Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Kids on the net


, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Once again, the school year has begun and once again I have to persuade students and parents that the"unusual" teaching methods and material I use will help them achieve their goals; namely help them learn more effectively and increase their chances of getting a certificate.

My hardest battle, however usually revolves around the use of the internet. For many parents the mere mention of the word invokes fear and suspicion. Having been bombarded with scare stories from the mainstream Greek media they shy away from allowing their children near it.

Of course, concerns about younger people having unsupervised access are not to be dismissed as there are dangers a plenty on the web. Yet, this is true for so many aspects of our life. We do not, for example, keep our kids confined to the house because there are traffic accidents on the streets, do we?

Instead we teach them how to behave responsibly when in the street and so one of my first jobs when introducing kids to the internet is teaching them how to do it responsibly and safely. Still, sometimes it feels as if I'm fighting a losing battle.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, nice blog and great pics! I'm from Thessaloniki too but I live in London at the moment and your pics give a great feel of the city. I was wondering if you had any pictures of street slogans (graffiti) that you are willing to share? You know the kind of far left/right slogans and ironic/humorous puns you get all over the city walls...

Theodora Papapanagiotou said...

I was talking to you about that too last week! Sometimes, I want to just give up and only bring books to my lessons! But it is worth it and kids learn with enthusiasm!
So keep up the great work!