TATL Podcast

Main Content

Emily and Roger discuss about speaking warm-ups: the purpose, the problem, and possible solutions. Such warm-ups are effective in helping students get into the English mindset and be excited for class. The problem is that students are disinterested or the questions lack a meaningful context. As a result, students may know how to answer them but they have no idea when to practically use them outside of the classroom. Emily and Roger each provide a simple idea that can be easily applied into your classroom.

WIMB

Emily: Isojin Gargle

Roger: Uniqlo Down Sweater

Main Content

Emily and Roger continue to talk about speaking warm-ups with an added focus on higher level learners. Ideas include planning a series of questions related to the textbook topic, editing sentences, and using post-its to collect student-generated questions.

WIMB

Emily: Blue Tape 

Roger: Jansport Burrito Shaped Canvas Bag (outside) (inside)

Main Content

Emily and Roger discuss about the purpose of homework and the difference between knowledge-focused homework versus skills-focused homework. They give examples of what zombie teachers do and how to avoid that lifestyle.

Goal: Avoid being a zombie teacher! (Teachers who don’t really give that much thought into teaching because they have done it for so long)

Q: Why do we assign homework?

A: There is a concept that when you work hard and get good feedback, you’ll do better next time. If this process is repeated over and over again, you’ll master understanding that knowledge or skill. 

"Homework is so ingrained in classroom culture both in the teacher’s mind and the students’ mind."

2 types of homework: knowledge or skills?

Knowledge homework: learning definition of concepts, how concepts are related to each other, parts of grammar, meaning of vocabulary words, paragraphs. etc. It is basically expository. There is a focus on what students know, not what they can do.

Skills homework: any homework where students practice something: interview someone, create a dialogue using the grammar they have learned, make sentences using specific vocabulary words, etc. There is a focus on what students can actually produce.

Questions to consider: Is it possible to do a skill without the knowledge? Should we care about the order of what kind of homework to give first: knowledge? skills? Should we give homework that focuses on both?

"What are zombie teachers doing?"

Easy in grammar because teachers can just look for worksheets and have students do it. It’s not bad to do worksheets since students are practicing their knowledge, but it shouldn’t be the only kind of work students are expected to do.

Teachers should consider checking homework but be practical about going over answers.

WIMB

Emily: Mentholatum Inhaler (

) and Wasabi Beans (http://www.quest-for-japan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/wasabichaya_smallpacks.jpg)

Roger: Thermal mug (http://wwwhydroflask.com/)

MAIN CONTENT

Emily and Roger continue to discuss about homework. They highlight extreme situations for teachers to be careful of and how to be more practical with assigning and correcting homework. 

When do teachers give homework?

After teaching a new point. Students can practice it at home.

Before teachers go over a new point, the teacher wants students to review something at home first before coming to class so that they are prepared to learn the new point.

Extreme situations that you should be cautious of:

An energetic teacher who spends too much time grading the homework (providing comments, stickers, etc.)

A teacher who has taught for a while and mainly assigns homework just as busy work but doesn’t spend time providing feedback because it is too much work or students don’t look at it.

Practicality Tips:

Teacher needs to teach students how to read and use the feedback.

Incentivize the process of receiving feedback by giving points. If students are lazy with homework, don’t be scared to score lower.

Use a rubric to save time in grading and show your expectations.

For personalized homework like writing or speaking journals, make sure that students understand who the audience is. Audience refers to people who will read their homework. Students shouldn’t just write for a teacher to read. The teacher should explain what other kinds of potential people would be reading this so that students are aware of the type of register to use)

It’s meaningful to give feedback, but set a number on how many comments to give.

For extreme teachers:

    1) If you work too hard, take a step back. Find a hobby. Rest. Don’t make work your life.

    2) If you don’t put that much effort in, try to put more effort.

WIMB

Emily: Fresh’s Sugar Lip Balm (http://www.sephora.com/sugar-lip-treatment-spf-15-P57002)

Roger: Bandaid (http://c3.q-assets.com/images/products/p/jj/jj-1288_1z.jpg)

Main Content: In this first part of a two-part series, Emily and Roger talk about corrective feedback for students. 

 

 

Here are Emily's Correction Symbols:

CORRECTION SYMBOLS

Symbol: A

Meaning and Explanation: article

You are missing an article (a/an/the)

ex) I lived with host family and their dog. WRONG

ex) I lived with a host family and their dog. RIGHT

 

Symbol: AWK

Meaning and Explanation: awkward meaning

Your sentence is confusing. Rewrite it and clarify what you mean.

ex) Another difference is the amount of traffic the caused on the road. WRONG

ex) Another difference is the amount of traffic that is caused on the road. RIGHT

 

Symbol: CAP/LC

Meaning and Explanation: capitalize/lower case

You made a capitalization/lower case error.

ex) My name is emily. WRONG

ex) My name is Emily. CORRECT

 

Symbol: FRA

Meaning and Explanation: Your sentence is missing a subject, a verb, or both.

ex) _______ Are hungry in the morning. WRONG

ex) They____ hungry in the morning. WRONG

ex) They are hungry in the morning. RIGHT

 

Symbol: P

Meaning and Explanation: punctuation

You made a punctuation (, . ! ? ’)mistake or your need to add a punctuation.

ex) Are you happy. WRONG

ex) Are you happy? RIGHT

 

Symbol: PAR

Meaning and Explanation: parallel structure

You made a parallel structure mistake

ex) Public transportation and using a private car are different. WRONG

ex) Using public transportation and using a private car are different. RIGHT

 

Symbol: PL/SING

Meaning and Explanation: plural/singular

You made a plural/singular noun mistake.

ex) I have a lot of cat. WRONG

ex) I have a lot of cats. RIGHT

ex) Every students need to do their homework. WRONG

ex) Every student needs to do their homework. RIGHT

 

Symbol: RO

Meaning and Explanation: run-on

Your sentence is too long: has too many ideas or uses commas incorrectly.

ex) I am tired, and I miss home, and I miss my friends, I dislike homework. WRONG

ex) I am tired, and I miss home. I miss my friends. I dislike homework. RIGHT

 

Symbol: SP

Meaning and Explanation: spelling

You have the wrong spelling.

ex) I like to drink jous. WRONG

ex) I like to drink juice. RIGHT

 

Symbol: SS

Meaning and Explanation: sentence structure error

You made a

ex) I want to play. But I am tired. WRONG (compound sentence error)

ex) I want to play, but I am tired. RIGHT

ex) Even though I am busy. I will go to the gym. WRONG (complex sentence error)

ex) Even though I am busy, I will go to the gym. RIGHT

 

Symbol: SV

Meaning and Explanation: subject verb agreement

Your subject and verb do not match.

ex) She eat breakfast. WRONG

ex) She eats breakfast. RIGHT

 

Symbol: VF

Meaning and Explanation: verb form

Your verb form has some kind of mistake.

ex) I didn’t used the car. WRONG

ex) I didn’t use the car. RIGHT

 

Symbol: VT

Meaning and Explanation: verb tense

You have the wrong verb tense.

ex) Yesterday, I eat breakfast early. WRONG

ex) Yesterday, I ate breakfast. RIGHT

 

Symbol: WC

Meaning and Explanation: wrong word choice

Your choice of words is incorrect

ex) Due to Tokyo is the most population country, more people buy phones. WRONG

ex) Since Tokyo is the most populous country, more people buy phones. RIGHT

 

WIMB

Emily: "Egg" 

Roger: "Bose Bluetooth/Wired Speakers"

https://www.bose.com/products/speakers/wireless_speakers/soundlink-bluetooth-speaker-iii.html#v=soundlink_mobile_iii_silver?srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=43-116314164-2&perfsourceid=MC113165&src=K22350

Main Content: Emily and Roger continue to discuss about providing feedback. They highlight tips and benefits with conferencing 1-on-1 with students and peer feedback.

WAYLT: (What are you listening to?)

Emily: Prince Royce "Darte Un Beso" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr03_tItXno)

Roger: Coldplay "Fix You" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skUJ-B6oVDQ)

Download TATL__17__Storytelling.mp3

Main Content: Emily and Roger talk with Rachel Fernandez about how to incorporate storytelling into lessons to focus more content than language and create a common content experience for students.

WAYLT: (What are you listening to?)

Emily: Disney Piano Collection by Hirohashi Makiko (https://youtu.be/D7gx-NdYEu4)

WIMB: (What's in my bag?)

Roger: Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe (

)

Main Content:  Emily and Roger talk about using student examples and how such a strategy boosts students’ confidence and engagement in the lesson. They offer ideas of how to incorporate them meaningfully into class.

Main Content:  Emily and Roger interview a guest TATLer, Helen, who talks about her transition from being an ESL teacher to a Teacher trainer. Helen shares a little about the differences, how has it affected her ESL teaching, frustrations, and gives some great advice.

WIMB: (What's in my bag?)

Helen: Tide ToGo Pen (http://tide.com/en-us/shop/type/stain-removers/tide-to-go) and Viva la Juicy (https://www.amazon.com/Juicy-Couture-Viva-Parfum-Spray/dp/B002XQ1YTK)

Main Content:  Emily and Roger talk about having full schedules and how they use different ways to organize what they need to do every day. They also discuss what is successful or not successful.

WIMB: (What's in my bag?)

Emily: A ripped calendar - For really busy quarters, I use free calendars sent by various charity organizations.
Physician's Formula Liquid Eyeliner (purchase)

Roger: Here's a snapshot of Roger's calendar drawn in a Zequenz notebook. He used Frixion erasable pens, Kurecolor markers (Warm Gray 2) to create it. Also, here's the article by Belle Beth Cooper on analog scheduling and calendaring that Roger talked about.