening material and though it's difficult to find the right song to  teach a particular structure you can always use just the chorus or one verse of the song.Ines mentioned the importance of findings songs that are relevant and interesting for the students.

We heard a demonstration of using radio clips such as the weather forecast. The text is authentic and the task can be adapted to the students’ level for example the content of countries and temperatures can be useful for an Elementary class revising the topic of countries,nationalities and numbers. Patric suggested the students could record a weather forecast in conjunction with 'planning a picnic' activity,where of course it's important to know the weather in advance.

In the studio the studio audience demonstrated the describe and draw activity;each person had to draw an animal then describe their picture to another person who had to listen carefully and draw the animal.
Ines drew a cat whilst Patric did a picture of a shark swimming towards an island! This speaking and listening activity is good for those kinaesthetic/visual learners!

Patric talked about using the MP3 player to create authentic recordings:while he was in an art gallery in La Marsa he did a one-minute recording of himself talking about the paintings.With his Upper Intermediate class he played the recording in class to lead into the topic of art and then got the students to record themselves talking about various 'paintings' on the walls. He mentioned other activities that could be done with the MP3 Player and said that the students could self-assess their performance in terms of their pronunciation,fluency,grammar and vocabulary.

Hayfa mentioned using her laptop to make recordings focusing on lexical items that her students find difficult to pronounce.

Getting visitors or colleagues to walk into a classroom allows students to do real interviews in English.
So if you're lucky enough to have an English speaking friend here on holiday invite them into your classroom!
The students will really feel motivated in interviewing the person and at the same time improve their listening skills!

click  http://www.radiotunisienne.tn/rtci/sounds/anglais/anglais05042013.mp3 to hear more ideas from the teachers plus activities that can be done with the MP3 Player !

Thanks for listening! Bye!

Hope you enjoyed the programme!
Well it's goodbye until the next programme!

Patric

The Next queen of Danmark (NO no not me but it could be YOU :))

Hello everyone,

This is Fadoua, I'm from April session last year. How are you do all? and how's your course going?
Last night I've been to Jazz à Carthage and saw Patric ( well he didn't see me :-/ ) and I remember I have to come and check here. Things are doing well  since my last visit, I hope :)

Sinead O'Connor was crazy as usual , quite a show and a very pleasant evening. The post title is from her lyrics :D

Here a very blurry picture of the stage ( the best I could capture)

Keep rocking and enjoy the class.
Cheers,
Fadoua

Fragile in Sidi Bou Said!

How fragile you are! How fragile our world is! Your heart is fragile! Fragile images breaking up the world!

Fragility is the theme of the newest exhibition at the Galerie Municipal in Sidi Bou Said.

Fragility is the latest trend in comtempory art and impacts politics,economics and society at large.
Are fragile countries,fragile economies and fragile governments affecting art?pop

The Fragile event begins in the village of Sidi Bou Said famed for its poets and painters apparently 50% of the population are painters and the other 50% are poets! The event will travels to other Mediterranean countries and will return to Tunisia where the result of the entire process will be seen.

The photographer,Lilia El Golli, has focused on the theme of social fragiltiy via her photographs of the rubbish collectors in Sidi Bou Said who work at night. Her photographs show an insight into the world of a thankless task of clearing away the rubbish in the street.

Another exhibitor has illustrated  the fragile society and the feelings of manipulation and media 'lies' .

Tunisia is in a state of fragility;when the Fragility event returns here from its Mediterranean journey will Tunisia have escaped its fragility and formed a stable government?

Lets wait and see.
Meanwhile try and see the exhibition before it departs on the 6th April!

MENA Teacher Conference in Dubai 2013

Teaching English Radio ' Live from El Kef ! '

This month Teaching Radio English came from the city El Kef !  a city in the north-west of Tunisia and not far from the border of Algeria.The city is well-known for its Byzantine kasbah and the nearby 'Jugurtha's Table Mountain ' ,actually it's 50 miles/60 km south west of the city so perhaps not so near! By the way it's a great place for a picnic sitting on the edge of the lunarscape 'table mountain,but watch out for those big cracks !

Click here for more information on El Kef

The centre of El Kef.

The view from the Kasbah !

Another first for Teaching English Radio!, it's the first time that a English programme has been broadcasted from Radio El Kef! The studio audience included local Primary and Secondary teachers from El Kef and Dalia Adel,British Council Regional Projects Manager based in Cairo,Eygpt.

Today the programme discussed the practical benefits and problems of group and pair work activities.

Some of the key points that were discussed:

• Pair work is useful for sharing reading, writing or grammar tasks, but especially effective as a way to give students an opportunity  to speak and try out language for themselves.
• It’s important to start using pair and group work from the very first lesson.Grouping weaker and stronger students together is very useful as it enables stronger students to help their peers.

• Putting stronger with stronger and weaker with weaker allows students to work at their own pace and level. Teachers can then give extra challenges to the stronger ones and more support to the weaker ones.

The studio audience all agreed on the positive aspects of pair and group work and one of the Primary teachers mentioned its role on a social level as well as the language level,working together and teamwork are key elements in the real world.One person pointed out that though group work is beneficial the weaker students tend to hide behind the stronger ones and thus not make any effort in the group activities.Overall,the teachers said that pair and group activities allowed the students to become more confident in their speaking and to express themselves.

The audience of teachers at the CREFOC Centre,which also included three young female  trainee teachers,agreed that it was important to start pair and group activities right at the beginning of a course and also to clearly set up the rules so that the students soon get used to such activities.

The example 'running dictation' activity that was mentioned relating to collocations and the topic of weddings should go down well in a Tunisian classroom especially as the season of weddings soon approaches!

click
http://www.radiotunisienne.tn/rtci/sounds/anglais/anglais06032013.mp3
to hear the complete programme!

The teachers at the CREFOC Centre deep in thought !

Well,it's goodbye from El Kef !

Next month's programme will be on the topic of 'Teaching Listening';so remember to tune in for more tips and activities and of course more chances of winning some great prizes!

Patric

Hello everybody.
This is my first time on a blog and I'm glad it's Patric's.
Unfortunately, these days my job's taking a big part of my time. It's the reason why I'll write just a couple of things.
At first, even though it's strange for me to be on the other side of the blackboard, I'm really happy to be in my first session with all of you and with our teacher Patric.
Then, I hope I'll soon have more time to write longer and tell you more about my life !

By the way Patric, I hope you'll enjoy your stay in Dubai.
Take care and see you all very soon.
Réda.