English teaching/learning

An idea for an activity to help people think about different ways of organizing information to build understanding of historical events.

[the idea is that one role of the teacher is to create boxes in which people are constrained in such a way as to have to find their protagonism and freedom (or not -- always remains their choice and inconformidad trumps rules). So, practically speaking, a basic format like check-in/check-out is just a pair of boxes, like squares on a game board. Pre and Post-Motorola, the flow of a set of activities over one session (see Educating for a Change and Juegos), even the Spiral, are boxes of this type.

Players choose a short clip of video and create a bad lip reading, post or perform.

I have taught English for many years, in New York City, USA and in Tokyo, Japan. I have learned from experience that the most important thing is to "feel free." What does feel free mean?
It means:

• Feel free to be comfortable, to be happy, to have fun, to relax, to experiment;
• Feel free to be uncomfortable, to make mistakes, to be confused, to forget, to be frustrated;
• Feel free to be loved, to be cared for, to be respected and valued and to love, care for, respect and value others.

A collection of learning games and other activities that language learners and teachers can use to learn together, as equals, with joy and creativity.

Most of the activities are based on my work teaching English in Japan, but the games and ideas come from many sources. This book is designed for egalitarian, collective, self-learning, with or without teachers.

The games are written for English language learning but can be adapted for other uses.

It is a work in progress.