Learning Twigs

Moodle Tutorials: Using Voice Boards and Voice Email tools

 

 

 

Just in case you weren't already aware of it, there are some pretty nifty tools available in Moodle (via Wimba) that allow you to draw on real voices rather than just text-based activities. Two of these are Voice Boards and Voice Emails.

 

The first tutorial below demonstrates how to set up and use Voice Boards in your Moodle courses:

 

 

 

And for something with more in the way of privacy and 1-1 options, you might like to also check out the Voice Email tool:

 

 

 

 

For more Moodle tutorials from English Raven, check out the entire list here!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

 

 

Avoiding the burn after reading reaction

 

 

I read an interesting article today, fed to me via my tweetstream, about what a massive risk Facebook's IPO could represent. Basically, the writer pointed out how seriously over-priced the Facebook stock was/is and how the only way for it to hold its value was for Facebook to maintain some very steep revenue growth rates with almost no major asset base. The general thrust? Another dot.com boom on the cards, but in this case on a scale that could threaten the world economy. It struck me as being a bit on the scaremongrish side of things, but some of the facts (comparing Facebook to Google, for example) made for pretty freaky reading. Personally I can't quite understand the high price of the Facebook stock and it worries me how unflinchingly people seem to be clamouring to get on the wagon.

 

What I've just told you there about that article is pretty much along the lines of what would happen if I were to meet you today and chat about this. You might present some of your own opinions or questions, or tell me about something else you read on the same subject.

 

I think it would be fair to say that I covered most of the main ideas or points from the article, even if the summary was through my eyes and what I personally respond to as being interesting or important. I think I've got a bit of a grasp about the overall purpose of the article, some of the supporting details, and I've certainly got my own (however uninformed) opinion about the general issue.

 

I daresay, if pressed, you would conclude I'd actually read the article and grasped most of it. I also presume it would take you and I about five minutes - give or take a few minutes based on how interested in the issue YOU were - to work through this process. And, this exchange would (or could) commonly happen through a casual conversation.

 

Okay Raven, what the hell are you getting at here?

 

Basically, this is how so much real world reading happens. We find and read the stuff that interests us, and if it is particularly interesting we may choose to discuss it with others we know who are (at least to some degree) interested in the same broad topic.

 

Why then, when it comes to reading and school, do we usually step completely away from this very natural process and put so many of our learners through the torture of demonstrating their reading comprehension by (a) choosing the texts for them, (b) having them 'talk' about them to an audience of 1 (as in, the teacher), and (c) making them write out laborious reports going over every nook and cranny of the text, whether or not it is of relevance or interest to the reader or anyone else within paper plane throwing distance?

 

No wonder so many learners are probably inclined to burn something after they read it at school - especially if it meant somehow that they could escape the mindnumbingly boring process of writing a big long report about it - that only one other person in the room is likely to read (and then only briefly, with the grading pen hovering above it, dripping threatening trails of red). 

 

One of the reasons we do this is because we are following a time-honoured tradition of making reading at school as laborious and uninspiring as possible. Another reason is because so many of us overlook or ignore other assessment tools available to us.

 

As a VCAL teacher, there is an assessment tool available to me for reading that I haven't made nearly enough use of. It's called an oral questioning tool. Funnily enough, combined with learner-selected readings (as I demonstrated in the post here), a casual style oral questioning tool comes incredibly close to the ambience and exchange I attempted to describe above for something I read today.

 

Here is an example oral questioning tool I developed for VCAL Literacy, adapting some excellent templates provided by the QA team at The Gordon TAFE. This particular one addresses the outcome Reading for Knowledge:

 

 

Basically, the learners source their own texts, I negotiate and verify for them if they are long and complex enough for their level as well as meeting the defined range of text types for VCAL literacy. They read them. When they're ready, they call me over and I bring my folder full of pre-prepared oral questioning tools meeting all the different text types and VCAL reading outcomes. We have a chat and I complete the checklist. They go over it with me afterwards and we both sign and date it. I do random recordings of these chats using my phone mic, just to back up my evidence if it becomes necessary for auditing purposes.

 

What this almost ridiculously simple and accessible process has done for my VCAL classes is genuinely hard to put into words. 

 

One, it could take up to 3-4 classes for my learners to prepare a written report for one text they had read, and even then there was no guarantee it would emerge complete or accurate. The oral questioning tool takes somewhere in the realm of 5-10 minutes, following (on average) 10-15 minutes to read the text.

 

Secondly, the learners enjoy it. They chat/talk better than they engage with formal report-style writing. We sometimes get 'banked up' (with 3-4 students waiting to check a text with me at the same time), end up sitting around a table together and suddenly we may have 3-4 people discussing the text and its content/issues (hey, they do have common interests as it turns out, both as teenagers but also within their trade groupings). Sometimes I don't even need to ask questions - the chat/banter draws enough out to demonstrate competence with the outcome elements and I can simply complete my check list.

 

Finally, and this is possibly the biggest development, the learners are naturally gravitating to more extensive reading. They shop around more texts looking for ones that really strike them as being 'talkworthy'. Not only does a 5-10 minute chat about the text remove the angst involved, it seems to motivate them to look for texts that are genuinely interesting to talk about. They're not interested in spending 10 minutes talking about a text that is utterly boring or irrelevant to them. Based on this engagement, many of them are happy to go above and beyond the 'minimum number' of texts or demonstrations of competence required for each outcome. 

 

I'm truly an idiot for not paying more attention to this assessment tool option in the past.

 

It changes everything.

 

It sort of, well... seems a lot more like reading (and what happens after or through reading) in the real world.

 

Fancy that!

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

English Oz: The Reluctant Patient

 

 

The movie Kenny is, in my opinion, a masterpiece of Australian cinema. It is one of those mockumentaries that is so well done that, unless you knew better, you could be easily forgiven for thinking it is a real documentary. The realism of it also makes it perfect for exposing your ESL learners to everyday Australian conversation in action. Oh, and it might just give them a bit of a laugh as well...

 

I got the idea for the following clip after a recent stay in hospital for an operation. During the pre-op, I had to lie in a bed and listen to an old fella carrying on in rather similar fashion to the way Kenny's dad does here.

 

 

 

Activity sheets for learners and teachers:

3_VPAU502_EL1_The_reluctant_patient

3_VPAU502_EL1_TG_The_reluctant_patient

 

 

Cert III ESL (Access) Documentation:

 

Unit C21 (VPAU502): Engage in casual conversation and straightforward spoken transactions.

Element 1: Interpret a casual conversation on everyday topics

Performance Criteria 1.1: Identify context/situation and relationship between speakers

Performance Criteria 1.2: Outline main topics, and opinions or attitudes expressed

Performance Criteria 1.3: Locate supporting details and implied meanings, where apparent

Performance Criteria 1.4: Identify emotional state/attitude of speakers where apparent

Performance Criteria 1.5: Identify some conversational strategies used 

Performance Criteria 1.6: Identify requests to clarify misunderstandings and ambiguous points 

 

 

After seeing what your learners can glean and learn from the exchange, there are lots of different ways you could generate conversation and discussion with your class (for example, hospital experiences, opinions about hospital costs or doctors, dealing with older people, etc.). For discussion, your learners may benefit from the conversational strategies outlined here.

 

See more English Oz.

 

 

;-)

 

 

English Oz: Australian Intonation(?)

 

 

Adam Hills makes a very good point? About the way Australians inflect up at the end of many sentences? To make it sound like a question? 'Coz we're kinda insecure? And we need your approval? Or we just like to ask questions that don't actually need answers?

 

 

 

 

I think this is a brilliant resource for ESL learners (though Dutch students may not like the stereotype joke at their expense). Aside from the pronunciation/intonation points, there are nice opportunities to draw on the content for chats about Australian history, particularly the discovery of the continent by Europeans, and to have a bit of a larf along the way...

 

Activity resource sheets for learners and teachers:

3_VPAU503_EL1_Australian_Intonation

3_VPAU503_EL1_TG_Australian_Intonation

 

 

Certificate III ESL (Access) components targeted and tracked through the activities:

 

Unit C22 (VPAU503): Give and respond to a range of straightforward instructions and informational texts.

Element 1: Interpret an informational oral text

Performance Criteria 1.1: Identify the context, topic and purpose of an informational oral text

Performance Criteria 1.2: Outline main ideas, opinions and attitudes expressed

Performance Criteria 1.3: Locate supporting information or details

Performance Criteria 1.4: Identify the tone and register of the text, and any inferred meaning

Performance Criteria 1.5: Express an opinion about the ideas or issues raised

 

 

Brought to you by English Oz.

 

 

;-)

 

 

English Oz: Beds are Burning

 

 

This was an interesting resource to research and develop. It presents two different versions of the same core song - Beds are Burning; the recent version produced as part of the Tck Tck Tck Campaign to promote awareness of climate change in the lead up to the Copenhagen Summit, and the original version from the band Midnight Oil, which was inspired by the Pintupi tribe and their move in from and then back out to the isolation of Australia's Western Desert.

 

Two very different 'causes', and it is interesting to look at how the lyrics are different for each version according to their purpose. 

 

To best showcase this, I've built a webpage featuring both music videos and the lyrics for each in a scroll box beneath, side by side for easy comparison. In addition, for each version I've added a series of key words and links to graded (or gradable) texts on Google Search that explore a variety of issues or topics relevant to each rendition of the Beds are Burning song.

 

You can access the page here: http://www.englishraven.com/bedsareburning. html

 

For ESL application, just listening to and comparing the lyrics can be a really interesting exercise. The main ideas and 'roots' in each set of lyrics make for clear comparisons, but at phrase level there are also some great opportunities to explore language (for example to take a stand versus to say fair's fair, or  turning back versus give it back).

 

These texts are also well set up for Certificate III in ESL (Access) and the following element/performance criteria:

 

Unit C24 (VPAU505): Read and write a range of straightforward informational, instructional and other texts.

Element 1: Analyse a range of informational texts

Performance Criteria 1.1: Scan informational text and identify the context and topic

Performance Criteria 1.2: Identify the main ideas or issues

Performance Criteria 1.3: Locate supporting information or examples

Performance Criteria 1.4: Identify conventions of informational texts

Performance Criteria 1.5: Analyse the structure and discourse features of the texts

Performance Criteria 1.6: Respond to the text, outlining any opinions expressed, and state own opinion about the topic

 

Learners could be encouraged to tackle both texts as part of this outcome, or the one that interests them most. Alternatively, they could follow the links featured alongside each set of lyrics and source their own reading text on a more specific topic (anything from climate change to The Pintupi Nine). This is a great way to marry extensive reading with some basic tech skills oriented around particular themes.

 

 

Learning resources:

3_VPAU505_EL1_Beds_Are_Burning

3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_Beds_Are_Burning

 

Besides reading, there are plenty of opportunities to have classroom discussions or negotiate writing topics feeding out of the content available on the web page.

 

One or more of the texts available through this resource could also build towards any of a number of ESL Framework Elective Units (for example, Current Issues, Indigenous Australia, Environment of Australia, Australian History, etc.)

 

 

See more of this these sorts of resources over at the English Oz section of this blog.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

English Oz Project: In the shadow of the red centre

 

 

The lucky country. Bright weather, bright people, bright future.

Those were the messages that were consistently drummed into me as a young person growing up on this island continent. But as Iva Davies would tell you, it can also be a prisoner island hidden in the summer for a million years.

For all its brightness, this is a country with a shadow; and nowhere is that shadow more evident in the geographical and spiritual red centre of things, in a town called Alice.

 

The English Oz materials and activities on this page represent a collection of learning resources that can hopefully bring this issue to the ESL classroom. You can cherry pick from them as you please, or tie some or all of them together to create a larger ongoing project. Generally speaking the resources are selected and sequenced in a logical way that helps explore what is a very complex issue via a series of interlocked steps.

The first three resources target listening skills and align well with Certificate III in ESL (Access) unit VPAU503 (Give and respond to a range of straightforward instructional and informational texts) - in particular Element 1: Interpret an informational oral text.

The three that follow that are geared towards VPAU505 (Read and write a range of straightforward informational, instructional and other texts), in particular Element 1: Analyse a range of informational texts. 

The astute teacher will also find ways to tie in speaking and writing elements from the various units in a nicely integrated way; the opportunities to do so are there in abundance.

At the very bottom of the page you will find a resource to facilitate the ESL Elective unit VPAU560: Investigate Current Issues, with the preceding materials and activities making for a nice resource list to draw on and (again) useful opportunities to extend out into speaking and writing elements.

All the relevant performance criteria has been built into the resource sheets, and you will find both blank versions for students and a TG version with some notes to help you scaffold the learners through the activities.

 

 

Okay, let's start with a bit of a contrast, shall we? Two very different sides to a red centre coin...  

 

 

 

 

1. Get ceNTred in the Red Centre

 

Nothing like a good tourism advertisement, is there? Present the following video to the learners and apply the activity resource that follows:

 

 

Learning Resources: 

3_VPAU503_EL1_get_ceNTred_in_the_red_centre

3_VPAU503_EL1_TG_get_ceNTred_in_the_red_centre

 

 

2. Alice Springs in Crisis

 

Hang on... What happened to the lovely hot air balloons? And the glasses of bubbly and sparkling stars at night? And the amazing galleries of indigenous art?

Trouble in paradise...

 

 

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU503_EL1_Alice_Springs_in_Crisis 

3_VPAU503_EL1_TG_Alice_Springs_in_Crisis

 

 

 

3. The NT Intervention - Four Years On

 

So, poor old Alice is copping it because indigenous people can't drink out on their home turf and need to head into town... So has the so-called INTERVENTION improved the situation out in the camps, and was it worth the price of applying the equivalent of apartheid? 

 

 

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU503_EL1_the_NT_Intervention_Four_Years_On

3_VPAU503_EL1_TG_the_NT_Intervention_Four_Years_On

 

 

 

4. Australia restores race discrimination act

 

So let's get closer to the bottom of this whole idea of interventions and race discrimination acts. The BBC are sure to be a nicely reliable outside impartial observer, surely...

 

 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10374060

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU505_EL1_Australia_restores_race_discrimination_act

3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_Australia_restores_race_discrimination_act

 

 

 

5. Abbott calls for new intervention

 

Evidently once wasn't enough. The leader of Australia's federal opposition party says he has the solutions...

(This resource is excellent because it features a recorded interview and the full written transcript):

 

 

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3168978.htm 

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU505_EL1_Abbott_calls_for_new_intervention 

3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_Abbott_calls_for_new_intervention

 

 

 

6. The Dead Heart

 

A song by one of Australia's most popular bands of all time, whose lead singer eventually decided to go into politics... Spot the current Federal Minister for Education in the clip, but also look at the lyrics and take a journey into the dying soul of a fiercely proud people.

(Another good one for blending reading and listening, and your students might enjoy a song at this point if they've been wading through the texts and listenings above):

 

 

  

 

 

 

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU505_EL1_The_Dead_Heart

3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_The_Dead_Heart

 

 

 

7. In the shadow of the red centre

 

So, what's the issue exactly? What is the significance? What do your learners make of it all?

Here's where you can tie on an ESL Elective Unit incorporating current issues in Australia, bringing together the 'research' conducted above and coming up with some conclusions. The material can then become a drafting process for a writing element or an oral presentation or discussion of some sort:

 

ESL_Elective_VPAU560_EL1_In_the_shadow_of_the_red_centre

 

 

 

 

As I said at the beginning of the post, lots to choose from or work through here, but there are certainly multiple opportunities to help your learners meet a plethora of their ESL outcomes through this sequence of activities.

 

More importantly, the dialogue about how Australia handles its indigenous people needs to continue. Goodness knows the locals (both newer and older) haven't come up with too many effective answers; perhaps the newest migrants of all might have some better suggestions...

 

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

English Oz: A conversation about casual conversations

 

 

 

Casual conversation.

 

It's such an intrinsic part of any ESL program (or at least should be!), and yet raises all sorts of challenges in making it happen.

 

Many programs have a casual conversation requirement that is formally assessed in some way. Are the learners aware of it? Have they been given some basic tools and guidelines to help them understand not only how they will be assessed, but according to what criteria and with what development goals in mind?

 

Looking at the Australian ESL Framework, for example, for Certificate III ESL (Access) there is a unit titled Engage in casual conversation and straightforward spoken transactions. Four elements are included in the unit, one of which (Element 2) is Participate in Casual Conversation. The specific performance criteria for that element is documented as being:

 

2.1: Initiate conversations using appropriate expressions and conventions

2.2: Contribute comments, opinions or information on a range of topics

2.3: Give detailed responses

2.4: Use a range of conversational strategies

2.5: Clarify misunderstandings and ambiguous points where necessary 

2.6: Close conversations using customary steps 

 

In that list, I've highlighted what I think are the most helpful/salient terms to assist in remembering the criteria and making sure they are catered to, facilitated and tracked during classroom lessons.

 

To get this across to the learners, I think it's a good idea to, well - have an ongoing conversation about it, starting with some well documented information at the start of the course. For example, we could make the following available to a group of learners enrolled in Certificate III ESL:

 

 

 

Here's the downloadable version:

 

3_VPAU502_EL2_Performance_Criteria_Learners

 

Basically, what we're doing here is showing the learners the official element and performance criteria, providing some explanations about what each PC item involves and some tips and language that can help guide them. It doesn't cover the whole notion of casual conversation by any means, but I think it is a useful starting point and if it is to be used for assessment then we have a genuine responsibility to let the learners know about it!

 

Of course, each of the performance criteria items can be practised in a variety of ways, but generally speaking I've found a nice clear explanation of what we're looking for (and why/how) is often effective by itself in encouraging learners to get more involved in casual conversation sections of classes. If a handout like this is stuck inside their books or featured on the first page of their folders it can be a really effective reminder for learners to see before or at the start of (or even during) any given lesson.

 

We can go a little further than that and use the flip side of that handout in a variety of ways:

 

 

 

Using this sheet, at the end of lessons learners can be asked (as a whole group or in small groups or on their own) to reflect on what has happened over the course of the lesson and what sorts of things they and/or their classmates have done and said that could address the criteria for casual conversation. I like this beyond just the self-review angle; it makes for excellent self-assessment material that can be added to other evaluation documents to triangulate our evidence of competence.

 

Letting them know what we're looking/hoping for in the way of casual conversation is one thing, of course; making it actually happen and assessing it effectively and responsibly is another. I look forward to returning to these follow up issues in future English Oz posts!

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

English Oz: How to Lose your Part-Time Job...

 

 

How does one lose his or her job?

What sorts of conversations happen around the build up to someone being told their services are no longer required?

 

The English Oz resources below target this idea, catering to Certificate III in ESL (Access) and in particular the unit Engage in casual conversations and straightforward spoken transactions and element 1: Interpret a casual conversation on everyday topics.

 

The following input is drawn from the popular Australian television series Packed to the Rafters and incoporates a collection of short scenes that build up to a part-time worker being fired from her job.

 

 

 

 

Here are the student activity sheets and Teacher's Guide documenting options for how to use/apply each section (source video is listed in the materials):

 

3_VPAU502_EL1_How_to_Lose_your_Part_Time_Job

 

3_VPAU502_EL1_TG_How_to_Lose_your_Part_Time_Job

 

 

Note that there are actually a number of scenes in the source material; I would recommend using the whole sequence to generate a full story with main ideas, opinions and attitudes, and then perhaps a single scene to go into more detail about information, conversational strategies, emotional states and attitudes, implied meanings and ambiguities, etc. Students might also be broken up into groups to explore and document different scenes in the overall sequence.

 

The TG version recommends a number of things you might cover, but I wouldn't try to do every point/item in every section. It is, to me, preferable to target 1-2 aspects at a time and make sure there is volume and variety in conversational input to notice different things about spoken discourse in different scenes/situations with different speakers.

 

As with all of my English Oz materials, there are also a range of follow up activities suggested, whether to go deeper, wider or across skill sets.

 

 

Cert III ESL (Access) Documentation:

 

Unit C21 (VPAU502): Engage in casual conversation and straightforward spoken transactions.

Element 1: Interpret a casual conversation on everyday topics

Performance Criteria 1.1: Identify context/situation and relationship between speakers

Performance Criteria 1.2: Outline main topics, and opinions or attitudes expressed

Performance Criteria 1.3: Locate supporting details and implied meanings, where apparent

Performance Criteria 1.4: Identify emotional state/attitude of speakers where apparent

Performance Criteria 1.5: Identify some conversational strategies used 

Performance Criteria 1.6: Identify requests to clarify misunderstandings and ambiguous points 

 

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Oberon High 'Porn Teacher' to star in another Geelong classroom...

 

 

... only he won't be there in the (a-hem) flesh and the discussion will be about his actions, subsequent resignation and the rather startling relevation that the teacher who was exposed as a porn star was also a VCE Media Studies teacher.

 

You may not have heard about this (given the very wide world from which visitors pop in to visit this blog), and the snapshot is basically this: A teacher from Oberon High School in Geelong made a porn video with his girlfriend and sold it to a porn site for something like $1,500. It was discovered (presumably by one or more Oberon students) and distributed around Facebook, and in the process it was also revealed his girlfriend and co-star in the video was also his ex-student.

 

In the bonfire and subsequent investigation, the teacher resigned.

 

But this goes beyond just local news for us here at GTEC in Geelong. Oberon High School is one of our 'feeder' schools; many students move over to us to complete Year 11 and/or 12 VCAL.

 

Hence a lot of students had already seen the video on Facebook, and many of them knew the teacher personally. He was described, without exception, as a great teacher and many went so far as to say he was the best teacher at the school.

 

Of course, being 16-18 year-old boys, very soon talk about the issue descended into (a-hem) innuendo and humorous rebuke. But the issue seemed to strike a chord somewhere in many of them. This wasn't just any teacher up to no good on the Internet. This was a teacher many of them knew and respected. The general talk was that there was no way he should be forced to resign.

 

Following the interview John Walsh and his girlfriend Sarah Bradford did (see above) on Friday night, I see this as an excellent opportunity to really try to explore the issue in a mature way and knock over some of our Senior VCAL Oral Communication outcomes (especially Oracy for Self Expression and Oracy for Exploring Issues and Problem Solving).

 

Given that most of our students are preparing to become tradesmen, I was VERY intrigued by John's comment that, had he been a plumber, there wouldn't have been any issue. The message there is almost one of: unless you belong to a white collar profession, acting however you like on the Internet isn't going to affect you or your business. Let's see what they make of that...

 

Below you can see the scaffolding worksheet I have put together to help my Year 12 students prepare for the discussion:

 

 

 

Download GTEC VCAL Senior Oral Communication - Oracy for Self Expression and EIPS

 

We'll (a-hem) video record the classroom discussion, so that I can go back through it later and apply the outcome assessment elements, as per the form here:

 

 

 

Download GTEC VCAL Oral Communication Assessment Form 1-4

 

From there, we might see how the whole topic could be extended into reading and writing outcomes as well.

 

I'm looking forward to this, because it's not often you get a truly local issue as big as this... one that is guaranteed to get your students interested and talking. Given we are also embarking on Mahara e-Portfolios with their embedded social media elements, I think the whole privacy and the Internet issue, digital footprints, etc. will be really engaging to explore.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

What could hobbits teach us about 'funds of knowledge'?

 

 

 

 

Funds of knowledge refers to those historically developed and accumulated strategies (e.g., skills, abilities, ideas, practices) or bodies of knowledge that are essential to a household's functioning and well-being (for details, see Greenberg, 1989; Veléz-IbáÑez & Greenberg, 1992; Moll, 2000).

 

Contemplating and preparing for 'funds of knowledge' can be an excellent way to start your planning for a new school term. Without knowing what the students already know or can potentially know (and teach us and others) based on their home, family and community contexts, how can we really have an effective plan?

 

Try googling 'Funds of Knowledge.' Everything I found on the front couple of pages there of search was interesting, appealing and helpful.

 

Realistically, not many of us have the time to go out and 'research' our students and their families in their homes and communities. Some might not even find that prospect appealing, for potentially valid reasons. However, it IS possible to draw on funds of knowledge to a greater or lesser extent through the curriculum itself.

 

With my new batch of Year 11 students this year, one of the first things I have to 'knock over' is a set of foundation literacy skills in combination with some basic OH&S priorities. This could, in fact, get done pretty quickly by just throwing the ready to roll OH&S documents, videos and worksheets at the learners.

 

What I have done is expand this considerably by beginning first with a series of FoK activities. Learners will be invited to talk and write about accidents and injuries they've witnessed in their homes and communities. How did these incidents happen and how did people handle them? They will identify and explain a variety of things they know how to do -- especially with tools, basic or complex -- and how they've learned to do them safely.

 

Using that as the nucleus, we'll expand out to look at what they need to know about workshop and tools safety. Hopefully they'll have the beginnings of some awareness, that they already know more than they or our program might haven initially given them initial credit for, but there is also more to learn (and it is important to learn).

 

When I was a language teacher, this sort of thing generally got labelled 'schemata' or 'schema activation.' However, funds of knowledge is a more robust and pragmatic way of looking at it, methinks.

 

 

Does funds of knowledge feature in your initial planning for coursework in 2012?

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

An embedded point of difference

 

 

 

Thanks to the very useful tutorial here, I learned how to embed YouTube videos directly into Microsoft Word documents. Gosh, what a great tool to have at your disposal.

 

In the example above (an application for a rather prestigious award one of my VCAL students asked me to help him out with), I was able to start his application with two videos covering a major project he accomplished. The first video shows him discussing his CAD drawings and rationalising his design alongside the first couple of planks of wood he'd prepared. The second video, from about six months later, shows his completed project in full action.

 

Given that his application is due to be submitted in Word format electronically, the first thing the judges are going to see is the applicant presenting himself in the flesh and a completed project from initial design to finished (and very functional) product.

 

I'm going to take this a few steps further next year. As we help our VCAL students prepare resume documents for apprenticeship and job applications, we'll be inserting two videos along the same lines as above. I think it's important in a CV (for a young person in particular) to show a bit of a quick journey and demonstrate their capacity to grow, learn and achieve.

 

This adds so much more texture and context to the rather bland document that a CV usually represents. It creates a real 'point of difference'; I mean, out of a stack of 50 electronically submitted resumes, tell me you're not going to remember the one that included quick videos of the applicant actually doing stuff and presenting themselves in person?

 

We can do this with PDF documents as well, but in that case the video file needs to be embedded lock step and barrel and it inevitably adds a huge amount of weight to the original PDF file size. The beauty with the YouTube-in-Word format is that it's basically just an in-built i-frame linking to the hosted video on YouTube.

 

Given I have a lot of teachers reading this blog, I think it's also something to think about adding to your Teaching CV as well. How about a quick self introduction, and/or a screencast of some of your materials and/or a video of you in action in a real classroom setting?

 

Create a point of difference. Be different by showing more of yourself in more of the real world.

 

In any case, I'm looking forward to applying this as a curricular tool with my students next year. I'll update you here later when I get some idea on how well it works in attracting prospective employers!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Christmas and New Year gifts from the Raven: free and open access

 

 

 

Worried about having to pay for access to all the Englishraven.com resources for teaching English to young learners and teenagers?

 

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

 

2012 is going to be a year of changes and new directions for English Raven, and pay-for access to the (3000+) resources created and gathered over the past decade isn't part of the plan.

 

So if you teach English to children and/or teenagers, I'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New year, and draw your attention to the new Open Access Downloads Page where a rather large sack of teaching gifts awaits you.

 

The only things I ask in return are:

1. You pass the gifts along to other teachers you know as well!

2. You respect my authorship and rights to the material and don't go uploading it on your site or blog without my permission, and (heaven forbid...) don't go trying to pass it off as your own work.

 

 

Enjoy, and see you about in 2012 for some exciting new adventures!

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

TOEFL Speaking and TOEFL Writing: Free for all...

 

 

 

I've decided that I'm not comfortable charging for access to these resources (and there are a good many of them, built up over several years). It can be depressing making all of your online teaching income based around a loathsome English test, and it has always irked me that the people needing that test result are often some of the most disadvantaged people in the world.

 

Hence, all of my TOEFL iBT practice test materials, tutorials and sample answers are now 100% free for all learners and teachers to access.

 

Hope it helps.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Catapult! (Never underestimate your students)

 

GTEC Catapult Day, October 2011. Aden prepares his unique trebuchet for action...

 

 

 

I work in a teaching and learning environment which is special in all sorts of ways, but probably the most special thing of all about it is what our 17 and 18-year-old (so-called 'disengaged learners') manage to achieve.

 

Let me tell and show a little story about a student named Aden Nadoh, one of our GTEC Year 12 VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) Building and Construction students...

 

Let's start with a quick interview I did with Aden in June, as part of the Oral Communication section of his curriculum (Outcome: Oracy for Practical Purposes), when he was just getting into the workshop to actually start building the catapult he'd finished designing through meticulous work with CAD (Computer Assisted Design):

 

 

 

 

There were all sorts of other tasks integrated into this project across several subjects. In the Literacy strand (for example), the students needed to complete design briefs, essays about the history of various catapult designs, assembly instructions, safe operating procedures and evaluations, etc.

 

Anyway, back to the story...

 

Five months later, I watched Aden testing out his finished catapult in the school courtyard (with adequate safety precautions in place, of course) and made the prediction he would get a distance of 100-150 metres in the official Catapult Day competition our design and tech teachers had so painstakingly organised.

 

Brett Smith (one of our carpentry teachers) scoffed in the staff meeting when I announced this prediction, and enjoyed a series of jokes about how the literacy teacher had no skills in numeracy or estimation (hey: this is an Aussie staff room after all!).

 

 

Rightio Smithy... Watch and see what happened on Catapult Day:

 

 

 

 

 

125 metres on the full. Well and truly beyond 150 metres once the projectile had stopped rolling!

 

Not bad estimation skills for a mere literacy teacher, eh?

 

 

And I think this pic shows (in addition to the secret mechanism that makes Aden's catapult so effective) just how well our wood and metal teachers pass on skills to our students:

 

 

 

 

Anyway, congrats to Aden on a brilliant piece of work from start to finish, and congrats to the design/tech/wood/metal teachers who helped him achieve it.

 

 

Lesson?

 

Never underestimate your students!!!

 

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Open (Source) English <-> Time Flies

 

 

 

Here is the fifth installment in the Open (Source) English series of materials I've been presenting on this blog. Open Source (I also like to think of it at time as 'open sauce'!) is a very apt name for this sort of material, because you can adapt it at will for your own classroom use but it also works very much from the idea that we are opening the learners (and the learning space itself) as rich sources of potential communicative content and language.

 

Here's a quick look at the Time Flies edition, why it was made this way and how you might use it.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are those open source downloads:

 

Open English - Time Flies (PDF)

Open English - Time Flies (MS Word 2007)

Open English - Time Flies (Compatible)

 

 

Remember there is a variety of other Open Source English resources with accompanying video tutorials/ideas in the Open English section of the blog.

 

Whether or not time is on your side, hope this helps... :-)

 

 

- JR

 

 

 

Teaching Materials Design Masterclass 6: 1:3 design principle for flexible teaching methodology

 

 

 

 

Here is the sixth tutorial in the Teaching Materials Design Masterclass series, and here we look at how 1:3 design (see last week's tutorial for more information on that, or use the link above to access all the previous tutorials) creates a simple template for you to experiment with different sorts of teaching methodology and a variety of different practice or extension applications.

 

This tutorial isn't so much about technical aspects of building or designing something; it looks more at the interesting interface between your teaching methods and the materials used to express or facilitate those methods.

 

Next week's tutorial will introduce a new kind of background option, one that might be more appropriate for younger learners or just as an alternative way of presenting your material.

 

Hope you're enjoying and getting something out of the materials design series so far -- see you same time next week!

 

 

;-D

 

 

Materials design & teaching methodology: Wrap your pumpkin's laughing gear around this!

 

 

 

Waaaay back on October 2nd, I launched a Halloween lesson materials design challenge here on the blog. I offered up some initial materials and sound files in open source format (for those who wanted a starting point) and challenged teachers to finish, adapt or replace it according to their preferences.

 

There are some excellent contributions there from teachers, and if you're looking for some great materials for Halloween I suggest you check them out in the comments thread for that post.

 

Just to follow up from that challenge, I did of course complete the templates myself and create a full Halloween lesson resource, and here are the open source files for it if you are interested in checking it out:

 

 

Halloween 1 worksheet JR (PDF Version with embedded sound files)

Halloween 1 worksheet JR (MS Word 2007 version)

Halloween 1 worksheet JR (Open/compatible version)

 

 

Note that the PDF version has the sound files embedded in the actual document; if you want to use the sound files for either the MS Word or open/compatible versions, they are available for download back on the original Halloween materials challenge post here.

 

 

Blog visitors may be satisfied with just that if they are simply looking for free, ready-to-use stuff to download and use for Halloween...

 

For those of you interested in the actual design process and the underlying teaching methodology principles, however, you're in for a bit of a treat (and tricks--hopefully of the more helpful sort!).

 

 

I'm bringing forward three of my teaching materials design video tutorials (I'm up to tutorial number 5 in the weekly release schedule here on the blog, but what you see below constitutes tutorials 9, 10 and 11 in the series) to show you not only how I made these Halloween materials, but why I've made them the way they are. So basically there is a blend of practical design techniques and teaching methodology principles.

 

 

Tutorial 9 (below) shows how I set up the basic template (using a design made earlier) and developed the first page of the handout, focussing on the Halloween notice and follow up prompts. The last third of the tutorial explains in detail why I've left so many gaps on the page...

 

 

 

Tutorial 10 demonstrates how I developed the second page of the handout, featuring a listening text to complement the Halloween invitation notice on the first page. Again, the design stuff is followed up with my teaching methodology rationale(s), for those who find such detail of interest...

 

 

 

Tutorial 11 is shorter and more targeted, demonstrating basically how I've managed to embed sound files into the PDF version of the Halloween materials using Adobe Acrobat. Having embedded sound files can be great when you want to send materials to students electronically and/or don't have an actual Internet connection working at the time of access.

 

 

 

 

There is more than an hour of materials design demonstrations and tips just on this individual post; and given that (apparently) blog readers aren't interested in anything that can't be absorbed in less than 3 minutes, I'm not sure how much of an audience it will have! If you do watch these tutorials and get something from them, then thank you and I hope they prove useful in improving your materials design skill set.

 

 

P.S. If you are/were wondering what the heck 'Wrap your pumpkin's laughing gear around this' implies... The pumpkin simply refers to the theme of Halloween, but the rest of the line comes from Australian 'ocker' slang meaning 'try (eating) this: it's good!'

('Laughing gear' = mouth)

('Wrap your laughing gear around ___' = try/eat ___)

 

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Teaching Materials Design Masterclass 5: The Cappuccino Chat (1:3 design with dialogue content)

 

 

 

If you've been following the materials design masterclass videos patiently and learning new things, then I thank you and congratulate you... and now you've got a little reward: a tutorial that works with actual learning content!

 

See full size version of The Cappuccino Chat lesson material

 

Tutorial 5 here follows on from all the skills built up over tutorials 1-4 and shows you how to plan some content oriented around a short dialogue ('The Cappuccino Chat') and apply it in a professional format using the '1:3 design principle.'

 

 

 

 

 

Tutorial 6 will be along soon enough, but for now remember that all of these tutorials are available over in the English Raven Materials Design section of my main site for your viewing pleasure/torture.

 

 

;-D

 

 

The English Raven Halloween lesson materials design challenge!

 

 

 

October has arrived, and that means Halloween is very close. Experimenting with some of my own Halloween materials, a sudden thought came to me: How great would it be to see how different members of my PLN in different parts of the world use the same basic core input/ content but adapt, extend, abolish in whatever way suits their own teaching beliefs/and or the educational culture in which they are working?

 

The idea of the English Raven Halloween Lesson Material Design Challenge (as you can see, it took a while to get the idea out of my mouth!) was thus born... Find out more by watching the video I prepared for the challenge:

 

 

 

 

So, are you up for it? I hope so!

 

Remember that you can change any of the existing content and add and extend with your own activities in whatever ways work best for you and your learners.

 

Post your customised Halloween lesson material on your blog or site, then leave a link here on this page to the location of your efforts (so that we can all find it and give it a squiz).

 

 

I'm genuinely excited at the prospect of so many different versions of the basic template and core content...

 

Templates with content/input for you to download and work with...

Download Halloween 1 worksheet template (MS Word)

Download Halloween 1 worksheet template (MS Word Compatible)

 

Oh... and if you're interested in having some audio files to go along with the input/content already in the templates, here they are (right click and select "save as" if you want to save the files to your own computer):

 

Halloween_Track1

Halloween_Track2

 

 

Look forward to seeing some of your work and hearing from you!

 

 

;-D

 

 

[LATE ADD]: Just an idea, but you might like to try screencasting your lesson material! Try a tool like Screenr (free, allows you to sign in with your Twitter account), where you can present your material on the screen and explain it with accompanying audio. You could then post a direct link to the screencast here on the blog, or embed it as a video on your own blog. Give it a try, you'll love the results!

 

                            

Excellent authentic material for a language lesson: Active in Parks

 

 

 

I happened across this site (Geelong's Active in Parks initiative) while perusing my tweetstream yesterday and it immediately appealed to me as a learning resource for literacy and language learning.

 

My quick ideas (some or all or none may appeal to you!):

 

1. Discuss the notion of parks and community parks, what they're for, how many and what kinds of parks the learners have access to locally, etc.

 

2. Launch the website on a screen for the whole class to see and let the pictures run on auto speed. Get the students into teams and have them try to get a caption for each picture/section (great for reading and note-taking fluency, as the pictures skim through relatively quickly, but also very well supported visually).  After a set time, run through the pictures/captions again but leave the mouse hovering over the main picture each time (this will 'freeze' it) so that it can be adequately checked out, compared to the learners' initial notes, and discussed further.

 

3. In class (if your learners have access to computers) or at home, ask the learners to try and find the site using Google Search. Discuss which keywords would be best to track down the site.

 

4. In teams (in class) or individually (at home), have students choose and check out one particular park type they would be interested in visiting or exploring. They should research it, make a summary of the information, then present this to the class along with a quick rationale as to why they chose that particular park type. (Part of the research could involve finding and following @ActiveInParks on Twitter, looking at the tweets there and even asking the organisation some questions!)

 

5. Compare the Active in Parks Geelong initiative to parks and park activities available locally in the learners' own context.

 

6. Have the students write up a proposal for their local city council on ways they could improve park offerings, and/or improve the way local people could find out more and access their parks more effectively.

 

 

 

Got any other teaching/learning ideas for this sort of resource? Let's hear it!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Outside (is) the English Raven boardroom...

 

English Raven and English Raven Jnr discuss their next digital learning project (apparently the Little Readers and some new, more interactive Halloween materials are in order). Little Miss Raven Jnr offers some feedback, but as always, appears to echo English Raven Jnr's sentiments...

 

 

;-D

 

 

Watch Raven Play...

 

 

 

I've been a tad... well, productive, I guess!

 

All of the above is now available for free access and use in the new e-Learning section of the revamped (and revamping) English Raven website.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

:-D

 

 

 

English Raven shows a bit of 'community spirit'!

 

 

 

As you can see, English Raven has been (self!) sentenced to some community work... The little offering above is another example of my ongoing quest to digitize more of my (originally print-based) flashcard materials and put them into a format that teachers might like to use on a screen in front of the class or even refer students to for some self study.

 

The entire set of community places cards consists of 48 images, including some of the following:

 

 

 

On the web page here, you can also find a set of activity suggestions utilising these cards and vocabulary for Cambridge ESOL YLE Starters, Movers and Flyers levels.

 

But here's a quick tip for those of you seeing this post, liking the look of the cards but not particularly wanting to pay for them:

 

Go up to that little search box at the top of the right-hand column of the blog and punch in some keywords along the lines of 'community places'... see what turns up!

 

 

:-)

 

 

'You might see some trees... or some rocks!'

 

 

 

 

I'm positively delighted with this latest addition to the ongoing nest of experiments on the English Raven website.

 

The video above shows English Raven Jnr trying out my online Little Readers application, which basically allows kids to flip through a simple little storybook with text accompanied by pictures, audio and an embedded recording device.

 

ER Jnr's efforts, done on his own (as he often likes for me to leave the room while he tries out this stuff), showcase a couple of the ways this helps to build reading and pronunciation skills:

 

 

1. He can flip through and take on the story at his own pace.

2. He reads what he can out loud, but uses the audio provided in one part when he's not sure how to say the sentence precisely.

3. He records his own voice using the provided audio recorder and really looks forward to playing back his reading aloud performance while he flips again through the story and looks over the text.

4. He skips the review stuff at the end. He's had enough by that stage and just wants to hear himself perform the story. That's fine. He can use this the way he wants to use it, and for just the parts or ways that most interest him.

 

 

There are another four of these Little Readers stories already in printed format, but ER Jnr wants them loaded up on a screen the way this one is. I flinch at the prospect of another late night catering to his enthusiasm for this, but mostly I'm pretty darned pleased with myself...

 

 

:-)

 

 

 

Which teacher are you: coming or going?

 

Image: MorBCN

 

 

For the sake of hypothesis, I'd like to ask you a question. And present you with an interesting choice.

 

You're teaching English to children who are aged about 10-11. They've been at this English caper for about four or five years already, and have a pretty good level. Let's say they're a bit beyond Cambridge YLE Flyers level, and somewhere in the vicinity of mid-PET (or getting reasonably close to pre-Intermediate).

 

You're on the hunt for some new ideas and materials to use with these kids, and you roll around to good ol' English Raven's site and you see two versions of an extended teaching/learning endeavour. We'll assume for now that both versions basically match the existing language level and learning needs of your students (in terms of the linguistic demands). 

 

Version A is a fully scripted out adventure story, complete with excellent pictures, audio files to accompany each passage of text, review questions with answer keys, and quizzes to help you with overall assessment. Oh, and a bunch of supplementary activity ideas.

 

Version B is the same adventure story, but almost none of the content has been provided--just the pictures. The general idea is that the learners, with assistance from the teacher, make the story up as they go, either as a class or in groups or--for those who prefer it--individually. There are prompts to help things along, as well as extensive teacher notes explaining ways to facilitate the story and to help the learners make it their own.

 

Please forgive me here, but I don't want any fence-sitting. It's not a crime to prefer one of these versions over the other (and yes, I know, they both have their positives and negatives).

 

In essence, which of them appeals to you and excites you in terms of what it could achieve in your classroom with these pre-Intermediate learners of English aged 10-11? Version A or Version B?

 

In some ways, I might dare to label Version A as the preference of the teacher who is coming (to the learners with planned and controlled input, first and foremost), while Version B is the tool of choice for the teacher who is going (with the learners away into new and mostly unplanned territory, working more or less from output). 

 

So, remembering again that this is not about judging either kind of teacher, which teacher are you: the one who is coming or the one who is going? What is your instinct telling you?

 

 

Would absolutely love to read your responses to this!

 

 

:-)

 

 

 

The new Talk it Up! (online, for speaking and creative and critical thinking)

 

 

 

I'm happy to report that a new application of Talk it Up has been put together for the English Raven website, with the capacity for students to create and actually record their own conversations or individual talks based around open, thematic icons.

 

This will be especially useful to teachers who want to use a more emergent methodology with their learners (rather than serving everything up in listen and repeat format, in this application the starting point is the learners' own language and communication). Directions are provided on the webpage to explain a basic process of choosing a thematic icon, talking about it (together with a classmate or on one's own) and recording the effort, transcribing their own speaking onto paper based on listening to the recording, editing and improving their own production, and retrying the task again to see if it sounds better a second time around.

 

This application is 100% free to all site visitors. No catches or gimmicks. On the same page, teachers can also download print versions of the Talk it Up! application in PDF, MS Word or adaptable/compatible MS Word format (to change and adapt as you will). 

 

 

 

The website also provides some initial starting prompts for those teachers or students who need a little help converting the pics/icons into thematic topics for discussion:

 

 

 

 

So there it is, a new version of the Talk it Up! concept. Hope you'll give it a whirl with your learners, and if you do, please do let us know how it goes (or feel free to ask any questions)!

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

When? Who? What? and Where?

 

 

Ten years ago I made 135 cards as part of a simple card-flipping game designed to get students thinking about vocabulary, pronouns, verb tenses, subject-verb agreement and overall basic sentence structure. Students of all ages loved it, and that was pleasing. It took a hell of a long time to cut out, paste together, laminate and then cut out again those little cards.

 

 

 

I'm enjoying a sort of renaissance over on the English Raven site as I dig up all of the old flashcards and card games there and find ways to breathe new life and practicality into them via all the wonderful tools Web 2.0 (and Web 2.5 I'm starting to think...) has dished up for us.

 

The new online version of When? Who? What? Where? is a pretty good example of what I'm talking about here. It used to be something you had to download and cut out (and it is, of course, still excellent for that purpose), but the version I recently uploaded to the site allows for the cards to be flipped on the screen. It also allows learners to record themselves based on the cards they see before them, listen to what they've said, re-record it if they want to, and then compare with an example sentence I've provided for them.

 

It was surprisingly simple to put together, and we're not talking world-quaking technology or tech skills here. But even with the limitations of (my) simplicity, it is surprisingly powerful in terms of practical, engaging practice for learners.

 

It's up there now and it's fully free for any learners anywhere to try out.

 

If you'd like to give it a whirl with your learners, I'd love to hear how they get on and what they think of it.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Never ask students to do something you aren't willing to do yourself...

... and that includes things like doing recorded presentations that make you squirm and feel a bit dorky!






The "interview" above was done as a model for students to consider before trying their own recorded presentations on the topic of Top Tools of Your Trade. By talking about 'teaching tools' I was able to speak genuinely but also avoid giving any of our particular trade groups an unfair advantage over the others. For example, if I'd done this interview with one of our carpentry teachers, the plumbing and electrical students would have cried foul (as the model would have basically given the carpentry group something to copy not just in terms of organisation and delivery but also actual content).

I also quite deliberately did some things a little poorly in this talk, to give students the chance to discover/notice both positives and negatives in the example given. There's no clear indication at the start of the talk in terms of specific topic, focus and purpose. Three main topics would have been better than four, for example, given that I managed to talk at length about all of them. I repeat myself a little too much. There's no 'wrap up' conclusion to help the listener to walk away with a clear reminder of what I covered. The volume could have been better. You get the drift...

However, I would like to offer thanks to my talented and infinitely patient (if not particularly energetic) interviewer: the handle of the second draw on the filing cabinet across from my desk. I had to make it look like an interview, after all, and there wasn't anybody about in the staff room!


Getting back to the title of this post, I do think it is really important to put ourselves through the same sorts of tasks that we ask learners to try. Doing this interview with the filing cabinet reminded me of a lot of the discomfort of doing a formal presentation of some sort (and a recorded one at that); that gives me valuable insights into the learners' potential feelings about this task and what I might be able to do to help them through it.

Like bringing that filing cabinet along to class to help with the interview questions, for instance...




:D

A price to swear by?

 

 

Image: sewitsforyou

 

 

Our state government here in Victoria has recently decided to go ahead with policy and laws that allow police to apply on-the-spot fines for foul language. The basic fine is about the same as what you'll get for speeding in a motor car.

 

This is an interesting issue in itself, but given that the lads I teach do have recurrent problems with swearing, I thought this would be excellent fodder for reading and discussion materials. As part of the general VCAL Literacy outcome requirements, learners are always asked to compare texts on topics, and I have sourced the following:

 

1. Big fines for those who cry foul (General expository news article)

2. I say fiddle sticks to your swearing fines Mr Baillieu (Opinion piece A)

3. Stop bans on cursing? Bugger that (Opinion piece B)

 

 

Swearing is one of those public issues that has resonance across language and culture, so I thought these articles might be of interest to teachers in other parts of the world as well. They basically provide a fairly neutral expository text followed by two different opinions/reactions to a rather strict public policy.

 

See what your students make of it all!

 

 

=D

 

                                      

The last hurrah (for now) - Part 2: Guest post about a teaching unplugged workshop

 

 

Is this the final raven appearance in an ELT workshop? A snapshot of my ‘teaching unplugged’ workshop (thanks very much to Daniel Craig for the pic!) at the KOTESOL National Conference in Daejeon, Korea, on May 14. Two of the participants very kindly agreed to write the guest post that follows.

 

 

 

As promised in my previous ‘the last hurrah’ post, here is the follow up account of my workshop on teaching unplugged. Somehow, if feels appropriate that the final post on this blog (at least for some time to come) not only focuses on the concept of teaching unplugged, but is written in the form of a guest post from two of the participants in the workshop.

 

Leanne Priestley and Kevin Arnold are two Brits teaching English to adults in a private language academy in Korea. Interestingly enough, they are working at the same chain school company I first started my time in Korea with all those years ago! I had already connected with Leanne and Kevin via Twitter prior to the conference, and at the event itself enjoyed a great chat with them and a number of other teachers over lunch.

 

Leanne and Kevin represent, to me, all that can be great about teachers and teaching. They are friendly, polite, down-to-earth, sensitive to their local context while looking for the very best ways to innovate and create positive change. They also have that absolutely essential ingredient for making the teaching/learning elixir actually work: MOTIVATION!

 

 

 

They attended my workshop on teaching unplugged in the afternoon, and in follow up correspondence very kindly indicated they would be happy to write this guest post about what they experienced and thought (think) of teaching unplugged.

 

So, over to you Leanne and Kevin!

 

 

 

 

A Workshop on Teaching Unplugged

by Leanne Priestley and Kevin Arnold

 

 

When we were first asked to write this guest post, it was terrifying but we saw it as an exciting new challenge as this is our first one, ever. We hope it’ll give others an idea of how Jason’s workshop at the National KOTESOL Conference in Daejeon, South Korea on May 14^th helped two (and many, many more) ELT teachers.

 

Jason ended his plenary with an image that has now, for us at least, become synonymous with what his workshop was about. That image was of a plug, unplugged.

 

 
 

 

We’ve been very intrigued for a while by teaching unplugged, and were pleased to have the opportunity to find out more. And it didn’t disappoint! The workshop, all 90 minutes of it, although we honestly never even noticed the time, was thoroughly enjoyable and informative.

 

Our particular workshop began very simply with the question “Have you heard of teaching unplugged?” A few hands went up. Initially we hesitated. Should we put our hands up or not? After all we weren’t entirely too sure what it is, or isn’t for that matter.

 

The ‘lesson’ part of the workshop then began with Jason asking someone to leave. This was our very first introduction to the world of unplugged teaching and gathering content directly from the learners, which involved removing a learner from the classroom! A very intriguing technique, that was for sure.

 

Two participants, one now outside the room and one inside, chatted on the phone, while the rest of us listened to this one-sided conversation and wrote down as much of it as we could. The participant returned, and the part of the conversation we had heard was elicited and written on the board. Working in pairs with this emergent language, we guessed what the other side of the conversation might have been.  Now we had our content/material for the rest of the session and there still wasn’t a course-book (or handout) in sight. After each pair had completed their own version of the call, a few groups role-played what they had produced.  Needless to say there were some interesting variations.  As a group we talked about these variations and what made each conversation unique. This was followed by brainstorming some further activities which could be used to continue working with this material.  The ideas just kept coming, and we couldn’t help but smile, as this was why we were there – to exchange ideas.

 

The second half of our workshop took us in another direction. We were introduced to ‘live-reading’.

 

 

 

The quote in the picture was created with just a few simple questions – “Where are we? Why are we here?” Throughout the activity all the questions were very simple, but more importantly thought provoking, including “Are you sure?” and “Do we need this?” This was then followed by, as Jason calls it ‘Going, going, gone, (in)’ – a technique of reducing the text to mere lines to show where words once were.  A technique we’ve already borrowed, since experiencing it firsthand and seeing how affective it can be. We can’t get that passage out of our heads!

 

 

If we were now asked “Have you heard of teaching unplugged?” Neither of us would hesitate to raise our hands. We won’t pretend for a second to know as much as we’d like to about this particular methodology, but we now have a better understanding. Thanks Jason for giving us this glimpse into the unplugged world and helping us discover a few new things.

 

One question still remains “How well can it work in Korea?” The only place this can be answered is in the classrooms of Korea. Korean classrooms are traditionally teacher centred and book based. So with our new-found confidence, techniques and ideas neither of us can wait to give it a go. The good thing is we’re pretty sure we’re not going to be the only ones in Korea trying it out. There was genuine excitement in the room about it and we look forward to hearing about other people’s experiences.

 

 

Thanks also to KOTESOL Daejeon for providing an opportunity for so many great people to come together and exchange ideas in Korea.

 

And once again thanks Jason for inviting us to write this guest post. All the best in the future with your new challenge.

 

 

 

No, thank YOU Leanne and Kevin! To your excellent account here, I would just like to add (from the presenter/facilitator point of view) how truly energising the workshop was based on all the creative contributions of the participants. The two 'students' who performed the impromptu telephone conversation were brilliant, and the follow up variations and teaching/learning suggestions from all the other participants were outstanding - much better than any quick list I could come up with on my own.

 

This was an absolutely fantastic way to finish up (this particular stint?) for me in ELT. Thanks so much to Leanne, Kevin and all the other wonderful people who contributed to the workshop.

 

And... erm, Leanne and Kevin? Methinks it's high time for you two to get that ELT blog happening!!!

 

 

 

:-D

 

 

                                          

World News for Kids: Country for hire!

 

 

 

For those interested, this week's articles (at 'Eagle' level) are now up on World News for Kids, featuring the interesting news that Liechtenstein is apparently happy to hire itself out to visitors (and up to 150 guests) at the very reasonable rate of $70,000 per night!

 

For English Raven members, the complete study kit is also available in their individual download portals, with 8 pages covering:

 

- The original article script

- Reading skills and comprehension

- Follow up listening ('News Extra') providing background information about Liechtenstein

- Talk Time dialogue feature (where two students discuss the idea of 'hiring out' their country)

- Class Discussion prompts

- Email response to a notice asking for advice on how to attract visitors to the students' city

- Essay topic (advantages and disadvantages of tourism)

- Discussion topic for online submission via Voxopop

 

 

 

 

 

 

=D

 

                                                

 

Ways to extend news articles in the ELT classroom for multiple and integrated skills

 

 

Right, we've got some news... now where do we go with it?  Image: Cyberslayer

 

 

On my World News for Kids Teacher's Page, I demonstrate how I build extensive 'kits' based on initial news articles, working through reading, extending into listening with additional topical content, then working through a variety of different speaking and writing activities.

 

I figured some teachers out there might be interested in the how and why of this sort of kit creation, and even might like to work on making their own extensive study kits based on news articles. Or (and even better) they might like to explore how this could become more of an 'unplugged' learning application where learners choose and work with the content more on their own.

 

So here are some quick audio-visual guidelines I've produced, starting with the more 'teacher-led/created' side of things and finishing with some thoughts about taking it 'unplugged'...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, this is only a small selection of ways to build materials and activities around news articles for the ELT classroom, but I hope they at least give you some ideas to think about.

 

On the WNK Teacher's Page, towards the bottom, you can access four full 8-page samples (across four levels of difficulty/challenge) to see how my approach works on paper. I also heartily recommend a good look at Sean Banville's outstanding BreakingNewsEnglish.com for an alternative range of activities based on news articles. 

 

 

=D

 

 

                                       

World News for Kids returns to English Raven!

 

 

 

 

It took a while (I had to discontinue the initial foray with World News for Kids in late 2009), but I'm happy to say that World News for Kids is now BACK on English Raven!

 

My problem with the first try at this was producing too much each week (8 stories with listening files and 32 pages of worksheets) in an endeavour that doesn't exactly earn me any income. In the end, it needed to be shelved to allow me to concentrate more on making a living!

 

The new approach cuts things back to one level (of four) per week, hence two news stories and 8 pages of worksheet material. This will hopefully be a manageable enough load that I can produce news articles on a more regular basis without burning myself out.

 

So, the latest story (covering April Fools' Day and Google's Gmail Motion prank) is now up here.

 

To see how it all works and what is involved in the supplementary worksheets, check out the Teacher's WNK page.

 

 

=D

 

                                             

 

 

Animal flashcards: How simple can you get? (Right?)

 

 

 

 

Okay, yes, pretty simple!

 

However, there are a couple of subtle things that can be built into flashcards to make them more interesting and effective for language learning purposes.

 

Take a look at my new Animals Flashcards page to see what I mean...

 

 

=D

 

                                             

 

Rethinking the authenticity issue in ELT input material

 

 

If input isn't completely authentic, does that automatically make it any less genuine for language learning purposes?  Image: Damon Styer

 

 

 

In my last post, I presented an experimental speaking unit that toys with new methods of material presentation and distribution. I'm eternally thankful to all the teachers out there who made the effort to leave some thoughts and suggestions in relation to the material, as I think this is the way we ought to be exploring and developing new language learning material: putting it out there, talking about it, playing with it, wrestling with it (etc.) -- before we go with any final versions that might then be placed before learners.

 

Now, one issue that came up (and I really did expect it to!) with a lot of teachers was the relative authenticity and "natural sound" of the input speaking dialogue featured in the sample material. Quite rightly, too. I think it is a dilemma a lot of teachers are wrestling with these days. They're tired of contrived and unnatural-sounding language input that (potentially) just models simplified and sanitized language that native and proficient users are highly unlikely to use in real situations. They want to give their learners a more authentic picture of the language in use in the real world.

 

I share these concerns.

 

But I've also come to look at the issue a bit differently, thanks (surprisingly?) to the experience of being a parent and observing the processes by which my children are developing their language and what role (and how) different forms of input play in this.

 

I've now come to the conclusion that, for input designed to help demonstrate how language can be used for speaking, it may not always be authentic (in terms of how proficient speakers use it in the real world), but it could well be reasonably genuine (in terms of the way people gradually learn how to speak).

 

That's a very important distinction: models of proficient use versus models designed for developmental use.

 

It's pretty common for methodologists to talk about speaking and language learning by starting with how speaking happens in the real world. I'm not so sure many of them have taken into account how speaking develops in the real world.

 

Let's look at the way children learn how to talk. Okay, I'll use my children for the purposes of this argument, but I think it's reasonably generalisable.

 

There are many things happening with their speaking development in terms of input, but here are five of the key ones I've recently noticed and thought about a little more:

 

 

1. Authentic input from proficient speakers (parents, other adults, older children using natural speech), with all its false starts, elipses, competitive rather than cooperative tendencies, etc.

 

2. Scaffolded input from proficient speakers who adjust their speech for the specific needs of children (parents, carers, but also children's entertainment programs on television).

 

3. Written input in the form of age-appropriate stories and games (including the dialogues and other "spoken language" that appears in these texts), quite often delivered orally, but rarely exactly mirroring the language/modes we see in (1) above. 

 

4. "Peer" input as children interact with each other.

 

5. "Internal" input as children think (and think aloud), sorting and experimenting with language.

 

 

 

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone claim that any of these don't play an important role in a child's speaking development. Of course, any one of them in isolation is hardly going to be totally effective, but they all play a role to some extent and together they are a highly potent engine for driving oral language development.

 

Now, older and adult foreign language learners are no longer children, but they certainly are developing language users.

 

What I think we need to be careful of, as we clamour and leap eagerly onto the authentic language input bandwagon, is ignoring what I consider to be quite valid and useful kinds of developmental input that we know play a fundamental role in L1 language acquisition, but may be forgetting about.

 

In terms of what we present in coursebooks and other paper (or screen) based materials, I don't think it is detrimental to feature models and input that have a lot in common with types 2 and 3 from my list above. I like to think of it as developmental input that creates a platform for learners to start effectively using the language within parameters that are accessible to them. I see it as genuine input (as opposed to "authentic"), and believe in its potential because of what I see it doing for L1 language development as well.

 

Of course, to create a full picture, we really want to make the most of all five types of input in our classroom. Not all of them will plant well on coursebook pages, but that doesn't mean we can't plant them in other ways (and via other means) to create the sort of language learning environment in which they can really thrive.

 

I'm not sure... Perhaps we've become so good at slagging off coursebook content that we have become accustomed to blaming it for not doing what it essentially can't do (but what teachers can do, or can find ways to do).

 

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

=D

 

 

                                                  

LEAP Speaking - New classroom presentation format to try out

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've read the excellent feedback and suggestions blog visitors generously made on the post here about a new style and format of lesson material I am developing, and put some of it into action!

 

Illustrated above (and featured as downloads below) you can see a new unit in this sequence, with two different versions.

 

The first unit is basically identical in format to the one I presented earlier this week (but with different unit content). I now call this the "student version", as it presents everything on a single page which can be printed out and distributed, and/or sent directly to students in digital format. All the relevant listening files are embedded directly in the page for immediate access without having to upload accompanying files. This means students can work directly off the digital page, or just refer to a paper version of it for classroom application purposes.

 

LEAP Speaking Sample 3a - Student Version

 

 

I've also made what I call a "lesson presentation version" as an alternative teachers might like to use on a beam projector or IWB for the whole class to see during class. This consists of six "slides" which present a basic lesson in the following stages:

 

1. Picture for initial discussion and predictions, plus audio version of the main dialogue

2. Main dialogue in written form, so it can be read as well as listened to

3. Main dialogue plus simple skill noticing ideas

4. Main dialogue, skill noticing ideas, plus listen and repeat/adapt practice

5. Main dialogue, skill notes, listen/repeat/adapt plus targeted pronunciation practice

6. Final open prompt and picture encouraging learners to communicate with classmates

  

LEAP Speaking Sample 3a - Lesson Presentation Version

 

 

So this version can be used with the whole class as a simple set of stages to create a basic speaking lesson, the core of which corresponds to the students' own printed and/or digital versions that have been kept to one page. Both versions have all relevant audio embedded into the documents at every stage.

 

Of course, this isn't supposed to represent a whole unit/approach (unless the teacher chooses to use it that way), it's more like a "core" that teachers can work around and add various things to in order to create their own brand of speaking lesson. It also represents (to me) what it might be most useful for students to take away for their own reference and practice based on this sort of lesson/material.

 

Late Edit!

I've just remembered that I have already blogged some extensive notes on a rich variety of application options for some of the main stages mentioned above and represented in the lesson materials:

Supplementary Speaking Activities (Part I): Warm-up activities

Supplementary Speaking Activities (Part II): Working with speaking dialogue models

Supplementary Speaking Activities (Part III): Using and expanding speaking drills

Supplementary Speaking Activities (Part IV): Pronunciation Activities

 

The ideas there should give you plenty to think about in terms of ways to really vary, expand and enrich those general content/activity areas featured on the worksheets/lesson materials!

 

Anyway, getting back to the materials at hand...

This is obviously a lot more work at the design and formatting end of things, but if this is the sort of thing that appeals to teachers, I'm more than happy to develop the materials in these two separate formats (one basically for teaching and classroom presentation, the other for printing and/or at home use in digital format).

 

So what do you think? Useful? Presentable? Practical?

 

Love to hear your thoughts!

 

 

=D

 

                                                                

                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ELT materials design question: Can one size fit all?

 

 

 

 

I'm interested in your opinion. Yep, that's you! I don't often ask you for favours, but I hope you won't mind passing on some of your thoughts here... Please? :-)

 

I've been experimenting with yet another materials design format, potentially to become a whole new section of the English Raven resource website. The general idea is to create material that provides input/models and certain kinds of targeted practice all on one screen or sheet of paper.

 

Here's a sample I've been working on:

LEAP Speaking Sample 

 

It's still a bit rough on the design and content fronts at the moment (and this is only one of several 'strands' I am experimenting with), but bear with me...

 

For the screen format, this allows everything to be presented on one beam projector or IWB screen (with the teacher then able to zoom in or out to focus on various sections), and for all relevant sound files to be played directly in/from the screen.

For the paper format (which basically mirrors what would appear on screen), the idea is for the learners to have everything on one piece of paper. That way it could be used in a variety of ways as part of a broader lesson. For example, they can be folded in half (with the print content inside the fold), and a teacher could do a variety of more open pre- and post activities on the front and back covers of the folded paper (which, when opened up, has the input and practice stuff on the open spread). Alternatively, (without any folding) all the pre-provided content can be on one side of the handout, and something else can be done with the back (before, while or after using the practice material on the other side).

 

Of course, the digital format with all sound files embedded would also allow learners to use it on their own computers, in-class or at home, etc...

 

I think the benefits of only having one screen to refer to and only one potential page for photocopying purposes are pretty obvious to a lot of teachers, but a few questions are still giving me pause for thought:

 

1. Does this format result in material that is too cluttered, with type that is too small to read with ease (on screen or on paper)?

2. Is this actually the sort of content and format that teachers would be interested in using?

 

 

So what do you reckon?

Go ahead with this sort of material, re-think it, or shelve it?

 

 

=D

 

 

                                                   

Ripples

 

 

 

 

A catastrophe of proportions that almost beggar belief. My thoughts have been with the people of Japan this weekend, as I'm sure yours have as well. And to the Japanese students I taught last year, some of whom have become close friends with my wife here in Australia, we hope your families and loved ones back home are safe.

 

And to all the great ELTers I've met based in Japan, I hope you are safe as well.

 

"Ripples" is the only word I can think of to describe this sort of event. And not the ripples we saw on the television, which from the helicopters made the event look like an amazing lego display being washed away. I found myself wanting to grab the helicopter pilot by the scruff and tell him to stop concentrating on the dramatic footage and get over to the roads where cars were still driving about, seemingly oblivious to the wall of water about to surge up and wash them away. Warn them. Get them to turn around and head the other way. I don't need to see the waves as much as those people need to realise they are coming.

 

Easy enough to make such judgments from afar.

 

Most of the people reading this blog are ELTers, and no doubt the topic of earthquake and tsunami is going to be on the tips of students' tongues this week. How do you handle such a sensitive topic?

 

I like what Anna has done over at Magpie Moments.

 

She let her students decide on the content, plugging in to the pulse of the unplugged classroom, and came up with some excellent student-generated content followed up with some insightful project ideas.

 

There are other ripples there, given Anna has drawn on several of my activity suggestions and adaptable templates. I'm flattered to see them tried out in another context, and wildly impressed with the results. 

 

Mind, I'll feel a darn side more cheerful when I see them applied around happier tidings in the world (as I'm sure Anna will, too).

 

 

 

=(

 

 

                                                        

 

Preparing students for language tests: How one coursebook series attempted it for young/teenage learners (#ELTChat)

 

 

 

During the first session of #ELTChat last Wednesday, we discussed the topic of how to prepare students for language exams. A pretty important topic, really, given the dominance of testing in our field of work.

 

During the discussion, I generally advocated unplugged and task-based approaches to exam preparation, involving students themselves in the generation of content and tasks that can correlate to the exams they have to face later.

 

One point that came up in the conversation was that many exam-prep coursebooks are pretty woeful to use in class, mainly because they are so boring and detract from student-oriented communication in the classroom.

 

However, something that didn't come up really at all was how regular coursebooks try to cater to the more important English exams as one of a great many priorities when it comes to content, format and activity selections.

 

Following the chat, this took me down memory lane a little, and I recalled how I had tried to address exam preparation in my own series of coursebooks. Among a variety of content writing challenges, I didn't just have to incorporate practice for a huge range of tests (basically, all levels of Cambridge YLE, KET, PET, FCE, IELTS and TOEFL, TOEIC), I also needed to do this in a way that would feel natural and accessible for younger teenage learners. Learners who were still a couple of years away from some of the more important tests, but nonetheless learning English in contexts that were extremely fixated on good results in those tests -- sooner rather than later.

 

In the end, this turned out to be surprisingly easy to accomplish. By pulling all the exam sections and questions back to their more basic formats, it became quite feasible to work them into a variety of existing theme-based units and utilise content and tasks that might be considered quite accessible and relevant to younger learners.

 

Here are some quick examples (drawing on a formal presentation I did at the Korea TESOL conference in 2008, targeted at demonstrating to teachers how the 'popular' iBT TOEFL was being considered and prepared for as part of the Boost! Speaking strand):  

 

 

 

 

TOEFL Speaking question 3 integrates a campus-related notice with a discussion about the notice between two students. In a lower level of Boost! Speaking, this is adapted to feature a notice about an upcoming Halloween party and an accompanying conversation (and attached to a unit generally about organising parties and special events).

 

 

And in a later unit at the same level (this one targeting free time activities), the same TOEFL question format is applied through a notice about after-school clubs and a conversation specifically addressing the information in that notice.

 

 

 

And that was just one question format from one of the major tests. In fact, a detailed chart showing exactly which parts of the coursebooks provided initial preparation just for the different sections of the TOEFL speaking test alone looked like this:

 

 

 

 

Similarly, tests like Cambride YLE, KET, PET, FCE, IELTS and TOEIC were all systematically catered to in the coursework content.

 

What I personally find very interesting in all this is... most teachers (and certainly most students) never even noticed! One of the reasons I had to do the presentation shown in part above was because we had teachers and schools clamouring for coursebooks to address their exam prep needs (even at younger ages), without being "just test books", and the content and task types were already there in the books in front of them...

 

This shows me one or both of two things:

 

- Exams can be adapted and integrated quite seamlessly into existing coursebook content, to the point that teachers and students don't even realise they are getting test prep as part of the natural progress through their coursework;

 

- Many teachers and schools are good at yabbering on about tests, without actually knowing much about them, and/or assuming that the only 'good/effective' preparation for exams is through explicitly labeled materials or books.

 

 

In any case, I have to confess to not being all that bothered about having to cater to language exams through coursebook content, even when the learners are a little younger. It can all be bent and directed in ways to match the original thematic thrust of a unit, and even the various emphases in skills-based coursebook units.

 

Dare I say it... sometimes the exam formats gave me some interesting new ideas for ways to extend and redirect content, too!

 

 

So what are your thoughts on this sort of thing? How do you feel about exam prep through coursebook content (without the coursebook necessarily being about specific tests)?

 

 

 

=D

 

 

                                              

Coursebooks with a slight digital boost...

 

Some (amateurish) digital remastering of a Boost! Speaking unit so that an adaptable PDF version now includes embedded sound files and textboxes for students to add their own work and notes...

 

 

 

There's no question, when it comes to development of digital coursework material, that we essentially need to go back to the drawing board and redesign material from the ground up (in order to maximise the digital opportunities but also maintain user-friendly design).

 

However, it's interesting how simple and functional improvements can be made to existing coursebook material just by experimenting with Acrobat features.

 

It took me approximately 15 minutes this morning to adjust a PDF version of a Boost! Speaking unit so that:

 

- It can be edited and changed;

 

- All relevant sound files are actually embedded into the sections of coursework they apply to;

 

- There are textboxes for students to add their own work as well as any additional notes they or the class might come up with (and these textboxes feature a scroll function which technically means there's no limit to how much students add to the existing material);

 

- The PDF format allows students and teacher to zoom in and adjust frames to create a viewing experience that suits their own preferences.

 

- It can be saved as a new file once changes have been made, and it can be printed out.

 

 

Here's the new PDF version of the unit I produced:

 

Boost! Speaking Level 2 / Unit 1 (digital PDF version)

 

 

Okay, it's simple and presentation wise (icons and formatting of text boxes) it needs more polishing. But what we now have is a digital version of the unit that can be used on computers in the classroom and/or on an IWB at the front of the class (or independently at home, for that matter). Plug in some links to relevant videos and websites... goodness, suddenly it's a very versatile and personalisable unit of coursework!

 

And all in about 15 minutes...

 

 

Interesting!

 

 

 

=D

 

 

                                 

 

Projecting it with the Pako Festa (Celebrating Diversity)

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, my family and I attended the local Pako Festa here in Geelong, along with around 100,000 other people in glorious late summer sunshine. Billed as Australia's biggest free multicultural festival, the event is famous for its parade, mini-concerts and food stalls.

 

I was particularly happy to see several ex-students (from when I was teaching in the local AMEP program here in Geelong last year) marching in the parade with their families, one of whom -- BoDay, from Burma -- spotted me and lunged across through the crowd with a huge smile on his face to shake my hand and introduce me to his handsome little boy. Given the rather stoic and reserved personality I recall in Bo Day, his enthusiasm was touching.

 

To celebrate the event and what it stands for, I've put together a little reading/project unit (featuring some pictures I took myself at the event yesterday!) that you might like to use in your classroom:

 

 

 

 

The Pako Festa - Reading/Project Unit (PDF)
  

 

 

I would estimate the material here to be of about upper elementary to pre-intermediate in level. It features a basic text about the event, followed by a range of project/application ideas that would hopefully represent a range of interesting options for students of all ages in both EFL and ESL contexts. If you and the class are interested in delving a little more into the specific event with some authentic materials, I recommend checking out the Pako Festa website.

 

If you like the template and approach and want to play around with making your own mini reading/project units, you might like to check out the open source template I put together and posted on the blog a little while ago.

 

There are further examples/templates covering the topic of Valentine's Day here and here.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

=D

 

 

                                           

 

Scene it (at the bookstore)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, the bad punning continues... As does the experimentation with open material design.

 

This is the second set of Scene it! materials, this time drawing on one of my own images (the gathering of which was discussed here) -- taken at the Paton Books store around the corner from my house, with the generous permission of the proprietor, Katherine.

 

The suggestions for utilising this scene and pages are quite different from those outlined for the first Scene it! set. The basic approach here is to apply the Wandrous Whiteboard activity on the first page (or rather, the emergent language notes that are made based on what happens on the whiteboard), and a Twitter-based activity on the facing page.

 

 

Here are the relevant downloads for this set:

 

Scene it! (Bookstore) - Basic template to give out to students

 

Scene it! (Bookstore) - Teachers Guide with notes

 

 

Of course, if the approach here (with Wandrous Whiteboard and Twitter) doesn't appeal for whatever reason, the approach from the first example set (vocab/phrase building, some basic "finding out", creating a sign for the scene and then some conversations + scripts) could potentially work here with this image/scene just as well. Likewise, it would be possible to apply the Wandrous Whiteboard and Twitter activity with the first set instead of the initial suggestions I've documented there!

 

 

Gotta love the idea of flexibility, really... FLEX + ABILITY!

 

 

=D

 

 

                                                      

 

Enjoying some Magpie Moments

 

 

How could a raven not enjoy an ELT blog called "Magpie Moments"? :-)

 

 

 

I think as a teacher, teacher-trainer, materials designer and blogger, there's no greater feeling than seeing people not only notice your ideas, but take them, adapt them, reflect on them and then share them even wider.

 

I've got to experience this recently through a new blog called Magpie Moments ("a collection of other people's shiny ideas that are inspiring my teaching") from a teacher named Anna.

 

Anna has taken several of my ideas and templates, adapted them to the needs of her own teaching context, added her own creativity, then posted the results of her work and a range of very thoughtful reflective ponderings on her blog.

 

 

 
Some of the English Raven ideas/templates Anna has made her/our own! WriteWays Unit 1, Talk it Up!, and the results of her first try at Live Reading.

 

 

 

I'm enormously flattered that Anna would take some of my ideas and materials into her classroom, and wowed with the way she has tinkered with them to make them work for her and her learners. The prominent references and links back to the original ideas/materials/posts is really appreciated (this is how polite and considerate sharing of resources should be done!), and it's wonderful to see that Anna is making everything she makes available as well, creating her own new set of sharing ripples.

 

 

This is the general spirit behind my call/challenge for teachers to make and share more of their ideas and materials via the ELT blogosphere.

 

If we make more in the way of templates, explain how we use them, and invite others to adapt and reflect and share as well, I think it is really exciting what we might be able to achieve...

 

 

In any case, thanks Magpie! You've made a raven very happy -- not because you used his ideas, but because you tweaked them in new interesting ways and provided such interesting reflective teaching notes about them.

 

 

 

=D

 

 

                                                            

 

The Dictogloss: Intensive listening for integrated language development

 

The two main versions of dictogloss as I've used them as regular coursework applications... The basic/intro version for lower levels at top and the more intensive (2-page) version for later levels below.

 

 

 

I first came across the "dictogloss" in the early noughties when I was researching ways to facilitate more focus on form for learners I was teaching in a content-based/immersion-style curriculum (if you're in Europe, think CLIL). I came across a great article by Merrill Swain on the topic and application, and after initially wondering whether it was about glossy dinosaurs or dictation performed on glossy paper, realised it would be a great method to use in my classroom.

 

I became so impressed with it, in fact, that by the mid-noughties I was featuring dictogloss as a regular weekly activity in the in-house curriculum and course materials I was responsible for maintaining in a school with close to one thousand learners. The results have always been impressive.

 

 

Here's how I use it:

 

 

1. Take a text that the learners have already read and discussed. This could be a portion of text from a coursebook passage or dialogue, a composition by one of the students (which has been shown to the rest of the class), or (most effective in my experience) something like a live reading text that has been previously generated in class. This text is going to become the script for the dictogloss activity (but don't announce it in advance to the students unless you want them to go away and memorise it).

 

 

2. Give the students notepaper or an activity page like the ones I've presented above (also available for download below). Inform the students:

 

(a) You are going to read the text aloud three times.

 

(b) Pens should be on the table while the text is being read aloud. Concentrate on listening and understanding and remembering.

 

(c) After each reading, you'll have about five minutes to write down what you can recall from the text. There are columns for you to write in after each reading. Following your recall/writing time, you'll have another 5-10 minutes to compare your notes with a classmate and collaborate to improve the notes on both your papers.

 

(d) Following the three readings, note taking stints and collaborative editing, you'll have 15-20 minutes to work with a partner and your overall notes to reconstruct the text you heard. It doesn't need to be exactly the same as the original, but it needs to cover the same essential content and be written with accurate use of grammar and vocabulary.

 

(e) Compare your text reconstruction with the original. Note down some of the key things that are different.

 

 

Okay, so that is a lot of "informing" to take on board, especially for a lower-level group who has never tried the activity before!

 

Hence, it tends to work a lot better if you just work through it with them step by step. As in:

 

- Listen but don't write.

- Write down what you can remember in the first column.

- 5-10 minutes to improve your notes with a classmate.

(Repeat above three times, until all three columns have been completed)

- Now use your notes to rewrite the text. It doesn't need to be exact, but as close as possible to the original text you heard (and read a while back).

 

 

The first couple of times you apply this, it will be hard for the learners. It can help to start with very limited amounts of text (say 30-50 words) and gradually work your way up (I rarely use texts that are more than 200 words in length).

 

 

But it's also worth being patient and sticking with it, because the dictogloss has enormous benefits for language development. Here are a couple of things I've noticed:

 

- It's a great way to recycle and review texts.

 

- The intensity of the listening and remembering process here super-charges it as input.

 

- There is an emphasis on collaboration and discussion amongst students.

 

- There is integration across reading, listening, speaking and writing.

 

- It is one of the best methods I know in terms of creation of deeper grammar awareness.

 

- After 2-3 tries at it, using manageable amounts of text, learners actually become much better at it than they ever figured they'd be able to.

 

- (Added bonus?) Applied regularly, learners catch on that they could be doing themselves a favour by re-reading any texts from class before the "dictogloss day" arrives that week!

 

- (A more peripheral bonus, perhaps) For upper levels, it is an absolutely brilliant method of honing intensive listening skills and 'coping strategies' for learners preparing for listening passages on tests like TOEFL and IELTS.

 

 

 

Anyway, if you want to try the dictogloss and like the formats I've presented at the top of the post (based on how I used to present them in my in-house coursebooks), here's the download featuring both versions:

 

Dictogloss Templates A and B (PDF Download) 

 

 

There are quite a few other posts and articles around the Internet covering the dictogloss application, so do go ahead and do some further exploration.

 

One in particular I liked was by David Dodgson, as it showcases how to scaffold the activity a little more for younger learners. Ceri Jones also has a great post on the topic which I highly recommend you check out.

 

 

Have fun with the glossy dinosaur!

 

 

 

=D

 

 

                                   

                                       

 

Talk it Up!

 

 

 

 

Here's another simple resource you might like to try experimenting with.

 

I call it "Talk it Up!" and basically it's a way of presenting dialogues for speaking practice that also nudges students into more of a starring role.

 

Basically, you come up with a short dialogue presented in A/B columns. On one side, A's parts are highlighted, while on the other side B's parts are highlighted. Below the dialogue on both sides are follow up questions about the conversation.

 

Learners in pairs (or groups of three) take these away  and practice them (at home or in class), before performing them for the rest of the class (ideally only the performing students have the actual script -- the rest of the class have to watch and listen). The teacher provides any necessary help during the performance, and then the students ask their three questions each to the class (in groups of three, the third student would ask all six questions following the performance of the dialogue by the other two), to see what they recall, comprehend, think, etc.

 

So essentially, the students themselves are performing the scripts and quizzing their classmates about what they heard.

 

And of course, ideally, eventually the learners will take over the responsibility for creating the scripts and questions on their own -- with some assistance and basic guidance from the teacher if necessary:

 

A. Class time to work in groups of 2-3 to create scripts and questions (teacher assists)

B. Allocated practice time (in class or outside class) to prepare the material for performance

C. Performance of scripts in class with follow up questions

 

 

This has worked really well in a lot of my classes. Students enjoy creating their own conversations and questions, then taking on a sort of teacher role to quiz the rest of the class and check what they have understood as listeners.

 

 

For those of you who want to try this out, the following templates might be useful. They include an example version with script and questions already compiled (teachers can edit/adapt this if they want), followed by a blank version which might be better for doing the task on paper with handwritten scripts and questions.

 

Talk it Up! Template (PDF version)

 

Talk it Up! Template (Adaptable MS Word version)

 

 

 

If you do try it, let us all know how it goes!

 

 

 

=D

 

 

 

                                           

 

Lesson materials for a juicy Valentine's Day breakup!

 

 

Maybe it's a little more fun to explore the other side of Valentine's Day!

Image: Olivier Kaderli

 

 

 

In hindsight, my apologies! The lesson material I uploaded on Saturday for Valentine's Day was, well, pretty tame...

 

Truth be told, I probably wouldn't use it myself -- not unless I were to follow it up with something with a little more potential juice and tang in it... something more like this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the lowdown.

 

The learners ("Jo") have received an email on Valentine's Day from "Sam" -- their sweetheart. Well, "Sam" used to be the learners' sweetheart! "Sam" has emailed the learners to let them know that he/she is dumping them!

 

Why? "Sam" is unhappy about the learners snubbing his/her parents, being rude to his/her sister, and being mean to Sam's precious dog Rufus.

 

A variety of tasks/project ideas are then offered as follow up, including writing back to Sam, leaving Sam a voice message, doing a skit about later running into Sam someplace public, composing a series of text messages that follow up the email/decision, and creating a newspaper or television report about a headline-grabbing stunt that "Jo" performs after receiving the email.

 

 

A lot more fun to be had here, I reckon!

 

 

 

Here are the materials:

 

A Valentine's Day Breakup! (PDF Version)

 

A Valentine's Day Breakup! (Adaptable MS Word Version)

 

 

 

Hope you (and your learners!) like it.

 

 

 

=D

 

 

                                             

 

Template for making your own reading + projects material

 

 

 

 

 

Just throwing this out there for any blog visitors who liked the look of the Valentine's Day material and/or the original reading + projects example I posted earlier.

 

 

If you want to make something like this yourself, here is the template in Microsoft Word format:

 

 Materials template (Text + Project Options) - Adaptable MS Word format

 

 

Basically, all the textboxes have been set up there for you (just click on or inside them to access the text), though you can resize and move any of it around as you like. The pic slots have been set up in a way that allows you to just click on the icon, which should open up your 'My Pictures' folder from your hard-drive so you can select and insert. Of course, you can delete any of the elements you don't want to adapt or include.

 

To edit your header/unit information, just double click in that space to change the text or settings. To get back to your main document page, double click again in the central page space.

 

Note that this doesn't just cater to reading texts. You could insert dialogues or listening passages here as well, or adopt a completely different approach to the spaces allocated here for project ideas -- whatever goes!

 

 

Hope it's helpful!

 

 

 

=D

 

 

 

                                                     

 

A Day for Romance? (Adaptable reading/project materials for Valentine's Day)

 

 

 

  

 

JUST in case you don't have anything Valentine's Day-related prepared for your Monday classes yet!

 

This is something I whipped up combining a reading passage about Valentine's Day with a range of open project ideas for students to choose from. It works through the same template/approach I presented here last week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the downloads (both in open format so feel free to tinker or adapt as you like!)

 

Valentine's Day Reading/Project Material (PDF version)

 

Valentine's Day Reading/Project Material (Microsoft Word version)

 

 

 

And, erm, have a very romantic day!

 

 

 

=D

 

 

 

                                            

 

"WriteWays" Unit 3: A New E-pal

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unit 3 of "WriteWays" is now ready for unleashing... This one works on the basic idea of introducing oneself in an e-mail to a new (real or imaginary) "e-pal". It pulls together the content and skills (at sentence and paragraph level, respectively) covered in Unit 1 and Unit 2.

 

Here are the downloads:

 

WriteWays Level 1 / Unit 3 (Adaptable Microsoft Word version)

 

WriteWays Level 1 / Unit 3 (Adaptable PDF version)

 

WriteWays Level 1 / Unit 3 Comprehensive Teacher's Guide

 

 

Please remember that these have been designed as adaptable templates for you to mess about with and adjust in whatever way you like. 

 

 

 

=D

 

 

 

                                 

"WriteWays": Spelling and Language Development

 

 

 

 

Okay, so far in my little "WriteWays" initiative (basically: teacher-adaptable writing lesson templates -- see the introduction here and the material + TGs for Unit 1 and Unit 2), we've looked at lesson templates oriented around skill work.

 

What I haven't addressed (and it's because I think it needs to happen as a separate and ongoing process alongside any/all skill work) are the very important issues of spelling and written language accuracy.

 

Well, consider those issues covered! (Okay, the language accuracy and development one is not easy to cover, but I hope I've at least provided some models and ideas based on my own practice and in-house teaching materials experience).

 

Here are the downloads:

 

WriteWays Spelling & Lang. Development (Adaptable Microsoft Word template)

 

WriteWays Spelling & Lang. Development (Adaptable PDF template)

 

WriteWays Spelling & Lang. Development (Comprehensive Teacher's Guide)

 

 

What is (I like to imagine?) a reasonably unique feature of these templates and overall approach is that they emphasise gathering errors across a class and making it a whole-class experience finding ways to figure them out and improve accuracy and effectiveness with written language. This approach also makes things easier on teachers wondering how it can be possible to address written corrections in larger classes, where the volume of mistakes and lack of sufficient time can make it a rather stressful process.

 

As with all of the other WriteWays posts and materials, if you have a question, impression or suggestion, by all means let's hear it!

 

 

 

=D