The Minimal Pair

Pair

09/04/14

Learning

English is spoken in

many countries – so which is the “right” English?

English has

official/special status in 75 countries (2 billion speakers)

Numbers and their

implications: more non-native speakers than native speakers

(probably…)

ESL students from

English-speaking countries: what does that say about us (the ESL

programs)?

Grammar snobbery

There’s a time and

a place to get it right (formal vs. informal English)

Prescriptive grammar

vs. descriptive grammar

Privileges:

education, class, race, L1 vs. L2, ability

Language evolution

Sources:

LinkedIn Group:

English Skills and Language: Discussion: “India is the single

largest English speaking population on Earth. Do you agree?”

(discussion started by GB Singh, 8/18/14)

“FAQs The English

Language” – British Council

(http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-faq-the-english-language.htm)

“Why Grammar

Snobbery Has No Place in the Movement,” from 5/2/14

(http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/05/grammar-snobbery/)

[20:50]

PowerPoint, taboo?

Pros

Visual aid –

especially helpful to visual learners

Keeping the lesson on

track/organized

Accessible (can be

saved in Bb and referred back to later)

Interactive

(sometimes… depends on who made it!)

Student use

Cons

One-way

learning/teacher-centered classroom

Inhibits organic

discussion

Visual

pollution/over-saturation of slides

“Overly formal”

vibe

Over-simplifies the

material (reduces critical thinking)

Tips

Guy Kawasaki’s 10,

20, 30 rule – 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30-point font

Keeping it simple –

but not simplifying the material

Make it interactive

(to avoid “one-way learning)

Spice it up!

Set expectations

(i.e., students shouldn’t just sit and copy from the slides)

Take breaks

Sources:

“Does PowerPoint

Help or Hinder Learning?” by Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Teaching

Professor Blog

(http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/does-powerpoint-help-or-hinder-learning/)

Blog post from Guy

Kawasaki, December 30, 2005 (blog.guykawasaki.com)

[41:35]

The downside of being

an adjunct

Lower pay

No retirement plan or

benefits

No job

certainty/guarantee

No/less input to

department decisions

“Adjunct Faculty

Loan Fairness Act”

Student debt is a

problem for most people, but adjuncts (who have less job certainty

and low pay) have an especially hard time paying off their loans

2007 – Congress

created PSLF (Public Service Loan Forgiveness), to offer loan

forgiveness to people in public and non-profit sectors

Many adjuncts don’t

qualify for PSLF because you have to work an average of 30 hours a

week/year, and adjuncts don’t always get enough hours

The Adjunct Faculty

Loan Fairness Act would allow adjuncts to access PSLF, regardless of

hours worked

Sources:

“Adjunct faculty

exploring unionization,” by Koran Addo, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

(http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/adjunct-faculty-exploring-unionization/article_5691bb7b-08b7-5f36-9e48-c52544c840c8.html)

“Big News: Sen.

Dick Durbin Introduces Adjunct Faculty Loan Fairness Act,” from

Adjunct Action

(http://adjunctaction.org/2014/07/big-news-sen-dick-durbin-introduces-adjunct-faculty-loan-fairness-act/)

in Language Learning

“on”

What

do we mean by “on”?

When

is it hard to be “on”?

How

do we stay “on” in challenging situations?

Take

a deep breath!

Set

the timer

Fake

it ‘til you make it

Remember,

you’re human

Call

in reinforcements

Don’t

be afraid to say no

[17:20]

new life into a course

Why

is it necessary?

How

do you know it’s time?

What

should you do?

What

should you not

do?

Did

it work?

[28:10]

Antics…

ready for a new semester

Coordinating

your schedule

Waiting

for classes to “make”

Last

minute changes

Creating

a syllabus/schedule

Gathering

materials

Getting

familiar with new systems/schools

SHOUT

OUTS: Program coordinators and department secretaries…and adjuncts,

of course!! Especially to Julie Heyer, for her cheerful disposition,

positive attitude, and suggesting our slogan “keep it minimal.”

What’s the difference?

EFL – English as a Foreign Language is taught to a mostly homogenous group of ELLs in a non-English speaking country

ESL – English as a Second Language is taught to any group of ELLs, primarily immigrants, in an English speaking country)

Objectives

EFL

Less urgency/ irrelevant to daily routine – speakers don’t need English in their everyday lives

Topical– literature, cinema, art, culture, conversation, etc. are all courses that could be offered

ESL

More urgency/practical – speakers need to use English to survive, so they’re less concerned with technicalities

Holistic – communication skills, reading, writing, ESP, “big picture”/long-term purposes

Our experiences…

Planning/preparation:

EFL

Focus on practice, especially speaking, pronunciation, and conversation

Exposure to authentic English

Reasons/motivation

ESL

Hands on/suitable for immediate needs

Explicit cultural instruction

Integration

Sources:

Oxford University Press, English Language Teaching Global Blog, article by Kate Bell – oupeltglobalblog.com

Teaching ESL to Adults – www.teaching-esl-to-adults.com

[19:00]

Identifying auditory learners

Good memory for conversations, jokes, music, lyrics, etc.

Enjoy discussion, debate, conversation, listening to music, etc.

Sing/hum/whistle to themselves

Prefer oral presentations to written reports

May read slowly and/or have trouble interpreting graphs, maps, charts, etc.

Teaching Tips

Beginning

Read directions aloud (while projecting them on the board or providing a handout)

Paraphrase/restate directions, especially difficult words

Allow students to record lectures

Word association/verbal mapping

Reading aloud (alone or with someone)

Books on tape

Mnemonic devices, like PARSNIP (stay tuned!)

Intermediate

Assigning oral presentations to supplement written work

Incorporating music and videos to supplement reading/lecture

Allow students to record lectures

Word association/verbal mapping

Reading groups to share/supplement written journals

Advanced

Assigning oral presentations to supplement written work

“What questions do you have?” (rather than “Do you have any questions?”)

Ask them questions, too

Encourage active participation so students get a variety of input from people with different backgrounds, levels of fluency, accents, etc.

Listening to/creating podcasts

Source:

The Study Gurus, “Study Advice for Auditory Learners,” article by Clare – www.thestudygurus.com

[38:57]

PARSNIP

Politics

Alcohol

Religion

Sex

Narcotics

–isms

What does the last P in PARSNIP stand for?

Tips for teachers – countdown:

5. Raising cultural awareness

4. Know your audience

3. Warm, but not hot (let them discuss something without it getting too heated)

2. R-E-S-P-E-C-T

1. Keep it neutral

Source:

LinkedIn Group, TESOL International Association, discussion started by Anes Abdelrahim Mohamed on July 4th

The Minimal Pair: Episode 013

7/6/14

Digital divide

What is it?

Effects students and

teachers

Challenging classroom roles

How do tech skills help make

students and teachers more marketable?

Tech controversy

Is technology replacing teaching?

When Sugata Mitra gave slum kids a

computer, they learned how to use it on their own…

Should the Internet be included in

curricula?

Why ask students to leave their

devices outside? Are we excluding the Internet from classrooms?

Is this controversy fueling the

digital divide?

Sources:

http://eltchat.org/wordpress/summary/sugata-mitra-and-the-future-of-teaching-an-eltchat-summary

090414/?utm_content=buffer3dce3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/archives/technology.shtml

http://www.usnews.com/education/technology-in-the-classroom

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/technology-in-the-classroom/

http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html

[19:45]

What is Web 2.0?

When should a teacher use it?

What issues exist?

Suggestions for new users?

Thanks again to Nate Soelberg for

talking to us about Twitter!! You can reach him at @MrNatethteacher

Until next time, keep it minimal…and

TWEET ME IN ST. LOUIE!

The Minimal Pair: Episode 012

Show Notes: The Minimal Pair

Title: “Where can I get a Brazilian

wax?”

Episode no: 012

Date: Recorded on 6/25/14

in Language Learning

for Specific Purposes

Sources:

http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/elp-esp

http://iteslj.org/Articles/Gatehouse-ESP.html

http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/teaching-english-for-specific-purposes-esp.html

What

is it? How is it different from ESL? (from UsingEnglish.com)

Types

of learners

Types

of instruction

Learner

motivation

What

are “specific purposes”?

Business

Law

Architecture

Engineering

Medicine

Tourism

Restaurant

industry

Instructor

responsibilities (from UsingEnglish.com) and challenges

Setting

goals

Learning

environment

Evaluating

students

Who

is qualified to teach it?

Is

a TESL certification enough?

Do

instructors with content specific backgrounds (like an MBA or

J.D.) have an advantage?

[19:10]

situations

Online

presence

Email

Social

media

Students

who are new

to the country and dealing with lots of “real-world” issues

Finding

housing

Setting

up utilities

Figuring

out public transportation; getting cars and driver’s licenses

Getting

acquainted with a new city: what to do, where to go for fun, etc.

Overlooked

things: where to get a haircut, how American pharmacies work, etc.

Remaining

approachable; validating their challenges

Having

authentic situations in ESP classes

Product

pitch

Writing

emails

Good

news vs. bad news

Requests

& reminders

Job

interviews

“Water-cooler”

conversation skills

Book

recommendation: Americans

at Work: A Guide to the Can-Do People

(by Craig Storti)

[36:15]

speaking…

vs. low-context cultures

Sources:

http://www.marin.edu/buscom/index_files/Page605.htm

Worldwide

ERC

What’s

the difference?

High-context

– indirect (Asia, Middle East, Africa, South America)

Less

likely to share thoughts and feelings

Stress

expressed non-verbally or accidentally

Conversation

is monotone (lack of inflection and enthusiasm)

Communication

is indirect (evasive, talking around

the point, tactful, ambiguous)

Conflict

(harmony valued)

Low-context

– direct (North America, most of Western Europe)

More

open with thoughts and feelings

Don’t

hide stress/tension

Conversation

is enthusiastic

Communication

is direct (precise, blunt, to the point)

Conflict

is a means of expressing (and having pride for) personal opinion

Tips

for teachers

Make

students aware of the difference (validate both)

Be

specific with directions for assignments (putting it on paper helps

indirect communicators)

Modeling

being direct (i.e. through teacher feedback)

Prefacing

authentic situations with a discussion about being direct vs.

indirect

Encouraging

classroom participation (challenging for indirect communicators)

Students

who want to tell the teacher how to teach

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]

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]

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?

Check us out on twitter, FB, gmail

Keep it minimal!

Notes: The Minimal Pair

Don't Box Them In

no: 010

Recorded on 5/30/14

in Language Learning

Learning

Sources:

“Passive

Learners vs. Introverts—A comment,” by Naomi Epstein (from the

blog Visualizing

Ideas)

#ELTChat

Summary from May 7th

2014—“How we deal with passive learners,” compiled by Lizzie

Pinard

Talking

points from both sources and our

experiences:

Distinction

between “introverts” and “passive learners”

Introverts

didn’t raise their hands, but were clearly listening; rather than

conforming to the expected learning behavior, they adapt their own

Passive

learners seem completely disengaged from the lesson; often don’t

know what’s going on, when things are due, and how to complete

assignments

Motivation

Students

who have to be there vs. students who want to be there

Age

and life experience as factors in student beahvior

Avoiding

labels, targeting the problem

“Introvert”

and “passive” are not mutually exclusive

Not

important to argue over definitions or positive & negative

connotations of each

More

important to focus on the behaviors inherent to both/all kinds of

learners and how to make space for them in the classroom

Our

tips:

Introverts

Variety

of activities (i.e. speaking vs. writing)

Take

it slow (build up to oral participation & give them time to

think before responding)

Partner

work (gives them a space to build confidence)

Passive

Learners

Meeting

them where they are (trying to get them to see it from their

perspective)

Academic

contract

Frequent

conferences

How

our tips support

distinguishing between the two,…

…but

don’t “box

them in!”

[24:30]

What

Informal

assessment

Homework/in-class

Who

Academic

English students

Listening

& pronunciation students

Grammar?

Why

Reading

comprehension

Summarizing,

paraphrasing, & plagiarism

Vocabulary

building

Description,

Analysis, Self-reflection

Real

world participation incentive

Progress

monitoring

When

& Where

At

home vs. in class

Before

reading vs. after

Testing

situations

Extra

credit

How

Side-by-side

Quote-paraphrase-reflect

Vocabulary

Listening

comp.

Group

work

STAR

(Situation, Task, Action, Result) journals

Daily

reflections

[45:20]

speaking…

communication

Source:

DFA Intercultural Global Solutions, LLC

http://dfaintercultural.com/top-10-tips-for-communicating-with-anyone-in-the-world/

What

are Dean Foster’s tips and how do we use them in the classroom?

Take

your time – Ask the other speaker to slow down – Keep it simple –

Don’t be afraid to ask for help – Avoid baseball English – Skip

the acronyms – Don’t ask yes/no questions – Get rid of double

negatives – Talk to more than one person – Start formal – Pay

attention to the non-verbal – Be respectful, be interested, &

be humble

SHOUT

OUTS: #ELTchat and everyone who participated in the conversation,

especially Naomi Epstein and Lizzie Pinard)

YOU our listeners!

Thanks!

Adjunct

Action!

Keep

it minimal!

The Minimal Pair: Episode 009

Notes: The Minimal Pair

to Strangers

no: 009

Recorded on 5/16/14

Topics

in Language Learning

Tutoring/student support

Inspired by the

article “Minimalist Tutoring: Making Students Do All the Work,”

by Jeff Brooks of Seattle Pacific University

(https://docs.google.com/document/d/18iposMnhBlTZIKhZ_s2gpgtfnd5-XV_nBRabuv44o3w/edit?hl=en_US)

Talking points:

Teaching students to

fish

Improve the student,

not the paper

Helping vs. editing

Goal of writing a

paper?

Student ownership

(both of their writing and their mistakes)

“Basic Minimalist

Tutoring” Tips:

Sit beside the

student

Have the student be

closer to the paper than you are

Position yourself so

that it’s not convenient to try to write on the paper; don’t

bring a pen

Have the student read

the paper (so they’re not excluded)

“Advanced

Minimalist Tutoring” Tips:

Concentrate on the

paper’s strengths

Ask “leading

questions”

Give the student a

task, leave him/her alone, come back to check in

“Defensive

Minimalist Tutoring” Tips:

Imitate student body

language to show deference

Be honest: “This is

your paper, not

mine!”

[23:00]

Methodology

Small talk

Our experiences…

Why should we teach

it?

“Making space for

English”—shout out to Anna Loseva

The Fine Art of Small Talk by Debra Fine 

How can we

incorporate it into our classrooms?

5 Tips for Students:

talk to strangers

Keep it light

Being engaged

Closing the

conversation

Reflect

[40:40]

Culturally

speaking…

Group work

Why group work?

How do we determine

groups? Factors to consider and why:

skill level, confidence/personality, age, gender, language

background, religious/cultural background…

The importance of

teaching students how to be students in an American classroom

SHOUT OUTS: Jeff Brooks of

Seattle Pacific University & Anna Loseva @AnnLoseva 

The Minimal Pair: Episode 008 

Show Notes: The Minimal Pair

Title: The Little Episode That Could

Episode no: 008

Date: Recorded on 5/8/14

Introduction: So, it’s finals

time…how are you holding up?

Topics in Language Learning

Students’ perception of their own

performance:

Students who think they are doing

fine/don’t seem worried, but are failing

Students who are doing fine, but

constantly worry about their grades

Students who wait until the very

end of the semester to ask what they can do about their grade

Students who didn’t do the

original work, but want extra credit

Students reactions to final grades

[17:04]

Methodology

How to deal with a test/writing prompt

that doesn’t go as planned…

The test takes longer than

anticipated

Give them extra time?

But what if another class is

coming in…?

The test results were lower than

expected: was it too challenging? How to decide:

Look at scores overall: did

everyone do poorly?

Look at individual scores: did

anyone do drastically worse than they did on previous tests?

Adjusting scores for tests that

were deemed disastrous

Avoiding the same mistakes in the

future/gauging the length of time and level of difficulty of future

tests

[32:27]

Adjunct Antics

Career Adjunct?

Being an adjunct wasn’t meant to

be a career, yet that’s what it is for many people

Feeling like a second-class

citizen

Unions: the solution? Or part of

the problem?

SHOUT OUTS: Dan Clark, thanks for

listening and giving us positive feedback on the quality of our

recording—it means a lot, coming from a fellow pod-caster (First

World Podcast). Also, I have a HUGE shout out to Stephanie, for

figuring out our microphone problem so that we could record tonight,

against all odds. This truly was the “little episode that could.”

The Minimal Pair: Episode 007

Show Notes: The Minimal Pair

Title: The Ball is Pretty

Episode no: 007

Date: 4/21/14

Topics in Language Learning

Student attendance & making up work

Importance of coming to class,

especially in a second-language classroom

Reasons for absences; where do we

draw the line?

Attendance policy

Homework that’s due on the day

that class is missed

Making up what was missed

(including assessments)

[20:18]

Methodology

On the lighter side: fun things we’ve

done and would like to do!

Games

Ice-breaker

Mad libs

The Minimal Pair game

Taboo

Simon Says…

“Speed” vocabulary

BINGO

Music

“School House Rocks”

Conditionals & modals,

YouTube compilations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBIawQGe-88

Azar song lessons:

http://www.azargrammar.com/materials/uueg/UUEG_SongLessons.html

Count & non-count nouns (My

Favorite Things)

Conditionals (If I Had a Hammer

or Octupus’ Garden)

Vocabulary cloze

Role play/dramatizations

Lower Academic English

Point-of-View

Pronunciation

[38:28]

Adjunct Antics/Culturally speaking…

When worlds collide: varied

perspectives in the classroom

Modals: “should/shouldn’t”

discussion

“Food for thought”: how

sharing food opened a discussion on cultural differences

“Diversity theme” in a diverse

classroom

Culturally informed opinions about

lecture topics

Keep it minimal!