Some great ideas on connecting with students in a multi-skill level classroom.  I'm always looking for good student centered techniques... these are good ones!

Thanks!


Mikal Steinbacher
Associate Faculty ESL
Cascadia Community College
________________________________________
From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov [englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Eric Bestrom [erichmong at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 5:53 PM
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 1981] Re: reading, writing,   conversation and independence

Jennifer-

Some of the success of what you're trying to do
depends on the goals and motivation of the learners.
What do they want to use improved English for?  Is
their learning related to finding a job?  Finding a
better job?  Improving their work at a current job?
Do they need help with the language of dealing with
doctors, landlords, co-workers, supervisors, their
children's teachers?  Are they not as interested in
work-related English and instead their goal is to
become U.S. citizens?

Maybe you could create a class activity to answer
these questions.

You and the tutors could sit in a circle with the
learners and ask these questions of each person or
from the group (making sure in this case to call on
and sit next to the shy or distracted so that not only
the strongest students speak).

You could analyze and practice how to say the
radically edited and streamlined versions of these
questions with the class as well as some possible
responses.  Then divide the class into pairs or small
groups or individuals (careful!) who have to go around
the room and survey a certain number of other people
about these questions and WRITE DOWN their answers.
Then, the students as individuals (careful!), or pairs
or small groups report their findings to the whole
class.  You keep the survey papers.

How do they want to learn?  Often I've found I want a
more student-guided classroom, but the learners
themselves want a more teacher-front-and-center
teacher-controlled classroom.  You and the class can
talk your way to a workable comprise.

Something I've worried about before when students are
quiet in a speaking lesson or not writing in a writing
lesson is whether they are stymied by English
difficulties or just by simple shyness or a creativity
block.  Sometimes I'm worried that adult students do
not think an activity is relevant enough to their
lives.  Unlike kids, adults don't usually want to do
classroom activities just for the fun of it, they want
to see the application of the activity to the
practical improvement of their lives.

I did Vocabulary Balloon-Ball once in a Czech college
students' classroom.  We were studying some very
utilitarian vocabulary and instead of having everyone
sit down and do yet another written worksheet or quiz,
I would have two teams generate vocabulary according
to each theme by hitting a slow-moving balloon over a
net.  Most people liked it as a change, but one
student got really angry and said it was kids' stuff.
I elicited: "What vocabulary are we practicing?" "Why
are we doing it like this instead of on paper this
time?" and the other students and I were able to
explain to her satisfaction that we weren't wasting
time or insulting everyone.  I recruited the student
to sit down next to the vocabularyball players' game
and be a "judge" of the words each team said.  She did
really well and actually enjoyed herself, asking
Socratic concept-checking questions. Luckily a bad
situation for her and for me turned into a better one
because I modified to suit her comfort level.

Another thing I could have done better in that case
was contextualization.  Work out scenarios for
dialogues and language production games that students
can see applying to their real lives.  Tell them
anyone, tutor or student, has the right to ask "Why
are we doing this activity?" "What are we learning?"
"How can we use this in the outside world?"

Work from whole-class activities that are more
teacher- or tutor-led to group or pair work, then
finally you can expect students to produce well on
their own.  Move from presentation of target language
to be taught (which can elicited from the class
itself)to controlled practice to activities that
naturally, and in an appropriate context for the
language, incite free production of the target
material.

Use pictures or sounds to incite written production.
For example, after watching a video or skit about
carpentry and writing down and being quizzed orally
and in writing about realia tools a tutor has brought
from home T:"Point to a claw hammer." T:"What is
this?" S: "This is a level." T:"What is this? Please
write on line 1."  Play an audio tape or the video
from before with the screen facing away from the
class.  Team game?  Individual quiz? T: "What is
happening?" S:"Someone is using a table saw." S: "Now
she is using sandpaper."  You can do a final
production activity as a well-modeled interview
between an employer and an applicant for a carpentry
job. Employer: "You want a job with my company.  We
make tables.  What will you use to make a table like
this one?"
Applicant: "I will use a yardstick.  I will use a
table saw.  I will use sandpaper.  I will use a vise.
I will use a claw hammer and nails."

MagneticPoetry.com has words on magnets.  I bring
clean (actually new) cookie sheets in or use portions
of magnetic whiteboards.  I split the class into small
groups and tell them to make 3 sentences and write
them down.  Or tell them to make 3 sentences from the
words about how they feel.  The kids' version of MP
works better than others (and of course be careful or
do not use the romantic set of MP words- it can
embarrass and/or bore students and also contains
flowery or antiquated words they aren't likely to need
to learn. You can always scrap the magnetic element
and use 5 X 7 index cards you write the target
vocabulary of the past few lessons on yourself.) A
pile of too many words is daunting for lower level
learners.

Or maybe you just want to ask your students to bring
in photos of their family or home (or a photo they
like from a magazine). If they are reluctant to do a
show-and-tell in front of the whole class (I would
be!) then arrange the activity so they take turns in a
circle in a small group.  Tutors can get things
rolling by modelling a Q&A with their own photos, can
lead small groups or ideally can float around between
groups and hear English being used to satisfy
students' curiousity about each other.

I hope I haven't strayed too far afield or slogged
through too many things you already know.

I hope some of this was helpful.

Eric Bestrom
Job Club
Hmong American Partnership
1075 Arcade Street
St. Paul, MN 55106
USA
--- Jennifer Hubler <JHubler at womenscenter.info> wrote:


> The ideas you're all sharing are great-I'm learning

> many ways to improve

> my instruction.



> I am new to this job and subject (3 months). I have

> a small, fairly new

> program (one year) with learners in small groups

> (3-5) with volunteer

> tutors. They are very dependent on their workbooks

> and textbooks, and

> prefer to go lock-step through the lessons. I'm

> coaching the tutors and

> students about skipping lessons or segments that are

> not relevant or

> appropriate. I want to introduce some creative

> writing and more

> conversation. Any ideas about writing that won't be

> too intimidating for

> tutors and students? I made up a story with one

> student using his

> vocabulary words. I wrote, he dictated, and we took

> turns making up

> sentences. He read it fluently after hearing me

> read, then reading with

> me, then practicing once on his own. How do I teach

> the tutors to do

> this? And how do we introduce more conversation that

> is relevant and

> interesting to folks who have depended exclusively

> on curriculum texts?

> I think both need to start with building the tutors'

> familiarity, skills

> and comfort level with the processes and

> expectations.

>

>

>

> Jenny Hubler, Adult Literacy Coordinator

>

>

>

> The Women's Center

>

> 1723 Hemphill

>

> Fort Worth, TX 76110

>

>

>

> 817-927-4040 x262

>

> jhubler at womenscenter.info

>

>

>

> >

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