Idea from: TESL-L Ed Forbes in Vancouver
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Friday
Thursday
Idea From: TESL-L Lida Baker
Los Angeles
Subject: Authentic listening tasks
A special area of interest for me is teaching listening using authentic
materials. By "authentic" I mean recordings of real-world language not
necessarily created for the purpose of teaching English. To this end I
like to teach using recordings of people talking in person, phone
conversations, radio broadcasts, and lectures.
At the moment I'm working on compiling a collection of listening tasks that
mirror the reasons why people listen in the real world. Here are some
examples of such tasks:
1) "Cold" listening - e.g., turning on the radio in the middle of a
program and determining who the speakers are, what the topic is, and
whether you want to continue listening or not. 2) One-sided phone
conversation: Hearing only one of the speakers in a phone conversation and
determing who the person is talking to, why, about what,
etc. 3) Predicting; Listening and predicting what will be said
next. 4) Interacting by asking questions, forming opinions,
laughing. 5) Summarizing and telling another person what was heard, e.g.,
recommending a radio program to a friend. 6) Finding more information
after listening, e.g., hearing an inteview with an interesting person and
going to the Internet to find out more. 7) Taking notes, e.g., writing
down a phone message, writing down a phone number.
Once you have selected an authentic recording for students to hear, it is
easy to create real-world listening tasks like the ones above. In this way
the listening lesson becomes much more interesting and purposeful.
Los Angeles
Subject: Authentic listening tasks
A special area of interest for me is teaching listening using authentic
materials. By "authentic" I mean recordings of real-world language not
necessarily created for the purpose of teaching English. To this end I
like to teach using recordings of people talking in person, phone
conversations, radio broadcasts, and lectures.
At the moment I'm working on compiling a collection of listening tasks that
mirror the reasons why people listen in the real world. Here are some
examples of such tasks:
1) "Cold" listening - e.g., turning on the radio in the middle of a
program and determining who the speakers are, what the topic is, and
whether you want to continue listening or not. 2) One-sided phone
conversation: Hearing only one of the speakers in a phone conversation and
determing who the person is talking to, why, about what,
etc. 3) Predicting; Listening and predicting what will be said
next. 4) Interacting by asking questions, forming opinions,
laughing. 5) Summarizing and telling another person what was heard, e.g.,
recommending a radio program to a friend. 6) Finding more information
after listening, e.g., hearing an inteview with an interesting person and
going to the Internet to find out more. 7) Taking notes, e.g., writing
down a phone message, writing down a phone number.
Once you have selected an authentic recording for students to hear, it is
easy to create real-world listening tasks like the ones above. In this way
the listening lesson becomes much more interesting and purposeful.
Idea from: TESL-L
Shared by: Gerlinde Buchberger
Baden, Austria
Subject: Personal Vocab List
"I've been using something similar with my upper-intermediate and
advanced teacher trainees for the last few years. I ask them to analyse their marked assignments and with the help of (electronic) dictionaries compile lists of words in context, idioms, collocations, word families etc. based on their personal problem areas.
For grammar problems we also use 'Personal Grammar Books'. Based on teacher feedback the students identify their personal grammar problems and do remedial work using online grammar books. Part of continuous assessment is to submit their 'Personal Dictionaries' and 'Personal Grammar Books' as electronic Word documents. For the grammar part they are expected to briefly explain their grammar problems and provide me with the links (and scores) of online activities they do autonomously.
In some semesters the dictionaries and grammar books are also the basis for oral 'exams' which are more or less discussions of their autonomous grammar and vocab work.
Shared by: Gerlinde Buchberger
Baden, Austria
Subject: Personal Vocab List
"I've been using something similar with my upper-intermediate and
advanced teacher trainees for the last few years. I ask them to analyse their marked assignments and with the help of (electronic) dictionaries compile lists of words in context, idioms, collocations, word families etc. based on their personal problem areas.
For grammar problems we also use 'Personal Grammar Books'. Based on teacher feedback the students identify their personal grammar problems and do remedial work using online grammar books. Part of continuous assessment is to submit their 'Personal Dictionaries' and 'Personal Grammar Books' as electronic Word documents. For the grammar part they are expected to briefly explain their grammar problems and provide me with the links (and scores) of online activities they do autonomously.
In some semesters the dictionaries and grammar books are also the basis for oral 'exams' which are more or less discussions of their autonomous grammar and vocab work.
Idea From: TESL-L
Caroline Gwatkin
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Vocabulary Building Idea:
I call it 'Colour Your World', and it works like this:
Each learner is encouraged to organise a special section in his/her file only for vocabulary (loosely covering collocations, expressions,
discrete lexical items etc.)
Each page of the folder is for ONE THEME (e.g. the family, work, animals etc.)
The first step is to brainstorm all known vocabulary to do with the
theme and to write the words/collocations/ expressions in ONE colour. These are the 'core' items, active vocabulary which is familiar to all the class.
Then, when tackling a future activity/exercise relating to the theme, learners first consult their brainstorm, and then add new words in a SECOND COLOUR. At the top of the page, in the second colour, the page of the course book/ activity/ exercise is written and used as a reference in case the learner needs to reread the source material.
This procedure of adding vocabulary in different colours during
thematically related activities/exercises is repeated in different
colours (together with the references at the top of the page) until
totally new items start appearing in the brainstorm.
When a number of colours are used it becomes very clear to the learners that each colour represents different 'degrees' of his/her own learning.
The largest quantity of words are usually written in the first colour,
the items written in the second colour are usually 'passive memory'
items and from then on the following colours represent 'new' language.
The teacher is then able to set a, for example, a writing task connected to the theme, confident that the learners can resource themselves and recycle taught lexical items. It is fun for them write the words in the same colours as they appear in the brainstorm!
Personally I give lots of credit to those who are able to use the words on the outer edge of the brainstorm (the most recently acquired).
Building vocabulary in this colourful way has many benefits, for
instance:
- it keeps topic related vocabulary on one page for quick reference
- it helps the learner see at a glance which words need to be 'learnt'
and which are 'known'
- the learner is able to independently add more words (but always in different colours!)
- and, as colour aids memory (at least for visual learners), the teacher can colour code activities too!
I use this technique with all levels and all ages.
Caroline Gwatkin
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Vocabulary Building Idea:
I call it 'Colour Your World', and it works like this:
Each learner is encouraged to organise a special section in his/her file only for vocabulary (loosely covering collocations, expressions,
discrete lexical items etc.)
Each page of the folder is for ONE THEME (e.g. the family, work, animals etc.)
The first step is to brainstorm all known vocabulary to do with the
theme and to write the words/collocations/ expressions in ONE colour. These are the 'core' items, active vocabulary which is familiar to all the class.
Then, when tackling a future activity/exercise relating to the theme, learners first consult their brainstorm, and then add new words in a SECOND COLOUR. At the top of the page, in the second colour, the page of the course book/ activity/ exercise is written and used as a reference in case the learner needs to reread the source material.
This procedure of adding vocabulary in different colours during
thematically related activities/exercises is repeated in different
colours (together with the references at the top of the page) until
totally new items start appearing in the brainstorm.
When a number of colours are used it becomes very clear to the learners that each colour represents different 'degrees' of his/her own learning.
The largest quantity of words are usually written in the first colour,
the items written in the second colour are usually 'passive memory'
items and from then on the following colours represent 'new' language.
The teacher is then able to set a, for example, a writing task connected to the theme, confident that the learners can resource themselves and recycle taught lexical items. It is fun for them write the words in the same colours as they appear in the brainstorm!
Personally I give lots of credit to those who are able to use the words on the outer edge of the brainstorm (the most recently acquired).
Building vocabulary in this colourful way has many benefits, for
instance:
- it keeps topic related vocabulary on one page for quick reference
- it helps the learner see at a glance which words need to be 'learnt'
and which are 'known'
- the learner is able to independently add more words (but always in different colours!)
- and, as colour aids memory (at least for visual learners), the teacher can colour code activities too!
I use this technique with all levels and all ages.
Tuesday
Idea from: Geoffrey Vitale (retired University of Quebec), TESL-L
Using Art in the Classroom
My favourite writer in this area has always been Andrew Wright - his books are
practical, hands on - and they work. They include 'How to enjoy painting'
(unfortunately out of print), '1000 pictures for teachers to copy' (Pearson)
and, my favourite: "Pictures for Language Learning" (Cambridge Handbook) - all
identifiable in Amazon.com - but go by title, not author - there is more than
one Andrew Wright.
Just one example of what I have done with a class, more specifically involving
drawings - though one could also use readymade paintings etc -= but this is more
fun (Taken from PLL) I divide the board into four - with chalk strokes. In the
first area I make a drawing. It can be figurative/abstract or a mixture. For
example - a cross, a coffin, a house, a stick figure, a moon. These may be very
ambiguous and interpretable as other things. The class is in groups of four
-each group studies the pic and starts writing a story involving the content.
The member of the group discuss what the story line can be and one of them
writes it down. I wander round the class - give the chalk to a student, tell him
or her to put up a second drawing. Shy at first - then eager! Tell the students
this is the continuation. Do that twice more - much emphasis when student goes
up to draw last pic that this is the finale, the culmination.
Then the writer in each group reads that group's story to the rest of the class.
Very different stories - total student participation - enormous fun -- thank
heavens for people like Andrew Wright.
Using Art in the Classroom
My favourite writer in this area has always been Andrew Wright - his books are
practical, hands on - and they work. They include 'How to enjoy painting'
(unfortunately out of print), '1000 pictures for teachers to copy' (Pearson)
and, my favourite: "Pictures for Language Learning" (Cambridge Handbook) - all
identifiable in Amazon.com - but go by title, not author - there is more than
one Andrew Wright.
Just one example of what I have done with a class, more specifically involving
drawings - though one could also use readymade paintings etc -= but this is more
fun (Taken from PLL) I divide the board into four - with chalk strokes. In the
first area I make a drawing. It can be figurative/abstract or a mixture. For
example - a cross, a coffin, a house, a stick figure, a moon. These may be very
ambiguous and interpretable as other things. The class is in groups of four
-each group studies the pic and starts writing a story involving the content.
The member of the group discuss what the story line can be and one of them
writes it down. I wander round the class - give the chalk to a student, tell him
or her to put up a second drawing. Shy at first - then eager! Tell the students
this is the continuation. Do that twice more - much emphasis when student goes
up to draw last pic that this is the finale, the culmination.
Then the writer in each group reads that group's story to the rest of the class.
Very different stories - total student participation - enormous fun -- thank
heavens for people like Andrew Wright.
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