In was a new and interest interested [interesting] experience. Gabriela We drove through coconut planatios [guessing based on L1] Sonia My thumb was a lot of sore. Sonia When I was (or when I had) three years. [e.g. Diana] I spended a lot of time there. Diana The instructor told me that I’ll I should…
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.…
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…
You need to collect oral and written grammatical errors that your ESL/EFL students make. Errors are best understood if analyzed in context. Bring back written homework, journals and essays that your students wrote or just type up / write the errors you would like to include in your error database. For your oral errors, either…
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 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…
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.…
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 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…
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…
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…
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,…
A lot to catch up on. I need to post my lesson plans in here. As I think I mentioned, I’ve been taking a two-hour a day, five day a week Spanish intensive course. It’s, in theory, a great thing to do when you’re teaching, just as a therapist sees her own therapist. I learn…
Here is what I skimmed from the conversation I had. Oh — Elka also said that I’m a good writer but that I write too much; I’m too wordy. That pissed me off. Critique my teaching, but don’t critique my writing, unless I ask, thank you very much, goddamn it. I suspect that this is…
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.…
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 [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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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)…
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…
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…
Sarah and I went on a tour of two villages near San Cristobal de las Casas. The tour was in Spanish but the guide also spoke English and said to ask him if I had any questions. His Spanish was extremely fast so even Sarah had to work to get it. At our first stop…
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…
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…
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…
Another anxiety dream. No purpose in putting it here but why not? I was with Jess (Cert colleague) trying to cross a long bridge over probably the San Francisco Bay, first by car and then on foot. Accidents and construction areas abounded, as we (and a million other cars), going way too fast, swerved at…
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?”…
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:…
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…
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…
I’m supposed to be packing now. Molly’s here, downstairs reading. I should be down with her. I should be paying bills. I should do some serious thinking in order to get this journaling kicked in the proverbial pants. In 36 hours I’ll be leaving Vermont, hoping that I have everything essential with me: the proper…
Yesterday I called Magda in Mexico and succeeded in reaching her. I’m worrying about everything: what will she be like (she sounds a bit brusque and bossy)? How will it be to live AND work with her, and perhaps do recreational things as well? So there’s that. And then there are the logistics: how and…
“Sometimes I’ll call upon an attitude of some of my old teachers. If there’s a character of, say, a rather pompous man who lays down the law but is actually very amiable, I will think of a man called John Brantston. And say, ‘May I have a word with you?’ “Or a rather more steely…
Why I’m Here … I’ve been trying to figure that out ever since I almost got crushed by a car in a snowstorm twenty years ago. I hadn’t considered an independent study till Genevieve (aka G2) illuminated the benefits. One of my goals in coming to SIT is to try to find the intersection between…
Course Goals and Objectives 1) Understand components of successful lesson plans: Yes, I think that was well-summarized. I liked some of the ideas like a column for “notes to self.” As a non-teacher, I might have liked looking at more examples, but I guess I can do that on my own. 2) Skills in creating…
“Will” and PPU Imagine a second class session on “will.” Review of what happened “last week” in his hypothetical class: In a few weeks Tatiana will go to NY. She’ll eat blintzes and see strange people in the subway. Oh yes, she’ll also teach English. In January and February, I’ll visit cert students at the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Hi guys. I think I’m done collecting accents now. It takes a long time, particularly the editing. I was gonna get more but I’m burned out. The files are too big to upload here but I can give them to you via Flash drive if you want. I edited all the clips down to under…
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…
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…
This time I didn’t fill out voluminous stuff for the first page of questions. I just checked some pretty negative boxes, and answered only these three questions: What was the strongest aspect of this course? I think Mike is a tremendously talented and knowledgeable professor, whose is humor was a delight. I thought he did…
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…
