Heide and others:

That is such a sad story about the Japanese student not knowing what to
say. It makes me think of how the deepest, most heartfelt language needs
are often overlooked in curricula  because of our focus on the more
practical...

It gets tricky with the taboo stuff. . .I have found that dealing with
“taboo” subjects works best  when the need and interest really does
come from students—otherwise it takes a huge amount of skill, courage,
cultural awareness, trust, and more to pull it off effectively. I can
think of examples where it seemed entirely suitable to deal with tricky
language and content stuff, and other situations where I tried and
didn’t do a great job. One of my former ESOL students, who was also
working as a companion to a disabled man in his 20's, often took care of
my daughter soon after she was born. One day we were discussing a diaper
rash, and the woman was using terms for anatomy that were very street
based, having learned them from the young man. At first I didn't
understand what she was saying because of her tonal emphasis. (I don't
want to offend the list members by using the IPA to illustrate it.) Once
I figured it out I laughed a lot, but then realized she could really
offend someone with the vocabulary she was collecting from the young
man.  Talk about harming social realtions....We sat down and reviewed
some terms for body parts and bodily functions--from  the most vulgar
street slang to clinical terms-- and terms in between that were
"acceptable" in everyday language. (The book Dangerous English came in
handy that day.)  This woman was a doc in her own country so she was not
squeamish. I have no idea how or where I would include this kind of
lesson if it didn't arise in such an organic way! 



>>> "Wrigley, Heide" <heide at literacywork.com> 09/06/07 11:29 AM >>>

Hey, Lenore and others interested in student-generated ideas - oh and
thanks for adding a bit of class to the discussion with a Shakespeare
quote -:-) 
 
A reenactment of a funeral in class? What a great example of creating
lessons based on what students talk about in the hallway - this is
always where the real interesting stuff gets discussed, isn't it? I love
the idea of reenactments to make visible some of the cultural
conventions that students wonder about but that never  appear in
textbooks. Don't you wish you had video or at least a Chalk Talk of the
whole event? This is also an example of a teacher taking the lead based
on student interest and creating a simulation - similar to a project. 
 
Some of the strongest projects have come out of taboo topics (anyone
remember the Breast Cancer project?) Here's just a small example of how
not knowing what to say can harm social relations. Years ago, a
colleague had a wonderful pen pal relationship with a former Japanese
student. When she mentioned in her letter that her father had died, she
didn't get any letter back. She is convinced that the student who had
written on a weekly basis, just simply did not know what to say and
choose to be silent rather than offend her by saying the wrong thing.  
 
Here's another example of making social conventions transparent: We once
did a mini-project in my class at the Chinese consulate in San
Francisco, and called the theme "What do you say, when you don't know
what to say?" - I had introduced it as part of teaching toward
"strategic competence". We created scenarios of various kinds and then
did role plays around these situations. It became clear very quickly
where the cultural gaps were. 
 
Me: "You are late for an appointment. A German shepherd dashes out from
the park chasing a ball and runs into your car. You hit the car and the
dog is now lying in the street, badly hurt.  What do you do?  What do
you say?" 
 
My class: "It's a dog, right?  A German shepherd is a dog?" 
 
Me: Right 
 
My class:  So what's the problem? 
 
(Theses professionals clearly didn't see why anyone, particularly one
who is late for an appointment, would stop because of a dog)Out of this and other sticky situations, we developed a short brochure
on "American Etiquette for Chinese Professionals"  (lost alas). 
 
Heide
 
 
 
 
 
tudents wrote mini-scenarios, and we then explored possible answers 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenore Balliro [mailto:lenore_balliro at worlded.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 7:38 PM
To: Wrigley, Heide; professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1533] letting the students takethe
lead
 
Re: the Avon catalogue. This reminds me of when I was
director/curriculum developer at a union-based ESOL program in New
Bedford, Mass. We were located in a union hall and we were developing
curricula on workers' rights and related topics. It wasn't that the
students were not interested, but they clearly had other. more burning
desires to learn and practice English in other arenas. One night the
lead teacher, Claudia, who spoke Portuguese and shared some of the
Azorean culture with the women in the classes, told me they had a class
based on funerals. Claudia  had been chatting with the women at break,
which is where we always picked up their real interests. One woman had
attended a funeral of a co-worker's relative. The women wanted to know
what to say, in English, if they had to attend a funeral. Claudia, a
responsive and open teacher, had them do a mock funeral in class--even
with  with a person playing the role of the deceased, lying on a table!!
Each student took turns going around the "casket" and greeting the
mourners. The women were very relieved they could practice something to
say that was correct and culturally apporpriate. ("I'm sorry for your
loss," etc) I don't recall ever having seen lessons around this topic.
But like Nina Wallerstein said in Language in Culture and Conflict, it
is all about listening in. Or as Polonius said in Hamlet: "By
indirection find direction out!"
 
PS: I used to love Avon. What fun to make lessons out of  the catalogue!
Anyone remember "Ding dong, Avon calling?" All those little teeny
samples of lipstick?
 

>>> "Wrigley, Heide" <heide at literacywork.com> 09/05/07 11:34 AM >>>

Hi, Steve and Lauri and others 
 
Re: being aware of where students' interests lie and being able to go
with what floats their boats. 
 
A quick anecdote: Years ago Ann Whiteside in San Francisco told me about
her efforts to implement participatory education with an eye on
socio-economic issues and social change. She had prepared questions to
pose and materials to read and discuss  - all around dealing with
landlord and not being taken advantage of. Her students, confident
enough to challenge her, told her that they had figured out how to get
apartments and deal with landlords through their own informal networks,
thank you very much - and how about studying something that they didn't
know anything about? 
 
Ann, game as always, asked what that might be and her students
deliberated a bit among themselves and then said:  "the Avon catalogue"
- Ann, never having opened an Avon catalogue (or wanted to) then started
asking questions. The women wanted to know about ordering, buying, price
comparisons (Avon vs. drugstore)and much was learned as they all
investigated burning questions. 
 
So Lauri's project would have fit right in :) 
 
Anyone else have the experience of making certain assumptions about
projects that students might like to do only to have the class take it
in a new direction? 
 
Heide
 
-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Steve
Quann
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 6:13 PM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1527] Re: bumpy starts with PBL
 
Lauri,
I love your description and was stuck by how it seemed to flow naturally
out of a teachable moment and not an intentional plan. You really were
aware of what was bubbling up. So often I felt like I had to plan when a
project wointerests on cue, so to speak. (And I know there are forces out there
that make us feel like we should have lessons all planned out ahead
months before!) 
 
You also spent a lot of time allowing for background knowledge to build.
Was that intentional or did you find that as you went through the beauty
products etc. you just saw an opening for a project. I ask because I
think what Lee Williams said about passion is key, and you capitalized
on it. (Needless to say, it can be generated when we bring up issues of
interest to learners.)  
 
This turned out to be a wonderful project partly because you were so
nimble.  Did you ever try to replicate it? And if so,  were you able to
generate the same enthusiasm? 
 
Thanks,
 
 
 
Steve Quann
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 
617.482.9485
 
 

>>> <JLNAJCherian at aol.com> 9/4/2007 6:37 PM >>>

Hi all, 
I was introduced to PBL during the first Master Teacher institute with
Heide.  I was so excited because that really is my style of teaching,
perhaps because of my elementary teaching background. I always taught
thematically and felt the students were more vested in the learning when
they could produce something and share it with their parents or peers.
 
My first adult ESL Project just naturally unfolded when I was teaching
my Even Start ESL classes and a young girl was wearing a "I Love Lucy"
T-shirt.  She didn't know who Lucy was so I brought in a clip of Lucy
trying to "sell" a beauty or health product on TV.  It was so funny, we
all just cracked up! 
 
Then I realized that a majority of my students were not able to label
common houshold or beauty products in English. I assumed that when they
went to the store they would see and internalize words like
"toothpaste". Much to my surprise, they hadn't. 
 
So, I began asking them to bring in their favorite beauty products and
we started talking about them and surveying each other about which we
liked and used.  This turned into a major production where they had to
watch advertisements in English and Spanish  TV and discuss sales
pitches and slogans.  Then they chose their own product to promote,
wrote their own script, slogan, and I video taped them doing their own
commericals.  
 
I did this with all four of my ESL classes. It took about three weeks. I
was able to take one of the classes to the Brazosport College video
recording room where they got to experience being  "professionally"
taped.  It was a great experience for all of us!  It even made the local
paper...front page!  
The beautiful thing about it was how much confidence the students gained
and how proud they felt of themselves and of each other. 
 
They came up with some funny slogans, too! "Use a Maiden Form  Corset,
it will make your waist look 2 inches smaller.  You won't even need
liposuction and your husband will fall in love with you all over again!"
 
Lauri Cherian
Brazosport College Community Education
Lake Jackson, TX
 
 
message dated 9/4/2007 3:44:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Wrigley,
Heide" <heide at literacywork.com> writes:
 

>Hi, Lee and others

> 

>Thanks for identifying what it takes to make projects work (and we'll

>talk about structuring projects as well as planning and execution a bit

>later). I agree that listening to where the passion lies as students do

>their work is critical, and just because the teacher decides that it's

>time to do a project doesn't mean that adult students are eager to do

>one.

> 

>Lee mentioned that she moved into PBL after a PD Institute and her

first

>attempt was a failure. I wonder what propelled others to make the jump

>and how their first project worked out.

> 

>Was it more difficult at first or did students jump at the chance to do

>a project?

> 

>Heide

> 

>________________________________

> 

>From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov 

>[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Lee

>Williams

>Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 1:02 PM

>To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov 

>Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1518] Difficulties and Successes with

>PBL

> 

>I b>Project Forward initiative. Although we studied successful student

>projects across the state (TX) and knew the many benefits of PBL, I

>didn't have a clue about how to recreate that success in my classroom.

I

>naively thought that the students could choose a project from a list of

>suggestions and go with it. I assumed that once they knew what the end

>product was, they would start working to make it happen. Key pieces

were

>missing like organization, teamwork, initiative and desire.

>The projects I've been successful with 1) have risen out of existing

>curriculum and

>2) the student's passion is visibly obvious. I expand the lessons to

>further delve into those passionate topics and then make suggestion of

>possible projects-ideas where students return what they have learned to

>the community.  Once the product is identified, we create a list of

>steps to make it happen and order them. Students need see these steps

so

>they can choose the areas where they fit and then they can take off.

>This scaffolding then becomes the basis of future lessons and

culminates

>in a final project.

>For me, student-centered projects take several months to identify and

>create and are more likely a true product of the students. I have also

>done small projects that I suggest, which are finished in a much

shorter

>time, but often result in more work for me. This is an area I am still

>refining at this time.

> 

>Lee Williams

>ELL II Teacher at the Kyle Learning Center

>Kyle, Texas

> 

> 

 
 
-- 
Lauri Cherian
 
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