A paradigm that I have used with advanced adult students of English in Korea is to tell them that learning a language is a bit like being in a small boat on a body of water. When students first begin learning a language, it's a bit like being in a small boat that is passing midway down a narrow stream. As the boat moves forward, the banks of the stream are passing by, so it is easy for the learner/traveller to have a sense of progress, and a sense of where they are going. 
   
  When you become an advanced student, however, you have a problem...the small stream has opened up into an "ocean" of English. There are no "banks of the stream" anymore; nothing to give you a reference point or a sense of direction. The language you've learned is now an ocean...it goes on forever, and you can "move" and "see" in any possible direction. However, it is now very difficult to have a sense of progress or a sense of direction. You can move your boat over to the region of legalisms and legal English, for example, and study those for a while...but when you finish, there is still something else to learn. And there always will be. 
   
  So what does an advanced learner do? They have to develop new tools to give themselves a reference point and be able to determine where they are going and how they are progressing. They need a "nautical chart": a set of explicit goals, means to achieve those goals, and ways or milestones to measure your progress. Then we go through an exercise where the students have to develop five very explicit, specific goals ffor language acquisition, and how they will achieve those goals. For example, one student decided she wanted to learn the names of all the Italian spices, and what dishes they are used in.
   
  Wayne Hall
  Global Language School
  Gumi, Korea

Holly Dilatush <holly at dilatush.com> wrote:
    Hello Sheryl, all,
  a quick response now, maybe more later --
  But setting written specific goals and then developing a rubric (with input from learner and facilitator/instructor on observed error/challenge patterns) --
  then ensuring that the rubric is understood, then editing paragraphs with a focus on ONLY one rubric item at a time, repeatedly -- 
  challenge the learner to take one paragraph, edit it looking ONLY for ONE of the errors she/he is trying to correct, 
  then have it reviewed by instructor, then edited / perfected again for that ONE error only.
  Then repeat with another paragraph and another and another until learner feels more confident in that skill (this may be a day, days, weeks; varying per learner), then POST a written dated track record of progress, and tackle the next item -- I've noticed in informal research that this method yields positive results, measurable results, and is a motivator, and often rapid incremental progress noted, with fewer backslides than other approaches.
   
  must dash, hope this makes some sense and is helpful in some way -- will try to post/share a sample rubric later,
  Holly 


  On Fri, May 9, 2008 at 3:29 PM, Sheryl Rogel <srogel at bates.ctc.edu> wrote:
  Greetings.  I am new to this blogging world; thus, I may be not applying
this form correctly as I am just 'replying to all' via my email.

I am quite interested in the how teachers advance the language of higher
level learners of English.  In my regular college prep English courses,
I work with a few students each quarter at this level, and in the last
week I have been introduced to two young, 14 year old, Chinese students
attending a local private school who want to advance their English this
summer.

They have been excellent students in their Chinese schools and their
thinking shows depth and much of their speaking and writing in our
language is delightful --- similar to our high school and adult
students.   However, their writing also reflects a variety of
misunderstandings about sentence structure and verb and preposition
choices, as well as a lack of depth in vocabulary, i.e. overuse of words
such as 'good' - 'nice' - words that appear in primary school readers.
They are asked to write page+ long assignments and the misunderstandings
continue to pile up until we must ask,  "Where do we start?"

Any suggestions focusing on strategies, lessons, and/or ideas that have
been successful in advancing English competency would be welcomed.
Thank you.


Holly (Dilatush)

holly at dilatush.com
(434) 960.7177 cell phone
(434) 295.9716 home phone
[OK to call 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. EST / GMT -5 time]

"As soon as we begin to generalize, we fail to have meaningful dialogue." (Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, 2008)

"Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe and nurture in nature."

www.tales-around-the-world.blogspot.com
www.abavirtual-learningcenter.org 

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