Reflection 6: A case of effective language teaching

I consider that ESL classes are not only for teaching students about language, they also are there for learning different things in relation to their everyday life.
One of the most interesting things I saw in the class in which we were involver, and I think that it was useful, was the project "Knowing Washington State".
I realized that this project had different porpuses (this is only my guess).

1.- Let the students know different interesting places in this state (where they live).
2.- Use their limited language for writing "what they have seen" in this trip.
3.- Use of mathematics (probably this objective was in relation to the WASL).
4.- Work in pairs or groups.

I realized that almost ALL the students did not know where WA is, the boundaries, which other cities are close to Spokane, or what other interesting places they can visit. Probably this project was a good help for them to know and learn where they are and how to express their feelings by writing about what they know now about WA.

Reflection 5: A topic in language education that I want to know more about

I have seen that most of the foreign students in my class have problems in terms of writing, especially those who come from Russia, because they use other alphabet. To this problem related to writing, we have to add that they struggle with reading, because of the same reason.
So, I would like to know: How can we help them?
I found a very complete webpage that explain about ALL the language skills, and there is also explained about reading (what is the most useful for me at the moment, considering the situation of non native speakers). But all the topics that we can read there are very useful, and it is a great resource for language teachers, and support language learning through different ways.

http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/practice/itc/elementary.html

This is the best webpage I found in relation to language learning, and we can see very easy explanations about these topics.

Reflection 4: Podcasting, my way to mastery of English

http://www.englishthroughstories.com/scripts/scripts.html

I have found this webpage with a serie of histories. We can practice listening and reading, because the histories are available as a podcast and as a written history. All these histories are connected eachother. At least for me, I was looking for histories, and these look very interesting.
However, the most useful for me about this podcast,is that the narrator gives explanations about expressions, and how they can be used and what they mean.
Usually, we listen in the everyday life some things that do not make us sense, because they are "slangs" or expression that are part of these language, and as not native speakers, we do not have to know them.
Probably, this is a good way for learning some of them, and for practicing other ones that we already know, but we do not use them often.

Reflection 3: If Only he knew...

I want to talk about HIGH EXPECTATIONS.
I am involved in a class in which ALL the studends are from different countries around the world, specially from Russia and Africa. Most of these studentes have been here either for 6 years or less than that, even there is one who arrived at the same time we did (august).
We have learned that, independently of the country where the students come from or the language they use, everyone has the same possibilities for learning and acquiring a new language.

In my school. foreign students are divided in three groups: English 2, 3 and 4.
Students in English 2 are supposed to have more possibilities than the other 2 grups, and group 4 are "slow" because they do not manage the language as well as the other students.
Actually, I have seen that ALL students have the same possibility and they want to learn the language and get across themselves... and believe me they try!
Why are they classified in 2° social class? And Why do not they have the same opportunities for being successful?
We read in ESL/EFL teaching several things about HIGH EXPECTACIONS, and I firmly consider that all these students have abilities, probably some are faster than the other ones in terms of learning, but there is not reason to consider that they do not have possibilities because they do not manage the language, or because they do not know mathematics (I have realized that students are always in maths class).
I am not complaining about ESL class, because humor and anecdotes are very common there, students usually parcitipate in the class discussion, and the most important thing is that they have learned, but I just give a piece of advice about how we should consider the background and the different intelligences of our students, and what we have to expect about them, not necessarily that they are going to be the low class in this country.
Let's give the same treatment to everybody!

In relation to this, I found a podcast that explains clearly the why we have to have High Expectations in our students:
http://teaching.uncc.edu/podcast/communicating-high-expectations

Reflection 2: Response to a Question about English Teaching

Language and Culture
by Nikki on Oct 23 2007 10:51 PM
How are language and culture linked?

Re: Language and Culture
by Felipe Rodríguez on Nov 17 2008 9:26 PM
They are extremely involved! Language is one of the most important parts of a whole culture, because that is the way in which people get across their background for future generations, and even to let other people know about them.For foreign students, consider their background is one of the best ways for teaching them a second language or other subjects, because to take in account their heritage is motivating and important for them, and something that they should know about.Here in the US, many students come from countries like Russia, Mexico, etc. and the cultural shock they suffer could be the main problem for learning. Most students do not have good result in test because they do not feel motivated for learning. So, if you teach them considering things they have in their culture (not necessarily their language)and that they already know could have good results.Besides, to consider culture in teaching (specially a foreign and second language) make students feel more involved in the class, and it is a good way to make them feel proud about their culture and where they come from.

Considering what we have read about the importance of culture in learning a language, I decided to answer this question that is very general, but I tried to lead it to concepts related to language.
We know the importance of heritage and culture for learning a language, because most students feel committed and confident about what they are learning, and also we also consider the different knowledge that students already have. So, probably the best way for teaching students is taking their previous knowledge and background (cultural heritage)

Reflection 1 "Websites that might help"

I would like to comment about two students, because they both have the same problem: PRONUNCIATION. I will call them B and E.
B and E have almost the same problems in pronunciation, but I think that one is more advanced in terms of use of English than the other. We should consider that they have not been in US for many year. One of them has been here for 1 year and the other one for a couple of months.
B and E have had an excellent progress, considering that they did not know English language, and actually they can get across their ideas, but sometimes it is not clear because of the pronunciation.
The idea is loof for some webpages that could be useful for this students for improving their pronunciation. The things I found on the net are simple, considering their level of English.

http://www.manythings.org/pp/ This is the first page I found, and I think that minimal pairs is one of the best ways for producind sounds correctly. Besides, there are other activities in relation to poems and songs.

http://www.english-online.org.uk/ Despite this webpage is for practicing British English, it provides good exercises not only about listening, also about grammar and other porpuses. What I like most about this webpage, is the fact that there are level (beginners, elementary, intermediate and advanced)

http://www.sunburstmedia.com/PronWeb.html This is a nice webpage, but it is a bit "messy". Students should be careful, because the first impression is not good about it. However, it has several exercises about pronunciation.

Considering these three webpages (especially 1 and 2, because 3 is more about theory, but also it provides some practice), I think that the effect in the students should be possitive, but students have to be persistent and dedicate themselves to this objective.

My future students

Finally, here is my post about my future students.
It is difficult to be teacher, because we have to consider several aspects of your students, and sometimes you do not realize what things and aspects students are thinking about!!
So, I will consider 6 different things for teaching English as a Foreing Language in a couple of months:

1.- Do they like English? are they interested in?
2.- If they like it, what do they expect about my classes?
3.- If they do not like it, how can I make them fell committed and envolved with my English Class?
4.- How much English do they know?
5.- Can anybody help him/her at home?
6.- Do parents motivate them?

This 6 questions for me are the most important, because we should know what our students think about the language, and we also should consider the abilities they have for learning other language.