Teachers to Teachers Write to teachers2teachers@usa.com www.teacherstoteachers.com is the address of this web site. |
Our Philosophy --We are all students. We are all course members. There are facilitators and course members. (It's hard to call a 45-year-old executive who has major responsibilities a "student." He's a "course member.") There are "seminar participants." |
Our philosophy is simple We want to exchange teaching techniques with other teachers. We want students (before they come to the USA for intensive study) to have an idea about life in the USA. So we have videos and a fun book that students assembled. |
It is wonderful when teachers hear from their students. One of my students wrote to me, "You are the best teacher I have known and one big person. Thank you for all of your teaching." This student has a master's degree, so it is very nice to hear that I'm the best :-) I wrote to the student: Your message touches my heart. I hope your life is going well. Are you working again? I hope that you will visit www.teacherstoteachers.com and then click on "ESL BOOK" You will see some things that students have written. If you want to send some compositions for the book (for example, "What is good advice for visitors to Florida?") I want you to answer this question: "What do you know now that you wished that you knew when you first came to Florida?" I have been very lucky as a teacher because my students write about their personal lives and they tell me things that are very sweet and very human. I feel like I have known my students for many years. Teaching is a very unusual profession. After two weeks it is possible to talk about things and feelings that I talk about only with my sisters and brothers. Our intensive method of learning English also is very emotional and happy and deep, and I am very lucky to know so many students so deeply. Thank you, again, for your lovely message. -- Steve |
Memo FROM: Cary and Steve TO: Teachers What materials do you want to have on the CD ROM(s)? We can fit about 100 minutes of video on a CD ROM Worksheets: You can submit in TEXT or WORD formats. http://www.teacherstoteachers.com/ (This message applies to any teacher who wants to participate in this TEACHERS TO TEACHERS effort. |
An invitation to teachers: We want you to participate with us in this Teachers to Teachers (teachers2teachers) effort. You can reach us at bradstow@aol.com and englishlesson@mail.com or by writing to teachers2teacher@usa.com (December 2000): Dear fellow teachers Cary and I have had an idea for a long time ... actually it began when Cary suggested that every student should leave TALK with an cassette tape for practice when they return home. The idea has evolved to a CD ROM, since you can get over 2 hours of VIDEO teaching on one CDROM PLUS over 100 worksheets. "Here you go! Please push yourself, be your own teacher and go! go! go! and when you are finished with the exercise on this CD, give it to a friend. Or ask a friend to request the CD rom if you want to recommend it." Cost of an audio cassette tape: 60 cents..... Number of times you can play it before the tape breaks or gets caught in the machine: maybe 40 times or 60 hours of use Cost of a CD ROM: $1.25 or $1.50 ...... Number of times you can play a CD before it breaks: maybe 1000 times or 2000 hours of use .................. Here is a message that Cary and I have been evolving to present to you, our colleagues. This effort is focused on students. The quality of the videos is not highly professional. Everything is "pre-public release" and "pre-publication." It's like you have a few ideas that you jotted down and you're sharing the ideas with a friend. There will be a time when something that you have (if it's in tip-top condition and you are ready to present it to a conference or to sell it as a book) can be recorded professionally and then your name can be put on it and it can be sold for big bucks... THAT'S NOT WHAT WE ARE COMPILING HERE. =================================== Cary adds: Somehow, useful ideas DO filter through along the veins and arteries of the teacher grapevine-heart symbiosis. It could do a lot of good to compile a series of informal mini-lessons and worksheets: a) inspiring teachers ANYWHERE (Internet freebies??) ............. b) introducing TALK (very small letters and mini-video sessions) to people everywhere .... c) an adjunct / giveaway to Trainees (TT Courses, etc) maybe even for Nova, especially sites we cannot access easily physically d) help us to clarify things we do from instinct or "just because we've done them so many times" (reflex action), and get us to experiment and extend ..... e) ultimately tie in with a book?? .............. f) be sent in expurgated form to agents, educators, etc.. but then we need a really copper-bottomed, perfect "thaing". Nice production, proud producers, etc. I'm all for NEAT, small, absolutely immediately useable stuff for teachers: a "global location system" for teachers. (I'm bad at explaining the steps. I need to imagine myself as an inexperienced teacher confronted with e.g. some of my own materials...) So by helping others we might well be helping ourselves. ................. So, the bottom line is: Cary and I have a plan -- let's share some good teaching materials with other teachers and with students who want to continue learning when they leave TALK. They will slide a CD rom into their computer and VOILA, there is a menu of choices. ================ Do you want to participate? send me your favorite worksheets and you can be included in the effort. For more information about our fun idea, please visit: http://www.teacherstoteachers.com/ REMINDER: This is not a TALK vehicle. It's just a bunch of teachers sharing materials with other teachers and students. If you happen to look very interesting or stimulating or "wow! that looks like a good teacher...I wonder what where he works?" or if you happen to stand in front of a TALK sign, that will turn into subtle marketing of TALK school... but the principal benefit is for the student who receives the CD-video. The video on the tape is also a way for the student to relive the fun times at TALK. "Let me show you some of the teachers who taught me. Oh, here's a guy who also works at the school. We went to dinner once. He taught me to make a web page." etc. Cary and I invite you to submit worksheets by email. You can request that I videotape you. The spirit here is (as Cary put it): "Let's compile a series of informal mini-lessons and worksheets: a) inspiring teachers ANYWHERE, b) introducing our personalities to people everywhere, c) an adjunct / giveaway to Trainees and students (TT Courses, etc), especially sites we cannot access easily physically, d) help us to clarify things we do from instinct, and get us to experiment and extend." |
Cary and Steve work for TALK International, a school in Fort Lauderdale. This material is not officially made at TALK and the CDs are a little "rough" in their produciton, but we hope you find them useful for your students and course members. |