Month: April 2017

6 Online Dictionaries for English Learners

Dictionaries are an extremely useful source of information about a language, and they can certainly be very helpful to our students as well. Luckily, nowadays, various dictionaries are freely available on the internet, and I believe many of you are familiar with the most standard and commonly used ones, such as Merriam-Webster, Cambridge, and Oxford. Also, TESOL blogger Tara Arntsen described these frequently used online dictionaries in one of her blog posts.

In addition to these general dictionaries, I’d like to draw readers’ attention to a few online dictionaries that focus on specific information about lexical items, such as phrasal verbs dictionary, idioms and idiomatic expressions dictionary, collocations dictionary, synonyms dictionary, etymology dictionary, and visual dictionary. This information can be particularly useful to English language learners.

Dictionary of English Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs belong to some of the most challenging aspects of the English language for many learners. This online resource provides references to more than 3,000 current phrasal verbs. As in any other dictionary, the verbs are organized in alphabetical order. You can also look up a particular verb or a particular preposition. For example, if you are interested in various verbs that are used with the preposition “up,” you can set up your search accordingly and get the list of all items available in this dictionary that are composed of verbs and the preposition “up,” for example, make up, follow up, mess up, sum up, and write up.

Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions Dictionary

Another common lexical challenge in the English language (and in many other languages, for that matter) is idioms. This dictionary offers a list of almost 4,000 English idioms. Each entry comes with a definition as well as references to other similar idioms. For example, if you are looking up the idiom “off the wall,” the dictionary will also refer you to the idioms “fly on the wall,” “back to the wall,” and “talking to a brick wall.”

Collocations Dictionary

This basic collocations dictionary may be very helpful to both beginning and advanced learners. What I particularly like about this dictionary is the organization of the collocations that can be used with the target word: common collocations before the target word, common collocations after the target word, as well as common collocations of different parts of speech used with the target word. For example, if you are looking up the word “question,” the dictionary indicates “no common collocations used after this word.” The common collocations used before the word “question” include ask, answer, any, few, same, and without. Some of the common noun collocations used with the word “question” include answer, side, discussion, mark, and object, and the common adjectives used with the word “question” include direct, little, next, political, and such.

Synonyms Dictionary

This is a pretty straightforward dictionary of synonyms: You enter the target word and get a list of synonyms of that word. But it also provides synonyms of found synonyms, which I find particularly useful. For example, if you are looking up the word “vehement,” the results are passionate, torrid, ardent, fierce, extreme, impassioned, fiery, and intense. You can further elaborate your search and look up synonyms for each of these adjectives. For example, you can search for synonyms for the word “intense,” which are (according to the dictionary) 1) concentrated: fierce, vehement, furious, violent, unwavering, desperate, vicious, and 2) profound: strong, deep, hard, extreme.

Etymology Dictionary

This is an extremely interesting resource not only for English learners but also for native speakers. It enriches users’ knowledge about the language and provides insightful details on the meanings of the words that people commonly use in their everyday interactions. The resources that the authors used to compile this dictionary include Weekley’s “An etymological dictionary of modern English,” Klein’s “A comprehensive etymological dictionary of the English language,” “Oxford English dictionary” (second edition), “Barnhart dictionary of etymology,” Holthausen’s “Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Englischen Sprache,” and Kipfer and Chapman’s “Dictionary of American slang.”

Visual Dictionary

This dictionary may be particularly helpful to beginners. The items in the dictionary are organized according to the following topics: astronomy, Earth, plants and gardening, animal kingdom, human being, food and kitchen, house, clothing, arts and architecture, communication, transport and machinery, energy, science, society, and sports and games. Each of these themes is further broken down into smaller thematic categories. The dictionary is well organized and easy to navigate.

What dictionaries to you use in your classes or recommend to your students? Please share in the comments.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/6-online-dictionaries-for-english-learners/

Thank You, TESOL Volunteers

This is National Volunteer Week! What better way to begin my TESOL President’s Blog series. It provides us with a wonderful opportunity to recognize the importance of volunteers for our association. Without their willingness to devote many hours of their already-scarce time, we certainly would be unable to do what we do.

Our volunteers’ support and energy help us to inform research, influence policies, and enable best practices around the world. Among many things, our volunteers made it possible for TESOL International Association to

Volunteers review proposals and manuscripts, help with the convention, lead interest sections and affiliates, serve on professional councils, and freely give their time and expertise in many other ways.

On behalf of the TESOL Board of Directors, TESOL staff, and myself, I would like to express my deep gratitude for all our volunteers. Our engagement allows us to stay focused on promoting excellence in English language teaching around the world.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/thank-you-tesol-volunteers/

Leadership Research In The West For Students In The East

Hello, ESPers worldwide!

“The Dead Poets Society” was a 1989 award winning movie.  A few years later, The Dead Fukuzawa Society (TDFS) was created by some of Chalmers Johnson‘s students at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego (GPS/UCSD), where I am an alumnus. The inspiration for the establishment of TDFS was Fukuzawa Yukichi’s belief that Japan should learn from the West. The members of TDFS thought that the West should learn from Japan and the East.  Over 20 years later, in March 2017 before the TESOL convention in Seattle, I traveled from Japan to visit GPS/UCSD. My purpose during my research trip was similar to that of Fukuzawa. My aim was to learn from leaders in the West (i.e., San Diego, California) in order to provide better leadership development and professional communication training for my undergraduate students in the East (i.e., Japan).  In San Diego, I was able to meet with leaders at GPS/UCSD and at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL).

The University of California, San Diego, School of Global Policy and Strategy

Discussion about leadership with Global Policy and Strategy (GPS) graduate student leaders

My research interest has been to explore leadership as a conceptualization using discourse analytical approaches (see Knight, in press).  David Robertson, Director of GPS Career Services) arranged a lunch meeting with a focus group of eight very busy and talented GPS graduate student leaders, four male and four female, with whom I was able to explore conceptualizations of leadership. Further, David spoke to me about leadership (because he had taught leadership to undergraduates in the past) and shared a publication that describes a leadership project (Robertson & Lubic, 2001).

Meeting with JUMP leaders

I was also able to meet with Ulrike Schaede, professor and director of the Japan Forum for Innovation and Technology (JFIT), and  Takashi Kiyoizumi,, JFIT executive manager, leaders of JFIT’s “new immersion program for female executives in Japan [that] equips participants with the skills and confidence to be managers on a global scale.” The program is titled the Josei/Women for Upper Management Program (JUMP). In addition, I spoke in a Japan discussion group and explored leadership conceptualizations with doctoral candidate Jonathan Shalfi, who was a former leader of the GPS alumni chapter in Japan.

The Center for Creative Leadership, San Diego Campus

Meetings with leadership consultants

Thanks to an introduction from David Robertson to the Center for Creative Leadership, which is ranked in the global top 5 for executive training programs, I was given a very warm welcome  from the Managing Director, Russ McCallian, and three leadership consultants: Kevin Liu, Maggie Sass, and Sam Soloman. These four leadership experts shared conceptualizations of leadership that inspired me to think about leadership and to conduct leadership development in new ways.

I left San Diego with a deep appreciation of, and deep gratitude for, professional connections. Through these connections, I was able to acquire information and inspiration to pursue my professional goals. As a linguist, such connections were especially valuable because my interactions with leaders exposed me to the communication skills and professional and leadership discourses that will inform my training programs. (For this reason, I was very pleased to see that Ulrike Schaede was creating networking opportunities at a recent GPS event in Japan, which I was unfortunately unable to attend.)

In connection with my leadership development goals, I also like to watch the TED Talks related to leadership. In some talks, leaders are telling their stories. In other talks, experts are talking about leadership. As I focus on the communication (in the talks), I tend to ask the question, “Why?”  For example, “Why is this talk being given?” “Why now?” “Why is leadership being conceptualized in this way?”

In this increasingly digitally interconnected world, traveling abroad would seem to be unnecessary because everything is at your fingertips. However, my research trip to San Diego has changed my thinking, and thanks to an hour-long discussion with Russ McCallian at CCL, I am looking at leadership now in terms of inspiring the creation of movements. Further, from such discussions, I begin to see more clearly how leaders use communication as a tool to create and achieve their visions.

All the best,
Kevin

References

Knight, K. (In press). Exploring leadership conceptualizations in semi-structured interviews from multiple perspectives. In C. Ilie, & S. Schnurr (Eds.), Challenging leadership stereotypes through discourse. Singapore: Springer.

Robertson, D., & Ludic, B. (2001).  Spheres of confluence: Non-hierarchical leadership in action. In C.L. Outcalt, S.K. Faris, & K.N. McMahon (Eds.), Developing non-hierarchical leadership on campus: Case studies and best practices in higher education. Westport, CT: Greenwood.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/leadership-research-in-the-west-for-students-in-the-east/

Reflecting Students’ Lives in Children’s Literature

When I was a K–6 ESL teacher, I often felt frustrated because I couldn’t find high quality books that reflected my students’ lives.  Many of the books available to my students were about the folklore or fables from their home countries, but  I wanted my English learners to read books where they could see themselves and that reflect the lives they are currently living. I felt that it was important for my students  to make connections between the books they were reading and their lives so that they would become lifelong readers.  In 2014,  I read an opinion piece in the New York Times by Walter Dean Myers titled “Where are the People of Color in Children’s Books?”  This article led me to research the number of books published each year that could be considered multicultural.

Cooperative Children’s Book Center

My search online led me to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center ( CCBC) at the School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison. CCBC has been keeping track of the number of books written by and about people of color since 1985. At CCBC the term “multicultural literature” is defined as books by and about people of color and First/Native Nations individuals: African and African Americans, American Indians, Asian/Pacific and Asian Pacific Americans, and Latinos. I decided to look further to investigate literature about Latino children. To qualify for the CCBC list, a book had to feature a main character or a substantive secondary character who is Latino. In 2016, only 166 out of 3,400 books that were published for children were written about Latinos and qualified for the CCBC list.

Tools to Help You Find High Quality Multicultural Literature
One of the challenges for teachers and librarians is deciding if a a multicultural book is of good quality. Read, Write, Think  has some tools to help teachers and their students evaluate the cultural relevance of multicultural books.  Questions they might ask are, “Is the author from the culture that they are writing about?” “Has the author written other books about this culture?” “Does the book contain characters that are stereotypical?”  Another method to judge the quality of a multicultural book is to have the students  from the target culture judge it. Read, Write, Think has a couple of tools to help students judge the quality and cultural relevance of the books they’ve read: Cultural Relevance Rubric and Gathering Evidence on Cultural Relevance. A lesson plan is also available to help teachers use these tools with students.

Additional Resources

Cooperative Children’s Book Center (2015). 50 Multicultural Books Every Child Should Know, University of Wisconsin-Madison. This article list books for preK–6 grade students.

Meyers, C. (2015). The Apartheid of Children’s Literature, The New York Times.  Meyers talks about the difficulties he had as a child finding books that reflected his life.

Melville, K. (2017). Where’s My Story? Reflecting All Students in Children’s Literature, Education Week Teacher. This is a blog by a high school teacher who challenged her students to study and rate multicultural books and then write their own books to reflect the cultures of their first grade buddies.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/reflecting-students-lives-in-childrens-literature/

Online Tools for Teacher Collaboration

Today’s guest blogger Yefei Jin discusses how education technology can help teachers collaborate and problem solve. He is the founder of LessonPick.com, a free English language teaching resource-sharing platform.

English language teachers (ELTs) in the United States often feel siloed, alone in looking for quality resources and buy-in from colleagues and school leaders. Exacerbated by immense caseloads, often exceeding 100 students, ELTs also feel the need to double up as curriculum developers and organizers of their own professional development. Although the rise of the Common Core did create common benchmarks for publishers, correlating instructional content aligned to English language standards and best practices remain a challenge in the United States. English language standards and protocols often get revised, and frankly, there are not enough trained educators on hand to differentiate materials, let alone find time to coach others.

Consider the state of Minnesota, where half of English learners (ELs) are refugees with limited or interrupted formal education—compared with 14% nationally. The unique needs of these ELs reinforce the need for greater awareness in the field, teacher professional learning, and systems-level buy-in. For innovators and entrepreneurs, sustainability depends on these political dynamics, the very challenges for which edtech has few solutions. While local teacher education programs and the state’s TESOL chapter seek to build a strong pipeline of teacher leaders, technology should play a greater role not simply in resource sharing but more fundamentally, in streamlining teacher access to one another’s expertise. Whether around facilitating conversations, feedback loops, or discussing action research, collective problem solving is critical to the ELT profession.

Putting school finance and good leadership aside for a moment, can we envision technology that inherently builds leadership capacity for ELTs and promotes collaboration? Some online technology is gaining momentum: Lesson-sharing websites like Teachers Pay Teachers have built communities around lead teachers, and Twitter has become the de facto platform for teacher chats. Why are tools like Teachers Pay Teachers, Twitter, Pinterest, or even SMART Boards so popular among teachers? Answer: They provide teachers with solutions where traditional learning materials do not suffice.

Still, educational technologies need to overcome the industry’s own biases. A product that is aesthetically appealing or hands-off should not be confused with being “teacher friendly.” Teachers Pay Teachers is not designed for organizing ELT materials at the specificity teachers need. Google Drive, as a storage platform, does not work well for curation. Individualized learning platforms that replace human interaction risk overlooking the necessity of face-to-face teaching for ELs. Given the national ELT shortage, schools are challenged to find time for teacher-learner interaction, let alone support and monitor the effective use of these learning tools. Instead of hacking products geared toward general education, can we imagine a new generation of EL specific tools that carry the social aspects of Twitter or Pinterest to help teachers learn and solve problems? Request Feed, LessonPick’s upcoming group messaging and idea-sharing platform for ELTs, is one such tool that can make a difference in organizing the process of access to resources and professional learning.

As English language instruction in the United States increasingly demands the collaboration of all educators and their continuous professional learning, the ELT profession will undoubtedly look to redefine norms and establish a stronger sense of legitimacy in a historically underserved field. To support these efforts, we need more field-specific, research-informed, and teacher-centered tools. Technology certainly has great potential if we really listen and understand the daily struggles and triumphs of teachers in the classroom.

Yefei Jin’s Bio

Yefei Jin is the founder of LessonPick.com, a free teacher resource sharing platform. He has significant experience serving refugee English learners in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2013, he founded the T2C Project, an after school arts-based program for teenage girls from Myanmar. Currently, he is the assistant director of Camp Hokulea, a mission driven cultural summer camp that seeks to promote the social and emotional well being of Asian immigrant children.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/online-tools-for-teacher-collaboration/

ESP Project Leader Profile: Kay Westerfield

Hello, ESPers worldwide!

In the 30th ESP project leader profile, we meet the founder of the ESP Interest Section, a former member of the TESOL Board of Directors, and one of the TESOL 50 at 50 award winners, Kay Westerfield.

Kay Westerfield is a veteran consultant and invited speaker in the fields of English for Specific Purposes, International Business Communication, Leadership, and Program Evaluation. Kay has worked with audiences in academia and in the corporate sector throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. She founded and directed the International Business Communication Program at the University of Oregon. Kay is the co-author of several articles and books, including Effective Practices for Workplace Language Training. She served on the Board of Directors for TESOL International Association and was recognized by TESOL in honor of the association’s 50th anniversary as one of the 50 at 50: 50 individuals who have made significant contributions to the profession within the past 50 years.

In Kay’s interview, we learn about intrapreneurship in ESP.

Kay Westerfield
Global Communication Consulting
kwesterf@uoregon.edu

1. Define leadership in your own words.

My colleagues in their postings have highlighted key aspects of leadership in ESP including recognizing a need, carefully listening to all stakeholders, building trust, creating an action plan, and communicating effectively (not easy!). To their gems, I’d like to add a few of my favorite quotes on the topic: “A leader is someone who wants to help” (Margaret Wheatley). “If you inspire others to dream more, do more, become more, you are a leader” (John Quincy Adams). “Leaders don’t force people to follow. They invite them on a journey” (Charles S. Lauer). 

Intrapreneurship in ESP

In ESP, we often have the opportunity to be intrapreneurs rather than entrepreneurs. That is, rather than creating our own business as an entrepreneur (which also definitely happens in ESP), we see the need for a change within our existing organization (e.g., university, language institute, school, professional association), and take the responsibility to make that change happen. For many of us, this might take the form of a developing a new program or content-discipline focused course to address the needs of a specific group of learners.

2. 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?

One ESP Project: The International Business Communication (IBC) Program at the University of Oregon

As Charles Hall wrote in his ESP Project Leader blog post, it’s hard to choose a “success” story because we learn a lot even from the “failures”—the projects that didn’t work out for one reason or another.

The The International Business Communication (IBC) Program, now in its 21st year, is offered at the University of Oregon by the American English Institute/College of Arts and Sciences and the Lundquist College of Business. It stands on the shoulders of other intrapreneurship projects in ESP-business that did not continue but were rich learning experiences and provided the foundation for subsequent ESP endeavors.

Through those early projects, I was able to bump up my knowledge and expertise in business communication (a field new to me!) by sitting in on classes in the College of Business; this helped me to build trust and relationships with senior business faculty and, therefore, my credibility when it came to establishing a new program in international business communication.

Program Needs Assessment

My colleagues in the College of Business and I believed there was a need to better serve international, undergraduate business students in their academic courses and in their future careers, so we embarked on a needs assessment—the heart of ESP.

The initial needs assessment focused on key stakeholders: students, business faculty, student advisors, top administrators, and companies.

  • For international students, we held focus groups (with snacks!) to determine interest, preferred courses, and the importance of receiving a Certificate of Mastery in International Business Communication. I also sat in on undergraduate business classes to understand what was required for student success.
  • For business faculty, we conducted face-to-face interviews using a questionnaire. We also worked closely with the university’s business and economics reference librarian to understand the business research genres and databases required in courses and by companies.
  • For student academic advisers, we met to understand the constraints in adding courses to student schedules and how best to manage that.
  • For top administrators, we met individually with those in our own institute or college and then had meetings with all together.
  • For company stakeholders (the future employers!), we relied on information from current and former international students, and statements from local and international companies.

The International Business Communication Program

As a result of our needs assessment, we designed five, 300-level courses in international business communication offered in the College of Business. For more information, see the international business communications programs at University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business and American English Institute.

Some Thoughts on Credibility and Communication in ESP

  • In ESP, being able to bump up one’s discipline-specific content knowledge is key for building credibility not only with content experts but also with colleagues in one’s own language department, the latter being emphasized by an early leader in language teaching, Wilga Rivers.
  • ESP course credibility is increased by pushing in to the field (housing advanced discipline-specific communication courses in the content department) rather than pulling out and offering those advanced courses in the language department.
  • ESP practitioners and researchers benefit greatly from strong cross-cultural communication skills as they seek to enter the new discourse community of the content discipline.

Here’s another leadership story that is not really an ESP story.

Intrapreneurship in TESOL International Association

Establishing the ESP Interest Section in TESOL International Association 20 years ago was an intrapreneurship project that arose in response to a clear need: the need to see the field of ESP more fairly represented by the number of ESP sessions at TESOL conventions. This project required

  • understanding the steps in the process to establish an interest section (IS)
  • being able to enlist others to collaborate, documenting the strong interest in ESP by listing past convention sessions
  • marketing our vision for an IS and gaining the required number of TESOL members committed to making the ESP IS their primary IS
  • listening to and effectively responding to the concerns of other IS leaders
  • fostering sustainable leadership within the IS after its approval.

The ESP IS will now be considering how best to continue advocating for ESP and enhancing communication among ESP practitioners and researchers during upcoming changes to the IS structure in TESOL International Association.

Kay’s responses illuminate the importance of collaboration on multiple levels. Her definitions of leadership were provided in view of the definitions of others. Her intrapreneurship activities were also conducted with others.

I see the future ESPIS as a community where members are all collaborating to do the following: (1) to achieve their own goals and (2) to help others to achieve their own goals. In my mind, this means that we all continue to develop our leadership skills (when leadership is conceptualized as an activity that involves creating and achieving a shared vision).

Do you have questions or comments for Kay? Please feel free to contact her directly.

All the best,
Kevin

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/esp-project-leader-profile-kay-westerfield/

ELT Best Practices: Taking the Classroom Global

John Nixon, Head of English and Deputy Director at the University of Stuttgart’s Language Center, has  been teaching English for academic and apecial purposes (EAP/ESP) at German postsecondary institutions for 17 years. As an educator and lifelong language learner, his passion for travel and global understanding has become both a vocation and avocation in and out of the classroom.

John Nixon

Sherry Blok (SB): What is the ELT landscape like in Germany?

John Nixon (JN): I teach university students enrolled in elective language classes. Most of my students study engineering or science. However, depending on the semester I also teach classes with students from all faculties. The classes I teach are EAP/ESP classes at a B2/C1 level, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). This means my students have an advanced-level of English and, by and large, would be able to pursue a semester abroad at an English-speaking university.

SB: Germany is becoming a hot spot for international education. How does ELT come into play?

JN: As at most postsecondary institutions nowadays, the student body is very international at the University of Stuttgart. Over 20 percent of the students enrolled this year at the University of Stuttgart are foreign students. Many of these students have had to learn (or are still learning) German in order to complete their degrees. Improving their English at the same time becomes an almost impossible task, given that language classes are not part of the core curriculum here. Language classes can be used to satisfy students’ elective requirements. Some of our course offerings deal with intercultural communication and competence to prepare all of our students for studying and working in global teams.

SB: How has the influx of refugees affected EFL instruction and programs in Germany?

JN:  During the height of the refugee arrivals to Germany in 2015-2016, many refugees approached me about pursuing further education in English because they had relatively good English language skills. While I don’t have any statistics on this, many have since discovered that learning German is indispensable so they have focused their time on attaining fluency in German so that they can study and work in Germany. (Most degree programs in Germany are conducted in German.) In terms of EFL instruction, I don’t think the arrival of refugees has had much effect on language programs in Germany. In many ways, refugees face similar problems to many international students. They are indirectly expected to improve their English for their future career and studies, all the while learning German and trying to cope with their studies in Germany. This is not an easy task.

SB: What are some of the greatest challenges for adult EFL learners in higher education in Germany?

JN: I suppose the greatest challenge for my students is attaining proficiency, especially in an academic context, without going abroad. My students have for the most part had seven years of English in elementary and high school and watch films and series in English regularly. However, while their fluency is impressive, accuracy and especially complexity are two areas where they need to do more work. In my experience, it is very difficult to attain a solid C1 level without having lived in a country where that language is spoken. Ninety minutes of instruction per week on a voluntary basis is simply not enough. Universities need to take the first step and make English language training a core element of their curriculum, at the very least at the master’s level.

SB: How do you promote authentic and meaningful interaction for your students to practice their English language skills within the EFL context?

JN: The hallmarks of the language teaching at our institution are content-based instruction, task-based learning and authentic materials. Most of our classes in English are related to the students’ field of study. For example, we offer English for Aeronautics, English for Mechanical Engineering, and English for Marketing and Advertising, just to name a few. Students are able to improve their English by dealing with topics related to their studies. The materials are drawn from a variety of sources that are principally aimed at native speakers of English, e.g., university textbooks, journal articles, and online lectures and videos. We continually strive to put into practice a flipped classroom approach where students are required not only to participate but also to take responsibility for their learning. By using case studies and project work, students are able to draw upon their other skills and knowledge to solve a particular problem and provide a solution. The modes of assessment reflect this task-based approach. For instance, in our English for Aeronautics course students work in groups to analyze a certain type of aircraft and using the knowledge acquired both inside and outside the classroom are asked to modify this aircraft based on state-of-the art technology. The results of their project work are presented and discussed in front of the entire class.

SB: So in an EFL context, you have to be creative in designing authentic interaction and programming. Can you share some ways your university is making this happen? How do you take the EFL classroom global?

JN: Fortunately, the students who attend our classes are very keen to experiment with new teaching and learning formats and collaborate with international partners, be they students, instructors, or experts in their field. We do not have to coax them to take part in these innovative classes. The following are three examples of how the English department at the University of Stuttgart’s Language Center has taken the classroom global.

University of Stuttgart students in London

1. A Case Study in London

This task-based academic English course was a pilot project developed by the English department at the University of Stuttgart’s Language Center. The goal was to foster students’ independent language learning and critical thinking skills in a project-oriented and authentic environment.

The course consisted of three phases. During phase one students worked with the course instructors to identify a problem currently affecting London and those experts who could provide more insight into the problem at hand as well as possible solutions. Students were also introduced to formal email writing, which they were able to use when contacting experts in their field, and elements of academic writing.

Phase two took place at University College London from July 17 to 20. In the morning students took classes jointly held by teaching staff from the University of Stuttgart and University College London related to academic writing, academic presentations, and professional communication.

In the afternoon students conducted face-to-face interviews with the experts in their respective fields.

During the final phase of this course in Stuttgart students presented their case study research and made proposals to address the issues affecting London today.

2. English and Global Citizenship

In this course, based on the Oxfam model Learn/Think/Act, students first learned about the concept of global citizenship. Via Skype and email, we collaborated in course design and development with the Assistant Director of Programs and ESL instructors in the Intensive English Language Program at the Centre for Continuing Education at Concordia in Montreal.  Then our students were asked to conceive of a problem affecting the world today and to devise some type of initiative that could help address this problem at a local level. During this stage, our students bounced ideas off of their counterparts at Concordia in Montreal via Skype. In the end, our students created a video on the need to recycle disposable coffee cups on campus, a small step that can be taken by all students to address a larger issue affecting the planet. This video was shown to their counterparts in Montreal in order to get feedback from their peers.

3. English for Academic Purposes and Gamification: Online Course with the University of Toronto

In 2015 I approached my alma mater about offering some type of distance learning course for our students. While I could have taught this course myself, the fact that the instructor was a “real Canadian” sitting on the other side on the world seemed to hold particular appeal to my students. The asynschronous learning environment was also attractive to many students with packed schedules.  Students met four times online with their instructor as a group and then once on their own. In the intervening time, students were required to complete a number of tasks and to interact with their classmates and instructor in Toronto via forums, chatrooms, and video posts.

This past semester the University of Toronto decided to offer a twist on this course by gamifying it. Students had to choose an avatar and complete mission tasks throughout the semester. The feedback from our students was overwhelmingly positive. They seemed to enjoy the game elements as well as the flexible learning possibilities and the exposure to an instructor and learning environment abroad.

SB: What has been the reaction of your students since you’ve taken your classrooms global? Lessons in citizenship?

Our students are keen on taking part in the global classroom. Not only is it a refreshing way to improve their English language skills, but they recognize that being multilingual is required to succeed in today’s world. That being said, I wouldn’t say that our students are solely motivated by the boost these courses give to their résumé. Many of them are truly interested in the world and our language classes with a global component allow them to indulge in this interest further. As was said earlier, many of our students in the bachelor programs especially have packed schedules, so they don’t always have to time to embark on a semester or year abroad. And if they do, they like to build upon the knowledge they gained while abroad. Our internationally oriented language program is very successful and popular for these reasons.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/elt-best-practices-taking-the-classroom-global/

Better Reading Comprehension: 5 Strategies

Today I’ll share five reading strategies that were helpful to me when I was an ESL student, and, hopefully, they will be valuable to your students as well.

Strategy 1. Previewing/Predicting

This is a common reading strategy. Previewing means getting familiar with the text before reading it. Previewing is a very important reading skill because it “enables readers to get a sense of what the text is about and how it is organized before reading it closely” (Salisbury University, 7 Critical Reading Strategies) When learners preview the text first, they understand it better while reading it.

You can help learners preview a text with activities such as brainstorming, asking questions, discussing relevant topics and themes, analyzing vocabulary from the text, and drawing on relevant life experiences.

Strategy 2. Understanding Patterns of Organization

Understanding patterns of organization is an important reading skill. When learners understand a pattern of organization in a particular text, they will be able to follow the author’s ideas more quickly and efficiently.

Below are five patterns of organization that are most commonly used in English paragraphs:

Listing: The main idea is stated in the form of a generalization; the examples are given to support the main idea.

Signal words and phrases: for example, for instance, first, second, in addition, besides, finally, most important, also, another

Sequence: The idea is presented in a series of events or steps in a process.

Signal words and phrases: first, second, next, then, since, soon, at last, in 1980, last month, the next step, the following year, while, at last

Compare/Contrast: The main idea is presented in the comparison of two subjects in which both similarities and differences are addressed.

Signal words and phrases: similarly, in the same way, like, as, both, in contrast, however, but, on the other hand, although, yet, unlike

Cause/Effect: Events or ideas are presented as a result of other events or ideas.

Signal words and phrases: due to, because, as a result, as a consequence, is caused by, leads to, gives rise to, comes from, produces

Problem and Solution:The main idea is presented in the form of a problem with an indicated solution.

Signal words and phrases: resolved, solution, solve, situation, trouble, issue, dilemma

Strategy 3. Inferring

Information in a passage is not always directly stated. Therefore, learners should be able to make guesses about the events or the author’s opinions and attitudes or the author’s purpose based on what they read in the text. This strategy is called inferring. Knowing how to infer will help learners better understand the text and develop their critical thinking.

Strategy 4. Determining the Purpose

Understanding any text starts with determining the purpose, that is, the reason the author wrote it. Below are the examples of three purposes:

To inform: The author explains or informs the reader about the facts.

To persuade: The author argues for or against an idea or topic by using different kinds of evidence.

To entertain: The author engages the reader with stories, humor, and anecdotes.

Sometimes, authors use more than one purpose in their texts.

To help them determine the author’s purpose, learners may ask themselves the following questions:

  • Does the text contain a lot of facts? If it does, then the author’s purpose can be either to persuade or inform.
  • Does the author use strongly positive, negative, or emotional language? If so, then the author’s purpose can be to persuade.
  • Does the author use objective and neutral language? If so, then the author’s purpose can be to inform.
  • Does the author use funny, intriguing descriptions and descriptive language? If so, does, then the author’s purpose can be to entertain.

Understanding the purpose of a given text will help learners better comprehend it and develop their ability to read critically.

Strategy 5. Questioning the Text

When I was learning English in an intensive English program, my reading instructor told us that one of the most effective ways to understand the text is to ask it questions. She said that by questioning the text, learners can also develop their critical thinking and use the information from the reading in real life contexts. She introduced us to two types of questions: thick and thin questions:

Thin questions are factual questions whose answers can be found in the text and that can be answered with a few words, phrases, or short sentences.

Thick questions, on the other hand, are inferential questions that require readers to think about more fully or even critically because the answers do not come solely from the text but from reader’s head (e.g., experience, background knowledge). Unlike thin questions, answers to thick questions are open to argument.

For example, if you are reading a passage that talks about how jealousy can destroy friendship, a thin question the reader might ask is, what are the signs of jealousy in a friendship? A thick question might be, how does jealousy destroy human relationships? Whereas the answer to the first question can be located in the text, the answer to the second question requires learners to reflect and draw on their life experiences.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/better-reading-comprehension-5-strategies/

Early Childhood Classroom Environments with Big Impact for ELs

Regular readers of my blog have already been introduced to Karen Nemeth, author, consultant, and a nationally recognized expert on early childhood education. Although her blog is written about the physical environment for English learners in early childhood classrooms, it is applicable to ELs all the way through elementary school.

Here is Karen’s blog:

We often say that the environment can be like an additional teacher in the classroom. Displays and visible materials can contribute to learning for English Learners (ELs), or they can detract from learning in unintended ways. Some research has shown that young learners are particularly vulnerable to an overly cluttered classroom environment. Lots of words and images could be even more confusing to English learners. The best approach is a balanced visual environment where the things children see are relevant and meaningful to their learning.

The Visible Environment
The first thing for teachers to do is edit their displays. Look for items on the walls or shelves that are really not needed and not used. Remove these to have more open, uncluttered space and to make room for items that contribute directly to learning for ELs and for all students. Materials produced by the children that show their individuality, creativity, and interests make great displays that help them see the classroom as their own.

Posters
In a linguistically diverse classroom, every item should be planned intentionally to support communication and meaning. Here’s a simple rule: If you have posters you love, create lessons around them, or if you have lessons you love, create posters around them. Posters made by families with family photos and pictures of the child’s home, community, and activities will represent the authentic culture experienced by the young child. Broader cultural contexts can be added as the children get older.

Classroom Labels
Most early childhood classrooms have labels all over the place that no one ever talks about. Educators call this “environmental print,” but does it really build literacy if no one discusses the words? A label on a table that says table doesn’t help children find a table or understand its uses – even if the label is in three languages! Try adding words that you could show and discuss with children at the table. Words like eat, drink, pour, delicious, more, less, hot, cold could be on cards slipped into clear plastic pockets or hung nearby from rings. Change the words regularly to add new vocabulary and conversational words. If you are working on counting skills, for example, add the number words in different languages so you and the children can extend learning during snack or activity times at the table.

Realia
The use of real items is often recommended to provide relatable supports for ELs in early education, but the items should be chosen with a purpose in mind. Just bringing leaves and pine cones is not enough to support learning if nothing the children are learning at the time relates to leaves or pine cones. Keep real items stored away and bring out just the items that support that day’s learning.

Communication
Put the classroom environment to work! Post the schedule of the day with photos to help ELs know what is happening during the school day and when they will go home. A teacher-made picture communication board can help new ELs show teachers and peers what they need, want, or feel so post them in several areas of the classroom.

Recommendations
Allow the items on display in your classroom to support understanding for ELs by choosing wisely and being willing to let go. Too much input becomes confusing for young children at a time when they really need to focus on new content as well as a new language. Streamlining the visible environment helps children focus on displays that really do connect with what they are learning. Changing and revising displays will often draw the children’s attention and allow you to support new vocabulary and content as soon as it’s needed.

For more on research about the effects of classroom clutter, see Heavily Decorated Classrooms Disrupt Attention and Learning in Young Children (Association for Psychological Sciences News May 27, 2014).

For a classroom environment checklist, see Basics of Supporting Dual Language Learners: An Introduction for Educators of Children from Birth through Age 8 (2012, Karen Nemeth, NAEYC).

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/early-childhood-classroom-environments-with-big-impact-for-els/