1/25 Readings

Reference: Intro and Chapter 1 of Working with English Language Learners - S. Cary

Upon beginning the introduction to this book, I could immediately tell it was going to be more easily readable and more accessible than other materials I have read in the TESOL field. I think that Cary's ten "How Do I" questions are relevant to what is currently going on in our classrooms and I really liked the fact that these questions were frequently asked by real educators facing those issues in their own classrooms, so it is a very practical approach to second language teaching. I remember getting a very good impression of the articles that we read by Cary in 345 and it will be nice to get a refresher on those articles in a more holistic context as a textbook. I suppose the questions that I am most eager to have answered or find out more about are: "How do I make my spoken language more understandable?", "How do I teach grade-level content to English beginners?" and "How do I help students build learning strategies?" (pg. 3). I feel that these are very important issues to me and ones that I struggle answer even with my Spanish education background, as well. I really want my students to understand and comprehend my directions, and with ESL, it is even more complicated because I likely will not speak any of their languages, so I will have no way of being able to do translations for them. The question about content is something that I find interesting in my own personal academic research goals since I am interested in the content-based approach in second language education, and finally that I would just like to learn more about learning strategies and how to implement them in the classroom because I feel as if I am a little lost on the topic, like what works for students, what does not, and what these specific learning strategies are called (terminology).
I was bit surprised to see the list of the most common languages currently; obviously, I knew Spanish would be number one, which is a huge plus for me with my educational background, but Hmong? Haitian Creole? I do not even know what countries these are spoken in, let alone what they sound like! It just seems like a very daunting task considering the clearly varied backgrounds with these students. I think that an important question that needs to be addressed in my own life is that how do I bridge the gap between low-level and high-level students? How do I meet the students' needs that are higher functioning in English whereas some might be extremely minimal or have had no exposure at all? It's a scary thought. I think what is important that Cary points out is that the students do have a common learning goal: "they need to become fluent, communicatively competent speakers and proficient readers and writers of English" (pg. 5). I suppose this can unite a lot of students, and I think it is extremely important that the teacher tell them that they want to meet this goal for them, as well. We need to show them that we are there to help, and we are on their side, so to speak. In any classroom, there needs to be a common objective for learning; otherwise, things tend to fall apart.
Another aspect of the book that I already know that I'm going to enjoy is the actual classroom dialogue that goes on; it shows the reader what is going on in the classroom and what ways that things work or do not work depending on your own personal opinion. Obviously, everyone has a different teaching philosophy and approach to education, but I think it is excellent to have dialogues to interpret and assess our own reactions. I like that we as readers have a set-up to the story and can understand the classroom environment and have our own ideas of how we could handle it. I really like books that get me constantly thinking and assessing my own behaviors; I love the sociological aspect of it.

In Chapter 1 ("How do I assess a student's English?"), an important issue is discussed. When is the proper time to test a student in their English capabilities? What is the best method of doing so? I suppose with assessment there is a lot of unanswered questions from the administration and sometimes an apparent lack of support in that area as far as ESL goes. I like that Lisa, the teacher in this chapter, allowed students this so-called 'break-in time' for a couple of weeks before they took any kind of examinations. I think this is an excellent idea; students lose a lot over the summer and maybe are not around English as much as they should be. I find myself having the same problem with Spanish. I have no one around me at home during breaks who can speak with me and help me practice my language and then I feel a little lost for a bit when I come back to college and have to be immersed in it again. I think students definitely need a little time at the beginning to get their bearings and become accustomed to school again.
The chapter later on in the section called 'four-box assessment' mentions the idea of modeling and how it pays off with the students who are building bridges (pg. 11). I think modeling is extremely important in the ESL context; hand gestures, facial expressions, all of that comes into play when you have students who have limited ability in listening or speaking. They can then model the behaviors of the teacher to get their point across and then learn something along the way. I know that modeling was one of the things I knew I needed to work on when we did our mock lessons in 345. Examples, examples, examples are key to a students' comprehension in any classroom. The student, Amalia, even though the teacher noted that she was "making lots of errors with pronunciation, syntax, and prepositions" (pg. 12), at least she was speaking at all! I think something else that is essential with ESL students, especially those who do not want to speak, is giving them something that excites them and prompts them to talk. Finding out their interests ahead of time, like in the first couple days of school, is a big deal and can influence their learning for the rest of the year.

A lot of my professors and teachers I have worked with here at ISU have always said the big thing right now is to trick students into learning. Unfortunately that is the standard for this day and age. Students are constantly inundated with media and excitement and then once they go to school, there just is not enough stimulus to get them through the day. It sounds like a daunting task, and I have heard from peers and colleagues that we cannot do a superb lesson every day; it drains you and makes you lose focus on more important things. However, something we can do is sneak an activity once an hour or day that is fun and engaging so that the students do not think it is necessarily school work, like the bridges that Lisa used. Lisa was right in wanting to elicit "authentic language" (pg. 16). She wanted to create tasks that fostered team building and cooperation from her students, and for them to want to use English to get their point across. Formal testing tends to glaze over the fact that students learn at different paces and have different learning styles. They also do not take into account the anxiety of the students taking the test. I do not know how these problems can be fixed other than that formal testing needs a makeover. It needs to be a more relaxed, comfortable environment and not just multiple-choice questions or true/false, but unfortunately, testing companies do not want to do the work or they do not seem to listen to teachers. That is sort of the downfall of that system.
What Lisa is doing with her students is an excellent way of assessing their improvements; she does it informally and in a relaxed and comfortable environment for the students. She includes activities that the students actually want to do, and does not force them to use English. She does a lot of informal assessing which I feel that education is starting to lean towards nowadays. Lisa also does a good job in communicating with the parents and talking to them about their child's progress; that is an extremely important aspect of education that a lot of teachers tend to overlook.