TESOL Essay THREE

Essay Three

The Advanced Audio-Lingual Method

By Syrbastyian Vzampfyier

How do we acquire language? How do we acquire the ability to communicate: to state our wants, needs and desires? How do we learn how to express our thoughts to affect the world around us?

We acquire language and the ability to communicate and express ourselves through watching, mimicking, and learning through trial and error. As all people do as infants and children.

The Advanced Audio-Lingual method applies the same natural acquisition techniques that people as children use to acquire their native language. From the moment we are born we are observers: we watch everything and as we watch we perceive patterns, we do not completely understand the patterns, but as soon as to recognise a pattern we begin to imitate it. This is how we begin to acquire our native language.

In the following, I will break the Audio-lingual method into parts and match these individual parts to how children acquire their native language.

l  The ESL/EFL instructor prepares a simple dialogue: Parents subconsciously prepare their language into simplified forms and structures before they speak to their infants or young children.

l  The EFL/ESL instructor either draws a scenario on a board or displays a picture of the scenario: The daily life of the child provides the scenarios also parents use toys to play act stories as well as children’s books, which have the scenarios displayed on the pages.

l  The EFL/ESL instructor performs the dialogue, playing both parts and, or roles. When doing this the EFL/ESL instructor uses (accentuated) body language and facial expressions. The students only listen in this stage: As you know, if you have children or have seen, parents accentuate their body language and facial expressions for the child. The body language and facial expressions are clear and direct match the words spoken by the parent. Furthermore, parents will over modulate the vocal tone and stress to give even more clarity to meaning of the words. Like the students in EFL/ESL class, the child mainly listens actively to what the parent is saying.

l  The EFL/ESL instructor repeats the entire performance again: Parents will repeat the same phrases and mini dialogues to their child. What parent has not read the same story from a children’s book to their child multiple times. If you observe the child as she/he listens to the parent repeating a sample of language, you will notice that the child begins to mimic the facial expressions and lip movements of the parent. The EFL/ESL student also begin to mimic the EFL/ESL instructor, maybe not as dramatically as a child, you see the student’s facial expressions match the instructor’s facial expressions more or less. In addition, the student’s lips will move as they internally copy what the instructor is repeating a sample of language.

l  The students now perform the dialogue as a group or in pairs with each other: Infants and young children talk to themselves. Infants will babble and young children will have mini conversations to themselves. Young children may use a toy, a doll or an imaginary character to practice language they have heard from their parent(s). The child may repeat the same language back to the parent, subconsciously the child is confirming if they have the language correctly.

l  When the students are confident with the dialogue they perform the dialogue by themselves in front of the class: As the child becomes more confident in a sample of language they will begin to apply the language more and more. When the child is confident they will begin to initiate the language and use in the language actively, with little or no prompting and, or assistance from the parent. In the same way, this is what the EFL/ESL student does when they perform the dialogues in front of the class.

l  The EFL/ESL instructor introduces substitutions for different parts of the sentences in the dialogue. These could be single word substitutions, multiple word and, or full sections of language i.e. gambits: “I would like a cup of coffee” to “I want a cup of coffee”, etc. The instructor prompts the student to start adding their own word or gambit substitutions: Like the EFL/ESL instructor, parents will introduce substitutions into the language they have to using with their child. For young children these substitutions will mainly consist of synonyms and antonyms of adjectives, and numbers with single versus plural noun forms. The child once they learnt the pattern(s) will start adding their own substitutions, like the EFL/ESL student.

l  At the end of the audio-lingual exercise the EFL/ESL instructor gives a written copy of the complete dialogue to the student. This copy may be used to review in a following lesson and, or for homework and review for the student on their own: While it is highly unlikely that a parent would give a written copy of the language to their child, the parent will have many interactions, in which the will repeat the same language. Also the children’s book that parents use to read to the child have the language in them, which the parent can use again in further reading sessions or the child by themselves may use to match word-sound and written-word.

Though it is somewhat impossible for older children, teenagers and adults to acquire another language in the same way infants and young children acquire their native language. There are a multitude of techniques and methods that simulate or use natural, instinctive, methods and techniques, which parents use to teach and children use to learn. The Advanced Audio-Lingual method is one such way. It mimics the interactions between a parent and a child. The parent: introduces the language, models it and repeat it. The child: listens to the language, repeats it, practices it and performs it. In the same way the EFL/ESL instructor is the parent and the student is the child.

TESOL Essay TWO

Essay Two

The Community Language Learning Method

By Syrbastyian Vzampfyier

In many cases, the EFL/ESL instructor tends to dominate the class. Usually this is not a conscious decision but something that naturally occurs with teachers. Teachers have a desire to teach and help their students learn, no matter what the subject being taught may be. Due to this natural desire and wanting to help the students, the teacher may subconsciously dominate the class without realising it.

What can a teacher do to guard against this overly teacher-centred direction, given the fact that it is extremely difficult to be always consciously aware of what one is doing? Specifically for EFL/ESL teachers (but also for all teachers regardless of the subject they teach. I shall explain about this in further detail later in this essay), this is where the Community Language Learning method assists the teacher to be almost 100% student focused and counters the teachers subconscious tendency to dominate the class.

How does the Community Language Learning method do this? Before I go into the detail of how the method assists the teacher to be almost completely student directed, lets’ review what the Community Language Learning method is and the main steps involved in the method.

Community Language Learning method is where the students select all the language (vocabulary) needed for the lesson. They use this self selected language to create a story or describe a situation/event. Furthermore, the students teach each other, explain the definitions and uses of all the vocabulary provided in the lesson. The teacher is mainly there to guide and offer assistance if needed.

THE STEPS:

Firstly, Students close their eyes and listen to a short dialogue, place/event description, a story, etc. The students imagine the scene(s). Next the students open their eyes and take turns describing what they imagined. After this, the students write down all the special words they used to describe what they imagined. When this is done and teacher asks the students to call out they words and the teacher writes the words on the board. The students check the words listed and if they discover a new word, the teacher has the other students to explain the new word to them.

Each student possesses a large amount of information and knowledge in their minds, be it English or any other subject. At best we only use about 5% to 10% of what we know to think and to communicate (Active use/knowledge). The rest of our knowledge is either comprehend and, or understand information we read or hear (Semi-passive), or it is stored knowledge that remains dormant until it gets prompted to some external factor(s) (Passive knowledge). Collectively the students possess a vast amount and array of information and an extensive wealth of knowledge, which no EFL/ESL text book and many text books in general could ever rival.

Each student response to and acts upon the information provided by their fellow students and this sets up feedback loops where students become each other’s teacher and student. This communal approach to learning furthermore builds connections and bonds between the students not only on individual levels but also a group hence a class of students in many ways becomes a community. The process is natural and organic, it harkens back to when people lived in small communal groups such as tribes and clans. This co-operation in the class conforms to what we as people have been doing for most of human existence, which is that each member of a group supports each other to provide a successful environment for the whole group but in turn benefits each individual. We as human beings almost always function best as a group of individuals working together to benefit all.

In conclusion, while we as EFL/ESL teachers wish to help our students as much as we can, when we dominate the class and make teacher-centred, due to our wanting to help our students, we in many cases disadvantage our students. Therefore by relinquishing control and making the lesson(s) mostly student-centred we are benefiting the students. One: we are helping our students to teach themselves and each other. Two: we are building confidence and belief in our students that they can and do have the ability to communicate in the language they are learning, much like a parent who builds the same in their child. And three: we are tapping into and utilising the deep cognitive psychology of communal learning and support that we as human beings have been using for most of our existence and continue to use today

TESOL Essay ONE

Essay One

The Communicative Approach

By Syrbastyian Vzampfyier

The “Communicative Approach” method is a very effective tool in an EFL/ESL instructor’s repertoire. Due to its simplicity, versatility and adaptability the method allows an instructor to apply the Communicative Approach method at any stage of a lesson, and with all levels and abilities of the students.

Language, be it verbal and, or nonverbal, is the tool we use to communicate and interact with one another. For this very reason the Communicative Approach method is an excellent way for students to start communicating with each other from the very beginning of their foreign or second language experience.

In the following I shall present one way in which the Communicative Approach may be applied with three adaptations.

In general the way presented and the three adaptations could be applied to all levels and abilities, but for the purpose of this essay I shall focus mainly on the beginner EFL/ESL student.

THE SET UP & PREPARATION:

Create a list of biographic questions using simple present, past or future tenses.

If using the simple past, I recommend using the regular verb than using the irregular verb or a combination of the two. It is easier to administer the task and much less confusing for the students. With the simple future select either ‘Going to’ or ‘Will’ for same reason as previously mentioned.

Once the list of questions has been created, make copies for the students to receive at the end of the class or task. Keep one copy and cut the list of questions into strips so that one question is on each strip of paper. These will be use in the class activity.

Ensure that you also have one sheet of blank paper for the students to write the names of the other students they will interview and the answers their questions. Conversely you could pre-design a sheet for the activity and give a copy of this sheet to the students.

In the class have the students randomly select 1 to 5 questions, depending on the number students and, or the time you wish to allocate to the activity. Check the students’ comprehension of the question(s), the students have selected. At this point the use of dictionaries and the students’ first language(s) are fine.

In language appropriate for the students’ abilities; explain and demonstrate (using one of the stronger members of the class) to the students, what they are going to in the activity. Check to ensure that the students have clearly understood the activity and the tasks require of them.

THE ACVITIVITY (Based on a class of six students):

1.        Students “A” and “B” will greet each other and shake hands (note: in some cultures, physical contact during a greeting may not be appropriate.), write down each other’s name.

2.        Student “A” will ask the question from the strip of paper. Student “B” will answer and the question and ask the same question to student “A”.

3.        Using the same above process student “B” will ask their question.

4.        Students “A” and “B” write down the answer to each other’s question.

5.        Students “A” and “B” thank each other, shake hands again, and use a parting expression, for example: Nice talking with you / See you later / Have a nice day / etc.

Next the students find a new person to interview, and repeat steps one to five. This continues until all the students have interviewed each other.

The instructor will write on the white (black) board and call out one of the students’ name and ask the class, “What did we learn about NAME?” The other students call out what they have discovered about the mentioned student, and the instructor and the students all write down the information gathered about each of the other students.

Finally the instructor tells the class to keep the information gathered in the activity because this information will be used again in the lesson or latter lessons.

Additional Points:

It is best and most natural to have the students out of their seats and moving around to meet, greet and interview each other. To loosely quote Cotton (August 2010), when we meet people for the first time, we are almost standing. Even if we are sitting when we first make visual contact, we always stand up to greet the person we are meeting. Sitting around a table and greeting each other is not only passive learning, it is also for the most part usually unnatural. Though a classroom may be small it is still possible to have the students use their bodies in conjunction with the speaking activity. For example, have the students stand up and put their chairs under their respective tables. The students can turn to each other and greet plus move around the table(s), this will also encourage the use of polite expression such as: excuse me, may I get by, thank you, your welcome, etc.

During the activity the instructor makes themselves available for the students, to assist if needed and answer any questions or quires that the students any have. In addition the instructor should make note of any unnatural language usages and grammatical misuses, but not correct these during the activity. The activity is to be purely student-centred with little or no involvement from the instructor.

At the very end of the Communicative Approach stage the instructor may provide correction to the students or assign the misused language and, or grammar as a homework task. The correction should be done using the global-correction method, as to avoid embarrassing any individual student. Read out the misused language from your notes, sentence by sentence, and have the students correct each sentence in turn. If they are unable then the instructor provides the correction in a sentence form with explanation if needed. Note, always provide errors and correction in a sentence form. The grammar is only a part of the whole, the students need the whole. Think of correction as cooking; all the ingredients (parts) working in conjunction together to create a whole dish (sentence).

ADAPTATIONS:

1.)    Provide the students with a list of the WH-question words only and one card with a prompt word such as: Office, Job, Hobby, Colour, etc. Using the Wh-question word and the prompt word, the students create a question for example: ‘Where is your office?’ The procedure is as previously described in THE ACTIVITY section.

2.)    The students given one to three prompt words (depending on class size and, or time allocation), and with the prompt word(s) create a question for the other student to answer.

3.)    The instructor assigns each student a theme for example: Weekends, At work, In school, New Year’s, etc. The students create questions using the theme, similar to adaptation (2) Where (3) differs is that the students can only the question they create once. With each successive person the student must create a new question.

Though we may designate a particular grammatical point and, or structure for the activity, the purpose of the Communicative Approach is just to do that Communicate.

Students may start using different structures or go off topic, but as long as they are trying to use the 2^nd language to communicate with each other then the goal of the activity is in a large way achieved.

TESOL Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Language is a fundamental part of human existence, without language life as we know it and experience it, would not have involved. Language is psychology and it is the very core of who we are. Our internal thoughts are directed and expressed in the language we use. Our cultures, traditions and our religions could never have involved and, or developed without language.

In the follow essays I have written about method that one person can use to help another person learn the language that they wish to teach and the other person wishes to learn.

The methods are mainly related to TESOL; Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. The context used is for teaching English as a Foreign and, or Second language.

Though the methods and techniques are related to teaching English, these methods can be applied to all areas of teaching form the arts to the sciences. They are not exclusive to language teaching and learning only.

Each essay has one connected and related theme. This theme is that language is physical. No matter how we choose to express our ideas, thoughts and, or intentions there is always a physical component to the language. This physical side has been with us humans ever since we developed into multi-celled beings.

My TESOL Essays

Hi everyone,

It has you been a long time since I post last.

I just spent the past year doing my Bachelor's degree in educations.

It was hard and challenging to complete while working 6 six days a week.

I gained weight  :  ( have to start exercising again with earnest.

I decided to post my 10 essays and the introduction to them on here for the benefit of all.

The introduction and the 10 essays will be a condensed and edited so that will not need to sit through some long academic-bore-read lol 笑.

I hope that you find my essay on 10 different TESOL teaching methods interesting.
Also the methods can be applied for basically any learning.

Please feel free to offer any comments, criticism  and, or suggestions.

Syrbastyian

My Twitter Poems 14 - 1, ( 2010 Dec 28th & 29th )

MTP: 14 


朝日    光    暖かい    コーヒー    タバコ    愛    楽しく 楽しく    新年もうちょっと    新しいlife






MTP: 13 


We strive for peace but still we hurt & kill.
We want peace but still we don't do want needs to be.
Do we want it, are we willing to fight for peace.






MTP: 12


I hurt but the pain will go away.
The memory of it takes longer to fade.
Its my choice to feel this pain.
For through it my nirvana will be gained.






MTP: 11


Could have been a racist, if it wasn't Martin Luther King.
Would have been a racist, if it wasn't for "I have a dream".
It hit at the time, it hit me at 13.






MTP: 10 


This hunger it eats at me.
I eat yet it doesn't fill me.
This burns in me, burns me.
It grows, never stops.
The hunger is you , the hunger is me.






MTP:  9


Look at yourself, hold a mirror up.
Do you see yourself or a self lie.
How you treat others may give a clue.
But do you know you?!






MTP:  8


Violence was my parent.
It became my destroyer, my enemy.
It grew to become my friend, my understanding.
Now my savour cause I can but choose not.






MTP:  7 


You can hurt me but it'll never be enough.
You can kill me but live again.
You can destroy me but I rise stronger.
I am love eternal.






MTP:  6


There are many in need.
Should I help.
Don't know them, not friends.
If I don't then who am I, what I am.
To give a helping hand.
In this, true humanity.






MTP:  5


Strength, bravery, faith, belief, confidence & trust are the pure qualities needed.
If you choose to give someone the power over you.
The power over you to make you weak.






MTP:  4


In darkness you give me light.
When the fears take me your embrace is my haven.
I'm strong but with you I'm become Hercules.






MTP:  3


I change, evolve.
Improve myself to be better & greater than before.
Now I change again: in small & large ways.
I shall become perfect.






MTP:  2


So it is close to hand.
I am unstoppable in making this true.
My force of will makes it so.






MTP:  1


My dream became a wish.
This wish became a hope,
and the hope is slowly becoming a reality.

R.A. Mashelkar: Breakthrough designs for ultra-low-cost products | Video on TED.com

Gandhian Engineering " More for Less for More"

R.A. Mashelkar: Breakthrough designs for ultra-low-cost products | Video on TED.com

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

This is a must see.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Saint Paul's (Rikkyo) University 立教大学

As some of you may know, on Thursdays I taught at Rikkyo University (aka: St Paul's) for a semester. I will be teaching there again starting this October but this time on Monday's and Thursday's.

Rikkyo is a very pretty university and has an English look to it. I recommend it for the visual pleasure of it.

I enjoy the classes I taught there and the students are wonderful. The course theme I selected was to discuss about a company that the students would like to work at someday in the future or they just are interested in a particular company.

At the end of the course each student had to presentation on the information we talked about in class and their research into the company they choose. All of the students amazing well, considering the fact that they had to study and prepare for exams & reports. I am very proud of all of them.

If I were to give an M.V.P. award, it would go to Ryousuke for the amount of research he did and the passion in which he displayed. I sincerely hope that he does try to join the company hr did his presentation on.

My final words to him, and for everyone is: "Nothing is impossible, but not to try must be impossible" and "Just try, the worst they can say is no". 

To all the students, I wish the the greatest success in your future endeavours and hopefully we may meet again.

Syrbastyian

(Above, some photographs of some I the students in my classes.)      

Fun Run & Octoberfest.

Hey everyone,

On the 16th of October 2010 Saturday there will be a fun run in Yokohama, Tsuzuki-ward (ku), Kanagawa. It is organized by the the German School in Japan, German German-Japan friendship association with support of the German Embassy. 

It is the 150th anniversary of the treaty and friendship between Japan and German plus 106th anniversary of the establishment of the German school in Japan. 

I highly commend you come out for a great day.

If the run is not for you, then the German October fest will be just the treat for you.

For more details please check the below links. 

http://www.dsty.ac.jp/schule/english 

 

http://www.dsty.ac.jp/schule/news/eu-japan-friendship-run-2010

Atheists OUT OPEN

Atheists have always been at the forefront of rational thinking and beacons of enlightenment, and now you can share your idealism by being part of the OUT Campaign.

Atheists are far more numerous than most people realize. COME OUT of the closet! You'll feel liberated, and your example will encourage others to COME OUT too. (Don't "out" anybody else, wait for them to OUT themselves when they are ready to do so).

The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
 

As more and more people join the OUT Campaign, fewer and fewer people will feel intimidated by religion. We can help others understand that atheists come in all shapes, sizes, colours and personalities. We are labourers and professionals. We are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and grandparents. We are human (we are primates) and we are good friends and good citizens. We are good people who have no need to cling to the supernatural.

It is time to let our voices be heard regarding the intrusion of religion in our schools and politics. Atheists along with millions of others are tired of being bullied by those who would force their own religious agenda down the throats of our children and our respective governments. We need to KEEP OUT the supernatural from our moral principles and public policies.
It is time to step up and...

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

This is a must see. Sir Ken Robinson ideas in education are what education should strive to accomplish.

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning | Video on TED.com

Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning | Video on TED.com

" Education and the PTA, Parents "

Education and the PTA, Parents:

The people, the systems and how they do more harm than good.

Why am I against the education system, the people in education and the PTA. Actually I am not, I just believe that the systems have failed or don’t work; the people don’t (really) know what to do, can not the see the problems in front of them or don’t try. Parents and the PTA, though they care, only interfere and create more difficulties.

In this I will discuss each, Education System and the PTA - Parents, and explain why I think they have created more bad than good. At the end of each I will then provide possible solutions and, or alternatives.

Note; that I will not go into great detail, for I am sure most people are well aware of the many problems in education and conflicts with the PTA-parents. Furthermore I do not want this to turn into a book or paper; there are many on the subject and most of them are not worth the paper they are printed on. Lastly I am not an expert and gladly so. Experts are the major problem with education because experts are limited by the knowledge of their field, which is base on one or two topics/themes. They can not see or think beyond their specific field and are therefore trapped in the box of their expertise. Plus experts can not be trusted for they have a self-interest in keeping things as they are because if things were to change, their expertise would be no longer needed. In addition, experts do not (more likely can not) deal in randomness – they only deal in bell-curves but life is not a bell-curve, life is random and full of black-swans but that is a topic for another discussion. 

My hope is that my words will provide food for thought and as a springboard to actually create solutions and new ideas to elevate education to the next levels not only for the benefit of children and teenagers but also for adults returning education or to further their education.

Let’s start the emotional storm and the part that will get people angered the most: The PTA; namely parents.

Yes I know their intentions are only for good and they just want the best for their children, but this is the point: “They only want the best for THEIR (own) child or children.

Every topic and, or problem discussed by them is only view from the perspective of what is best for their own child. They do not, more likely cannot, see the points in a collective sense, that is what is best for all the children in the school (district). In this the PTA -parents place restrictions on what the teachers and schools are able to do, and greatly interfere with the education of not only their own child but all children.

To illustrate the point: In many countries’ primary (elementary) schools, and to some extent in middle-schools as well, there is a policy of “no winners or losers”, every student must not be made to feel that they have a greater or lesser ability than their fellow students.

Fine you say. Where’s the harm in this? - The harm is in the fact that life is not like this. In life there are winners & losers, haves & have-nots, talented & untalented, and the intelligent & unintelligent. This is dramatically demonstrated quite soon once children enter high school and they learn, with the brute force of a hammer to the head, that life is not equal and definitely not fair. So while parents think they are helping and protecting their own child, they are actually not.

This no winners, no losers philosophy/policy is not only about sport or physical education, though in these areas the idea is just as damaging, it is in all aspects of primary/elementary school education for example:

• In lowering the amount of information and work assigned in the classroom.
• Giving (too) easy to accomplish homework assignments, setting no homework and, or allowing homework not to be done. 
• Lowering the passing percentage/grade for classroom administered tests, end-of-term/semester exams, bi-yearly exams and end-of-year/final exams.
•  By lowering or reducing to zero the amount of (minor) negative experiences, which will benefit the child later in life.

This is only one example of parents good and well meaning intentions that, in the reality of life, do more harm than good. And this is from level-headed parents. “Monster”, “Devil”, “Demon” parents investing all their efforts to protect their children from every negative aspect and wrap the children in protective padding, are the ones who do the greatest damage their children’s (future) life and to a greater or lesser extent their lives of other children as well. The names for these types of parents is justifiable because they high-jack education for the own cause and frighten people away from taking real-world actions that will improve education for all. Actually they should be called terrorist because, like terrorist, their activities paralyze education and their thinking is insanely fanatical. 

I do understand their need and desire to only want the best for their children, but this tunnel-vision focus blinds them many many wonderful opportunities to improve education for all, which in turn can only benefit their children.

Finally, the focus points of the PTA / Parents {the actions they the parents would like / want the teachers and schools to take} only are on the immediate and, or short term needs of their children. How short, either only from the year the child is in (e.g. Grade 5) to the time the child will be in that school. Indeed this immediate / short-term focus would be funny, if it did not serious consequences because what they decide is best to do in one moment they will decide it is not the best the next moment. This brings us individualising; parents with two or more children rarely think about the education of their children as a group (unless they are the same age). It is not that they can not think about how education applies to all their children, it is just that they tend to think about how education applies to each child on an individual bases. Unfortunately, and what usually happens is that what they think is best for one child may have negative impacts on the other children and vice versa.

So am I proposing that parents should not be involved in schools and education?

Well no and yes.

In the actual education of their children the PTA / parents should not be involved or have their involvement limited to only a support capacity.

Homework, projects, assignments and extra-curricular studies/activities; in these areas parents are extremely important for the child’s learning as a support mechanism to provide encouragement and as a resource or knowledge-bank for the child.

The actual education and teaching of their children NO!

The only exception is those in home-schooling or in distance-learning. For these situations parents actually have a separate role as teacher. The roles of parent and teacher must be separated as much as possible i.e. when they are a parent, they ARE a parent and when they are a teacher, they ARE a TEACHER. They must try their best to keep the two roles separated; even the language they use must be divided between parent language and teacher language.

Every other non-educational area, parents are a must and their involvement is greatly needed in supporting teachers and the schools. This could something simple like buying a ticket for a school raffle or more significant such as fund-raising to help the school finance educational trips/excursions, building/ground maintenance, buying new/replacement material/equipment, assisting teachers and schools with non-teaching duties, etc.

In these and all other non-teaching/educating roles, duties and activities the involvement of parents is a must for without parents, schools would crumble and could even die. Plus parents provide that essential connection to the community that all schools must have to give a sense of identity, social bonding and togetherness.

What to do – For the children? As I previously stated, parents’ greatest beneficial role for their children is in supporting the children. Once a child has left the school grounds, parents must step up and become an active part of their child's studies. For example, ensuring that homework, assignment and projects are done. They must tie the completion of these to real world remuneration, benefits and bonus rewards: Giving extra pocket-money, a day off from household-chores, more mobile phone/computer game time and, or a special treat for finishing all their tasks of the week/month, etc. Or a decrease in pocket-money, more household-chores, no mobile-phone/ computer games for a week and, or groundings, etc. In these, parents will not only provide positive task-completion focus and motivation for the child to actively further their own education but also advantage their children with invaluable life lessons.

What to do – For the schools? Again as mention before, parents can get involve (and must be involved) in the schools by helping the schools financially or by volunteering to do duties / activities, take on responsibilities to help the schools in many ways large and small.

What they must avoid is dictating or corrupting education and what is taught in the classrooms for their own special wants. Remember, education is about learning/teaching large variety of things, which will expand the child’s knowledge, help to be creative / innovative & think in new ways, and most important give them the necessary skills to deal with and, or succeed in the real (globally-connected / competitive) world.

Education is NOT what the PTA or parents deem appropriate because of some social, culture, economic and, or religious bias / prejudice. These bias of forcing what is deem appropriate (usually by a small but vocal and influential number of PTA-members / parents) or blocking particular subjects has major consequences and by doing so only limits children in acquiring the needed skills for real-world-life. If parents want these other things to be learnt by their children then the parents themselves can teach that in their own homes.

In conclusion, parents’ and the PTA’s tunnel-view of only focusing on the needs of THEIR own children and not all children as a whole coupled with their narrow focus on the immediate to short-term benefits have had negative impacts on education. In addition these, the forcing and, or blocking curriculum changes to meet the PTA / parents limited / shortsighted world views only disadvantages the children in learn the skills to meet real world challenges in their adult-future. This started when the first PTA’s began to get involved in education and has become ever increasingly intrusive, disruptive, corrupting and had dumbing effects on education. While I understand that parents are only trying to their level best to ensure that their children receive the very best education possible. Their demands / requests / wishes on actual education and teachers only results in creating negative affects and damage the very education that all children need.

So this brings us to the end of the first part on Education & the PTA, Parents. In the next part I will discuss the failing education system and the people in the system.

I hope that I have provided some food for thought. Please keep a look out for the next part.  I very much look forward to your comments and thoughts.

By Syrbastyian Amaya Vzampfyier