MATSOL 2013 Conference Highlights (continued)

On May 3, I was able to attend two academic sessions at the MATSOL Conference. Compared to the annual TESOL convention, this event is on a much smaller scale. Even so, I found the experience of looking at the schedule to be the same: I wanted to be in two places at one time. That’s a very good indicator of  the range of topics being addressed. The healthy selection of sessions to attend made choosing difficult. I was very happy with my choices, though. Here are some highlights.

Sentence Frames to Promote Critical Thinking & Access Background Knowledge. Melissa DaPonte Katz works with younger ELLS, but the concept of sentence frames is useful to ELTs in general. Melissa demonstrated how she uses sentence frames to provide scaffolding and help learners move toward higher-order thinking. She explained that “frames” are different from “stems” in that sentence stems only prompt a complete thought. In contrast, sentence frames teach language patterns; they provide linguistic structures that are relevant to the given topic. For example, to help students identify and discuss author’s purpose, Melissa has given the sentence frame: I think the author’s purpose it to ___ because ___. Other frames can be created for predicting, identifying cause and effect, comparing, and contrasting.

The use of sentence frames can elevate class discussions and help ELLs build internal templates for expressive language. Melissa noted how sentence frames bring ELLs into a classroom discussion quickly and build a learner’s confidence. She has used them in partner work, for writing journals, as an activation or closing activity, and even as part of assessment.  Melissa explained how the sentence frames keep language demands down and free up energy and space for higher-order thinking.

You can visit her school’s wiki and find more examples of sentence frames.

Exploring the Talk of TED Talks for the Classroom. Helen Solorzano, author of NorthStar: Listening and Speaking 3 and Contemporary Topics 1, talked to us about going beyond  comprehension questions and exploring other aspects of listening materials to develop students’ listening skills and strategies. Helen promotes the idea that we L2 teachers must learn to listen in a new way. We must design our listening lessons to help students listen to what is said, how it is said, and what is not said (directly).

To illustrate her approach to in-depth listening, Helen turned to TED Talks, and specifically a talk by a Google engineer, Matt Cutts. TED Talks, as you may know, are brief, inspiring performances from global TED conferences, and as the tagline states, the talks feature “ideas worth spreading.” The videos are free under a Creative Commons license, making the resource a very convenient choice for teachers.

In terms of listening to what is said, we can ask learners to focus on main ideas and details. For example, we might use true-false questions or have them complete a template for an outline of the talk. We can also focus on vocabulary. Helen shared a vocabulary profile tool and suggested its use in order to identify word frequency and determine which vocabulary to pre-teach. She reminded us that we could also give attention to idiomatic words, so students could listen for context.

Listening for aspects of discourse help students focus on how things are said. For instance, student can learn to identify the structure of TED Talks, with their ever-present discourse markers and frequent personal experience openers. How exactly do the speakers introduce themselves? Does each speaker follow the basic structure: opener-body-closer? We could ask students to give their own talk using the same organizational discourse markers. Attention can be called to verb tenses through a cloze exercise. Students could also listen for stance markers (Actually,… / It turns out…) or asides (By the way,…).  How things are said also includes pronunciation aspects, such as intonation patterns and changes in speed and emphasis.

A lesson can also focus on what is not said during a TED Talk. From references made during  a performance to implied meanings through gestures, this aspect poses its own unique challenges. Teachers can create inference questions to tackle the unsaid. Helen pointed out that it’s okay for inference questions to have more than one correct answer. This actually encourages discussion.

Helen mentioned other sites that offer rich listening materials for ELLs:

• StoryCorps
• Public Radio Exchange

You can also visit her L2Listening blog.

I offer my sincere thanks to both Helen and Melissa for sharing their insights and suggestions.

MATSOL 2013 Conference Highlights – Keynote Speaker

I attended MATSOL for the first time last week. On Friday, I joined Pamela Vittorio, the lead author for Next Generation Grammar 3, to talk about our work on Pearson’s newest grammar series. I was thankful that I was able to hear one of the keynote speakers and attend a couple of sessions before the day was through. I’m happy I can share some highlights with you. I’ll start with the keynote speaker at the Friday luncheon.

Using Brain Research to Enhance and Energize Language Instruction: The Multiple Pathways Model. Dr. Janet Zadina was wonderfully engaging and delivered an information-packed presentation on brain research. Through her studies in cognitive neuroscience and with her experience in education, Dr. Zadina was able to help attendees better understand how we learn and how we can help students learn a language.  She began by highlighting the importance of one’s readiness to learn and the belief in one’s ability to learn. The existing state of the learner must be considered. While we want students appropriately aroused (with their interest in the lesson peaked), we can make lessons engaging and memorable without bringing in anxiety or trauma. A positive atmosphere facilitates learning, and teachers must make the environment as rich and meaningful as possible.

The presentation helped me retain the concept of how synapses are formed and how learning means making connections from existing neural information to new information. Dr. Zadina pointed out the importance of connecting to a learner’s background information and building a foundation. In the case of learning sounds, we received the suggestions to exaggerate contrast, provide multiple encounters with the sound spoken by different speakers, and allow for an extensive speaking-listening experience. As for grammar, Dr. Zadina recommends asking students to figure out grammar rules rather than giving the rules to them. Dr. Zadina went on to explain that people learn what is important to them.

Other take-away thoughts from this talk include the fact that our learners’ brains are working harder than ours during a lesson. That should prompt us to reduce their cognitive load and keep out distractions. I also appreciated the insight that we do not have the brain we are born with; we have the brain we create. The ability of the brain changes. Finally, we all left with the reminder to use information or it will get lost. In Dr. Zadina’s words, “Fire until you wire.”

You may visit Dr. Zadina’s site Brain Research and Instruction and sign up for a free newsletter. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you, Dr. Zadina, for sharing your insights!

More highlights to come!

TESOL 2013 Highlights – Day 3 – Part 4 (Electronic Village)

Integrating Google My Maps and Language Learning: The collaborative creation of virtual tour guides by Brazilian students. I sometimes wish there were two TESOL conventions, one for academic sessions and one for workshops in the Electronic Village. There simply isn’t enough time to visit every presentation you want to hear. I had hoped to spend more time in the EV, but I found only one morning in my busy schedule to devote to this room, which is like a smorgasbord of ideas for using technology. I wasn’t disappointed, though.

First, I heard from Marcos Racilan from the Federal Center of Technological Education of Minas Gerais. Marcos works with high school students, and he shared samples of group projects using Google My Maps. His students were beginners, and the two-month project he led was designed to be meaningful, use authentic materials, promote autonomy, and engage students in collaborative work. Google My Maps allowed students to plan and present virtual tours. They chose their destinations, set their own budgets and itineraries, and made use of images, texts, audio, and video. Imagine each destination point being marked on the map and accompanied by a description with rich media both selected and created by the students. This one sample will help you consider your options if you would like to design a similar project.

Re-Animating Pronunciation Using PowerPoint. After hearing about the Google My Maps project, I headed over to another station being run by June Rose of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. June was demonstrating an effective use of PowerPoint to improve both vocabulary and pronunciation. She explained how her activities were designed to apply MI (multiple intelligences) theory and allow for a greater variety of ways for students to learn and demonstrate their learning.

Basically, June’s project had students create customized slide presentations to practice problematic sounds at the word and sentence level. The files served as an electronic progress record, which the teacher could use to assess individual student performance and which the learner could use for future reference and practice. June reported the high gains in confidence she observed in her learners.

The project begins with an assessment of the learner’s pronunciation problems. Two individual sounds per students are identified, and the students confirm the choices for targeted instruction. Students are directed to resources, like Rhymer.com, and they are asked to create a set of PPT slides for each sound. Each sound should be practiced via 30 words (three charts with 10 words for initial, medial, and final positions). Students must also create 30 sentences with those words. The word lists and learner-generated sentences are recorded. Both the learner and the teacher assess the recordings and follow-up instruction is offered. That includes attention to suprasegmentals. The teacher encourages self-monitoring through additional recordings. It was truly wonderful to hear the progression and the increase in accuracy in the samples June played for us.

A heartfelt thank you to Marcos and June for sharing their creative ideas!

I look forward to TESOL 2014 and all that we can learn.

TESOL 2013 Highlights – Day 3 – Part 3

Smart Use of Smart Phones. Michael Jones packed the room with teachers eager to learn more about using technology in the classroom. Michael is currently teaching at Woosong University in Korea, and he has had much success in using smart phones to deliver content to his students. His presentation introduced practical and engaging uses of QR codes.

We got a 30-second history lesson when Michael explained how quick reaction codes were originally invented by Toyota back in 1994 to control inventory. These matrix barcodes proved to have faster readability and larger storage capacity than UPC barcodes. Today many outside the automotive industry are using QR codes as a content delivery method.

Michael demonstrated how to generate a QR code on QR Stuff, a free online code generator.  The website offers a clear 4-step process, and the output choices include downloading, printing, and emailing the code. Michael pointed out that all TESOL attendees had QR codes on their badges, and indeed it seemed the in thing was to have a QR code on a business card or even in place of a business card.

Those participants who had yet to install a QR reader app did so quickly, and Michael then demonstrated possibilities. He warned that there were limitations, of course, as there are with any piece of technology. Do all your students have smart phones and know how to use QR codes? Will some pre-teaching be necessary? How is the Internet connection? (I mentally added, “What if batteries are running low?”) Once everything is in place, however, QR codes can be used for:

• administrative uses = Save paper. Post a single-sheet printout at the door and let students scan and download the homework assignment as they leave.
• paperless tasks = A website URL or Dropbox link can easily be converted into a code. Michael asked us to do a poll, complete a quiz, and submit ideas on a Google Docs all via QR codes.
• content delivery in the classroom = Delivering content to students’ phones can replace the use of slides on a projector.
• class projects = Michael has had his students exchange movie reviews and surveys via QR codes.

One of my favorite activities in this session was Michael’s use of two similar pictures. Working in pairs, one partner scanned code A and the other scanned code B. We each had a line drawing on our smart phones and were instructed to try to identify the differences without showing our partners our versions of the picture. A lot of language was produced. For example, I said, “In my picture there are three birds in the sky.” My partner replied, “There are no birds in my picture.” You may have done something similar on paper, but why waste paper if you don’t have to? Also, as Michael pointed out in his session description, why not leverage your students’ interest in mobile technology to increase their motivation?

Great job, Michael! Many thanks!

Electronic Village Highlights to come! (The last of my TESOL summaries!)

TESOL 2013 Highlights – Day 3 – Part 2

Identity and Language Learning across Time and Space. On the final day of the convention, our keynote speaker was Bonny Norton. She is an American Educational Research Fellow and is based in Canada at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Norton began by having us consider the extent to which social relations of power, namely racism, sexism, and elitism, limit opportunities for language learners. She highlighted the connection between communication and identity: When learners speak, listen, read, or write, they engage in more than an exchange of information; they are organizing and reorganizing their identity, a sense of who they are.

Dr. Norton’s 60-minute presentation was thoughtfully constructed and eloquently delivered. I may fail if I try to recall all the points made, so I will make a humble attempt to list just a few of the key thoughts I walked away with.

• Identity is not only about how we understand our relationship to the world at the present. Identity stretches across time and space and encompasses future possibilities. Dr. Norton spoke of imagined communities and imagined identities. She encourages us to allow imagined communities into educational discourse. Students can then see the power of individuals to shape the future.

• Whereas motivation is a psychological construct, investment is a sociological construct. We should move beyond the question about what motivates a learner and ask what the learner’s investment is. Dr. Norton views greater investment in classroom practices as a result of giving greater ownership over “meaning-making.”

• Word Englishes have a place in our community. Again, with a focus on the relationship between identity and communication, Dr. Norton stated that students should not be made to feel embarrassed if they do not have “the Queen’s English” or standard English.

• Our goal is to teach students so that they will not need us. We need to make ourselves dispensable. 

Developing Intercultural Awareness. Joe McVeigh, co-author of Tips for Teaching Culture, presented for the Intercultural Communication Interest Section. Participants gained insight into the many hidden dimensions of culture through the fable of The Blind Men and the Elephant. Our choral reading kept everyone engaged. Should you wish to share this fable with a group of international students or teacher trainees, you might follow Joe’s example and use strategic word gaps (omit the final word in each verse) or use an online reading, such as the one by Tom O’Bedlam (whose YouTube channel, SpokenVerse, I’ve featured before). Unlike each blind man in the story, who could only understand a part of the whole, we were given the chance to identify all the elements of a particular culture, from laws and customs to humor and arts, and construct an encompassing definition of culture.

Joe offered several practical ways to facilitate understanding and communication among learners from different cultural backgrounds. I’ve listed a few of those suggestions below.

• Discuss proverbs to identify cultural values.

• Use multiple choice questions that prompt discussion about customs, manners, and thought patterns. Example: You and your friend go to a restaurant in the U.S. How do you pay for your meal? > List choices A, B, C.

• Practice non-verbal communication, such as handshakes. (I recommended the orientation video put together by Columbia Business School.)

• Give students the chance to present in the role of an expert and tell about their own cultures. This could take the form of a written text, a poster board, or a classroom discussion.

Final set of Day 3 highights to come! (Hint: Clever uses of technology.)

TESOL 2013 Highlights – Day 3 – Part 1

Criteria to Guide Topic Selection in ELT Materials Development. Deborah Gordon, Laurie Blass, and Jenny Bixby led a session that benefited both the classroom teacher and the full-time materials writer. Whether you are designing in-house materials or working for a publisher, it is important to understand why a purely subjective choice of topics is not likely going to be as successful as a criteria-based evaluation system for topic selection. Deborah began by identifying some of the influences on topic selection, such as the market and standards. Jenny observed how high-interest topics are subjective and change over time, but we also have “evergreen” topics, for example, food or relationships, which are addressed from different angles over the years. Laurie warned how a topic may look good to you, but may not be exactly right for your students. Deborah later used a cupcake analogy to emphasize that last point: As materials writers, we must look past the sweet cupcakes and look for the shiny apples.

The trio listed points to focus on when making a topic selection: (1) students’ interests, (2) students’ needs, (3) relevance for the students, (4) course objectives, (5) and how well a given topic provides a context for the teaching points. They warned against “topic fatigue” and the need to choose topics that are neither too broad or too narrow. They also raised the point of “shelf life” in the case of a book. How long will it be until the next edition comes out? Will the topic have relevance over the next, say, 6 years?

Their overreaching principles were stated as questions. (1) Does this topic use the students’ time well? (2) What is the take-away for the student? Deborah urged us to find the “nutrition” in our materials by identifying content as worthy of discussion,  text structures and vocabulary as useful, and content as conducive to critical thinking.

The three experienced authors then offered a 5-point rating system that could be customized for each writing project, big or small. They shared a long list of criteria-defining questions, which participants got to discuss in pairs. We were asked to identify the four that we considered most important. One of the questions I circled was “Is the topic something students can relate to or have experience with?” While I still feel relevance is important, I should also have circled “Is the topic culturally or politically controversial?” I appreciated hearing insights from other participants. Some were from different parts of the globe, so perspectives on cultural factors were shared. Two Brazilian teachers said that they were able to address a very wide range of topics with their young adults. For teachers from other countries, the number of taboo topics was a lot higher.

Thank you to Jenny, Laurie, and Deborah for giving us all something to take away from this 7:30 session!

More Day 3 highlights to come!

TESOL 2013 Highlights – Day 2 – Part 2

Subconsciously Held Bias: Exposing the Myth of Racial Colorblindedness. Aram deKoven of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire was Friday’s keynote speaker. Dr. deKoven focused on how people, including experienced educators, have biases, many of which are used subconsciously to interpret situations.  A quick vocabulary activity demonstrated how our minds are wired to make associations. Dr. deKoven explained that our biases can be explicit or implicit.  It is important to understand that once a sensation is subconscious, we cannot modify it or control its affects.  As educators, we must recognize how biases can negatively affect students and their performance. If students are aware of biases held against them due to race, gender, etc., then their performance can only improve when those social pressures are lifted. Dr. deKoven explored the concept of identity and the possible sources of subconscious messages. He drove home the point that education holds the key to liberation and that teachers are some of the first gatekeepers. We can help students succeed when we have positive first impressions of them. Teachers can support learners through a warm climate, a challenging amount of input, opportunities for greater student response, and detailed feedback. Dr. deKoven suggested participants take a social attitudes test through Project Implicit.

A Balancing Act? Materials Writers, Publishers, Classroom Teachers and Researchers. The Materials Writers Interest Section assembled a panel of experts, and though there were unavoidable last-minute changes in the lineup, the session allowed for an honest, productive discussion on how perspectives, needs, and wants get balanced as textbooks get written and published for classroom use. Christina Cavage, the new MWIS co-chair, introduced each speaker for this academic session.  Irene Schoneberg of Hunter College spoke first, and began by noting how both teachers and materials writers each have their own balancing act to perform. Many aspiring materials writers were in attendance, and I hope they appreciated some of the frank insights this experienced author shared. Irene emphasized that schedules matter to publishers and explained how the marketing team and development editor (DE) make final decisions, which are influenced by market feedback. In the case of art, publishers have to make decisions partly based on the art budget.

Keith Folse inspired many with his humorous narrative of his road to becoming a materials writer. In the early days, he was simply a young teacher in the making who saw a need that was not being met, so he created the materials that were in demand at his school. Prompting by a supervisor put him in contact with a publisher and he grabbed their attention. That early publication remains in print today.

Pierre Montagano was a delightful addition to the panel. This marketer from Cambridge University Press addressed trends and truths about publishing today. Some of the trends? Video is replacing print. Adult gadget ownership is increasing. More courses are going online. As for the truths, Pierre observed how this new generation of learners and teachers doesn’t like to read instructions. They learn by doing. This form of impatience forces publishers to create platforms that are intuitive. Also, Pierre pointed out that while technology has a definite “cool” factor, we must always determine a purpose for any technology brought into the classroom. He used stimulating visuals to prompt reflection on concepts in publishing, such as the marriage between marketing and editorial.

Nick Robinson rounded up the group with his dynamic perspective as an independent publishing professional. He has not only authored books, but now works to represent other authors, making matches between writers and publishers. (You can find him on LinkedIn.) Nick discussed options of self-publishing, which he recognizes as a possible route for niche markets, and the use of open platforms, like English360. Some of his points supported the online trends mentioned by Pierre.

Thank you to all four speakers for sharing their helpful insights.

Day 3 highlights to come!

TESOL 2013 Highlights – Day 2 – Part 1

Mobile Learning for the 21st Century. At 7:30 bright and early on Friday morning, Susan Gaer of Santa Ana College gave an informative session on how to integrate mobile technology into language learning. She had participants begin with the same activity she uses with students early on in a course. We partnered up and used her guided questions to discover the features on our phones. As Susan noted, this paired talk saves the teacher the challenging task of trying to explain features on different types of smart phones. In our session, partners sometimes helped owners discover features they didn’t even realize they had. Susan’s questions also teach basic vocabulary: video, vibrate, text message, audio recorder, and more. The questions also help basic students review yes-no questions in the simple present. Does your cell phone have a camera? – Yes, it does. / No, it doesn’t. Another great tip was to use a photo as an ice breaker/ warm-up. Have students choose one photo (from their vast collections) and share it with a partner. Comments and questions naturally follow.

Susan wisely addresses cell phone etiquette with a set of questions about appropriate use in various settings. She uses these questions both at the beginning and ending of a course. She aims to teach students that in addition to being an instrument of communication, the cell phone is a learning device. One suggested activity has students write about a time they saw a cell phone being used inappropriately. (Susan has offered samples of student writings on her website.  Her students have signed releases, so you are free to use the texts in your own classes as models.)

Susan also recommended the use of mass text messaging through programs like Remind101. This free site allows teachers to stay in touch with students via daily messages, homework reminders, and other notifications. Susan has sent questions to students over the weekend and used their short replies to prepare a customized lesson for Monday’s class.

The use of photos was also discussed, and Susan used the clever term “instant photo gratification,” which is possible through sites like Photobucket, Flickr, and Google+. Her favorite lesson plan with photos is based on an activity about favorite clothes. Students use photos of favorite items in their closets and activate related vocabulary through presentations.

Making the most of her 45 minutes, Susan fit in a demonstration of online polling with Poll Everywhere. Instant audience feedback keeps votes anonymous but shows results as the votes are counted. Susan has had success using instant polls as warm-ups. As students enter the classroom, the key question and voting instructions are already on the board/ screen. The results lead into the start of the lesson.

Kudos to Susan for sharing so much in such a little time! She has also generously posted her handout and her presentation slides online (in PowerPoint and in Keynote).

More highlights to come!

TESOL 2013 Highlights – Day 1 – Part 2

Creating and Choosing the Best Materials for Speaking and Pronunciation. Before my own 12:00 presentation on Thursday, I was able to sit in on the first half of this wonderful intersection between the Materials Writers and the Listening-Speaking-Pronunciation Interest Groups. Steve Jones, the new MWIS co-chair, organized an amazing panel. I benefitted from two speakers’ insights before I had to make an early departure. First, Judy Gilbert, a respected authority in the field, shared her recommendations for teaching individual sounds and intonation. Key was her belief that the sounds S and D at the end of words are relatively more important than other sounds, like the infamous TH. Why? Because -s and -d endings are grammar signals, and their absence can cause miscommunication. She stated that in the early stages of learning English pronunciation, approximate sounds are fine, and it is not worth worrying too much over accuracy. For comprehension, “something like hissing” is good enough for a final -s, and “some kind of stop” is good enough for a final -d. Accurate voiced and unvoiced sounds can be attained later. Judy then explained the importance of intonation as the carrier of individual sounds. She went on to to present her Prosody Pyramid, which places a thought group at the foundation and the peak vowel (stressed vowel) of the focus word at the top of the pyramid. Peak vowels are the only critical vowel sounds. If students try to pronounce more than one focus word within a thought group, Judy explained, the system disintegrates and the speaker’s message or tone can be misunderstood. I appreciated Judy’s celebration of choral repetition, clarifying that students benefit from focused, quality repetition. Choral speaking at a natural rate helps learners overcome inhibitions and maintains rhythm. Judy demonstrated use of body movement to help students internalize contractions (open arms = full form > close arms = contracted form) and use of the a kazoo to comprehend the contrast of a focus word with the other words in a thought group.

Tamara Jones from the British School of Brussels followed and agreed with Judy’s emphasis on “listener friendly” pronunciation. Tamara presented her Prosody Package: word stress, speech groups, rhythm, focus, linking, and intonation. Her talk gave teachers ideas for integrating pronunciation practice of those six features into lessons based on our favorite go-to textbooks. For example, she recommends asking students to mark thought groups with slashes on texts written for reading practice. She has students read the given text along with her, and together they all use a large down-sweeping motion of one arm and a “shoook!” sound effect to mark each pause – - Tamara also believes in the value of body movement in the effort to internalize pronunciation. Among her numerous suggestions is the activity of mirroring actors in short dramatic pieces (TV, film). Tamara listed guidelines to ensure the activity would be effective: 1. Have students mirror actors of the same gender (i.e., male students mirror male actors). 2. Don’t allow use of cartoons or animated films. 3. Screen the clips students wish to use to ensure their choices are appropriate (e.g., don’t allow them to choose a film segment with a long fight scene). Tamara has filmed her students mirroring and asked them to watch their own performances. I appreciated other insights, among which was the idea that intonation errors are more dangerous than grammar errors because incorrect intonation can send the wrong message about tone.  Tamara observed that we usually spend significantly more time correcting students’ grammar errors, and yet we want our students to have control over the message they’re sending through accurate intonation.

Language Teaching Insights from Other Fields. This session showcased an exciting and soon-to-be-released TESOL publication edited by Christopher Stillwell. The 14 (yes, fourteen!) presenters shared highlights from their respective chapters. What participants got was a buffet of insights and tips drawn from other professions.

1. A former restaurant reviewer advised us to wield our power judiciously. For example, a harsh critique can shut down a writer in the classroom.
2. A martial arts instructor suggested we disguise repetition (not unlike the teachings of Tamara Jones and Judy Gilbert, by the way). This black belt/ ESL teacher advised us to use a variety of tools and settings to encourage repetition in order to master a particular skill.
3. A former manager observed that incentives must be valued by the student and must be achievable. The goal of the teacher should be to get students to perform their best.
4. Next to speak was a former TV commercial producer, who shared ways to make a lesson memorable. The tip: Know your core message and find the story to tell it. Teachers need to identify elements of a story to capture students’ interest.
5. A former business professional explained the usefulness of forcing judgment and disagreement through questions in order to promote production, particularly fast-paced conversation.
6. A former bartender highlighted the need to build rapport and know students’ names and needs. He encouraged teachers to remain positive since our mood can affect our students.
7. Speaking of moods was a nice transition to the tips presented by a positive psychologist, who places importance on being happy, healthy people. We learned the benefits of having students write a “Gratitude Journal.” As they recreate a happy state with words, they are producing language.
8. We also heard from a project manager, who placed importance on making lesson objectives S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely).
9. A gamer shared his insights from the RPG (role-playing games) world. The strategy of giving a good setup and encouraging students to assume a persona allows for richer production.
10. An experienced public speaker and toastmaster gave the simple but important tip to tailor your message to your audience.
11. A former learning disabilities specialist reminded us of the struggles learners face, and she suggested always doing review of the previous lesson, taking a multi-sensory approach, and practicing positive, non-judgmental teaching.
12. A former document designer warned us of cultural differences in the materials we create. Documents can shape attitudes.
13. A social activist suggested activities such as writing a letter of critique to the author of a fairy tale that has gender stereotypes. Alternatives were rewriting the tale and having a debate over the tale as-is.
14. Finally, a once-upon-a-time hopeful actor taught us the role of improvisation: You can’t say no. In other words, teachers have to find ways to keep the flow going.

Day 2 highlights to come!

TESOL 2013 Highlights – Day 1 – Part 1

TESOL is off to a great start! Here are some Day 1 highlights.

Make Your Own Board Game. At 7:30 bright and early in the morning, Jordan Gusich of University of Arkansas showed an eager group of teachers how to make original board games using Microsoft Publisher. His tutorial demonstrated how easy it was for those familiar with Microsoft Word to create templates using various shapes (mostly arrows) and text boxes. Microsoft Publisher is a part of the Microsoft suite, but for those looking for alternative software, there are LibreOffice (free, open-source) and Google Drawing. Jordan has used his game boards to break the ice at a first lesson, to serve as a prewriting/ brainstorming activity, to review grammar, and more. He explained that teachers have the option of setting the rules and writing in the text (questions or tasks); however, he found it highly productive to allow students the opportunity to create their own games. Much communication, negotiating, and creativity flow from that group activity. Students come up with time limits, questions, tasks, and even their own game pieces. In this short session, I also picked up some new tricks like using control/ left click / drag/ release to duplicate an inserted shape. Thanks, Jordan! His helpful, idea-packed handout is available on his website.

The Project of Critical Intercultural Communication. Thomas Nakayama, an invited speaker and professor of Communication Studies from Northeastern University, delivered an engaging presentation to a very full arena mid-morning. He gave information and prompted reflection on issues pertaining to culture. Professor Nakayama began with a brief history of Intercultural Communication, highlighting key events, such as the Foreign Service Act of 1946, which contributed to the training of Foreign Service workers prior to departure. Attendees learned the difference between a culture-specific approach and a culture-general approach. The latter seeks a general framework to be applied to any culture. We were also encouraged to go beyond viewing culture as something static. Professor Nakayama asserted that culture is also very dynamic; it is something we live and shape, and it keeps changing. As his talk moved away from the traditional approach (focusing on a culture-specific information) toward a critical approach, he raised questions like “How and why do cultures come into contact?” Key issues of communication, power, and contexts were explored. I like to ponder the implications of his observation that people can have different amounts of power when they come into contact. Professor Nakayama explained that political, social, and historical contexts shape our cultural experiences. His dialectical approach to culture asks, “What in the past shapes the present and future?” It also recognizes the contrast between public and private conversation about cultural values and the influence the former (in the form of public debate) can have on the latter. Thank you, Professor Nakayama, for the insights…too many to recall in this short space.

More to come!