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.