'Ten quotations to make you think' presented by Ken Wilson

An IATEFL monthly webinar presented by Ken Wilson

We often quote the words of wise folk to support our ideas and opinions, usually from within the world of education. I find it useful to go outside our specialised world for quotations to make us think about how we teach. When you reflect on quotations from the perspective of education, they often have a different meaning than you originally thought. 

For example: Mark Twain – ‘I never let my schooling interfere with my education’. A mildly amusing remark, but if we take it seriously for a moment, what does it tell us? Probably that Mark Twain was a bright, imaginative student who wasn’t well served by the delivery style of education that was normal in his day. You can imagine him questioning his teachers, and either being told to shut up or being punished for insubordination. 

What is the message for teachers today? Can we deliver less and assert less control over proceedings in class? Can we let the students use their imagination more? 

Albert Einstein – ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge’. Students all know where they are in the class ‘pecking order’ – she’s better than me, he’s not as good as me. This pecking order is usually based on the ability to deal with the teacher’s presentation style and the practice material in the book. What I think Einstein’s quote means is that if you bring student imagination and creativity into the equation, this knowledge-based pecking order stops being so dominant.

These are two of the ten examples that I will use in my talk, all with the aim of making people think.

Ken Wilson is a teacher trainer and an author of ELT materials. He's written more than thirty titles for English learners and teachers, including more than a dozen series of course books. His first ELT publication was a collection of language teaching songs called Mister Monday, which was published 49 years ago. For many years, Ken was artistic director of the English Teaching Theatre, a company which performed shows for English learners all over the world. The ETT made more than 250 tours to 55 countries.

 Ken has a Masters in Creative Writing from Birkbeck College London and is currently taking a break from producing ELT material to write a novel and a series of short stories. 

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