Podcast for EFL Students

Podcast for EFL Students

· Description of intended students

Like babies, the first abilities that people must learn and manage about a language are ORAL and LISTENING skills, and this podcast is supposed to be the continuation of a series of videos that explain elementary contents about English. Spanish native students of ANY level of English can use this podcast; even those adults that want to learn English owing to their jobs require knowing about this language. The objective of these videos (series) is to go step by step for learning the use of the oral language, and a good way for starting is through learning the most common vocabulary in terms of nouns and adjectives. Everyone who is interested in learning English as a Foreign Language can use these videos, and it could be a way for mastering the correct use of adjectives and nouns, and clarify the differences between L1 Spanish and L2 English.

· Description of language objectives and content objectives

Language objectives for series

- Learning vocabulary and grammar in relation to nouns and adjectives, and some others. Improving listening and speaking are the main point of the series of podcast.

Content objectives for the series

- Developing oral skills and using concepts about like/dislike and requirements like “I need”, “I want” (The video is an introduction of the series of podcast, and in this case is just the elementary things for managing these grammatical structures)

- Developing listening comprehension, because the instructions are given in English in the video.

Language objectives for the individual podcast

- Listening the main differences between English and Spanish, and put them into practice. The video podcast created by myself is about the use the grammatical structure ADJECTIVE + NOUN.

Content objectives for the individual podcast

- Identifying the adjectives and nouns in the podcast, and use them at the moment they are required to use English

· Description of the elements that make the podcast comprehensible

The introduction of the video is a dialogue in which several adjectives and nouns are correctly used. That shows the use of the language in natural everyday life. The purpose is Teaching Through Content, because in any situation the language can be used. Also, comprehensible input is used for describing the activity and the content of it, for instance the students should not have problem for understanding the lesson, because as I said before, this video is the continuation of a series of podcast that explained most elementary use of language, specially nouns and adjectives; but this lesson is for them to know the correct use of them, and how they can use them in an appropriate way. In addition, their native language (Spanish) is also used for translating some sentences and gives them a guide for using adjectives and nouns correctly.

· Description of the strategies that we have covered that have informed the choices that you have made with the podcast and how you will use it with students

In my own experience, most students (independently of their age) struggle with the use of adjectives, because as the video explains, in English adjectives are used before the noun. Giving some comprehensive explanations and using just a couple of sentences translated could be a good way for students to understand the differences between the languages. Also, they can see a natural conversation between two people that shows the use of language in everyday life, not necessarily either complex situations or occasions that require specifically speak English. The idea of this video is to give support to contents that students should know about, because these are contents that they have already learned at school, or it could be a guide in case that they are learning for other reasons (jobs, required courses at university, etc).

By Felipe Rodríguez González

EWU, United States / UPLACED, Chile

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.

INTRODUCTION TO ACADEMIC WRITING. How can we improve the activities?

I checked all the pages of this book, and I decided not to change the activities, because I thing they are enough easy to use all the contents that are taught in each unit.
BUT I created an activity at the end of the units. COMPOSITION OF A PARAGRAPH. It sounds boring and traditional, but the idea is that each student has to compose a paragraph about a topic given by the teacher.
How does the teacher manage this actity? He/she has to give a topic, and students have to use ALL the things that have learnt through the text, and finally they have to gain all the paragraphs and try to compose an history. If the paragraphs do not fit, they have to take the decision of what they want to change.
The end of this is to post it in the classroom, and check that every content from the book is in the history.
I think that this can take a lot of time (time-consuming), but it is a very useful way for checking advance of the studens about what they have learnt. It could be funny, and the topic is about something that students are interested in (LTC).
So, I have made something about the book, and I also have used one of the theories.

Learning though content

To involve students in what they are interested is very important, and an excellent way for them to learn.

That is the objective of this theory, and the text ESL/EFL TEACHING explains how use it and how it can be used effectively.

In the kind of students that I want to teach (highschool) this is important and useful. To keep motivated students is difficult, but not impossible, and I consider that students want to talk about what affects their lives everyday, but we have to consider that teacher have to be sensitive about what they consider appropiate to teach through content, and that the "issue" has to be interesting for all the students.

My classmates and I had to expose about this topic, and the activity we created was about something that all of us consider interesting, and a big deal: FOOD. Fortunately this activity created an enviroment of debate and opinion... and that was the idea.

But I want to ask something about this topic: HOW CAN WE FIND THE ISSUES THAT STUDENTS ARE INTERESTED IN?

PASCO!

We stayed in Pasco for 3 days, and we had the possibility to see different schools, and the same time we realized about the different methods that teachers use with their students.

I think that learning in those schools is very effective, and the results that they have got are ver significant.

First we visited an elementary school. It was special because three different languages are spoken: English, Spanish and Russian. There was intactive classrooms, computers and resources for creating different things in the class.

The next 2 days, we visited Pasco High School, and we had the possibilty to stay in a class. In my case, I stayed in Biology class. I felt very comfortable, the teacher explained my about the system of the school, how teachers work together for creating a good school. Besides, we could see the different resources and how they manage the biggest school in Washington State. it is a evry hard work, but at the moment it has been very effective, and the results also have been very good. Congratulations to all the staff in Pasco High School. I must mention that they were very nica, we felt very comfortable in that school. Thanks!!

Language through interaction... N°1

“Learning English is all about deciding to join the English-speaking club.” Explain what this mean and defend the statement.
It is very helpful to be part of one of this group because interaction is the most important thing to improve fluency and to gain accuracy, but not only you can learn English by doing this, you also can learn by practicing on your own in terms of writing and speaking, in order to develop the different skills. One of the things that you should consider is the level that students have in terms of English because having big gaps between the learners could produce differences in the learning process. We consider that as human being we need to get across what we think and also to share our thoughts.

Gina's social and psychological distance to Spanish language, culture and speakers

Considering the theory of Schumann

Social distance: Whose social groups is more dominant?
-I think that Gina is involved in a dominant group of English Native Speakers, but she has the possibility to share thoughts and ideas with Spanish native speakers.

Integration pattern: How much do learners integrate, or do they do most things apart from the mainstream?
- Gina shares most of the time with american people, but she looks ready to learn with Spanish native speakers.

Enclosure: To what extend does the learner's group have their own resources for interaction, such as church, publications, clubs?
-

Size: How large is the group?
- ...

Cohesiveness: How much does the group "stick together"?
- ...

Cultural congruence: How are the cultural patterns and customs of the home cultural and the target culture alike or different?
- Culture are different in some way, but similar in other ones. I think this would not be a big issue for teaching and learning Spanish, because the ways of teaching are similar.

Attitude: What attitudes do the home and target cultural groups have toward one another?
- Gina has good attitudes to the culture that use the language she wants to learn. Good relationships between chilean studends have been established.

Intended length of residence: How long does the learner intended to stay in the new country?
- She is in US.
Native language: English.
Target language: Spanish (Language spoken in Chile)

Psychological Distance

Motivation: Does the learner want to learn the new language?
- Yes. She really wants to learn, and the goal is to learn Spanish before the students live US in december

Attitude: How does the learner feel toward the target-culture group?
- As I said before, good relationships between Gina and the Spanish native speakers.

Culture shock: Is the learner suffering culture shock?
- I do not know

Teacher Answer: Description of teaching situation in chilean classrooms

I created 2 different questions for a teacher in Chile, and here are the answers. I decided to ask for two different cases. One in which the student is really good at learning English, and one in which the student is really bad.

1.- DESCRIBE YOUR SCHOOL (GENERAL DESCRIPTION), SOCIAL ECONOMICS, HOW MANY STUDENTS SPEAK OTHER LANGUAGES, IS THERE ANY FOREIGN STUDENT? CAN YOU ADD ANY DATA ABOUT THE SCHOOL?

The school is located in a small town, dedicated mostly to agricultural activities. It has excellent facilities (in terms of the construction itself), but it does not have labs with good implements. Each classroom has a TV set, but many of them are not working. The school provides technological support, but it is not enough (there are too many students. Actually each class has an average of 46 students per class).
The students are rather poor though this impresion is not only based on their economical situation (most of the have expensive mp3 or mobiles) but in their cultural background. Most of their parents are not proffessional and have no qualifications at all. Most of their mothers are housewives, and it is known that the biggest influence is played by them. There are mothers who did not attend to school. Not even a single student speak another language. (thouh there are some students who understand pretty well what it is said in english).

2.- DESCRIBE A LEARNER OF ENGLISH IN CLASS, ONE REALLY GOOD AND ONE REALLY BAD... AND WHY DO YOU THINK THEY ARE GOOD OR BAD?

The good one is E.R. (4th grade high school). She likes English. She wants to learn English. She pays attention and has natural skills. That is why she is good, though I also think she manages in a good way her own language and she has trainned her cognitives skills. What do I mean... she is use to think.
A really bad student could be any from 9th grade, so I will mention one: B.B. He has no interest, he does not pay attention during classes. He gets easily distracted (though that is my problem too). But basically I think he has poor results because he does not master her own language and he is not trainned to think. He and his classmates do not understand anything. They need extra support and motivation that we teachers are not able to provide so far.

Usk

On september 15th, we visited Usk, and we learnt about Kalispel Tribe and their history.

It was the first time we visited a school in United States. The school we visited was "Cusick Highschool", and the principal showed the facilites that this school has for their students, the different programs and how teachers work with the students. Cusick highschool has commited students, excellent teachers, and they integrate students of the Kalispel community, tribe that has had several problems along their history, in terms of alcoholims, drugs, domestic violence (consecuense of the last problems), etc.

People in Usk, also showed the traditional places and the kind of life that Kalispel Tribe used to have.

SEATTLE!!

SEATTLE... JUST IN ONE WORD: AMAZING!
I think that going to Seattle has been one of the best experiences in my life. I do not know why, but I really like that city. It has something special.
Unfortunately we stayed just for one complete day, but I can say that I knew Seattle by walking.
Chinatown, downtown, the coast, Space Needle, Monorail, Public Market... and several things that I do not want to forget, and I hope to visit again.

We stayed in Seattle between September 09th to September 11th

Bridgeport and Brewster School

September 23rd

We had a long trip for visiting this schools, but I am really impressed with several things.
The most important for me was art class. I can not believe that material are provided by the school!! In Chile each, almost all students have to buy their own things. Probably in some private school materials are provided, but I would like to know which one.
Another think that called my atenttion was the amount of student per class. It makes everything much more easier. To work with 40 or 45 students for 8 hours or more is VERY difficult, tiring... and probably this make teachers feel frustrated about what they do, because they can be brilliant in creating an activity, but probably some students do not pay atenttion, they do not care, etc. We have to consider that English in Chile is one of the less attractive subjects for students.
Finally, everybody look happy. Students look motivated, they work in class, there are materials (books, animals, paint, computers in classrooms, etc) and teachers seem to use every resource that they have at school... That is very important, and very good for the students.

But my question is... How do parents participate in this process of school? In the reality of US, are they committed with their children's education?

Use of camara... and webpages for learning grammar

Now I am really interested in verbs and how to learn them. Actually we have many resources, but I think that cameras are easy to use and almost everyone has one.

My idea is that students have to create poster with creative pictures of verbs in action.

For example, take picture of 10 different actions that we can find at school, or at home. The most creative posters can receive a gift, or a mark. Posters have to be put on the wall, in the classroom.

This can influence: Interaction, Meaningful activites, It is appropiate to different personalities, motivate students for doing something different, It can create a comfortable enviroment, etc.

A webpage from Chile!!

This page has several games related to grammar and use of english. Here you have many ways for teaching English and make our classes funnier!

http://www.grammar.cl/Games.htm

Next webpage has links in which you can choose the kind of English you want to teach, the level, and different activities and the most important... there are games!

http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/english-grammar-games.html

TRIADIC SCAFFOLDS: TOOLS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH

http://llt.msu.edu/vol9num1/pdf/meskill.pdf

Actually, teaching is not only teaching through lectures and explanations about the language. Now is very common tu use computers in classes, and this paper is about the use od computers and how they can be managed by the teachers, and how their own movements or reaction about the thinks that they see as teacher, can influence the way of learning of the students.
Is proposed "instructional scaffolds", which means: "a) what appears on the screen can be viewed as reducing the size of the task so the child can complete it; b) what appears on the screen and what changes to it are possible can be viewed as keeping the child's attention in the moment; c) what appears on the screen can facilitate making salient relevant features; and d) what the teacher says and does in reaction to what appears on the screen can be viewed as modeling ways to accomplish."
Things like visual or aural aspects of language can be manipulated by the computer, that are manipulated by the teacher in a class in which computers are used for teaching and learning.
Oral and written language is the main problem for learning a second language, besides the abilities that the students have for learning to use a language and about it.
The analysis of what children need in a context of learning languages can helpo them to participate, and also equipped schools motivate students to learn a L2, more than those schools that do not have or it is not enough. This could be a good process od inclusion, and take exclusion away.
We have to consider that good teachers continue the influence of school success.
Scaffold: The activities that the teacher creates around a computer for teaching students of ESL for understanding the language of classes and the use of it in the school.

Podcast for learning English, specially for improving listening. Different themes.
http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/28327

Podcast for students.
http://veryvocabulary.blogspot.com/
http://www.etseverywhere.com/

Podcasts for learning Spanish
http://www.discoverspanish.com/podcast.php Explanation about phrases and translation. There are some lessons and it is a very elementary level. It is perfect for people that do not know to speak Spanish.

I would use podcast for teaching English, ans specially for improvinf listening skills. I think that for many students it is difficult to understand spoken English, and this can be an excellent way.
Listening and download breaking news or things in which they are interested in.