How Can Smart Students Be Smarter?

We live in a world where information is processed and transmitted instantly. As a consequence, we get used to this immediacy. We want things now, a kind of fast-food information. We're on the boundaries of a change from the fast-food to the fast-info generation. With the advent of internet and its appendices, YouTube, Google, Orkut, MSN and other sorts of things we have things closer at hand easily. We can pay bills without going to the bank or ATM; we can have the product we want just by shopping on-line. Practically and comfortably. Almost a Utopia.

This Utopian state of mind leads us to transfer the entire urge for everything to the classroom and to all other aspects of our routine. We can't wait! Students can't wait! And they're getting used to this "automatic" way of getting things. Things are obtained easily and effortlessly. Why not English?!?! It's difficult to perceive that English does not come in a microchip that can be implanted in our brains. As a result, they get unmotivated. They assume it's boring as they can't see their progress easily, thus, they tend to quit. The less motivation they have, the worse. Learning English is a very long term process.

English classes usually have this routine of 1 hour and 15 minutes, sometimes 1 hour and 30 minutes. Twice a week only! This gives you the incredible amount of not more than 3 hours a week of English in your brain. While other 165 hours of Portuguese or, whatever your mother tongue is, permeate your mind during the same week. So, how can we learn English surrounded by our mother tongue, if we speak, listen, read and even dream in our native language?

The answer to the aforementioned question relies on the responsibility of both teachers and students. We, teachers must carve on our students minds that they have to, they have to, they have to let it linger... (Quoting The Cranberries). On the same hand, students must internalize this concept and transform it from an idea into part of their routine. They can't buy any language on line; they can't shop for it comfortably sat down at home in front of the computer. They have to work their asses off! Dedication and sweat are fundamental to transform those 2, 5 or 3 hours into something longer... If they are not surrounded by English as much as they can, the language acquisition will take longer than they expect.

That is to be smart! If they are smart to use the benefits of the cyber world to play, shop, chat, have fun, they have to be smarter and use this technology they master to acquire more language, to have more contact with this language. To let it linger!!! They can use other means too, obviously. DVDs, IPods, MP3s, whatever available to prolong the contact with English or any other language they decide to learn. They will be saving money, for, they will be paying for a 3-hour-a-week class and will be getting 6, 9, maybe 12-hour-English-contact week. Great Investment, isn't it?

Being a teacher... What's it like? Is There a Solution? ((Creating a Ludic Life))

Creating a ludic atmosphere.

Teachers are thought to be monks. We are believed to live, breathe, think and act just to provide our students wonderful classes. Is it true? I can say so. Engaged teachers are like this. Most of us put our personal lives aside. Classes to prepare, deadlines to cope with, assignments and tests to correct, family to cater for, kids needing attention, bills to pay, the urge to make money, traffic jams and the need to go everywhere -"Why haven't they invented teletransport yet!". And we still survive!! I daresay we're not monks, we are heroes!!

Therefore, the issue of providing our students involving, dynamic, ludic, interesting classes are, sometimes, more important than these 'details' aforementioned. And we still love our job! We 'work our asses off' to give our pupils the best class possible. We use all our creativity every single day, and they usually don't recognize it. Most of the times our students don't see our effort. Either they just don't really care or they are not able to understand all the underpinning process of a class preparation. For all those factors mentioned before, I can say we are Spartans! Not only because we are able to live with little money!! But because we´re stubborn enough to insist and persist. We shall never surrender until the last one of us perish! Until the last one of us go crazy.

But, maybe, there is a solution. Not to our classes, because for them we always find a solution. Maybe there is a solution to our lives... Why not bringing the ludic into our lives? Why not trying to do to our lives what we so eagerly try to do to our classes? Why not trying to give to ourselves what we give to our students. C'mon!! We're so creative concerning our jobs, our classes, our students... Why not stop complaining about our life, about our salary, about the huge amount of work to be done and bring the ludic, the enchantment into our lives and into the lives of those who surround us. We're teachers!! We're warriors!! So, let's prepare our classes better and better. But let's also prepare our lives better day after day.


Peace on you all,

Antonio Rossini