Sep 20 2008
Mr. Stout’s Class Rules
Mick Stout is an EFL teacher in Japan who is also a participant in our International Sister Classes Project.
He has a couple of pictures on his blog of the rules his students came up for them and for him.
Not only do they contain some wisdom, but some humor, too. It’s a good example of students developing a sense of class ownership.
2 responses so far
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Dear Larry,
Wow! I checked sitermeter just now and 40 people have visited my blog. Most of the them were referred by YOU! Thanks so much.
Cheers,
Michael
[Reply]
Hi again. I was so excited I forgot to give you and your readers a bit of background.
These class rules came out of a task I did with my students in a compulsory English class at Shibaura Institute of Technology. I’m a part-time teacher there. I teach this class on Saturdays. The task, actually, was made by a colleague called Dave Rear. I’m going to edit the task worksheet a bit. When I do, I’ll share it, of course. Dave’s worksheet is very simple and straight forward, much better than anything I’ve come up with in the past.
You might be interested in knowing where some of the humourous rules came from. Smoking is still quite common in Japan and Japanese universities have smoking areas. So, the students have seen me smoking. It will be VERY difficult for me to obey this rule because I’m terribly addicted AND I meet so many students in the smoking area and I get a chance to talk to them in a way that I can’t in class. Smoking may be bad for my health (and bad for the health of those near me when I’m smoking), but it’s good for my teaching. Lol
The other rule humourous rule comes from a routine I have for announcing homework:
Me – Homework! (short pause) Booooooooooo. I hate Mr. Stout! Go back to Canada and never return! (cup my ear)
Students – Booooo…..
This little routine often gets a laugh, and sometimes the ss will start to Boo the homework announcement on their own.
Cheers,
Michael
[Reply]