Of pupils and portals
I have been nursing the thought of having an online English Enrichment portal for a long time. Reason I held back for so long in setting it up is because I am a stickler for details, and I get my highs from creating lessons that deliver difficult content and skills in a accessible way. Online learning requires the planner to make use of binary choices and that, you must be thinking takes the fuzzy edge out of the lesson.
With the choices and decisions that you have to make while communicating by way of writing or speaking in English, you would have thought that the fuzziness is the "IT" factor when it comes to making an impact.
But I have come to realise I can't complain about the convenience of the the medium. I mean once I deliver my lessons to my pupils, it is on their time. They can concentrate on other things the whole week and complete 3 lessons in one sitting and move right ahead. They never have to miss a lesson. Best of all, I get to relate to them in a very personal way because I no longer mark according to a rubric alone, I now put up a full analysis. I now read the essay and answers and "read" behind the writer to figure out the student pressures that are behind the choices and errors.
Sometimes you don't need to have all the answers about something before you go into it. We wish we could but the information is not always available, you just have to go into and apply enduring work principles values aren't compromised.
Most things that are clearly of worth now came our of ventures born of thought, planning and a desire to create. I had a Chinese High student, one of my first tutees, who finally went to Australia to do a business degree. But he was also really keen on organising concerts and when he was back after a year or so for a break, his Mum was bemoaning the fact that he was so involved with his budding business that he had to take a year off. So I felt obliged to meet up with him for lunch, and Mum was convinced it was a good idea thinking I would talk some sense into him
Then I found out that he had the opportunity in Australia to organise a concert for Destiny's Child and that was what he was taking his time out for!
I was not much help to Mum that lunch.
With the choices and decisions that you have to make while communicating by way of writing or speaking in English, you would have thought that the fuzziness is the "IT" factor when it comes to making an impact.
But I have come to realise I can't complain about the convenience of the the medium. I mean once I deliver my lessons to my pupils, it is on their time. They can concentrate on other things the whole week and complete 3 lessons in one sitting and move right ahead. They never have to miss a lesson. Best of all, I get to relate to them in a very personal way because I no longer mark according to a rubric alone, I now put up a full analysis. I now read the essay and answers and "read" behind the writer to figure out the student pressures that are behind the choices and errors.
Sometimes you don't need to have all the answers about something before you go into it. We wish we could but the information is not always available, you just have to go into and apply enduring work principles values aren't compromised.
Most things that are clearly of worth now came our of ventures born of thought, planning and a desire to create. I had a Chinese High student, one of my first tutees, who finally went to Australia to do a business degree. But he was also really keen on organising concerts and when he was back after a year or so for a break, his Mum was bemoaning the fact that he was so involved with his budding business that he had to take a year off. So I felt obliged to meet up with him for lunch, and Mum was convinced it was a good idea thinking I would talk some sense into him
Then I found out that he had the opportunity in Australia to organise a concert for Destiny's Child and that was what he was taking his time out for!
I was not much help to Mum that lunch.
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