View Content #26126
Contentid | 26126 |
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Content Type | 3 |
Title | Yoga, Mindfulness, and Movement |
Body | Joliene Adams is a combined EFL, movement, outdoor, art, and cooking instructor at The English Academy, Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile). She holds an MA in Linguistics with a Language Teaching Specialization and an MA in Comparative Literature. She has taught and/or interned in: EFL, ESL, Spanish as a Foreign Language, and Pacific Northwest language Ichishkíin-Sahaptin classrooms and conversation groups as well as having instructed: yoga, rock climbing, soccer, gymnastics, aerobics to the elderly in Cuba, and served as recreation leader to at-risk youth in El Alto, Bolivia. March 2018 I accept a job on the most remote inhabited island of the world. April 2018 I ask myself: buy a camera or a surf-board? May 2018 I say sorry and my best approximation of “dang nabbit” in Spanish to a half dozen people in the Santiago, Chile airport, sporting a 8” surf board across my 5’1/4” frame. How did I arrive to my clumsy conclusion? This realization: a camera will put something between others and me. A surf board will put us alongside. Shortly put: community. Active in movement/mindfulness activities wherever I go, it’s a method to engage and find community in new places. This fosters language engagement opportunities and opens friendship portals. The language teacher in me eventually asked if I could invite the same spirit, benefits, and community of yoga, mindfulness, and movement (YMM) practices into classrooms. Research shows I am not alone. Language programs implementing movement, meditation, yoga and sports, plus academic articles on the topic, can be found below. Yoga, Language Learning, Community 1) Fosters community: 3) Visualization: 4) Experience and Reflection: 2) Vocabulary, Grammar: 5) Storytelling: Final note: Annotated Resources: Breathe for Change: https://www.breatheforchange.com. Breathe for Change is a yoga program specifically aimed at training educators in yoga. They train educators how to self-care and extend that into the classroom. ESLYoga: http://eslyoga.com. ESL Yoga is a website with a free starter kit for teachers new to but curious about implementing yoga in their classrooms. The website is also conscientious about culturally appropriate language and yoga instruction. She also has two books full of ESL Yoga activities available for purchase. ESLLanguages: https://www.esl-languages.com/en/. ESLLanguages is a Switzerland-based company providing study abroad language opportunities for adults. They offer programs that include yoga, sports, and beyond (film and cooking for example)!
Liu, F., Sulpuzio, S., Kornpetpanee, S., & Job, R. (2017). It takes biking to learn: Physical activity improves learning a second language. PLoS ONE,12(5). doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177624. Chinese speaker ELLs with a basic knowledge of English benefitted both in vocabulary retention and in their understanding of sentences from 20-minutes aerobic exercise prior to learning a set of new words and 15 minutes of continued exercise during instruction. Machado, A. “This Latina just started the first even Spanish-language yoga teacher training in the States.” Matador Network. May 30, 2016. https://matadornetwork.com/pulse/latina-just-started-first-spanish-language-yoga-teacher-training-states/. This piece introduces Rina Jakubowicz, born in Venezuela as daughter of a Cuban father and Argentinian mother, and now in the USA making waves. While she does not teach second languages through yoga, her accomplishments as the first Spanish language yoga training program instructor at a major yoga school in the USA are inspiring and reinforce the growing interconnections between yoga, languages, empowerment, and community. Mishler, A. (n.d.). Home [Yoga With Adrien]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene. This is my favorite go-to resource for online yoga. She has yoga for everything, including for teachers and students. She is accessible, approachable, and a top-notch place to start. She also has a plentitude of videos for beginners! Check out the comments below any of her videos and her positive impact is clear. Morgan, L. (2011). Harmonious language learning: Yoga in the English language classroom. English Teaching Forum,49(4), 2-13. Retrieved July 14, 2018, from ERIC. This article promotes the idea of a “harmonious language learning classroom”—an emotionally, mentally, and physically healthy place to learn where teachers and students are concentrated yet relaxed. The teacher writes on her experiences and expertise gained from a simultaneous internship teaching in a traditional language learning classroom and one teaching ESL with Yoga to Latina mothers new to the USA at a Quaker Meeting Center. Ratey, J. J., & Hagerman, E. (2013). Spark: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain. New York: Little, Brown. This text covers groundbreaking research into the science of academic performance and fitness. It focuses on an important distinction from Physical Education classes of long ago Rather than focus on sports and competition amongst students, it focuses on fitness and personal improvement/benchmarks. Reynolds, Gretchen. “How Exercise Can Improve Learning a Language.” The New York Times. August 16, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/well/move/how-exercise-could-help-you-learn-a-new-language.html. This article covers and reflects on the research covered in the above “It takes biking to learn: Physical activity improves learning a second language” article. |
Source | CASLS Topic of the Week |
Inputdate | 2018-12-04 09:47:33 |
Lastmodifieddate | 2018-12-10 04:33:43 |
Expdate | Not set |
Publishdate | 2018-12-10 02:15:02 |
Displaydate | 2018-12-10 00:00:00 |
Active | 1 |
Emailed | 1 |
Isarchived | 0 |