General Principles of teaching adults 1. Adults are not children.

Just because you are good at teaching children, dont assume you are good at teaching adults. 2. Adults are there because they want to be, not because theyre forced to be. They will have their own motivation. Find out what that is, use it to help keep them highly motivated 3. Adults will bring their own life experience and knowledge to the learning environment. They may have run businesses, been parents, travelled the world. Find out what they already know and use it. If someone has relevant experience in an area of study, make that person a small group leader in learning activities so they can share their knowledge. 4. Not everything adults learn should come from the teacher. Its OK to answer a question with I dont know. Answer a question with a question. Help the students acquire new skills and knowledge rather than adopt the traditional font of all truth approach. Use every opportunity for students to use their previous experience and knowledge. 5. Make learning fun, use a variety of games, projects, exercises rather than standing at the front of the room reciting a bunch of facts. Use pair work, small groups as well as whole group activity. 6. Be clear about the individuals expectations at the start of any learning. Ask what do you expect to get from this. This will have been a valuable use of my time if.. Dont assume you have a captive audience. Negotiate the learning outcomes with the group. Be clear what you are offering and be flexible enough to modify it if you can to meet legitimate needs and wants. 7. Give some control to the participants for some of the learning outcomes. Keep them feeling engaged and involved. Periodically check out if they think their expectations are being fulfilled. 8. Ask for feedback from the participants as you go along. Not only check out that they understand but ask, what they think is hard, what is easy, what they want more of and what they want to be different. If you can, change in response to the feedback. The sooner the better. Dont think that you have to deliver the material as you planned it. 9. Look for a smiling student. If their happy, theres a good chance theyre learning.

Learning tools Nails A nail has a head, a shaft and a tip. When making a teaching point you can use this technique to highlight the point youre making and help people remember For example. The head is the topic or context the point is understood in. For example: How we behave to one another. The shaft is the verse that describes the point youre trying to make 1 John 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. The tip is the sharp end that drives the point home. So what does this mean for me, now? What I do is much more important that what I say. If I say that I love someone, Ive got to show that in action, by being kind, patient, putting them first before me, finding out what matters to them before concentrating on me and my needs. Memorise the reference & the verse. Keep batches of the similar nails together. Other verse about how we behave to one another. Try Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Find other similar nails. SQ3R Reading a passage. Before you start reading, Pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes. This is a tool that will help you get more from the Bible as you study it. Survey the passage. Who wrote it? What sort of writing is it? History, poetry, instruction, prophecy. All scripture is profitable Why are you reading this particular passage? It was written for you but who was it written for originally and why was it written? Write down everything you already know about the topic, the writer, the time it was written in, where it was written if you know that. Again, before you start reading, Question. Ask yourself questions. What do you want the passage to answer? It may be that you dont get all your questions answered from that passage, you might find

answers to questions you didnt ask. If you dont start with an inquiry, how will you learn anything. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Read the passage, use more than one translation if you can. You might start with a paraphrase ( esp.the message) to get a feel for the story etc. Try and read whole letters in one sitting. You might then break up a bigger passage over several sittings though a translation. Recap. What have you read? Did it concur with what you thought you knew? Were there any areas what you thought was incorrect? What answers did you get to your questions? Were there any questions to which you didnt get answers? Do you have new questions? Review. Where do you go from here? What questions do you still have to seek answers for? What answers do you need to take action on? What do you need to do more of and less of? What do you need to start or stop doing? When are you going to do it? Who are you going to tell about it? What are you going to read next? Stop and Think (Selah) When delivering any teaching, every so often have a Traffic Light Red. Stop. What have I just heard/read? Do I agree/disagree? If I disagree, in what why do I think differently? What assumptions are my thoughts based on? How do I know if Im right? Is it possible I could be wrong or could we both be right in part? If I agree, does this link to anything else Ive heard/read/know? Amber. Get ready to take action. What does this mean for me? Have I learnt something new here and need to put this new knowledge into action, what am I going to do? When I am going to do it? What might stop me? Whose help do I need to ask for? Who do I hold myself accountable to? What change in attitude do I need to make? Green. Stop thinking, put your pen down and restart listening/ reading until the next traffic light. Try Psalm 3 1 O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him." Selah 3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

4 To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah 5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. 6 I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. 7 Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. Selah I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. Luke 10 1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 5"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' 6If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' 10But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' 12I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. 13"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. 16"He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." 17The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." 18He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." 21At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and

learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. Jesus taught the seventy two to do what theyd already seen him do, but almost immediately he got them taking action. What he taught them was action orientated, practical and outward focused. As soon as possible he got them doing. In their doing, they had learned and understood something he hadnt told them. They learnt by experience. He put their learning into context immediately afterwards by getting them to use the new learning in doing. If you can, make SMART goals part of the learning objectives from each teaching/training session. SMART Specific. Can you described exactly what you are going to do? Measurable. How will you know that you have done it? Action Orientated. Focus on doing not talking or thinking Realistic. Are you really going to be able to do this? Timed. When are you going to start/finish? If you expect adult learners to behave like adults, you will treat them like adults. If you treat them like children, dont be surprised when they continue to behave like children and dont grow up.