Be the Best Teacher You Can Be!

September always revives my passion for teaching.  I often ask myself, How can I improve this year? What new research is out there that will inform my teaching?  Then I start looking for answers to my questions.

This year I will share the answers I find with you.  I will blog about and provide links to professional development opportunities for language teachers, when I find out about them myself.   I will also let you know about research articles I find particularly helpflul and informative.

So check out my next post about TESOL-ITALY 2011.

EFL Teachers Website!

I stumbled upon this GREAT website for EFL teachers today. It's called EFL Classroom 2.0.

It is free to sign up and you can access thousands of resources for teaching. Everything from lessons to music videos with cloze lyrics, all free to download!

I can see this becoming a useful addition to my arsenal of teaching websites.

I hope you find it valuable too.

Culture Lessons
One great way to add dimension to language learning is to explore the cultures in which the language is spoken.  That's where we come in!
 We've got a great selection of culture lessons to offer your students.  Just take a look at this list:

Culture Lessons 2011-2012

*American Families

American Holidays Series

*Famous Americans Series

*American Road Trip

The Scripps National Spelling Bee

American Slang

American Sports

American Prom

American Architecture and Famous Buildings

*American Food

*Religion in America.  

*Native Americans

*All-American Cookies.

*Civil Rights Movement

*New lessons!

So sign your students up today.  We haven't raised our prices, so it still costs just €3 per student..

For more details stop by the Association and pick up our School Programs 2011-2012 brochure and a full description of all the lessons.

Welcome Back Teachers!

It’s hard to believe it’s that time of year again – the beginning of a new school year.   I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable summer.

We've got lots to offer YOU and YOUR STUDENTS this year, so take a look!

For Students:

In-class films: includes film rental, lesson plan and follow-up lesson

      American Culture lessons: includes lesson about American culture or history

      NEW! Story hour: includes story, English language learning activities, and library visit

      NEW! Exam Preparation: Students preparing for a formal exam? Let us help prepare them

      *All lessons are taught in English by a AIA native English speaker

For Teachers:

Discounted AIA Membership of €25 for 2011-2012

      English language courses, for improving your personal level of English

           Conferences and cultural events in English

For more details about our school programs, pick up an AIA School Programs 2011-2012 brochure at our office and join us for a presentation:

AIA School Programs Presentation

Thursday, September 15, at 18:00

AIA,  Via Roma 15

We hope to see you there.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

On September 15, 2011 at 6pm at Via Roma, 15, there will be a presentation of this year's programs for you and your students!

Join us!!

Prom Culture Lesson Makes me feel OLD!

Today I did a culture lesson on the Prom. I LOVE this lesson because I use a documentary called "The World's Best Prom." This film takes place in my home town, Racine, Wisconsin, and follows 3 teenagers for 24 hours as they get ready for THE BIG NIGHT. It is all about THE HAIR, THE PRINCESS DRESS, THE TRANSPORTATION (in Racine it's all about being ORIGINAL, especially with your wheels as the arrival and entrance to the Rotary Post Prom is televised-- yes, red carpet and all!)

The Racine prom, as the film makers found out after moving to New York, is not your ordinary Prom dance...As part of our lesson, I show what the Prom looked like in 1953, and footage from the year 2000. We talk about what has changed, and what is still the same. Now, 2000 sounds pretty recent to me. In fact, I know the kids in the film because they're the siblings of friends of mine, who seemed so LITTLE when I was in high school. But, 2000, well for the kids who watched it today, that was a LONG TIME AGO, since they were only 2 when it was filmed.
Hmmm. I'm old.

But then again, it's never too old to elect yourself Prom Queen. And that's what I did today (I let the kids be Prom Kings and Queens too).
It was fun. Pictures soon!

New Culture Lesson

Want to meet the president of the United States?
Become a finalist in the the National American Spelling Bee.  
Spelling bees  are conducted at school, state, and national levels, where lucrative and prestigious prizes are given to the winners.  
Find out more about the history of this traditional American competition and how its popularity has grown.  On your mark, get set, SPELL!

For more information on having this lesson presented  to your class, contact us at info@aia-fvg.org or call us at 0404.630301