I viewed an episode of Kai-lan describing the Chinese New Year (Episode 111-24 minutes). The video featured vocabulary that people use in connection with this celebration. It included a lot of repetition and showed thechildren interacting with the items that made up the vocabulary words to be learned - all taught in a clear and fun way. From watching this one episode, I would conclude that the primary language value is vocabulary acquisition. And it does a good job of that - word presentation, recall throughout the video, allowing time for audience utterance.
As to its use as a teaching tool in an ESL classroom, I think there are possibilities, as long as the teacher keeps in mind that while these shows do teach a few words here and there, their primary purpose is not to teach a new language (as it is in an ESL classroom). What they can do is provide a creative way to launch an ESL lesson. Take the Kai-lan episode, ny way of illustration. It could be used to design a format for having students discuss their personal ways of celebrating the New Year. The lesson could be conducted as an open conversation on the topic, culminating in individual oral presentations to the class. It could be used to frame the vocabulary that students would use in group discussions/comparisons of how people observe this holiday, including their personal celebrations. If adapted for age and proficiency levels, I think there are useful lessons to be derived from showing children's videos. The video could be a novel point of interest, hopefully to gain student engagement for the language learning to follow. Teens/young adults might enjoy creating their own video in a similar style, which might be a good counter tactic to use in the event they considered viewing Dora or Kai-lan just too childish for words. Younger children would, no doubt, consider them a delightful way to transition to an English lesson since they love to participate in any bit of language they know.
Are they inappropriate in an ESL setting? Not if the teacher has a clearly defined language objective in mind when using them.
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I chose to watch an episode of Muzzy, as I remember this show since I was little. I really liked it back then, and I like the idea and the characters in it now. I think it does not teach very much, but can be useful in the beginning levels and be interesting for children. In the era of technology and video games, we might consider using videos in the classroom as one of the tools and, of course, not as the only tool. Even though Dora videos ask the children to repeat the words and phrases from time to time (I can't remember if Muzzy videos do that sometimes too or not, the one I watched did not), these videos are not very interactive. There is no way a language can be learned properly if there is no interaction. The videos like that can be used as a review of the simple words and phrases, they would be good for the younger students as their attention span is shorter, and it would be great to have that review type activity towards the end of the 50 min. class, which will let them relax for a little while enjoying the video and reviewing the words and phrases.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that these videos can be adapted to the adult classroom in the initial levels as well, but they will not serve the same purpose as for children. First of all, they will not be that entertaining for the adults, but the adults would probably feel more like they are "wasting" time when they could be actually "learning" something.
I chose PBS kids program Super Why! This program is also aired from 17:15 to 17:40 every Monday and Wednesday in Korean Education Broadcasting Station. In Korea because this program targets children some of the scripts are dubbed in Korean, leaving the most crucial parts for learning English just as it is. I used to watch it with my friend’s daughter who was five at that time. It is one of her favorite TV programs. It was really fun to watch even for me too, so sometimes I watch it when I just happen to turn on the TV and the time is right. This time I watched “Super Why! Episode 101 The Three Little Pigs” for 25 minutes.
ReplyDeleteThis time I paid attention in order to modify the program in order to use it in my high school English class. It was really difficult for me to modify it, because the level of English of this program is for probably preschool kids. If a teacher just plays the entire 25 minutes of the 101 episode, it is too easy for high school students to watch. They will be bored soon before five minutes, even though the colors are great and the characters are really cute to attract their attention. Then one part stuck me as a fun and consciousness raising tool for instruction for using English article system in order to improve their accuracy: “There once were three little pigs. The first little pig built a straw house. The wolf blew the straw house down.” First ask the high school students to make three sentences giving them Korean meaning. Then ask them to distinguish an indefinite article from a definite article between the first mentioned words ‘a house’ and the later mentioned words ‘the house’. After finishing this activity a teacher shows the relative part of the episode to the students with video clip. Students always enjoy watching video clips. Then a teacher can introduce other major usages of article system to the students. Another way of modifying this program is to show the edited shortened episode consisting of the introduction and the ending parts of the episode, cutting all the easy parts, for example, alphabet power, word power, spelling power, and power to read portion. Then the teacher asks students to summarize the story or find the difference between the story they know and the story from Super why! This activity can be extended to change the story into a different one of students’ own. At first I am thinking that modifying the kids TV programs into teaching materials for the high school students will be easy. Well, this time I tried to use them in a real lesson plan for high school students. I realized that it is not easy, especially if I want to make it a fun and meaningful learning lesson plan.
I watched one of Kai-lan’s episodes, “The snowiest Ride.” I think this show is targeting for preschoolers or younger ones. In this 22 minute long episode, Kai-lan goes sledding with her friends. After watching it, viewers are supposed to master the Chinese words for “snow” and “thank you.” I’m quite sure that children would enjoy watching it because it is animated, there appear animal characters, and it gives a simple lesson. However, I doubt if it is also enjoyable for adult learners as well. First of all, it is way too easy. As I mentioned above, this episode teaches you two new Chinese words in 22 minutes. Considering intelligence level of grown-ups, it’s not challenging at all. If we recall that challenges motivate learners, it is not appropriate class material in adult classrooms. Secondly, it repeats one thing for too many times. For instance, “xue”, a Chinese word for snow, was repeated for at least 5 or 6 times over the whole episode and Kai-lan makes us to repeat after her each time. Most adult students would feel bored after two or three repetitions. Thirdly, the story is not relevant to adults. Of course, adults definitely need to know words like “snow” and “Thank you” too. Yet, snow sledding, the main topic of the episode, doesn’t seem to be attractive for people other than children.
ReplyDeleteIf I use this show in teen or adult ESL classroom, I would play just a part of it. After quickly covering those two new words, I’d rather talk about Chinese culture shown in the episode such as ice sculpture or red bean soup, which could be more interesting for teens and adults.
I agree with Heeny that such programs target preschoolers and are not designed for adult ESL classes. I watch these shows (e.g. Dora the Explorer and Kai-lan) with my two year son and I know that they solely focus on vocabulary and do not expand to any other areas of the target language. For example, they do not teach children to say simple sentences or carry out small dialogues beyond traditional greeting pairs.
ReplyDeleteSuch shows can only provide a visual aid to certain topics that can be covered in adult ESL classes. They can be utilized to enhance certain cultural events that are prominent in the target culture and thus enhance learning opportunities for adults.
Jacqueline Pereyra
ReplyDeleteLing4353
A study by the University of Michigan states that most children watch an average of “32 hours a week of TV”. Television plays an important part in our children’s lives and it’s also another mean of education. Learning another language by just watching TV can be possible, for example Dora is a good source if you want to learn English and Spanish because it gives you basic information and it also identifies words with images, which make it easier for the learner to learn the name of object. I also believe that the Dora can make your children bilingual because it goes back and forth form languages. We should defiantly watch some of this shows only as a foundation or a bilging point of the language we might want to learn, because it can give us an idea of haw to pronouns worlds and learn basic information.
In the episode of “Dora The Explorer: Help Fix Benny's Car” it shows encouragement, teamwork effort, how to fallow instruction and directions. However some of the ideas are not realistic like the monkey and the cow talking, which can make it boring for an older audience. I would tray to adopt this episode in an adult class by applying it as a real life situation, for example if they having a problem with one of there tiers then they will know how to call it in English and they will be abole to pronounced or identify the word with the image. Showing this show in a teenage classroom can become a challenge because some of the students can become offended, but I believe that it can be adapted bay using it as a building block and as in the adult class a real life situation can also be used to make it interesting.
William Mastropieri
ReplyDeleteBlog Assignment 2
I had the pleasure of watching a segment of Sesame Street. This segment was entitled "Upsidedown & Rightside up" The visual showed four children in a Hollywood Square format. Two children are in separate squares at the bottom of the box. a girl is seated at the left hof the box. Another girl is in the top rightside of the box. She is hanging upside down.
The opening has a musical which pulls the interest. He sings this song
Three of the kids belong together
Three of the kids are kind of the same
But one of the kids is doing her own thing
Now it's time to plays our game
It's time to play our game
Which of the kids is doing her own thing?
come on can you tell which one?
Can you guess which kid is doing her own
thing?
Just before my song is done
And now my song is done
After he finishes his song he asks:
Now what do we have here?
We have got some kids
Ah four kids.
And one of them named jay is the only boy in
in the box.
So that could be an answer
But WOW You can't mitt that girl upside down
She is really doing her own thing!
Yea I would say that is the right answer
If you guesses the girl hanging upsidedown.
That is the right answer!
Yea, a seasoned teacher is a creative teacher.
S/he can really do his own thing.
The teacher can use this to teach position.
Upper left/upper right/ lower left/lower right.
A teacher could also teach upside down and
rightside up.
I reaaly like this because we could supplement
this with colors, objects, seasons or facial
expressions.
The meaning of the 1960's expression,
"doing his own thing" could be taught.
This could instill a feeling a creativity in
right student. Usefull phrases such as:
Can you tell/guess? (guess)
That could be an answer (possibility)
WOW (expression)
You can't miss (attention)
You have the right answer (confirmation)
Yes, I have always known chilren shows could be used as an adult ESL language tool.
I found and watched a 5-minute segment from a Language Tree video for teaching Spanish to children. Here is an excerpt on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/LanguageTree123.
ReplyDeleteIn the video, a narrator speaks English to the audience in between segments. A child runs in and says hello to his mother, father, sister, and so on. We watch and listen to that happening, then the narrator points out that we may not have understood everything, so segments are repeated with Spanish text overlaid, followed by English translations. Next, vocabulary items, one by one.
I thought the segment was done pretty well, even though the "fun" component may be a bit lacking. For children, it seems, listening and maybe a bit of speaking and reading are the focus - no writing. If a viewer child were highly motivated to watch and learn, the child could learn some Spanish from watching, I think. But therein lies the key: motivation. I don't know that the show is entertaining enough to make the child want to watch and learn on his/her own.
For adults in an ESL, the material is not enough to hold interest, but it might be entertaining enough as a supplement to what's going on in class. As Pat says, using the material in a focused manner and maybe in bits and pieces, maybe as warmup, might be appropriate for adults. Watching or listening to the video might be good listening comprehension material.
I am intrigued by another approach that might work well for children: if a parent were to watch videos like this along with children, plus supplement the learning with a written guide that is addressed to the parent, so that both could learn another language together and the parent could help support/assess/encourage the child, these videos and TV shows could really work to achieve some learning.
Of course, as teachers, I think we all see the limitations of videos that attempt to provide all outbound information: the learner cannot produce the language back at an instructor and get any coaching. But if a video or TV show could "hook" the child and/or parent so that the desire to learn another language could be stoked, I see nothing wrong with such shows and videos.
I recently watched an episode of Dora called “a present for santa.” I think this show and others like it are a great way to introduce children to some simple vocabulary in a second language but I don’t believe that shows that are predominately in a child’s L1 can actually teach a second language. There is nothing but simple phrases and isolated vocabulary presented in this show, in terms of L2 language teaching that is.
ReplyDeleteAnecdote: There are children that I started babysitting when they were only 9 months old and those same children are now in Kindergarten, 6 families in all. All of the kids grew up watching Dora, Kai Lan, Diego, Maya and Miguel, etc., and of those 6 families only children from 2 of the families actually learned Spanish. However, they learned it by being placed in a Spanish immersion Pre-K program the year before they entered Kindergarten, not solely by watching these shows, and they continue to practice their new skills in an afterschool program offered by the same immersion school.
I personally feel that shows like Dora are not very good classroom language tools. I would much prefer to find a Spanish children’s show and use that as a language tool for teaching Spanish to English speakers. If a child with English as his/her L1 were to watch only shows in Spanish, especially repeated episodes, I feel that the child would pick up much more Spanish than a child watching shows like Dora. A predominately Spanish speaking children’s show is going to have simple vocabulary with lots of pictures (as most children’s shows are cartoon-ish) and incorporate lots of grammar since it is a natural way of speaking versus Dora who presents Spanish words and phrases in isolation.
I do not feel that shows like Dora are appropriate as a language teaching tool at any age but I do feel that children’s shows in a L2 can go a long way not only for children but also for teens and adults. However, I would caution that children’s shows are only good for beginning teen/adult speakers. Children’s shows often speak slower than adult programs, introduce colors, shapes, simple concrete vocabulary, and humor that’s easy to get. Once an adult passes the beginning stages of learning the second language though, I would say that children’s shows then become inappropriate because at this point adults need to start learning some of the more difficult tasks that are not presented in kid shows, such as idioms, sarcasm, and other adult humor devices. The best way to learn this is still through the use of television though because the same episode can be watched over and over again. My husband claims that he learned much of his English by watching Friends without captions so that he was forced to listen more and not rely on his reading skills. And he immediately knew that he missed something or didn’t understand something if he was not laughing when the audience was. Teens are much like adults in their way of using humor so I wouldn’t change the fact that kid shows become inappropriate for both of those audiences, but I would say that the show needs to be appropriate for that age- so Entourage is probably not appropriate for a 12 year old but anything on the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.) probably is.
I watched an episode of Ni Hao, Kai-lan called Pandy's Puddle on the Nick Jr website (http://www.nickjr.com/kids-videos/kai-lan-pandy-puddle.html). Wow! These are definitely aimed to young children. The speaking voices and animation are geared toward young children. It was difficult as an adult to watch.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how this would work well in an adult classroom as it is very basic, and very little vocabulary in the L2 is presented. A more age-appropriate show which has more functionally oriented situation would be better to show to an adult classroom.
As for children learning languages from these shows, I don't think they learn more than vocabulary. Shows like Kai-lan and Dora use mainly English to communicate, and teach certain words in the second language. I do think that TV programs can be useful in teaching a second language, but they need to provide more real-life, relatable situations in which L2 learners are interested.
I watched an episode of Ni Hao,Kai-Lan where she and her grandfather are putting together a train. The bright colors and child like voices are most definitely aimed to a very young crowd. I could see my four year old nephew watching this show and enjoying it, but it would not be appropriate for any learners above the age of maybe five.
ReplyDeleteAs for the ability to acquire language from the show, that's doubtful. In this episode, Kai-Lan teaches colors and a few little phrases, and actually does so in a communicative way. With the colors, for example, she names two colors and shows each one and then shows you the train and asks which the train is. While it would be possible for young children to pick up a few words here and there, I have to doubt it would be in any truly useful fashion. They would lack the ability to form any kind of grammar.
With that being said, I think it would be a better show for young children to watch than many that are on television right now that lack any educational value.
This is not a show that I think would be particularly useful in an adult classroom, but that doesn't mean that there are no shows like this that might be useful.
The methods of teaching presented in the show are most definitely useful, they just need to be presented at an adult level. For example, whole teaching colors it is better to say the name in the L2 and show the color rather than to just state a translation like "marron means brown." But for an adult audience you could cover all the colors much more quickly than is done is Kai-Lan. The show also makes a point of coming back to the colors and having you restate the name of the color to solve a problem, which is great. Practice does make perfect.
I should also mention that I can remember by niece watching Dora when she was a toddler and learning the word for backpack. I think the only Spanish she ever really learned was "la mochilla", but it sure was cute.