Pau's video-podcast: Meeting New Friends

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SqTFgGiaEA

My Video-podcast

Series: Living in a Globalized World
Videopodcast: Meeting International Friends

I) Intended Students

The intended students for this videopodcast are 9th grade students, high school level. They are a group of 40 students from different social backgrounds that attend a public school in Valparaíso, Chile; so they all share the same first language: Spanish. At this level students have very basic knowledge of English, they know the pronouns, some basic regular verbs and daily life vocabulary such as window, pencil, door, etc.

The class is composed of 25 girls and 15 boys. This school has not much access to computers; there is just one computer laboratory with 30 computers, for the whole school. So, in this case I will work with my laptop, a pair of speakers and a proyector to show the video to all the students.

For this series students will need to know the present tense of the verb to be, the pronouns, the use of like and love to express likes, for example “like/love plus a to-infinitive verb or -ing”. They will also need to listen and understand spoken English.

II) Objectives

Content Objective for the whole Series: Recognize the importance of English in a globalized society; understand the diversity that exists in the United States, the different cultures that mix here and the different accents of English.

Language Objective for the whole Series: Write about likes and dislikes about Globalization.

Content Objective Individual Videopodcast: Learn how people introduce themselves in English; use of the verb to be and present tense; learn some structures to express likes.

Language Objective Individual Videopodcast: Become familiar with the vocabulary used to talk about oneself; talk about and introduce members of the family by showing pictures.

III) Videopodcast' s Elements

This videopodcast shows people from different countries introducing themselves, most of them are interntional students, and tend to talk slower and clearer, but some of them are native speakers and talk faster. Therefore, this videopodcast has the following elements to make it more comprehenive:

It has image so that the students can see the people speaking and their gestures.
It also has some visual aids such as texts and the flags of each country to support students understanding of the audio.
It has speakers from different nationalities to make it more interesting and eye-catching, so it shows students the usefulness of English to relate with people all over the world, and that motivates them to listen and try to understand.

IV) Strategies Used

In this videopodcast, I have applied several strategies that we have learned here in this four months. It has realia, because all the people in this video are common students that I have met during my stay here in the United States; besides it shows the students the importance of English in this globalized society. Therefore, it is motivating for students, because here they can find a purpose to learn English, a language that can act as a link between people from different countries and languages, so English can give students many opportunities in their lifes. It is also multimodal because it has image, audio and text. When I created this videopodcast I also had high expectations on these intented students, so I provide then some support with the flags of the countries and some texts, using the knowledge learned in the language technology class. So this is a good idea to create our own materials for classes in order to reach our specific goals.

Reflection 6

Response to a question about English teaching

Question:

I work in a Headstart Program that has a Charter school component. Our classroom model is 1/2 day in Spanish and 1/2 day in English. The age group is 3 and 4 year olds. I was an ESL teacher for 32 years in public school. Here is our issue. I believe that it is okay to translate for the ESL children in the beginning if you are not getting any response in English. Others do not agree. Is there any theory about this?

http://www.everythingesl.net/askjudie/?i=10800&n=50

Hi Victoria,

Many people believe that in order to learn a new language, you have to be taught only in the target language, without using any of the first language at all.

Personally, I think that using the first language of the students doesn't make any harm. On the contrary, it can be very helpful, because you don't need to start teaching a new language all over again from the beginning but you can use the first language of the kids and build on that previous knowledge.

I think it's a good idea to use a certain amount of Spanish in the class and take it away gradually; depending on the students progress, because sometimes the children need something to grab at. I'm not saying that you have to translate everything and teach the whole class in English; because I know that sometimes the only English the kids hear is in the class. But if you are not getting any response in English I think it is okay to use some Spanish, to explain certain things or concepts that are difficult to understand, especially if they are little kids and don't have enough vocabulary to use.

However, I think every classroom is different and has different needs. Thus, every teacher has to evaluate and analyze their own particular situation in terms of age, background, English level, first language of the kids, learning styles, etc. Because what has good results for a class might not be necessarily good for another.

It is not just my personal opinion; research also supports the fact that, in order to be successful at school, an ELL child needs to be literated in his or her first language, so that he or she doesn't have to learn all the things as new. He or she can find support on his or her first language and just transfer the prevoius knowledge to the new task; because it is not the same as acquiring a first language. Kids already know a language, so you can take advantage of this, but you have to be also aware of how this first language works, in order to prevent and anticipate some comon mistakes and difficulties; especially if they share the same one.

Research also tells us that when kids feel their first language and culture are valued, they learn better and in a more comfortable way. Talking to a very experienced ESL teacher, she also agrees with the believe that it is better to take advantage of the first languge of the kids. She knows that because she has proved this through her experience.

Therefore, depending on the age and level of students you can use more, less, or any Spanish at all.

I hope this can help you... bye.

Reflection 5

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

I would like to know more about the home-school connection; how parents are involved in what their children are doing, and if it makes any change in the students' performance at school.

I would like to know more about this topic, because as I've been observing the classes and the kids at the school, I wonder how the immigrant parents relate with the teacher and the school if they don't know much about the language. I would also like to know how the teacher manages to communicate with parents from so many different countries.

I've search on the Internet and I found some web sites that helped me to get a better understanding of this topic.

http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-family-articles/article/7445-involving-parents-in-homework

http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-family-articles/article/824-teachers-tips-how-parents-can-help

http://www.schoolfamily.com/involved-parent?position=top

http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=1393

http://www.csos.jhu.edu/P2000/tips/index.htm

http://www.nald.ca/litweb/PROVINCE/nb/tesl/guide4.htm

These links explain the importance that the home-school communication has in the child success. It is important that both, parents and teachers work together helping each other; because on the one hand, the teacher knows about the school, the curriculum, the grades and the child behaviour during school time. On the other hand, the parents know about the personality of the children, their interests and family relationship. The most common ways of communication between teachers and parents are by phone or e-mail.

Parent expectations are also important. Involving parents in the educational process benefits the children. It leads to a better communication, because parents know how they children are performing at school, if they are having any problems or difficulties. So students give more value to their education, they feel their parents care about it, they have a higher self-steem and fewer bahaviour problems.

A good idea is giving the children interactive homework to do with their parents, not too difficult (TIPS, Teachers Involving Parents in School). For instance, they can ask about family stories, recipes or family trees. But it is important to explain to the parents know what are you doing and why, before give them instructions and enough time.

I also talked with Mrs. R, the ESL teacher. She told me that it was very difficult to communicate with the parents of the children, for many reasons: many of them don't speak English, so when they need to communicate they need the help of a translatior, sometimes the cultures are different, and parents are not expected to be involved in the children education at school, many times they don't have time to go to school because they have to work or they don't feel comfortable involving in activities with American parents. So it is a big challenge, but Mrs. Ross is very respectful of this, she tries to involve parents but she doesn't force them.

Reflection 4

Websites that might help

Axel is a 15 years old Cuban kid. He just arrived to the United States 25 dias ago; and started school on wednesday last week. He came with all his family to the United States because of political problems in his country. He likes soccer; he speaks Spanish and knows just a little of English; he knows some vocabulary and basic structures to introduce himself or ask permission to go to the bathroom, he can spell words and count in English, but he can't understand when someone talks to him.

This is very difficult because all the kids in the classroom already know some English. They have been at least one or two months in the school and can communicate well in English. So the teacher just does her regular class, and Axel is given the same instructions, the same guides and the same tests, but the problem is that he doesn't understand anything.

Now, the teacher is teaching an unit about food, shapes and colors. Axel is willing and eager to learn; I've seen his progress since he first arrived. The first day he was very quiet and just talked with us in Spanish (no English at all). But know, when he arrives the classroom in the mornings he seems more comfortable and he can say good morning to the teacher, but he can't yet understand much English and he is always lost in classes.

First of all, I think he should move from where he seats, so that he can relate the written words with its pronunciation and learn more, because he sits at the back and can't see well the board. I think he really needs to understand spoken English, to interact in classes and to know what is going on, so that he doesn't depend on others to translate things.

It is difficult to know where to start, as he knows just very basic things and the other students are more advanced than him. I think that he first needs to acquire some vocabulary.
He should learn by games. Here are some websites

Fruits (with audio): http://www.1-language.com/materials/memori/elementary/fruits/memori1.swf

Shapes: http://www.primarygames.com/storybooks/sammy/start.htm

Colors: http://www.primarygames.com/storybooks/i_spy/start.htm

Animals: http://www.primarygames.com/storybooks/farm/start.htm

These sites can be helpful not only for Axel but also for the other kids in the class. Here he can increase his vocabulary and reinforce the things learned, so that he can participate in classes.
Other websites for Axel to learn English:

Song about soccer (with lyrics): http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-football-popup.htm

Soccer: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-topics-football.htm

As Axel likes soccer, I think that learning some vocabulary and expressions about it would be useful, since it is something that he likes. Besides he can start relating with the other kids by having a topic of conversation in common, because many of the kids in the classroom love soccer as well.

Finally, I think that at first, it would be good that he uses these pages every day, for at least 30 minutes (he can use them more if he needs it), he can listen or read the information the times he needs and challenge himself to understand the main ideas. So that he can build his vocabulary day by day, understand and participate a little more in classes and doesn't feel frustrated.

Reflection 3

A case of effective language teaching

Mrs. R is an ESL teacher at a well known High School and she works with the newcomer students. She is a very nice person, and you can see that she really loves what she does. She spent several years teaching in Africa, so she has a vast experience in language teaching strategies.

Wednesday. The students were a little shy, they just have in the country between 25 days and 4 months. When we first arrived to the classroom, the students wanted to know who we were, so they asked Mrs. R. but she didn't answer that question; she told them that if they wanted to know, they had to ask us to introduce ourselves. Then, before the class finished, Mrs. R told students that the next day they will have to prepare a presentation about their countries, to teach other students on Friday.

Thrusday. Students had to form groups among the persons of their same country. They had to talk about what they wanted other students to know abou their own country and culture. They had to write in cardboards some of the information and determine the role of each one in the group.

Friday. The day of the presentations!. Students were all excited and nervous at the same time. They had to present in three different classes of Spanish. They presented in alphabetical order: Burma, China, Cuba, Moldova, Vietnam and Ukraine. They taught the other students their alphabet, numbers, months, days of the week and some useful words such as hello, thank you, nice to meet you, etc. in their language. The childrem from Burma even wore their typical clothing.

After the presentations, there was room for questions. From there emerged powerful stories from this conversation and the audience was very interested. Mrs R. explained to them that if the Burma kids had stayed in their country, now they would be dead.

When the presentations were done and they came back to the classroom, there was a kind of debriefing. Mrs. R asked the children some questions about what they had just done. Then they had to put that information in their jorurnals. All the kids concluded and agreed that they were nervous but it had been a great experienece. Mrs R also asked them what they liked about their own presentation and what they would have wanted to change or improve. So, they had the opportunity to think critically about their own performance.

I really loved this activity because it was purposeful and meaningful for the students. I could see their enthusiasm.They were very excited and really enjoyed talking about their country, and their culture. They prepared all the things carefully and did their best. They felt very comfortable talking and answering questions about their culture because they really managed the topic, so all of the students participated willingly in this activity.

It is wonderful to see all the progress these kids have made in such short period of time, how they are able to express their own ideas in English.

I think in this activity we can see reflected, many of the principles and strategies we studied during this quarter. It has been very important, because here we have seen all these principles in practice and we know that they really work.

For instance, social interaction; when they had to work together as a team, in order to make the presentation. She gave all the students the opportunity to learn and express themselves. The teacher also took into account the first language and culture of the kids; she made them feel that their culture is important and valuable. She didn't give students the answers but she made them search for them. We can see Mrs. R really has faith in their students; she believes they are capable of doing great things and doesn't give up on them. So students know this and feel really motivated.

Through these presentations I learned tons of things. It is wonderful how these kids have overcame all the difficulties the life has put in their way. I could also notice the different styles of the students; for example, the students from Moldova were very structured, they just read what they had in their cardboards. On the other hand, the students from Burma were less rigid; they explained with their own words. The kid from Ukraine was more technologic; he made a Power Point presentation.

This has been an unique experience that I will never forget. I think that people should appreciate and take advantage of the diversity and the mixture of cultures that exist in the United States. It has been one of the best experiences of my life, that undoubtedly makes me a better person. It gives me another perspective of life and a better understanding of education. I think one of the best things of this career is that you not only teach your students, but also you can learn from them.

Reflection 2

If only he knew...

On thursday, we (the four of us attending at Ferris) went to a Social Studies Class. In this class none of the students were native English speakers, although they had a good level of the language. We had met the official or permanent teacher (Mr. B) and been in his class the day before. He was not going to teach the next day, so he invited us to help the substitute teacher..
When we arrived the following day to the classroom, the substitute teacher (lets call him Mr. S) was already there. He already knew we were going to be in the class.

Mr. S was sitting at his desk while the students were doing whatever they wanted. He wrote some instructions on the board and kept on doing something on the computer. It was an easy task, so the students did it in a couple of minutes and then started to talk, distracting the class. One of the students was playing on the computer, some others were playing with their phones or listening to music. One student was playing with a spray; it smelt terrible!. But the teacher didn't move from his seat, he didn't even say a word, he just pretented that nothing had happened. After that, he didn't even check the assignament and went on another activity.

in this activity, They had to check the answers of a reading comprehension homework. Mr. S made me check the answers. I didn't even know what the reading was about; he just gave me a sheet of paper with the correct answers and I had to checked them, meanwhile he was typing on the computer. He wasn't even paying attention to what I was doing. I just tried to do my best; but I think that wasn't correct. He should have explained to me something about the activity or asked me if I wanted or was prepared to do it.

I was really dissappointed. As a conclusion, I can say this is the perfect example of what a teacher doesn't have to do. First of all, you have to be aware of what your students are doing, you cannot pretend that nothing is happening when they are misbehaving and distracting the class. He should know you have to monitor your students, trying to find out if they understood the task, or if they have any doubts; specially if they are not native English speakers. Another important thing when learning a language is to create a comfortable enviroment so that students can express freely.

There are many important factors in the process of language acquisition this teacher should know, such as knowing the students, having high expectations, etc; but I think it is difficult to analize this particular case due to the fact that he is not the regular teacher of the class. However, I believe a good teacher always has to do his or her best no matter the circumstances.

Some tips and websites that might help Mr. S:

Characteristics of a good teacher:

Here he can find some characteristics of a good teacher, such as good sense of humor, wiling to listen to the students and motivate them, he or she should always be searching for new theories and prepares the class in advance.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/381389/characteristics_of_a_good_teacher_what.html?cat=4

He should also work on leadership and classroom management. Every teacher should be a leader among their colleagues, get to know and guide his students, provide constructive ideas and be a critical thinker. He should also have a good classroom enviroment and relationship with the students. He should be friendly, but at the same time state clear rules.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/206127/the_evolution_of_leadership_a_comparative.html?cat=4

I tried to search some web sites, but I really think that all what he needs to know is in these two books:

“ESL/EFL Teaching. Principles for success”
Yvonne S. Freeman, David E. Freeman.

“What Works in Schools, Translating Research into Action”
Robert J. Marzano

Mr. S should reflect on his teaching and try to incorporate these theories and strategies!!!