Ok, first of all, how excited/terrified am I on your behalf for going halfway across the world in a year? It'll be so awesome!
So on pre-english: 1. I agree with Lari in that getting it is more of a process than any special trick or whatever. For me, it's usually a lot of people telling me the same thing in different ways, over and over, until either I build up enough background skill to finally piece things together and see where it all fits in, or someone puts it in a way that I actually connect with.
2. Exposure to correct English grammar really helped me. Maybe you can make them read Zinsser or E.B. White (or another good technician who's also simple and funny) for five minutes every period, or have them listen to...oh, I don't know. What's the American version of the BBC radio?
3. Maybe give them exercises where it's not a "whether you can do it or not" thing but a "how much of it you can do" thing? Like...I dunno. Taking Jonas Brothers lyrics and making them find all the nouns/verbs/adjectives, then the prepositions, then the metaphors/similes, etc. Better yet, have them find their own (inoffensive) lyrics or some other piece of writing.
4. It's gotta be hard to teach something that comes naturally to you to people who...don't have it come naturally to them. So good luck, know that it'll be frustrating but find ways to relieve the frustration that don't require beating down on the kids, and be justifiably proud of yourself when you see the lightbulbs go on over their heads.
Yearbook:
1. Make sure there are pictures in there that they wouldn't be able to get via camera phones? :P Get clubs to buy pages on it to...I dunno, do stuff, get their message out, or whatever?
2. Bake sales!
3. I think the yearbook will always be relevant because it's a permanent souvenir. MySpace and Facebook may fade out of vogue and picture files can be deleted, but your worst enemy's embarrassing hairstyle will always be in a print yearbook. The trick is to convince the kids of it :P
So on pre-english:
1. I agree with Lari in that getting it is more of a process than any special trick or whatever. For me, it's usually a lot of people telling me the same thing in different ways, over and over, until either I build up enough background skill to finally piece things together and see where it all fits in, or someone puts it in a way that I actually connect with.
2. Exposure to correct English grammar really helped me. Maybe you can make them read Zinsser or E.B. White (or another good technician who's also simple and funny) for five minutes every period, or have them listen to...oh, I don't know. What's the American version of the BBC radio?
3. Maybe give them exercises where it's not a "whether you can do it or not" thing but a "how much of it you can do" thing? Like...I dunno. Taking Jonas Brothers lyrics and making them find all the nouns/verbs/adjectives, then the prepositions, then the metaphors/similes, etc. Better yet, have them find their own (inoffensive) lyrics or some other piece of writing.
4. It's gotta be hard to teach something that comes naturally to you to people who...don't have it come naturally to them. So good luck, know that it'll be frustrating but find ways to relieve the frustration that don't require beating down on the kids, and be justifiably proud of yourself when you see the lightbulbs go on over their heads.
Yearbook:
1. Make sure there are pictures in there that they wouldn't be able to get via camera phones? :P Get clubs to buy pages on it to...I dunno, do stuff, get their message out, or whatever?
2. Bake sales!
3. I think the yearbook will always be relevant because it's a permanent souvenir. MySpace and Facebook may fade out of vogue and picture files can be deleted, but your worst enemy's embarrassing hairstyle will always be in a print yearbook. The trick is to convince the kids of it :P
Good luck!!
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