Paraphrasing with Einstein

Paraphrasing is a key skill for many English language and literature students. It helps them with tests like the IELTS and BULATS, and is an essential skill for writing essays and other reports.

This isn't a full lesson, but it is an idea of how to use Albert Einstein when practicing paraphrasing in class. After all, March 14th is Einstein's birthday!

To start my students and peruse Joseph Ducreux memes (such as the one of the left). This meme is usually a modern phrase translated into archaic English. For example, "YOLO" could "translate" to: One only exists upon a singular occasion.

I show them some examples and we see how the meaning stays the same even though the words change. We usually laugh at the humorous phrasing (if you plan on using these in your class be sure to select appropriately many are NOT appropriate).

Then I show them some I made using Einstein's quotes as a reference. You can go to MemeGenerator.net/Joseph-Ducreux to make your own. For instance, I made the one on the right. I ask them to try and translate them from archaic English to modern English.

Staying with the example on the right, they may come up with something like: Living is like riding a bike. You have to  keep balance by moving.

When they finish we look at how close they got to the original phrase. Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

Finally, I explain these are usually NOT good paraphrases. As a class we come up with rules for a good paraphrase.

• The words are different (Use synonyms, descriptions, etc.)
• The structure is different (Make long sentences into two shorter sentences, change active to passive, etc.)
• The meaning is the same.

As we can see by looking through the Joseph Ducreux memes,  normally these memes do not change structure. They simply change the words. This is NOT proper paraphrasing.

Then we look at their "translations" of the earlier memes and see if they ended up being good paraphrases (usually they are pretty good). If not, we make them better. If students has written, Living is like riding a bike. You have to  keep balance by moving, they could try and change the structure more to something like, If you keep moving on a bike you are less likely to fall. This is the same way to stay balanced in life!

Finally I give them some of Einstein's quotes and have them paraphrase them. The worksheet includes the source, so students can practice citations (parenthetical, works cited, etc.) as well as remember how to find good sources.

There we go! As stated earlier, this is NOT a complete lesson. However, since Einstein is often quoted, it is a lesson that is relevant to students and helps them practice paraphrasing.

As a homework assignment you can get them to find their favorite quote by Einstein and paraphrase it! My favorite quote is to the right when he says that, "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." You can read the rest of the quote (and more) at the Science Career Magazine blog.

A copy of the quotation worksheet, quizzes and answer key can be purchased on Teacher's Pay Teachers. You can get there by clicking this link.

Props for Classroom Management

Many teachers use charts to monitor behavior or whistles and bells to keep students on task. This post will talk about some simple items you probably already have that you can use to help your students.

Use red if a behavior should STOP

1. POST ITS / STICKIES!
There have been great posts on how to use post its to teach. My favorite way to use post its has nothing to do with grammar or vocabulary. I LOVE using post its as a gentle way to get students on track.
If I notice that a student is on the wrong page, speaking to their friend, or on their cell phone, I write a quick note on a post it and drop it on their desk.

Hand out positive ones too!

Pros? 
It serves as a visual reminder of staying on task.

 It doesn't call the student out or make them feel embarrassed because the interaction is just between you and them.
Cons?
While it is subtle, some students may catch on that if you put  post it on the students' desk, they are in trouble. You can combat this by also passing out praiseworthy post its (or bonus participation points)

2. CUPS!

This works best during group or pair work, but it can be done individually as well.
We all know that students sometimes act out because of the material. It is either too challenging or not challenging enough. This helps keep you aware of how students feel about the material.
Each pair  group  receives three cups. One red, one green and one yellow. They should be stacked so that the green cup is showing. When students have a problem that does not allow them to keep working, they make the red cup on top. When the students have a problem or question that they can skip for a bit, but do need answered they make the yellow cup show.
Pros
*  I don’t know about your students, but mine are very bad at taking turns. I will be helping one student and another student will come over and interrupt with their question. This lets you triage which students to help first, and makes it so the students stay in their seats while you jump around from student to student (something I prefer for class management).
* You can also adapt this so that students change the cups based on their comprehension of the material. If it is red the students do not understand the topic, yellow the students have questions, and green they are good to know. That way at a quick glance you can tell how many of your students fully comprehend the topic and how many need more time
Cons.
Some students find the cups fun to play with, but this tends to be low on the distraction scale.

3. EMPTY JAR / SPRAY BOTTLE
This works well for younger students, but with the appropriate demeanor you can use this with your higher level students too. Essentially you make a label that says something like “English Elixir” “Silence Spray” “Attention Formula” when a student is making unneeded noise, not speaking English or generally not paying attention you “spray them” with the spray.

If you tweet this blog post you can download four free alliterative labels (like the one on the right) free of charge! Just click the following button
                    
Pros
*Unless you are with really really young students they will not actually believe that the spray is anything; however, students usually appreciate the light hearted reminder to behave and it keeps the class enjoyable.
*Alternative: You can fill the spray bottle / empty jar with rice that will make noises and just shake it as a reminder.
Cons
Some older students may find this childish and become offended. Be sure you know your students!


4. CLASS CROWN / FANCY HAT
The “Silence Spray” is a type of subtle punishment for negative behavior.
However, we have all read about positive reinforcement as a preferred method of running a classroom, and the crown is a way to do this.
When a student participates particularly well they get to wear the crown.

Like a sir

This is me in the mustache hat!

*The crown can give additional privileges if you like: switch seats with someone, erase the board, pass out papers, select who answers questions etc.
In my class my students LOVE 9gag and memes, so when someone does something really well, they do it, "like a sir." 
The "Like a sir" meme is a man with a mustache, top hat and monocle. As a result, our "class crown" is a mustache headband. You can see a picture of my posing with the headband to the right.
Pros
*Positive reinforcement YAY
Cons
*The reason I like the headband more than the hat is it can be worn with most hairstyles (which is a major con of the hat per most of my female students).
* Some shy students find this more of a punishment, so be careful.
* In AMAZING  classes I find that I want to rotate having someone wear the hat about every 5 minutes (which is ludicrous) so be sure to only use it sparingly, or it loses it's special power.

5. WHAT DO YOU USE?
I was going to put my fifth tip up here (rain sticks), but I realized I haven't used those in ages and I am much more interested in what YOU use! In the comments or on twitter go ahead and share the one "prop" that you use with your class that really helps behavior. If I find one I really like I'll add it to this list and give you all the credit!

Grading Groupwork

Different ways animals work in groups

We all know the pedagogy.  Group work is great. Having students work in teams gets them to practice

Group work offers students the chance to teach one another (and we all know that teaching is one of the best ways to really learn, understand and remember something).

However, groupwork has its downsides too. Often one student will be dependent on others not really giving their full effort. Other times, group-work is not properly divided. I talked about a group once that got in trouble for plagiarism.  They had divided the group work as follows: Student1- Make the drinks they were going to pass out during class, Student2-Write the brochure, Student3- Format the brochure.

Do you see the problem with this? One person was doing all the research, citing, summarizing, etc. while the others did much less work. No wonder the student turned to plagiarism!

Funny pie chart discussing the faults of group projects

Now, part of this is just part of life. Just like in real life, sometimes you'll be doing group projects with people who try to take credit for your work, don't do as much, or are perfectionists who want you to re-do everything you do!

It is true that life isn't fair, but I feel that teachers should make grading as fair as possible.

HERE ARE A FEW WAYS I GRADE TEAMWORK  

• Have team members grade one another. This is a popular way of keeping students involved. I usually make a "teamwork" grade worth about 5% of the total.



Portion of a sample rubric

• Give a rubric!
• You can see a small portion of a rubric that I've used before. to the right.
• Give them a number of points they can divide among the group
•  For example in a group of three I may give 10 points.
• If the students feel that their two team members worked well together they'd give each member 5 points. 
• On the other hand, if they feel that one partner did a bit more than the other they would give one person 6 and one person 4
• Consequently, if one team member was amazing and one team member was pretty lousy the points could be divided as 9 points and 1 point.
• Pros: Students feel like they get a say. Cons: Some students will grade based on personal relationship, not actual effort (most of my students seem to be honest when filling these out). 
• Divide the work. I am not a huge fan of this with most projects, but with some projects it works well (and lends itself to differentiation).



A confession bear meme describing what many students feel

• For example, if the students are working on an essay together make one student in charge of the First Body Paragraph, another the Second Body Paragraph, and the third the Last Body paragraph.
• I am not a huge fan of this as I think that part of the joy (and horror) of working in a group is that you get to use the weaknesses and strengths of other members to work TOGETHER in a finished product. However, sometimes this works well.
• Assess what you see  
• Sometimes I have my groups work during class. At this point I literally assess what I see.
• One student is writing, another is researching and a third is working on math homework... the math homework one won't receive the same grade as the others.
•  Have students use something like primary pad and you can track who is typing what.
• Some students perceive this as unfair because group-work is more than what is done in class or on the computer (which is true).
• Just give one grade
• Don't grade based on the effort or work done by individuals students, just grade the finished product and let everyone have the same grade. 
• If a team builds something assess purely the end result and have all members get the same grade.
• Many students protest this because it doesn't reflect the effort and time they put into it. It is however very similar to many real life situations.  

I'd love to get input from other teachers (or students). How do you grade group work? Do you let students grade one another for teamwork?

Jokes for distinguishing the D / Th

I know some Spanish speakers mix up the sound the D makes and the sound the TH makes (yes I realize th has different sounds).

I saw this meme today and though "That's a perfect example of this minimal pair." For those of you who don't know this meme is one of the many floating around the internet that always ends in, "you're going to have a bad time."

For example, "If you don't do homework in my class.... you're going to have a bad time."

"If you don't compliment your girlfriend's haircut... you're going to have a bad time." etc.

This one's especially humorous to me because of the play on words. As most of you may have figured out I have been in a big joke mood lately and am currently compiling a series of  knock knock jokes and other jokes that deal with minimal pairs and connected speech. Since this meme popped up I thought I'd share a few jokes I have as well:
 

D / Th

·     Knock Knock. Who’s there? Dishes. Dishes who? Dishes your friend let me in.  This is your friend.

·     Knock Knock. Who’s there? Datson. Datson who? Datson awful question to ask. That's an awful question to ask.

·     Knock Knock. Who’s there? Dakota. Dakota who? Dakota’s too thin. Please open the door.  The coat is too thin. Please open the door.

      Knock Knock. Who’s there? Gladys. Gladys who? Gladys isn't a robber, aren't you? Glad this isn't a robber, aren't you?

·

NOTE: The Th and D sound are normally mixed with a voiced TH however since the meme used an unvoiced TH as an example I chose to to delve into this.

Do you know any fun jokes or tricks for helping EFL students with the differences? Would you ever use a meme or knock knock joke in your EFL class? Are you laughing, but only because these are so lame? Leave a comment and let me me know.