Sunday, October 24, 2010

101 WAYS TO COPE WITH STRESS




  1. Get up 15 minutes earlier
  2. Prepare for the morning the night before
  3. Avoid tight fitting clothes
  4. Avoid relying on chemical aids
  5. Set appointments ahead
  6. Don't rely on your memory ... write it down
  7. Practice preventive maintenance
  8. Make duplicate keys
  9. Say "no" more often
  10. Set priorities in your life
  11. Avoid negative people
  12. Use time wisely
  13. Simplify meal times
  14. Always make copies of important papers
  15. Anticipate your needs
  16. Repair anything that doesn't work properly
  17. Ask for help with the jobs you dislike
  18. Break large tasks into bite size portions
  19. Look at problems as challenges
  20. Look at challenges differently
  21. Unclutter your life
  22. Smile
  23. Be prepared for rain
  24. Tickle a baby
  25. Pet a friendly dog/cat
  26. Don't know all the answers
  27. Look for a silver lining
  28. Say something nice to someone
  29. Teach a kid to fly a kite
  30. Walk in the rain
  31. Schedule play time into every day
  32. Take a bubble bath
  33. Be aware of the decisions you make
  34. Believe in yourself
  35. Stop saying negative things to yourself
  36. Visualize yourself winning
  37. Develop your sense of humor
  38. Stop thinking tomorrow will be a better today
  39. Have goals for yourself
  40. Dance a jig
  41. Say "hello" to a stranger
  42. Ask a friend for a hug
  43. Look up at the stars
  44. Practice breathing slowly
  45. Learn to whistle a tune
  46. Read a poem
  47. Listen to a symphony
  48. Watch a ballet
  49. Read a story curled up in bed
  50. Do a brand new thing
  51. Stop a bad habit
  52. Buy yourself a flower
  53. Take time to small the flowers
  54. Find support from others
  55. Ask someone to be your "vent-partner"
  56. Do it today
  57. Work at being cheerful and optimistic
  58. Put safety first
  59. Do everything in moderation
  60. Pay attention to your appearance
  61. Strive for Excellence NOT perfection
  62. Stretch your limits a little each day
  63. Look at a work of art
  64. Hum a jingle
  65. Maintain your weight
  66. Plant a tree
  67. Feed the birds
  68. Practice grace under pressure
  69. Stand up and stretch
  70. Always have a plan "B"
  71. Learn a new doodle
  72. Memorize a joke
  73. Be responsible for your feelings
  74. Learn to meet your own needs
  75. Become a better listener
  76. Know your limitations and let others know them, too
  77. Tell someone to have a good day in pig Latin
  78. Throw a paper airplane
  79. Exercise every day
  80. Learn the words to a new song
  81. Get to work early
  82. Clean out one closet
  83. Play patty cake with a toddler
  84. Go on a picnic
  85. Take a different route to work
  86. Leave work early (with permission)
  87. Put air freshener in your car
  88. Watch a movie and eat popcorn
  89. Write a note to a far away friend
  90. Go to a ball game and scream
  91. Cook a meal and eat it by candlelight
  92. Recognize the importance of unconditional love
  93. Remember that stress is an attitude
  94. Keep a journal
  95. Practice a monster smile
  96. Remember you always have options
  97. Have a support network of people, places and things
  98. Quit trying to fix other people
  99. Get enough sleep
  100. Talk less and listen more
  101. Freely praise other people

Friday, October 22, 2010

How To Be the Best Teacher

Make your class rules and goals clear
Understand what you are teaching
Get savvy with the Internet
Listen to students when they talk
Do not insult students
Evaluate your class’ strengths and weaknesses
Make great tests
Recognize talents and efforts
Take careful note of students' progress and let them know about it
Talk with parents

Monday, October 18, 2010

Movies in the English classroom

Nowadays students need to be exposed to a wide variety of resources from audio to printed material. Although this output seems to fulfil their needs and prepare them for the outside world, teachers always keep searching for more motivating sources. So, introducing movies into our classroom is a challenge most language teachers must face.
Daily, teachers encounter students' demands for watching real movie stories rather than those graded video ones found at the local bookstores, which in the long run turn out to be meaningless and artificial. So the need to adapt and grade famous film titles such as "Meet the Parents" or "AntZ" to fulfil their demands leads us into a new editor-like ground.
During the worksheet preparation, planning and editing to accompany these movies, a wide variety of techniques are resorted to involve and motivate students as well as help them profit from the video session.
Years of experienced teaching have proven that well developed, planned and graded video lessons should consist of different stages, which are:
    • Tune in
    • While watching
    • After watching
      • Firstly, by 'Tune in' it is meant that students are gradually guided and involved in the plot, the characters and the setting of the film. They can be led at this stage by prediction-based activities brainstorming speculation patterns with the aid of visual aids such as pictures, vocabulary banks with words and expressions from the story or just through questions related to the main topic.
      • Secondly, at the 'While watching' stage, there is more thorough work on the plot and the characters. Students are exposed to a variety of activities such as problem solving, filling blanks, multiple matching, ordering events, true and false or comprehension questions. The main aim at this stage is to exploit the film at its best profiting from the wide variety of idiomatic expressions, collocations and slang that the students will encounter in real life.
        • Thirdly, the 'After watching' stage is considered to be the follow-up one where the film plot is used together with the lexical terms by making students either role-play the best parts or by organising group debates based on the moral of the plot.
        • Furthermore, a written homework assignment may be set asking students to describe their favourite character at lower levels or writing a film review as well as an article to be placed in the school magazine at higher ones.