I've been looking long and hard for some trick that will make teaching extraordinarily effective. I already wrote that I don't believe there exists any such trick or methodology. I think that teaching and learning comes down to the following: showing up and caring. A teacher that cares about what he does seems to be the most effective of all.
A definition for effective teaching must be general, because of the wide range of teaching styles that are bound to crop up in a field of so many individuals, so many histories. The effectiveness of technique and tools is also impacted by the types of students subject to the technique or using the tools. In short, there are many dynamics at play, arguable too many, for any one technique or tool to work. There are no tricks. There is just showing up and caring.
When you care, you are motivated to observe. You are motivated to observe behavior, mood, what works. You are motivated to know your students. And when you are motivated to know your students, they are motivated to know, too. Not only are they motivated to know, but in the process of being known, much is revealed to them. They find a need to express themselves in another language. They feel the frustration of being inarticulate, of ideas and feeling and desires being mute. Guiding them through this terrain, through this experience, is as essential as guiding them through the material/subject matter.
This can be called "keeping them interested" but I think it is more than that. It is being vigilant of their learning experience and responding to it. Knowing them not just as people, but knowing them as students is essential. Not just what subjects they excel in, but how they handle the variety of experiences related to learning. You have to be able to encourage them when they most need it, and to with hold assistance when they may seem to need it.
Indeed, an art can be made of anything. Teaching is just another trade, some might say. And they wouldn't be wrong. But what one takes away from teaching is unique and it cannot be wrong. It is an experience, and so it is not subject to rules or qualifications.
That said, I enjoy the experience of teaching. I don't mind the problems as much as I mind the solutions, when it comes to teaching. So the experience is good. The experience makes me better, sets a standard for me.
My observations will not always be correct. In fact, they may be rarely correct. One will never know unless they set about the task and pay attention.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
5 Junho 2012
I'm beginning to get more comfortable speaking Portuguese. I'm fairly confident in my use and conjugation of a few common verbs. This seems to have given me an ability to hear more of what is said to me. Whereas before I would listen for a few common verbs, now I don't have to listen for them. I am free to listen for other words.
At least, that's the way it seems to me.
I am teaching and sitting in on other teacher's classes. I have also been reading, although that's slowed down as my computer is getting fixed. Teaching Learning talks about types of teachers and I want to revisit that section of the book. I want to have a vocabulary for what I am witnessing in each classroom. I think that at least knowing the teaching styles of our teachers would be a good idea.
At least, that's the way it seems to me.
I am teaching and sitting in on other teacher's classes. I have also been reading, although that's slowed down as my computer is getting fixed. Teaching Learning talks about types of teachers and I want to revisit that section of the book. I want to have a vocabulary for what I am witnessing in each classroom. I think that at least knowing the teaching styles of our teachers would be a good idea.
Monday, May 28, 2012
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
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.
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.
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