Homework-Is it a monster?

Do you have HW today?
Do your HW!
Have you completed your HW?
What is your HW?
You haven't started yet?
OMG it's midnight and you have not finished yet?

These above are common quotes I hear from different families cause nowadays many of my students have difficulties about completing their assignments at home. Parents share their experiences with me and the common complaint is; kids try to spend sometime around their desk, staring at the worksheet or book, playing with anything around them, not being able to focus on the work and not being able to learn from the homework.I guess they are all stressed out.

Of course there are some reasons for being stressed.

Beginning of the autumn term is a difficult period for students. They have just come back from the holiday. A couple of weeks ago they were swimming, playing at the beach, dancing and having fun until late night. Out of routine and discipline.
Now they have to obey the rules, organize themselves, keep their belongings together, finish their homework and go to bed early. Most of them attend courses at the weekends.

It is not fair to expect kids to get back their winter routines in a short period of time. Parents should guide their children through this rough journey.They should start applying the school routines before the schools start. They should be models for their children by getting ready for the new season coming, by taking some notes and making some schedule charts, by organizing their items for work, even by going to bed early and having healthy meals.

The climate is changing, parents should raise awareness on the effects of the season coming and healthy nutrition.

The grade is one level up so there occurs the challenges waiting for the kid. For instance, 1st-4th-6th grades are mostly a shock for children.Every subject deepens suddenly and expected to be analyzed in a wider range of techniques.Most of the subjects and instructors are new.

There might be a load of HW that no one can complete under some circumstances. Most teachers, unaware of each other's assignments, give pages of sheets to be completed in a short period of time. The disorganization of the system at school is not your child's fault.

A new school, therefore new friends and new teachers may enter the scene.Everybody needs sometime to socialize and observe each other and create a strategy to survive peacefully in a new environment.

Separation of the parents is an issue for the kids but mostly parents cannot notice that their negativity has a bad bad influence on the kid. As parents raise their voices in the living room, the kid blames him/herself in the bedroom for being the reason for the fight.But the reason of the child's being not able to concentrate is the parents arguing.It is the vicious circle that parents should see immediately.

Maybe your child has a lot to think nowadays.

Parents should create awareness on the objectives, the content and the time management of the assignment given.They should not check the HW and correct the mistakes at home.They should point at the sources that the child can refer to if he/she has any mistakes. Parents should know that the teacher must see the mistakes so that she/he can support your child.

As a result, parents should stop whining about their children and start applying methods to comprehend the issue that the child is struggling with.
Talk to your child,
see if he/she
is experiencing  a bully
is able to follow the teacher
is able to organize him/herself
is making new friends
is able to feel peaceful in the class
is able to communicate with the teacher
is aware of time management
or not.

Remember, human beings stop learning and focusing when they are stressed out.
Give sometime to your children and support them throughout the school year, observing and communicating but not rushing them.

Changes and Challenges

Education is one of the most important fundamentals of a society. But if that society is located on a very important land, its education system is very much open to manipulation.

The Ministry of Education constantly invites huge educational challenges into the lives of the students. They change the system every year, so they manipulate the future of millions.

Istanbul is a cosmopolitan city so different kinds of public and private schools are available.

If the parents can stand against the economical tsunamis, they tend to construct their child’s education on a successful private school.

Some of the parents prefer IBO schools because that the system is internationally accepted in which the child acquires valuable skills.

During PYP, children are able to embrace and initialize most of the attitudes, learn many ways to inquire a subject and have the opportunity to reflect themselves.

After getting the PYP authorization from IBO, schools start the practice of PYP. On the other hand they do not push themselves to continue with the MYP or DP.

Because there is the student evaluation system called SBS in Turkey, which is put into rule by the Ministry of Education.

Every student has to take the SBS test in order to continue his/her education at a high school.

It is a multiple choice test which drags the students into a variety of tests right after they learn how to read.  Testing and PYP go in parallel to each other at the private primary schools although IBO and SBS are completely opposite organizations.

As a result the inevitable challenges for students, parents and teachers occur.

If MYP is available then SBS success of the school gets lower. The schools take no risks losing parents therefore money. They continue with loading knowledge through memorization and testing that knowledge under the circumstances of SBS.

While students continue their studies at private schools, they also continue at least one SBS course or they study with a one-on-one teacher at the weekends. It is a big challenge for the parents because they have to pay 25.000 Liras (12.500 Euros) for the private school 15.000 Liras (7.500 Euros) for the SBS courses. How tiring is that for a student who is also under the pressure of the ultimate success?

After this unbelievable marathon, students enter the SBS exam of 100 questions and their achievement clarifies the high school that they can apply for education.

After 8 years of education only one test.

The child starts with the PYP  to his/her education life, asks questions, values life, experiences the beautiful stages of learning and self-evaluating then all of a sudden he/she finds herself in the middle of a no-questioning town because of the changing policies of Ministry of Education every year.

Children lose their cognitive and creative skills and experience the same marathon for another 4 years, this time for the university.

It is very unfortunate that students are expected to shape their future this way. It is also very unfortunate for a teacher who has to construct his/her teaching values on a system like SBS because that it’s a must and there is no other choice.

Are you listening?

Of course one of the most essential parts of language acquisition is listening.
But wait a minute, who cares?
As I experience with my one on one students, at most of the private primary schools, the listening parts are not done in the classroom, because the teachers are in a rush of completing their weekly schedule.
Parents pay approximately 25 to 30 thousand liras to the private school and get no listening work done?
It is a pity that the teachers are pushed so much during the school year and so they have to skip some parts and they don't complete the work which should be done in the class.

Teachers mostly work on the grammar parts, they don't use extra visuals and audials.
So when the kids experience the Cambridge exams they are mostly unsuccessful at the listening part. Because they cannot have a chance of getting used to the native speakers that they hear in the exams.They find it funny when they hear a native British audial.

What must be done is a good  question.The problem starts at the planning stage. In august teachers get together and have meetings about the yearly planning, The planning formats push teachers into a fast and general planning.
Unfortunately because of the idea of completing the coursebook, teachers fill in the classic planning formats and skip some parts, mostly they skip the listening parts and as a result kids learn(!) English unaware of the listening skills.

It is unfortunately one of the most important issues in most İstanbul schools.
As ESL instructors we must be careful about the planning progress at the beginning of the  year. Yearly plans should be created in a detailed way so that you can follow a well planned path throughout the year...It mustn't be that hard, right?

what is wrong with you guys?

Yeah since I started my one on one lessons, I have been witnessing several kinds of worksheets from several primary schools available in my students' portfolios. One of the common points of these materials is; they are DATED!
Some teachers mostly give up creating new materials for the kids, some of these materials belong to 80's!
It is unbelievable that some teachers feel comfortable about this issue, because they don't need to work hard, they can sit back and relax and copy a worksheet that was made several years ago!
Because that those sheets are not created in digital platform they just photocopy the material, that's all.
Most of the sheets are not even copied well, some of them are blur, most examples are about old fashioned topics.
I am so sorry...

Fun to pronounce: Blooms Taxonomy!! Also very useful.

Here I gathered some techniques for you;

1. Knowledge: remembering or recalling appropriate, previously learned information to draw out factual (usually right or wrong) answers. Use words and phrases such as: how many, when, where, list, define, tell, describe, identify, etc., to draw out factual answers, testing students' recall and recognition.

2. Comprehension: grasping or understanding the meaning of informational materials. Use words such as: describe, explain, estimate, predict, identify, differentiate, etc., to encourage students to translate, interpret, and extrapolate.

3. Application: applying previously learned information (or knowledge) to new and unfamiliar situations. Use words such as: demonstrate, apply, illustrate, show, solve, examine, classify, experiment, etc., to encourage students to apply knowledge to situations that are new and unfamiliar.

4. Analysis: breaking down information into parts, or examining (and trying to understand the organizational structure of) information. Use words and phrases such as: what are the differences, analyze, explain, compare, separate, classify, arrange, etc., to encourage students to break information down into parts.

5. Synthesis: applying prior knowledge and skills to combine elements into a pattern not clearly there before. Use words and phrases such as: combine, rearrange, substitute, create, design, invent, what if, etc., to encourage students to combine elements into a pattern that's new.

6. Evaluation: judging or deciding according to some set of criteria, without real right or wrong answers. Use words such as: assess, decide, measure, select, explain, conclude, compare, summarize, etc., to encourage students to make judgements according to a set of criteria.

My favourite quote from Terminator :" I'll be back! " :)

Hi kids! I know that has been such a long time since my last enter.
So I think its time to thank my students for their lovely e-mails, messages and photos!
It is a great pleasure to know how much I am appreciated and loved by my kids and their beautiful families:)
As Arnold says; I will be back!

Improve your English by the help of your favourite songs!

Do you listen to pop music?
I am sure you do and I am sure you have many favorites too:)
I am sure because I see most of you, my kids, reading magazines and biographies of various pop artists at any time and anywhere.
I am sure because you love designing projects about them.
I am sure because we chit chat about artists, actors and pop stars in the classroom.
I am sure because I watch you singing and practicing the dance moves of your favorites and having fun.

So let's improve our English by the help of our favorite songs.
Visit www.getlyrics.com or other lyric sites.
Search for the song you want to sing, download the lyrics of the song, find the unknown words in the dictionary, try to understand what the song wants to tell you.
Read the lyrics as a story or as a poem.
Enjoy singing your favorite song with its lyrics in your hand.

See you soon:)

Organizing Yourself During the Exam Weeks

Be cool, don't get stressed.
Start studying regulary before the exam day.

While reading, underline the parts that you find important in the texts.
Define the unknown vocabulary, make sentences.
Solve problems similar with the examples given in the class.

Follow the lesson very well.
Hear everything said in the classroom.

Keep your notebook tidy.
Your notebook is an important source.

Try to understand the aim of your worksheets and handouts.
What do they want to teach you?

Love to learn.
Be curious.

Teach the things you learned to your siblings, a puppet or maybe to your favourite toy.
Don't forget, people can remember %95 of what they teach!

Celebrate Halloween!

31st October!

Make Halloween cards and posters, learn how to make masks, read poems and get some ideas about the Halloween costumes and make-up styles!

Bake a Halloween cake and invite your friends! Have fun!

A new school year doesn't have to mean new illnesses!

The school year always brings new friends, new teachers, new assignments, and unfortunately some new germs. But not to worry, a new school year doesn't have to mean new illnesses!
Follow these tips and you might score a perfect attendance record this year!

*Wash your hands with soap and water after you sneeze, cough, or use the bathroom. Count to 20 or sing a couple of rounds of Row, Row, Row Your Boat while you scrub!
*Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water aren't available.*Use a tissue when you need to sneeze or cough. Throw your tissues in the trash—don't attempt a Guinness World Record for the biggest pile of dirty tissues!
*If you can't stifle a cough or sneeze in a tissue quickly enough, sneeze into the crook of your elbow.*Take a multi-vitamin every day.
*Don't share water bottles or drinks. Your friend might not know he or she is sick and spread germs to you.*Don't share your hair brush or hat. Little creatures like head lice could be hiding out and could be passed on from one person to another.
*Stay home from school, sports practice, and parties if you feel sick or have a fever.*Wash your dishes with detergent and very warm water to kill germs.
*Stay away from family gatherings and reunions if you are sick or if one of your family members is sick. Grandma and Grandpa and younger cousins may have a stronger reaction to the illness than you do.*Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. A healthy diet can help boost your immune system and help you fight off illnesses before they make you sick!
*Sleep eight or more hours every night. A strong body will help you fend off infections.*Wash your hands after you high five, fist bump or shake someone's hand.
*Don't double dip into the salsa or dip.*Get some fresh air and exercise every day. Outside air often carries fewer germs than stagnant indoor air.
*Avoid crowded places like movie theaters and shopping malls if the flu has been reported in your town.*Don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. These areas are germ spreaders.
*Don't share ear buds with friends. They can harbor loads of germs.*Blow kisses to your sick friends and family instead of kisses and hugs.

It's a joke!

Read, read and read more!

Every piece you read is another adventure, isn't it?
Do you sometimes find yourself smiling?
You can experience others' lives and feelings through pages.
You can learn about the world and the nature, you can have information about the other cultures, you can read about the most popular and successful sports celebrities, you can read and develop awareness about your health.
You can read and laugh, you can read and cry...
Having recommendation hours with your friends and organising
book presentation contests will raise your interest and pleasure in reading.
Enjoy!

Care what you eat!

Know what is good and bad for your health.

List the names of the vegetables and fruits you have never tasted.

Read about their nutrition facts.

Go to the closest market.

Touch and smell the vegetables, bring them home, cook them with your parents.

Take risks, try new tastes, you won't regret!

In the morning

Don't forget to have breakfast before you leave home for school.
You need energy throughout the long day waiting for you.
If you can't eat early in the morning, drink a glass of warm milk with some honey or a glass of fresh fruit juice.
You will feel energitic and happy.
Try once and enjoy your school day!

Is it hard to study English? I don't think so.

Listening to your teacher and your friends in the class is very important. Plus making some notes will be very helpful, too.
Read your notes and try to remember the lesson when you get home.
Revise the words, make a couple of questions,
negative and affirmative sentences,
act the story in your book.
Share what you learned with your family.
It will only take 15-20 minutes. Try once,
you will be addicted to it:)