Self-Evaluation GERUNDS

I truly don't know how I could have made my grammar instruction more communicative. I believe that it was inductive given that I started with real life questions first, before leading into the explanation of the grammar rule. The questions I asked were real-life. Perhaps some of you could comment and give me suggestions here. If I were to do the lesson again, I would give more examples before giving the partnered activity so the Ss might better understand the grammar rule.

1) TEST ASSESSMENT p. 464 #2

At quick glance, I thought this site would be great as a test resource:
After viewing the Modal Diagnostic, I changed my mind.

1) It looks practical in that it's not expensive to print (it must be taken on-line), nor time consuming to take, nor to grade. Of course, it wouldn't be practical if each student had no access to a lab full of computers.
2) Reliability is not an issue because the diagnostic has multiple choice questions. Multiple people could grade it without inconsistency as long as the answer key is followed.
3) I do not feel the diagnostic is valid. As a native English speaker, I do not feel the directions are clear so I feel it would not teach the student anything by taking it. I don't agree with all of the answers. Thus, I don't see the purpose of taking the diagnostic, thus, I see no face validity. There is no content validity because of the multiple-choice questions. There is no construct validity because the diagnostic does not prove mastery of the modals. We'd have no idea if the students could actually use the modals to write sentences. They could guess on every question and possibly pass it.
4) The diagnostic is not authentic because the questions are isolated and "bear no relationship to one another."
5) The diagnostic does not foster Washback because incorrect answers would not lend themselves to any "insight into further work." I do not see how the diagnostic could be used as a learning tool.

Teaching Activity 7/6/10 GERUNDS

In case y'all could use the materials from my presentation today, please feel free to email me: ronda.glasser@mavs.uta.edu
I'd have attached them to this blog, but I do not know how to do so.

Awesome presentations today!

Principles of Writing and then some

Principles of Writing
1. Teach students helpful writing techniques...
a. Know your audience
b. Plan and prepare
c. Set realistic goals
d. Revise, get feedback, then edit
2. Keep the balance between the writing process and what you write (the product)
3. Know your audience, especially regarding their culture and literary schemata
4. Draw connections between the reading and writing processes
5. Use as many real-world writing tasks as humanly possible.
6. Emphasize the entire writing process
a. Brainstorming/Freewriting
b. Write a draft
c. Revise (then return to previous step)
d. Finalize after extensive editing, including peer-editing
7. Provide interactive writing opportunities
8. Be sensitive when correcting errors, but don’t shy from correction
9. Explain and model the proper writing process and conventions

Types of Writing Performance
1. Imitation: Dictation
2. Controlled: Change present tense to past
3. Guided: Write about a video clip
4. Self-writing: Journal
5. Display writing: short-answer, essay answers, research papers
6. “Real” Writing
a. Academic: collaboration
b. Vocational/Technical: memos
c. Personal: email

Evaluation and Assessment
1. Content: what the writing is about
2. Organization: how the writing is organized
3. Discourse: How the paper “flows”
4. Syntax: Using it correctly for the task
5. Vocabulary: Self-explanatory
6. Mechanics: Dot the Is, Cross the Ts

Critically Thinking
1. Where should the emphasis be placed on a student's writing task, product or process? Why?
2. How can you use authentic writing tasks in groups/pairs?
3. Defend your position on the role of the teacher being either a model or an editor.

Ronda and Derek Part 2

Listening- Encourage use of top-down and bottom-up strategies.

Students can and should look at language from these two angles to decipher the meaning of an utterance. Top-down is approaching the utterance from the big picture, it's entire meaning, using expectations, past experience, and schemata to understand the utterance and uncover the meaning of each piece and how they fit into the bigger picture. Bottom-up is the opposite: start with the smaller morphological and phonological parts of an utterance and build up from their meanings and roles to discover the big-picture meaning. Both approaches are equally important and are used on a case-by-case basis. This could be done by disecting utterances that include a word(s) students don't know (for top-down) or comprised of known words but unclear meaning of the utterance as a whole (for bottom-up).

Speaking- Encourage the development of speaking strategies.

Students gain skills that supplement oral communication towards automaticity. These include asking for clarification or something to be repeated for the listener to understand better, using fillers to buy time to process and paraphrasing or using nonverbal expressions when speaking, and even just asking the interlocutor for help. Language learners can benefit greatly by adopting and utilizing these techniques. Teachers can best explain them by modeling the strategies with a student(s) for the class and possibly creating a game or exercise (border-line drilling, but with partners) to follow the example.

Experiential Learning

Part 1

Experiential Learning: includes activities that engage both left- and right-brain for living in the real-world

Students learn by doing and discovering. Trial and error plays a part in learning.


LESSON PLAN:

Context: 12 Intermediate Level Adult Learners in a Language Center in Texas
Course focus: Multiple skills, emphasis on Grammar
Class Hour: 1 hour
Terminal objective—Ss will be able to use and identify past perfect (pp) & past perfect progressive (ppp) tenses in all four skills areas

WARM-UP (5 mins) L, S, W, R
Enabling Objective: T models using past perfect and past perfect progressive tenses
Step 1: T asks following question and then writes on board: What had you already studied by the time you moved to Texas?
Step 2: T draws diagram on board illustrating chronological order of events, using a response from a student

PRESENTATION: (10 mins) R, L
Enabling Objective: T explains definition of pp & ppp verb tenses, Ss follow along in textbook and refer to examples
1) T directs Ss to page __ in textbook
2) T defines past perfect and past perfect progressive tenses

PRACTICE: (15 mins) R, W, L, S
Enabling Objective: Ss practice creating their own examples of pp & ppp usage
1) Ss create 3 sentences of their own complete with diagrams
2) Volunteers will read their examples

ROLE-PLAY: (20 mins) L, S, W, R
Enabling Objective: Ss use their own creativity to show comprehension & ability to use pp & ppp
1) T & S volunteer model example
2) T assigns pairs
3) Each pair receives an index card with format
4) Pairs fill out cards using pp/ppp
5) Each pair will act out their card

DEBRIEFING (5 mins) L, S
Enabling Objective: Ss evaluate appropriate usage of pp/ppp

WIND-DOWN (5 mins) L, R, W
Enabling Objective: Ss practice pp & ppp usage
T passes out worksheet to be completed and returned the following day

Summary of Article from the Language/Culture Connection

Since my original article was not available, I opted to read “The Dilemma of Perceptual Changes: A Case Study of Three Japanese ESL Students” by Mika Yoshimoto from Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Carleton University.

A consistent thread throughout the article was the heavy influence Buddhism had on the three Japanese students’ concept of the absence of “self”. One of the students was especially reluctant to participate in groups in her ESL class in Canada because she felt it conflicted with her concept of social harmony. Besides feeling uncomfortable in speaking class, this concept of putting others before “self” affected her writing. In Canada she was expected to write openly about her feelings, which she felt was “excessively direct.”

The three students approached their language learning in unique ways; however, they all shared a fear of losing (or desire to maintain) their Japanese culture. They were primarily concerned about showing honor for their ancestors by not speaking out when they didn’t know the answers, consideration for others’ feelings, and acceptance of things that were beyond their control. All of these factors lead to substantial changes in their self-perceptions during their English study in Canada.

Having read these students’ perspectives I will be able to empathize and thus teach Japanese students more effectively in my future classroom. This article was well worth reading!

Fat, Ugly, and Snobby

"Describing Appearances & Characteristics of People"
Click here to go to the page and find the activity titled above.


A student describes a photograph of a person provided by the teacher.

The activity is appropriate for various age levels.

In the beginner proficiency level, covered areas include physical descriptions such as sex (male/female), major body parts (head, arm, etc.), colors (of hair, clothing, etc.).

In the intermediate level, descriptions become more specific. Examples would include more detailed descriptions (height, body type, etc.).

In the advanced level, descriptions become even more descriptive, including concepts like such as facial expressions, advanced vocabulary (types of clothing, less common adjectives, etc.), and inferences personality, education, profession, and economic status.

In the context of ESL, vocabulary will be centered more on the immediate community, especially community leaders and civil servants.

In the context of EFL, vocabulary will be more general.

Ronda's initial web pick

My initial website might seem a little unusual: www.uscis.gov I selected it because I thought it could be useful in my current classroom. There is a section called civics flashcards which I thought could possibly be useful for teaching my students more about American government and culture. You can also find a section with immigration stories of yesterday and today. Learning Resources CNN and CBS 5 provides full texts and video clips which could be used for listening/comprehension practice and discussion.

It is much more interesting for me and for my students when I teach culture along with language. Practically though, given that I am teaching an intensive 8-week course in ESOL, the flash cards go into more detail than we'll probably have time to use. But, perhaps I could use some of the more simple cards. I like to put my students in pairs and have them drill each other.

This site is narrow in its focus so it may not be useful for many teachers. However, it would be perfect for teachers who assist refugees, or adults working toward their naturalization to the U.S. Even though I do not currently work with either of these types of adults, I still could use something I've found on this site in my classroom.

Ronda G.

Howdy:

I grew up on a corn farm in Nebraska where I attended the same school K-12. Unfortunately, NO, I repeat, NO foreign languages were offered in the little town where I attended. Thus, my first exposure to French was in college.

Studying a foreign language for the first time in college was a challenge since my classmates had already studied the language. I studied French for 2 years at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln. After my first year of studying French, I was fortunate to accompany another Wesleyan student, to work in Strasbourg in the Diaconat Bethesda. This was during the summer of 1983. For six weeks, we lived and prayed and ate with the Methodist Sisters (nuns) in the hospital. I had known of Catholic nuns but I didn't even know that Methodist nuns existed. Following Strasbourg, I went to study French in an old chateau outside of Castelnaudary in southern France. That summer was a turning point in my life. I stayed in France for the maximum number of days my visa would allow. I had never been away from home that long before. During that summer, I discovered my mission (calling) in life which was my passion to assist international students in the U.S.

For most of my professional career, I was an international student advisor. I started at U.D. in Irving. After working there for two years, I moved to Costa Rica where I lived for nearly one year. I studied Spanish and taught English. Upon re-entry to the U.S., I landed a job at UNT. My last job in the field of advising was at U.T. Southwestern Medical University assisting international scientists and researchers. Following two divorces and the birth of my children, I found out about Berlitz Language Center where I could teach English. This worked with my schedule of caring for my two children and living as a single parent.

Teaching English is truly enjoyable compared to working with immigration paperwork as I did in my previous field. I desire to be a more effective teacher of ESOL, thus, I am pursuing a TESOL Certificate at UTA. I have worked at Richland College in Dallas for two years in the American English & Culture Institute. I teach grammar and listening/speaking in Level 2 (lower intermediate) to F-1 students.

In 1986, I received my Bachelor's degree in Sociology/Anthropology (with a minor in French), and in 1993, I completed a Master of Liberal Arts Degree from SMU. As you can see, I did NOT major in English so I still have a lot to learn.

I'm thrilled to be a student in this program. I look forward to getting to know all of you.