November 23, 2006

I was able to choose any topic for my public speaking debut at the Lampung Teachers Conference, so I went with the most obvious classroom issue I could think of: elephants and magic.

Don’t let the title fool you; the presentation was a serious look at the biggest challenge of my classroom experience so far: team-teaching. 

The native speaker vs. native teacher relationship—that is, working effectively with (as apposed to above, in place of, or in spite of) my teaching counterparts—has been the number one factor behind every classroom success and struggle (that is of course not counting my profuse sweating problem—but that’s a fight I'm just not going to win). 

The title, “Elephant Magic,” is a reference to the English idiom: There is an elephant in the room.  In the context of my classroom, the “elephants” are often-ignored issues like native speaker vs. native teacher power dynamics, coordination difficulties and participation issues.  I tried to address all of these topics in my presentation with a flexible approach to team-teaching that actually does not require supernatural powers or knowledge of the world's largest land mammal.

A bit of background

The Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program places native speakers from America in Indonesian high schools to assist native teachers with the conversational idiosyncrasies of our messy mother tongue. 

When I showed up at Sekayu High School a few months ago, everyone knew I was supposed to be English Teaching Assistant.  But no one had any idea how to make this work—including myself.  I’m still trying to figure it out, and will be for the rest of the year.  The presentation below discusses what has—and hasn't—worked so far, and suggests a few new ideas for the future. 

Viewing the Presentation*

*I’ve included more explanations (as apposed to just talking points) in this version of the PowerPoint.  There is also a lot of animation, so the best way to view it is:

 1.) download and open the document from the link below
2.) view project as a slideshow (click “Slideshow” tab on top of page; then “View Slideshow”). 
3.) Click your way through the slide show
4.) Enjoy! And feel free to laugh at my clip art professionalism

<<Download Elephant Magic

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