Natural Born Actor Teachers?

What do you think?



Which of the following statements apply to your style of teaching?  Please DO post a comment if you wish to say what you think :-)

• I usually act a word for the students to guess the meaning
• I'm a budding theatrical diva/divo
• I'm an aspiring poet and I encourage my students to create their own poems
• I always wanted to be a comedian or comedienne so teaching is a nice alternative
• I am always cracking jokes in class
• I usually enter my classroom with a theatrical flourish
• I am prone to using wild gesticulations to emphasize a point
• I often change the tone of my voice to accentuate a particular point
• I sometimes throw in random quotes to grab my students' attention
• I sometimes feign anger when students don't hand in their homework
• I often act out dialogues as examples for my students
• I encourage my students to do role play at every given opportunity
• I love watching Youtube clips of me and my lessons
• I give Oscar-worthy performances when I feel like it
• I can act happy and teach when I am miserable inside
• The show must always go on - that is my personal motto

Can you guess which of the above I have done/ I do in my lessons?

Probably everyone has a little bit of an acting side in them if it is nurtured properly.

TEACH with passion.

PERFORM with passion.

Teach + perform = PERFECT lesson?

 =
students?

Little Free Library of Abruzzo

I hope the new year has got off to a flying start for everyone!

My first post of 2018 is about someone who is realising a dream.......

Recently I had a big clearing out of books and I came across an exciting initiative in Abruzzo which proved to be the ideal solution for donating a few of my books in English.

The initiative was set up by an enthusisatic book lover, Giovanna G. who has created a small bookcrossing library for free.  The objective is to take a book and donate a book so that the books are circulated by as wide an audience as possible.  This involves trust and respect for each book.

I think it is a wonderful idea, and by all accounts it is enjoying a hugely successful outcome. It is part of a larger, national bookcrossing project. 

I am delighted to have played a small part in this initiative, and the books I have enjoyed reading in the past, will now hopefully continue to touch other peoples' lives in some way.

I have been in contact via emails, with the organizer Giovanna G.and it is evident to see how truly committed she is to realising her dream project.  I had the pleasure of chatting to her on the phone just before Christmas and it was lovely to hear her voice!

Recently, Giovanna has started up another new and exciting library initiative in the local area, and she has been crowdsourcing the materials and doing creative fund-raising projects.

I hope to meet this amazing lady in person, and visit the new library in Villanova.

I wish her all the best for a wonderful 2018.

News Update: 7th November 2018
I have just read about the passing away of the original founder of the Little Free Library, called Todd Bol, from the USA.  It is a remarkable and awe-inspiring story.

Merry Christmas!

I hope the 2017 festive season brings joy, peace, love and happiness all around.

 

Have a fun-filled time! 

Olive Oil Harvest 2017

Thankfully this year was a good one for olives and we were delighted to have a bumper crop in November. 

We picked each olive by hand over 5 solid days and the result was approximately 255 kilos, which was then converted at the local olive mill to about 55 litres of lovely 100% extra virgin olive oil.

The picking was an enjoyable experience, surrounded by nature and peace and quiet.  In some areas it was a bit tricky to get at the branches as seen in the image below and I had to be very careful indeed not to fall!

 Pouring the lovely 'liquid gold' from the olive mill containers below......

... into our own container, was a magical moment!

 Then it was time for clearing all the olive tree prunings and adding them to the bonfire!

A job well done!

Congratulations to the Lake School of English!

In 2018 the Lake School of English will proudly be celebrating its 40th year as a hugely successful English language school in Oxford.  This is an enormous achievement, and a glowing testimony to the two dedicated directors, Carmel and Susan, and each and every single member of the hardworking members of staff.

In recognition of this incredible landmark number of years, there is currently a special promotional offer for earlybird bookings!

Link to Lake School page with more details of this special limited offer is here

Also, for the recent British Council Inspection in August 2017, the school achieved 14 points of strength out of a possible total of 15.  Again this is great cause for celebration and congratulations.

Below a screenshot of the Instagram page with news of the outstanding success:

In addition, the Lake School has been nominated yet again by the EL Gazette as one of the UK's Top 100 British Council accredited English Language Centres in 2017, and it is currently in third position.

You can read more information on the Lake School of English News page here

A personal message of congratulations was sent to the school using one of my favourite comic tools.

I am proud to be associated with the Lake School, and I wish the whole team all the very best for the future.  May it continue to provide an excellent and outstanding teaching service for many more years to come!!

If you wish to read more about the school and all it has to offer the discerning EFL student / teacher, then the website offers a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know.

Link: https://www.englishinoxford.com/

You can follow and read all the latest news from the Lake School on Twitter and on Facebook!