Teaching methodology in the Church

whilst I was on my Gap year I helped out in a youth group on Sunday mornings with a group of women from the local areas. During one of the meetings an issue was brought up in the continued running of the Sunday schools as we looked at where to have them and what ages to have them for. This issue was that the fellow leaders were worried about getting "fed" at church.

Looking at the positives of this statement it shows that these women really care about what spiritual input they are getting, after all most of them ran the Sunday School every Sunday...and when they didn't, they were away. The negative comment that could come would be towards those who aren't involved in any service in a church [especially one that might involved not being in a sermon] and use not being fed as the reason. In these cases the statement becomes an excuse for not serving. 

Why do I mention this, well for one it's an interesting diversion/lead into the topic of teaching within the church, it also allows me to mention my friends blog piece about taking responsibility for being "fed" but most importantly to mention that desiring God, desiring teaching isn't a bad thing [which can come across sometimes].

In the world of English language teaching many changes have taken place in the methodology of how lessons are taught. In the past there was a formal sitting down, reading and translating a text approach with very little focus on students actually being able to use the language or communicate but instead knowing the rules of the language and as such being able to answer questions about the text. 

If we look at teaching within the church we can see similar comparisons, a text is read, a teacher then instructs the students on new or unfamiliar words and explains the translation. the students sit there and perhaps write notes with no certainty that they are listening or absorbing the information. The students leave the lesson, head home and probably don't use this knowledge till the next lesson, at which point the process is repeated. 

Some students love the methodology. They learn the rules and can recite them at will [or command of the teacher] they study at home all the time, they translate text after text and can't understand why other students don't enjoy or find the lessons engaging. 

Others hate the methodology, they don't engage, although they want to learn the language they just can't manage to put up with the lessons and so they give up. Stop attending the lessons and go away with a small knowledge of the language never to expand it. 

[maybe you can see some similarities, if not then either your church is using a varied teaching approach or maybe you find the methodology engaging]

So what are the key characteristics of EFL communicative methodology used today and how can we translate them into the church.[In no particular order]

1. Real life situations

2. Using audio, visual And Kinaesthetic techniques to focus on a holistic learning approach

3. Students don't just study but use the target language in class.

4. Repetition of material

5. Allowing participation from all students to maximise practice.
6. Inductive learning not Deductive learning [a possible example]

[feel free to point out other essential element that shall be added to the list.]

And so these are the idea's I shall start to explore with relation to teaching in the church in the coming week with the aim of a post every Monday addressing one of these idea. Please feel free to suggest idea's, to critique the article/idea, comment etc [as long as it's not a personal attack].

Back to the Ukraine

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After a long time worrying about all the possible problems coming back to the Ukraine I have actually managed to get back to Dnipropetrovsk with relative easy. The main highlights of the journey include:

1. The metal detector mysteriously going of as I walked through it despite taking all metal items out of my pockets/belts off etc. 
2. Bumping into a student of the school in the train station who was getting the same train
3. Meeting a Brazilian English teacher [ricky] in McDonnalds
4. Buying a train ticket in Kyiv on my own...in Russian, with someone who spoke no English, then forgetting the word for 11 so I could say what time I wanted my train for and yet I knew exactly what I was being asked!
5. Actually achieving the amazing feat of getting some sleep on the overnight train, despite being far too tall for the sets and being scrunched up the whole journey. 

So all in all a rather successful journey. This post is making up for the one I happened to miss on Monday [I was travelling, I'm sorry] and has some details of the posts to come. I have the idea for the first of the short films and songs [it's an old song to start things off] and also Friday's post is and introduction to a new topic covering two combine interests. Teaching English and Christianity [what can the church learn from teaching English]
Also you may notice that there is now a page with my Aims for 2011 pinned to it. This has a link to the original article and links to all post relating to the new years aims [except the aim of regular blogging...I won't link to every blog article I write!] take a look and keep asking me how I am doing on each task or suggest ideas for each one.

2010 review of Wilson's words

This year has certainly been a big year for me. This time last year I was single, living at home, in a job that wasn't really very rewarding and not really going anywhere in life. Fast forward 12 months...and I am still single, but I have spent the last four months in the Ukriane, I have been doing a job that I love, and I have certainly grown up a lot! So let's look back over some of my favourite posts of the year.

I think the best post has to be the night I had a gun pointed at my head.

My best political post [for analysis wise] has to be Why does David Cameron want Turkey in the EU.

Best video: it was a hard one But I think Russian Winnie the pooh [Vinnie Puh] wins [My video from being on the pitch of Shaktar Donestk was pretty special to me]

Best EFL: Not sure that I made any outstanding posts but I think my observations about learning a language abroad will have to do.

Best Christian:

My Most visited for the year: for some reason my in joke [which really isn't very funny] about blaming Ollie Ewing for everything got the most hits? very strange. However on a more serious note my personal reflection "words on a white board" has done very well.

My Articles that got into the Lib Dem Golden Dozen. Why are Labour Targeting the Lib Dems and My shock that Conservative home want the Lib Dems for 5 years.

I have to mention Lee Griffin article on Higher Education funding

So those are last years highlights. If you look back over the blogging history you will no doubt notice that the focus has shifted from political blogging to more general updates and general thoughts. One which I feel completely happy about and shall continue with. I hope you enjoyed the Blog last year and will continue to enjoy it this year.
[final Blog stats, Since I transfered over to this blog on blogger (sometime in June) I've had 4,872 page visits with the top post having 216 hits]

Friendly promotion

Well haven't you all been busy bee's on the blog today! Very little visits and comments for a long time and then all of a sudden everyone is commenting and my hits have shot up! As such, here is a special post promoting an old friend from university Jennie Mahood. She is off out in America and is making wonderful little songs. So go check out her website, listen to some songs, follow her on twitter...whatever.

New Years Aims 2011

For the last few years I have written a list in private of about 10-20 things I want to achieve in the coming year. Most of these have previously revolved around getting a job/new job and moving out of home etc. However this year I actually HAVE a job [that I love] and I have moved out of my old home...so this years list is going to be slightly different!
I have decided to post it on to my blog after reading this article on sucessful new years resolutions and in addition I will post a monthly update on progress so people can ask me/offer help on achieving these goals. SO without further ado. [the words in Red have been added since the original publication]

1.I will give at least a 10% tithe in addition to any other giving I will do.
 I have been horrifically bad at tithing in the past. However after reading Blue like jazz I was struck by how important it is to give a tithe. As such I will stick to it this year.

2. Making Prayer a stronger habit. 

Traditionally I have included such spiritual things as "try and read the whole bible in a year" or just read more of it. However, upon reading the advice in the article linked above [not to repeat the same resolution year after year] I have decided to change it a bit and focus on Prayer this year.
Every Friday morning I will go on a prayer walk around Dnipro, I will seek to join a Prayer group. If you want me to pray with you [over the phone/face to fact/other] then ask and I would be more than happy to. [other ideas]

3.Use skype more to chat to people back home/Britain

I have a constant fear when I see someone on skype that they are actually too busy to chat and so end up not having the guts to ring them but send a message instead. I'd much rather actually chat, so that is what I will do.

4.  I will improve as an EFL teacher.

This shall partially by passing my young learners course but also by continuing to try and post about TEFL and doing some proper research into each post. Admittedly just teaching should lead to this occurring without much effort but I will invest effort as well so that it isn't left to chance. I will continue to read "language tasks for English teachers" by Scott Thornbury, Once I have finished then I will move on to another book and I will also invite and pursue more observations and feedback on my own teaching insuring I am observed at least once a month preferably more. 

5. I will improve my Russian.

Like the 3 Aim this too should occur without intentional effort but again I want to put effort in as well. As such I am setting myself the task of spending an hour twice a week studying Russian [Monday and Wednesday evening at 6-7] and recapping the new words I have learnt that week. I will also do a post with the new words that I have learnt this week to help reinforce their meaning and to perhaps teach some new words. Aiming for at least 5 new words.

6. I will write more songs.

After a hiatus of about 3 years I feel it's time to write some songs again. I will aim to write one a month and publish them on this very blog. Sound quality may be poor but still it will be an attempt at something! Please be kind on them.

7. Host a weekly meal at my flat.
 I have hosted a couple of meals at my flat and though it isn't the biggest I want to continue this. There have been occasions when other people have hosted a meal and If this continues then I wouldn't object but instead seek to host a weekly gathering of some sort.

8. Regular and higher quality blogging.
The last while in the Ukraine has taught me a few things about blogging. It's hard to do regularly and it's hard to keep the quality high when you do it frequently. So it may appear like I am trying to have my cake and eat it [and expression that I have always personally found to be very strange. If I have a cake of course I want to eat it...unless it had mushrooms or something but then what cake has mushrooms? If it did indeed have mushrooms then I probably wouldn't want this cake anyway and thus I would neither want the cake or eat it.] When in actually fact I am instead committing to reduce the number of posts to two [with a possible 3] each week [I'm thinking Monday and Friday morning] and then insure that when a post is finished it is given a proper edit to avoid simple mistakes.

9. I will get involved with some form of charitable work in the Ukraine.
One of the things that I feel is serverly lacking in my currently life in the Ukraine is that I am not involved with any groups that are really in contact with and help the less well off. As such I am going to seek out some groups or organisation who do and get involved with them. If there are none then I guess I will just have to look at either setting something up or similar.

10. I will make a Public video each month.
Over the last year I have started to make and send a few video's about, mostly as a form of communication with my friend Steve, but some have also been general videos like this one about a Mr Cameron. As such I'm going to try and make a little video [even if it's just an update on things in the Ukraine] each month for people (note this won't count for the music task as well.)

So those are my Aims for 2011 as I said at the start, ask me how they are going and I will do an update each month.