tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18152374158166075432024-02-06T21:07:09.094-05:00Caitlin's ESL BlogA blog about English language teaching, learning, and intercultural appreciation. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-29569563455743423932015-09-16T15:52:00.000-04:002015-09-16T15:52:45.197-04:00Free Audiobooks!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You saw that right! Pearson ELT is offering one free ESL reader audiobook every week, for seven weeks. This is a great way to encourage literacy in your classroom or to get everybody in your class to listen to the same book together. And did I mention that they're <i>free</i>?!?!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The Adventures of Tom Sawyer </i>is available this week (Week 2), and <i>Gulliver's Travels</i> is available beginning September 18, 2015. Week 6 is <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>--my favorite book of all time! (I've probably read it 6 times, listened to it on audio book twice, and seen a mini-series or movie version more times that I can count.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Check it out here: <a href="http://pearsonenglishreaders.site/">Free Pearson English Readers!</a> </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-20130827625602947712015-04-03T10:49:00.001-04:002015-04-03T10:49:37.057-04:00StoryCorps App<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hello all! I've had some wonderful feedback from teachers who have used StoryCorps in their classrooms. Well, I have some great news! <a href="https://storycorps.me/">StoryCorps now has an app</a>. You can record interviews right on your smartphone and instantly upload them. You can also browse other users' interviews. I can't wait to implement this into my StoryCorps lesson.<br />
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I'm teaching a basic listening and speaking class, so I am not sure if I will be able to try this out in the spring semester, but I definitely will in the summer. Have any of you used this app yet? I would love to hear how you've used it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via storycorps.org</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-78967377987716578782015-02-25T06:00:00.000-05:002015-02-25T06:00:03.131-05:00Written Corrective Feedback <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How do you give feedback on student work? </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2013/03/written-corrective-feedback.html">Pen on paper</a>? Voice recordings? Google Drive? Microsoft Word comments? Blackboard? </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are so many options that it can seem very overwhelming. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am not going to talk about the research on written corrective feedback in this post. Suffice it to say, there's a lot. And this is a blog for teachers and learners, so I don't want to bore you with details from the professionals. Rather, I'd just like to present what I implement in my classes and how it works. </span><br />
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<img alt="Correcting an essay with red pencil" src="http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/722383/163383425/stock-photo-correcting-an-essay-with-red-pencil-163383425.jpg" /><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think one of the challenges for providing student feedback is determining what will work best for you, the teacher, and for your students, based on their computer fluency and language level. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For all students, I emphasize drafting. I like to have students write two or three drafts, two of which they give me. I usually provide the most feedback on the first draft they give me and less on the "final" draft they submit for a grade. In all of my courses, I use peer revision, and I also always use a rubric for the final draft, which helps justify the grade given. The amount of feedback I give depends on the students' language level and the length of the assignment. Here's a little bit more on what I do. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beginning Students</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think the challenge for working with new writers is not overwhelming them with teacher comments. There is so much for them to work on, it's really hard to decide what to focus on for each draft (and brevity isn't one of my strengths!). Therefore, I think it's important for teachers to tell students what they're going to be looking for and to stick to it. For example, if you've been working on subject/verb agreement in class, that's what you should be on the lookout for. If you're also working on how to develop a paragraph, tell students that you'll be reading for sufficient major and minor details. Focused and brief feedback is essential. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have tried writing comments next to errors, circling/underlining errors, error correction key (s/v= subject verb agreement issue, VT= verb tense issue), and using a number system where each mistake has a number (i.e. s/v agreement gets a 1, verb tense error gets a 2, etc.). I think the essential piece is to make sure students understand the system and get comfortable using it. If you change for each paper, they're going to be more worried about figuring out the feedback than actually making changes. What have you found works for lower-level students?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Advanced and Intermediate Students</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here is where you can have some fun. I like using the Microsoft comments function; however, I think Google Drive is actually more useful. Teachers can see the changes students are making and when they've made them. Students also get feedback in real time... There's no waiting until the class meets next to get feedback on a draft. I think this is great for non-traditional students, especially those with families. It can be challenging for them to balance their time, so immediate feedback can assist them with that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With advanced students, you can also start to write more in your feedback. You can explain why you think something works (or doesn't). Teachers can focus more on content and organization than the basic sentences and grammar needed for communication. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And the final piece of written corrective feedback is providing <i>positive</i> feedback, as well as constructive feedback. It's just as important for students to know what they do well so that they can do it next time (and keep it in the current paper). My colleagues, Courtney, Alisha, and Amy Bell, recommend "sandwhiching" the positive feedback around the constructive feedback. This allows students to read positive comments first and last. I love this idea, and I strive to do this every time I give feedback. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How do you give written corrective feedback? What's your favorite? Which doesn't work? </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-26247881611811769402015-02-21T06:00:00.000-05:002015-04-03T10:41:42.320-04:00StoryCorps and MITESOL 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://storycorps.org/">StoryCorps</a> records people interviewing people they know and love. It is broadcast on NPR (Morning Edition) every Friday and is sure to bring tears to your eyes during your morning commute. If you've never heard of StoryCorps and have never heard an interview, I want you to stop reading this post, and listen to <a href="http://storycorps.org/listen/">some interviews</a>. </span></span>Some of the themes that reoccur are: <a href="http://storycorps.org/themes/angels-mentors/">Angels & Mentors</a>, <a href="http://storycorps.org/themes/identity/">Identity</a>, and <a href="http://storycorps.org/themes/teachers/">Teachers</a>, among many others.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">StoryCorps' mission is "to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives. We do this to remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone's story matters. At the same time, we are creating an invaluable archive for future generations." </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="StoryCorps Logo" src="http://storycorps.org/wordpress/wp-content/themes/storycorps/assets/logos/storycorps_logo_10_years.jpg" height="110" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via StoryCorps.org</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In October 2014 (just 3 weeks after having a baby!) my colleague, Danielle Petersen, and I presented at MITESOL. Our presentation was entitled, "StoryCorps: An oral history project in the ESL classroom." Here's the a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">bstract (for the academics out there):<b> "</b></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">StoryCorps is used as a framework for integrating interviewing and storytelling in the ESL classroom. Using the oral history project, students develop oral communication skills, improve listening comprehension, and expand cross-cultural perspectives. In this interactive presentation, participants will gain a variety of strategies and activities to implement into their classrooms." </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We discussed how to use story telling and StoryCorps in English language classes. First, I always ask students about story telling in their culture and language. I like eliciting their experiences with stories and storytelling before jumping into listening to the recorded stories online. Then I play a few in class, and students get into groups to answer questions and discuss what they heard. Finally, they go home and listen. Here's an example of a worksheet I would give students to do at home: </span><br />
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<img src="http://content.screencast.com/users/cathelen/folders/Jing/media/f7c269e5-7022-43eb-9a73-396a6159c8ce/2015-02-12_1417.png" /><img src="http://content.screencast.com/users/cathelen/folders/Jing/media/95494da3-0772-4279-9557-21ea201d4d1c/2015-02-12_1420.png" /><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I usually ask students to fill out two of these and to be prepared to talk about them in class the next day. In one of my speaking and listening classes I once had a student brag that he listened to several interviews and chose the easiest to summarize. That made me smile because he'd done exactly what I'd wanted him to do: practice listening! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The final step of using StoryCorps is having students record their own interview. I have the students look at the <a href="http://diy.storycorps.org/">DIY portion of the site</a>, and provide them an assignment sheet. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is a sample assignment sheet:</span><br />
<img src="http://content.screencast.com/users/cathelen/folders/Jing/media/68146efe-3196-46d0-9ae9-2a81425fdaa9/2015-02-12_1425.png" height="527" width="640" /><br />
I received a variety of interviews: some emotional, some with strong connections, some boring, and some without a point or conclusion. However, overall, the interviews were thoughtful and interesting.<br />
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The MITESOL presentation went very well. We had a nice group who were interested in the topic. I'm looking forward to doing more presentations at MITESOL.<br />
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<i>**Update: StoryCorps now has an app! Check it out <a href="https://storycorps.me/">here</a>!**</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-92072127354410328322015-02-18T06:00:00.000-05:002015-02-18T06:00:09.799-05:00Introverts Learning Language<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Myersbriggs.org asks, "Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world? This is called Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I)." I'm definitely an extrovert... I get energy from being with other people, and I definitely focus on the outside world. I've always wanted to know and understand what's going on around me. For more on personality types, you can visit the<a href="http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/"> Myers & Briggs website</a>. One of my favorite blogs, A Cup of Jo, also has a less academic run-down of <a href="http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2014/06/are-you-introvert-or-extrovert.html">introvert versus extrovert.</a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via joannagoddard.blogspot.com</td></tr>
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Language teachers often (always?) tell students to go out and meet people! Go and talk to native speakers! But what if you have students who are introverted? Who don't enjoy meeting new people and feel tired after social events? Transparent Language provides <a href="http://blogs.transparent.com/language-news/2015/01/05/an-introverts-guide-to-language-learning/">some suggestions</a> for introverts who are learning a new language:</div>
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1) Join an online community </div>
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2) Get a one-on-one tutor online </div>
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3) Sign up for an online class</div>
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4) Take time to recharge with individual activities </div>
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I think these are great suggestions. Introverts could also seek out a one-on-one tutor in person, as working with fewer people is often less draining than in groups. Student should also go to teacher's office hours (in higher education) where they will get some individual attention from the instructor. What are some other strategies that you suggest to introverted or shy students? Or strategies that you yourself use?</div>
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" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via findresumetemplates.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
P.S. I'm <a href="http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/enfj">ENFJ</a>... <a href="http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp">What are you?</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-59881596515546057332015-02-14T06:00:00.000-05:002015-02-14T06:00:01.010-05:00Happy Valentine's Day!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Happy Valentine's Day! I'm curious if other countries have days dedicated to love, as well? What are they? When are they? What special things do you do?<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.rachelsenglish.com/sites/default/files/Love%20Idioms%201_570_0.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via www.rachelsenglish.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Here are a few posts around the internet about Valentine's Day and language used in love:</div>
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<a href="http://media.cmich.edu/news/spreading-the-love:-how-technology-is-changing-the-way-we-date-and-relate">How technology changes the way we date</a><br />
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<a href="http://blogs.transparent.com/english/sweet-english-for-valentines-day/">Nicknames for people we love in English</a>--What's your favorite? We call our daughter "Sweet Pea" and "Peaches."<br />
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<a href="http://englishwithatwist.com/2014/02/11/how-to-be-romantic-in-english-10-english-love-idioms/">How to be romantic in English</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.5lovelanguages.com/">What's your love language?</a> Mine is "Acts of Service."<br />
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<a href="http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/valentine.html">A Valentine's Day lesson plan.</a><br />
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Not a romantic? <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/huge-sales-records-for-online-shopping-in-china/2517021.html">Here's the opposite of Valentine's Day</a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="640" src="http://www.grammar.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/12-love-idioms_big-01.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="480" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via grammar.net</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Have a great weekend!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-210665234797296362015-02-12T12:04:00.000-05:002015-02-12T12:04:21.556-05:00Radio Silence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I apologize for my silence over the last year... I have been busy with life: I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and I am in the process of apply to a Ph.D. program. However, I have a few new posts that I will publish soon; I promise!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://lowres.cartoonstock.com/children-parent-parenting-child-newborn-slept-bstn212_low.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">image via cartoonstock.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><br />A sneak peak at what I'll be posting about: using <a href="http://storycorps.org/">StoryCorps</a> in the ESL classroom and a follow-up on an <a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2013/03/written-corrective-feedback.html">old post</a> on corrective feedback. <div>
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Thanks for sticking with me! You guys are awesome!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-30473246998923105652014-04-18T12:00:00.000-04:002014-04-18T12:00:05.321-04:00Just for Fun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's a word cloud of my blog, as of 4/17/14:</span><div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WT7_So3BbtNRP4pvGUHorxBe9LgLxcDtIOlIWZ7lbKzVOrQlHKpC3tgZ5OsBDljr1YftxNZosJtLH6vzUUQl-0SFGCa3NDPaTfsxM996OzRNhpcih6qNP3gIydd23f7MQ1-holBbsKw/s1600/blog_word_cloud.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WT7_So3BbtNRP4pvGUHorxBe9LgLxcDtIOlIWZ7lbKzVOrQlHKpC3tgZ5OsBDljr1YftxNZosJtLH6vzUUQl-0SFGCa3NDPaTfsxM996OzRNhpcih6qNP3gIydd23f7MQ1-holBbsKw/s1600/blog_word_cloud.png" height="532" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I created this at tagxedo.com, but I also like wordle.com. It's fun to see which words come up again and again... I think they exemplify my focus as a language educator. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-13824775752348497242014-04-17T12:03:00.002-04:002014-04-17T12:10:23.483-04:00Where I am From Poems<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This semester and last semester, the CMU ELI held a poetry competitions for the students. Because I'm on administrative leave this semester, I wasn't able to help students participate. However, last semester, I highly encouraged my students to submit poems. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://parnassusreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/LANGUAGEpoetry.jpg" height="177" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via parnassusreview.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because poetry can feel daunting (if I had a dollar for every time I've heard, "I can't write poetry, I'd be rich!) for anybody, but especially for non-native speakers/writers. The students often said to me, "But I can't even write poetry in my native language! How will I write it in English?" This is valid concern because poetry can be scary. That's why I decided to provide one type of poem that students would be writing. I hoped that it would make poetry more accessible and real to them. That's why I chose "Where I am from" poems. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://soundisstyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Where-Im-From-Jay-Z-Documentary.jpg" height="326" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via thoms8thgradeblog.blogspot.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For those of you who haven't heard of these before, the lines start with "I am from..." and the poet finishes the line with whatever he or she would like. For example, I am from Michigan, so I could say, "I'm from the Great Lakes" or "I am from corn fields and good manners." The point is that students think about their origins, their identity, how they see themselves, and how they want to be seen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My students created beautiful poems that they were proud of, and many of my students won first or second runners up for Level 3. One of my student won the entire competition! I don't have permission to share their poems (I have to remember to get permission next time!), but I will share mine as an example. Please feel free to use it in your class if you'd like to use this excellent form of poetry in your classes. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpcjts69w_khTH0JKjtsLTD_WTjYCSWJVf_Be1MixxrRFszm2MCQoe7CtoW5Py2cPA5Ob8oI-9VqIz4jinrK-3urELbbGJ6amF8Cg7CrRIwv9E8W0BojyAnE1lxKUmERCiL6Xj0I8nBrY/s1600/Where_I_am_from.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpcjts69w_khTH0JKjtsLTD_WTjYCSWJVf_Be1MixxrRFszm2MCQoe7CtoW5Py2cPA5Ob8oI-9VqIz4jinrK-3urELbbGJ6amF8Cg7CrRIwv9E8W0BojyAnE1lxKUmERCiL6Xj0I8nBrY/s1600/Where_I_am_from.png" height="640" width="342" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I even created a wordle with my poem... I wish I had thought of doing this with my students. How fun!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiuxwCwgwnRVItjmIwMqEtO8fbVuSfBng3dF4igdizM4iZHZ7HImLfu8mTWFow9Jz2imLoUoVS-MW03Lu_84RYmC1dDdWPawB_rSNgdKPZw2kB66tFwEhbab0xq8S97Qbq2tl5-UcwJeU/s1600/I_am_from_wordle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiuxwCwgwnRVItjmIwMqEtO8fbVuSfBng3dF4igdizM4iZHZ7HImLfu8mTWFow9Jz2imLoUoVS-MW03Lu_84RYmC1dDdWPawB_rSNgdKPZw2kB66tFwEhbab0xq8S97Qbq2tl5-UcwJeU/s1600/I_am_from_wordle.png" height="244" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are lots of other great examples online, and I've included some links at below if you'd like more resources. If you'd like to see pictures of the ELI poetry competition, we have some on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152112437287938.1073741832.111166197937&type=1">CMU ELI's Facebook site</a>. I'd love to hear: do you use poetry in your class? What's your favorite type of poem to use? I've heard (clean) limericks can be fun!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplan.jsp?id=785">http://www.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplan.jsp?id=785</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html">http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.teenink.com/poetry/free_verse/article/281119/Where-I-am-from/">http://www.teenink.com/poetry/free_verse/article/281119/Where-I-am-from/</a><br />
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<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/msweisocialstudies/sample-projects-and-assignments/msweiswhereiamfrompoem">https://sites.google.com/site/msweisocialstudies/sample-projects-and-assignments/msweiswhereiamfrompoem</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-22153294199008997812014-04-02T13:15:00.001-04:002014-04-02T14:52:42.356-04:00TESOL 2014: Successful!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did you attend the TESOL 2014 convention in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Portland, Oregon</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">? What were some of the awesome sessions that you attended?</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This was my first time attending TESOL, and it was great. There are so many sessions, and presenters, and attendees that it felt a little overwhelming. I attended some great sessions, including a PCI on Motivation given by Dr. Neil Anderson and his colleagues from BYU. It was fabulous, and I will plan a post summarizing the research that they found. I attended several others on topics including graduate student writing, using TED talks in a listening/speaking class, and using idioms in the ESL classroom.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ELT for the next generation, TESOL 2014 International and English Language Expo, 26-29 March 2014 Portland Oregon, USA" src="http://www.tesol.org/App_Themes/Convention2014/images/logo.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via TESOL.org</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Additionally, my colleagues, Danielle Petersen, Alisha Fisher, and I presented on flipped learning. If you're unfamiliar with flipped learning, it's where most of the instruction (through video, audio, or reading) occurs at home and interactive activities happen in class. <a href="http://youtu.be/iQWvc6qhTds">Here's a short video</a> we shared in our presentation that will give you an idea of what it's all about.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Danielle also created <a href="http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/1276259%20">a live binder</a>, which has TONS of great resources to get your started if you're a newbie or to hone your craft if you have experience with this teaching method. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I traditionally use audio and reading in my flipped classes (I haven't flipped a class for the whole year... it's just one method I employ), but this summer I am looking forward to trying my hand at videos in a couple of grammar classes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Have any of you flipped a class or whole course? I'd love to hear what you do!</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-56693761281589749542014-03-31T13:41:00.001-04:002014-03-31T13:41:36.906-04:00Assistant Director<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I apologize for my lack of posting in the last three months! I resolved to post more often, but life has gotten in the way. This semester, I am on a full course release, and I am now the Assistant Director of the English Language Institute at Central Michigan University. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Even though I'm not teaching this semester, I have been gaining a lot of new and valuable skills. Learning and experiencing education from the administrative end has shed a new light on how departments and universities work. I am very grateful for this experience, and I hope to share more with you about it at the end of the semester. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This summer I will be back in the classroom, so I will try to post more about what I'm doing with my classes and other research that's out there. In the meantime, check out my Twitter account: @Caitlin_ESL and check back occasionally for updates! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Everyday I miss being in the classroom and interacting with students, but I sure don't miss the excuses for why homework isn't done on time!</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img class="irc_mut" height="502" id="irc_mi" src="http://educational-alternatives.net/welcome/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/stahler-internet.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 31px;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via educational-alternatives.net</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-2565762345871025082013-12-20T06:00:00.000-05:002013-12-20T06:00:12.736-05:00Writing Survey Questions<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sissurvey.net/images/skin-images/_default_banner_img.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="138" src="http://www.sissurvey.net/images/skin-images/_default_banner_img.gif" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via sissurvey.net</td></tr>
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For teachers of English for Academic Purposes, surveys are par for the course, especially in speaking and listening classes. They're great for many reasons; they not only promote critical thinking, students must also talk to people outside of the classroom, synthesize information, analyze results, present results, create charts/tables, etc. I use them in all classes (not just speaking and listening), especially informal surveys. However, when students are responsible for formal surveys for formal presentations, it's necessary to teach them how to prepare and execute them appropriately.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="163" src="http://www.survey-reviews.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/survey-software.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via surveyreviews.net</td></tr>
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The first step when using surveys in class to to teach how to write survey questions. This is a very tricky step for all students, no matter their language level. Fortunately, <a href="http://readwritethink.org/">ReadWriteThink.org</a> is here to help. <a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/question-writing-good-survey-1084.html?tab=3#tabs">Here </a>Patricia Alejandra Lastiri provides a series of four lessons to teach survey questions writing. She provides four 60-minute lessons along with wonderful printouts and websites. The original lesson is for grades 9-12, but it can be easily adapted for non-native English speakers and ESL classrooms. Included in the link is <a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1080/survey_evaluation.pdf">a survey evaluation form</a>, <a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1084/survey_guidelines.pdf">sample questions and guidelines</a>, <a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1084/rubric.pdf">a great rubric</a> (for participation, not just for surveys), and much more. You really should check it out for yourself to see what else can be adopted or adapted.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ReadWriteThink" src="http://www.readwritethink.org/images/logo.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via readwritethink.org</td></tr>
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P.S. Here's the link: <a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/question-writing-good-survey-1084.html?tab=3#tabs">http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/question-writing-good-survey-1084.html?tab=3#tabs</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-28440809898381831372013-12-16T12:00:00.000-05:002013-12-16T12:00:05.250-05:00Do you love English?<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Nominate your favourite blog and website about the English language 2013" src="http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/2013-LEA-Blog.jpg" /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you love English, vote in the Macmillan Dictionary <a href="http://www.macmillandictionary.com/love-english-awards/">Love English Awards</a> for the best websites and blogs about English. You can also check out <a href="http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/love-english-awards-2012-winners">last year's winners</a>, and <a href="http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/love-english-awards-the-results">those from 2011. </a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A few highlights from the past few years: <a href="http://www.eslprintables.com/">printables</a>, <a href="http://wordsmith.org/">wordsmith</a>, <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm">worldwidewords</a>, <a href="http://film-english.com/">filmenglish</a>, and <a href="http://closeyourtextbooks.blogspot.co.uk/">closeyourtextbooks</a>. I can't wait to try some of these ideas out in my classroom next semester. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And of course, my all time favorite: <a href="http://freerice.com/">Free Rice</a>, which helps people learn vocabulary and gives rice to people who are hungry. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-1529894586311601242013-12-15T20:38:00.000-05:002013-12-15T20:38:31.774-05:00The Trickiest Word in English: Quite Tricky!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.vickihollett.com/">Vicki Hollett</a> (of <a href="http://www.merican.vickihollett.com/">Learning to Speak 'Merican</a>) wrote a <a href="http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/the-trickiest-word-in-american">great blog post</a> for the Macmillian Dictionary blog about the trickiest word in English. In it she writes about a quite tricky English word: <i>quite</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="250" src="http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/quite_wordle.bmp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via <a href="http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/quite_wordle.bmp">http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/quite_wordle.bmp</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The meaning of <i>quite</i> in American and British Englishes has different meanings. In American English the meaning is rather (quite?) positive, and in British English, it is less than positive:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">If your American boss says your work is </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">quite </strong>good</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">, should you be pleased or a little concerned? In British English </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">quite</strong> good</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> only means </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">pretty good</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> or </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">fairly good</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">, but in American English it’s much more positive. </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Quite </strong>good</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> means </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">very good</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">, so you can give yourself a pat on the back.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I am a native American English speaker, I consider <i>quite</i> to be positive. If you're an English language learner, how did you learn the meaning of <i>quite</i>? If you're a teacher, how do you teach it? With both meanings? Or just for the country in which you're teaching? What if you teach EFL?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"All art is quite useless" -Oscar Wilde</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">P.S. Here's the link: </span><a href="http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/the-trickiest-word-in-american">http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/the-trickiest-word-in-american</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-13016549872426232612013-10-23T12:00:00.000-04:002013-10-23T12:00:05.620-04:00Service Learning Reflection (Special Olympics, Part 3)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I wrote about in June this year, I required my advanced-intermediate (Level 3) listening and speaking students to volunteer to practice the language. I have complied some of the students final reflections on volunteering over the course of the semester, and I believe they are thoughtful and worth sharing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A little background: In addition to the Special Olympics, my students volunteered at the soup kitchen, animal shelter, community/campus garden, and at a Special Olympics fund-raising event. Their experiences were varied, but the sentiment remained the same: they enjoyed volunteering and learned from their experiences. These have not been edited in any way by me, so the excerpts are true language-learner writing. I have included some explanation in brackets if I have felt it was necessary. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Soup Kitchen Reflection:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
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At the beginning I asked about the mode of action and
what should I do. Then I began to provide meals and food for the customers. I
ask everyone who comes in what do you prefer to eat. Each time the food
finishes I go back to bring more from the kitchen. I was dealing with everyone
with a smile and all were welcoming. I went into the kitchen to help my friends
who are volunteering like me in making various food. As well as in the
processing of various beverages to the needy. During the first hour I was talking
with everyone and with the volunteers about how amazing the idea of this
restaurant is, and it's a beautiful idea that serves the community. We need
such ideas to serve all the people. Also I spoke with a number of people who
came for eating and talking about a lot of topics that related to our lives in
general. It was a beautiful experience and very wonderful when I feel like I'm
a reason for the happiness for others.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Soup Kitchen Reflection:</i></b></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></b></div>
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In 06/13/2013,I went to Soup Kitchen for 1 hrs. That was
a good opportunity for me. I did many things. First, i cleaned the dishes which
was the first time for me to wash dishes out of my house, it was very good. I
was very happy to do that . The water spill on my jeans. which made me
impressed [embarrassed] .Second, during the break i met new American friends . I talked with
them that benefited me to improve my speaking skills .Finally, i clean the
tables after people had left the kitchen, when i was cleaning them , i had
tried to take of little pieces were sticking in the table that made me angry. Soup
kitchen is a great volunteer people there are nice and friendly that can feel
you more comfortable. I hope to open soup kitchen in my country because it has
a lot of benefit for poor people.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Final Semester Reflection:</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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Before
this summer i never be the Volunteer in my past life. And i never consider
about this. However this summer i did it and also enjoy it so much. In the beginning i don not even know how to
be volunteer and how to do the job in here. My first place was garden where was
plant the vegetables. I learned lots of
thing from here. For example how to plan the filed because she told me if i
plant the vegetables very close. That will effect them grow up. So after this i
think be volunteer not just donation yourself. This is just one part on
volunteering. On the other hand. It also can increase your knowledge. Both all
what i want in here. I need to be volunteer. In fact, for international
students to be volunteer have more big significant means for us. First it can
help us practice speaking and learning. As we all know the English is most
important in here. Then it improve our ability because you should do everything
by yourself. This is better than nothing to do. Next to be volunteer also can
rich my experience in US because i do not want to nothing in my memory when i
go back my country. So i am really appreciate teacher let me to be volunteer.
This is really helpful.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Final Semester Reflection:</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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Since our teacher sets the volunteer task to us, I have
already volunteered for four orgnizations so far. They are Animals Shelter,
Isabella Community Soup Kitchen, Plant Vegetable for Hungers and Auction
Special Olympics. Each time, Hero and I worked toghter. We took care of some
cats, walked some dogs, swept the floor, cleaned some windows, took weed away
from a small garden, and so on. In the past one month, we really did so many
different kinds of task. I find that
thay have something in common, it is that some people need our help. I love the
task what I did because I would like to help people in need. I hope I can help
them to get out their troubles. Most of people we helped are poor people. For
example, we looked after a small garden. Various vegetables are planted in
there, and when the vegetables grow up,
the administrator will offer them for hungers. Isabella Community Soup
Kitchen is a similar place, the organization offer some food for poor people. We
also get some benefit from the volunteer tasks. Through we did these task, we
gained lots of soial [social] experence. We learned how to apply for a volunteer job,
and during we completed that job, we look out our unique ability. It made us to
be more confident. On the other hand, we got to meet a lot people, that means
we got more oppotunity to make conversation with native speaker. It was useful
for us to improve our integrated English skill especially speaking and
listening. To sum up, volunteer is a good activity, it offers an oppotunity for
us to help others, at the same time, we can improve our integreted skill.</div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Final Semester Reflection:</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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This
semester, I had different volunteer. The first one it was Special Olympic. It
was in the SAC in CMU. It was first time I took a volunteer. I was nervous and
fear because I did not know how deal with special Olympic. I asked some people
there if they needed help. Then I found out woman with a big table. The above
the table was fruits and vegetables. She gave special Olympic fruits and
vegetables. She was so busy. She looked like need help. I asked her if she
needs help. She said, “Yes, please.”
Then she taught me what I should do. She was so friendly with me. So I
helped her. Also the special Olympic was
so kind and friendly. The second volunteer was in soup kitchen. I was there
five times. I had different experience there. I volunteered in provide food,
wash dishes, prepare food, and clean soup kitchen. So we should keep everything
clean because it is impertinent kept customer’s’ bodies. The boss always said
to us you have to clean your hand and wear gloves. So these experiences give me
something new like how I deal with different people and different ages. Also I
talk with American people without shy [shyness]. I in addition these experiences make me
more trues and depend myself. I am able to make American friends. The
impertinent thing my language is helped by these experiences. So the new
language just needs practice. In the end I recommend other international
student take a lot of volunteer because it helps to improve their language and
earn experience different in your country.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Final Semester Reflection:</span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Summer semester usually goes faster than the regular
academic year. This summer semester only lasted for about ten to eleven weeks.
But in my opinion in spite of it is so short, but it is very impressive. During
the summer semester, our integrated skill teacher arranged an interesting
assignment which was let all the students take part in some social activities
and create an opportunity for us to communicate with American people by
English. I hope that I could talk to many people who are responsible for
different occupations, undergo various occasions, and do some diverse jobs. I
totally participate four different tasks. They are Animals Shelter, Isabella
Community Soup Kitchen, Plant Vegetable for Hungers and Auction Special
Olympics. From those volunteering activities, I learned that the how to find
volunteer changes on the official website of the volunteer center, how to take
the general process for signing up, how to make an appointment with others, ask
for help from them, how to and collaborate with another and how to talking with
people more politely. All the experience increased my self-confidence, social
knowledge. And the most significance of improvement is that it helped me learn
how to understanding and speak in English. When we were participating in each
task, we must communicate with other people with English. Such as making a call
to their office, trying to figure out what the currently exact job is, and
understanding how to finish it. And all those approaches really benefited my
English communicative skill and vocabularies.</div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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I would like to recommend that everyone had better take
some volunteer hours each semester especially for the students who are studying
in Language Institute. Not only you will have change to help others, but also
it can improve your English level.</div>
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</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJeY-dOaZjLqlggx9iZVEqZOV-y5gl0V99bwuKkoLMWHQjVKk3jPCIhm2aL9wMBvSFvDRuLTMMRQNygFlnE3MjTjbIHXlvNG29kFvVVaYQw4sFwxY9FgTdM6ldWQMY7vE7u_zYvSdNXGnl/s1600/question_clipart.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJeY-dOaZjLqlggx9iZVEqZOV-y5gl0V99bwuKkoLMWHQjVKk3jPCIhm2aL9wMBvSFvDRuLTMMRQNygFlnE3MjTjbIHXlvNG29kFvVVaYQw4sFwxY9FgTdM6ldWQMY7vE7u_zYvSdNXGnl/s320/question_clipart.gif" width="131" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via Digitallanguagelearning.blogspot.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As you can see, many of the students very thoughtfully reflected on what they learned and how it benefited them as people and language learners. Of course, not all students were sincere or reflective; many simple recorded their experiences without a second thought; however, those who took the time to think and reflect did so in a way that I have never been able to see from students. I have always struggled to get students to reflect in a meaningful way, but they really learned from these volunteer experiences, which created the opportunity for genuine reflection and growth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I highly recommend service learning to any teacher of any level. For more about service learning and civic engagement, read <a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2012/10/intercultural-horizons-conference.html">my post</a> about our presentation at the Intercultural Horizons Conference in 2012. Here are the links to <a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2013/06/special-olympics-before-volunteering.html">Special Olympics, Part 1 (Before Volunteering)</a> and <a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2013/06/special-olympics-part-2.html">Special Olympics, Part 2. </a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-72421271835858088242013-10-22T12:00:00.000-04:002013-10-22T12:00:05.113-04:00Word Cloud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Confession: I love word clouds! But maybe that's not too surprising considering I'm a language teacher.... </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is your favorite word cloud generator? I've heard Wordle.net is a good one, and the one I made below of a few of my posts on this blog is from Tagcloud.com. It's awesome to see that "students" is the biggest word. I try to make my students the focus of all that I do in teaching, and it is evident they come up often in all of my posts. </span></div>
<br /><img height="268" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/clipular-clips/15287065/4549806227718144?GoogleAccessId=clipular2012@appspot.gserviceaccount.com&Expires=1382551757&Signature=srWbUd%2B4wo4lJHKp3rZwGo3U33XWDFk7YjasVP7Y0NmopJxa%2Bb%2FNRBS9Ef3dVeqcUYu8YN8raxxXkVNNIbBCIq5A9OWHADgNYs9LklkQEN63WTJjW4vg9QBuzVsH6v1LBgLdyW%2FE7iOe7dM5Mg2sXQ1sL1d7VSXVPwzrPxN3euQ%3D&md5=a38023b1a8893ff016a9b4aa6a01be9e" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Tagcloud.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I think I am going to have my students create one for each of their papers and then one with all of them at the beginning of the semester</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. I am then going to have them analyze their vocabulary and compare it to what they've learned in class. I think word clouds lend themselves well to appropriate register and genre. </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do you have any suggestions for activities using word clouds in class? Anything that you've done that works?</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I'd love some suggestions!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-18441065949153958742013-10-21T13:55:00.001-04:002013-10-21T14:20:49.554-04:00It's been quite a long time!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hello all! I apologize for the long delay in writing. I've been accused of being an "ebb and flow" blogger, and I guess that is correct! Teaching, traveling, learning, and life in general have gotten in the way of my blogging (and tweeting). To make up for lost time, over the next couple of weeks I will do my best to update you on where I've been and what I've been doing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Currently, I am working on a post about student reflections on the Special Olympics and service learning </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which I promised to you ages ago </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(remember t<a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2013/06/special-olympics-before-volunteering.html">his post about the planning</a> and <a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2013/06/special-olympics-part-2.html">this one about the event</a>?). I will also post some fun links and action-packed activities to keep students engaged and motivated to learn. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="347" src="http://reallifebh.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/13-tips-words-cloud1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via Reallifebh.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">P.S. How is your semester going? Mine is great and busy! I'm teaching two reading and writing courses, which means I'm never out of reading material :-) What are you teaching this semester? What have you been focusing on in your classes? Are you trying out new material? I'd love to hear about i!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-23583604621649338932013-06-28T10:00:00.000-04:002013-06-28T10:00:05.846-04:00Pairing Up Students<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cambridge Publishers has a great newsletter, and in the latest, there was an article about different ways to pair up students for partner activities. You can find it <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/grammarandbeyond/uncategorized/2013/06/two-ways-to-set-up-pair-practice?j=3337937&e=thele1ca%40cmich.edu&l=10575_HTML&u=54717844&mid=1009603&jb=0">here. </a> The author (Alice Savage) mentions line ups, but her "line ups" are different from mine (which you can find here: <a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2012/10/in-class-games-line-ups.html">Line-ups</a>). She asks students a question, and their answer puts them in different lines. After that, she counts them off to put them in groups. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She also mentions using "split" sentences: she takes sentences, cuts them in half, distributes them to students, and they have to find the other half to their sentence. I use this idea quite often to teach grammar and for partnering students, and it's really quick efficient and uses the target language of the course of that day. It could also be used to teach expressions and certain target language being focused on at that time. It's also more exciting than asking the students to count off by however many groups you want. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Confession: this is my go-to method. It's fast and easy, especially because I devote time at the beginning of the semester teaching them this partnering method. It's not as creative, but in my day-to-day teaching, partnering students happens so often that I'm often more interested in getting them into groups quickly, rather than creatively. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For more ideas about partnering students creatively, see my post called <a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2012/10/using-dictionary-entries-creatively.html">Dictionary Entries</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Have a wonderful weekend!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-22824782385311047692013-06-25T18:30:00.000-04:002013-06-25T18:30:02.530-04:00Creating and Challenging Arguments <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As I've mentioned before, my intermediate integrated skills class (listening/speaking/note-taking; ELI 071) is using Mosaic 1 this semester. One of the speaking strategies learned is "Asking for Confirmation to Challenge Excuses. You can see a photo of the "Strategy" from the book. Basically, the book teaches students to summarize what they speaker is saying and than challenges that excuse. I don't always use the suggested activities in the book, as I usually add multiple elements to practicing strategies; however, their suggested activity turned out so superbly that I had to share with you!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigeRHvkutknLlolphTaAg-CZ4YjmfRwt_C0Qyx_j56S94gBpFmPxD7zcTm9QO9g_y4GiFelEesWLz-m4Sa3qbK8hL_FG_THucIzHJmEei_t4C01itUx6ohjJQX-8q3ZzKte-nxnvDxZQc/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigeRHvkutknLlolphTaAg-CZ4YjmfRwt_C0Qyx_j56S94gBpFmPxD7zcTm9QO9g_y4GiFelEesWLz-m4Sa3qbK8hL_FG_THucIzHJmEei_t4C01itUx6ohjJQX-8q3ZzKte-nxnvDxZQc/s1600/photo.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Mosaic 1: Listening/Speaking</td></tr>
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</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The book suggested a role play: one person be the student and one be the teacher. Here's the pattern they suggest:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>Student:</strong> Make an excuse for something you don't want to do. *</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>Teacher:</strong> Ask for confirmation, questioning the truth of the excuse. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>Student:</strong> Make another excuse. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>Teacher:</strong> Ask for confirmation again, questioning the truth of the excuse. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">*I told the students it could be any excuse students make... And they make a lot!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Some of the students excuses were spot on... exactly what they say in class and in office hours. For example, one student had an excuse for being late; another had an excuse about not finishing his homework. The surprising part of this for me was the fabulous challenges the students had for the excuses! Some of them were better than anything I could have ever come up with. For example, one "teacher," whose student had an excuse for being late because her sister took her shoes, challenged her about not having another pair and putting fashion before class! Another "teacher," whose student couldn't do his homework because he was homesick and couldn't connect with his family on Skype, asked whether or not his family did his homework for him and if all ELI students could skip doing homework because they missed their families! Some students took words right out of my mouth, such as "I don't want to hear any excuses" and "What were you doing all day after class that you couldn't complete your assignment." Not only were the students' excuses spot on (they have a lot of practice, trust me :-), but their challenges were as well. I have decided that I am going to start asking them to challenge their own excuses so that I don't have to!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I think this was a valuable interactive lesson because it got students communicating with each other. They had to negotiate meaning with somebody else and create excuses or challeges for those excuses. This activity really helped them understand this strategy, as they all did very well on this portion of their chapter test. Now to get them to stop making excuses in real life... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Do you have any interactive role-play activities that have helped students improve their communication skills? I would love to hear (and implement) them!</span> </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-29784153092073326212013-06-24T18:30:00.000-04:002013-06-24T18:30:00.327-04:00Special Olympics, Part 2<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I promised a second (and third) post on my class' Special Olympics Experience, and here is the second. So sorry for the delay. I hope you've enjoyed some of the other posts in the mean time. </span><a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2013/06/special-olympics-before-volunteering.html" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is the first post about the students' pre-volunteering reflections if you haven't read it yet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My students and I met at the Special Olympics event in Mt. Pleasant at nine in then morning. We had a few students who ran late, but we all found each other and got on our way. First, the students signed in (they even got t-shirts!) at the volunteer tent, and they scattered. </span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTPNQ2sRKdsx1lYT2kfJIbJwpVXgRWyxEgoVoYkhPvQUuDLgBdz" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTPNQ2sRKdsx1lYT2kfJIbJwpVXgRWyxEgoVoYkhPvQUuDLgBdz" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some students worked in the gym and worked as volleyball assistants. They chased balls and returned them to the athletes competing. A few even got the chance to be line judges! One, who is a basketball and workout fanatic, was very proud of himself. He said that the referee praised him for how quickly he learned the rules and applied them to the games. Another admitted he made many mistakes; however, the athletes and coaches encouraged him despite his mistakes. He said that his helped encourage his self-confidence, especially in speaking English. </span><br />
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" 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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via the Special Olympics</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another student helped stuff "gift bags" for the athletes. She aided another worker put water bottles, fruit, and goodies into bags for the athletes to enjoy. Her position allowed her to communicate with volunteers and athletes. She also got to share about her culture and country, which made her extremely proud of herself. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A few other students escorted athletes to their events and to watch other events. This activity allowed them to get to know the other volunteers and the Special Olympics athletes. They also gained self-confidence in their English speaking skills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">E</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">verybody was required to volunteer for at least 3 hours, but many of them stayed even longer! I will write another post about the students' reflection, but I want to emphasize how much the students interacted with other people and how much they enjoyed it. They all recommended</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that I give this assignment again to my other classes, and that they would volunteer at the Special Olympics again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Please stay tuned for my next post about the students' reflections on their experiences. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">P.S. Follow me on Twitter @Caitlin_ESL</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-58243022588220804602013-06-23T18:30:00.000-04:002013-06-23T18:30:02.977-04:00Mobile Learning<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://images.apple.com/iphone/home/images/whyiphone_hero.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How can we utilize students' phones effectively in the classroom?<br />Image via apple.com</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mobile learning is a new-ish phenomenon; I have been reading about them everywhere recently. Alexandra Lowe recently<a href="http://blog.tesol.org/using-smartphones-in-class-to-improve-speaking-skills/" target="_blank"> posted about using smartphones and tablet</a>s on the TESOL blog, and I just found a great video from the British Council on using cell (mobile) phones in the classroom: </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYRxpoFPCFU">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYRxpoFPCFU</a>. <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They provide three different ways to use smart phones: pictures, voice recording, and apps. Bonus: the first two can be used with "dumb" phones and don't need an internet connection. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No smartphone? No problem!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My students always bring their phones to class, so I like the idea of integrating the use of phones into my lessons. My beginning-level reading/writing course is using the Oshima and Hogue series for writing, and one of the chapters is about describing a picture. The book provides a picture with a sample description; however, rather than having students describe a random picture from the book or internet, I can have them describe a picture on their phone. Then they can read their paragraph to their classmates (this would work in pairs or small groups) and show the picture that they're describing. This would be much more meaningful to have them describe and write about an actual person in their lives, and they wouldn't have to "make stuff up from their head" (a common complaint about non-context-based writing). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How do you (or could you) utilize smart phones in your classroom? What are other ways we can incorporate students' interests in the classroom to maintain engagement?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">P.S. More with Alexandra Lowe: Secrets for Adult ELLs <a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2013/04/secrets-for-adult-ells.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a> </span>and <a href="http://caitlinahamstra.blogspot.com/2013/05/secrets-for-adults-ells-part.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-12227700581524025822013-06-22T18:30:00.000-04:002013-06-22T18:30:01.475-04:00Teacher Echo<a href="http://elt-resourceful.com/2013/06/07/teacher-echo-teacher-echo-helpful-or-greedy-and-controlling/?goback=%2Egde_4610447_member_250278465" target="_blank">Here's </a>a great post about the negative aspects of teacher recasting. I find that I automatically "echo," or recast what my students say. Half to say it correctly and half so that the other students hear the thought. The articles points out that not all communication needs (nor should) go through the teacher. This is neither authentic nor useful. I have always wondered why some students complain that they can't understand their classmates, and this may be one of the reasons. The students rely on me to negotiate for them, rather than negotiate for meaning themselves.<br />
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Do you recast what students say? Why or why not? If you're a student, would you prefer if you teacher <i>didn't</i> always repeat what you and your classmates say?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-12856817221643838722013-06-21T20:00:00.000-04:002013-06-21T20:00:05.026-04:00The English We Speak<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The BBC has a great section of their website dedicated <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/" target="_blank">to learning English.</a> I think they have great stuff; if you haven't, you should check it out. They also have a wonderful section called <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theenglishwespeak/" target="_blank">"The English We Speak."</a> Here you can find audio files and scripts for common English phrases. The speakers are British, but I think this is a good thing for students studying in the US. They often complain that they can't understand other "accents," and exposing them to these various dialects will help them improve their listening comprehension. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="A leopard" src="http://wscdn.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/assets/images/2013/06/04/130604125513_leopard_226_152_bbc.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can a leopard change it's spots?<br />Image via BBC</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, the main reason I like these is because they teach very common expressions. For example, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theenglishwespeak/2013/06/130611_tews_127_a_leopard_cant_change_spots.shtml" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">A Leopard Can't Change It's Spots</a> would be perfect for my 052 (beginning reading/writing) class because our unit theme is animals (the speakers are at the zoo in this audio file) and one of their vocabulary words is spots. I will now require them to write a little skit of their own using this expression. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I also plan to teach </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theenglishwespeak/2013/05/130528_tews_125_slept_a_wink.shtml" target="_blank">Haven't Slept a Wink</a> </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">because all of my students are always lacking in sleep. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="A tired man" src="http://wscdn.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/assets/images/2013/05/21/130521105648_tired_226x152_bbc.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Are you as tired as Neil or FeiFei today?<br />Image via BBC</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These can be used for quick and engaging lessons, which we always need, right? </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-49858226760075370932013-06-20T21:11:00.004-04:002013-06-20T21:11:59.110-04:00Twitter<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do you have a <a href="http://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a> account? Upon request, I have created a new Twitter account focusing on ESL, teaching and learning. Please follow me <a href="https://twitter.com/Caitlin_ESL" target="_blank">@Caitlin_ESL</a>. I would love to follow you, too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tweet, tweet!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1815237415816607543.post-80427192871716761402013-06-09T19:07:00.002-04:002013-06-09T19:07:30.195-04:0021st Century Teacher!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am happy to announce that I have officially joined the 21st century! I am now using spreadsheets for my grade book. I have been clinging to the paper version for my whole career, and now I am utilizing the power of technology to help make calculating grades much easier! </span><br />
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<a href="http://blogs.cites.illinois.edu/cites-ats/files/2011/05/TechnologyComic3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Comic with teacher explaining to student that "There aren't any icons to click. It's a chalk board."" border="0" src="http://blogs.cites.illinois.edu/cites-ats/files/2011/05/TechnologyComic3.gif" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I still have my paper book for attendance and daily homework, but it all goes into the spreadsheet at the end of the day. It's a big step for me, but I'm liking it so far. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What do you use to record grades? Paper grade book? Excel? Google Docs? Blackboard? Any suggestions for using spreadsheets? </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01565805990421312270noreply@blogger.com0