По английскому языку на тему Time Management

Using Stories and Fables for Effective Time Management Teaching

To be successful at work and yet have the time for family and leisure is everyone's dream. So the materials from the 11-th form textbook on the topic "Time management" are very useful. They aim to teach students how to achieve their goals by giving them different tips on effective time-planning.

To work hard and enjoy free time a person should carefully plan his/her life considering what s/he really wants to achieve and how s/he is going to do it, so at the lessons students give their different opinions debating about the necessity to plan their activity, set priorities and control the realisation of their plans. They write general and daily to-do lists, talk about resistors and drivers for achieving their goals. Sometimes it is not easy. In such cases nice fables, stories and videos can be very useful as examples. Students like them, and with their help remember the important ideas and concepts of the topic better.

Here is an example of a beautiful story which seems especially relevant regarding the importance of balance of time in one's life.

A rich businessman was on holiday by the beach in Mexico when a small fishing boat docked nearby with just one man on board. Inside the boat there were several large tasty-looking fish.

"That's quite a fine catch," noted the businessman. "How long did it take you to pull those in?"

"Only a little while," said the fisherman.

"So why don' t you stay out fishing longer and catch more fish?" said the rich man.

"This is enough to take care of the needs of my family," replied the fisherman.

"But what do you do with all the rest of your time?" asked the businessman.

The fisherman said, "I sleep late, I fish a little, I spend time with my wife and play with my children. Then I rest in the afternoon. In the evening I visit the rest of my family or stroll into the village where I have a drink with my friends. I have a full and busy life."

The rich man scoffed. "I have a business degree from one of the best universities in the world. I can help you. If you spent more time fishing, you could buy a bigger boat. With the profits from it you could buy several more boats until eventually you would own the whole fleet of fishing boats. Then instead of selling the fish to a middleman you could sell the fish directly to the processor and increase your profit ; line-height: 100%"> "How long would all of that take?" the fisherman wanted to know.

"Oh, at least 15 years," replied the businessman.

"But what then?" asked the humble fisherman.

The businessman laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right, you can sell your company. You would become rich. You could make millions."

"Millions!" exclaimed the fisherman. "Then what?"

"Then you could retire to a little village by the sea" said the businessman, "where you could fish a little, spend time with your wife, play with your kids, then rest in the afternoon. In the evening you could stroll into the village and have a drink with your friends. You see how wonderful things would be!"

I used this story when facilitating project planning to encourage participants to consider what they really want to achieve and whether they need more efficient and effective options for achieving their goals . Working in teams, my students had an exciting debate on this topic. The first team was sure that "there is nothing as useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." The second team thought that "the great use of life is to spend something that will outlast it". Finally, all students agreed that "how you spend your time is more important than how you spend your money. Money mistakes can be corrected, but time is gone forever". Then, working in groups, the students made posters on the time management topic ( PAY - Prioritize your Activities by Yield ; GROW - Goals Reality Options Will ; PRIDE - Personal Responsibility In Delivering Excellence ; TEAM- Together Everyone Achieves More ; SMART - Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound ). After that my students were inspired to write and share their own stories.

There are many other stories which have obvious lessons for us all. They help us understand that goal setting is a powerful process for turning our vision of future into reality, so the following Internet addresses businessballs.com/stories.htm, citehr.com/17383­-short-story-teaching-time-management.html can be very useful for effective time management teaching.

Valentina Iavorciuc,