Mapping Engaging Experiences

One of my favorite resources for language teaching has been maps. There are so many ways that creative teachers can use maps to make engaging experiences for their students. With today’s digitally aggregated, crowdsourced, customized, and mashup map, the potential is even greater. Anyone can create maps that are individualized and customized to their own needs or interests. They can also contribute to online maps as a collaborative act of participatory culture. Websites such as Open Street Map, and the Open Cities Mapping Project are designed for individuals to contribute and co-construct a shared awareness of visual and geographical representation. The easiest of these is Google Maps.

Though many readers are likely to be familiar with these maps for basic navigation purposes, they may not realize how easy it is to create their own customized maps using Google My Maps. Teachers and students may benefit from this guide, created by Google. Users can embed images, videos, or links within maps, allowing them to create interactive experiences they can share with others.

Tokyo Map

Street in Tokyo

I have used Google Maps with teachers and students around the world to create lessons built around scavenger hunts, guided walks through historic sites, and telecollaborative exchanges. In one exchange project, students in Japan and Ohio shared narratives about their daily lives along with pictures and videos of their neighborhoods by embedding them directly on a shared map. This was a simple but powerful approach that allowed students to get a better sense of what the world looks like from someone else’s perspective.

This illustrates one of the great benefits of modern digital maps: the ability to display data visually in a manner that enhances our understanding of the world around us. Numerous online mapping projects have made it easier for us to do things as basic and obvious as navigate our way through an unfamiliar neighborhood, identify recreational and shopping opportunities, or find a place to eat. We can also explore any area and learn more about important socioeconomic characteristics, ethnic diversity, voting results, and crime statistics, as well as a location’s access to healthcare, internet, and social justice.

National Geographic MapMaker Interactive provides teachers and students with an interactive map interface that is paired with their vast collections of data. Users can customize these maps with layers related to food, climate and weather, history, water, earth systems, human populations, environment, energy, animal ranges, culture, economy, and political boundaries.

National Geographic MapMaker Interactive Map

Many historic maps are also available that provide us with valuable insights into the past, such as this map of the history of Washington DC’s buildings or this collection of maps of the history of the London underground.

Maps can function as prompts for discussions about nearly any topic. For example, the following map illustrates how we may be quite accustomed to spatial representations that distort the actual size of states and nations.

This may be particularly useful for leading discussions with student from parts of the world that are often underrepresented.

Interactive, Crowdsourced Maps

We can create our own interactive maps that allow students to navigate through large quantities of data in a simple and meaningful way. These can be created as a class project or by groups of students to gather and represent data on a variety of topics. There are also numerous existing projects that illustrate the breadth of such projects. Crowdsourced maps can be used to explore things as trivial as people’s favorite burger restaurants:

Crowdsourced Burger Map

Or publicly available fruit for foragers:

Crowdsourced Public Fruit Map

Crowdsourced maps can also be used to help illustrate important social issues, including social justice:

Crowdsourced Social Justice Map

And dangerous roads around the world:

Crowdsourced Dangerous Roads Map

We can also explore newspapers around the world in numerous languages through the Newspaper Map project:

Crowdsourced Newspaper Map Project

Maps can also be used to immerse learners in authentic target language contexts. Google earth and street view creates opportunities for learners to navigate actual spaces as if they were present. We can walk down streets in advance of visiting a particular location. We can also engage in social media practices that connect to this kind of activity. A few years ago, I coauthored a book chapter, “Enhancing Linguistic and Intercultural Competencies Through the Use of Social Network Sites and Google Earth,” with many recommendations for such practices (Yeh & Kessler, 2015).

As powerful as maps can be in the language classroom, we now have the opportunity to extend these experiences to include augmented and virtual reality that transports students to immersive experiences. This will be addressed in a future blog entry, but if you are curious, you should check out Google Expeditions.

Additional Resources

• Blog: 10 Ways to Use Google Maps in the Classroom (TheThinkingStick.com)
• Article: Engaging Students Through Google Maps (Edutopia)
• Project Webpage: Mapping Social Justice (The Opportunity Agenda)
• Here is my personal map of my consulting and keynote speaking. It is a fun and practical way to document my own travel.

Reference

Yeh, E., & Kessler, G. (2015). Enhancing linguistic and intercultural competencies through the use of social network sites and Google Earth. In J. Keengwe (Ed.), Promoting global literacy skills through technology-infused teaching and learning. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/mapping-engaging-experiences/

4 Ways Teachers Can Support English Learners

The school year is well under way, and teachers are beginning to get to know their students and to build relationships with them. The teachers that work with English learners (ELs) should know how crucial their classroom practices are to the success of these students. Here are four essential practices that effective teachers of ELs exhibit in their classrooms:

1. Demonstrate a positive, asset-based relationship with students.
2. Provide scaffolds to support ELs to acquire new information.
3. Make use of flexible grouping of students in the classroom.
4. Model appreciation of diversity in the classroom.

Following, I’ll discuss these four practices in detail.

1. Teachers demonstrate a positive, asset-based relationship with the ELs in their class.

When classroom teachers genuinely care about their ELs, they demonstrate concern for  students’ social and emotional well-being as well as their academic progress. This care has a substantial influence on ELs’ motivation to learn. It is imperative that classroom teachers of ELs understand the cultures and educational backgrounds of their students. Teachers should be able to put themselves into their ELs’ shoes and understand what it is like to come to a strange country with a different culture and customs. Here are some samples of what teachers can do to build a relationship with ELs:

• Have positive interactions with ELs every day. Messages such as “You are really good at…”, and “I like the way you solved that problem…” can encourage ELs as they are learning. Use gestures to accompany your positive message (thumbs up, pat on the shoulder, high five, smile) so that a child whose English is limited will understand that you are saying something positive.
• Teach ELs useful phrases. Teach phrases ELs can use to develop the social skills they need to bond with their teachers and classmates. They need to learn, for example, how to approach a teacher to ask a question or engage a classmate in a conversation.
• Provide safe spaces. According to Teaching Tolerance, teachers must provide safe spaces for students where they are seen, valued, cared for, and respected. This is especially important for ELs. To create this learning environment, teachers need to ensure ELs see their experiences reflected in the curriculum.

2. Teachers use scaffolds to help ELs acquire new information.

When scaffolding instruction, effective classroom teachers provide supports that help ELs succeed academically. These scaffolds should be tailored to meet the their students’ individual needs. Scaffolds for ELs may include the following:

• Link new learning to what English learners already know. Teachers need to consider what schema ELs  bring to the classroom and to link instruction to the students’ personal, cultural, and world experiences.
• Model think-alouds. Effective teachers use think-alouds to help ELs understand the step-by-step thinking process in finding a solution. They help ELs see the strategies and the language that the teacher uses to solve a problem.
• Use visual representations. Teachers of ELs should use photos, drawings, realia, graphic organizers, charts, graphs, and Venn diagrams to support EL learning.
• Reteach essential vocabulary. Effective teachers choose essential vocabulary for ELs to learn. New vocabulary is pretaught in context, not through rote memorization. Teachers provide multiple occasions for ELs to practice vocabulary.

3. Teachers make use of flexible grouping of students in the classroom.

In the classroom of an effective teacher of ELs, the physical layout of the classroom is conducive to small group and pair learning. Desks are arranged in small groups so that ELs feel that they are an integral part of the classroom community. ELs are provided with plenty of comprehensible output through interactions with their English-speaking classmates. Observers can see meaning negotiated unceasingly as students work in their groups. ELs have a greater opportunity for practicing their English and learning the content information through repetition. Small group and pair learning provide ELs with an opportunity for sustained dialogues with native speakers of English.

4. Teachers model appreciation of diversity in the classroom.

The diversity in the classroom is viewed as a resource from which all students can learn. Classroom teachers should value diversity and model this outlook to their students, demonstrating that they appreciate that the families of ELs have unique experiences to share with classmates. ELs feel that their culture is being validated when they see their home cultures and languages being studied in the classroom. This is a real self-esteem builder for them.

If you have other practices that classroom teachers can use to help their ELs’ social and academic growth, please share them in the comments.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/4-ways-teachers-can-support-english-learners/

ESP Project Leader Profile: Andy Gillett

Hello, ESPers worldwide!

In this ESP project leader profile, we go to England to meet an expert in ESP, Andy Gillett, who has represented the IATEFL ESP Special Interest Group in events with the TESOL ESP Interest Section, including a month-long online threaded discussion about ESP and a TESOL-IATEFL webinar about how ESP projects can create positive social change. Please see his bio.

Andy Gillett specialises in ESP, especially English for academic purposes. He worked for many years at the University of Hertfordshire where he was programme leader for the MA in English Language Teaching. Since 2009, Andy has been involved in consultancy work in various countries, as well as continuing to teach MA students.  He is currently teaching a research methods module to MA business students in Hertfordshire and has recently produced writing materials for an ESRC-funded project at Coventry University and a course for vocational English teachers for the British Council. He is a member of IATEFL and TESOL and has been involved in the ESP special interest groups since they began. He was a leading member of BALEAP, for which he was chair from 2003–2005.

In his interview responses, he shares with us his insights into English for academic purposes (EAP).

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Andy Gillett
English Language and Educational Consultant
www.andygillett.com

Define leadership in your own words.

The most useful definition of leadership from my point of view is Northouse’s (2007, p. 3): “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” Defining leadership as a process means that it is the interaction between the leader and the followers that matters. Leadership, therefore, involves groups of people and collaboration with a common purpose.

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?

The ESP projects that I have been responsible for have always involved a range of stakeholders, with a shared goal.

I have for several years now worked with students and teachers on a pre-master’s programme at a U.K. university. This was a 16-week course to prepare students for entry to a business master’s degree. It involved a  range of students, all who needed to develop some aspect of their studies before they could proceed on to their choice of master’s degree programme. Some of the students—particularly from the Far and Middle East—had a relevant undergraduate degree, that had not been taught in English. Some—often from Africa or South Asia—had undergraduate qualifications in a nonbusiness subject, such as engineering or bioscience. There were also students from countries  (e.g., USA) where the undergraduate qualification was considered to be too general for direct entry to a narrow U.K. master’s degree. In the pre-master’s programme, the subject matter included the business subjects, taught by a business specialist, and ESP, taught by me, and we needed to work together.

Students in the pre-master’s programme take four courses from the range offered, depending on the master’s degree they hope to follow. I have been involved with several, including the economic context, business strategy, and human resource management, but the one I spent most time with was accounting and financial management, something which I did not know much about myself.

It is clear, therefore, that the ESP needs of the broad range of students in my class vary widely. However, the one thing they share is the need to write accounting and finance assignments in a professional academic way in a U.K. university. I say “professional academic” because, although it is an academic course, it is intended to have professional relevance. The language needs include the use of the English language, the relevant language of accounting and financial management, and the language requirements of a U.K. university.

As I am not an expert in accounting and financial management, collaboration between me and the different stakeholders involved—all sharing the goal of helping students to succeed—is essential.

The most important aspect of our course design was that we (I and the business expert) shared the teaching. I could—and did—attend all her classes and she attended some of mine. All the materials that I used were from her teaching and the tasks that I worked with came from her. Moreover, the students were assessed jointly.

As far as collaboration was concerned,  the most important person was the business teacher. I did, however, need to involve the current students, previous students, teachers of the master’s courses the students intended to go on to, the leader of the pre-master’s programme, teachers (both ESP and business) of the other courses the students were taking, university administrators, and sometimes government and embassy officials related to visas.

The main piece of assessment undertaken by the students was a report to a potential investor in a well-known international company; the actual company changed regularly. The purpose was to advise the potential investor, using financial information from the company’s annual report. My task was to work with the business teacher to help students understand and communicate the financial information presented in the annual report, concentrating on the balance sheet or statement of financial position. It was necessary to work with the business teacher  both to understand these documents and find out about the relevant language (vocabulary, syntax, etc.) to communicate this. There were interesting lexical and grammatical challenges. For example, the business teacher used the word “variance” to refer to the difference between the budgeted amount and the actual amount, rather than the square of the standard deviation—which the students knew about. All the students also had difficulty distinguishing between “a 2% increase” and “an increase of 2 percentage points.”  For example, a change from 40% to 44% is a 4 percentage point increase, but is an actual 10% increase. This was something I had never paid attention to before and needed my collaboration with the business teacher to sort out.

From a writing point of view, I followed Nesi and Gardner’s (2012) approach, which means first identifying (in collaboration with the business teacher and the students) the primary purpose of the text and the genre family involved. Then, from an examination of previous students’ work and teacher recommendations and comments, I could identify the  cognitive genres needed (Bruce, 2008) and work out the lexical and grammatical realisations.

Much of what and how accounting students and professionals write is not intuitive to an English teacher, and, without the collaboration of the groups of people I worked with, it would not have been possible for us to achieve our goal of successful students. I also learned a great deal about accounting, which came in very useful when I became treasurer of an academic teachers’ association.

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I am very pleased that Andy has shared with us his account of EAP practice, which I believe will benefit many ESP practitioners now and in the years to come.

Do you have questions or comments for Andy? Please feel free to contact him directly!

All the best,
Kevin

References

Bruce, I. (2008). Academic writing and genre: A systematic approach. London, England: Continuum.

Nesi, H., & Gardner, S. (2012). Genres across the disciplines: Student writing in higher education. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Northouse, P. G. (2007). Leadership: Theory and practice (4th ed.). London, England: Sage.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/esp-project-leader-profile-andy-gillett/

💕Friday freebie!💕 Tarjetas de intercambio!

Geometria – Trajetas De Intercambio

  – 26 pages –
Look at today’s freebie!

This 26-page unit has essential math vocabulary to build a foundation of math understanding. Use whole class, with second language learners or struggling math students. Fun way for students to meet the Common Core Standards!
The 15 carefully selected math vocabulary words integrate kid friendly definitions with rich information about the concept. Words included are: poligono, figuras congruentes, simetria, ordenacion, diametro, lineas paralelas, lineas perpendiculares, area, angulos, cilindros, perimetro, rombo, cubo, esfera y cono.
This Math Game packet includes black line masters to reproduce and use as games and activities.
This package includes: 7 Math Games:
•Match It Up!
•I Know the Word
•Tic Tac Go!
•And the Answer Is!
•Word Association
•A Game of 20 Questions
•Concentration
Also included:
• Flashcard Mania
• Math Games as Homework
Reproducible black lines included in this package:
-assessment
-activities to send home
-easy to use teacher
-teacher’s guides
-easy game assembly
-variety of games
-complete game boards and game cards
-activity black line masters

Click here to download!

Happy Teaching!
Lori Wolfe

from Fun To Teach ESL – Teaching English as a Second Language http://esleld.blogspot.com/2018/10/friday-freebie-tarjetas-de-intercambio.html

On Campus and Beyond: From Speaking to Writing, Part 2

In my previous blog (Part 1), I provided a few suggestions on how speaking activities from two units in the ESL speaking class that I taught this summer could be adjusted and implemented in a writing course. My goal was to create materials and activities for a particular unit in relation to the local campus community and to American society in general. I call this approach “On campus and beyond.”

In today’s blog, I’d like to continue by providing suggestions of writing assignments for the other two units of the course: “Health and Well-Being” and “Cultures and Diversity.”

Health and Well-Being

On Campus

• Activity: Students discuss campus services that help university students to maintain both physical and emotional health (e.g., student health center, student wellness center, psychological services, nutrition programs).
  • Suggestion for writing: Students can write a short report on these services, programs, and materials. Alternatively, students can also create a manual for new students including information about these services.
• Activity: In small groups, students make a list of suggestions on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle as a student (including both mental and physical health).
  • Suggestion for writing: Students write a short “recommendation” piece for new students describing a few practical suggestions on how to keep a healthy lifestyle as a university student (including both mental and physical health).
• Activity: Students discuss university services that help those suffering from eating disorders.
  • Suggestion for writing: Students write a “how to” piece providing a list of suggestions on how to help a friend suffering from an eating disorder.

Beyond

• Activity: Students work in pairs (or small groups) and discuss the following questions (select a few for each pair/small group):
  1. Are you a health-conscious person?
  2. In your opinion, who are the healthiest people in the world and why are they healthy?
  3. What things, in your opinion, might damage our health?
  4. Do you read articles online (newspapers, magazines) on how to stay healthy?
  5. How does eating a well-balanced diet affect our health?
  6. Have you ever given up a habit in order to improve your health?
  7. What do you do to stay healthy?
  8. How does our lifestyle affect our mental and physical health?
  9. In your opinion, do our emotions affect our health?
• Suggestion for writing: Students choose one question and answer it in a written form (e.g., reflection piece, opinion piece).
• Activity: Students can interview a few people (outside of the classroom), asking them about their attitudes toward nutrition labels.
  • Suggestion for writing: Students write a short piece on the topic “How to read nutrition labels effectively.”
• Activity: Students bring to class a food label that, from their perspective, demonstrates a healthy choice, and explain why they think this particular food is healthy.
  • Suggestion for writing: The teacher assigns a nutrition label to each student (different from their own), and students write a short analysis of this label explaining whether this particular food item is a healthy choice.

Cultures and Diversity

On campus

• Activity: Students discuss university services and programs that aim at helping the following populations of students feel included and supported: international students, nontraditional students, students with families, students learning ESL, students of different sexual orientations, students belonging to various religions.
  • Suggestion for writing: Students write a short piece on the following prompt “Imagine that you are an administrator in a large U.S. university. What programs/services/ materials/support would you offer to international students/nontraditional students/ students with families/students learning English as a second language/ students of different sexual orientations/students belonging to various religions (choose one)?”
• Activity: In small groups, students discuss the following question: “What does our university do to support diversity on campus?” Students are given time to work together exploring such resources. This activity requires internet access; if there is no internet access in the classroom, the teacher should prepare in advance a few printouts from the university website and give them to each group.
  • Suggestion for writing: Students write a short proposal in which they describe an event that a local university should hold to promote diversity and cultivate a safe and inclusive environment on campus.

Beyond

• Activity: In small groups, students discuss the following questions: “What problems can multiculturalism bring to the U.S.?” “Do you think the U.S. can lose its identity because of multiculturalism?”
  • Suggestions for writing
    1) Students answer these questions in a written form
    2) Students write a piece on one the following questions:
    •  Is multiculturalism good for world peace and understanding? Why or why not?
    •  Do you think media or pop culture can contribute to national stereotypes? How?
    •  What can we do to be more accepting of all people (of different genders, nationalities, races, sexual orientation, religion)?
• Activity: Students discuss the issue of stereotypes and share examples of stereotypes that people have about Americans.
  • Suggestions for writing
    1) Students can write a short reflective piece on the topic “How to avoid stereotyping people.”
    2) The teacher creates a questionnaire that allows students to evaluate their own behavior toward others and the degree to which they respect others coming from diverse backgrounds. At the end of this questionnaire, students write a short reflective paragraph discussing the results of the questionnaire.

These activities are quite flexible and can be modified to fit your teaching situation, the proficiency level of your students, and the learning objectives of your course. I hope these suggestions can give you more ideas for your writing class.

If you have other ideas, please share!

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/on-campus-and-beyond-from-speaking-to-writing-part-2/