Week 14 reading

I want to key in on HDB reading this week. The topic of sustaining interaction through group work. I think it is vital as a future ESL teacher to be able to integrate group and pair work into the classroom. Language learning is not all about translation and repetition. Rather it is about being able to communicate, and breaking a class down into smaller groups is a great way for students to have a better chance to communicate more. In the reading a part of it was designated for planning group work.

Planning group work is vital because it helps you work out any trouble spots and reconsider if it is appropriate for the class. For example if it is an advanced adult ESL class it might not be appropriate to use pair work and simple drills and exercises. Rather a better idea would be using a discussion question that students can communicate their opinions about in a communicative manner.

To make sure your hardwork planning the group exercise actually beared fruit monitoring each groups activity is vital as well as a final discussion about the ideas expressed in the group activity, and if changes are necessary they can then be implemented.

Process Journal #2

After making a video about effective an ineffective error correction techniques, it really helped me process that pointing out a students errors infront of the entire class and dwelling on every error can be very detrimental to the student. It can cause them to participate less and be less motivated to learn.

However, there are positives about correcting a student's errors for example creating an environment where errors are not dwelled upon in the classroom, but it is understood that everyone makes mistakes and that it is the process of learning. One way to make this apparent in the classroom is to point out your own errors like I did in one of my skits. I played the role of a teacher, and shared experiences where i have said something incorrectly. Also not picking on one individual student rather generalize student errors as a class. Teachers should never single out one particular student.

Reaction to class week thirteen.

Tonights two activities included creating a ruberic for the multi genre project and creating different activities from a short story.

Creating the ruberic was very helpful in figuring out how to actually assess a students work and give it a grade, and for me this will be something that is very beneficial when I start student teaching and so forth. Creating ruberics is an integral part of creating a lesson plan, because if I were to give an assignment but have no way of being able to assess the student's work how will I know if they learned anything from the lesson?

Creating different activities from the short story was an activity in which creativity is at its peak. The possibilities for an activity are endless. Also one important thing to keep in mind is the age level or ability of the students you are teaching. Some activities might be too difficult for certain students depending on their proficiency levels, and being able to create a wide range of activities that are appropriate for your students level is important. Especially, if some activities are not very affective the first time they are used.

Reading for week twelve

Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, who developed the idea of Zone of Proximal Development (ZDP). "Teaching, he urged, must aim not at today's but at tomorrow's development..." (P&B 100). I think this is very critical in planning out a syllabus. A teacher has to plan ahead and analyze how each lesson will progress and utilize past lessons to support future lessons. Also this planning can ensure that the students are not overwhelmed with a topic or theme that they do not have any background knowledge in. I think this is very important in supporting a student's learning and development as an ELL.

SDAIE=Specifically designed academic instruction. I personally believe that all class should be specifically designed based on students needs, desires, goals and classroom resources. I do not think this term should be only used to describe content based instruction, rather i think this term can be used in much more broader sense.

Process journal #1

The first group meeting was extremely eye opening. Deciding what topic to choose and discussing the pros and cons of each and then coming to a group decision seemed extremely difficult. However given the laid back nature of our group and the willingness to look at every topic choice proved fruitful. Where as after two hours of deliberation we decided on motivation and error correction. Where our topic would take us from here was yet unseen.
One of the sticking points of this topic what guiding questions do we want to explore and what to do with extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and how do these factors play a role. We had not yet decided on our three questions only just narrowed our topic research.

Week twelve readings

The naturalistic setting is the one i favor the most. I believe this setting creates an enviroment similar to that of a child who is learning his or her L1. Although the learning curve might be quite dramatically slower as the student gets older i think the fact that errors are rarely corrected can benefit a classroom by providing an anxiety free environment. Instead the correct form will be used by native speakers and students can pick up on their own mistakes through interaction with others. However this could be a case by case instance if some students feel the need to be corrected there is absolutely nothing stopping them asking to be corrected when they make mistakes. Another thing i like about this type of setting is the exposure time and different langauge events.

The most important thing about this setting is the one-to-one conversation opportunities that are available with native speakers. This type of interaction is invaluable in learning culture, ideas, and other language specific questions. Where as in communicative classes you can expect larger groups of students communicating with each other less often.

Reaction to week 12 class.

I thought the observation exercise was very beneficial. It is always helpful to see another teacher and evaluate how they interact in the classroom. I learned about classroom presence from the organization of his classroom, and turning his back to some of the students. Also lesson plan ideas might be good on paper, but might not work out in the classroom which is what it seemed like to me. Business transactions at banks are very important, and being creative in creating an activity to simulate this type of activity could be very beneficial to the students if it is not overbearing. This type of activity might be more beneficial for adults than for adolescents because adults obviously are engaged in these types of activities. Adults most likely have some sort of business transaction experience and adults might be able to draw on this prior knowledge to help understand this type of lesson.

Interesting enough it was easy finding what was wrong with the lesson, but very difficult for me to think about what was good. It just kind of struck me that when I observe i should look at what they do bad and give feedback but also incorporate what they do well and maybe try to incorporate that into my lessons. You can evaluate yourself when evaluating others.

My second teaching experience

My presentation with Bekir felt like a rave party. The pace at which we moved from activity to activity was extremely fast. By moving so fast it is very difficult for the students to connect to the topic and sometimes students can feel overwhelmed. I can remember sometimes in class when this has happened to me. This was the biggest problem of our presentation. I learned that covering everything is not necessarily possible or important. Yet, there are other ways to do this. One suggestion from Dr. Smidt was to split the class into groups and then divide the chapters up between each group and then have each group discuss the topic and then report back to the class. I found this suggestion extremely eye opening and just yesterday suggested using it in another class for a presentation only to get shot down. However, i tried.

My body langauge is something i was not aware can present or portray certain attitudes to the students. I was informed that placing my hands on my hips can create a boundary between teacher and students which can display power or authority. I react this way because i have always been a little nervous when i speak infront of a group or class. This is something i will have to work on and with time something i think i will be able to overcome.

Reaction to class 10

I would love to discuss with you readers about Mai and Kizuna's presentation specifically their skit about a young teacher who is not teaching the correct material for the standardized tests that the students will be taking at the end of the semester. I do believe this is a disaster that the teacher is not teaching material that the students will be tested on. Since this teacher was new to the school and she had mainly focused on only a certain type of learning, i do not remember exactly, i think speaking. If she is not successful in teaching the the correct information, which if i can remember right was grammar and reading she could very well lose her job. The thought that she can just change her teaching techniques to teach this information is not as easy as it might seem. The students could lose motivation to learn which it seemed by the skit were interested in the class. Also she might not be as successful in teaching different techniques. It could be that is why she focused on what she did. Also the impression of her fellow peers of her professionalism because she was informed by a fellow peer about the tests. It could very well have an effect on her relationship with them.

Also disasters can be fixed and just because it can be fixed does not mean it is not a disaster. It would be a teachable moment for herself.

Technology in the Classroom

Using technology in the classroom can have its drawbacks for example the computer crashes, tvs that don't work and hectic internet connections. However technology can be beneficial also. Not only can it be used to engage the students and keep class interesting for them. I feel that technology can keep myself motivated as well. If the teachers are not motivated to come to class everyday and put forth their best effort, why should the students. Not only is it a new way to connect with students, but it also changes the format of the class. It can break up a monotonous class if a class has become monotonous, but hopefully not. At first i was really unsure about blogging in this class, but now i love it. I look forward to using this in my future classes. Also i find the idea of web-page design very intriguing. Although i do not know much about it. i think it creates an extreme amount of opportunities for the students and myself. Also the idea of podcasting. Todays youth are seemingly connected to their ipods, phones, and computer, so why not tap into these resources as teaching resources. Podcasting is mobile. It bring mobility to the classroom. Students can learn English while working out at the gym or walking to class. Overall i think technology is a huge plus as long as teachers use it effectively.

Curriculum Design and Textbooks

I believe that textbooks should only serve as a guide in creating a curriculum because of the plethora of other resources including that of the internet. Given the world is becoming more technology driven i think it is just as important to prepare students to use technology while learning language skills. My job as a langauge teacher is to of course teach langauage skills to my future students, but also prepare them for challenges they will face when using their language skills which i believe will be more technology driven. I do not believe that adults can not learn to use technology. I understand that it might be more difficult for them to navigate through the internet, but I will be preparing them for the life that is evolving around them, by integrating them into the technology field. So choosing a textbook should not be the sole reliance of a teacher rather one aspect of the curriculum.

Lesson Planning

I have stated before in my blogs that i believe that teaching is an art form and that not everything can be planned out. However, I like the idea of scripting a lesson plan very detailed so that you can possibly find problem areas in your lesson and maybe prevent some problems in the classroom. I think this would be very important for new teachers given they are under heavy scrutiny from school districts as it is to perform at a high level. A teacher that is organized and can avoid some of these problems will no doubt be looked upon better than teachers who aren't as organized or able to handle problems that come up in their classrooom for example giving directions to students, conclusions to activities, and introductions. Also given a new teachers lack of experience they may not know how to introduce activities, conclude that class hours appropriately, or bring students back on topic if they go astray without being overbearing. That is why i find scripting a lesson plan brings positives to the teacher and the classroom.

Technology Era?

In this weeks reading i found the pages on choosing the correct book strange. Oddly enough i attended a teachers conference this past week and learned that a few important things one of which is the role technology plays in the classroom. I find this very intriguing. Books can be very boring. I am almost to the point of believing that books are not even necessary to teach ESL or any language for that matter. As long as students have access to the internet and other forms of technology they can use them instead of buying expensive books. I think that the activities created outside the book are more fun, relate to life bette, and challenge students to learn more compared to books. I think it would bring significance to learning.

However technology is not the cure all for learners. I do realize that books are important and that there are some drawbacks for technology. Some of these drawbacks are adult learner computer competence and access to technology. However the time spent outside of class especially in an EFL setting where students are not exposed to the language everyday. This time is being lost to expose the students to that langauge and with the advent of technology this can close that gap of advantage that ESL programs.

What i think would be more important than showing a sample checklist for textbook evaluation would be an evaluation for goal setting for classes. I believe knowing your students is more imporant than knowing the text. Like my blog earlier, teaching is like an art. Well what is more important in art the picture you see or the picture you want to paint?

Teaching: judgement calls or knowledge

What is more important in the teaching arena? Day to day judgements a teacher makes or the knowledge and preperation a teacher as completed and has. If i had to choose one or the other i would choose judgement calls. I believe i would personally make this decision because i am good at reading peoples minds, body language and feelings. I am a very personable person. Where as my knowledge of theories and methods is not necessarily horrible but is not as superb as my judgement calls.

If a teacher does not make a right judgement call in a certain situation he could lose his students focus, respect and even connection with his students. Where as the knowledge portion of teaching can only tell you what theories might work but not how to apply them in certain situations and all the knowledge in the world can not prepare a teacher for every situation with every kind of student that a teacher will see in his lifetime. "On the other hand, teaching will alwys be a series of judgement calls; its real time cognitive complexity means it will never be just a science, and will always remains something of an art" (Crookes and Chaudron, 41).

I believe this last sentence captures the complexity of teaching and that not everyone is fit or capable of doing it. It takes special individuals to become a great teacher.

Sociocultural, Political, and Institutional Contexts

Teachers vs. institutional authorities war on curricular goals and on testing for achievement. First off language is a very difficult area to test. How can you test a students knowledge of a language by a standardized test? I do not believe that it is possible to accuaretly test for communicative proficiency. I feel that using standardized tests to test students only leads to the students studying for the tests and not studying the language for proficiency. Like Brown (140) says "That proficiency unfortunately often turns out to be relatedmore to the ability to cram for a standardized test than to the ability to use English for communicative, meaningful purposes."

Standardized tests take authority away from the teacher. Part of the teachers job is to assess and analyze a students work and if standardized tests recieve the final say of how students are achieving in learning English, should teachers even assess a students proficiency in English? I think standardized tests take away from the effectiveness of the class to teach English. There are a number of other factors including students motivation to take the test.

What if there are no consequences for the students? If these tests are only to assess the "teachers ability" to teach his or her students, what motivation do the students have to do well on tests? Student assessment should be left to the teachers and the teachers effectiveness, professionalism, and work will ultimately shine through his/her students.

Native Speaker?

After reading this weeks reading, When the teacher is a non-Native speaker, i have always thought of the definiton of a native speaker to be someone born in that country. However now the examples of children moving to another country when they are young is another issue that needs to be addressed. If the kids move to a country when they are young and gain native fluency, what is their mother tongue. As of now i do not think we need to distinguish whether someone is a native speaker or not. I think it is a fading concept especially given the number of speakers of English that do not live in America, Australia or Great Britain. English is the language of the world of "lingua franca" (429) as Peter Medgyes states. Given that i do not believe that the term native speaker applies to today non-NESTs should not be at a disadvantage when applying for a job.

Non-NESTs should be awarded a job on their merits on not over looked by employers when a native speakers applies and has no experience. I found Table 1 in the book rather disturbing. I found the entire list of percieved differences in teaching behavior rather dramatic. I think there are advantages for NESTs and non-NESTs. These results from this survey seemed really dramatic. Specifically the one that claimed that NESTs are more innovative than non-NESTs. I think that totally depends on the teacher. The teacher and the students make the class not the teachers.

Teaching cross proficiency levels

I think it is very important to distinguish a students proficiency level in order to correctly teach the students. So you are not teaching concepts that students can not understand or that they already know extremely well and don't further their development at all.

One thing i found the most intriguing in this chapter was the 7.1 figure. I liked how it was layed out with functions, grammar, pronunciation, listening and speaking, and reading and writing. Particualary the communication skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) examples. I just liked how it was broken down very easy for me to understand and follow. It is something i would look for in a textbook to teach students. A textbook that is creative, easy to follow, and detailed. However these three aspects don't just stop at the text. The teacher needs to have these skills and characteristics as well. If they want to be a successful teacher.

Individual differences in L2 learning: Age

What i found most interesting in this chapter can be seen in the title. I would like to discuss in more depth the Critical Period Hypothesis. In which there is a critical period for L2 acquisition. From my experience I have always believed that the earlier a person starts learning a langauge the better that person will be able to communicate. After reading about the study where the older adults were performing better, on tests, than younger students in the early stages of learning dutch. I found the statement that older adults use different ways to learn a language like metalinguistic knowledge. One thing I thought about, was that if adults use different techniques to learn an L2. Shouldn't they be evaluated differently on their L2 ability. It just seems more logical to me.

Overall this chapter placed the importance on many factors that influence L2 acquisition and that they are all related. To me this seems to be a recurring theme through out the course of this class. I first realized after analyzing and reading all the approaches to teaching.

Another interesting part of this chapter was personality traits, anxiety in particular does not necessarily have a negative consequence on a persons achievement on L2 acquisition. Instead in some students who listen and who do not interact as often can still attain high achievement in L2.

Intrinsic Motivation

After reading the 5th chapter on Intrinsic motivation in H. Douglas Brown book, i immediately think of what i am going through right now. That i have the will power to go through about 3 more years of school to become a certified ESL and German teacher. I feel that helping young adult and children is extremly rewarding and therefore want to do it for the rest of my life. I think that creating a classroom that can motivate students to want to learn is an extremly important quality a teacher must have in order to be sucessful. I hope that i can be so fortunate to be able to accomplish this. I do not want the students to please me by just doing their homework and getting good grades. I want them to take something away from my teaching that is what would be truly rewarding for me. Creating a desire inside the students.

Student Rewards: Good or Bad?

Rewarding a student with verbal praise, a gold star or a simple pat on the back is quite common practice. I think it is good to reward students for doing a good job as long as it does not demotivate other students in the classroom or become a habit with certain students. I think that all students need to be given personal attention from the teacher and that teacher needs to focus on their individual accomplishments.

I personally feel that progress charts should not be allowed in the classroom. I think it has a negative effect on the students that may not be making as good of progress as others or learning as fast. I think that notes can be written on students tests or they can be talked to after class. Hanging up graphs is just not a good way to give a reward.

One of my experiences with verbal praise is from when i studied abroad. My teachers in Germany would tell the entire classroom how a student did on projects or homeworks which is a completely different teaching style than here. Here teachers would not dare share information about how a student did on a test or homework assignment.

Get to know each other.

Taking time to learn about your students is very important. Knowing about a students culture, beliefs, values, government if any government, religion and traditions is a way to personalize and connect with students. Make them feel like they are getting something out of being in your classroom as oppossed to just "i have to be here" Give your students a purpose and motivate them. The examples i wrote above are areas where teachers can connect with their students. Create exercises where students share information with other students. I think that would create a sense of accomplishment for them.

By having some background knowledge about the students it gives teachers a chance to be sensetive to certain students situations. Whatever that may be. For example some student may not celebrate christmas therefore dislike it. So an activity solely based on Christmas might not be a good idea. Instead an alternative could be to focus on a broad range of holidays and give students an opportunity to explain them and present them in a positive and respectful manner.

Another thing i found extremely important for today's teachers is keeping a journal on students. A place to note positive and negative things that happened, noticed, good lessons for the future or changes that should be made in the future. Reflection and change is not a bad thing. It is part of life and teachers should not be afraid but rather embrass it.

Reflection: Pair Presentation

I found that my instructions on the Spongebob game were not very clear to some of the students in the class. I had assumed that everyone in class would understand. In my past experiences there were no problems with how to set up the groups and this time around i took it for granted. This could be very problematic in an ESL setting. Where a teacher needs to look at every aspect for every student to make sure they understand so as not to lose them in the mix. A couple of ways for me to have done this would be to have written the directions down in more detail, maintaining better control of the class and finally making sure that the directions would be understood by all students.
Another aspect our presentation that could use some improvement was the reinforcement to what was already talked about. A summarization of main points of all the perspectives that we discussed instead of ending the presentation abruptly. I do believe that students do learn through repetition so this is an area where I could have improved on and one that i think i am capable of doing.

Perfection at a Cost???

When i studied German in Germany I found myself always correcting ELL's mistakes. Now looking back I see myself as a little insensitive to their efforts to speak English. However some mistakes warranted correction. Now with a grasp of what i am talking about. I will dive into this topic with some reflections about the reading.

After reading L&S and reflecting on my past experiences. I learned that always correcting a students mistakes is not the correct thing to do. I think it needs to be on a student to student basis, longevity of the error or if it drastically changes the meaning of what the student is trying to say. I think correcting mistakes has to be a systematic thoughtout process not just immediately giving feedback. The teacher should reinforce with explanations, examples and exercises to reinforce the correction, so as to better perfect the students proficiency.

Another area where the teacher needs to tread lightly is to make sure not to dampen the students motivation to learn which would ultimately be even worse then a few communication errors. One good tip i took away from the reading is that rephrasing is a way to deflect some negativity that might be associated with mistakes and ultimately keep the flow of communication at a peak and allow the student to respond with questions if need be.

Approaches and Reflections

After reading the definitions of early teaching approaches such as the Direct method, series method and the Funtional Syllabus it makes it easier for me as a Language learner to understand the approaches, methods and techniques that my teachers have used. Having learned a second language and now after learning about these language approaches. It makes it easier for me to reflect on my experience of language learning. I believe that teachers need to take parts of each approach and organize them in a balanced cirruculum based on their students need, their own experiences, student goals and levels of proficiency.

The Functional Syllabus's main proponents are introducing self and other people, name spelling, commands, asking information and describing people. These are not all of the main proponents of Funtional Syllabus but a large amount and these main points describe my first years of lanaguage learning i do see positives from learning the basic forms of communication. However i see other positive aspects of other approaches that were not taken advantage such as the Audiolingual method, which in my eyes has the chance to immerse the student in becoming orally efficient. When i examine myself i see my oral skills as lacking the most, compared to reading, writing, and listening. Having a more balance curriculum can decrease these problems.

When i reflect on my time abroad studying German the teaching methods remind me of the Direct Method. The instructers exclusively used the target language in the classroom and correct pronunciation, grammar and pronunciation were emphasized and only everyday vocabulary were taught. As i look back at this experience i feel that this approach was a good choice by the instructors. Considering this was in my 8th year of learning German and my considerable understanding of German grammar and while my pronunciation was understandable to native speakers the correction of errors made it easier to understand native speakers and my speaking clearer.

The series method is not one that i have personally experienced but one that intrigues me. I see the repetition of vocabulary, subject verb agreement and a large amount of speaking opportunity which can create learner confidence. as major pluses for this approach. It has a high amount of exposure to the language. I feel that exposure to a language is a pivotal element of language acquisition.

Learning from others

One thing i have taken away from the reading is that everyone has ideas about how to teach. Taking different aspects, lessons or approaches can only help a teacher grow and become more proficient. The long list of approaches since the late 1880's is evidence of everyone's research and ideas to effectively teach a language. So the example of the classroom session provided in chapter 1 gave me an opportunity to reflect on some of my own ideas.

Particuarly in number 6 of the lesson when the T provides her own definitions verbally and the students seemingly nod in agreement with the T that they understand. However many times i have nodded when a teacher asked a question even though i did not understand either the question or the answer. I think it was a mistake for the teacher to move on so quickly without some verbalization from the students besides a head nod before moving on. I might have asked the students to describe these words or use them in sentences. Just any activity for the students to use these words that most likely they just learned. I believe that repetition is keying to learning vocabulary. This type is characteristic to the audiolingual approach where memorization and repetition are activity types.

One thing in my experiences as a language learner is that repetition gives the sense of confidence using certain sentence structures and word combinations. So i see it as a vital part of the learning process not to move on to the next exercise but see this as an opportunity to engage the students and gain more confidence.

Language, Power and Social standing

I was already aware of the influence that Rome was able to possess for centuries. I was not aware of how much it influenced the langauges of the former territories that Rome controlled. The former Roman Empire has influenced the French, Spanish, Portugese and Romanian languages. It is amazing that political power influences so much in terms of language.

This monopoly on language to say was continued with the Spanish as they conquered and explored many territories in South America and Carribean. With the Spanish influence they were able to leave a part of their culture i.e. language. At the time of this exploring during the middle ages Spain had a huge influence over the world with it's navy and shipping. One interesting note that i found while reading was that the Castilian dialect that was chosen for that became the standard was from Isabelle of Castille and not her husbands. I found this intriguing. I can relate both of these former world powers to todays world.

Today the U.S. has unwaranted reign of marketing U.S. values and cultures. The English langauge is the most influential language of the world. It is the language of business. All of this influence stems from the military power that the U.S. maintains which is exactly like the two former examples.