OK, I finally have the book. Silly old library system.
Reading about CLT, it seems like common sense to me. In no field of teaching is the teacher thought of as all-knowing. Why should language teaching be any different. The teacher is expected to have greater knowledge, overall, than the students. However, a teacher always has the right, and responsibility, to look up the information a student needs.
Using student input/needs to direct the class is also a no-brainer. Why work on concepts that will not help the student communicate?
The tie between fluency and accuracy also seems obvious. People speak/think more fluently as they become less concerned about accuracy; people become more accurate (overall) as they become more fluent.
Finally, it makes sense to be able to communicate some basic structures need to be learned. In order to reach these goals it wouldn't be sensible to have students study bizarre conversations about laundry detergent or the price of rocks on Mars. It does make sense to use materials that are relevant to the students...to engage them. Tov use a variety of styles to connect to as many learners as is possible.
I like the anticipation of reward, merely because it involves Skinner, who always makes me think of Pavlov's drooling dogs. However, reward is a strong motivator. How many people would go to work if they did not get a paycheck? Not many. We want something for our time and effort: tickets to shows, money, books, cars, thanks...something. Yes we would prefer our students to be primarily intrinsically motivated, but they want something: to talk to peers, grades, a movie, they will get tsomething out of it.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Week 5 Reading
While reading the peanut butter chapter (P&B ch 2) I was initially frustrated that it was virtually the same reading as last week. (Especially when I got to my good buddy Chomsky.) However, I liked the manner in which Krashen's five hypotheses were written about. I liked the idea that a person can learn a language without acquiring the ability to use it. To me I feel that learning the language is a step of acquisition.
The Natural Order Hypothesis makes sense to me. I know that there are aspects of English usage (especially writing) that come with a chemical change in the brain. People can understand the concept earlier, but not be able to consistently apply it until that chemical has flipped a switch. This fits with the idea that aspects of a language are acquired in a particular order. This is where I can begin to see the possibilities of innate language theories.
The wait time is another concept I find interesting. It matches up to what we talked about last week. We discussed being uncomfortable speaking in our L2s. Krashen says to not push, that people will produce the language when they are ready.
Another form of this is also called "think time." The idea is to wait 3-5 seconds after posing a question to clarify or call on students to answer. I'm wondering if this time needs to be longer in an ESL classroom?
The Natural Order Hypothesis makes sense to me. I know that there are aspects of English usage (especially writing) that come with a chemical change in the brain. People can understand the concept earlier, but not be able to consistently apply it until that chemical has flipped a switch. This fits with the idea that aspects of a language are acquired in a particular order. This is where I can begin to see the possibilities of innate language theories.
The wait time is another concept I find interesting. It matches up to what we talked about last week. We discussed being uncomfortable speaking in our L2s. Krashen says to not push, that people will produce the language when they are ready.
Another form of this is also called "think time." The idea is to wait 3-5 seconds after posing a question to clarify or call on students to answer. I'm wondering if this time needs to be longer in an ESL classroom?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Presenting
To prepare for my presentation I decided to go over the main points of the chapters, but I was feeling that it was "boring" and the class had already read it. As I continued re-reading chapter 2 of Lightbrown and Spada the ideas resonated with my experiences as a language learner and as a teacher of ESL students. Each section of the chapter brought up more memories and I felt linked to what was being talked about.
I decided to share my L2 experiences (German and Spanish) from childhood through early college. I knew how fearful I was to produce language orally and wondered how that compared to the people in the class. One of the questions put forth at the beginning of the chapter is about how comfortable the student is in a variety of situations. Perfect, I thought. So I jumped into the presentation, sharing my story and asking for the class's input. I appreciated what everyone had to say, I was not alone in my feelings. I also learned that the "fears" I have are not entirely unfounded, that feeling I won't be understood has come up. Yet many of the people in class have tried anyway, and those who are speaking English as an L2 are demonstrating proficiency daily. (I really admire this!) I wish I would've drawn more people into this discussion, I think that there are other experiences that would help me understand what it is like for my students and maybe help me feel more confident in trying out my L2s. I also wish I would have asked people to connect our experiences to the reading, it would have provided a clearer picture of my intent.
What happened? That's a good question. As someone who talks A LOT, I ramble when I get nervous. I walked in thinking I knew what I was going to do and knowing about how much material I had. After 10 years of teaching I was confident I had 30-45 minutes of material, and a good concept of how time was passing. Something went wrong in my wiring. I went through my material, but talked 20 times faster than necessary. I felt I'd been up there for about 20 minutes when Esther told me I had 20 minutes left. I felt absolute panic, I still had my filler material...but had I really only used 10 minutes. I lost all focus. I had no idea what I was going to do. I kept talking off my notes, but I wasn't even thinking about the words coming out of my mouth; I could only focus on the time problem. Then I had 10 minutes left, but I felt only two had gone by. I did the only thing I could think of, I stopped.
What do I wish I had done?
I wish I'd made two lesson plans. One written out completely (which is what I had) and one outline. I would have had an easier time keeping track of my place in my plan without having to re-read every word I'd written. I also could've put the outline on the doc-cam or given a hand out so the class could have a visual reference.
As I mentioned before, I wish I would've drawn more people into the discussion and had them tie the topics to the reading.
I also wish I would've remembered my phone, it has a clock and I would've felt calmer with my own reference point. It would've helped me slow down and pay attention to what I was doing. I wouldn't have talked so fast, or felt so pressed to finish everything in the first 3 minutes.
What am I glad I did?
I'm glad I shared my stories. These are things that pop into my head at various times, but I don't share them. I think that people's experiences are interesting and important. It helps me understand where they are coming from, and in that spirit that's where my stories came from. I'm also happy about how the discussion went. People shared interesting anecdotes that really helped me understand them.
Final thoughts: When it's your turn, relax and enjoy it. We all need to make a presentation and are sympathetic to your situation. We'll welcome what you have to say and help you out as much as possible, after all, we don't want to be left hanging. My own moments of panic have to do mostly with my inability to see a clock, so bring a watch.
I decided to share my L2 experiences (German and Spanish) from childhood through early college. I knew how fearful I was to produce language orally and wondered how that compared to the people in the class. One of the questions put forth at the beginning of the chapter is about how comfortable the student is in a variety of situations. Perfect, I thought. So I jumped into the presentation, sharing my story and asking for the class's input. I appreciated what everyone had to say, I was not alone in my feelings. I also learned that the "fears" I have are not entirely unfounded, that feeling I won't be understood has come up. Yet many of the people in class have tried anyway, and those who are speaking English as an L2 are demonstrating proficiency daily. (I really admire this!) I wish I would've drawn more people into this discussion, I think that there are other experiences that would help me understand what it is like for my students and maybe help me feel more confident in trying out my L2s. I also wish I would have asked people to connect our experiences to the reading, it would have provided a clearer picture of my intent.
What happened? That's a good question. As someone who talks A LOT, I ramble when I get nervous. I walked in thinking I knew what I was going to do and knowing about how much material I had. After 10 years of teaching I was confident I had 30-45 minutes of material, and a good concept of how time was passing. Something went wrong in my wiring. I went through my material, but talked 20 times faster than necessary. I felt I'd been up there for about 20 minutes when Esther told me I had 20 minutes left. I felt absolute panic, I still had my filler material...but had I really only used 10 minutes. I lost all focus. I had no idea what I was going to do. I kept talking off my notes, but I wasn't even thinking about the words coming out of my mouth; I could only focus on the time problem. Then I had 10 minutes left, but I felt only two had gone by. I did the only thing I could think of, I stopped.
What do I wish I had done?
I wish I'd made two lesson plans. One written out completely (which is what I had) and one outline. I would have had an easier time keeping track of my place in my plan without having to re-read every word I'd written. I also could've put the outline on the doc-cam or given a hand out so the class could have a visual reference.
As I mentioned before, I wish I would've drawn more people into the discussion and had them tie the topics to the reading.
I also wish I would've remembered my phone, it has a clock and I would've felt calmer with my own reference point. It would've helped me slow down and pay attention to what I was doing. I wouldn't have talked so fast, or felt so pressed to finish everything in the first 3 minutes.
What am I glad I did?
I'm glad I shared my stories. These are things that pop into my head at various times, but I don't share them. I think that people's experiences are interesting and important. It helps me understand where they are coming from, and in that spirit that's where my stories came from. I'm also happy about how the discussion went. People shared interesting anecdotes that really helped me understand them.
Final thoughts: When it's your turn, relax and enjoy it. We all need to make a presentation and are sympathetic to your situation. We'll welcome what you have to say and help you out as much as possible, after all, we don't want to be left hanging. My own moments of panic have to do mostly with my inability to see a clock, so bring a watch.
Monday, September 15, 2008
L&S Reading
When I read the section on Innatism (with Chomsky) I was completely turned off of the rest of the reading. I feel that the way this frame of thought was written about it was a complete joke. The content from this section belongs in a science-fiction story. That anyone could possibly believe that a child learns to speak the same way they learn to walk, crawl or blink is incomprehensible. I remember reading Chomsky's beliefs in the past and not having any strong reaction to them, but this time I was surprised to find out he dabbled in sci-fi. I am a fan of science-fiction, but it has no place as a proposed theory.
Having vented that I can identify much more with language learning as a cognitive/interactive process. Once I calmed down and reapproached the reading. I feel that there is necessarily thought put into language learning, for most people. Mostly I believe the approach/method that works best varies between individuals. I'm most comfortable reading for pleasure in my own language so I feel I learn best by having some basics and then tackling the style of reading I most enjoy in my L1 to improve my L2 vocabulary and understanding of grammatical structure. On the other hand two very good friends of mine, also voracious readers, are much more comfortable simply jumping in and speaking ASAP. I very much believe language acquisition is individual.
Having vented that I can identify much more with language learning as a cognitive/interactive process. Once I calmed down and reapproached the reading. I feel that there is necessarily thought put into language learning, for most people. Mostly I believe the approach/method that works best varies between individuals. I'm most comfortable reading for pleasure in my own language so I feel I learn best by having some basics and then tackling the style of reading I most enjoy in my L1 to improve my L2 vocabulary and understanding of grammatical structure. On the other hand two very good friends of mine, also voracious readers, are much more comfortable simply jumping in and speaking ASAP. I very much believe language acquisition is individual.
First blog
Last class we broke into groups to discuss possible topics for our multi-genre projects. I enjoyed the conversation. Jodi and Mariya had some really interesting points and were excited about the topic. We talked about ways to teach composition with ESL students and focused on how to incorporate the 6-traits of writing. Mariya also brought up that using games to teach some aspects has been very useful to her in other situations and we discussed that being an option for part of our research.
The 6+1-traits of Writing are close to my heart because I've been using them in my "regular ed" English classroom for about six years. Some years have been more successful than others, but I truly feel that they are effective to give the students language they can use to talk about writing (and reading) that they all understand. I've found also that while we want to focus on the whole picture with student writing (NSs and SLLs) that by focusing the attention on a specific portion of the writing has been beneficial to many of my students. Using the traits has shown me improved writing from all of my students.
The 6+1-traits of Writing are close to my heart because I've been using them in my "regular ed" English classroom for about six years. Some years have been more successful than others, but I truly feel that they are effective to give the students language they can use to talk about writing (and reading) that they all understand. I've found also that while we want to focus on the whole picture with student writing (NSs and SLLs) that by focusing the attention on a specific portion of the writing has been beneficial to many of my students. Using the traits has shown me improved writing from all of my students.
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