ISBAN in-company lessons
REPORTS – MAY
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
Do we need theory? (OUP Webinar, 2013)
Commentary commentary
I have found ELT theory useful. I can understand why I am doing something in a particular stage of a lesson in a particular way and I try to understanding what transpired or why.
I think, in turn, it also helps in giving feedback.
Historically, owing to a cultural move away from formal approaches to ELT, with the success in the 70s of discovering a variety of somewhat effective communicative approaches, since then attention towards and enthusiasm for 'theory' has fallen to make way for such aELT 'revolution'. However, it is still important.
On the other side of the coin, I understand the effects of too much focus on theory, losing a little common sense when the thinking about why I do something may momentarily preclude my observation of it (and recognition of potentially key evidence). A general feeling for things may be lost when focussed on what I should be doing at a certain time in class.
A lesson's spontaneity may be stifled by over-planning. This versus the shortcomings of not having planned anything is known as the 'planing paradox'.
Something I gained from Oxford University Press webinars — which I take almost every month — regarding theory was to think of a classroom as a constellation of individuals with very specific individual needs; it was explained too much focus is on general guidelines and theories and principles, gleaned from textbooks or taught in teacher training, that capture general truths in ELT (and pedagogy). This, to me, sheds some light on a disconnect between theory and practice I work with — it’s not possible for a reading activity to run perfectly if the TL clarification of key vocabulary stage is interrupted (by so many everyday occurrences, e.g., lateness, classroom overexcited settling down, classroom too tired, persistent questions difficult to control, and more).
It is often better to consider each class unique, the learners, the settings, any variables, and it might be better in the reading activity example to quickly cut down the task.
Routine reflection by the teacher based on specific goings-on in a unique classroom, COMBINED with the teacher's own theories as to why
something happens, should inform practices. Links should be made between these reflections and the evidence in the
classroom. Any theory that rests solely on a priori, i.e. theory that
comes from reasoning, intuition, or revelation, from textbooks or the
like, should be shelved and referenced.
Textbooks and literature help get one cogitating and fire up the imagination, but once read through, the classroom itself is then the best textbook.
The webinar disambiguated 'theory'
for me in three ways: firstly, theory in its very powerful 'Einstein' shape and form, which is very general, abstract, and difficult to explain – string-theory, for example.
Secondly, a principle-based 'Bach' theory, which again aims at capturing very
general truths, but aims more at telling us what should be constructed and what should
happen as a result (music composition as in the case of Bach). This is the reason
for which we don't do things at random — it is this last type, it stated, that the
ELT world focussed on too heavily. And finally, there is the theory that we use to
account for a situation or justify a course of action, which is much
more specific, particular, and connected to the everyday-world, which it
described as an 'Agatha Christie' (or Sherlock Holmes) type theory (e.g., ‘the explanation is
that the thief got in through the open window, and that's why you were burgled').
‘Who needs theory? — We all do!’ (OUP Webinar, 2013)
It is an important function of theory formation to advance from 'naïve' and unreflecting 'realism' to a more conscious understanding of the principles and concepts underlying one's actions.– Stern, 1983
Without theory, experience has no meaning.Without theory, one has no questions to ask.Hence without theory, there is no learning.– William Edwards Deming
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Professional Development | AMEX In-Company Lessons
AMEX in-company lessons
This is your place for extra materials, entertainment, to ask questions related to English, and to leave comments, at any time!
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| Stop in for a coffee, to review, and to practise! |
SKILLS | Listening
SKILLS | Reading
There's a good article on page 48 of your coursebook; complete the questions and we may discuss it in class!
SKILLS | Writing
describing / drawing the AMEX shares graphs with cards
SKILLS | Speaking
/ə/ = about, common, standard, international, America
/ə/
humour = you
/ekw/ /ə/
acquaintance = day
/ki:n/
keen = beach, sheet, me
LANGUAGE | Vocabulary
acquaintance
step-mother
keen (enthusiastic)
abroad
overseas
belongings
belong
lyrics
lighthouse
LANGUAGE | Grammar
Find examples of grammar on page 17 of your coursebook (and exercises on page 18)
LANGUAGE | Functions
How many questions can you make in one minute with:
how, who, which, where, what, when, did, does, do, have, has, whom, whose, how long, how old, how far, how many, how much, how tall, why?
Great, now try again, but only using either past, present, or future tense.
Friday, May 03, 2013
ISBAN's Reading Corner
ISBAN in-company lessons
Please find here extracurricular materials, a place to ask questions and also to leave comments.
Good Luck!
warm-up with music 'Mad Trio' musical composition
DO WE DRINK TOO MUCH COFFEE? (article)
This article has reactions by people to the bcc article above
And this from a Chilean student of mine:
Actually I prefer tea instead off coffee, but it doesn’t mean that every Chilean has my same likes J
In Chile, we use to have the “the tea time” or known as “once”, is a meal between lunch and dinner, in Argentina it’s like “merienda”. In this meal the Chilean people use to drink tea, that’s why the name “Tea time”. So thinking about this we can infer that Chilean people prefer tea, although there are a lot of starbucks and other coffe places in the city.
I hope my answer will help you!
state
froth
brew
career
Sibling
pang
(to) tend
outlook
(to) stifle
(to) get on with
streak
WSI
A sample of what I used to post on a language institute's blog I worked at, to advertise their weekly skills classes:
a single or return ticket?
Book your flight on Friday the 13th of January
6:00:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(S2 S3 W1)
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this poster was displayed at the institute and on the institute's blog and Facebook page
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In this series of classes Ss watch a 25 minute episode of HBO series In Treatment, which portrays the troubled lives and psychotherapy sessions of a varied set of interesting characters. Ss answer questions to develop listening skills, while also increasing Ss' awareness of vocabulary related to human emotions and attitudes. More significantly, by using video Ss will see the language in use, match intonation to facial expressions etc., and also be shown via demonstration what may be needed in a role-play activity.
acting out idioms of time – WSI
"to turn back the clocks,
to burn the candle at both ends,
on the spur of the moment,
a race against time."
Astronomy
A great class. See you at the next one!
Matt
Curiosity rover (source: www.wikipedia.org)
The Curiosity
rover is a car-sized Mars rover
currently exploring Gale Crater,
near the equator of Mars.
The
rover is a nuclear-powered,
mobile scientific laboratory,
with dozens of instruments. It is part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory
(MSL) mission by the United States.
The MSL mission has four main scientific goals:
investigation of the Martian climate, geology, and whether
Mars could ever have supported life, including
investigation of the role of water. It
is also useful preparation for future missions, perhaps a manned mission to Mars. Curiosity
carries the most advanced payload of scientific equipment ever used on the
surface of Mars.[9]
It
launched on November 26, 2011 and successfully landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater on
August 6, 2012 UTC (August 5, 2012 PDT, NASA mission control time).[10]WSI
Have you given a Wrap-Up to a teacher in an Encounter recently?
PLEASE FIND YOUR CORRECTED 'WRAP-UP'S IN THE NEW HOMEWORK FOLDER. FIND THE FOLDER ON THE TABLES IN THE SOCIAL ROOM OF THE INSTITUTE.
Credits:
Folder Design by Cami
Corrections by your teachers
Project by Andrea
Pronunciation Tools
This pronunciation app for your smartphone is not only fun and interactive, but also an effective way to improve pronunciation, on the fly! I recommend it:
download here at http://www.soundspronapp.com or from the Apple App Store or the Android Market.
20,000 Leagues Under The Seas ...
… and twenty thousand names of species of fish!
At least this way I could take a closer look at biological classifications and taxanomic rankings,
as follows:-
Life --> Domain --> Kingdom --> Phylum --> Class --> Order --> Family --> Genus --> Species
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
‘Classroom management’ ranked no. 1 issue again (OUP webinar, 2012)
Commentary commentary
In my EFL experience using the communicative-based childlike immersion method, a share of the work went into compensating for this incline away from non-studial methods (previously mentioned) that additional studial support, for example, through more extensive coursebook material could hold. The notion that this 'comprehensible input' cannot also come from a coursebook seemed to me at first strange at the language institute — don’t children during the critical acquisition period study to some degree?
However, as I understood the institute better, commercially, perhaps a less studial course is more appealing, perhaps, to a greater number of learners, wider ‘net’ can be captured.
production in learners is comparatively delayed, but the eventual production is stated to be more natural.
However, given the method so largely hinges on principles and theories about the way we acquire information as children — this one-to-one input-output theory read here about the 'black box' theory — there is some disparity with the truth of things: learners are adults who have passed the critical acquisition period.
Methods may be based on general theory too much, or global context, where local context could be taken into account.
In Buenos Aires, for example, are sometimes trying living conditions resulting from disorganised government, high unemployment, suffering economy and infrastructure. Before going to an English lesson a learner may have already travelled several hours between home, work, and university, crowded in on public transport, may have dealt with difficult daily interruptions to the effect that in class they might be (late) distracted or tired perhaps. What was planned for the lesson and expected of the methodology could fall flat under the real-world test: the need for class engagement and interest was felt sometimes in a method whose conditions must be ‘immersive’.
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What actually goes on in the classroom
is the commonest concern for teachers (OUP Webinar, 2012)
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in another point, there is something about the way in which institutes ascribe learner levels according to international frameworks (such as the Common European Framework). This global scale we use has advantages in communicating a system and designing courses, etc., but it is not great in the individual context, or organisational or cultural context, where recognition of achievement is commensurate to such context.
We emphasise, cling to and overuse these broad progress markers. Marking out of needs and aims, tailored to the individual, with praise at milestones, can provide a good sense of achievement.
Nevertheless, a great attempt at imitating this 'immersion' was made at the institutes, imitating a trip to an English-speaking country.
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This quadrant is one way of looking at our preferred styles as learners. The method I worked with, based on Stephen Krashen's theory above, was one that preferred the experiential learner style over the studial; a method that tended towards that individual style.
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It was important to keep learners active about their course and a good chance to foster autonomy. That is, in booking lessons, completing preparatory work, or attending lessons.
Chasing up 'inactive', or lapsed, learners over the telephone was charged to a team of staff who were notified by an automated system when learners lapsed in progress. As mentioned, a certain amount of initiative was required of the learner to arrange their own lessons, since there were no fixed timetables (another attractive attribute): learners booking a level-checking lesson at a particular hour would be grouped with others wanting the same (of the same level). A minimum of two encounters were required of them per month in order to be checked and moved to the next unit.
The principle that helping learners be more autonomous by training them to better understand the why, what, and how of learning, their resources and even the self (see 'Guide to Understanding the Learner' below), produces more successful learners. Integrating this CELTA training into the stages of a lesson we might occasionally take a minute as to as why, what, or how to go about strategies for learning or why, what and how.
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From the CELTA trainee book. A studial and active learner, with, perhaps, a stronger logical/mathematical intelligence who wishes to improve vocabulary, may benefit from strategising a word list such as this.
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I gained a lot of experience developing strategies for the learners in class in order to compensate for, and close this disparity between learner expectations, what they wanted to do, and what really needed to be met with to progress in the course. Read here about some important lessons regarding developing these strategies from an Oxford University Press webinar on teaching theory. Many people in Buenos Aires are exposed to English through television and cinema, and I was able to recommend some while-watching (listening) tasks to learners to aid fluency outside class.
I suppose, the guarantee of this method may be that when it works it really does work, that learners find their footing in a more natural fluency, in a more natural way, minds uncluttered with the analytical and grammatical side of it.
A kind of openness, sociableness, and communication was nurtured at the institute; being experiential implies interacting with others. However, being active this way doesn’t mean you’ll benefit if you are studial over experiential.
At the institute I saw many a great class filled with talkative, engaged, interactive people, the envy of many teachers perhaps, as sometimes half of the work is in getting the class to speak.
I would certainly recommend working for Wall Street Institute to develop clarification skills, concept checking, tailoring learner feedback and developing learner autonomy.