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2/9 Adults LP

Lesson Plan T/T Adults: February 9 NAHUM, ALEXIS, ROBERTO, ARMANDO, JAIME, DANIEL, ILLALY Supplies: Audio tape, markers, eraser, sticky stuff, Norwegian Wood song & lyrics, index cards with nouns and prepositions, photograph, homework with feedback, ice homework, Illaly’s homework Time Activity Teacher [I] Students [Thou] Objective(s) [It] 7:00 Greetings & Pass-the-Word Whisper a short phrase.…

2/09 Kids’ Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan T/T Kids: February 11 Supplies: Audio tape, markers, eraser, sticky stuff, Old Woman & Fly, LP, dinosaur posters, tangible objects for comparison Time Activity Teacher [I] Students [Thou] Objective(s) [It] 5:00 Testing Watches Magda administer test Listening exercises Evaluation 6:00 Introduce Animals Past & Present Write Dinosaur Days on the WB before Ss…

My Notes on Elka’s Feedback to Saturday Class

Ways to correct midstream: pretend you didn’t hear it? Whisper the question? “Do you mean…” Watch for patterns of mistakes. Focus on common, repetitive errors in pronunciation in syntax. Listen to form more than content when giving feedback. Early feedback: correct in the moment, before bad patterns get established and repeated. Really look at language…

Elka’s Feedback on Conversation Class

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…

Lesson Plan for Third Saturday Class

This one will be observed by Elka. Lesson Plan Sat Conversation: February 6 Objectives: Develop spoken fluency & comprehension, focusing on usage of simple past tense, gender pronouns and definite/indefinite/zero articles; build general vocabulary and deepen vocabulary in an area of interest. Introduce some idioms related to a topic. Attend to pronunciation. Play with language.…

Domestic Difficulties

Overall I haven’t had any problems living with Magdalena. I marvel at how she can open her house to a stranger, feed them wonderful food, give them her keys, trust and freedom, and be helpful about giving directions, etc. (even though she teases me relentless for always getting lost and always being on the computer).…

Lesson Plan for Third Teen Class

Lesson Plan T/T Adults: February 2 Supplies: Audio tape, markers, eraser, sticky stuff Time Teacher Students Notes Write agenda: What did you do? Memory game Appointment book Norwegian Wood Dreams 15:00 Memory: Review learn irregular past forms. Stick cards to white board (six rows of four). Write sentence starters for past and present. Play memory…

Fourth Kids Class

This was the one after that which Elka observed. I tried to build in a lot more breaks and the kids loved them and didn’t want to get back to other stuff. Once again I realized how little they know of what the book is presenting, and I don’t know if that’s the fault of…

Fourth Adult Class

I hate this workbook. In one tiny box on one page, they glossed over the huge topic of the prepositions “to,” “in” and “at,” whose distinctions can be very blurry. At the same time they introduced them to definite articles and zero articles. And all of it without an explanation or repition. There’s never any…

Working with the Management

On the work front, she’s been very elusive about what I’m supposed to be doing and when. It wasn’t till minutes before my first class that I first saw the classroom. I didn’t get the books till the night before. It’s been unnerving. She initially seemed to be flexible in how I approach my classes,…

Elka’s Evaluation of Kids’ Class

Here is Elka’s written feedback, transcribed: Objective Observations Comments T on time ready to rock and roll. Some materials on WB. Introduce Elka. Ask kids to ask her: “What is your name?” even though some already knew it. Kids are funny how that have a problem with inauthenticity. Did you do your HW? Yes, good.…

Self-Evaluation of Kids’ Class

What Went Well & Why I think the kids loved the memory game about -self. They seemed engaged. I kept it egalitarian, not making it a contest of winners and losers but one of reinforcing collocations. It succeeded because a) Ss were engaged, b) there was a sense of fun and community, c) noncompetitive, d) visual,…

Basta

Basta [Stop] for my Mexican Conversation Students Objective: Ss try to pick an answer that doesn’t duplicate others. Necessities: Empty box, alphabet cards, pens & white board, timer 1.      Divide Ss in teams of two 2.      Let each S pick one category and write them on the white board. 3.      One student picks a letter…

Day Four

Again, I’m writing this several days after the fact so my memory is weak. But this class seemed to go less well than the first. I sensed less interest o the part of the students. There was some nice laughter and cheerful moments, and I had a lot of things planned. I think in retrospect…

Day Three

I’m writing this well after the fact so my memory has dimmed. I think that’s a good thing. The kids’ class went okay. Based on the success of the previous song I’d brought another body part/action song. In fact, it was Hokey Pokey, and they loved it. The class seemed to go very quickly to…

12 Hours & Counting

I don’t think I like teaching. I worry too much if everyone is happy. When people aren’t paying attention I take it personally, and also don’t know how to manage getting their attention back. It’s hard to be on-stage non-stop. Everyone paying attention is watching your eyes for their next cue. The others have no…

Unhappy Camper

I don’t think I like teaching. I worry too much if everyone is happy. When people aren’t paying attention I take it personally, and also don’t know how to manage getting their attention back. It’s hard to be on-stage non-stop. Everyone paying attention is watching your eyes for their next cue. The others have no…

Day Two of Teaching

While I’ve heard that the circumstances for teaching are never ideal, I continue to be baffled by how to handle the days preceding my first classes. Last night I met my second two groups. It was only the night before that I got the workbooks, which were entirely different than those I’d first been given…

Young English Language Learners

This is an article from Bronwyn Coltrane, Center for Applied Linguistics. (Download it. Working With Young English Language Learners: Some Considerations May 2003 In today’s preschool programs and primary school classrooms, teachers are working with an increasingly diverse population of young students, including many who come from homes where English is not spoken. According to…

Four Hours’ Experience

As of two days ago, I have four hours of teaching experience. That is to say, I had my first class in Pachuca. I have to say, this whole situation has been highly unnerving. Despite constant reassurances from Magda & Elka that everything will work out, I find it extremely difficult not to know a)…

Adaptability

I was supposed to start teaching today. I found out yesterday that I’m not. Then I was supposed to start teaching tomorrow. I found out this afternoon that I’m not. In fact, I learned, I may not even start teaching till next week. I think this would be hard for a veteran teacher. It’s sure…

Culture Bump or Feckup?

I have arrived in Pachuca. I don’t know if this is a culture bump, but it is a bump: Magdalene, dueña of mi casa and head of our internship program here (with whom I’m also living) continues to be evasive about who my students will be. I start teaching in two days. I have no…

Initial Thoughts from Mexico

January 2-3, 4 am in the Mexico City Airport I don’t know if coming home to say hi-bye to loved ones was a good or bad idea, but it has been exceptionally confusing and hard. The days with family were typical of Christmas, and the four days in California surreal. I began by bidding adieu…

Spanish Verb Tenses

I’m glad to see a textbook author with a great sense of subtle humor. Yet I still can’t make myself study. Dorothy Devney Richmond, writing in the Practice Makes Perfect series, is quite entertaining. In Spanish Verb Tenses (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1996) she has lots of fun hiding “Easter eggs” in the practice exercises. On…

Language Crossings

Book given me by Molly… Ogulnick, Karen (Ed.), 2000. Language Crossings: Negotiating the Self in a Multicultural World. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University. No Language To Die In by Greta Hofmann Nemiroff p 15: On being first a speaker of German, then English, then French on Quebec: “I have spoken English almost as…

How Will You Teach…?

I’m in Delaware, sitting at the little round breakfast table in the kitchen, watching cardinals hop through the snow and reading my e-mail. I got a Facebook-y from Cesar Coy in Guatemala and was trying to translate it with Molly’s help. “How on earth will you teach English in Mexico when you can’t speak Spanish?”…

Things To Do in Mexico

From Bea Fantini’s Book In Mexico City The Zócalo (including central plaza of city, Palacio de Bellas Artes, where you can see the “wonderful” Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, and Catedral Metropolitana and Sagrario Church. Around the corner is el Templo Mayer and its new museum. Anthropology Museum in Chapultepec Park All kinds of other art:…

Spoken Here

Here’s a good book that Genevieve told me about, when I told her I was reading Vanishing Voices. It’s a little more accessible than that: a journey through areas and peoples who are losing their languages. He begins in Aboriginal Australia, explores Manx and Yiddish, and then on to Welsh, that “should” be dead but…

Final Teaching Advice

Always model things before expecting students to do it. Classes should be: interactive, participatory, communicative. Reflect: If you do it well, what was good; if something went awry, why? You want each student to leave each class with at least one success. Tardiness & Homework in Mexico Tardiness is epidemic. Some ideas to deal with…

Teaching Ideas from Other People’s Papers

From Regina’s paper: one motivation for students is in involving them in curriculum planning. Sometimes when students don’t participate it’s because that material isn’t meaningful to them, or their self-confidence is low. Structured activities give everyone a role and responsibility and thus more accountability and sense of expectation. Build accountability into exercises. Clear expectations. Tatiana…

Notes from Early in the Semester

Raging River It’s cooperative learning. I just learned that the teachers watched us carefully and learned a whole lot about us then, as a group and as individuals. Analysis of the experiential learning cycle Feelings: “How did you feel?” Description of process: “What happened in sequence objectively?” Analysis: “What were the key events?” A level…

Feedback to Approaches

Course Goals and Objectives I’ve just reviewed stated goals/objectives and see the course achieves them… except maybe “gain skills in working in small groups.” I can’t say I’ve done that, tho’ we have worked in small groups in this and other classes. Gained experience: yes; new skills: no. Very minor observation. All major goals have…

Video in Language Teaching

Lonergan, Jack (1992). Video in Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press. p 4: “The outstanding feature of video films is their ability to present complete communicative situations.” I note this because I’m interested in the idea of using audio instead of video. And while audio doesn’t present the physical visuals of a live or…

On Remembering

EL GAZETTE Online, December 2009 (Issue 359: p. 15) Magic of mnemonics Julia Robinson wonders if memory tricks work in learning a foreign language Several books promise miracle ways to improve your memory, but can these methods be applied to learning a foreign language – and do they actually work? Children’s author Karen Dolby thinks…

Genevieve’s Links

These are related to ESL in general, not to adult ed specifically. Songs http://www.musicalenglishlessons.com/index-ex.htm#articles http://www.esl-galaxy.com/music.htm http://www.esl-lounge.com/songstop.shtml Reading and Vocabulary Links http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Vocabulary/ http://www.esldesk.com/esl-links/ http://www.rong-chang.com/vocab.htm http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/vocabulary.html (independent study lab for students) http://www.englishclub.com/webguide/Vocabulary/ http://www.angelfire.com/wi3/englishcorner/vocabulary/vocabulary.html http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/programs.cfm (short stories to listen to) http://www.eslmania.com/students/reading_the_news/News_Stories.htm (news stories and vocab exercises for ESL) http://www.english-to-go.com/ (some free, some subscriber charge) www.handoutsonline.com (some free, some…

Icebreakers, Needs Assessment

Icebreakers Secrets: [Genevieve]: everyone writes on a strip of paper something that few people know about them and hands them to teacher. Everyone picks one and tries to guess who the person is. Keeps guessing till they find the right person. Collocations (can show a whole bunch of the assessment things, below) Two truths and…