Speaking Connections

The recent class discussions on L2 speaking and instruction have led me to see the strong connections between older children learning to speak in an L2 and the young students I work with everyday learning how to speak in their L1. I work at the MSU CDL on Grand River in the 24-33 month classroom. Some of my students are very advanced in their language skills (two of which have both an L1 and and L2) but some of them are not advancing with the rest of the class. In listening to the lectures and discussions last week about speaking, I have notices that these students who are proving to be slower to acquire language skills resemble the students we are talking about in this class - those learning an L2. Both the example students presented in class and the students I work with everyday are encountering the same problems. I notice my students struggling to pronounce words and sometimes getting upset and frustrated when myself and the other teachers cannot fully understand them. In my experience, it has always proven true that the way in which we (as role models) are pronouncing words is critical. These students (as well as ESL students) are looking to us for proper pronunciation and will begin to mimic - thus it is important for us as teachers to be sure to correctly pronounce vocabulary and enunciation when speaking. Once again, this class has proven to correlate with my teaching context.

Teacher Reflection #5 by Changchang Yao

  Recently I keep thinking one question, which is whether it is a good thing to go abroad.
  I was born in another country, and I am going to find a job as a teacher in this country. I have been here for 4 years plus, but still not fully fit in the environment. Sometimes I just feel the emptiness and loneliness inside of my heart, especially when holidays. Not only American holidays, but also Chinese holidays. Honestly, I do not have both holidays since there are no family here, in this country. Being in another country is never as easy as a decision to make, it means changes your whole life. So when I hear our classmate who wants to go to Asia and teach English, I really wanted to tell her that how tough it could be. It is always good to think over what you really want, and make the big decision.
  I always believe that experience more can increase the width of life, since we can not decide how long we could live. This is how I comfort myself when I doubt my decision. So, what do you think?

Reflection #5 - Kevin Bartz

As I look back upon last class's lesson on technology in the classroom, I cannot help but think about how many resources are available for teachers and students alike.  It is easier than ever to research a lecture topic, create a neat looking worksheet for class, or communicate with another person for help.  Virtually every aspect of teaching and studies have been touched in one way or another by technology, most likely for the better.  However, I do not think that technology can replace the invaluable benefit that is provided by face-to-face contact.  From my experience, online classes distance the students from the material.  Furthermore, it is harder to pay attention and memorize lecture material when watching a computer screen, as opposed to when actually sitting in a classroom with other human beings.  Technology can be helpful, and can add color, but the key is to avoid overly substituting some common-sense teaching practices.  For one, kids should be in a classroom with a teacher.  That is something that I feel very passionate about.  Although certain cases exist in which classes can be taught effectively online (basic mathematics classes and other commonly required college courses), my overall belief is that nothing can replace the value of a real classroom with real people.  The idea is the same for teaching.  I hate it when teachers rely heavily on PowerPoint presentations, email, and other technologies when administering their classroom.  If you have an update, say it in class AND email it so people don't forget.  If you're teaching a lecture on new material, use the slide show as a reference, not as The Alamo (figuratively speaking, of course).  It is easy for students to become lost in the cold, sterile environment that technology tends to create.  These are all things that I hope to remember if and when I become a teacher.  It is a shame that not every professor I have had is aware of this, but one can only hope that they get the message sooner rather than later.  The key to all of this is balanced diet.  The right mix of emails, slide shows, online resources, and videos will make the physical experience of class all the more rewarding.  It is a blessing that nowadays, students and teachers can take class home with them.  It is also a curse.  In high school, I would have loathed the idea of having to check an email account every single day.  The same is true for the middle school and elementary school version of me.  Teachers need to be sure to keep track of what they are expecting of students, and how much they are providing their students.  The last thing any instructor wants is for their class to feel drowned in material and resources.  Only during college did I become accustomed to the responsibilities of work in the modern digital era.  Being plugged in 24/7 is something that, in my opinion, should wait until that part of student's lives.

LLT 307 Reflection for 11/27

   Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the technology workshop last Tuesday. However, I was able to look over some of the links in the presentation to get a better idea of what I missed. The Quizbreak! Jeopardy style game really stood out to me, because I remember my 7th grade science teacher doing this with us. It was a great way to motivate us as learners because not only was the game fun, but we also got a Starburst candy for each right answer. I think having this on a SmartBoard or computer projection would only magnify the level of fun and entertainment in conjunction with learning. I also thought the Mashups were a great way of diversifying the method of assessment. I used the Vista site for my French classes here at MSU which involve different audio, fill in the blank, multiple choice type activities. I think being able to complete these different mediums of assessment leads to what we had talked about earlier in the semester about how what it truly means to "know" a language - being able to adapt your answers to each method is a good way to expand how far your knowledge of the language will stretch. The Mashups and SMILE components were similar and I think they would definitely be something I would implement in my future classroom for the academic benefit, and entertainment benefit of the students.
    Even though we did this awhile ago, I think it's important to note how interesting I found the ETS  and chart rubric activity. I have very limited ESL experience (this is my first class for TESOL) so I thought it was great to be able to see some examples of actual ESL writing. I think the ETS standards would be fine to use for lower level learners and for minor writing assignments, but the chart grading scale would definitely make more sense to use with learners that have higher proficiencies, or learners who may be doing a larger more extensive assignment.

Relating ESL content to any classroom setting

Now that this class is almost competed I have been thinking about how i can incorporate the methods we have learned into my future classroom. Although I may never teach a class full of ESL students many of the things from this class can be used even with students that speak ESL as their first language. This class has forced me to see that learning as well as teaching english is very difficult and take a long time. In a classroom even with students who speak english there will be difficulties when teaching students things such as grammar. I think a lot of the activities that are used in ESL classrooms to teach grammar can also be used in regular classrooms. For example many of the peer editing techniques not only help ESL students practice their grammar but also teach any students to be careful with the grammar they use in their writing. Also this class has shown me how to use a variety of techniques when teaching a subject because ESL students may struggle to understand. I have been seeing in my TE 401 placement that not only ESL students need to be taught in a variety of methods but every student does. These students need to be read instructions, then shown instructions on the overhead, and normally need things repeated numerous times before they fully understand or follow directions.  Even if I don't become an ESL teacher I think the teaching methods I have learned from this class will be helpful in any classroom setting.

ESL Teaching Reflection 11/27

I really enjoyed our last class session that dealt with technology. In thinking about my future teaching, I would like to incorporate technology into my classroom, as I feel it can be beneficial for all students if used in the correct manner. From taking CEP 416 over the summer, I improved my knowledge about how to effectively incorporate technology in the classroom. However, I feel that once the course was completed, I forgot how beneficial technology could be for the students and class as a whole. Our last class reminded me of the important role technology can play.

One thing I learned from CEP 416 was to not just use technology “just because.” There should be a specific goal in mind for why a specific technology is being used in the classroom. In a video I watched during the class, I was able to see how classroom instruction is changing due to technological advances in society. At one school in the Detroit area, the school completely revamped how lessons were taught, specifically regarding math in the video I viewed. With the ability for the teachers to record their lessons, the students could watch the lessons at home. During their normal math time in school, the students would then complete the homework for the lessons. Not only did this allow students to receive help from their teachers one on one while completing their homework, this flipped classroom drastically improved their test scores and graduation rates. Students could work at their own pace by watching the lectures at home, where they could rewind the video if necessary in order to understand the content being taught to them.

In thinking about how this can be applied to English language learning students, the flipped classroom can be beneficial for that type of instruction as well. By recording lectures and posting them online, ELLs are able to review the material at their own pace. While it may be more difficult depending on the proficiency levels of the students, the teacher could adjust the type of content given in the lectures to fit the needs of his or her students. I feel that this type of instruction would not only benefit ELLs, but it would also be effective for lower ability students who may struggle in class. From my own experience in my field placement, many students struggle to understand the math lessons. I feel that if they were able to review the content at home, even while completing their homework, they would better understand and grasp the math concepts. Of course, the age level of the students would also be important for the teacher to take into consideration. Because the video I saw dealt with high school students, they were familiar with technology and able to use it efficiently and easily. However, with elementary students, it may be more difficult for them to know where to go to access the videos on their own. Also, the type of community the students live in, such as their socioeconomic status, would also affect how well the flipped classroom would work. If students do not have access to computers at home, they would not be able to view the lectures unless they used the school or library computers of their community. 

Teacher Reflection 5

            I almost missed class on Tuesday before Thanksgiving break because I was going out of town, but I ended up being able to go because I thought Betsy’s presentation about using technology in the classroom was very interesting.  I learned a lot about new technology and the benefits and hope to implement it in my classroom.  I think a lot of the technology she showed us could be useful for both ESL and non-ESL students.  After class, I explored the website some more and played around with the different tools and found a lot that I could potentially use in the future.

The two tools that I thought would be most beneficial for ESL learners were the video dropboxes and scribble.  Video dropboxes would be useful in developing ELLs speaking skills because students would have to verbally express their opinions and answers.  I thought a good feature of this tool was that you could choose whether students had the opportunity to practice their video before posting.  You could use the no practice option if you wanted a general idea of where the students were at in their speaking ability.  If you were looking more for accurateness of the student’s answer, you would give them several attempts to practice before posting the video.  I thought the scribble tool would be particularly useful for ESL students who speak languages like Chinese and Arabic, where they have different characters than the English language.  With this tool students would have not only a picture of the characters, but also a visual of you hand drawing the character.  You can alter the speed at which the characters are drawn and use a grid as a template.  Teachers can post this on their class page so students can access this from home, which will be useful when they do their assignments. 

Another tool from the CLEAR website that I thought was cool, was QuizBreak!  This tool would be useful in either an ESL or non-ESL classroom and I definitely plan to use something like this in the future.  I have had many teachers who play Jeopardy in class, but go through the hassle of making the Jeopardy board through PowerPoint.  This tool is a competitive, fun way for students to review material and is easy for teachers to use, even the non-tech savvy.