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Content Type: 1
Title: Manipulatives for Young English Learners
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From http://creativateconele.blogspot.fr
Here is a collection of ideas for manipulatives that students and teachers can create to reinforce their English language learning: http://creativateconele.blogspot.fr/2016/02/creativate-con-manualidades-english.html. The beginning of the post is in Spanish, and the descriptions of the actual activities and resources are in English.
Source: Creatívate con ELE
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Title: Article: Reclassifying English Language Learners: What’s the effect on Wisconsin high schoolers?
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Reclassifying English Language Learners: What’s the effect on Wisconsin high schoolers?
by Deven Carlson and Jared Knowles
March 9, 2016
Reclassifying a student as fully English proficient changes several aspects of students’ educational environment. At the high school level, reclassification has the potential to put students on an educational track that has access to resources that better prepare them for postsecondary education. On the other hand, exiting ELL status often eliminates access to instructional accommodations and supports tailored to promote these students’ success.
…We estimate the effect of reclassification by taking advantage of Wisconsin’s policy that automatically reclassifies students who score above the proficiency threshold on the ACCESS exam. In particular, we compare the outcomes of students who score just above the proficiency threshold—most of whom are reclassified as fully proficient—to the outcomes of their peers who fall just short and are likely to remain classified as ELLs in 11th grade. This design allows us to make causal claims about the impact of being reclassified by the beginning of 11th grade for those students who scored near the proficiency threshold on the ACCESS.
For these students, we find that reclassification increases students’ composite ACT score by about one full point. Most of this increase is attributable to improved performance on the English and reading portions of the ACT. Our results also indicate that reclassification increases postsecondary enrollment in the fall after high school graduation, with the increase largely due to increased enrollment at four-year institutions.
Read the full article at http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/brown-center-chalkboard/posts/2016/03/09-wisconsin-english-language-learners-knowles
Source: Brookings Institution
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Title: Explicit and Implicit Language Learning
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Last week we noted a recent post by Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell that begins with a frank discussion of the possibly false dichotomy between learning and acquisition. This week Justin Slocum-Bailey posted a response on his blog in which he discusses a nuanced definition of unconscious learning and its implications for language acquisition: http://indwellinglanguage.com/unconscious-acquisition-classroom/. Your InterCom editor read both posts with great interest, and then I watched a Black Box episode (Black Box is a podcast series hosted by the above two teachers that connects research in second language acquisition with the practice of language teaching) that addresses the interface between explicit and implicit learning: http://musicuentos.com/2015/08/blackbox-interfac/. I have found the posts, the comments of other teachers on each post, and the discussion of the article all to be very thought-provoking, and I hope that you do, too.
Source: Various
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Title: #Langchat Summary: Finding the “Pot of Proficiency” at the End of the WL Program “Rainbow”
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Here is another summary of the weekly #langchat that takes place on Twitter. As summarized on Calico Spanish, “#langchatters convened on Saint Patrick’s Day to figure out what the non-negotiable components are in world language programs that consistently produce the “gold” that all teachers are working towards in their WL classes – proficient students! Participants discussed necessary core beliefs, helpful tools and resources, and the ways to use all of those things to create lessons that will help support and build a proficiency-based program.”
Read the summary here: http://calicospanish.com/finding-the-pot-of-proficiency-at-the-end-of-the-wl-program-rainbow/
Learn more about #langchat here: http://langchat.pbworks.com/w/page/39343677/FrontPage
Source: Calico Spanish
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Title: Climbing the Proficiency Ladder Starting in Kindergarten
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From http://www.proficiencyfromthestart.com/
Montessori Spanish teacher Valerie Shull gives several suggestions for how students can gain proficiency in Spanish as they advance through elementary school in this recent blog post: http://www.proficiencyfromthestart.com/2016/03/climbing-proficiency-ladder-starting-in.html
Source: Proficiency from the Start
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Title: Blog Post: Technology and Language Teaching
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From http://blog.cue.org/
Teacher Laura Sexton is excited about teaching language with today’s technological resources. She writes, “What a time to be alive! The whole world is inside our classrooms every day. I like to pretend it’s me bringing it to my Spanish I and II students, but really, they’ve had it in their pocket the whole time. What a time to teach languages!
“There are two things any language teacher needs to do to get students to learn a language:
• give them a real, immediate Reason to learn it and
• make them believe they can learn it.
“Technology makes it ridiculously easy for us to do both.”
Read her full blog post for examples of how technology can connect student with their target language: http://blog.cue.org/time-teach-languages/
Source: CUE Blog
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Title: Teachers Share Authentic Resources
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From http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/
Last week the Creative Language Class blog hosted a “Give an idea! Take an idea!” forum. Each day, teachers were urged to share their favorite authentic resources on a given topic (food and drink, places, events, people, and arts) in comments. See what teachers suggested by going to this link: http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/planning/spring-share-a-thon-give-an-idea-take-an-idea/. Scroll to the bottom and click on the category you’re most interested in, then read the comments on each linked page to see what resources other teachers have shared.
Source: Creative Language Class
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Title: 5 Tips for Enriched Vocabulary Presentation
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Robert Sheppard presents five ideas for enriching your presentation of new vocabulary to language learners in this short article: http://blog.tesol.org/5-tips-for-enriched-vocabulary-presentation/
Source: TESOL Blog
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Content Type: 3
Title: Transnational Languaculture and the Language Learning Classroom
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by Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
Human connection happens everyday, all the time, and all over the world.
As language teachers we strive to prepare our learners to maneuver in and out of a myriad of interactive contexts to support and nurture multilingual connections. In doing so, one of the most complex arenas in which we find ourselves is the relationship between language and cultural behaviors - a heterogenous, dynamic, and co-constructed dimension which is at the epicenter of human interaction.
One useful approach for language educators is the construct of transnational languaculture (Risager, 2007, 2008) - a paradigm useful for exploring ways in which language and culture transcend national boundaries, are uniquely tied to individuals (not only particular languages or cultures), and develop across a lifetime as learners move between a variety of contexts, locations, and languages. Most importantly, Risager emphasizes movement away from a native speaker model and national standard norm as a representative of one culture or language and embraces a variety of possible options for successful, and unsuccessful interactions. Three aspects of the model are especially relevant to the language classroom:
- Language and languaculture: Emphasizes the fundamental role of language instruction itself plays in meaningful interactions by highlighting linguistics norms in combination with a variety of possible language patterns. For example, this might include instruction on more commonly known patterns as well as learner-generated instances of miscommunication that can be found in daily life through online and offline contexts.
- Topics and discourses: This aspect focuses on an inclusive approach to topics, where national contextualization is avoided, unless it is a necessary condition of the discussion itself. For example, topics could include a focus on what in which language emphasizes the power dynamics or supports social justice issues. In addition, emphasis could be placed on intercultural interaction to focus on ways pragmatic behaviors can be made more salient and relevant to critical action in the world.
- Contexts and contacts: Highlighting the fundamental role of human connections, in and out of the classroom, this aspect encourages exploration of a variety of interactional contexts for learning. This can include classroom engagement, but must also embrace learning through other spaces, such as online communities, local neighborhoods, and peer groups. Teachers can support this learning by giving the learners the tools necessary to successfully maneuver each of theses spaces.
As human interactions more and more frequently transcend national boundaries and mix and remix understood systems of language, a paradigm which recognizes local and transnational contexts is fundamental to exploring the interconnectedness of language and culture.
(Adapted from Sykes, J. forthcoming.)
References
Risager, K. (2007). Language and Culture Pedagogy: From a National to a Transnational Paradigm. Multilingual Matters.
Risager, K. (2008). “Towards a Transnational Paradigm in Language and Culture Pedagogy." American Association of Applied Linguistics, 2008 Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
Sykes, J. (forthcoming). Technologies for Teaching and Learning Intercultural Competence and Interlanguage Pragmatics. In S. Sauro and C. Chapelle, Handbook of Technology and Second Language Teaching and Learning. Wiley.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 5
Title: Celebrating 20 Years of Jeff Magoto’s Leadership in Language Learning
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On April 1, the University of Oregon community came together to celebrate Jeff Magoto, director of the Yamada Language Center (YLC). Jeff has been a main stay of the language teaching and learning community for twenty years.
“CASLS would not be the center that it is today without Jeff,” explains Associate Director Mandy Gettler. “He has advocated for the value of language education both on campus, when cuts were deep and looming, and across the country. As a member of our advisory board, Jeff has brought in guidance, visions for new projects, and a keen eye for strategic partnerships.”
As director of YLC, Jeff has championed the study of all languages, especially less commonly taught languages. YLC has taught many languages such as Arabic and Korean as self-study courses and, once high enrollments were established, transitioned those courses to regular academic departments.
Jeff also serves as a course developer and co-instructor for the American English Institute’s eLearning program. Through AEI’s MOOC, he has trained thousands of English language teachers all over the world.
Jeff has had a large impact on CASLS and its projects as well. Jeff was the lead project coordinator for A National Virtual Language Lab (ANVILL), originally called Speech in Burns, that continues to bring technology-based language learning tools to all programs, regardless of their size or budget.
Thank you, Jeff, for being a tireless advocate for language and culture learning both at the UO and across the country. Here’s to twenty more years working together!
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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