17th October 2022
Albert Camus Quote
Category: Teaching Notes
A message from Monkey Mike
4th September 2022
Always wear a mask in class and at school, please.
Wear your mask over your nose and mouth.
Do not touch your face or mask.
Always wash your hands.
Thank you
Screen Test Compilation: Video clips for classroom games
23rd June 2022
Contents:
1 Summer Holiday
2 World’s tallest buildings
3 Egyptian Gods
Here’s a compilation of video clips that can be used in class for listening skills, observation, collecting information, and for fun.
‘Screen Test’ was a children’s TV show on the BBC from 1970 – 1984. A group of children were shown short clips of films, then asked questions about what they had seen.
First up is a clip I’ve used several times, ‘Summer Holiday’ starring Cliff Richard and his backing band The Shadows.
1 Summer Holiday
- What colour was the first car behind the bus ?
red // white // blue ?
2. What was the number of the bus ?
9 // 19 // 28 ?
3. What was the road sign at the beginning of the clip ?
London // Berlin // Paris ?
4. How many children wore a hat ?
1 // 2 // no children ?
5. How many men were riding bicycles ?
3 // 4 // 6 ?
6. What did Cliff, the driver, eat ?
a sandwich // a biscuit or cookie // nothing ?
BONUS POINTS – Can anyone sing the song – just two lines
“We’re all going on a summer holiday // we’re all going for a week or two.”
2 World’s tallest buildings
Questions
1) How tall was the Philadelphia City Hall ?
2) Where was the Singer Building ?
3) What year was the Bank of Manhattan Trust finished ?
4) How tall is the Chrysler Builder ?
5) The Empire State Building has two different heights – why ?
6) In what year did Chicago have the tallest building ?
7) What was the first tallest building in Asia ?
8) How tall is the Dubai Creek Tower planned to be ?
Answers: 1) 167m / 548 ft 2) New York City (NYC) 3) 1930 4) 319m / 1046 ft 5) first is height of building, second is height to the tip. 6) 1973 7) Petronas Tower in Malaysia 8) 1321m / 4351 ft
3 Ancient Egyptian Gods
Questions
1) What was the name of the Sun God ?
2) Which God was a writer ?
3) Anubis had the head of which animal ?
4) Would you see Nut in the day or night, and why ?
5) What was the name of the lioness ?
6) What animal was Bastet ?
Answers 1) Ra 2) Thoth 3) a jackal 4) night because she was the star goddess 5) Sekmet 6) a cat
Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.
Hello Korea – 안녕하세요
19th June 2022
Last week, to my delight and amazement, I saw I had nearly seventy hits on one day, most of which came from South Korea.
To say thank you, here are some of my memories of your breathe-taking country, it’s films and literature.
Hope to come back again one day.
Some of my favourite Korean films:
Some of my favourite Korean books:
This one’s cheating – my favourite Korean restaurant in London, near the British Museum.
All street scene photos by Thay Paul. Book and film images from Google
“Because it’s my nature.”
2nd June 2022
The fable of the frog and the scorpion
One day a scorpion was out walking when it came to a river. The scorpion, who couldn’t swim, wanted to cross the river, and saw a frog resting on a stone.
“Hello, frog, can you carry me to the other side ? I can ride on your back.”
The frog refused.
“You are a scorpion. You will sting me.”
“Why would I do that ? We would both die,” asked the scorpion.
The frog thought, then agreed. The scorpion climbed onto the frog’s back.
However, half way across the river, the scorpion stung the frog. The frog, in pain, asked the scorpion,
“Why did you do that ? Now we will both die.”
“I know,” replied the scorpion, “I couldn’t help it because it’s my nature.”
A modern day tale
Classes of students who are undisciplined, disrespectful and physically or verbally abusive.
The centre makes rules. The students start each lesson reciting them.
Rules such as not saying, “No,” to a teacher when asked to do something, not calling a teacher by a disrespectful name, no running, no eating in class.
Yet, forty minutes later, masks are off and half the class are eating, running in the halls, shouting. Students say, “No,” to polite requests, and call teachers disrespectful names.
They have been told if they break these new rules, they will be sent home, and if the offense is repeated, they will be expelled. Still they continue.
Why … because it’s in their nature.
Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.
I shouldn’t have to write this, but …
24th May 2022
Do not ever hit or touch a teacher
Always wear a mask at school
Wear your mask over your mouth and nose
Do not eat in the classroom
Class starts exactly on time
If your class is at 10:00, it starts at 10:00
10:01 is LATE
Thank you
Thank you, Little Princess
23rd May 2022
On Saturday, one of my very special, Top Cat students came to my class to give me these treats.
A teacher never forgets any gift from a student. I thank you so much, Little Princess. I ate them last night and they were delicious !
Best of luck with everything
You restore my faith in teaching 🙂
Thank you, my Princess (third time)
15th May 2022
Really appreciated.
Education is everything
23rd September 2021
Written by Aaron Sorkin, creator of ‘The West Wing’.
Teaching is exhausting; it requires Herculean feats of strength, mental and physical, and the compassion of the Buddha.
Teaching can be soul-destroying; it requires the wisdom of Solomon and the tolerance of Job.
Teachers can be disrespected, ignored and insulted.
Teacher reviews may be gauged on how popular they are, how many games they play, not on how much they teach or how many students actually pass.
But teachers can also change lives.
That is what makes it worthwhile.
We need to change more lives.
“We need gigantic monumental changes.”
Zoom Rules Revisited
11th September 2021
A polite note for your consideration
The employer is responsible for providing a safe working environment for staff.
In the physical workspace, the teacher should not be physically or verbally harmed in any way.
Kicking, hitting, being jumped on etc are unacceptable, and the offender needs to be punished.
In the online workspace, the teacher should not be expected to work with an unreasonable amount of background noise.
TAs and senior staff need to be more proactive in both recognising and addressing these problems.
The situation is clearly very stressful for all involved.
Let’s work together and make classes a fun, happy and, most importantly, appropriate place for learning.
Suggestions:
Any student in a noisy environment should have their mic muted.
Any student who interrupts the class on a regular basis will be placed in the Waiting Room. Repetition of the offense will result in the student being barred from the class.
Postscript
I have happy to report that my centre has taken action, and changes were implemented within a few hours of this posting. My Manager is pretty amazing that way – your help and input can not be overstated. Thank you.
Thay Paul's Notes 