On Wed, February 27, 2013 8:09 pm, Steve Thomas wrote: > I will be heading to Haiti next month and the teachers are requesting > feedback and ideas on teaching English at the school I will be visiting. > > I am looking for good resources on methods of teaching/lessons, software > suggestions and non computer games and methods of learning.
One of the best methods for teaching foreign languages is the microwave technique created by Earl Stevick of the US Foreign Service Institute, one of the top language schools in the world. It consists of short, carefully sequenced lessons that introduce single points of grammar, which are then reinforced in dialogs where students are encouraged to explore the possible range of variation in using the expressions they have just learned. Microwave was adopted by the Peace Corps for all of its language materials and courses in something like 80 languages. I was taught a little bit of the technique as an English teacher with the Peace Corps in South Korea in the 1960s. There is A Microwave Course in English as a Second Language (For Spanish Speakers) available for free download from the US government Educational Resources Information Center Web site. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED035876&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED035876 A teacher's manual exists, but I have not seen it offered for download. Obviously, this is not quite what the Haitian teachers want. It would require significant work to adapt it to the requirements of speakers of standard French or of Kreyòl Ayisyen, and to make it usable at other than the adult level. I can assist. I have been working on the similar Microwave Course in Spanish (for English speakers), and trying to get a Creative Commons license to permit wider use, adaptation, and republishing. We do not know who owns the copyright at present, since the original publisher, Lingoco, has gone out of business. I could do with some assistance in such issues of licensing. > I have ordered "Proust and the Squid" and am looking at Maryanne Wolf > video's suggested by Mike Lee. > > Thanks, > Stephen -- Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep