Have a practical lesson, hold an election in the class and so on.
documentaries for students on politics/humanities
Weeler wrote:
Have a practical lesson, hold an election in the class and so on.
yeah that will happen at one point definitely. The last time i did that (i voluntewered for a week before christmas, which is how i got this job) it was really successful as the kids rigged the ballot and stuff demonstrating my points perfectly.
Jess: not exactly. There are two groups at my centre, brand new to the country refugees and then kids who have been in school for a while and can simply be immigrants (or even british citizens) who have turned up in the country half way through the academic year needing a school place. This group generally get school places quite quickly, as schools can be convinced to take them more easily. This is the group teach and despite a lot of them not being very bright* they are meant be around GCSE level, keystage something or other.
*I'm working on the right attitude to suit the job, slowly 
Tacks wrote:
Weeler wrote:
Have a practical lesson, hold an election in the class and so on.yeah that will happen at one point definitely. The last time i did that (i voluntewered for a week before christmas, which is how i got this job) it was really successful as the kids rigged the ballot and stuff demonstrating my points perfectly.
What exactly was your point? Are you opposed to voting outright, how will your organisatin elect its officers?
xConorx wrote:
Make them dress up in McDonalds uniforms and treat them like shit - no point giving them false-hope.
this afghani lad in the new-to-country class who can't spell his name just told me he wants to be a lawyer.
mega lulz 
the brightest kid in that group who is picking up english really fast wants to be a painter/decorator. He'll be able to speak arabic, pashtu, and dutch once he's finished school. But then so can millions of immigrants.
He could always find work as a international drugs king pin, importing smack through europe 
what actually is mega lulz is the ages they are claiming to be 
someone has told them to be 14 to get school places and i guess some extra benefits, and as they don't have papers or have false papers (but have been given asylum) they have got IDs claiming this too. These 'kids' are older than me in some cases. I had one just tell me he was 14 but went to the gym a lot and ate lots of protein - specifically banana protein shakes.
Some alibi, best english he's come out with!
xConorx wrote:
IF you are a teaching-assistant why are you teaching?
coupla reasons;
1) i wouldn't mind the experience
2) i don't work in a school so much as a school-themed holding pen for immigrant kids without school places, so lessons aren't particularly complex
3) they asked and i said yes, cos it makes things more interesting
Quote:
Aren't the teaching assistant and their unions trying to make sure they never have to teach ever?
I'm not sure what the long and short of it was in the end with the NUT's statement, i'd love a link if you had one... I personally think i shouldn't be teaching (cos i'm a fucking muppet) but i also don't think i'm much worse in terms of class control and explaining things and i know my refusal to teach will not bring in more teachers; and neither should it, its not really a school like i say. If i were a TA in a school i'd feel very differently about it.i mean my max class size is EIGHT! and we draw lines between 'Cat' and little pictures of cats
Quote:
Are you a scab Tacks? ;)
probably
seriously tho if anyone would like to give me the downlow on what the teaching unions have said that's be ace. I've been doing this 2 weeks and i'll be back to semi-skilled labouring again in another 2, so i didn't look into the industrial situation much.
Tacks wrote:
xConorx wrote:
IF you are a teaching-assistant why are you teaching?coupla reasons;
1) i wouldn't mind the experience
2) i don't work in a school so much as a school-themed holding pen for immigrant kids without school places, so lessons aren't particularly complex
3) they asked and i said yes, cos it makes things more interestingQuote:
Aren't the teaching assistant and their unions trying to make sure they never have to teach ever?I'm not sure what the long and short of it was in the end with the NUT's statement, i'd love a link if you had one... I personally think i shouldn't be teaching (cos i'm a fucking muppet) but i also don't think i'm much worse in terms of class control and explaining things and i know my refusal to teach will not bring in more teachers; and neither should it, its not really a school like i say. If i were a TA in a school i'd feel very differently about it.i mean my max class size is EIGHT! and we draw lines between 'Cat' and little pictures of cats
Quote:
Are you a scab Tacks? ;)probably
seriously tho if anyone would like to give me the downlow on what the teaching unions have said that's be ace. I've been doing this 2 weeks and i'll be back to semi-skilled labouring again in another 2, so i didn't look into the industrial situation much.
Sweet so basically you're creating room for other teaching assistants to have unreasonable demands placed on them? Good stuff.
"Oh what's that? You don't want to teach because you're not qualifiued and don't get paid enough? It's ok, tacks can have your job in that case" 
I jest, I figure I'd be the same as you, in that I actually like working with kids and love teaching.
But in the last school i was in it was a real issue, TAs being expected to look after classes really isn't on, and they'd very legitimate reason for refusing to be used as (poorly paid) cover teachers.
Your case does sound diffrent though, class size 8? Fuckin hell, try 31!
Can't you tape things of BBC 2 at two in the morning? There are loads of videos out there, I watched loads when we studied the history of how people won the vote. I reckon the best place for you to look would be the BBC website, or some A-level history teachers resource sites, I think it could be hard to find them on torrent sites!
xConorx wrote:
Tacks wrote:
xConorx wrote:
IF you are a teaching-assistant why are you teaching?coupla reasons;
1) i wouldn't mind the experience
2) i don't work in a school so much as a school-themed holding pen for immigrant kids without school places, so lessons aren't particularly complex
3) they asked and i said yes, cos it makes things more interestingQuote:
Aren't the teaching assistant and their unions trying to make sure they never have to teach ever?I'm not sure what the long and short of it was in the end with the NUT's statement, i'd love a link if you had one... I personally think i shouldn't be teaching (cos i'm a fucking muppet) but i also don't think i'm much worse in terms of class control and explaining things and i know my refusal to teach will not bring in more teachers; and neither should it, its not really a school like i say. If i were a TA in a school i'd feel very differently about it.i mean my max class size is EIGHT! and we draw lines between 'Cat' and little pictures of cats
Quote:
Are you a scab Tacks? ;)probably
seriously tho if anyone would like to give me the downlow on what the teaching unions have said that's be ace. I've been doing this 2 weeks and i'll be back to semi-skilled labouring again in another 2, so i didn't look into the industrial situation much.
Sweet so basically you're creating room for other teaching assistants to have unreasonable demands placed on them? Good stuff.
"Oh what's that? You don't want to teach because you're not qualifiued and don't get paid enough? It's ok, tacks can have your job in that case"I jest, I figure I'd be the same as you, in that I actually like working with kids and love teaching.
But in the last school i was in it was a real issue, TAs being expected to look after classes really isn't on, and they'd very legitimate reason for refusing to be used as (poorly paid) cover teachers.
yes yes i agree with ALL of that
Quote:
Your case does sound diffrent though, class size 8? Fuckin hell, try 31! ;)
THIS is my point, i am not really in a school at all, we in are a school like environment staffed by qualified teachers, but is essentially a hut with 10 refugees in it. Its a holding pen whilst they are found school places.
Jimmer - yeah. I've tried the BBC site and its great but very interactive, i just want some vids. I think i might go back to my last school and ask the history teacher if i can just borrow some.
This is an awesome documentary about the political radicalisation of second generation Asian immigrants in the UK through the Asian Youth Movement. Might be a bit over their heads for the level of English, but it's at least specifically related to the history of immigrant struggles...
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=1267501025633493514&hl=en&fs=true
(If that link doesn't work, go to google video and search for 'Kala Tara' ('Black Star'). The first 52 minutes are the documentary proper, the remainder is audio from interviews person by person.
Reccomended as a teaching resource here: http://www.irr.org.uk/2007/august/rw000004.html
(More stuff is normally up at www.tandana.org, but it seems to be down at the moment.)
For (mostly) voting and formal politics related resources, ask Operation Black Vote and the Citizenship Foundation. For stuff with an EFL component contact my gf - tho you might have to convince her that you're not against strikes while you're at it
i am very lucky to have landed a temporary Teching Assistant job for a few weeks on a project for mostly refugee kids who are new to the country and are waiting for school places to open up. So theres only 10 kids max in a class.
Not so lucky, at least one day a week i have to take a lesson on 'humanities' and generally politics and voting.
Any lesson plans would be welcomed (please!) but i'm specifically looking for some documentaries i can show and then discuss.
Particularly interested in the history of voting, as most of them come from countries where there isn't much voting but i don't want to blindly follow the curriculum and suggest that voting is a) the only interpretation of democracy or b) has always been an option for most people in the country.
so suffragettes and chartists would be cool...
but absolutely anything, the longer the better! But engaging and not too complex. No 3 hour chomsky lectures!
links to resources of any kind appreciated, i am completely new to this.