White and Black Time

        I introduced these terms to my EDU students this past week and they were a little perplexed. Obviously, some had not completed their reading assignment.  I just wanted to make a few remarks regarding these terms and their application in education.

        The terms come from the study of "chronemics" which was first introduced in the late 1970s by Thomas Bruneau of Radford University.  Essentially it is the study of human tempo, or in very simple terms how we schedule "time" in our lives.  From a more educational point of view the concept as researched by Edward Hall applies to culture and issues teaching ELL and CLD students.  Most traditional US schools fall into the white time (monochronic) category.  This speaks to the linear and scheduled nature of our school systems.  US schools are run on a clock with distinct periods of time allotted for each phase of study.  There is even more at play than simple scheduling though.  We arrange our curriculum in a very linear manner and many school buildings and classrooms are designed and arranged in monochonic patterns.  One "expert", the teacher is there to present knowledge in a preordained manner; their is little group participation.

        When dealing with ELL and CLD students, teachers, myself included, are forced to understand that their lives, culture, learning style, etc., may be more in tune with black time (polychronic).  This puts them in opposition to all your hard work and lesson planning in the realm of monochronic time. My issues with the apparent laxness of my new students, mentioned in my last blog, is an example of this. These students do value education and are desirous of learning, but they just don't always place the structural emphasis on their schooling as one would want coming from a monochronic background.  Try going to your department chair and telling them you are essentially going to just "wing it" with regard to a syllabus and that maybe your class will end after 20 minutes or it might carry past your allotted 50 minutes.  Who cares if you cause the class following yours to not have a room to meet in as you are still using the room.  One can begin to see the issues that might ensue. And, this is only touching the issues with a schedule.  How does one turn in grades by a due date if the students are not finished with their assignments.

        I like to think that perhaps there is a middle ground ... maybe call it "grey time".  Obviously some compromises have to be made, but the structure has to remain in place due to the bureaucracy of the college campus.  However, maybe a teacher can work a little of the dark into the syllabus and class management style they employ.

Up and Running ... Grammar Class

I got asked to teach a grammar class this semester. I will be the first to admit that grammar is not my strongest skill.  I do well when I look at text written by others, but not so much with my own.  And, if asked to come up with the official term for some grammar points I will probably have to think a bit before giving the answer.  I may know the concept but not the term.  Of course, I am teaching from a syllabus with an associated text and all of the official bits are in the lessons.  Overall I think I will be fine.  I have taught grammar before and I am confident the students will be enriched.

I always learn new things when I meet my ELL students for the first time in a class.  They all have such unique stories. I am sure they think my life is fascinating as well ... err, I hope they do at least. I think the newness or strangeness is what provides the stimulation and interest.  I have seven students from six different countries.  I am looking forward to the semester and learning from them as much as I hope they learn from me.

I do have a few issues with my ELL students that always seem to appear with the new semester as well.  The main issue seems to be the notion of time as fluid.  I always have to take time to really hammer home the point that due dates for assignments are not fluid.  And, it always takes a couple classes before they realize that there is a definite beginning and ending time to the class.  I get the feeling that many ELL students, new to the US, have had to "hustle", so to speak, to get by and that this concept carries over naturally in all aspect of their lives, including school.  Also, it always takes a few class period to work out the tech piece of any class.  Many immigrant/refugee/migrant students may not have had the access to tech that their peers in a college class have had, so it takes some practice before they are comfortable with online school software.

I think as a new instructor, one really has to sort of plan to cover all bases and hope for the best.  I know that even after many years teaching there is always some new issue to overcome, regardless of the students' backgrounds.  Any colleague that I speak with always gets my warning to be prepared to be shocked and amazed by their wonderful ELL students.

Sorry again for the tech issues with my blog and our web page.  Everything seems to be working now.  I hope that you, my few loyal readers, will still visit and read what I write so poorly at times.

Technicalities of life ...

Evidently the server that runs our webpage or stores it, whatever technical term applies, is located in the Houston area.  I have been unable to work the page or anything I linked through there until just today.  I will hopefully be back to blogging again soon.

Communicating with Strangers

While puttering around the last couple weeks on my extended vacation, I had a chance to read through a couple texts that had caught my eye.  I wanted to sort of ease myself back into writing by talking about one of these texts; Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication.The book is written by William B. Gudykynst and Young Yun Kim.  The second edition is dated 1992, so it is an older text.  I didn't have a chance to extensively look for a newer version but I did find a fourth edition from 2002.  Some of the material may be a bit dated. Regardless, I found it fascinating and I plan to read it through again while making more thorough notations.  If I can find a newer version, I would love to include this as a class text for any ESL "train the trainers" type classes.  

 

Although the text was written for a communications course, it serves well for anyone who communicates with people of different cultures; especially in group settings.  The book is divided into four parts.  Part One lays out some conceptual background towards communication in general.  The authors lay out their plan for the text and they discuss the "big picture" of what communication is all about.  They do a really good job of providing a defining structure for communication by laying out eight assumptions of communication.  They briefly discuss uncertainty and anxiety in communication, and they provide an overview of what the term culture means with regard to their plan for the book.  They also break down the concept of "the stranger". And,at the end of Part One they identify their model for the study of communicating with strangers.  This serves as a guide for the remainder of the book.

For sake of brevity, I won't try to over analyze the remainder of the book.  However, the authors take a very systematic to their study.  They begin Part Two by identifying and discussing influences that affect the overall process of communication with a stranger.  Part Three includes a chapter on nonverbal communication.  I found this to be very interesting as it discusses cues and emotion which are always confusing.  Part Three discusses the concepts of encoding and decoding as well, and includes a chapter on language usage.  Part Four speaks to interaction with strangers and details concepts of adapting communication, managing conflict, and dealing with romantic relationships.  I found the latter very interesting as my wife is a non-native English speaker and comes from an Asian cultural background.

The drawback to the book is that it is too old to accurately address communication via cellphone or through other digital means.  I do think many of the concepts transfer though.

In short, I think this is a great book for anyone looking to wards dealing with ESL students or perhaps evening contemplating a stint teach overseas. 

ISBN-13: 978-0071195379

ISBN-10: 0071195378

Apologies Abound!

        I had a chance to take some extra vacation time, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity.  I apologize for my absence and I hope no one will hold it against me; or at least not for long!

        I participated in another interview for an additional teaching position for the upcoming semester.  I love to talk about teaching and I find that sometimes I ramble.... Yes!  It is a fact!.  I hope I was able to convey my passion and experience without turning anyone off of me personally.  I am hoping to have three classes if possible.  Before I returned to Maine, I was teaching three classes for credit and an additional non-credit TOEFL Prep class.  I managed to put them all on a Tue/Thur schedule, so it was a busy two days.  However, I could not argue against four-day weekends every week.  I don't think I will be so lucky this time around.

       I received a second offer to return to Korea and teach again.  I have always wanted to teach at the Korean Military Academy and I sent my resume to them about a year ago.  Circumstances did not allow me take the job when it was first offered, but They have offered again and I am sort of torn.  I would love to return, but the situation is a little imposing.

        Anyway, I wanted to apologize again and I will return tomorrow to actually post some more relevant stuff.  I promise I will finish my thoughts about curriculum as well.

        Thanks for sticking with me.

Curriculum Part 3

        I had a few ideas for changing the class description.  It is always a great idea to review and revise anything you are working on for a class.  I definitely need to add some kind of sentence or two covering the types of class materials; texts, readings, Youtube, etc.  I haven't quite worked out what yet, but expect a change in the statement next time I write.

        Okay, we are at one of the more difficult parts of building a curriculum; determining objectives and deciding on how to assess them.  I won't talk too much on formatting your objectives.  SWBAT works just fine or some other statement of the same format.  Objectives need to be clear.  Have some people read what you come up with and try to tell you what the objectives mean in their own words. If you get a match, you probably have a good objective.  Also, I never want for vocabulary to be an objective on its own, otherwise you get an objective that is not so productive.  For example,, it might sound something like this; "students will be able to memorize fifteen vocabulary words ...." Instead, it is more productive to include vocabulary within in your objective.  Personally, I like to include some vocabulary in every lesson.  I believe it is a natural part of learning another language and your students will always have questions about words they do not readily understand.  Objectives need to be able to be assessed easily.  You may not always be the one presenting your lesson and other instructors will need to understand them in order to assess results.  Finally, objectives need to be attainable.  it is frustrating to not be able to achieve an objective; especially for ELL students.  It is important to also understand that you as an instructor will certainly have some parts of your objective that are implied within your lessons.

        Let's take a look at a simple objective on our topic of employment.  "Students will be able to identify key parts of a standard job application."  So, some questions; "what are the key parts of a standard job application?" And, "what is a standard job application?"  These are the parts of your objective that will be implied from your lesson plans.  So, the answer to the two questions are essentially up to you the instructor, but most adult Americans will have a good idea of what both mean.  You have to convey this generality to ELL students who may have never seen or filled in a job application.

        To ensure the students can achieve this objective, you as the instructor would build a lesson plan that explained what a standard job application looks like and what the key parts are that it contains.  I don't want to get to far down into the minutia of it, but looking over a few sample applications will help you to define these concepts.  As mentioned, vocabulary would included in the lesson and would be assessed as part of the overall objective.  I would try to limit the new vocabulary presented to 5-7 words or terms.  Students will definitely add a handful of additional words/terms as you present your lesson and as they ask questions on what is presented.  The end goal is to have introduced no more that around 15 new words.terms; anymore will be difficult to retain.  In my opinion less is more here. Thoroughly learning 10 words is better than sort of learning 20.

        I think from there you could include a second lesson covering applications, ensuring that you build in some time for review.  Thus, by the end of your block of lessons, you will have introduced somewhere around 20 new words/terms over your two lessons and will have reviewed the other important points of your objective.  All that is left is to then include this objective in some form of assessment.  We will get to that in a few posts.

Curriculum Part 2

        At this point we have had a chance to mull over our gathered information.  I would, at this stage, start to think about any "special" issues I may have in mind for my curriculum to be.  By this I mean things like searching out and inviting guest speakers, any media issues, text and reading selections, and whatever else may come to mind.

Guest speakers could be any employment related speakers.  For example, it might be great to invite someone who does job interviews or who writes employment/job descriptions.  This would be a chance to have the students ask questions. This fits into both listening and speaking skills.  Media can be almost anything, but specifically would include videos you might want to show.  The internet is loaded with practice interviews and presentations about jobs and employment issues in general. These types of things are always works in process, so visit the web frequently. A good rule of thumb is to always pre-check your links at the beginning of any semester and always before each class. Technology is changing and links often disappear and change with little or no warning.  Texts are a hard issue.  I have not been fortunate to find many texts relating to specific ELL topics like employment and especially when the students are primarily adults.  I doubt a search for an ELL-focused text solely on employment will 100% fruitful.  However, there may be parts of texts that do address this topic and certainly there are some articles out there somewhere.  Again, this takes a ton of prep time, but the payoff is certainly worth it in the end.  The students will appreciate your hard work.  As an aside, I have found that Adult ELL students are generally some of the most appreciative students I have ever found.  Other items that may come to mind are things like gathering some real-world job applications (these are fun and informative to practice filling out), collect some links to a few job advertisement web sites (Monster.com being an obvious one), and perhaps collect a few resume templates.

The next step is perhaps one of the most difficult ones in this process; develop a class overview statement.  In this statement you needs to address the end state of your course.  Again, this can be a work in progress.  However, this statement is what people will base their interest in your course upon. It is also a statement of what tools a typical student should leave your class with.  Another word of caution; avoid using numbers in your statement.  Numbers imply specific expectations, and if those exist, then it is imperative that you deliver exactly the numbers you promote.  A better course of action is to try to make a specific, but all encompassing statement of purpose.  An example for this course here might be something like my example below.  As always, this is a fluid statement that will be revised as we go through the process.

        Employment for ELLs can be a matter of the utmost importance.  ELL105 will provide students         with an overview of employment in the United States.  Vocabulary will be focused on                           employment/job-related terms.  Students will be exposed to many aspects of employment such           as; resumes, job interviews, job descriptions, the application process, employment reviews, and           job/salary negotiations.  The course will include practical exercises to aid in the job search and           the application process.  Students completing the course will be better able to successfully seek           out employment as well as understand the process as a whole.

So, now we have a course ready for its next step.  Let's think a bit on what that step is and I will be back in a few days to give you my thoughts.

Curriculum Part 1

        I wanted to write something a little more substantial than my last few posts.  Summer has made me lazy.

        So, I wanted to talk about curriculum.  I had the opportunity to help rewrite a course while I served in the military.  Basically it was an older course designed with language acquisition in mind. The decision was made that the material and goals of the course were outdated and my office of three and then two was asked to rewrite and update the course for presentation at the next language manager's conference.  I want to take the time over my next few post and write a bit about how we got there and, perhaps, what we might have done differently.

        We decided to start with a questioning period.  We sent out requests to all our consumers, so to speak, and as we waited we, as a small group, began to deconstruct the course as it existed.  In sending out requests we essentially were searching for feedback from those actually using the knowledge from the course.  We asked them to tell us what worked and what didn't.  We made it clear that no issue was sacred and we were willing to change any and everything.  As I stated, this was to be a complete rewrite if necessary.  Of course, being able to use some of the existing material would have made the job easier, but we didn't want to arbitrarily limit ourselves.  

        As an instructor, I would not want to try and rewrite a course.  However, perhaps you are wanting to pitch the idea of a new course to your school or to some organization.  This type of approach would be an excellent starting point.  Get out there and ask questions.  Find out where the need is and try to build around that.  From a practical standpoint I would look at several sources for my initial information.  In most cases my first step would be to go to a mentor or someone whose experience I trusted and get their ideas.  Remember to take notes as it is easy to forget details.  If you work in a larger place you can talk to other instructors, even those teaching different subjects.  There could be some gem of creativity out there being used by a Biology teacher which you could adapt to language study.  It never hurts to ask for information.  I would also check back at my course feedback.  Sometimes students write something that makes sense ... joke intended!  Furthermore, I would perhaps just ask some former students or even current students.  Find out what they expected and if you met their expectations.  Lastly, I would search the internet and just take a peek at what others are doing around the world.  There are just too many resources on the internet to not take its content into account.

        Once the information is gathered, the next step is to put into some form of usable content.  From there we can start working with it as we build a new curriculum.  Personally, I like sticky notes all over a wall mounted board, but go with whatever works.  With sticky notes you can easily group and color-code information that you have gathered.  Be sure to take into account the amount of time you have available for the course overall and that it is broken into blocks that include not just periods for instruction, but also for review and assessment.

        As an example I want to use a pretty common topic that my adult ELLs always ask about; employment.  So, let us say we are working with a class that meets three hours a week for 15 weeks which is a typical college semester.  For example's sake the course will be ELL105 Employment in the U.S.  Let that work in your mind a bit and I will follow up with part two of this blog.

Vacationing With an Being from Outer Space

As the title suggests, I have been on a bit of vacation/break with an entity from outer space.  Actually he is our exchange student from China.  As I have stated many times, I have lived all over the world and many times I have lived in very close quarters to people from all walks of life.  I always thought of myself as pretty patient, understanding and even cosmopolitan, if you will.  Well, that was a mistake on my part. Over the course of our vacation, I was astounded to find myself very perplexed by the young man who has been sharing our house.  Was he, in fact, and alien?  He is very gifted in the analytical fields, but he seemed to have little to no understanding of anything else. He has been very much an introvert while here, so I decided to have him help with some gardening and other outdoor activities.  I soon discovered that he had never used a broom.  He was unsure of even how to properly hold it for sweeping.  I moved him to some light raking and he immediately turned the rake upside down and began to push it across the grass.  I wanted to laugh, but did not want to embarrass him too much.  Next we decided to do some walking and he got a blister the first day out.  Bikes were out as he did not know how to ride one.  I was just at a loss for words when I discovered how little about basic summer activities this young teen even understood.  To say the least, it was an interesting time.

I relate this brief story as a lesson.  Often we as instructors enter a class with preconceptions about our students based on what we see, think that we know, or have perhaps experienced in the past.  In this case I approached my student with the idea that he knew basic gardening etc.  Obviously, I was wrong and I found myself feeling a little guilty about my line of thought.  I should have been more patient and rewarded what he was capable of rather than bemoaning what he was not.  As an instructor it is important to be a bit humble at times.  We have to work with the students we have not the students we think we have.

The Fine Line: Culture and Accomodation

I started reading a book about multicultural teaching.  I am trying to get a bit ahead for the upcoming semester.  I know if I don't do a little prep now the summer will come and go before I realize and I will start off behind in my work.

I was reading through the preface; the book is a new edition and I wanted to get an idea of what changes had been made.  The author made a point about instructors needing to realize that there is also a culture of gender.  I never thought of gender as a culture, but her point made a lot of sense.  We seem to see the obvious differences of race and ethnicity.  However, within these broader categories there is also a distinct issue of gender.  This is most especially apparent when dealing with an Islamic culture.  In my last post I wrote briefly about the two young Muslim women who received awards at the local university.  After reading through the beginning of this new book, I came to realize that in addition to the challenges to overcome stereotypes that these young women had to face; their instructors had to work equally as hard overcoming their own biases. I thought about how I might overcome some of the religiously based gender issues when preparing a lesson plan.  Of course, female students from other cultures have issues to overcome, but it is most glaring in the case of Muslim women.  I admit I am not an expert, but there has to be topics and even types of drills that might simply be offensive to a woman of Islamic faith.  I know in the strictest sense there are cases where Muslim women and men simply do not participate in classes together.  So, the question is, how do I accommodate something like this and still teach to my other students; especially males from the same background or from backgrounds diametrically opposed to Muslim culture? It become a very fine line.  I like to think that any good instructor can and will adapt.  Yet, what is our requirement to do so and to what degree?  In the end do we go with gender based classes.  I know when I was a child we would separate for our annual "sex" talks.  Boys always seemed to get a coach and I have no idea who taught the girls.  I think there may come a period of time when something like this is done for more types of classes than just sex education.  Until then we seem stuck between the proverbial "rock and a hard place".

The text also mentioned the increasing rise in the immigrant make-up of our educational population; especially in public schools.  I think we will approach about 40% of K-12 students being from immigrant families by 2020.  I don't have the text here, so I may be off a bit in my numbers.  I will try to look it up and correct the number when I get a chance.

The beauty of blogging is that one can do it on one's smart phone as I am doing with this post.  However, I don't generally carry texts with me while doing normal, routine tasks.

Anyway, back to the topic.  I thought for a few days about how I might accommodate a student from a unique cultural background?  The simple answer is that I don't know.  I do know that I would try my best and perhaps seek out some help from a more experience educator.  Ideally, I might go to an educator of the same cultural background.  It might be easiest to do that, but I doubt if some small town teacher from a rural area would have as easy a time finding help as I might.  I think the first step is to simply be aware that this type of situation is on the rise and try to educate ourselves before it happens to us.  From there I would try to adapt lesson plans to meet the needs of the student or students in need.  Again, I think there might be significant work involved, but it is certainly something that can be done.

The next big question for me is how far would I go to accommodate a single student over a class of say 20 other students.  This is where the "fine line" comes in.  I truly think it is a potentially messy situation to go too far in one or the other direction. Obviously experience helps, but in the end the individual teacher has to make some choices.  

Perhaps ask yourself the same question.  Would you be able to change from what has worked well for you in the past and accept the challenge to adapt?

Musings of Harmony and Pronunciation

I have a couple interesting, but short items I would like to write about in this post.  I hope they will  be interesting to some of you as well.

I had a chance to attend an awards ceremony at the local university.  My wife received a scholarship and an award for community engagement.  I am, as always, proud of her work.  However, what struck me as a bit ironic was another situation.  There were two sisters who seemed to steal the show from all the other award winners.  Both of these young women were awarded multiple scholarships, won several awards and were generally praised throughout the ceremony.  The interesting fact was that they were adherents of the Islamic faith.  I have lived in the Middle East and I am aware of some of the issues of Islam as it relates to other faiths and cultures.  What I found a bit ironic was that the news is overloaded with instances of racism and a general xenophobia in America, especially with regards to Islam.  Yet, in the midst of all the hate and jingoism here were two Muslim women who were not only accepted by their peers but generally overwhelmingly praised by them as well.  Sadly, I looked around and saw no television crews.  I guess instances of peace and cooperation are just not as newsworthy.  I also found it interesting that in many Muslim dominated countries these young ladies may not have even had the opportunity to attend a university.  I like to think that most Americans would have been as proud of their recognition as I was and that they would have seen past race, religion and sex.  America is truly a unique and wonderful country at times.

Another issue that came up recently was a question brought forth by a student of mine.  He asked me why Americans get to mispronounce their English, but he, as a ELL student had to practice proper pronunciation.  I honestly had no real answer for him.  I told him that some of it was a simple laziness of use and ownership.  "It is our language, so we can mispronounce it if we wish," I laughingly stated.  This, of course, is not a great answer and not the answer to give.  I felt that there was really no adequate answer to give him.  However, I do have to think that my flippant response was probably the right one.  Between, the regional patterns of American English, the lack of pronunciation training, and yes, the general laziness of American English speakers, we have sort of allowed pronunciation to slip and take a back seat to general usage.  I think that I am now more certain I should endeavor to present my own speech with an ear towards proper pronunciation.  I will tell you, it is not as easy as it sounds.  I also want to encourage all my fellow instructors to be mindful of this issue as well.  I think we owe our students a bit more in this area.

Chickens!!

My wife and I decided to try and raise some chickens.  We have both decided to try and become a little more Earth friendly and this is one of the ideas we came up with.  How does this pertain to teaching ELL students?  I am glad the question is in your mind as you read this post.

One of the biggest challenges an instructor faces in a multicultural classroom is making the initial connection to one's students.  It can be a huge impediment to learning.  I would suggest that many Americans, in general, have little knowledge of life in the rest of the world.  Sure, there is Europe and some parts of Asia that most Americans could be comfortable residing in for a period.  But, how do you relate to a student from a third-world country; chickens!

Chickens are ubiquitous in most poorer countries.  I can't even remember the number of places I have visited where chickens were underfoot and everywhere.  Now that I am raising chickens myself, I have a perfect place from which to open up a discussion.  I would be shocked if in a class of ELL students I wouldn't find someone who had chickens around at some point in their lives.  There is a wealth of material in just this one simple connection.

There is all manner of vocabulary just about food; eating chicken for a meal or eggs.  What are some good recipes for chicken?  What do chickens themselves eat?  From there one could talk about raising chickens or raising animals in general.  Did anyone have a pet or have to do work related to chickens or other animals.  The list of potential topic is as endless as one's imagination.

The point is that making that initial connection is key to getting a class moving in the right direction and stimulating participation and conversation ... so, don't discount chickens when it comes to ELL learners.

Strangers in a Room Full of People

So, this is just a short bit of humor for all those who have been in foreign country and felt lost in a crowd.

I may not have written this before, but my wife is not a native speaker of English.  She is ethnically Korean but is Chinese by birth; think of Mexican-American but replace it with Korean-Chinese.  As such, she is fluent in both Korean and Chinese.  Occasionally she has her Chinese friends over for a meal or just to visit.  Naturally, they converse in Chinese rather than English.  However, the other night she invited a very dear Korean friend to join us for a big dinner with some of her Chinese friends and me.  I am sort of used to the conversation being predominantly in Chinese and just sit quietly or try to engage someone in English.  However, I noticed that our Korean friend was sitting quietly and not talking much.  It hit me that she also did not speak Chinese.  I was guilty of just lumping her in with our Chinese guests and assuming she spoke Chinese.  I felt badly for her and for my assumption, so I quickly engaged her in a very pleasant conversation; first with my very limited Korean vocabulary and then in English, of course.  I was rewarded with a big smile and a look of relief at not being the only outsider in the crowd

We are truly living in a multi-cultural world and it may be the other person who is lost in a foreign culture and not always you.  You just never know and it speaks to the need for any professional language instructor to try and pick up a few words in every language they can to help someone who may be that lost person.

Book Review - Visible Learning for Teachers

Hello again! I want to thank all of you who are reading my blog.  I hope one day that more and more people enjoy my writing, but I never want to lose sight of the fact that a few of you have been loyal readers from the beginning.  

I wanted to address a second point.  One of my colleagues called me out on my off and on poor syntax.  It made me laugh.  "Healer, heal thyself ....."  Yes, I admit that I make mistakes.  Even we mighty teachers of English are not perfect when it comes to using English.  I had one of my Chinese students actually explain grammar to me a couple nights ago.  I explained to him that sometimes grammar is just intuitive and maybe I couldn't explain the rule, but I knew right from wrong.  As an American, English speaker and writer my ability is sometimes clouded by my enjoyment of pop culture and basically my lack of attention at times.  I am not using it as an excuse.  I am merely stating that sometimes I am just in the "zone" writing and not paying attention, so poor language use creeps in and haunts me.  I apologize to all of you out there and perhaps I will endeavor to edit a bit more before I post.  

Okay, the book I want to briefly talk about is a particular favorite of mine, John Hattie's Visible Learning for Teachers  Spoiler Alert!  This book breaks down into one easy statement; intervention works.  Essentially Hattie has synthesized over 15 years of research and produced his best practices; which he details in the book.  The meat of the book is a guide to preparing, delivering and reflecting on a lesson.  This all occurs in part two of the book, approximately 100 pages of a book of slightly more than 160 pages in total.  In this section Hattie talks about preparing the lesson, starting the lesson, how a lesson flows, where feedback is needed and used, and ending a lesson.  As stated before he makes use of his extensive research to provide examples of what has worked well before based on the data.  One term he uses that always gets me to the point of why I teach and that is when he terms teachers as activators.  We are what begins the process of learning much like a catalyst in a chemical reaction.

The first section reinforces this as it talks about where we get ideas for our teaching methods and how important a role teachers play in the overall learning process.  The final section discusses "Mind Frames".  He speaks to the mind frames of teachers, school leaders, and administration.  Again the point is that good teachers are an important asset, but they have to be backed up by good leaders and good administration.  We all make up a part of a team.

The book also has a great section on data for those that like to see the numbers.  In the appendices Hattie breaks down his data for all to see.  For example he rates the effectiveness of different influences on achievement.  One of the highest is student expectations.  Hattie's studies show that students generally achieve to their expectations.  With this in mind it is necessary as a teacher to raise those expectations.

I highly recommend this book to any teacher looking for some breakdown on preparing and delivering lessons.  It is a short but thoughtful read and full of great ideas.

• Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. London: Routledge.
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Teaching Philosophy

I had an interesting discussion today, brief but interesting, about teaching philosophy.  I wanted to share my thoughts before I got involved in another task and 12 days had passed before I remember again.  We've all had a week like that, right?  I keep meaning to write a bit more frequently, but life seems to get in the way.

My teaching philosophy has evolved over the years and continues to evolve as I become more knowledgeable.  I actually don't remember what I first developed as my initial teaching philosophy but I am sure I have it saved somewhere on a thumb drive.  I was actually meeting with the professor who first forced me to write it down and we discussed that many students,  hoping to teach, have never developed a teaching philosophy.  Yet, they want to teach just as I did when I realized that I did not have any thoughts on a teaching philosophy of my own.

To me, the basic tenet of my teaching philosophy is that I want to try and deliver the best material to my students that I can.  I feel that as a professional I owe them nothing less than my best.  This is what motivates me to continue to learn and to even start writing this blog.  It is a little hard to put oneself out there and become open for criticism.  However, without being challenged, we tend to stagnate.  In all my years of work, not just teaching but any kind of work, the most hated two phrases I hear are, "Because that's how we've always done it." or any phrase with "can't."  I am not sure why people repeat those types of phrases but they seem to be the go to excuse for not making change. Usually they have been espoused by the mysterious "they."  I once asked someone to, "Give me they's phone number."  It made me smile when they became so flustered that they did not realize my mistake in pronoun usage.  I am always seeking to change things.  I figure at my age the worst that can happen is I get a little embarrassed by my failure.  Who cares!  So, give the students your best, even if it ends up being a bit of a bomb.  They will appreciate the effort.

My next basic tenet is to use real material.  If you understand that language evolves then you have to understand that the materials we use to teach; the language, the texts, the exercises, etc. all have to evolve as well.  I will find some old exercises floating around and realize they are no longer valid but still in use for some reason.  Why not change them out for newer material?  Plus you have to become technically adept and try some different techniques for delivering your material.  There is nothing wrong with using some technology if it is applicable.  Believe me, the students definitely use tech.

Finally, be flexible.  As I stated in an earlier blog, I was forced to do some radical rethinking when faced with a class that I just didn't seem to be reaching with my stated syllabus.  I had to try a few different and new things, and I was able to incorporate a little class observation into my thinking.  There is nothing wrong with taking part of a class period and just chatting with your students.  Find out what they are looking for and what interests them.  And, as I stated above, try some new techniques.

I want to close with just a bit of generic advice that was offered to me.  Don't always feel you have to teach to the now.  Sometimes you are teaching to the future.  What I mean to say is that if you give your all and it seems things are not working out, just continue to provide your best and I assure you that a few weeks down the road the class will click and all that information will come flooding back to the students that you thought they were missing.

Better Late Than Later ... More About Star Magazine

          I took a bit of vacation the last week and found it a bit hard to get a chance to sit down and post something.  However, I am back and ready to do some free writing.

          I got asked to describe more about how I make use of Star magazine with ELL students.  So, I am going to revisit that topic for those that asked.  Because the magazine is very visual, I have included a scan of the article for reference.

          Generally the magazine has three or four really good articles; each of one to three pages in length.  Also, every issue has a couple sections that repeat through every issue.  This is one of those repeated sections; "Star Buzz".  When I am preparing a lesson, I like to start off by developing some background for the readings.  This article provides a good place to start.  Jimmy Fallon is a well-known personality and most ELL students will have some idea of who he is or you might be able to show a clip to sort of introduce him to those who don't.

          After a short discussion, which also stimulates conversation, I will introduce five to ten new words that I would like the students to learn.  I try to use words that share something, to sort of keep a theme for the lesson.  For this article I would probably only go with five and I would try to group them around divorce or perhaps argument.  And, in some cases the list of words might include some idiomatic phrases as well.  With this in mind, I would select 'mend the rift', 'acrimony', to 'argue', 'moody', and 'frustrated'.  Obviously there a couple others that would fit in this group as well, and I might be inclined to have the students try and hunt those words down on their own.

          The next step would be to have a couple students read the selection including the side bars.  I also like to have the students try to explain what they read in their own words and to try and puzzle out the meaning of the vocabulary words as well.  I will often have the students try to figure out the overall tone of the article by using the pictures as clues.  I might do this as a pre-reading exercise.  And, finally I would end the lesson with a few comprehension questions as a check on both subjective and objective understanding.  For example I might ask about their ski trip for a subjective response and maybe something about how his wife might feel in search of a more objective understanding of the article.

          There is so much more one can do with this article and I am just giving you a short look at what I might try.  Other ideas might be to try and explain why it is called "Star Buzz" or to use it as a prompt for some writing, or to stimulate even more conversation about marriages and divorces.  In fact a whole unit could be built around marriage and divorce using this article as a portal.

          As you can see the Star may be a bit simplistic for an American who has seen it in the grocery line for years, but for an ELL student it is a look into our culture and it is a great tool from which to learn.

Snow, Snow, More Snow, and TOEFL.iBT Study Guides

          I want to apologize for being a little slow in my postings the past couple weeks.  I wanted to try and post once a week, but life sometimes gets in the way.  Obviously anyone in and around Maine knows we got hit with another foot or so of snow this week.  As a result, my days have been spent shoveling and not writing or working with students.

          I got asked, about a week ago, what study guide I would recommend to a student studying for the TOEFL.iBT.  I always cringe a bit when I get asked these types of questions.  I really dislike these sort of formulaic study guides overall, but I do see the purpose behind them and I understand why they sell.  Let me just be really honest here and tell you that every bit of the content in these study guides can be found online for free.  Yes, there may be a bit more work involved in tracking down the information and yes maybe that extra time is not easy to find in a busy schedule, but I promise the extra work will pay off.  So, my answer to the question of which study guide to go with is to go with none of them, and instead try a little google time on the computer.

          I know I can't leave the questions completely unanswered.  I know many people still want a book.  I do think the study guides are fine and if forced to give an answer I would steer a student towards the Cambridge Preparation for the TOEFL Test by Jolene and Robert Gear.  I think I have the second edition, but they are all fine.  In reality you really only want them for the practice tests and I have found that this particular guide has the most 'user-friendly' software.  I know that many people buy these guides with the good intention of actually using them and reading all the information, yet many never even open them.  Buy whatever guide you feel comfortable with, open it up and work through the practice tests.  If you get a chance skim through the parts that interest you.  However, the internet offers way more for your time and by way of a bit of a plug for people like me; take a class from someone who has experienced the test and who can help you work through your specific needs.

My First Book Review

          I wanted to find a way to recommend some of the books that I have read and used, of course, in my work.  I thought for a long time about which one I would choose to recommend first.  After all of my exposure to literacy materials, I came back to the work that first caused me to sort of say "Wow!" For me that work is a small book by an British linguist; David Crystal.  I would suspect that many of you who might read this blog probably don't know David Crystal.  I had never heard of him myself. His book caught my eye while I was browsing around the Harvard bookstore a couple years ago.  I snapped it up and have enjoyed it ever since that time.  I constantly go back to it and just refresh my thoughts.

          Hmm ..., I guess you are probably wondering the name of the book?

Crystal, D. (2002). The English language. London: Penguin.

          I don't want to spend too much time laboring over the minutia of the book, but I want to highlight a few of the parts that I have found exciting and just give an overall picture of the book to those who might be interested in picking it up for themselves.

          First, it is a short book; just over 300 pages, cover to cover.  I think once you start to read it you will find yourself continually rereading parts as you absorb the particular sections.  The book is structured with a short introduction and three main sections, each of about five chapters or roughly 100 pages. I find that the short sections and chapters make for a really relaxing read.

          The introduction covers current English, or at least current for 2002.  It is interesting because it covers pidgins and creoles.  From there the three sections cover the structure, use and history of English.

          The section on structure covers exactly what one would expect; grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and spelling.  I really like the pronunciation chapter as it completely wrecks the idea of phonics.  Crystal also speaks to the quirkiness of our spelling.  It makes me laugh as spelling is always confuses my ELL students.  They just don't get the silent letters and multiple spellings of words that sound exactly the same (homonyms).

          The second section covers fun language like "truckers slang" and other subsets of professional language.  It is also noteworthy in that it includes a chapter on the effects of technology on English. Obviously this is even more relevant now in 2017.

          The third section goes through the history and evolution of English,  This will certainly enlighten those who wonder where some of our words and spelling rules come from.  It ends with a brief look into Crystal's thoughts on the future of our language.  Again, in this section he talks a bit about how technology has affected our language.  He speaks to a trend towards simplicity as technology limits our language.  He is writing before the explosion of some current social media platforms, but his thoughts bring to mind twitter's character limit.

          Overall, I want to encourage all literacy professional to take a look at this little gem of a book.  I think you will find it sort of  tour guide to English.

Owning Vocabulary

"John, what it the best way to study for the TOEFL?"

          I actually get asked this question often, or I get asked some variation of it when studying English language in general.  My answer is always the same.  You have to increase your vocabulary. To truly learn a language or in the case of studying for the TOEFL to achieve a great score, you have to own the necessary vocabulary.  I tell all of my TOEFL students within a few minutes of beginning any preparation class that they must increase their vocabulary by a few thousand words to truly achieve success on the exam.  I think this is true for any endeavor which requires skill to achieve success.  A surgeon must own the ability to effectively use surgical tools and techniques or it might be a sad day for their patient.  I am sure a competent surgeon could pick up a new tool and perhaps puzzle out its use, but I don't want them doing that while they are operating on me!  Language is no different.  One needs to understand the words they are using and when to use them appropriately. When specifically speaking about the TOEFL, every section involves knowing the meaning of specific words.  In fact, I would say about one-quarter or more of the questions are specifically vocabulary questions.  Either the question ask for the specific meaning to a highlighted word or a question might ask for the meaning of a passage which requires knowing what the words making up that passage means.  So, despite the sad faces that often follow my giving the answer, that learning more vocabulary is key; I stick by my thoughts.  I am sorry, I don't have any cute, innovative, or even interesting answer other than the one I give.

          I admit, here and now, that even I am horrible when it comes to the English language.  After all my time studying, I often time still don't understand syntax, basic grammar, or even spelling when English is involved.  I used to not believe when a teacher would answer my question with, "John, that's just how is ... ".

          To all my TOEFL students out there; study your vocabulary!  I will hopefully have a chance to give you some methods to make that easier when I next post.

         Lotus Learning Center

ESL and Star Magazine

          First, I want to thank those of you who have taken a look at and/or have read my blog.  I hope I am providing you a good read and maybe giving you a bit of information to think on as well.

          So, what does the Star Magazine have to do with ESL learning?  Without question, it is one of the best resources I have ever found when instructing adult learners.  There are plenty of resources out there for younger learners; annotated readers, online worksheets, and other items to help any instructor.  I have discovered that the same is not as true when looking for resources targeted towards ELL adults.

          My first experience teaching English outside of the Army was an adjunct position at a fairly large community college.  I was excited to get the opportunity and was surprised to learn that the entire ESL department was me.  I would be teaching four classes; ESL Reading, ESL Listening, ESL Speaking, and TOEFL.iBT Prep.  My new boss left the curriculum basically, completely up to my whims. Please don't misunderstand.  She was a great mentor and so very willing to help, but just did not have the time to babysit me through setting up my curriculum.

          I was confident that I was prepared and relied a lot on my own experiences teaching through my time in the Army.  Young Soldiers or young students, could they be that different?  Surprisingly they are markedly different.  My first class of the new semester, ESL Reading, was a class of 18 students, all female, all but one from Central and South America, and with an average age of about 35.  These were not typical college students nor were they typical Army students.  The majority had lived in the U.S. for several years and almost all were looking to improve their English skills as a means to better their lives.  They wanted practical, every day language not an ESL version of Charlotte's Web. There is nothing wrong with Charlotte's Web, but reading it won't necessarily get you a pay raise at work.

         To say the least, I was dumbfounded.  I muddled through my first day's lesson but knew I would have to "up my game".  I communicated my helplessness with every friend, colleague, and mentor I could contact.  Several offered great suggestions, but none of the suggestions seemed to be the right fit for this class. Then, I remembered that while waiting for class to begin, some of the students had been discussing a reality show they had been watching.  I don't remember the exact show, but it sparked an idea.

         My mother was sort of addicted to Star Magazine.  We actually had it delivered to our house when I was younger and naturally I soon became sort of addicted to it as well.  The magazine is basically a collection of gossip and rumors about entertainers and other notable, "pop" culture figures.  I knew without a doubt that my new students would probably recognize some of the content simply because they watched television, listened to radio, and had access to the internet.  I knew this type of content would interest them.  Plus, for those who don't know,  Star Magazine is extremely visual. Every article is accompanied by numerous photos and splashy colored text.  Furthermore the articles are generally short, only a page or two long, which would keep the text fresh and new as we read.


          What I discovered after reading through several issues is that the magazine has a few other surprises in it that proved valuable for my ESL adults.  First, the language is simple and current.  It is the same language one would hear at the mall or on television.  Second, the syntax is current as well. Third, often the photos represent the exact text.  For example, if the article is about someone being angry, the photos show that person being angry.  What this does is strengthen the contextual clues in determining the meaning of unknown words.  If one didn't know what the word "angry", meant it would be clear from the picture.  Finally, Star Magazine has a unique style of using multiple synonyms in the same article.  Again, one might see the word "angry", see an angry picture, but also perhaps see the words upset, disgruntled, or perturbed in the article as well.  I found it not unusual to see an average of three synonyms each for one or two key words in almost every article.  The Star Magazine was my goldmine.  The students loved reading it and I found it merged well with the speaking class as well; serving as a conversation/discussion prompt.

          Take it from me, the Star Magazine is a great resource for adult ESL students.  If you are looking for something different as a teaching resource, why not give it a try.

Reading Manga and Comics to Improve Literacy

Reading Manga and Comics to Improve Literacy

          I am an unashamed "fanboy" when it comes to both Manga and Comics, or as we "fanboys" say; we read Sequential Art.  I won't delve too deeply into the differences between the two, but there are some very obvious aspects that do differ. Any casual reader will spot them right off.  On another occasion, perhaps I will write a short piece specifically comparing Manga and Comics.  However, at this point, I would just rather discuss how they generally may or may not be effective in literacy improvement.

          First, I do believe that a competent literacy professional should make use of any and all tools that are available for their craft.  To this extent, by all means, use Comics and Manga.  Heck, use the back of food boxes!  Use whatever you can to get a student to read. 

          Those that know me, even slightly, know that I am a huge crusader for increasing the literacy of boys and male readers in general.  I am often perplexed by the fact that boys don't seem to read anymore.  I am just a bit saddened when I try to talk with a boy or young male and they have no literary background in common with me.  I should also add that as a "fanboy" I read many current titles, so I don't think the issues is that we have nothing in common due to age.  I can speak Pokemon and Ninjago with the best of them!  

          Second, as I do advocate the use of Sequential Art for improving literacy, I do think both Manga and Comics and Sequential Art in general can be used to help improve a person's reading ability and overall literacy.  However, there are a few things to keep in mind if one does decide to use these tools, and so we get to the point of my blog.

          I want to look a bit more closely at Manga.  For a novice "fanboy" or reader, Manga can be difficult.  The first thing one might notice is that it is backwards.  Manga books are written from right to left and generally from top to bottom.  Manga is traditionally from Japan and reading in what we consider a backwards direction is quite normal in Japanese culture.  This style will throw many readers off simply from a comfort standpoint.  Manga is also much more visually and theatrically oriented.  Again, Japanese culture is arguably more visual than ours.  Their alphabet makes use of visual characters to represent letters and words.  I am keeping this a bit basic and not trying to generically analyze Japanese culture in any way, so please bear that in mind.  A typical Manga book might contain several pages of just images with little or no words.  This is akin to a visual scene in a movie where the director is setting up a following shot or sequence in which there will be interaction between characters and thus dialogue; or words in the case of Manga.  Additionally, most Manga is done only in black and white or with only a few color pages at best. This will also detract from their appeal to many American students.  Lastly, I must say that some Manga are very daunting when seen sitting on a shelf.  They can be several hundred pages in length and resemble a more traditional paperback book.  However, once one starts to read a Manga book, one will find they are very easy to process and flow quickly.

          On the whole Manga use very current phrasing, or at least current to the Japanese authors who are writing them.  One will find a few actual Japanese words thrown into them as well.  Of course, we are speaking about reading translations so occasionally there are just some words that stay in Japanese. There is a good connection between the art and what is being said.  The real key is to look at the character's eyes.  This can often give a novice reader a good indication of the meaning of what a character is saying and help with understanding word meanings.  I think Manga's strength as a reading tool is that they are really easy to follow and can give a novice reader a good sense of completion when they finish such a large book. 

          The ease of flow with which Manga can be read, as it were, is also the biggest detractor from Manga being a truly effective tool for literacy improvement.  There are just cases where there are not many words in the books.  Obviously reading engages much more than just reading words on a page, but for someone trying to learn or trying to improve their reading skills, they would kind of need words to read.  For this reason I feel Manga is more suited for a beginning reader and probably more specifically for a beginning teen or adult reader.  There are Manga books for all ages and Manga genres for all readers, but most tend to be for a bit more mature audience.  I will add that Manga can be a great jumping off point for someone wanting to write though.  Using some of the art as a form of brainstorming for ways to begin or steer a potential work of prose is a great technique.

          Also, off on a bit of an interesting tangent; the biggest readers of Manga seem to be females.  I have spoken to many book store owners and employees anecdotally and they all seem to corroborate this fact.  From young teens to college age, women seem to be buying Manga more than their male counterparts.  In my opinion this is due somewhat to traditional Comics in America being the cultural domain of males.  Yes, I realize I am being a bit sexist and very general here, but the casual evidence seems to support this notion.  I might go with a Comic over a Manga book for a male student.

          So, what about Comics.  I won't get into the debate about what is and what is not a Comic. When I use the term, I am solely meaning the traditional Comic book of American culture.  The average American would have no problem picking one out at their local BAM or Barnes and Noble. For the record my personal favorite has always been Luke Cage a.k.a Hero for Hire.  

          I wholeheartedly support using Comics to aid in literacy development.  My friends and colleagues all know that I credit Classics Illustrated with my own entry into a lifetime of reading.  In third grade, I purchased, with my own money, and voraciously read the Classics Illustrated version of Jules Verne's Michael Strogoff: A Courier of the Czar.  I swear to people that I read that Comic a thousand times.  It was just such a great way for a novice reader to read a true classic.  I think it was integral in me making the leap to more challenging literature and to me enjoying reading to this day.

  

         Most readers will find comics visually stimulating and if they choose some of the more engaging Graphic Novel style Comics they will find them a good read overall.  No one who reads a Frank Miller comic can say they are just picture books.  I have a personal friend who actually teaches a class, at a major university, on superheroes and he uses, almost exclusively, Graphic Novels as his texts.  Traditional Comics are just a bit easier to sell to a novice reader.  The text is usually current and well-written.  It takes no small amount of skill for a Comic writer to flesh out a complete story in such a limited format, thus the text of a good comic is well written for the author's purpose. They must choose good words that really convey their message.  

          As with Manga, there are a few detractors from using Comics for building reading skills.  Some people will just not like them or think them a bit juvenile at first glance.  Unlike Manga, traditional Comics are quite short and may not be enough of a challenge for some more advanced students.  I tell my stepson that a good novel is like a good dinner and a Comic is like a good dessert. I am paraphrasing that from a Sean Connery line from the movie Finding Forrester, but it is a true statement.  Finally, the opposite is true with Comic readers than with Manga readers.  Most Comics are done by males for male readers, so female readers might not find them as interesting.  

          Please do use Comics and/or Manga to help improve literacy for anyone.  Obviously some people will just not like them or may just not be able to process the visual aspect of their stories but for many they will enjoy the break from more traditional reading exercises.  I do feel that many learners are visually oriented as well, and Sequential Art can help get a person reading where another sort of text might not. 

          I want to close my rambling by making mention of a couple academic texts which might help a literacy instructor gain some background about these, often bizarre and esoteric, tests. I have listed them below.

Schodt, F. L., & Tezuka, O. (1988). Manga! Manga!: the world of Japanese comics ; 

          includes 96 pages from Osamu Tezuka's "Phoenix", Reiji Matsumoto's "Ghost 

          warrior", Riyoko Ikeda's "The rose of Versailles", Keiji Nakazawa's "Barefoot 

          gen". Tokyo: Kodansha Internat.

Coogan, P., & OʼNeil, D. (2006). Superhero: the secret origin of a genre. Austin: 

          Monkey Brain Books.

          

          

Humble Beginnings

       Humble Beginnings

        About seven years ago, I was nearing the end of my Army career.  It struck me one day that I had not done much planning for my future.  I like to think I am young at heart.  At that moment perhaps I was thinking too much about being young and not enough about growing older.

        I have really only enjoyed a few activities in my life; the Army, reading, games of all kinds, and exploring new cultures.  I was sure there was a potential future career there somewhere.  But, still in that "I'm young with plenty of time" mindset, I decided to sort of table my thoughts for awhile; sort of the "non" plan plan.  I decided to become a Senior ROTC instructor.  Being from Texas, I had hoped to find a position near my home of Lubbock.  Saving the main story for another time, suffice it to say, I was sort of gently coerced into moving to Maine to teach at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.  It became a wonderful choice as I fell in love with the city, the school, and all of my students.  I also made the decision to go back to school and complete another graduate degree.  As I mentioned, I have enjoyed reading since very early in life.  I was currently enjoying teaching, so I decided to major in Literacy with an emphasis in teaching English Language Learner (ELL) students.  That way I could also fold in my enjoyment of other cultures.  My brilliant "non" plan was coming together.

       As a quick sidebar, I would like to mention that I met one of the finest mentors I have ever had in life while working through my course of study, Doctor Andrea Stairs-Davenport. I first met her online and quickly concluded from her emails that she was a matronly professor long experience.  Well, to my complete shock, when we met in person a few months later, I instead met a young, enthusiastic, passionate, and caring professional.  I actually think I am older than her by several years, but being a gentleman I never asked for confirmation of that thought.

       Fast forward a few years and here I am trying to start a second career as an English language instructor.  My wife and I, oh I met here in Maine as well, have embarked on a new venture we have chosen to call, Lotus Learning Center.  Basically we have a desire to become a full-service language instruction and cultural exchange center here in Augusta, Maine.  We would love if you stop by and take a look.  I have stuck a link below.

       I hope to continue to write posts about all things ELL, TOEFL, and whatever else I might find interesting.  I hope you return for frequent visits and to share your comments.


Lotus Learning Center