Planning for Learning

This presentation is based on the paper “Preparing or Revising a Course" by Barbara Gross Davis. It is very useful at the moment of planning a course or lesson.

English for Specific Purposes

Project Instructions in 

http://languagealive.blogspot.com/2011/06/english-for-specific-purposes.html

Wrtings for 4th Medio and 5th Grade

Listening Activities for 4th Medio

LISTENING 1

Listening 2

LISTENING 3

Reading activities for 4th Medio

Reading I

 

Reading II

Reading III

WebQuest

Grade Level: Senior

You are the owners of this new magazine. You all are very interested in health and worried about obesity in children and teens. If you don't change teenagers mind right now, most of them will be obese adult people! It is your task to create a very creative magazine, not the same as always. Nobody wants to read the same. Everybody knows what to do, but nobody does it. Let's convince people of having a wonderful healthy life!
Go below! I attached two videos and one article for you to realize about this huge problem.

Enter this WebQuest at 
http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=100240

Daily Routine Song

This song can be used to teach Daily Routines to 5th grade students. You can include many differents activities according to your students needs.

STORYTELLING

Considering Joan Kang Shin advices about storytelling (http://www.rmm.cl/usuarios/afaundez/doc/200903192250480.Storytelling.pdf) , I made up the next activity: 

Little Red Riding Hood

Required Story:  Little Red Riding Hood

Level: Kinder Garden

Time Required: 20 Minutes

Course Objectives:

By the end of the class, the students will:

• Recognize color RED and GREEN.
• Identify RIGHT and LEFT.
• Describe talking to strangers as a dangerous behavior. 

When I was asked to prepare this activity, inmediatly came the complete picture to my mind. At that very moment I thought in Little Red Ridding Hood, the paths, and the "right and left" concept. Then I remembered that there are some schools were little kids wear red and green ribbons sewn to their sleeves in order to make the learning of "right and left" easier. 

I decided to make very big paper bracelets and give them to my students before the storytelling. That way, it was easier for me to explain them what I meant when I said "red" by pointing the bracelet that, of course, I wore, when I narrated the story.

 

One of the challenges that presented was the adjustments that I had to make to the story. 

As I decided to make the asociation "Red-Right / Green-Left", I needed to put a color sign in the paths. But I didn't want to add lots of unknown words to this activity, because we are talking about a Kindergarden ESL class. We have to be aware that English is not the mother tongue of this students. So, as "flower" is a known word, and, if it wasn't, it's very easy to illustrate, I made up, in my mind, a right path plenty of red flowers.  I modified the story, and made up that Little Red Riding Hood's mom told her to follow the red flowers. It was a great idea, in my opinion, but you'll never find that picture in the net. Don't try it, I already spent a lot of time in google. But, if you have that kind of problem, you just have to superimpose images. And that way I was able to make all the pictures I needed.

After the story we played a game. I ask them to line up and, if I said "right" the jumped to the right, and if I said "left" they jumped to the left. The students had some help: The bracelets!, and I told them a secret: "RRRRight and RRRRRRed start with RRRRR".

"PLEASE CHECK THIS"

Miss Carla, I'd like you to correct this entries:

http://englishishappening.blogspot.com/2011/03/attention-perceptions-and-connections.html

http://englishishappening.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-neccesary-is-coursebook.html

http://englishishappening.blogspot.com/2011/04/coursebook-evaluation.html

I know you already saw the two first entries and that's why I add one extra in case you want to check something else.

SUPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

9 Extra Tools for English Teaching

 1. Podcast

A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. The word replaced webcast in common vernacular due to the fame of the iPod and its role in the rising popularity and innovation of web feeds.

The mode of delivery differentiates podcasting from other means of accessing media files over the Internet, such as direct download, or streamed webcasting. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/aab#playepisode5 This is a podcast provided by the BBC, which is specially prepared for ESL students and contains real information about Britain, in this case, info about the couple of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

http://www.podcaster.cl/category/educacion/a-welcome/ This material was uploaded by a teacher of English for reinforcement.

2. Wiki

A wiki (/wɪki/ WIK-ee) is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used to create collaborative works. Examples include community websites, corporate intranets, knowledge management systems, and note services. The software can also be used for personal note taking.

Wikis serve different purposes. Some permit control over different functions (levels of access). For example editing rights may permit changing, adding or removing material. Others may permit access without enforcing access control. Other rules can be imposed for organizing content. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

http://esl.wikia.com/ The ESL Wiki is open to all matters relating to the teaching and learning of English as a second language.

A brief list of suggested topics for contributions might include pedagogy, language acquisition theory, corpus linguistics, grammar, phonetics, pragmatics, authentic assessment, literacy, etc.

http://inspireenglish.pbworks.com/w/page/19992455/FrontPage This page was completely created by the students and they are still adding to it. 

3. Webquest

According to WebQuest.org, a WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. These can be created using various programs, including a simple word processing document that includes links to websites.

Research demonstrates that using WebQuests at the elementary level can be beneficial to students. Depending on the age group of the learners, teachers can design WebQuests that are more general or specific in nature. The key to designing an effective WebQuest is to have a clear purpose and objective in mind.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webquest , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

http://webquest.org/index-resources.php

http://www.wagner-juergen.de/englisch/quests.htm

 4. Youtube Videos

YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005.

Unregistered users may watch videos, and registered users may upload an unlimited number of videos. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb2Z_Z19CSU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twOiWxxlk3E

  

5. Hot Potatoes

The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like. It is not open-source.(http://hotpot.uvic.ca/ , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Quizzes/Hot_Potatoes/

http://une.education.pour.demain.pagesperso-orange.fr/rodsex/rodsindex.htm

6. Audio Books

An audiobook or audio book is a recording of a text being read. It is not necessarily an exact audio version of a book or magazine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiobook , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

http://freeclassicaudiobooks.com/

http://www.openculture.com/freeaudiobooks

7. E-Books

An electronic book (also e-book, ebook, digital book) is a text and image-based publication in digital form produced on, published by, and readable on computers or other digital devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines the e-book as "an electronic version of a printed book," but e-books can and do exist without any printed equivalent. E-books are usually read on dedicated hardware devices known as e-Readers or e-book devices. Personal computers and some cell phones can also be used to read e-books. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebook , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

http://www.free-ebooks.net/

http://www.getfreeebooks.com/

8. Forums

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived. Also, depending on the access level of a user and/or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes visible. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

http://www.eslforum.com/

http://www.eslcafe.com/

9. Online Newspapers/Magazines

An online newspaper, also known as a web newspaper, is a newspaper that exists on the World Wide Web or Internet, either separately or as an online version of a printed periodical.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_newspaper , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

An online magazine shares some features with a blog and also with online newspapers, but can usually be distinguished by its approach to editorial control. Magazines typically have editors or editorial boards who review submissions and perform a quality control function to ensure that all material meets the expectations of the publishers (those investing time or money in its production) and the readership.

Online magazines that are part of the World Wide Web, that is, all or part of a website, are sometimes called webzines. An ezine (also spelled e-zine ...) is a more specialized term appropriately applied to small magazines and newsletters distributed by any electronic method, for example, by electronic mail (e-mail/email). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_magazine , available on April 3^rd, 2011).

www.santiagotimes.cl

http://www.seventeen.com/

COURSEBOOK EVALUATION

American Shine for Teens – Macmillan

Coursbook Evaluation

Surfing the net, I found that there is a big amount of ESL books that are described as the best tool ever. Choosing a book could become a hard task if all of them are “good”. As Penny Ur suggested (A course in Language Teaching), is very useful to use a chart where we can present different qualities of a book and then, evaluate.

This chart, taken from Ur, consists of three columns: At the left-hand side it’s presented the importance that I give to that specific quality , in the middle, the quality is named, and at the right-hand side, is the evaluation of the coursebook. Today I’m evaluating “American Shine for Teens 2” by Judy Garton-Sprenger and Philip Prowse for Macmillan.

At the Importance column you`ll find ticks and crosses.  Two ticks – Very important, One tick – Fairly important, Question mark – Not Sure, One cross- Not important, Two crosses – Totally unimportant.

When, in the chart, it is said that a quality is not important, means that you would buy the book, even if that quality didn’t exist.  

 

As you can see, the most important qualities in a book, for me, are:

• Objective in the introduction and implemented in the material
• Interesting topics and tasks
• Content sequenced by difficulty
• Plenty of authentic language
• Good explanation and practice of pronunciation and grammar
• Fluency practice in all four skills
• Audio CDs
• Readily available locally

I’d like to explain why in the left-hand side  are two crosses:

The encouragement of learners to become independent is something more personal that I really prefer to do by my own. I think this specific task is based on the personality and context of each student as individual. And Periodic reviews and test sections are very useful, but If I have a good book in my hands that doesn’t contain that section, it would be fine. I’m sure I can do it without that section. Anyway, it is the teacher`s duty to reinforce what is needed and create the tests. If you read my last entry, you know that I consider coursbooks excellent tools. But we should create our syllabus considering specific contexts and specific needs of our students. And books will never fill every need. That’s why we have to do more than just follow a book. We are able to modify and, of course, to create activities by our own. Sometimes we are going to add contents that are not in the coursebook, or just put a different emphasis. That’s why I think teachers should create their own tests and make up their own reviews; a review is a perfect ocassion to reinforce, according to YOUR students needs.

“American Shine for Teens”, as you can see, is a book that contains everything I consider important.

The objectives of every lesson, are named at the beggining and developed in different activities. It contains interesting topics such as how do astronauts live in the space, dancing, watching TV, ghosts, and, of course, traveling.

What I really like about this book is that there are practical activities for the four skills. It put special attention on pronunciation and entonation. Each two pages you will find pronunciation activities, even phonetic symbols, which include vowels and diphthongs.

What is sad is that this coursebook is not available locally. As it belongs to Macmillan, it was available at Librería Inglesa a few years ago, but right now, they have a different newer version called “American Inspiration for teens”. But it’s not impossible to get it. Mackmillan official webpage http://www.macmillanenglish.com/ offers to deliver it in Europe and that means that it is available. I’m sure there is a possibility to ask for it in advance in Librería Inglesa. Anyway, if you are interested, I saw second-hand books in Mercado Libre, and this one is available.

HOW NECESSARY IS A COURSEBOOK?

 Based on Penny Ur. "A Course in Language Teaching".

HOW NECESSARY IS A COURSEBOOK?

That’s the question that Penny Ur asks in her book “A course in Language Teaching”. Actually, is an excellent question, considering that the most of our schools use coursebooks, and, furthermore, our Ministry of Education distribute coursebooks to every school supported by the Goverment.

But, again, how necessary are they? Can we, teachers of English, live without them?

Few sessions ago, we checked this testimony:

“Maria:.They  made  us  read  the  national  syllabus  in my  teacher-training  course,  but  I haven't  looked  at  it  since.  What  for?  ln my  [state]  school  we use  a  class coursebook  which  lays  out  all  the  language  I have  to  teach,  as  well  as  giving  me texts,  exercises  and  ideas  for  activities.  I  assume  the Ministrv  would  not  have authorized  the  book  if  it  didn't  accord  with  the  syllabus,  so  there's  no  reason  for me  to double-check  if  l'm  teaching  the  right  things”. (Penny Ur. A Course in Language Teaching, p.180.)

I, personally, have no doubt that the material given by the Ministry is good material. I have checked some books, and found that they are just  unfairly branded as tools that cannot be used. I found there are many activities that are very useful. Actually, whole books are very useful! What really called my attention was that, although these books are plenty of material to develope the four skills of language, teachers are just using the activities that have to do with grammar, writing and reading.

So, its very easy to blame a book, or the Ministry of having not communicative achievments, but, if teachers followed the instructions or, at least, implemented oral activities as writen, I’m sure the results would be far different from now. You just need to take a look of the Syllabus of the Ministry to realize that leaders have great ideas, but the ones that carry them out, are doing just half of their work.

http://www.curriculum-mineduc.cl/curriculum/

But, getting back to the first question. How necessary is a coursebook?

Penny Ur sets out some benefits of using a course book, such as:

1.A course provides a clear framework that gives a sense of structure and progress.

2.In many  places  the  coursebook  serves  as  a  syllabus.

3. It provides ready-made  texts and  tasks what saves  time  for  the  teacher.

4. A book  is  the  cheapest  way  of providing  learning  material  for  each  learner.

5. It  is  of a  shape that  is  easily  packed  and  stacked;  it  does  not  depend  for  its  use  on hardware  or  a supply  of electricity.

6. The  coursebook  can  provide  useful  guidance  and  support.

7. The  learner  can  use  the  coursebook  to  learn  new material,  review  and  monitor progress  with  some  degree  of  autonomy.

Of course I agree with all those benefits! If we followed each of those points, teaching  would be something much more easier than now!

But again, how necessary is a coursebook?  A coursebook is NOT neccesary to teach. It’s an excellent tool that we have to check, then double check, and then go straight to our syllabus to work on the activities and the contents that we are going to give to our students.

If we are good teachers, we can create our own framework and syllabus, according, of course, to the plan of the institution we are working for. The activities in a book can be developed, but also can be modifed according to the needs of our students. We also can pick up activities from other books, from the internet, from a class we remember, etc. We are free and capable of creating our own activities that will supply the needs, considering that books are not made for every context. And remember, each student has a different context.

A book given by the goverment is, of course, the cheapest material. They are free! No discussion at this point. But a good teacher make up a wonderful class without a penny.

The only idea that I cannot refute is that a coursebook gives the student autonomy. And, when someone wants to make progress, it’s a wonderful idea that this person had his own material, and take a step forward by his/her own.

So, How necessary is a coursebook? It isn’t neccesary, but is an excellent tool.

Here you can find a very complete set of advices to adapt your coursebook much better to your class: http://prezi.com/obwlifsldwlh/adapting-your-coursebook/ by Tim Dalby.

Syllabus Template

8vo Año Enseñanza Básica

1^st Term 2011

Instructor: María Mercedes Yeomans C.  E-mail: yeoeme@hotmail.com

Office Hours: Virtual Office Hours. Present your doubts by e-mail. Answers in 24hrs.

Location in the Curriculum: Idioma Extranjero Inglés

Course Description: This course is going to be developed in a school located in Cerro Alegre in Valparaíso, called PUERTOPAZ. It is parcially financed by the goverment and provides education for students from Pre Kinder to 4 Año de Enseñanza Media.

It’s better known for the Christian Education its teachers provide and an special attention on the affective domain and the character of the student. Even though there are 14 levels, it is just compound by 250 students, aproximately.

The social surroanding is very important, because that specific place in Valparaíso is plenty of artistic manisfestations. Most of the parents are painters, musicians, sculptors and, as the hill became touristic, also owners of restaurants and all kind of stores.

This course is oriented to the acquisition of comunicative competences, in order to provide the student the tools to perform socially in a basic level.

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, the students will:

• Recall visitor’s information.
• Understand opening and closing times (Listening)
• Be able to ask and give information about routines.
• Build structures to provide information by writing.
• Be able to ask and provide personal information.
• Responds effectively to unexpected experiences. 
• Express his/her likes and dislikes.
• Narrate experiences or descriptions of life in the past

Course Format: On-site classes and field trip (eventually).

Course Requirements:

• This class requires a 85% of attendance.
• Cellphones are not allowed.
• Students can arrive maximum 10 minutes late if they are justified by a supervisor.
• Each class the students will have a quiz about the contents of the previous class.(25%).
• There are going to be three quizzes(25%), two written and one oral; and a Middterm (15%) and a Final Exam (35%), both oral.

Required Texts:  “American Shine For Teens, Student’s Book 2”. Judy Garton-Sprenger and Philip Prowse. Macmillan.

 Course schedule by sessions and list of readings for each:

Attention, Perception and Connections

Lights are appearing while I’m walking through this path. Every single thing is getting sense and connects, more important than with all the previous knowledge, with the real experiences I have lived.

A meaningful learning cannot exist if first it really means something to us. As a student I can remember lots of meaningful learnings, which are all related to feelings. “Attention”, “perception” and “connections” are words that take me to my own examples of learning.

Someone could think that it is just needed to call the attention of a kid to achieve the objective of learning.  And probably a few people try to teach that way. It could work, if the process of perception and making connections worked in every person without stimulus. I’m sure there are students that can manage it, but there are others that cannot. Certainly, it is a duty of the teacher to stimulate the perception and the creation of links, by carring out proper activities. 

 “Students choose any special occasion and write 5 invitations. Remind them to give the detail of time and place, and the type of celebration. They then swap with their partner and write a reply”. ( David A. Hiv, English 7 Explorer, Activity 4, page 89).

The teacher is giving the students the opportunity to choose the celebration they prefer. Of course the students are going to get interested in this activity. After that, they must create and reply invitations, in which they must apply their knowledge. In top of that, they are certainly making connections with their own experiences, by working on special occasions, which, the most of the times, are plenty of special feelings. A kid would invite someone to his/ her own birthday party, for example. This kid will imagine the cake, the balloons, the presents, the games... everything, just by creating an invitation. This way, calling the student's attention first, achieving the perception and leading the student to make connections with his/her own experiences, this activity will turn into an effective lesson, and a meaningful learning experience.

A Few Words Related to Methodology