Something to say about: cooperative and collaborative work

The courses I teach used to require that students do some kind of small scale bibliographic research. The results were varied. Most of the times students understood that each member of the group had to do “his/ her part.” They then got together for a quick coordination of order of appearance in front of the class on the day or one day before the actual presentation. They even pasted together the written work, with the obvious mismatches in style and contents, not to mention the shameful copy/paste cases.

Was this method acceptable? In the eyes of the students, it was. They knew no other way of doing it: distribute sections, work independently and then put it all together. We teachers fought very hard against that kind of work, we wanted them to share their findings in the group and come to a final group conclusion. What we were doing was trying to make a distinction between cooperative and collaborative work.

I have found an interesting article that tells both methods apart. It appeared in the English Teaching Forum magazine. To begin with, the two approaches are set clearly: “The key difference between these approaches to group work is that cooperation is more focused on working together to create an end product, while successful collaboration requires participants to share in the process of knowledge creation.”

The rest of the piece discusses the two methods and gives some practical suggestions that we teachers will find extremely useful. Find the article clicking this link. I am sure you´ll like it.

Something to say about: NNESTs

What does NNESTs stand for? Well, if you didn´t know, here it is: Non-native English Speaking Teachers. I am one, for that matter, and proud of it, too. Come to think of it, most teachers I know are NNESTs! What´s more, the majority of English teachers are! Uff, what a relief! I had started to think we were kind of intruders in a world full of "gringos" who are the non plus ultra of the language. But wait a minute! We also have things to chip in here, don´t we? Of course we do. For starters, we have learned the language and gone through all (or almost all) the troubles associated with understanding, assimilating and producing messages in a foreign language. Sadly enough, many (too many, in my opinion) native speaking teachers I have met in my teaching carreer do not want to even learn Spanish. A pitty, really, not only because they are showing disrespect for the local culture but also because they are not developing. Trying a different language is a very good way to put yourself into the other person´s shoes, experience the frustration and / or satisfaction of being able to tackle communication in another tongue; and that´s an invaluable resource for any language teacher: understanding the student´s position first-hand does not come in any one-hour workshop. I am not going to talk about the "mochileros" (those native speakers who come to "teach" whithout any prepartion at all) who are so well-considered by some, it´s not worth the effort.
All this talk comes up because a very good friend of ours, Carmen Caceda, just sent me a link to a TESOL Essential Teacher article on precisely this topic. A NNEST teacher who is given the task of teaching German. A challenge.
Read the article HERE.

A light of hope

In the last post of 2010, I asked myself (and through me, all the readers of the blog), what makes a professional teacher. I hadn´t realized at that moment that I was going to witness what it is to make a real effort in order to improve. I want to share the experience with you now.


What would you to be ready to do? What would you sacrifice in order to learn, advance? Would you give up a week end at the beach? I imagine the answer: “Miss my holidays? No way. “ And that´s quite respectable, but today I have to extend my congratulations to a group (not small, by the way) of undergraduates who, being practicing teachers, do not have a degree yet and do everything in their power to become professionals in their own right.

Last week end I was invited by the School of Education of San Marcos University to teach a course for the Programme of Licenciatura in English for teachers who don´t hold a degree, and I entered a different world.

I had been asked to prepare the materials for the course, which have been published in a very nicely edited book, and to cooperate with the virtual campus moderation; but spending 12 summer hours on Saturday and Sunday, exchanging experiences with the group I was assigned to was invaluable, and a boost to my spirit.

The enthusiasm, open-mindedness, courage, and clearness of objectives these colleagues have are really admiring. Their sole presence and full attention made my own little sacrifice of one week end worth the effort. Imagine: these people have to study on their own for three weeks and then attend an intensive weekend of taught classes, every three weeks or so. Together with that they have jobs, families, problems . Two of the students had recently given birth to twins and a boy, another had nobody to leave her little daughter with, so she brought her to class, another had to work on the week end to make ends meet, one more had to leave for a couple of hours because she had promised a group of handicraft exporters from the sierra that she would help them translating in a visit of potential clients.

But that was not all I saw last week end. I saw the seeds of a bright future. I saw the embraces that will receive our children one day. I saw the light of hope.

For more information on the UNMSM programme click here.

What makes a good professional teacher?

With the beginning of not only a new year but a new decade, the question in the title of this blog entry is more than pertinent, specially for those of us who are convinced that improving is the only way to go. Now, when we start a fresh, is the best time to sit down at the beach (lucky you!), breathe the ocean flavoured air, listen to the seagulls and the rumour of the waves , relax and talk to ourselves, intimately. You may come up with a list of traits that make a good teaching professional shine, here I want to tip you off on some ideas, probably way different from yours, but also relevant, “food for thought,” as a friend of mine used to say. Here we go.


As teachers of English, the first thing we must command is the language. It is sad, but this seems to be low in the list of priorities when training is put on the table. Maybe this year, those of us who still have not obtained an internationally recognized language certificate, will get one. There is time, all you need is will.

Another aspect we need to brush up is methodology, but when I say methodology I don´t mean the typical seminar where a very good actor-teacher jumps and dances around the floor giving me ideas on how to exploit a textbook. Happily, there are several good alternatives to become a professional; with a university degree, that is. And if you already got one, then there are advanced degrees on offer, too. It is all up to you.

The third dimension we must not forget about is the personal development path we all need to walk. The better person one is, the better prepared professional he/she will be. In this area, there are many alternatives; you must look for the one that fits your own interests and time. Take up a hobby, or a sport, or any other activity that will let you learn other things. Read books, in English or Spanish, go to the theatre. Anything you ´ll do, be sure they will be useful sooner or later.

As you may have noticed, my suggestions cover three areas: language command, professional expertise and personal development. I have already made up my mind about what I want to achieve this year (in the three areas). How about you?

Cesar Klauer

Short stories

As many of you may know, I combine my teaching life with the writing of short stories. So far, I had only written in Spanish, my native language, of course, but some time ago I, kind of experimenting, translated some of my shortest stories. These are written using a formula known as drabble, that is, a short story of exactly one hundred words, without counting the title. The formula was born in England, when science fiction writers, faithful to the theory that says that the shorter the story, the better, established one hundred words as the ideal length for a short narrative text. In translating them, a had to keep the number of words so that the story would work in both languages equally. It was not easy, but I think I made it.
Those of you familiar with how a short story is organised might feel that one hundred is way too short for a story to be told, but it is possible if you recur to the reader´s previous knowledge and avoid telling parts of your story because the reader knows what it is about. The resource is also useful in making a story that is basically written words to become more interactive, asking the reader, in a subtle way, to fill in the blanks of a storyline with what he/she knows, or thinks he/she knows, or simply wants to invent for himself. That is how a story makes sense.
I submitted my short stories to a bilingual literary magazine in Mexico and after so many months that I had forgotten about them, until on Friday I got an email annoucing the publication of both my drabbles -in Spanish and Enlish- in their online magazine called Uruz Arts Magazine. But that was not all. The magazine has also an internet radio station and they have selected both my drabbles to be read out in a literary programme, the date is still to be announced but be sure I´ll let you know.
My hope is that these stories can be used in class because of their length and the fact that they are open to many forms of interpretation, since not all the facts are told explicitly. At the moment, I have not finished translating the more than 50 drabbles I have written, so for the time being I can only offer, to begin with and while I convince a naive publisher to put them on ink and paper, the two Uruz Arts Magazine has published (you´ll have to scroll down the page to find them). I hope you like them and, if you want, use them in class.
As always, comments are welcome.

Cesar Klauer

PD: Why is the illustration for this post a penguin? Well, you´ll have to read the stories.

Something to say about: Collocations

I was getting married. We had already gone through the religious wedding and were just finishing the civil ceremony in front of a crowd of family and friends. Then came the most important moment. The officer who was conducting the ceremony waited a second or two, looked around with a smile on his face and broke the silence loud and clear: “I pronounce you wife and husband!” (He actually said “mujer y marido.”). The guests burst out laughing wildly, literally. I had to seek my witness´s shoulder not to fall on the floor. My new wife could not believe her ears and was staring at another witness in search for an explanation. The officer seemed to understand what he had done and just smiled while he hurriedly pushed the official registry for us to sign.

Why did everybody laugh like that? I am sure he wanted to be a gentleman, not make a joke, and mentioned the lady first, but his good intentions banged with the tyranny of language: the right collocation is “husband and wife” not “wife and husband” (feminists may not like it but that´s the way it is, tough luck).

What are collocations? A collocation is a combination of two or more words that go together in a certain order. For example, do business (not make business), make a phone call (not do a phone call), salt and pepper (not pepper and salt), and of course husband and wife, among many many others.

They are extremely important in any language simply because they are the language itself, the flesh and bones (or is it bones and flesh?) you might call them. You will sound natural and fluent if you use the right collocations. That´s why, recently, textbooks have been including sections in the lessons where these vital word combinations are taught actively. Also, now you can even find collocations dictionaries published by the most important editorials. For us teachers, having a sound knowledge of collocations is central. The following link will give you a better idea with examples and all.

Something to say about: Idioms

Apart from sayings and proverbs, the English language is full of interesting expressions we call idioms, or idiomatic expressions. As we know, these idioms can be quite hard to get, since many of them can´t be interpreted literally. Take for instance: He was pulling my leg. Do you mean that somebody had actually grabbed your leg and started pulling it, as if to rip it off your body? Of course not. And How about:  I have to hit the road. Hit the road?, with a hammer?

The thing is, English is such a colourful and varied language that, if we don´t pull up our socks and learn some of these idiomatic expressions, we can find ourselves between a rock and a hard place.

If you want a piece of the action, visit the following link (not the only one, of course) and browse the lists of idiomatic expressions, I´m sure it´ll make your day.

Now, the ball is in your court.

Cesar Klauer