Oxford Seminars class of December 2010

I haven't written in a while. I haven't been that busy, but didn't feel a passion to write. Yesterday I finished my last class of the year, in San Francisco. The December class was 14 students. This was a great bunch of students that all had a specific purpose for taking the class. I often have students that pay more than $1000 for the class and then they wonder what they will do after the class. I have had classes that 80% ended up going to their normal lives after taking my class. This class we had one girl that will leave right after Christmas to go to Chile (isn't it summer there in January?), one man will go to Japan and get married and live there for a year, one guy is on his way to Spain, and another woman is going to New Zealand. This class had one of the most beautiful women I have ever had in my class, she was going to go to the Philippines and teach, but plans change at the last minute. I was able to advise a couple of people where to go, I usually suggest Taiwan because it is warm in the winter, otherwise Korea is a great place. I spend 3 consecutive weekends, Saturday and Sunday 10 hours a day, trying to teach future teachers different ways to teach English in other countries. I try to show my students different ways to have exciting and interesting classes. I often tell them that their students can't learn if they can't laugh, so we spend a lot of time on different games that we can use to teach English and I try to give them experience in teaching classes. Rather than having them use most of the time reading during class, then discuss the reading; I have my students read for homework and then we discuss the reading during the class. With the extra time I give each student the opportunity to teach classes each day of our course and even try to bring in actual ESL students for them to teach. I am almost always amazed at the growth of my students, from the first class they teach to the practicum exercise that is like their final exam. I try to make my students realize that the class they use for their practicum can be used for the demonstration lesson they do when they attempt to get a job. I also have them dress in nice clothes so they feel like teachers. I feel over all my students get good experience in my class. This month we had a girl that had taken the first 2 weekends of the class with another instructor and then did her practicum with my class. It was interesting to see the difference between the way my students teach and others. My students are great!!