Random rant: What is wisdom?

I was asking this question to myself today because all my life I've been told that I was very wise for my age.
When I think of wisdom I always get the image of old people. People who through the years experienced so many good and bad things, and in turn learned from those experiences.
So does that mean that all of those who are older are wiser?
Hmmmm no. I don't think so.
Wisdom is the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting. Wisdom is having good insight.
Although I do feel that most of our elders are wise, I know and have met a number of older people who speak no wise words, and young people who were very wise. Just because someone has had many experiences does not always mean that they have actually learnt from them.

So what is being wise for my age?
I guess what it means is I have experienced and learnt more than most of my peers. I can see why that is. I was told by my parents that hard work and dedication will get you to success. Those who do get to success without had having to work hard to get there usually lose their success.
I have always had to do many things on my own and in turn learn on my own. I had to grow up quicker than my peers because of the way my life turned out. Now, I'm not going to tell you my life story or anything because most of it is personal and painful.
But what I can say is I am thankful for all of the both amazing and terrible experiences. Everyone else should be too.

So what is the moral of this very random rant? I guess just don't judge a book by its cover. I have been told that because I am young I have it easy, I barely have to do anything, I am lazy, uneducated, have no experience, etc by people who are older than me and have no idea who I am.
Grow up people. Speak words of wisdom and love, because you never know what might happen in the future.

Carla

Material Review: brighter child alphabet flashcards

Hi guys,

I am also going to be doing reviews of materials as well, if and when I get my hands on them.

Today I will review the "brighter child alphabet flash cards".
Ok so these cards has two sets of the entire alphabet. One set of big letters and one set of little letters which gives you a total of 52 alphabet cards plus 2 instructions cards.

I will give this set ★★★★☆
Four stars because overall it's a nice set of flashcards, it's pretty versatile since there are two cards for each letter, pictures are colorful and understandable. So why is one star gone? Well the reason to why is because on both big and small letter cards the picture is the exact same picture. So both big A and little a has "apple" on it. It would have been even better if one of the cards had a different picture as the child can build more vocabulary that way.

Overall great cards, you can use then in a lot of ways and both you and the children will enjoy them!
Hope you guys liked my review :) I will be writing a whole lot sometime soon.

Carla

Books for children's ESL

Hey guys!

So my little library of children's books is continuously growing which is a great thing :)

I find books to be an important and fundamental tool in teaching esl to kids.
First off, kids LOVE storytime :) You get to jump into a new world and discover new things with brightly colored pages to enhance your imagination. I personally love children's stories because they bring me back to the times when dreams were big and endless, when I had no care in the world, it's relaxing for me and exciting for kids.

So how can books, normal average kids books, be used to teach esl? Well haven't
we all been told the more you read, the more you know? It's true! Kids books are simple, contain easy vocabulary, pictures to help comprehend with the vocab, etc. The list could go on. But one of the most important reasons why it's a great tool is because it's FUN it's CAPTIVATING and it catches the child's INTEREST. Without these three components, children don't want to learn.

So try and get your kids, whether at home or at work to pick up an interest in books. It makes you smarter ;)
But anyway sometime soon I definitely would like to post up some of my fave books of all time and review them! Hope you enjoyed my post and ttyl

Carla

How child development is important with teaching young kids

Hey everyone,

Today I wanted to do a quick rant on my opinion of how important child development is for teachers of young learners.
For those who do not know not only do I teach english to kids but I try to incorporate how children develop, how to teach them, what kind of activities to do to make sure that kids can be kids.
I know lots of teachers out there who expect little kids to sit still and pay attention. They can't! They're kids! They are too busy thinking about or looking at something more interesting. Kids aren't dogs, they're little humans who haven't finished developing yet. They are very complex and every single day spent with little kids is always a new adventure.

A big problem, I think, is there are lots of teachers who don't think about how children develop. They don't let the kids do what they want to do (to an extent of course), color with what color they want to color with, get a little messy, run around and act like zoo animals, because it's "weird" or "unclean".
Why is this so important? As human beings we are social and imaginative, we aren't meant to be robots! That's how people go insane!

I was reading an article maybe 2 weeks ago about child development and there was a question in the article that really got to me.
"what if everyone understood child development?"
I thought the world would be a better place if everyone understood and put their knowledge of child development into use!
There would be no more children who are emotional wrecks because their parents never let them do kid things, or kids whose teachers didn't give them attention, little things that grow to be a big traumatic problem in the future. There wouldn't be as much people having to go to see psychologists.
We have some children that come in who seem like there is something wrong going on at home and now are considered "social outcasts".

So why is child development important as a teacher? The children are our FUTURE. They will grow up to be full grown adults one day and we really have to put in account what we are teaching, how we are teaching, and letting kids express themselves now before it's too late. Lots of doctors say that the first 4 years of a child's life is one of the most important times because that's when the basic bits of his/her personality are put together. So depending on how his mom and dad treats him at home and how the outside treats him, including us teachers, he can grow up to be an outgoing, happy person or a very depressing, sad person.

Definitely something to think about. I can't say that I'm an expert on child development because I'm not BUT I can say that I take it seriously. Read about it!

Carla

Fun class activity!

Hey guys!

I figured I should post up great activities that I find fun AND educational.
One of my favorites is "touch and guess" as I like to call it.

What you'll need
• A few letters ( I use magnetic little letters )
• A bucket or bag to hold the little letters
• a few flashcards or objects ( you'll see why)
That's it! This activity is best for kids who already recognize the letters as well as the sounds.
So I put the letters in the basket and first review the letters that I have. "what letter is this, what sound does it make?"
Once done I review the flashcards or objects that I will use, example: elephant, rabbit, table, etc.

I choose a letter for a child and have them come up and with their eyes closed to feel the letter. They first guess the letter and sound and try to match with the following flashcards and/or objects. I make sure to have everyone get at least one turn.

This is a fun game and the kids always get excited, personally one of my favorites.
Hope you guys can enjoy it as much as we do!

Carla

First school interview with F.E.S

Hello everyone,

Just finished a short, simple, and to the point interview with Francine's English School in Kobe.

A small business that started at home and grew to become a booming business, I had to get an interview!
I asked if she could give any advice, and she replied " If you want to open your own school have at least 100 students, lots of connection on the business side and experience".
"Experience and skill is more important than what education you have received or what school you went to"
"It's not about the money, it's about the education"
Wonderful advice :)
She also advises to start slow! You don't have to be in a hurry.

She is also hiring a teacher with experience if you're interested!

Check out the website!
http://www.francineenglish.com/

Next blog, materials!

Carla

Journey to my own school

Hello everyone,

Let me introduce myself.
My name is Carla Capers, I am an english teacher with about 4 years experience,
fun and bubbly, and I'm 19 years old.
This blog will be about my journey to owning my own english language school.
I wanted to make this blog not only to help motivate me, but to also help others who
are interested in opening their own school.
I will be doing interviews, going to workshops, finding the best material, sharing fun
and cool activities, for everyone to see.

I shall try and post as much and as soon as possible. Thanks everybody :)


Carla