Month: February 2019

Reflexive Pronouns lesson!

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!
I just put this lesson plan together for a fellowship I am applying for and thought I would share it with you!  It follows my Reflexive Pronoun Unit that I give as a sub plan for all of you who have taken one of the Fun To Teach workshops.  This alternate form can be used by anyone using their own picture cards.                             

       

Hope it is something you can use in the new year!

Happy Teaching!

Audience

This lesson is intended for teachers of English learners in elementary grades 1st– 3rd who are at an Early Intermediate to Early Advanced English proficiency level.  This lesson can be used for small groups or in whole class settings and is appropriate for all genders and nationalities.  A simple change of picture cards may be need to meet cultural standards
Purpose/goals

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to differentiate between the reflexive pronouns.
Listing of student outcomes

Students will communicate effectively 80% of the time when using reflexive pronouns to describe what people are doing in pictures.
Teacher and student roles and activities

Introduction:  Teacher:  Briefly introduce reflexive pronouns and describe their meaning.
The lesson:  Teacher presents the pronoun chart in detail.  Explicitly teaching when to use “it” (I can do it myself.) and when not to (He can shave himself.)

Teacher writes the subject pronoun and the corresponding reflexive pronoun on the board.
Students discuss the meaning of the reflexive pronoun.  Teacher checks for student understanding.

Chant:
• Teacher introduces the chant while the students listen for the reflexive pronouns.

• Call Back: Students repeat lines after teacher.
•Students raise their hand every time they hear a reflexive pronoun.


• Teacher passes out the reflexive pronoun word cards one per student. Teacher recites the chant. Students hold up their reflexive pronoun card when they hear their word.
The Activity:  Teacher introduces the following prompt and reply.

Prompt: Who do/does _____ see in the mirror?               Reply: _____ see/sees _____in the mirror.
Teacher holds up one reflexive pronoun card at a time.  Students practice by looking at the card and speaking the prompt and reply. Students ‘Call Back’ repeating after teacher until they successfully repeat the structure. Students continue the practice by having a girl pretend to look in the mirror, a boy look in the mirror, and two students look in the mirror, etc.

The Game:  Teacher divides class into 2 lines and names the first person of each line as the team leader.
• Beginning with the team leader the teacher reads and shows one of the picture cards. The first student to give the corresponding reflexive pronoun wins and goes to the end of their line

• The next student in line plays against the remaining student

• The team that has the leader back to the front of the line wins!

Wrap up:  Refer to the objective.   Parting Passport: 
Teacher asks the students to say their favorite line of the day using a reflexive pronoun.
Theme

The overarching theme of the lesson is the introduction and practice of reflexive pronouns in oral conversation for English language learners at the intermediate/early advanced level of English.
Timing

35 minute lesson
·      Introduction: 3-5 minutes

·      The lesson:  5-10 minutes
·      The Chant:  5 minutes

·      The Activity:  5 minutes
·      The Game:  10 – 12 minutes

·      Wrap up: 3-5 minutes
Materials/Technology

Picture cards, reflexive pronoun cards, and chant for reflexive pronouns.  Optional: mirrors
Preparation:


Write the reflexive pronoun chart on board or display with overhead or document camera (see chart below).  Copy and cut the cards.   Print copies of the chant.

      

Pre and Post Assessment measures

Students are given a variety of pictures requiring the use of reflexive pronouns.
Students orally describe what is happening to the people in each picture.

Teacher records the proper and improper oral use of reflexive pronouns.

Click here  if you would like to see the Reflexive Pronoun Unit at my store on Teachers Pay Teachers!

  

from Fun To Teach ESL – Teaching English as a Second Language http://esleld.blogspot.com/2019/02/reflexive-pronouns-lesson.html

5 Tips for a Valuable Convention Experience

So, you’re coming to TESOL! You’re excited and you’re mapping out your entire conference experience on that handy dandy app. And if you’re like me, your plan is to get as much out of the convention as possible. In fact, you’ve got every minute of every day planned out with convention activities. Well, as a recovering overachiever, I’m here to tell you to flip the script.

Sure, this is the best professional conference for English educators in the world, and, yes, there is so much being offered. In fact, your inclination to do it all is natural, and motivated by the best of intentions: It’s for your students; you feel obligated to your employer, who’s (hopefully) paying for your attendance; and you have a healthy dose of FOMO (fear of missing out). However, as in life, so it is at professional conferences: MOST is not necessarily BEST. You, your students, and your employer will be so much better served if you seek quality over quantity this TESOL. So here are five tips for getting the best value out of TESOL 2019 without getting burnt out and bleary-eyed.

Greg Wickersham, EL Coordinator

1. Pace Yourself

You can’t do it all. And if you try to, you’ll regret it. Remember a decade or so ago when well-intended boards of education, pressured by the demands of high-stakes accountability, took recess away from elementary children? How did that work out? Had those policy makers consulted an educator, a psychologist, or common sense, they would have known that people (children AND adults) learn better when they have mental breaks. There is such a thing as information overload, and the science proves it. So this TESOL, know your own limits. Plan in those breaks. Real breaks. It just means you’ll have to be more selective when choosing your sessions.

2. Introduce Yourself

If you want to feel less guilty about sitting out a session or two per day, then make that freed-up time about networking. Don’t be shy; introduce yourselves to your fellow conventioneers. If you’re an extrovert like me, then human interaction energizes and recharges you. Not only that, but as you meet fellow conventioneers, you might discover someone working on an initiative or project in another part of the country that you’ve dreamed of doing in your professional context. What a resource! That has happened to me at previous TESOLs. You can’t know what knowledge or wisdom your colleagues have if you don’t extend your hand, make eye contact, and say hi.

3. Stretch Yourself

This advice may seem counter to what I have preached so far, given that my previous advice only further limits your already finite number of learning options. But hear me out. I recommend that you take just one session to go wildly outside of your comfort zone and area of expertise. Pick a workshop from a conference strand not directly related to what you do. You’ll be surprised by what you learn and by the insight you will gain from an unfamiliar perspective. And again, you may meet fellow conventioneers with expertise in an area that you don’t have. So plan into your schedule one outside-the-box learning session for yourself.

4. Take Advantage of the Host City

You didn’t come all the way to Atlanta to remain confined to the convention center. During your now-mandatory breaks :-), get out and enjoy what your host city has to offer. You may know the standard attractions—Georgia Aquarium, Center for Civil and Human Rights, World of Coke—But as a local, I can share some of my faves: If you can get here a few days early, find tickets to the Atlanta United (soccer) season opener (March 10). Mercedes Benz Stadium is right next door to the convention center, and the reigning MLS [Major League Soccer] champs have created a game experience that rivals or betters that of any NFL [National Football League] or NBA [National Basketball Association] team. You won’t regret it. Or, visit one of Atlanta’s many local craft breweries. Or take a walk on the Atlanta Beltline. Check my social media feeds for further recommendations as the convention gets closer: Instagram and LinkedIn.

5. Reflect and Implement

Back to getting the most value and impact out of your learning. Take time on the flight home, or each evening in your hotel room, to write your thoughts and reflections. Then, take those reflections and create an implementation plan. Choose one lesson from the conference. (Remember, less is best!) Then, be specific. Define exactly when, where, how, and with whom you will implement that one lesson in your classroom, workplace, or larger community. With a definitive, singular plan in place, you are much more likely to implement what you learned and incorporate your new skills into your regular practice.

Those are my two bits. You may take them as you will, but believe me, I have learned the hard way the value of the less-is-more approach. I am confident you will have your best conference experience if you set your own limits and stick to them, take the time to recharge and enjoy yourself, interact with your colleagues, and focus on the one or two most valuable lessons to take back. See you at the conference!

Author Bio
Greg Wickersham received his EdM in education and policy management from Harvard University and his EdS in leadership for learning from Kennesaw State University. He has been teaching for 21 years and is an educational leader, teacher, and advocate of immigrant and refugee students in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. Greg is currently EL coordinator for the DeKalb County School District.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/5-tips-for-a-valuable-convention-experience/

$100 GIVEAWAY of TpT Gift Certificates!

Follow these directions to enter to win THREE $100 GIVEAWAYS of Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Certificates… 

Directions on how to win the 
a $100 TpT Gift Certificate:
Complete the Rafflecopter Contest Application at the bottom of this post to enter to win the FIRST $100 GIVEAWAY of a TpT Gift Certificate.  Click on the link, A RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY, located under “BETTER ODDS THAN VEGAS!!! ” to earn the raffle ticket entries.  (You may have to wait a minute for it to appear on your computer.)  The FIRST $100 GIVEAWAY of a TpT Gift Certificate will end at 12:00 A.M. Pacific Time on March 21, 2019.

BETTER ODDS THAN VEGAS!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

 The TBOTEMC annual membership may be purchased at http://www.thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.com/2014/01/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs.html.

TpT sellers may join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative at http://www.thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.com/2014/01/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs.html. Please include my name and TpT Store – Fun To Teach –  in the referral section of the TBOTEMC Registration Form. 

Good Luck!

from Fun To Teach ESL – Teaching English as a Second Language http://esleld.blogspot.com/2019/02/100-giveaway-of-tpt-gift-certificates.html

It’s Time To Shop!

Hi everyone,
Get ready to save!

Just wanted everyone to know that I am having a sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers store!  

Click here to go to my store!

Here is what you need to know!

Discount Percentage up to:  25%
Start Date: 02/26/2019
End Date: 02/27/2019
Products Selected: All

Click here to go to my store!

Happy shopping!


Click here to go to my store!


Click here to go to my store!



Click here to go to my store!

Happy Teaching! 
Lori
from Fun To Teach ESL – Teaching English as a Second Language http://esleld.blogspot.com/2019/02/its-time-to-shop.html

Listening and Speaking With Digital Assistants

There are numerous advances in artificial intelligence and automation that have created new opportunities for teaching and learning English. I will be sharing examples of these in the next few blog entries. These will provide a bit of background on the technology as well as numerous suggestions for how to integrate the technology in the classroom and to support extensive out-of-class language practice.

The first of these topics is using digital assistants. Digital assistants, sometimes called smart speakers, include the Google Home, Apple Homepod, and the Amazon Echo or Alexa. These devices have become familiar to many and are commonly found in homes today. They are also finding their way into more and more classrooms. These devices are very promising for educational use, and they are available in a range of sizes, functions, and costs.

Though the Amazon Show currently sells for US$249, the Amazon Dot can be purchased for US$25. In fact, both the Google Home and Amazon Echo offer full functionality through apps that can be used on smartphones in lieu of these standalone devices. The Amazon Echo offers significantly more skills (or apps) for learning English than the other devices at this time.

Benefits

The most obvious benefit of these devices is related to the fact that they are designed specifically for an oral/aural means of interaction. This presents us with extensive opportunities for practicing speaking and listening. There are a number of practical activities that can be used across these devices. Some of the most valuable for ELLs are those that promote opportunities for extensive practice, ideally with salient feedback.

Some Basic Educational Uses

These devices can be used for a variety of simple educational tasks. Students can

  • do basic internet searches and seek out English-specific information.
  • ask simple, common questions, like “What time is it?” or “What day is it?”
  • ask for directions or descriptions of things.
  • ask for the definition of a word or how a word is spelled or pronounced.
  • ask for synonyms and conjugations.
  • have the device read any Kindle book out loud.
  • get instructions on step procedures (like a recipe or building plans).
  • get help with a research project. (After all, these devices are the perfect partner for group work. They have all the facts and their human partners can supply the creativity.)

Games and Skills

Students can also play various games or install some of the thousands of skills that are available. Some of these that specifically target English learning include:

A collection of the 50 most popular English language learning skills can be found here.

Of course, there are also numerous skills that are not specifically designed for teaching English, but they support extensive language practice and production. Some of my favorites include:

Beyond these readily available functions, there are also opportunities to create customized skills for a specific group of users. Storyline is a website that allows users to create skills in an easy drag and drop manner, without the need to write any computer code. These skills could be built around course contents or thematic topics. They could target specific vocabulary or other language skill or language practice context. Skills could be games or trivia, or they can be very academically focused. I have worked with students who have created murder mysteries, choose your own adventure games, and guided tours that are all voice controlled. This is just the beginning of an exciting development that will certainly provide us many other promising materials in the future.

For Further Reading

For more thoughts on using digital assistants to support the teaching and learning of English, see these resources:

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/listening-and-speaking-with-digital-assistants/

Friday Freebie

 💕 Hello Teachers!
Here is a great math freebie just for you!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Multiplying-by-8-Math-Games-and-Lesson-Plan-28642Multiplying by 8 – Multiplication Math Games and Lesson Plans


Check out this 26-page package freebie that focuses on multiplying by 8. Teaching elementary students to multiply is quick and effective when students practice their multiplication facts with these fun and engaging reproducible multiplication games, lesson plans and activities.
 
This package includes 5 Math Games:
*Multiplying by 8
*Match It Up!
*Concentration
*Multiplication Bingo
*Flash Card Bingo
ALSO INCLUDED:
*Homework Black lines
*Timed Tests
*Score Graphs

Each multiplication game includes game boards, cards, practice sheets, a 5 minute-timed test and graph for efficient assessment.
Also included are 5 black lines, which can be used to differentiate your instruction, as seat work or sent home as homework. Flash cards also come in this packet.

These games are effective ways to reach and teach your English language learners and at risk students. Differentiate your elementary instruction with this great 26-page multiplication game and activities.
Please follow me and don’t forget to rate this product!
Click here to download this freebie!

Happy teaching!💕 


from Fun To Teach ESL – Teaching English as a Second Language http://esleld.blogspot.com/2019/02/friday-freebie.html

Overly Cluttered Classrooms and EL Learning

Many teachers believe that the physical environment of the classroom can serve as an additional teacher. Look around your classroom. Is it filled with store-bought signs, anchor charts, and posters? Do you have mobiles hanging from the ceiling, tables covered with realia, and walls hidden by student work from September when you studied how leaves change color?

Research shows that an overly cluttered classroom can be more of a distraction than an aid to learning. Children, particularly those in the early grades and those with special learning needs (this includes English learners; ELs), are easily distracted by a cluttered classroom. My friend and early child education expert Karen Nemeth wrote a guest blog for  TESOL about this topic in April 2017. I’d like to add some more details about the research. Although all of this research was completed using the general school population, it certainly applies to ELs.

Carnegie Mellon Research

A Carnegie Mellon University study  (Fisher, Godwin, & Seltman, 2014) found that children in heavily decorated classrooms were more distracted, spent more time off-task, and demonstrated smaller learning gains than when the decorations were removed.  For the study, 24 kindergarten students were placed in laboratory classrooms for six introductory science lessons on topics they were unfamiliar with. Three lessons were taught in a heavily decorated classroom, and three lessons were given in a sparsely decorated classroom. The results showed that the kindergartners learned more when the room was not heavily decorated. Their accuracy was 55% in the sparsely decorated room and 42% in the heavily decorated classroom.

Seven Key Influences on Student Learning

Another research finding (Barrett, Davies, Zhang, & Barrett, 2015), from Manchester, England, identified seven key influences on students’ academic progress. These are the following:

  1. Light
  2. Temperature
  3. Air quality
  4. Ownership
  5. Flexibility
  6. Complexity
  7. Color

This study is well worth looking at to see how all of these factors contribute to the academic progress and health of you and of your students. Following are some of their findings.

The Physical Surrounding in a Classroom Is an Important Factor in Student Progress

The Manchester study looked at physical factors in the classroom, such as natural light, heat, and noise level. The results of the study showed that rooms with large windows and lots of natural light had a beneficial influence on student scores. Noisy rooms with poor acoustics had a negative effect.

Complexity and Color in the Classroom

Color encompasses all the color used in the room and complexity is a measure of how these elements combine to create a visually coherent environment. Maintaining focused attention in a classroom may be particularly challenging for young children because the clutter in the environment may tax children’s still-developing  ability to stay on task. Color research shows that room color has an effect on students’ emotions, causing mood swings that can have an impact on performance. Both complexity and color affected student learning.

Giving Students Ownership of the Classroom

The study showed that children responded to their own work. They are much more likely to look at work that they contributed to the classroom than to commercially made signs and information. We are giving our students voice when we allow them to contribute to the decorations in their classroom.  Teachers need to find out what is important to  their students and let the classroom reflect their interests and culture.

Study Findings

The researchers in the Manchester study found that students benefited most when the walls had some decorations. “The displays on the walls should be designed to provide a lively sense to the classroom, but without becoming chaotic in feel. As a rule of thumb 20–50% of the available wall space should be kept clear” (Barrett, Davies, Zhang, & Barrett, 2015, p. 35).

Conclusions

I think it is important for teachers to take a good look around their rooms.  Let’s eliminate all wall hangings and realia that we have finished studying. Use lively colors but avoid the overly decorated classroom that can affect the learning of young students.

I’m not saying that our classrooms should be stripped bare of all interest and color; we need to find something in-between. Classroom walls should reflect students’ lives and school values. “The classroom should be a home away from home for your ELs where they feel safe, valued, competent and that they belong” (Zacarian, Alvarex-Ortiz, & Haynes, 2017).

References and Further Reading

Barrett, P. S., Davies, F., Zhang, Y., & Barrett, L. (2015). Clever classrooms: Summary report of the HEAD project. Salford, United Kingdom: University of Salford.

Fisher, A., Godwin, K., & Seltman, H.(2014). Visual environment, attention allocation, and learning in young children – When too much of a good thing may be bad. Psychological Science, 25, 1362–1370.

Zacarian, D., Alvarez-Ortiz,L., & Haynes, J. (2017). Teaching to strengths: Supporting students living with trauma, violence, and chronic stress. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/overly-cluttered-classrooms-and-el-learning/

Redesigning the Classroom Board Game

Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the TESOL games and learning blog! Over the last month I hope you have found the time to play some games and consider what you found enjoyable about them. Though engaging games can be easy to identify, it can be challenging to pinpoint just what makes them engaging. This month’s post reveals a bit of the mysterious magic of games and how we can funnel it into the games we make for class.

Perhaps every language educator through history has played a board game in the classroom. We have all seen it, and we have all made one:

This workhorse of the language classroom gets students involved, gets them communicating, and provides an opportunity for language review. Yet, with some basic game design principles, we can do something more: We can make it fun!

Game Complexity

When designing a game, always consider your audience through a prism of complexity. Young learners can spend hours playing relatively simple games; it’s why kids love tic-tac-toe. As we age, our brains can handle more complexity, which is why adults find tic-tac-toe boring, but chess never ceases to enthrall. This complexity plays out in two ways in games: the luck/strategy scale, and agency.

Luck and Strategy

Our classic classroom board game is often luck driven, as players flip a coin or roll dice to advance. For younger learners this can be fun, but adults enjoy wins derived from meaningful decision-making and strategy. Evaluate your board game by considering what players do when not actively turn-taking. Are they waiting for their turn, or plotting and planning while others take their turns?

Agency

Adding strategy gives players the opportunity to plot and plan in the game. An effective way to add strategy is by giving the players more agency. Agency represents the influence a player has through the actions they can take. As a language educator, I think of agency as the number of verbs my players have. With our board game, the players have three verbs: roll the dice, move their piece, and answer questions. For younger learners, three to five verbs is adequate. Adults enjoy far more. As a design challenge, consider what additional verbs could be added to your board game—could players wager, trade, steal, question, or cooperate?

Increasing player agency creates more opportunity for strategy, but used alone it has limits, which is where altering the information of the game can assist. Games can loosely be categorized in two ways: perfect games, and imperfect games. In perfect games, all players share the same information and everything is on the board. Chess, checkers, basketball, and our board game example are all perfect games. In imperfect games, players have information known only to them. Card games such as poker and Uno are great examples, as are the board games Battleship and Settlers of Catan.

Making Games More Engaging

To make a more engaging experience for the players of our board game, I could hide the questions, which are only uncovered when a player lands on a tile. This could be enhanced by adding the verb to wager. Perhaps each player gets tokens they can use to bet. Before a question is revealed, players could wager tokens on whether they think other players will answer their question successfully. Winning the wager gets them more tokens, while losing a wager means giving over their tokens to the player who successfully answered the question.

Balancing luck and strategy, adding agency, and considering the perfectness of your game are all quick and easy ways to increase player engagement. Just remember that every effective game requires playtesting and refining, so be sure to try out your game with family, colleagues, and students—and share your game design journey in our comments section!

Finally, this month, I encourage everyone to check out Betsy Gilliland’s blog post on developing games for L2 writing. In other gaming news, Dr. Ulugbek Nurmukhamedov and Dr. Randall Sadler have called for contributions to TESOL’s New Ways in Teaching with Games, and I encourage everyone to submit! The deadline is 12 April 2019.

Until next month, play more games!

Want to learn more? Check out:

Brathwaite, B., & Schreiber, I. (2017). Challenges for game designers: Non-digital exercises for video game designers. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Fullerton, T. (2014). Game design workshop: A playcentric approach to creating innovative games. Boca Raton, FL: AK Peters/CRC Press.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/redesigning-the-classroom-board-game/

Online Role-Playing Games for Writing

Today I want to share a fascinating project being developed by Lin Zhou, a graduate student at University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, which I think will be interesting for writing teachers and other TESOL professionals. Lin is a PhD candidate in Second Language Studies and holds an MA in TESOL from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She grew up in Anhui, China, and attended secondary school in Singapore. When working on her MA degree, she developed an interest in L2 writing because she saw it as an area that offered her broad opportunities for future teaching and research. Her goal after finishing her PhD is to be a professor of language teacher education or writing.

This blog post is an interview with Lin about her dissertation project. Several years ago, she made connections with a high school in China where the students were preparing for a national English language contest. One of the more challenging tasks for the students was writing an essay that asked them to think critically and respond within a short time limit. Working alongside the schoolʻs English teachers, Lin designed a flipped classroom where the students would learn about writing concepts at home so that during class time they could collaboratively play an interactive role-playing computer game she created to engage them in critical thinking and preparation for academic writing. I asked her to explain her design process and reflect on how L2 writing teachers might draw on the ideas in their own teaching.

These are nonplaying characters (NPC) in the game called “God of Time.” NPCs are essential in story construction and quests connection.

What inspired you to design interactive games?

I have been teaching English online for 9 years, and my experience interacting with my students online always made me feel that there was something missing. After reflection and some analysis of my teaching, I found that  “authenticity” and “meaningful interaction” would be the key elements missing in a teacher-led online English classroom. The teacher can provide very detailed analysis in an online format and students would still be following the lecture no matter how short the lecture is. I have tried to make my explanation of grammar point and words as short as possible so that students can practice and produce output as much as possible. Even so, there is no authentic meaningful interaction. Even when students produce some sentences, it is not because they need to. It is because the teacher asked them to do so. Interactive games give students purpose and meaning in their language production, and language learning is a by-product of this game playing. In the future, I am envisioning a big game that can embed different courses.

How does game design foster students’ writing development?

The most important aspect of a game design, from my perspective, is a very solid storyline which can engage students in a series of quests (challenges that need to be completed in order to advance in the game). While completing individual quests, students need to learn relevant linguistic resources. For my dissertation project that focuses on writing, I wanted to engage students in critical thinking during the game-play sessions. The discussions they have during the game-play sessions actually contribute to the writing process. The game playing itself is part of the writing process. Often in EFL contexts, students pay too much attention to the accuracy of their writing and ignore or sacrifice the criticality of the content. The game was designed to let students see that writing is a process and help them learn different ways to look for linguistic resources when they are out of words to express their thoughts and ideas.

How did you develop the games?

Developing games can be a time-consuming process, especially when you have pedagogical objectives. However, once you become familiar with the technical aspects of game designing, it becomes easier and easier. It is very important to first clarify the role of the game(s). Then the designer needs to communicate with the teachers. If the designer is the teacher at the same time, it is crucial to identify the teaching objectives and the game affordances.

Games, when first created, were not intended for educational purposes. Teachers need to understand that educational games are not the same as recreational games. What I am trying to do here is to extract those fun components of a recreational game to create a learning ecology so that students can engage in meaningful and value-laden language use activities.

After listing the teaching objectives and the game affordances, it is time to match types of game quests to teaching objectives. This is the key designing phase, which needs careful revision. There will always be certain teaching objectives that cannot be fulfilled by game quests, so teachers should incorporate other teaching methods. For my case, I have included a flipped classroom model to fill in the gap between the game and the teaching objectives.

Chinese high school students playing role-playing game (photo credit: Lin Zhou)

Steps to Design a Pedagogical Game

  1. Identify the role of the game.
  2. Identify the teaching/pedagogical objectives.
  3. Find out how each objective can be achieved by different game quests.
  4. Locate any mismatches between pedagogical objectives and the game.
    1. Decide how to handle the mismatch.
  5. Move on with game design.
    1. Solid and logical storyline
    2. Reward system (game rules)
    3. Game platform
    4. Quests design (closely related to the storyline)
    5. Connection and progression of quests
  6. Test game play.

What recommendations do you have for teachers interested in developing computer games for their own writing students?

  • Start with small games or just one or two quests. Do not panic when you or students encounter technical problems.
  • Do not focus so much on the game aspect that you forget the pedagogical purposes. After all, we are creating a pedagogical game, and I believe pedagogical games are fundamentally different from recreational games.
  • The important thing is to create good characters, with background stories and motivations. You can do a lot with screencapture software even if you don’t know how to program. Camtasia allows inserting quizzes and other interactive features to make small games within videos. Creating good background images allows you to put illustrations (not animations) in different situations that make it look like the characters are in a setting.

Can you recommend games writing teachers could use if they don’t have the knowledge base to design their own games?

Honestly, right now, there are not many games that are designed for writing. There are a lot of apps for developing linguistic competency, but very few games are created to improve writing. I believe the reason is that to commercialize such a game would need a substantial financial investment. More importantly, such games need a close cooperation between computer engineers and language teachers. I would recommend teachers start with Aris since it is a game development platform that needs no computer engineering background or knowledge of coding languages. Check out the games that have already been created by the Aris team; you can do this by downloading the Aris app.

If you have any suggestions for other games writing teachers could try out, or if you have questions for Lin, please let us know in the comments.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/online-role-playing-games-for-writing/

On Teaching Speaking: Academic Presentations for ELs

This TESOL Blog series focuses on teaching speaking to English learners.
In this TESOL Blog series, Julie Vorholt, editor of New Ways in Teaching Speaking, Second Edition, interviews contributors to the volume and gets some tips from them on teaching speaking to ELs. See Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

How well are your students able to state and support an opinion, respectfully disagree, and engage an audience? Making presentations and communicating in an academic setting are necessary skills for students’ success. Thus, presentation and discussion facilitation exercises are popular in advanced and academic English courses because students can practice these skills.

When I was reviewing submissions for the newly released New Ways in Teaching Speaking, Second Edition, I read about an activity developed by contributor Kia Dennis. Her activity has students present to their classmates and lead a discussion that includes a variety of question types.

Although Kia’s activity is for students at an advanced proficiency level, it could be modified for students at other levels. Begin the activity by asking each student to select a video or audio clip. Then explain that each student should prepare three types of questions about their clip. On presentation day, the student presents his or her prelistening questions to the class, shows/plays the media, presents the comprehension questions, and presents the discussion questions.

Here I would like to share with you an example, for the topic of global warming, of how the three types of questions from Kia’s activity could be used:

  1. Prelistening Questions: At least two initial discussion questions about the topic in general, including at least five vocabulary items with explanations or definitions.

Examples
(1) What is global warming?
(2)What are the effects of global warming?
Key vocabulary items: global warming, climate change, greenhouse gas, emissions, and renewable energy.

  1. Comprehension Questions: At least two questions to check student comprehension. Questions should not be simple multiple-choice or yes/no.

Examples
(1) Think about the first person who was interviewed. What was that person’s reaction to the suggestion that people should reduce their water waste?
(2) Think about the final person who was interviewed. What concerns did she express about getting people to change their behavior in order to reduce climate change?

  1. Class Discussion Questions: At least three questions intended to encourage class discussions. Questions must be open-ended; they will deal with belief and opinion rather than simple fact.

Examples
(1) According to the video, current emissions levels must be at least 25% lower in the next 10 years. How likely do you think it is that this will happen?
(2) What behaviors are people in our local community willing and/or unwilling to change to help reduce global warming?
(3) To what extent are people taking the global warming crisis seriously? Give evidence to support your opinion.

About Kia Dennis, our Featured Contributor

Kia Dennis

Kia works in Washington, DC, with foreign trained lawyers getting their Master of Laws degree from Georgetown University Law Center. She is the director of Legal English Programs at Georgetown Law. I interviewed Kia online to learn more about her, her work as an English language teaching professional, and her experience in writing for New Ways in Teaching Speaking, Second Edition.

Inspiration: Writing “Discussion and Facilitation: Leading a Presentation”

Presentation skills are something that even the most advanced English as a Second Language speakers struggle with. In the graduate law program, students are called upon frequently to present in both short presentations of information and longer more traditional presentations, so my colleagues and I make a point of incorporating exercises that give students the opportunity to practice these skills.

Current Professional Work and/or Projects

I am currently working on the design and development of online legal English courses for our program. The number of students that are seeking quality courses in legal English and English for academic purposes is constantly growing. The goal is to develop online courses that are both sufficiently interesting and challenging to push students beyond their current language skills but still be accessible and relatable to a variety of students.

Teaching Speaking Tip: For New Teachers

Students can’t get better at speaking English if they don’t speak English. Getting students speaking is almost always the hard part. So I always encourage new students to speak without putting a lot of emphasis on correction. As we get more comfortable with each other, I’ll point out errors and push students to correct each other and themselves more often.

Teaching Speaking Tip: For Veteran Teachers

I think I’m most effective when I am engaged and having fun teaching. That often means having a variety of exercises and changing things up from semester to semester. It can be a lot of work, but the student appreciate my enthusiasm and I see it paying off in their improved language skills.

Favorite Blog, Book, App, or Other Resource

The TESOL Blog. Actually, all of the resources offered by TESOL are great. The best resource, in my opinion, is the annual conference. I have met so many inspiring colleagues there, whom I turn to for help frequently.

Perspective on Teaching Speaking: Changes Over the Years

Speaking is really so much more an art than a science. There are certainly rules that students need to know, but the reality is native speakers break those rules all the time and without rhyme or reason sometimes. How we speak also changes quite rapidly. For example, I had a student mention that he was watching a television show where someone said something was bad, but from the context he deduced that the person meant the thing was good. It struck me how fast language changes and that students have to not only figure out current slang and colloquialisms, but true fluency requires that they also internalize older, no longer used, slang in order to navigate in their second language.

Free Time

I love to read and write fiction. I also enjoy learning new languages. My new year’s resolution for 2019 is to learn French.

If you have any comments and/or questions, please share! How do you incorporate activities to practice leading presentations? What activities have worked well with your students?

You can connect with Julie via LinkedIn
You can find reach Kia at: Kia.dennis@georgetown.edu

Kia Dennis is the director of Legal English Programs at Georgetown Law. She has experience as both a teacher and student in online learning environments and extensive experience teaching ESL in traditional learning environments. She has presented at various conferences on the topics of legal English, English for specific purposes, legal writing, and online course development. Prior to joining Georgetown, Professor Dennis was an attorney in government practice and private practice. Professor Dennis obtained an AB in economics from Princeton University, a JD from Georgetown Law Center, and an MA in applied linguistics from the University of Massachusetts.

About the Next Blog in This Series

In my next “On Teaching Speaking” blog post, meet contributor Hisako Yamashita from Konan Women’s University in Kobe, Japan! She wrote an activity for the Developing Fluency section of New Ways in Teaching Speaking, Second Edition that helps create a supportive learning community as students participate in this discussion. Hisako’s activity, “Reflecting With Art Cards: Expressing Thoughts and Feelings,” may be used with learners at all proficiency levels to develop awareness of current and future self and practice expressing ideas and emotions.

from TESOL Blog http://blog.tesol.org/on-teaching-speaking-academic-presentations-for-els/