Prosody

There are some things we just take for granted. We don't realize the amazing yet simple keys to communication that we use all the time, until we stop to think about them. There are small changes in the words/phrases we say in order to convey a meaning; we do it every time we speak without thinking of it. Like breathing we communicate.  Prosody is a new word for me and I like it. I like how it rolls off the tongue; saying it feels like it's meaning: melody and rhythm. Judy B. Gilbert sees prosody as the interconnected aspects of rhythm and melody of language. After this past weeks module on pronunciation I have a new appreciation for how I am able to communicate with people because of the article we read and a video I watched by Judy B. Gilbert. Communication features were brought to my attention that I had not stopped to think about before. I am also very excited about integrating this element of prosody into my teaching. My understanding of what pronunciation all includes has been expanded and I see how this new way of thinking about pronunciation will really help my students improve communication.

Autonomy

Autonomy in a second language means you can go into a real situation where you need that language and you can communicate effectively with someone, without getting help with translation from your first language.

I have never actually been able to become autonomous in any of the second languages I have tried to learn. I guess I am too lazy or something like that. I lived in the Philippines for 1 year and I learned a lot but was not able to become autonomous, I either used a translator or the people I spoke with understood English. I wish I had been able to speak and listen autonomously because then I would have been able to shop in the market without help or participate in discussions as I sat with locals; I would have learned more about the people and been able to learn their stories without it first being filtered through a translator.

The other language I have tried (still trying) to learn is French. Autonomy in French would mean I could help my children in their French Immersion studies, volunteer in their classroom at school and communicate with my uncle Paul.

Autonomy doesn’t mean you are perfect in a language, it means you can communicate effectively even if you make mistakes or need to check for clarification.

Inspire and empower through discovery and creativity

 When it comes to teaching reading and writing in my ESL classroom I want to inspire and empower through discovery and creativity.

Inspire
 I want to inspire students to read and write.To start with, they may not know all the potential they have in knowing how to read and write and I want to give them good reason to want to do it. As the teacher I have the power to inspire them. It is good to show the students the potential of reading and writing. Changing the world, brightening someones day, expressing opinions, knowing what's happening int eh world and around them, learning something they are excited about; are some ideas to share with the students.
Empower
 I want to empower students to read and write anything on their own. I will not always be there for them so I need to give students strategies that will empower them to do it on their own. This means I can't just blurt out an answer I know they have the resources to find on their own; better to show them the resource and help them learn to discover it on their own.



........ the vehicle .......


Discovery 
The way to know something and be able to do it again will be for Students to discover it for themselves. It is an easy road for me to just hand out a list of words and definitions for them to learn but the easy road will not have the effect I hope for. I want my students to be inspired and empowered. Prediction, brainstorming, group work are all examples of discovery.
Creativity
Creativity stimulates thinking, it brings something different to the table and everyone has to take notice of it. Something new will stand out in their minds and they will learn quickly. Plus I don't want to be boring. Realia, pictures, drawing the story, acting it out could all be ideas to make it more creative.

It is very important to view the students as intelligent and interesting; they have a wellspring of knowledge, just not able to express it entirely in English yet, and it is my job as the teacher to help the students unveil that in themselves.
My experience -  I didn't like to read very much until I found the genre that was for me, then I couldn't stop reading. Everyone has a key interest that will pique their desire to learn and I hope to help my students discover it for themselves.

Starting- Developing the Language Skills

I look forward to this final class in my ESL certificate. I have enjoyed learning through the other courses and so I know I will enjoy this one.  I look forward to developing my understanding of how to use all the language skills effectivly in task based lessons. I am a big fan of the task based learning, I have been trying it out more in my classroom over the past few months and I find it fun and the students love it and learn through it. We ordered seeds from a seed catalog, they planted seeds in indoor containers and they visited a local furniture store to learn about their furniture and the sale they were having. They learned through these lessons, yet I still felt there was something missing; grammar needed to flow better out of the tasks or the tasks took too long and talking through what they did was too short. Always something to improve on. I hope to work through the details of how this should work better and to see where I have missing links. The next theme my students asked for is spring cleaning; does anyone have suggestions on tasks, activities ...?

Final blog post for Thinking about Theory

I have learned so much through this course. Since I teach an Adult EAL class 7.5 hours a week I feel I have a great opportunity; I get to use what I am learning as I am learning it. In Module 7 I was introduced to learning styles; I'd heard of this before but I had never put much thought into it. I discovered my learning style according to VARK; I am a visual, aural and kinesthetic learner. Realizing this I became aware of the strategies I needed to use, first of all to learn from this course and, to be a better teacher. Also I have begun to identify the learning styles of my students. Having limited hours in a week I have not taken a formal assessment of this but I have taken note of what I know and see in the students. Thus I have prepared more diverse activities.
I wrote in my last blog post about how I have been including more task based lessons into my curriculum. Before taking this course I thought I understood task based lessons, but in module 9 I learned a whole lot more about what task based means. I still have a lot to learn. All the information I learned about task based lessons I rolled around in my mind, I told my husband about the material and then I tried a task based series of lessons in my class; based on what I learned in the module (I used all three of my learning styles according to VARK to learn this). The task I used in my class was ordering vegetable seeds from a catalog. They looked through the catalog, read about the seeds, learned new words they needed through dictionaries and asking questions of me, the EA or other students. They gathered the information they needed to complete the task without me having to give it in advance. I helped as needed, they did the task and they loved it. After the task they did pair and group work to talk about what they did in  the task and answer question. They were so into the task though that the time on structure was very short, but I can work on that next week or when the seeds come in. They were so keen on the task they actually ordered seeds for their gardens. I complained last week about the problem with boring tasks, well I feel this lesson gave some insight into that; because this was a topic that was of interest to the students they had no chance to be bored.
In the beginning of this course we learned about methods and approaches; I found this useful. Naturally I have been using my preferred approach in my teaching but now that I learned the many methods and approaches I feel I know why and how the methods I choose to use can be affective. It also made me aware of using methods that work well with different students. It makes sense to be intentionally eclectic in my approach rather than just doing whatever and having it accidentally work.
I plan to keep taking the courses offered through U of W in regards to the TEAL certificate so that I can keep learning and improving my skills as a teacher. I love this profession because I interact with such amazing people everyday.

Are Task based Lessons Boring?

This week we had a module on communicative classrooms. The teaching in the module and the ideas that were contributed to the discussion were helpful. They will inspire new ideas on information gaps, authentic activities and task based lessons for my classroom.  I am always trying to adjust things in my class to be more relevant; if I learn new things I like to change things up and try it. Some things work some don't. So I have been trying to do task based lessons and use more authentic materials in my class. Interestingly, unlike what the module said, I have found lesson planning easier with task based lessons. The one problem I have run into is that my students don't always seem interested in the material, now this may be just what it appears to be but it makes me wonder. If I put myself in their shoes would I find filling in forms, reading instructions, writing notes to school teachers and the like boring. I think I might. When I ask them what they enjoy about English class and where they learn the most, they say they really enjoy reading fiction stories, they find they learn a lot, connect with the story and they are even motivated to reread it at home. Of course there is nothing wrong with stories, in fact there are lots of communicative ways to use a good story(group discussions, retelling the story, looking up new vocabulary, etc). As good as the stories are I also want the student to enjoy the authentic tasks as well. Maybe there are some ideas you have for me to make the tasks more interesting. I hope some of you will interact with me on this and let me know what you have done or expect to do to ensure the students have more interest in authentic materials.

The pros and cons to assessing Learning Style

Through this weeks module I can see how a students learning style should matter to a teacher. As a teacher I feel I am successful when my students successfully reach their goals. Learning  about learning styles has made me see that knowing a students preference to learning would be beneficial for their success. As an example I can see that a learner who is visual will need more objects and pictures and diagrams in class and an aural learner would really benefits from small group discussions and being able to ask questions. Providing re-writing time, written instructions and worksheets into a lesson could really energize a reading and writing learner, and going on field trips, making things in class and hands on activities would benefit the kinesthetic learner. When I know the styles of each student I can prepare a more powerful/effective classroom time, and thus the students will learn more. Also the process of discovering their learning style is a way for the student to become more involved and invested in their own learning. I really liked what Dr. Howard Gardner had to say about multiple intelligences. This made me think of the importance of student involvement in learning and of teachers not seeing their students as all the same. Another benefit that I like about knowing a students learning style is that from it the best learning strategies for each student can be identified. The strategies that work best with their preferred learning style will accelerate their ability to learn and reach their goals. When they know this they can use what works best for them outside the classroom. As an example a reading/writing learner could be encouraged to carry a notebook to write new words as they come up, and a visual learner could use sticky notes around the house with phrases and words attached to items and places they might say the phrases.
There are some cons to assessing learner style that I learned about this week. The research being done on the affect of learning styles with students is not complete and in some cases needs a lot more research for the researchers to feel confident in it. The main con to assessing learning styles is the question of the scientific reliability and validity of the assessments. Another con that I saw is how some learners with lower level skills would not understand or accurately be able to answer the questions on the surveys to determine their style. Also depending on the amount of hours per week a program has, the value it has compared to the time it takes would need to be considered. When I think of these cons I am not dissuaded from my opinion that knowing each students learning style is valuable and even necessary but I do think it is important to consider these drawbacks. Here are some possible examples of how I might apply this in my class, which is 10 students, multi level and only 7.5 hours a week; We could talk about the different ways of learning and through discussion see where they feel they are at; I could provide them with a simplified style assessment questionnaire and review the results together; we could discuss different strategies for learning, have them try the strategies and see which one they connected with the best.