Main Content
In this episode, your hosts: Emily and Roger, talk about how language learners need chances to talk with each other to negotiate meaning. International English Language Learners have very little opportunity to do this in their home countries. Teachers need to gradually integrate features of Cooperative Language Learners in their classrooms (Runtime 10 minutes).
What's In My Bag?
Emily: a HUGE calculator
Roger: a Bag within a bag.
Main Content
Some international students do not want to listen to students who have strange accents. What about non-native English teachers?
"Emily's Walkabout" (interviewing other teachers)
Teacher #1: For Arabs and Chinese students- Remind students of the business aspect. Business students need to learn to accept other accents especially if they have to do international business.
Teacher #2: Practice how to not hurt other people’s feelings which is an important people skill. We need to teach how to be polite.
Teacher #3: Teacher should walk around and sit in the group discussions. Ask one student what they think about another student’s comment. Encourage students to reflect on each other’s thoughts.
Teachers need to develop good rapport with the students. Students need to have trust in the teacher.
What's In My Bag?
Emily: Shoe insoles for your tired feet, but don't keep them in your bag.
Roger: “You can draw in 30 days” book, by Mark Kistler, sketchpad, pencils
Main Content
Benefits of video: breaks up a dry lesson, provides visual and sound stimulation
Cons of video: hard to find a great video, it takes time to set up video, sound, projector
Roger’s 3 Ss to help you remember:
S-search: searching for good video
S-setup: setup the video before
S-sustain: can the video be used again
Emily’s advice
Search: decide the goal of the lesson and how the video should fit in the lesson. She looks for videos made by other students on YouTube because of simplistic language, TED.org, NPR.org (Roger suggests teachertube.com, academicearth.org, Open Courseware: ocw.uci.edu), don’t need to show the entire video (Roger: can just show 1 minute and show it multiple times)
Setup: Create a document that provides links of videos that can be continuously updated and accessible, give the video links to students
Sustain: Have a video archive (continue to next podcast for Part 2)
What's In My Bag?
Emily: Ginger candy from Trader Joe's 'Ginger People' brand at traderjoes.com
Roger: Business Cards from Moo.com
Main Content
Benefits of video: breaks up a dry lesson, provides visual and sound stimulation
Cons of video: Hard to find a great video, it takes time to set up video, sound, projector
Roger’s 3 Ss to help you remember:
S-search: searching for good video
S-setup: setup the video before
S-sustain: can the video be used again
Emily’s advice
Search: decide the goal of the lesson and how the video should fit in the lesson. She looks for videos made by other students on YouTube because of simplistic language, TED.org, NPR.org (Roger suggests teachertube.com, academicearth.org, Open Courseware: ocw.uci.edu), don’t need to show the entire video (Roger: can just show 1 minute and show it multiple times)
Setup: Create a document that provides links of videos that can be continuously updated and accessible, give the video links to students
Sustain: Have a video archive (continue to next podcast for Part 2)
What's In My Bag?
Emily: Ginger candy from Trader Joe's 'Ginger People' brand at traderjoes.com
Roger: Business Cards from Moo.com
Main Content
What is blogging?
3 sizes:
Small: "Microblog" Twitter, Tumblr
Medium: "a page or so"
Large: "'long form" for magazines (for writers who have skills)
Types: images, texts, links
Purpose: Diary/Journal, CMS (course management system, publications (talk about something you’re good at)
How can teachers use blogs?
Emily’s walkabout:
1) Teacher #1: Digital Portfolio - includes teacher resume, sample lesson plans, projects + results, pictures (great for job interviews)
2) Teacher #2: CMS (Course Management System) - Moodle.com, Coursera.org, etc. Emily uses blogs to post her lesson agenda to save time instead of writing the agenda at the beginning of class every day. It can also serve as a reference for students who don’t come to class or for Emily when she wants to look back to what she did.
List of possible blog creation sites to check out:
FREE: Pinterest.com, Blogger.com, Learnist.com, Wordpress.com, Tumblr.com, Weebly.com
PAID: Squarespace.com, Posthaven.com
What's In My Bag?
Emily: Thin Addictives (http://nonnis.com/products/thinaddictives/)
Roger: Frixion Pen from Pilot (http://pilotpen.us/brands/frixion/)
Main Content
Emily uses the novel: “Holes” by Louis Sachar as the example.
She suggests that the T should try their best to read the entire book before teaching so that T can plan ahead on activities and adjusting how much to read for each week, etc.
Emily also gives an overview about the premise of the story.
She tells students to read it at home instead of in class and gives a reading schedule to Ss.
Vocabulary: T should focus on trying to get the overall meaning of the general story instead of getting stuck on all the vocabulary words.
She has her students fill out a front/back worksheet about the certain chapter they have to read at home before class.
Then for class, she reviews the answers to the worksheet in class, does a fun review activity, and a 10 minute quiz.What if Ss don't read? Well, they don't benefit from the class. Homework is essential especially for this type of class.
What's in My Bag?
Emily: a Yoga mat. It's yellow.
Summary of Main Content:
Emily’s first experience: 2012 pair presentation: “Teaching students when you look like one” with Cara Gallardo. She was very nervous because she’s teaching peers, not students.
Roger’s first experience: 1995 group presentation and he spoke for 10 minutes. Felt very scared.
Tips:1) Preparation
Technology: be prepared for any tech issues especially if you plan to use PPT or video. Have copies of it: put on USB stick, email it to yourself, upload to a website. Print out the PPT for yourself and for the audience. Number the slides and put the approximate timing so that you can keep track where you should be during the presentation.
Practice Practice! You can take notes of how to improve and keep yourself on schedule. This leaves a great impression on the audience and makes you memorable.
Business cards: Bring and share.
Sound: Prepare some light music to play at the beginning or end of presentation. Bring small speakers and extra cables.
2) During your talk -
Right Before:
Ask questions at the beginning to gauge your audience’s interest and also reflect on whether some slides of your presentation need more or less time.
Scan the audience to see what kind of people are around.
Breathe and calm down.
During:
If audience has questions, repeat their questions loudly so the rest of the audience can hear.
Handout: don’t pass out while talking. (too distracting!) Don’t make it too long and not explain what’s in it. Choose specific activities and main points to highlight during presentation. Audience may never look at it again if they don’t find the handout meaningful.
Right at the End:
End presentation with a “homework assignment” by asking them to reflect on or try something.
Ask audience to share their input.
What's In My Bag?
Emily: “Shadow of the Hegemon” by Orson Scott Card (http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Hegemon-The-Series/dp/0812565959)
Roger: Acoustic Earplugs. "Dubs" (acoustic filter) http://www.getdubs.com/
Main Content
Prepare:
Bring anything that makes you feel comfortable: breath mints, snacks (fruits), business cards, water bottles, comfortable shoes, a backpack, a roller suitcase:
At the conference:
Know the type of presentation that you are attending at the conference: is it a publisher session? (they are trying to sell something) a paper session? (academic-focused research)
Don’t always stick with your co-workers and attend every session together. You and co-workers can swap session notes if you go to different sessions.
When you enter a session, introduce yourself to the presenter.
Where to sit - Roger likes to sit in the front to see the speaker and easily talk to him/her after. Remember to sit in the back if you plan to leave early.
Cell phones and Tablets - Ok to take pictures of the PPT, but don’t raise your device too high or too often. Turn off camera shutter sound. Flash only works if you are within 5 feet.
Publishers: Free books! Meet publishers and try to get a desk copy.
Poster session: Great to visit because presentations are short and you can talk to the presenter one-on-one easily.
Recharge yourself: find the rest or snack rooms and take a break. Sit down and rest your feet. Take a nap. Find good food places in the area.
After:
What to do with contacts and business cards: try to contact them within a few days after the conference or else you won’t do it or the person won’t remember you.
What's In My Bag?
Emily: eyelash curler
(http://cdn-img.instyle.com/sites/default/files/images/2010/bbb09/shu-uemura-eyelash-curler-300_3.jpg)
Roger: Notebook from Zequenz (pronunciation: z-kwenz) (http://www.zequenz.com/)
Main Content
What is it and how is it different from essays?
It's an informal piece of writing on any topic. Students can say how they feel about the topic and the teacher need not be as strict on grading. This assignment is great for intermediate levels and up.
The first journal topic can be related to self-introduction such as a favorite thing. It should not be a scary topic for students.
In the directions, include extension questions on the topic to provide a scaffold on how students can add more to their writing. Also, provide guidelines on length of assignment.
When giving feedback, the teacher can respond to parts of the journal like a dialogue with the student. This helps build teacher-student rapport.
Some questions to consider for the teacher:
How many comments to put on each journal? Consider 3-5 comments per student.
How to manage collecting journals for big classes? Stagger the due dates (part of the class turns in one day, the other part turns in another day). Also, use a rubric that assigns points to reflect what is in your instructions.
How to make journal writing more meaningful? Have students submit to a Learning Management System (LMS) like Schoology and have other students read and provide comments to their peers.
WIMB
Emily: “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell (http://gladwell.com/david-and-goliath/)
Roger: “The Sketchnote Handbook” by Mike Rohde (http://rohdesign.com/handbook)