Teacher-Student

Tomorrow I have a class with a beginner student. She barely speaks a word of English. She just learned the sounds of the English alphabet. Lesson one of the book we use requires that she at least understand a few words. My student does not.

I just pow wow with my roommate with Scriviner's ideas in mind. He talks about five steps of learning: Do, Recall, Reflect, Conclude, Prepare.

We discussed how I will need a way to communicate with my students. So she will have to understand certain phrases and be able to ask certain questions. Once this basic relationship is established linguistically, the relationship can grow. But first, the teacher and the student. "I am the teacher, you are the student; I am the student you are the teacher". This is the first dynamic that needs to be established.

After this dynamic is established, the dialog between teacher and student can develop toward expressions of taste or opinion, to the exchange of information or inuendo.

It seem to me that the goal with a student is to achieve various levels of conversation. And at first the conversation is limited by the vocabulary and comprehension of a beginner learner.

So, identifying roles is a preliminary step in teaching a beginner student. Getting the student to a place where he or she can ask, "How do you say?" invites the student to search for vocabulary. Eventually, the students wants to express other ideas, feelings, or concepts with the basic rules he or she understands, and the vocabulary he or she has gathered.

Here, you introduce basic grammar while keeping converstation alive. The Callan method can be employed effectively at this stage. Having the student repeat words without thinking about them will master grammatically correct sentences, and know explicitly why they are correct or incorrect structures.

Another point is to allow the students to be aware of how and what they are learning. This increases their attention to the task of learning.

Pre-Intermediate Student

Just conducted uma aula particular. One pre-intermediate student. I have been reading out ways to get the student more involved and I've been theorizing, in my spare time, as to how to keep the students attention and have him thinking. I decided to have the student write on the board all of his favorite foods and his family members, just to see how his vocabulary was. Then we dove into the lessons.

The lesson had to do with "if, then" statements and statements regarding frequency (e.g. "do you often, hardly ever, never go to the gym?") We did the entire lesson standing up. We had conversations in Callan style. I would say a phrase or sentence, pretty much in his face, and he would respond with the phrase or sentence I just said. We would repeat it until his pronunciation was correct.

Later came a listening section, in which the students was asked to listen to the stresses, or inflections of the language. I had his repeat, accenting "this", "music", and "english": "THIS is the MUSIC of ENGLISH!" This allowed us to touch on accent and to develop an ear for the non-syllabic aspects of the English language.

After repeating a sentence, he would often have a questions regarding some variation of the sentence. He would ask, "...but can I say...?" and I would have to explain to him whether he could or couldn't.

Paying particular attention to the feel of the class, I arrived at a the feeling that was was occuring was entirely mutual. I had the feeling that he had control for a moment, as he asked questions and guided the dialog. In our give and take, I percieved a the most learning opportunities. This is when I would have him repeat phrases or words. This is when we would act out a scenario and have a conversation to rehearse. This is where you explain the nuances of the language that do not have rules.

I think I tried to establish a scenario in which he had the opportunity to show me what he knew and to try to use what he knew in known and unknown ways. In this way, the focus is on the student. He is actively pursuing comprehension, being stopped to examine the rules around his errors.

It is as if you don't always want the student to chase you, but sometimes you must chase the student. You must let him run here and there with a configuration of words and help him craft fluent setences. The student must find and feel the need to say what ever it is he is learning.

A Review Activity

The beginning of class is usually the time that the review happens. This is when you recall what you did last class and get a general idea of the students command of that/those lesson/s. According to Scriviner, people learn more when they are doing than when they are being told something. He promotes active learning.

With his ideas in mind, I imagine a review going like this:

The students teach the class for the first five to ten minutes. They take turns teaching the rest of the class a lesson from the previous class. If they make a mistake, the teacher invites the class to correct him/her. Each student stand up in front of the class at least once.

Methodologies 1.0: "Eu Gosto muito de Trabalhar"

I call this teaching methodologies one point oh because I hope to return to this topic later. The next one will be two point oh.

1.0 I was speaking with Mauro this weekend about the Callan method. He bum rushed me with statements in Portuguese and gestured maniacally with his hand for me to repeat what he was saying. They were absurd statements like, "I like work" and so forth. But I said, "eu gosto de trabalar, eu gosto muito de trabalhar." He persisted with the statements and questions in this fashion, and as I repeated what he demanded I say, I began to feel the senstation of fluency. Words were just coming out of my mouth. Statements that I understood and statements that I did not understand. I would just say them as I heard them. I listened attentively to what he was saying, because he was speaking pretty quickly. I felt I could pick up on the accent, the musicality of the language, as well. I suppose these latter parts refer to the meter and cadence of the language. The placement of inflection and so forth.

The system felt like it worked. To this moment I can say, "eu gosto de trabalhar" like a real Brasilian.

Learning this phrase may have also had another effect on me. A subliminal one, perhaps, for now I want to work all the time. I, I can't help it, really.

1.1 I am a pedagogical assistant at a language school that teaches five languages. It is my job to sit in on "aulas" and observe 18 different teachers. This unique position allows me to a range of teaching styles, tricks, and lesson plans. The learning environment of the school is as such. The students sit facing a board. The room is blue and the floor is wooden. The ceilings are high and the windows are tall and open. There are white curtains. The students sit facing a desk and a large white board, the width of the entire wall. Each classroom looks like this, except for the "aulas particulares" that have nicer seats and movable little desks.

The spaces themselves, therefore, are contstants in the assessment of the teachers and the teaching method. The learning environment is thus mediated primarily by the instructor. There are no games or posters or computers. It is the teacher who must turn that space into a learning environment. At this point, I wonder, what are the advantages of being present? What is something I can do in the classroom that cannot be done over the phone or on the computer? What are the advantages of the social interaction. How can we contribute the the experience of learning?

This is achieve with lecture, and the style of information presentation. It is in the scaffolding of the information. That is, the way that lessons build upon one another, and the skills they are designed to promote. The pace is another element in the environment.

At Speaking, we seek to lead "alumnos" to a fluency via speaking itself. We want our students to talk as much as possible. There are two settings for this. One is in a "turma" or cohort, and the other is in a "particular" or private lesson. Conversations in turmas are achieved by raising a topic for discussion after certain vocab has been learned. The idea is to use correctly the words and grammar one has learned.

1.2 I can recall at least one article I read that claimed an understanding of grammar is paramount to the acquisition of another language.

1.3 I am reading Scriviner's Learning Teaching now. I'm not too far into it so there isn't much I can say. He's begun by talking about teaching as "management". Combining the ideas about with the little that I know of Teaching Learning the management style contributes to the environment of the class. It established a several social dynamics, and thus, perhaps, the limitations that accompany them.

1.4 What kinds of social settings promote learning? During which moods do we learn best, or are we most willing to learn?

1.5 Hypothesis: Would a class benefit from a "free time" during which students can do anything they want so long as it relates to the subject matter being discussed? The room and its learning tools, whether limited or not, are free to use for any purpose relating to the instructions given. This could either be a warm up (introduction) or a cool down (conclusion), or both. The middle (body) of the class should have within it other social dynamics and the nature of the social restrictions should be designed to change from being to end.

Fluency

Yesterday I described a story I recently wrote to somebody here in Brasil. She said, "muito viajante". "Trippy?" I asked. "Sim, muito trippy."

With that said: I have been thinking of writing about Capoeira in the second language acquisition blog I have here. I have just started training with some friends. I am learning jinga, the basic steps. I learned a few other moves just this morning. I was training with Mauro, who came from Sao Jose dos Campos to celebrate his birthday. He's been training for a few years, enough to make the sport, or game, or play, look beautiful. "It's all about making it look beautiful," Mauro said. It's not about hitting the opponent, it's not about having an opponent, at least this is the way that I look at Capoeira."

The other guy I train with is also called Mauro and he has a philosophy of the sport as well. According to him, it is a reflection of the culture. It is an ethic that their culture preserves. It is more than just play or athletics, there is a history embedded in every dimension of Capoeira.

I had trouble with some of these moves. My hips are already sensitive to my own weight. I think about Mauro-number-one's fluid movements across the ground (we like to joke, "we have two Mauros" because it sounds like with have "tomorrow" HA!). I think about doing flips and being graceful. This is the dream that I have. But I am far from there. I will have to pass through so many moments of training to achieve any fluency in Capoeira.

I saw all of this as a great metaphor for the acqusition of a second language. In the same way, the acquisition of a second language is a process. One requiring practice. One in which you can imagine yourself saying the right words without thinking about it. You imagine fluency. Fluency is the dream in this common fantasy. In the concept of Development.

Teaching & Learning: Reflections

I am not going to discover some magic trick to teaching ESL. For a while I was thinking in those terms. It was a goal to find a more effective way to teach language. I'm not sure if there is, at least, if there is in the way I was thinking about it before. The activities I'm coming up with are less magic tricks to teach more effectively than they are ways for me, personally, to teach more effectively. I think that I am trying to adapt my strengths and weaknesses to the task, by modifying the task a bit, by matching it with my virtues as a teacher and individual. The idea of learning being fun is important to me, but I am not sure that it contributes any more to the efficiency of learning than any other way. To determine this, I would need a control and a variable population. I'd need to do a pre and post test. I would, in short, have to conduct research. Hmm. I don't know if I am able to do that, nor if I really want to. I'll give it some more thought and see what comes.

Learning Daily Life

Almost every moment here is a learning experience. I know that one can say that about life, in general, but here specifically I face the challenge of communication every time I want to say something. And so, all day long, I am experiencing the acquisition of a new language. I try to pay attention to what works. What gets me to learn a phrase, sentence, word, rule of grammar, or slang term. I am convinced that the need to articulate a thought is the best way to learn a language. Being surrounded by people who don't really understand the language puts pressure on me to learn certain messages faster than others. Greeting, are one example. Going to the store, another. These are the scenarios one find him or herself in. Perhaps recreating these scenarios in the classroom is one way to make the lesson more intersting. I have Vygotsky's socio-culture theory in my head now. It is the perspective though which I view this experience of learning another language. It leads me to believe that replicating an emersion scenario is useful. This would be like writing a mini-play for the students to act out, directing them as to when to say their line, and stopping after each scene to make sure that the students understood what was happening. This would be a lot of work, to write a mini play designed to teach, but I think that this could be useful to "learning methodologies" as a tool that implements at least one methodology. It also leads me to believe that the culture of the classroom ought to be a certain way. It must be a microcosm of another, greater aspect of life. The culture in the class must be controlled as well as fun. I think that I will either start classes with a game, or conclude them with one. The memory of learning as a fun activity is, I think, important to the experience of learning. If the learning is bereft of fun experiences to recall, then one may not want to learn anymore. And of course the material learned must be practical. They have to need to use it when they want to make conversation, ask and respond to questions, or joke. Maybe translating jokes is another activity one can do with students that is both fun and educational? You see, I am obsessed now with designing activities that will make learning both fun and fruitful. And I can't help think that Vygostky's socio-cultural theory supports such curricula and activities. Activity Idea: Have the student write lines that they think they would say at the dinner table. Let them ask questions while the are writing the lines so that they can edit their own words. This will give them a bit of experience in correcting themselves and selecting the correct word from their limited vocabulary. It will also help them acquire new words. If it is a new word, put it up on the board and discuss it with the class. Do this throughout the entire time they are crafting their sentences. The process of writing their lines is, in itself, a scene for learning. The second learning (LS) scene will relate to the first LS. In the second LS, students will act out a typical scene at a dinner table. The items will be pieces of paper with the terms they used written on them. So if one of the students asks, "will you pass the apples" there will be a piece of paper with "apples" written on it. The student will then pass the apples. I could be possible to do this game with the actual fruit, or to draw a picture of the actual fruit on the piece of paper. After they act out the dinner scene, you can discuss what happened, using this LS to continue the conversation about food and what people like or do not like. The repetition of certain phrases will be more easily recalled, as will the fact that they used the phrase or vocab word in an acted out scene. This should also suggest to the students certain grammatical rules that they will later learn.

Fun While Learning

I am finding that most people correct my Portuguese for one of two reasons. The first is for grammar mistakes, and the second is for pronunciation. It isn't as common that I select the wrong verb to use. I am observing the student I have who are "beginners" and noticing that few of them can pronounce English words well. They barely know the alphabet. So, I went over the alphabet with them. I have to take a close look at the workbook, but of what I recall, the "book 1" that we use doesn't have a pronunciation key at the front of the book. It dives right in to useful phrases. I am also thinking about ways to make "book 1" more fun. That is, I want to be able to use it and elaborate in a fun way with it. The idea, at the moment, is to think of games or activities that involve moving around, writing, drawing, and other activities that don't seem like work as much as they seem like fun. If I can find activities like that, then I can develop a way to teach with greater consideration on the experience of learning, rather than focusing only on what is learned. I think the experience is important for memory (not only by having to repeat the same question or phrase, such as, "how do you say?" "can I draw it?" etc.) but also for the memory of the class and the experience one had while learning these phrases. I've always wanted to get into the creative side of education, and perhaps this is an opportunity to do just that. I should also pick the brains of my colleagues to learn what they do to have fun and learn at the same time.

Day One With Criancas

I just finished reading about second language acquisition theory and found little that I thought was valuable to me. I expected to read about ways to teach, but instead the articles were about Vygotksy or Chomsky and Universal Grammar. Many of the articles expressed views that contrasted the prevailing Universal Grammar concept in fundamental ways. As I mentioned, there was the frequent referencing of Vygotsky. The majority of the authors I read wanted to say something different, it seemed. A socio-cultural perspective, it was argued, could bring into focus aspects of the learning process previously overlooked. The idea is that language is the medium between conscious man and the external world. There was talk of the value of symbols. It was claimed that language is the mediator, if I recall correctly, between man and his reality. This is all very interesting. I am wild for language and communication. But I do not see the application of many of the results. I expect to see curricula, methods, games that recruit this or that learning component. But I haven't found anything like that yet. I am working at Speaking, a language institute in Itajuba, Minas Gerias, Brasil. We teach Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, but the majority of our students study English. Many of them are engineering students who need to learn English for this or that reason. Some to take a test, some to get jobs. Some of our students are professors at the nearby enginnering university, UNIFEI. Word on the street is that there is a lot of interesting work going on at UNIFEI and in Itajuba, itself. Certain industries are attracked to this area because of the status of UNIFEI as a leading engineering university in Brazil and the world. Already Helibras is here. I think they make helicopters. There are at least two other major companies here in Itajuba. So this is a fascinating place, not only for its environmental beauty or friendly "gente", but also for the economic forces at play in the unassuming little city. I teach, as I said, students at UNIFEI, professors, Itajubenses who want to learn for this or that reason, and kids. Today I taught kids for the first time in Brasil and it was a great experience. I made it as interactive as possible, begining the class with writing on the board, "I want to get to know you", and then having them read it until they pronounced it correctly. Then when the said, "I want to get to know you" I started to tell them about myself. We carried on in this playful fashion for the entire hour. The whole process unfolding so organically, as they would ask "how do you say...", "can I write", "I draw?" "'Can I draw?', or better yet, 'may I draw?'", I correct. We drew pictures of objects or animals that I would say in English. Everybody (there were three students, aged 6 - 15) did their own thing on the board, and everything was in English. The kids had gone nuts over wanting to say things in English. It was then that I saw something that I still think is quite valuable. The learning process was so organic, that it stimulated not only interest, but action. We laughed a bunch, we practiced English a bunch. And perhaps that is the word of the day, "practiced". Its not just learning English, it is practicing it. And you want to practice it when have something to say more so than when you are told to say something.