Trivia: Let's Not Teach It

[PeaceBlondie]

Much of the lessons for certain EFL textboks contain trivia that doesn't teach much. For example, taking the Metro from Victoria Station to Picadily Circus. Do we explain Queen Victoria? Why is there no circus at Picadilly? Since we've mentioned Picadilly, there's an American chopped, sweet pickle relish called 'picalilli."

Without checking a reference, I can tell you the author of the rock anthem "Born to Be Wild," and I used to know his other names as well. Mai bpen rai. And since 1952, I could spell 'consolidated' and tell you the circumference of the Earth at the Equator, to the nearest hundredth of a mile. Even though I still write and say 'consolidated,' it's hard to bring it up in a typical cocktail party conversation. And you'd have to light more than 24,902 bonfires on Mars before you'd use half the other stuff we teach to beginner and intermediate students in Thailand.

They don't play baseball or cricket, so let's not explain balls and outs, or sticky wickets, or why the cricket score is like 5,679 to 5,441.

Last semsester, my EFL textbook was really an American ESL text for immigrants to America. Where Consuela and Ng were from, how to get a driver's license, writing their height and weight in American measures. There's only one thing that Thais measure in inches, and I won't say what it is.

So, how can you avoid the trivia in your curriculum? Don't teach it just because the curriculum or textbook says to. Skip it. Last year, I was teaching with a Thai who had me explain Leonardo Da Vinci, Leonardo DiCaprio, famous buildings in Europe and Chicago - who cares?

[mbkudu]

Much of the lessons for certain EFL textboks contain trivia that doesn't teach much.  For example, taking the Metro from Victoria Station to Picadily Circus.  Do we explain Queen Victoria?  Why is there no circus at Picadilly?  Since we've mentioned Picadilly, there's an American chopped, sweet pickle relish called 'picalilli."

Without checking a reference, I can tell you the author of the rock anthem "Born to Be Wild," and I used to know his other names as well.  Mai bpen rai.  And since 1952, I could spell 'consolidated' and tell you the circumference of the Earth at the Equator, to the nearest hundredth of a mile.  Even though I still write and say 'consolidated,' it's hard to bring it up in a typical cocktail party conversation.  And you'd have to light more than 24,902 bonfires on Mars before you'd use half the other stuff we teach to beginner and intermediate students in Thailand.

They don't play baseball or cricket, so let's not explain balls and outs, or sticky wickets, or why the cricket score is like 5,679 to 5,441. 

Last semsester, my EFL textbook was really an American ESL text for immigrants to America.  Where Consuela and Ng were from, how to get a driver's license, writing their height and weight in American measures.  There's only one thing that Thais measure in inches, and I won't say what it is. 

So, how can you avoid the trivia in your curriculum?  Don't teach it just because the curriculum or textbook says to.  Skip it.  Last year, I was teaching with a Thai who had me explain Leonardo Da Vinci, Leonardo DiCaprio, famous buildings in Europe and Chicago - who cares?

I would agree to a point, but also disagree. I had a disagreement with one of the instructors on my CELTA course. The movie 'Motorcycle Diaries' about the life of Che Guavara was in one of the lessons I was to teach. The instructor said I should have taken it out because most Thais have no idea who Che was and probably don't care even if they know who he was. I asked him, "Don't you think they might be interested in who that man is on all those T-shirts in Pat Pong and Sukhumvit? I think trivia and history can sometimes spark interest in young people

especially if it's related to something they are not familiar with. The key is to move on if they look like deer in the headlights or seem completely uninterested. Only after I asked them if they knew who the man on the shirts and truck mudflaps was, did they say, "Oh yea! I know! I see!" Just spending about 4 or 5 minutes was sufficient. Going into detail about the man, the idiology and Cuba for 30 minutes or an hour would have been a disaster. 5 minutes ain't gonna kill'em. None the less, the instructor said it was 5 minutes of wasted lesson. Oh, well. Can't please everyone.

[rishi]

... just clicked this thread, because was sort of on my way to go sleep. Don't have a clue on what could possible be a proper post to make. In case, you'd like some kind of reply from someone with some sort of IQ, but not particularly bright, would you mind formulate some kind of question, someone would consider whether or not he/she might have some kind of answer to?

[PeaceBlondie]

mbkudu, you made a great point: if there's trivia in the lesson plan, you can either leave it out, or give it a tentative try. I'm surprised that Thais cared enough about Che to hear five minutes; you must have done a good job. I've got a t-shirt of Acteal and X'oyep, but it would either take 30 seconds or 30 hours to explain them (8th anniversary of Acteal is tomorrow).

Okay, let's formulate some questions, quickly:

1. What constitutes unnecessary triva for TEFL students at the beginner, intermediate, kinda advanced, and actually advanced levels?

2. If we throw out the trivia, what do we put in its place?

3. Does anybody have some real-life examples of unnecessary triva from an EFL textbook?

[tom yum goong]

i dont know anything about teaching but i can't help feeling that the education most Thais receive is blinkered and narrow enough.

surely broadening the horizons of your students is a good thing?

[mbkudu]

I am American so if I were stuck with a British text book, I would never pretend to know something about cricket or talk about it with a Thai student. Talking about the divorce rate or the % of teen achohol abuse in America may get their attention or Tata's favorite perfume?

[mbkudu]

  I'm surprised that Thais cared enough about Che to hear five minutes; you must have done a good job.

Isn't it funny how just 5 minutes can seem like an eternity when teaching students who have no @#$%ing idea what you're talking about? It's like being a comedian on stage and the audience doesn't get the joke or they don't think it's funny and they just stare at you.

[Artisi]

I guess what we're talking about here is teaching communicative English to Thai students. My experience is to keep it simple and relevant to what they know, understand and find of interest - there is absolutely no point in talking on a subject even for 5 minutes that is of no ineterst to them.

Most Thai students have little real understanding of the language and the culture that goes with it - therefore concentrate on teaching meaningful language at their level, give them confidence in listening, speaking and questioning of the teacher (something very strange to most of them). As you build understanding and confidence for them to communicate, you can then move to more complex issues -let the students raise most of the topics, this increases their confidence and gives you a good insight as to what they are interested in -- you will be very surprised sometimes what the students want to discuss.

Make your teaching student-centred, encourage discussion, self-learning, and research on what interests them. You (the teacher) set a number of projects (based on what you have learnt from the student ) for the students to research and report back to class.

Stay away, when ever possible from teacher or text book driven classes.

Keep them interested - let the student relax and enjoy their class - it will pay-off in the long run.

[mbkudu]

I guess what we're talking about here is teaching communicative English to Thai students. My experience is to keep it simple and relevant to what they know, understand and find of interest - there is absolutely no point in talking on a subject even for 5 minutes that is of no ineterst to them.

Most Thai students have little real understanding of the language and the culture that goes with it - therefore concentrate on teaching meaningful language at their level, give them confidence in listening, speaking and questioning of the teacher (something very strange to most of them). As you build understanding and confidence for them to communicate, you can then move to more complex issues -let the students raise most of the topics, this increases their confidence and gives you a good insight as to what they are interested in -- you will be very surprised sometimes what the students want to discuss. 

Make your teaching student-centred, encourage discussion, self-learning, and research on what interests them. You (the teacher) set a number of projects (based on what you have learnt from the student ) for the students to research and report back to class.

Stay away, when ever possible from teacher or text book driven classes.

Keep them interested - let the student relax and enjoy their class - it will pay-off in the long run.

Sounds good to me. How many kidney beans fit in a glass jar 12" high with a diameter of 4"? How many technical fouls does an NBA player need to get ejected from a game?

Edited December 21, 2005 by mbkudu

[Ijustwannateach]

I've seen a lot of TEFL/ESL type textbooks which pick the most terrifically uninteresting drivel as the subject matter for reading comprehension... an example from a Japanese official textbook expounded in an entire essay on the "British fondness for queuing- sometimes they even queue up for fun!"

Political topics are especially uninteresting for many TEFL students, especially the ones who are being forced to study the language and couldn't give a dang about the culture/country or whatever. The Japanese teachers choose to put a lot of controversial political topics in the English classes because they wouldn't get away with doing so in the classes with all government-approved texts- in my view, this method fails both as political education and as TEFL.

For teaching TEFL to a broad group of captive students, stick to lowest common denominator. Social interactions, role-play, concrete items, fashion, and things of interest to the appropriate age are always good.

Quick, anybody! How do pronounce Don Quixote and its author, Cervantes, in Thai or Japanese? You haven't the foggiest and couldn't care less? And yet, items of this type of obscurity are often on the official curriculum for English (yes, English) classes in the two countries.

"Steven"

[PeaceBlondie]

You may wish to post about "Quixote" in our little forum about Western Food in Thailand. Quick Oats, better than Quaker Oats. And did you know that the founder of the Quakers was George Fox? How foxy was he?

Cervantes....sounds like an Italian wine, maybe a white.

[mbkudu]

For teaching TEFL to a broad group of captive students, stick to lowest common denominator.  Social interactions, role-play, concrete items, fashion, and things of interest to the appropriate age are always good.

"Steven"

This is especially true with Thai students. Sometimes even discussing sports is questionable. However, during big football matches like the Champions League or the World Cup even the female students get into the action. Many of the students have wagers on particular teams. When there is money and gambling involved the eyes and minds quickly open.