Elka’s feedback to my Saturday 4-hour conversation class
| A lot on WB. Pleasant atmosphere. Agenda. T starts exactly on time. T chats with Ss. Topics on WB. Which ones were yours? [ed note: all topic ideas were theirs] | Personalized. Ownership of language |
| 9:05 Card game/expressions | It is good that you went ahead [other were late so I didn’t know what to do] |
| T just pointed to agenda | You can considering saying more, particularly the RATIONALE for having things on your list. |
| “Broken phone” game. T writes the original sentence and the Ss’ sentence | “Milk the cow” a bit more. How did you know EVERYONE knew all the words. Also [? can’t read] |
| HW in pairs. Good specific task. Rather long instructions. “In this town not is high shool.” T heard that. | Any gentle feedback. e.g. “Really there is no high school…? (genuine interest containing correct form) |
| T checks with group one (not grp 2 or 3) | |
| S asks what “plot” means | Explanation was a bit complicated. Get them to use strategic competence. Have you worked with the guys on how to get your message across, e.g. _____ is a kind of fruit or vegetable, use opposites or synonyms, gestures, pictures, examples, etc. Good that you are asking them about words they don’t know. However, tells only half the story. This is important to keep in mind if no follow-up is planned, such as a presentation, for instance |
| S reads her story | Reading v speaking |
| T asks comprehension Qs | |
| “trap” | any scaffolding to define it for the rest of the class? e.g. write down… [?] |
| T checks with group one (not grp 2 or 3) | |
| S asks what “plot” means | Explanation was a bit complicated. Get them to use strategic competence. Have you worked with the guys on how to get your message across, e.g. _____ is a kind of fruit or vegetable, use opposites or synonyms, gestures, pictures, examples, etc. Good that you are asking them about words they don’t know. However, tells only half the story. This is important to keep in mind if no follow-up is planned, such as a presentation, for instance |
| S: Mahnkey T: monkey | Enunuciate a bit more |
| Deer | “Jot it down” is not clear |
| He always listen me | |
| He has 18-year-old | |
| T recasts very gently but also not loudly enough | This is a common Mexican error. It occurred earlier today. |
| = break = | |
| Can I collect all our stories/blog/comments | —> Nice. Do you provide corrective feedback before they become part of the public domain? |
| T acknowledges S ideas. Basta | |
| Pronunciation: Country (3). Boy mumbles to himself city or cowntry. | Enunciate. Draw attention to the pronunciation. This is one of the challenges of Mexicans. Thomas Kuhn. |
| What happened with the list of words in green? T writes words | What would you gain/lose if Ss did it? |
| “Gigantic.” T recast | We typically need a bit more support, verdad? |
| Call/ed (2) | No feedback right away. Close the loop? |
| T reads, providing “correct pronunciation” | Bring it back to the Ss to give them another change to say things: choral repetition or something, if time constraints |
| Juan —> very nice presentation; vocab-wise, tons of pronunciation problems: is near to hear, : I live near to here [others I can’t read her writing], Koempany, Coezins, Moenkey; it was freezy; bitches, near to the beach, hide/hid | Visual support. Consider enunciating a bit more. They need feedback in the moment. Same errors again: emerging pattern. Jot down on WB behind me. |
| Volcano. T: Excellent! | Recast. This is the 17th time they mispronounce this. |
| Basta: why only one word for each category. Maximize. | Lower vs. upper limit. Write at least one word — as many words as you can: great game. Ss write/check spelling/vocab/hypothesize |
| Vet bet very berry vote boat | How do you know everyone knows what “ostrich” is . |
| Ss give Spanish names. Push a bit more to E. Expand. In addition to the Spanish names for both Ts and Ss learn something | Close the loop again, e.g. pronounce words, tapped randomly, explain/give examples, make a sentence with each word, etc. |
| Iguana twice | Why not push further. There are 3 Ss in each team. They can do better than offer one word. |
| T checks with Ss/negotiates topics and formats. T checks if Ss understand | |
| Lullaby. Hush = be quiet. T expands | Silencio (cognate). Shhh (onomotopoetic); expansion, maximizing (other popular versions) |
| Good unpacking of “the cotton is high” | This was a perfect example of maximizing learning (multidimensionality) |
| Said [e]. A reminder for them to review at home. | |
| Mud ≠ mood. People can handle these distinctions. Actually, they help and motivate. | We pay attention to things if they make a difference. Minimal pairs: Kuhn |
| Boy and girl: mud pr wrong. Nada from the T. Use the erasing of the WB for recycling? Stay v stayed. Played and _____. He can grew. Ss mystified. | Critical to recast. Maximize pattern: contrast played ≠ cried; spellling; elicit more similar words. Again, elicit for them for Ss to see that they need an infinitive after modals |
| Himself | Again a blitz review of all reflexives |
| T: That will be enough grammar | How about recurring the pronunciation issues |
| Do you want more stories? MadLibs. T says words once. S say they know these words. | What does it mean to know a word? — receptive v. productive, pronunciation, etc. How do you know they ALL know ALL the words? |
| How old had at that time. T recast | Enunciate. This is a typical Mexican error. Consider “The Outliers” and the 10,000-hour rule. |
| Sawn (son), travawled (travled); drove the motorcycle; bitch/beach; pushed; He don’t drove himself; need to drove, T: Thanks. T: you didn’t know how to drive? Boy: drive/drove | |
| They were enjoy the trip. T: that’s right | Recast |
| S: my foot sink. T: takes notes. Buried, tennis, deerty, another pants, mood. T: your tennis show. Mood several times for mud. | Issue of timing in corrective feedback. Again, the errors replicated. Junky data repeated. Enunciate/some kind of an attention-getter |
| T asks Ss to get up and write one word you remember from the stories everyone told | Nice move on many levels. |
| Check comprehension AND production | Live leave, bitch beach, each itch |
| Arrived, traveled, worked | Elicit more similar words. Pattern maximizing; REALLY focus attention |
| Ss talk about past actions 2001, 2004 | Last___, ago: prototypical adverbials. Add, to “cover” the entire territory. |
| I was worry ≠ worried | Past simple v. past continuous (missed opportunity?) |
| Was enjoy ≠ enjoyed | |
| At, on, in triangle. At Mexico City, at Walmart | For time and space [I still don’t understand how this works in the space dimension] |
| The tense was perfect —> why so | [I don’t know what she means] |