I am working in a program called "Focal Skills." They (they who made up the program probably) say that students learn up to 35% faster in this type of program than in the more popular types of programs such as Intigrated Skills or some such.

So I've spent the last month working in the beginning level of the Focal Skills program, Listening. How do you teach someone to listen? You may be asking. Well, you're asking, I'm asking- it's a darn good question. The main method is to give the students what is affectionately known in the TESOL community as i+1 communication.

It goes like this. I pop in a movie. We watch a few seconds of the movie. I hit pause. I ask a bunch of yes/no or short answer questions. Things that are pretty obvious. “Does the boy have a flashlight?” Well, it’s obvious to you and me, but if you don’t know what a flashlight is, it is certainly less obvious. They say yes or no, or they look at me blankly. I point to the screen, “Flashlight.” I pretend there is one in my hand, I look for something in the pretend dark. I write flashlight on the board. I summarize the scene we just watched. “The boy is looking for something. It’s dark. There’s a storm outside. There’s no electricity.” I point, I act, I make sound effects. Big fun. I turn the movie back on and go through the whole thing again after about a minute.

That is i+1. “i" is what the student can understand already. They know “dark” and they know “storm.” I give them +1 “flashlight” and “electricity.” I give it to them so it’s not so hard to be discouraging, but not too easy to be boring (I hope.) I help them understand the dialogue in the movie by making it simpler and pointing specific things out.

I’ve done three movies this month. 1. Groundhog Day- that was my “this is how you do it” one. I got help from another teacher. 2. National Treasure- that was my practice one and 3. Jacob the Liar- that is my second practice one. I will continue to have practice ones until I decide to do one for a second time.