Click here to listen to The Minimal Pair: Episode 011
Show Notes: The Minimal Pair
Title: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!
Episode no: 011
Date: Recorded on 5/29/14
Topics in Language Learning
Classroom
Management
Source:
The English Skills Learning Center blog: “Tips on Classroom
Management for Adult ELL classes”
http://www.eslcenter.org/about-us/blog/103-tips-on-classroom-management-for-adult-ell-classes
Classroom
management—what and why?
Challenges
of teaching different age groups and cultural backgrounds in the
same classroom
Challenges
of “mixed classrooms”—English and ESL
Different
college settings (Community college, 4 year college, grad school)
The
7 tips the English Skills Center blog shares in their article, and
how we
implement them in the classroom:
Make
class expectations clear and realistic and stick to them
Be
consistent: set class routines that students can become familiar
with
Find
a balance between being your students’ teacher and being their
friend (respected vs. approachable)
Work
to engage all the students while teaching. Don’t base the pace of
an entire class on one or two students
Use
interactive activities and open-ended questions as a chance to check
student comprehension
Ask
for student feedback and incorporate it as appropriate for everyone
Recognize
that some discipline concerns need to be addressed immediately,
while others are better done individually after class
Plus,
3 more tips (from us) for an even 10!
Follow
the “golden rule”—treat students with the same respect you
expect from them
Don’t
shame students into submission, participation, etc. (Brene Brown)
Address
different learning styles
(in addition to pace) in order to reach everyone
[18:04]
Methodology
Visual
learners
FYI:
listen to future episodes for similar segments about audio learners
and kinesthetic learners!
Source:
Adam Simpson’s blog, “Teach them English,”
http://www.teachthemenglish.com/2014/05/using-infographics-to-teach-language-the-why-how-and-where/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Beginning
English
Picto-wikis
Infographic
Timeline
of events in a story
Illustrating
student work
Diagrams:
Venn diagrams, columns, thought-webs
Building
blocks of English writing (bottom of pyramid)
Intermediate
English
Building
blocks of English writing (top of pyramid)
Outlining
essays (outline as a “blueprint”)
Videos
(i.e. “School House Rock” for Grammar)
Powerpoints
(a picture is worth a thousand words—being succinct;
animations—giving students a chance to answer first)
Presentations
(posters, Powerpoints, passed objects, etc.)
Graffiti
Advanced
English
Research
presentations (Powerpoint and beyond)
Videos
(for the student and
by the student)
Including
pictures in wikis (literal and abstract)
Picture
outline (a picture for each point)
[32:40]
Culturally speaking…
English-only
debate
Immigration
issue
Preserving
L1/living in predominantly L1 communities
Learning
the spoken language of new country and letting go of L1
Actively
integrating both in daily life
Language
and identity
First-generation
Americans
Kids
caught between cultures
3rd
culture kids
Role
reversal in immigrant families
Multilingual
countries
The
linguistic divide can cause political/cultural tension (i.e. Quebec)
Language
status (English vs. anything in the U.S.)
Countries
that were formally colonized and the linguistic implication
English
as the official language of the U.S.
The
U.S. does not
have an official language
English’s
status in the U.S. as the “unofficial official language”
Should
the U.S. have an official language?
What
should it be?
Should/could
there be more
than one?
Is
this an issue to be decided at a state or federal level?
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