Month: December 2016

Community People Word Wall Freebie!

Community People Word Wall Freebie!

Happy New Year from Fun To Teach!

Kinder to 2nd grade

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Community-People-Word-Wall-Freebie-2937703

This word wall contains words and pictures related to Community People.
This freebie is the word wall portion from our Community People Kindergarten Kit complete packet.  I am offering this for free so you can sample some of my work! 
This word wall contains 12 words and pictures related to Community People. The pictures are perfect for both the basic education classroom, ESL, speech and autism/ESE classroom.
Community People Word Wall pages includes:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Community-People-Word-Wall-Freebie-2937703·      Community People Word Wall cards,
·      alphabet headers
·      activities

Use these to teach CommunityPeoplevocabulary, during reading centers, use in wall charts or posted on the wall. You can even cut off the word and have the student match the word to the picture.

You will find many uses for these versatile words and pictures.  These word cards are great for a theme wall, flashcards to send home or use as a matching game.  Spice-up your Community People with this great word wall packet.

Words included in this packet are:

Astronaut
Bus driver
Captain
Cyclist
Fireman
Flight attendant
Garbage collector
Pilot
Police officer
Taxi driver
Train engineer
Trucker
Click here to download this great freebie!

Happy Teaching! Lori
from Fun To Teach ESL – Teaching English as a Second Language http://esleld.blogspot.com/2016/12/community-people-word-wall-freebie.html

Proposal for Knowledge-Based Member Communities

As part of its comprehensive review of governance processes and structures, TESOL International Association has been examining the function and structure of its knowledge-based member communities (KBMCs). Currently known as interest sections, these communities have been a central means for members to engage with the association for many years, and it is important that we ensure first that we have a clear understanding of their functions and second that we structure them in a way that best serves those functions.

In June 2015 a task force was appointed to examine our current interest section model and to make recommendations for both the role and structure of these communities in achieving the overall mission of the association to promote quality English language teaching. Their report was shared in April 2016.

Taken together, the reports of the Governance Review Task Force and the IS Task Force signal the need for

  • Greater clarity with respect to function for our KBMCs, their role in association governance, and how they should internally govern themselves
  • Greater attention to the development and support of KBMC leaders and the work they are asked to do to ensure that it serves their group’s contribution to the association’s mission and vision
  • Moving KBMCs from a dominant focus on convention-related tasks to being groups engaged in year-round activity
  • Establishing clear pathways of communication between KBMCs, the Board of Directors, and association staff.

With these findings in mind, the Board of Directors has drafted a proposal. It was shared with interest section leaders during a Virtual Town Hall meeting on 14 December 14 (a transcript is also available), and it is now being shared with the membership at large for comment.

We invite feedback from all members of TESOL International Association. Comments may be posted publicly below or emailed directly to me. Please submit all comments no later than 31 January 2016. The Board of Directors will review these comments with the goal of producing a draft policy on knowledge-based member communities as well as a timeline for implementation. The Board will discuss these documents at the annual convention in Seattle. The hope is that following the current online discussions and then the discussions in Seattle, we will be ready in April 2017 to adopt a new policy as well as a timeline for transitioning from the current and the new structures.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/proposal-for-knowledge-based-member-communities/

Proposal for New Affiliate Relations and Affiliate Network Professional Council

As part of its comprehensive review of governance processes and structures, TESOL International Association has been examining its relationship with affiliate professional teacher associations around the world. The association has more than 100 affiliates, creating a network of more than 45,000 English language teaching professionals. Our goal throughout has been to establish a clear vision for why we have these relationships and what we should be achieving through them.

In June 2015 a task force was appointed to examine our current affiliate structure and to make recommendations for ways it could be strengthened. Their report was shared in April 2016. Following discussions with leaders of our affiliate associations, the Affiliate Leadership Council, and our membership at large, the Board of Directors worked to draft a proposal that would build on the task force’s recommendations and achieve the vision of a stronger, more purposeful affiliate network.

The proposal comprises a draft vision for how TESOL could pursue its mission of promoting quality English language teaching by strengthening its relationships with its affiliates and a second document proposing a new body for TESOL International Association: the Affiliate Network Professional Council. The proposal was shared with affiliate leaders and members of the Affiliate Leadership Council in a Virtual Town Hall on 7 December.

We now invite feedback from all members of the TESOL International Association as well as our affiliate associations on these proposals. Comments may be posted publicly here or emailed directly to me. Please submit all comments no later than 31 January 2016. The Board of Directors will review these comments with the goal of drafting policies for the affiliate relations and the Affiliate Network Professional Council as well as a timeline for implementation. The Board will discuss these documents at the annual meeting in Seattle. The hope is that following the current online discussions and then the discussions in Seattle, we will be ready in April 2017 to adopt a new policy as well as a timeline for transitioning from the current to the new structure.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/proposal-for-new-affiliate-relations-and-affiliate-network-professional-council/

The 25th ESP Project Leader Profile: Laurence Anthony

Hello, ESPers worldwide!

In this 25th ESP Project Leader Profile, it is my pleasure to present to you an ESP researcher and practitioner in Japan, Dr. Laurence Anthony. According to his bio:

Laurence Anthony is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Japan. He is a former director and current program coordinator of the Center for English Language Education in Science and Engineering at Waseda University. His main interests are in corpus linguistics, educational technology, and English for specific purposes (ESP) program design and teaching methodologies. He received the National Prize of the Japan Association for English Corpus Studies (JAECS) in 2012 for his work in corpus software tools design.

You can learn more about Laurence at his website. The program that Laurence describes below will soon be 10 years old.  Are you interested in what has been called “the best English curriculum for science and engineering students in Japanese universities”? If so, please continue reading.

laurence-anthony

Dr. Laurence ANTHONY

Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Japan

Contact: anthony@waseda.jp

Define leadership in your own words.

Leadership to me is first and foremost about maximizing the potential and effectiveness of the group. But I think it is also about maximizing harmony, satisfaction, and success within the group.  The two dimensions are intrinsically related. To achieve these various aims, I think a leader needs to focus primarily on individuals. That means listening to the people within the group and trying to understand their strengths, weaknesses, pressures, and constraints. It also means understanding the contexts and pressures on individuals that work outside the group who have a direct or indirect impact on the group’s workings. Once a leader has gained an understanding of the complexities of the different stakeholders, they can begin to form a vision of where the group can, could, or should be heading, and starting working to make that a reality.

Tell me an ESP project success story. Focus on your communication as a leader in the project. How did you communicate with stakeholders to make that project successful?

Project

Re-inventing the Center for English Language Education in Science and Engineering (CELESE) Technical English Program at Waseda University

Background

Back in 2004, the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Waseda University, Japan, wanted to initiate a new English program that would develop their students’ technical reading, writing, and presentation skills. To implement this new initiative, the university created the Center for English Language Education in Science and Engineering (CELESE) and hired two new faulty members with backgrounds in science and engineering.

Unfortunately, trust in the established English faculty was at an all-time low. So, instead of focusing on teaching, the new program was designed to encourage students to take general standardized English tests and even exempted students with very high test scores from all required English classes.

Planning for Change

As one of the newly hired faculty members with a role to implement this new program, [I thought] it was first necessary to understand why trust in the established English faculty had been lost, and why promoting standardized test taking was considered to be an improvement over teaching. It was also necessary to establish who was promoting the new program, who was against it, and the individuals’ reasons for their feelings and actions. To achieve this, I needed to attend various meetings, discuss the situation with group members, and talk to outside stakeholders, including the faculty dean and university president. Only after understanding the complexities of the new program was it possible to start considering if and how the new program could be redesigned to better meet the goals of the students and address the desires and constraints of the faculty members.

Implementing Change

Many changes to the program needed to be initiated at the level of design, materials, and assessment. For example, it was clear that the students needed to develop technical reading, writing, and presentation skills that were not being addressed through studying solely for the standardized English tests, so new courses aimed at developing these skills were created.

It was also clear that highly proficient students with high test scores were not being challenged by the program. So, program-wide streaming (ability grouping) was introduced, and special sections of courses were created for the more advanced students.

It was also necessary to address the personnel hiring processes and the expectations of both part-time and full-time faculty members. Initiating changes in personnel procedures was a very sensitive issue and required interviewing all faculty members, learning about their views of students and their own teaching methods, and finally gaining the trust of the non-English faculty by explaining the new goals and hiring procedures of the program in a logical and persuasive way.

Measuring Success

The revised CELESE program was fully implemented in 2007 and continues is mostly the same form today. Internally, the CELESE faculty members cooperate in harmony together working to create new materials, assessment procedures, and teacher training programs. The non-English faculty members also appear satisfied with the program to the extent that it is commonly cited as a model for other faculty English programs.

Perhaps the best measure of success is the assessment the program received from external reviewers. We asked experts from academia and industry to observe our classes and materials and report on what they found. We were very happy to see that the reviewer from one of the largest manufacturing companies in Japan had described our program as “the best English curriculum for science and engineering students in Japanese universities.”

I feel very fortunate to have been able to include this inspiring profile of Laurence with those of the other 25 ESP project leaders to date. My understanding is that more than 10,000 students have completed the CELESE program at Waseda University, and Laurence is recognized worldwide as an ESP expert in Asia.

The ESP Project Leader Profiles focus on the leadership conceptualization and the professional communication and actions of ESP project leaders. The profiles are listed as a reference in the TESOL ELT Leadership Management Certificate Program Online. Please see the previous 24 profiles listed below.

  1. May 5, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: Kristin Ekkens
  2. June 2, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: Charles Hall
  3. July 14, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: Ronna Timpa
  4. August 11, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: Evan Frendo
  5. September 8, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: Jaclyn Gishbaugher
  6. October 6, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: Anne Lomperis
  7. October 20, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: Ethel Swartley
  8. November 3, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: David Kertzner
  9. December 1, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: Margaret van Naerssen
  10. December 15, 2015: ESP Project Leader Profile: Marvin Hoffland
  11. January 12, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: John Butcher
  12. January 26, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Karen Schwelle
  13. February 23, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Esther Perez Apple
  14. March 8, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Kevin Knight
  15. April 5, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Shahid Abrar-ul-Hassan
  16. May 3, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Robert Connor
  17. May 17, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Jigang Cai
  18. June 14, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Ismaeil Fazel
  19. June 28, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Yilin Sun
  20. July 26, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Tarana Patel
  21. August 23, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Prithvi Shrestha
  22. September 6, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Robin Sulkosky
  23. October 18, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Philip Chappell
  24. November 2, 2016: ESP Project Leader Profile: Jie Shi

Do you have any comments or questions for Laurence? Please feel free to post them below.

All the best,
Kevin

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/the-25th-esp-project-leader-profile-laurence-anthony/

The Language Strand of the Common Core Standards and English Language Learners

Hi everyone, 

I will be presenting a workshop on February 3rd in Portland – Connections Between Common Core Language Standards & ELD.  This engaging workshop explores the Language standards in the CCSS and what we teach in ELD!  Come join us for this informative workshop!
Register on line for Workshop #3 by clicking here.

Have you checked out the Language Domain of the Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) standards? 

This great domain elevates the importance of English grammar, conventions, vocabulary in the classroom. It is essential for classroom and ESL teachers to understand this important strand. 

As you know, the strands or domains of the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts include:
• Reading Foundational Skills 
• Reading
• Literature
• Informational Text 
• Writing
• Language
• Speaking and Listening 

Let’s take a closer look at this important language domain. The broad Language standards for K-5 are comprised of 3 subcategories:
1. Conventions of Standard English 
2. Knowledge of Language
3. Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

Furthermore, each grade level has specific standards under these three categories, which are hierarchical in nature. These standards define what a student should know or be able to do at the end of each grade level.

Here is a glimpse of the Language skills that I found of particular interest in each sub category. Many of these require continued attention over grade levels. 

Conventions of Standard English
• Plurals: Regular and Irregular
• Nouns: Possessive Nouns, Collective Nouns, Abstract Nouns • Pronouns: Possessive, Indefinite, Reflexive Pronouns

  • Verbs; Past, Present, Future Verbs. Irregular past tense verbs. Perfect tense verbs
  • Complete Sentences  
    Knowledge of Language
  • Formal and informal uses of English
  • Choosing words and phrases for effect and to convey
    ideas

    Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
    • Root words, prefixes and suffixes
    • Connect words to categories
    • Antonyms, synonyms and homographs
    • Shades of meanings of related words
    • Figurative Language: similes, metaphors, idioms       

    It is great to see language as one of the domains of the ELA Common Core Standards. We all know that language is interwoven with speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Language now has an elevated importance in the classroom with this Standard of the ELA Common Core. 
      
    Come join us for this engaging and informative workshop!

    Download our registration form for Workshop #3 here.

    You can register on line for this great workshop by clicking here!

    Happy Teaching! 

from Fun To Teach ESL – Teaching English as a Second Language http://esleld.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-language-strand-of-common-core.html

Learning Collocations for Effective Writing

In a previous post, I talked about the components of word knowledge, which include meaning, orthography, pronunciation, part of speech, morphology, register, collocations, and connotation. Today I’d like to elaborate on collocations, which I think is one of the most challenging components of word knowledge.

Learning Collocations

Collocations are words that frequently occur together. As a language learner myself, I try to pay attention to collocations as I read, and I think our students should be encouraged to notice collocations as well, particularly when they learn individual words. Knowing frequent collocates of the target word will tremendously expand learners’ vocabulary; as a result, it will help them increase their comprehension in reading and become more fluent in speaking and writing. Sometimes language learners make mistakes called literal translations because they are not familiar with the collocations that exist in the target language for a particular word. For example, look at the following collocations in these four different languages and notice that different adjectives are used with the word “tea” to describe the same meaning:

English: strong tea, weak tea

Italian: strong tea, long tea

Japanese: dark tea, thin tea

Russian: strong tea, liquid tea

Common Types of Collocations

Below is a list of some common types and examples of collocations in English academic texts:

Adverb + Adjective

Examples: completely satisfied, fully aware, downright rude, very little, totally wrong

Adjective + Noun

Examples: major problem, sufficient information, common knowledge, different approach, personal experience

Noun + Noun

Examples: piece of cake, key issue, chocolate bar, water bottle, bird’s eye

Verb + Adverb

Examples: depend largely, fully appreciate, effectively communicate, examine thoroughly, hold tightly

Verb + Noun

Examples: resolve the problem, present information, gain knowledge, take an approach, lack experience

Verb + Preposition

Examples: rely on, deal with, consist of, contribute to, respond to

Prepositional Phrases

Examples: on the other hand, in other words, in addition to, in that case, from this perspective

Online Collocation Dictionaries

Students can also consult online collocation dictionaries. Two of my favorite collocation dictionaries are:

Free Online Collocations Dictionary

ozdic.com

Concordances

One way to learn collocations is using a computer tool called concordances. A concordance is a collection of sentences that have the same word or phrase. By examining concordances, students can see how a target word is used in authentic sentences and what words are used with the target word.

Below is a snapshot of the concordance sentences containing the word alleviate. The sentences were taken from the PolyU Language Bank at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

lshvidko_collocations

Notice how out of seven sentences, in three the word alleviate was used with the word problem. Therefore, you can say that alleviate the problem are collocations.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/learning-collocations-for-effective-writing/

Problem (Tech) Solved: Budget Restrictions 1

Once upon a time, it was determined that a book we were using in one of my classes, selected before my arrival I might add, was not a good fit. The goal of the class was to prepare students for college, and the class set that we had available was a graded reader, so it was true. The students should definitely be reading at the high school level. Evaluation of materials is a good thing and I was completely willing to make a change. The twist? We did not have the funding to purchase new materials at the time and the semester started the following week.

Fortunately, there are a lot of free materials available for online. Some resources are completely free and others have free basic accounts. In the past, I have used Project Gutenberg, Newsela, Breaking News English, Voice of America, News in Levels, and TIME for Kids for supplementary reading materials. For younger learners, there is also Children’s Storybooks Online. Being able to find good resources for free can really help you stretch your budget while providing your students with access to a wide range of materials.

To finish my story, I discovered Project Gutenberg and, with the help of my colleagues, selected The Picture of Dorian Gray. That was many years ago; I am certain I would do things differently now. My thinking at the time was that the book was available in its entirety from Project Gutenberg for free, it is considered suitable high school reading material, and it is not terribly long. The semester, on the other hand, was very long, but students were up to the challenge and we managed. After that, we switched to The Glass Castle, which is far longer and not free, but that book has been a much better fit. The avid reader in me is thrilled that Project Gutenberg exists and I truly do hope to use it again in the future. For students and schools with limited resources, it is a treasure trove of classics.

When I taught at a high school in China, I used the articles available on TIME for Kids and Faze Magazine as free reading material. Students were able to choose topics that interested them and, as a result, were more motivated to read on their own. Although I am sure that everyone structures free-reading activities differently, the main purpose is to increase the amount that students read in English, and that can be a challenge when you have limited physical materials available to you. In China, I did not have a library full of English books that students could peruse, so I had them read a certain number of articles. They would choose articles from the websites and we would print them out. Their task was to create various types of questions about the articles they read. We would keep the student questions with each article so that if another student read the article, he/she would have questions to test comprehension and the additional challenge of thinking of less obvious questions. This also helped make a glossary for each article that students added to over time. It has been a long time since I have used free reading this way, but I may have to revisit it because it worked out well.

More recently, I have used Newsela, Breaking News English, Voice of America, and News in Levels to find short articles to supplement the content in our textbook. Between these four sites, I have been very successful at finding articles appropriate for various topics and many of them have content available at multiple levels, which makes differentiation far easier. The articles and their associated images have served primarily as introduction or extension activities, but I have also used them as primary reading materials in short-term classes that do not require any textbooks. Regardless of your intended use, I highly recommend these materials because the articles are so adaptable.

Someone somewhere might have an unlimited budget for the classroom, but I have yet to meet that person. Until funding issues become a thing of the past, turn to online resources to help you through. I cannot promise it will be without its challenges, but students need to read and this is one way you can provide them with the opportunity to do so.

Where do you find reading materials online? Share your secret by leaving a comment below.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/problem-tech-solved-budget-restrictions-1/