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Content Type: 1
Title: Québécois Word: Gratteux
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From http://offqc.com
This website looks at specific words used in Québécois French. This time, the focus is on the two different meanings of “gratteux”.
Access the post at http://offqc.com/2015/05/12/two-meanings-of-the-quebecois-word-gratteux-943/
Source: OffQc – Quebec French Guide
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Title: First Spanish Jokes for Kids
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From http://spanishplayground.net/first-spanish-jokes-for-kids/
This article looks at how to use Spanish jokes with children. There are ideas on the approach and method, but also 10 easy jokes, mostly based on words having double meaning.
To access this go to http://spanishplayground.net/first-spanish-jokes-for-kids/
Source: Spanish Playground
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Title: Dominó de Los Simpsons
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From http://jramonele.blogspot.com/2015/04/domino-de-los-simpsons.html
For a unit on family, it may be fun and motivating to use a domino like the one José Ramón shares in this article.
To access the resource go to http://jramonele.blogspot.com/2015/04/domino-de-los-simpsons.html
Source: jramonele.com
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Title: Finding Common Ground in Multicultural Classrooms
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From http://blog.tesol.org/finding-common-ground-in-multicultural-classrooms/
ELL specialist Nathan Hall writes, “Think back to the first day of a new school year. It’s late summer, but you feel cold and uncomfortable. … And then the teacher says it’s time for everyone to introduce themselves. You may have experienced this with the added level of not having a common language—or least not one you spoke or understood well—with classmates who have different accents. … To diffuse this tension, I found common ground for people from all over the world while treating them all as individuals.”
Read how he helped his students to respectfully learn about each other’s home cultures: http://blog.tesol.org/finding-common-ground-in-multicultural-classrooms/
Source: TESOL
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Title: Online Booklet: How Educators Can Advocate for English Language Learners
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From http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/17440_ELL_AdvocacyGuide2015_web.pdf
The National Education Association has assembled a booklet, “How Educators Can Advocate for English Language Learners: All In!”
Get ideas for how you can advocate for your students: http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/17440_ELL_AdvocacyGuide2015_web.pdf
Source: NEA
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Title: The History of the English in 10 Minutes
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From http://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/english-language/the-history-english-ten-minutes
This is a 10-minute video segmented into ten 1-minute chapters. As the website states: “Voiced by Clive Anderson, this entertaining romp through 'The History of English' squeezes 1600 years of history into 10 one-minute bites, uncovering the sources of English words and phrases from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to America and the Internet. Bursting with fascinating facts, the series looks at how English grew from a small tongue into a major global language before reflecting on the future of English in the 21st century.” The speaking is quite fast and they make many tongue-and-cheek references to historical, cultural, and linguistic items that many L2’s of English would find very challenging. However, that is what makes it a rich, authentic resource to explore with your ESL students using guided pre-, during, and post-listening activities. If you choose just one of the one-minute chapters you’ll have much to explore, debate, discuss and learn. You might use one to prompt or start a discussion on a topic, such as the use of English as a global language. Be sure to pre-watch any video segment you want to use first to assess its appropriateness for your class context.
Access the segments here http://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/english-language/the-history-english-ten-minutes
Access all the segments together as one 10-minute video on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njJBw2KlIEo
Source: Open Learn
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Title: End-of-the-Year Ideas
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What can you do with your students as the end of the school year approaches and their attention starts to stray from language learning? Here are some ideas for engaging your students at the end of the year:
Rebecca Alber describes six different projects in this article: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/end-of-year-engaging-projects-rebecca-alber
More ideas for activities are available on this website: http://www.michellehenry.fr/endofyear.htm
Larry Ferlazzo and Katherine Schulman have compiled a list of ideas that are intended for English language learners but could be used for learners of any language to reflect on and celebrate their learning gains: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/ideas-for-english-language-learners-celebrating-the-end-of-the-school-year/?_r=1
Teachers in bilingual classrooms will enjoy this poetic idea: http://lessonplanspage.com/laopoetry-odestomybilingualclassroomendyearidea26-htm/
Source: Various
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Title: Life, Light, Action! Videos for Storytelling
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From http://cristinaskybox.blogspot.com
This article highlights the advantages of using storytelling in class and shares ideas on how to utilize pictures to tell stories, as well as a few online tools for teachers to flip the classroom and promote students’ creativity.
To read the article go to http://cristinaskybox.blogspot.com/2015/04/life-light-action-videos-for.html
Source: CristinaSkyBox
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Title: Methodology for Vocabulary Exercises: Just Add Fun
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From http://www.grammarissa.me/blog/2015/04/27/methodology-for-vocabulary-exercises-just-add-fun/
In this blog post, Karissa shares some interesting ideas on vocabulary activities that she learned at TESOL 2015. There are also links to other websites with additional games that can be adapted to different languages and levels.
Access the ideas at http://www.grammarissa.me/blog/2015/04/27/methodology-for-vocabulary-exercises-just-add-fun/
Source: The Adventures of Grammarissa
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Content Type: 3
Title: Alternative Means for Measuring Pragmatic Abilities
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Patricia Roldán Marcos is a graduate student in the Language Teaching Specialization program in the University of Oregon. She is also a graduate fellow in curriculum development at CASLS.
This month's Topic of the Week articles have focused on explicit pragmatics instruction as a way to develop students' interpersonal skills. To incentivize learners to work on their pragmatic competence, teachers should aim to highlight its value by integrating different forms of assessment of pragmatics in the classroom.
Conducting pragmatics assessment can prove a challenge for various reasons related to the principles of practicality and reliability:
- Some relevant elements may not lend themselves to easy evaluation, or may vary among communities and even from person to person.
- It's necessary to balance the authenticity of the task and the ability to measure.
- In order to come up with standards of appropriateness, teachers would ideally have to turn to research studies to inform their choices, rather than relying on their intuition as proficient speakers of the L2.
Nonetheless, the assessment of pragmatics should be kept at the forefront if we want to instill the need for students to become successful intercultural participants with strong pragmatic abilities. When carrying out pragmatics assessment, it is key to consider that there are two skills to be measured (i.e. comprehension and production), as well as three areas of focus (Ishihara & Cohen, 2010):
- Linguistic aspects (pragmalinguistic ability): Does the language used convey the speaker's intention, and how will it be interpreted by the L2 listener? These include grammatical structures, vocabulary, speech act strategies, etc.
- Cultural aspects (sociopragmatic ability): Given a cultural and situational context, how do learners understand and apply the L2 norms and what are the consequences? Some examples are the level of directness, formality and politeness, the handling of cultural norms in the L2, etc.
- Analytic aspects (metapragmatic ability): These are the learners' ability to analyze the pragmatics of the L2, which will allow them to become independent learners outside the classroom by utilizing the necessary tools and skills.
Given the above, it is up to the instructor to focus on one or more of these key aspects with regard to performance and comprehension. Depending on the context of the class and the contrasts between the L1 and L2, the teacher should decide what features of pragmatics are more crucial for the learners because of the likelihood that a serious pragmatic failure may occur.
To look at some concrete examples of good assessment practice in context, here is a table with recent Activities of the Week showcasing various means to measure pragmatic abilities: role plays, checklists, rubrics, discussions in the L1, etc. In many cases they assess more than one pragmatic dimension, but some stages have a stronger focus on a specific ability. Additionally, some are carried out by the teacher, while others are good examples of self and peer assessment, but they are all integrated in different stages of the lessons, allowing for effective formative assessment.
|
|
Comprehension |
Production (speaking and/or writing) |
|
Pragmalinguistic ability |
The analysis stage in this lesson on academic emails |
The self-assessment stage on favor asking here |
|
Sociopgramatic ability |
The analysis stage in this game-based lesson |
The extension stage in this lesson on job interviews |
|
Metapragmatic ability |
This week's Activity of the Week presents a project to assess this aspect |
Handout #4 with peer assessment here |
Reference
Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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