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Title: Larry Ferlazzo’s BAM! Radio Shows
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For the last year and a half, English language teacher Larry Ferlazzo has been doing a BAM! radio show, in which he interviews guests that have something insightful to say about teaching and learning. His most recent episode, “What Will Be the Practical Impact of ESSA in the Classroom?”, features guests Barnett Berry and Morgan Polikoff.
Access the radio shows at http://www.bamradionetwork.com/classroom-q-and-a/
See a full list of all of Mr. Ferlazzo’s past radio shows at http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2015/06/17/all-my-bam-radio-shows-linked-with-descriptions/
Source: Larry Ferlazzo
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Title: World Languages Day at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
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From http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=95370f71cecf23bb24f3e14ef&id=48c55930f9&e=0e43a95dea
World Languages Day
April 12, 2017
World Languages Day is an exciting educational experience for high school students and teachers featuring University of Wisconsin-Madison expertise in languages and cultures from around the world. Like a conference or a college-for-a-day experience, participants at World Languages Day attend four different sessions throughout the day according to an individualized schedule. Sessions include demonstration language lessons, interactive presentations on culture or area studies, and dance or music workshops.
Applications to attend World Languages Day are now being accepted from high school teachers to bring groups of up to 30 students. Apply now!
Application deadline: October 27, 2016
For more information on World Languages Day, check out the website at http://worldlanguagesday.wisc.edu/
Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Title: Communicative Can Do’s
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From http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/
Megan Smith has written a good post about truly communicative Can Do statements, as opposed to non-communicative ones like these:
I can count to 10.
I can name 10 places in the city.
I can tell the date/time.
I can conjugate in the past/imperfect tense.
I can answer questions about a story.
Read her post to see truly communicative versions of these: http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/planning/is-it-communication-dont-miss-the-mark/
Source: Creative Language Class
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Title: Speech Perception, Speech Production, and Corrective Feedback
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From http://www.anthonyteacher.com/
Anthony Schmidt summarizes a recent article, “Can corrective feedback on second language speech perception errors affect production accuracy?” by A. H. Lee and R. Lyster, in a recent blog post. His conclusion: “The researchers noticed that both target and nontarget groups would verbally respond to [corrective feedback] by trying to produce the correct utterances. The target groups did this more often than the nontarget group, and the other three groups, by the nature of the CF type, did not engage in this behavior. Therefore, speech perception alone is important, but ‘opportunities for noticing, awareness, and practice, in addition to CF’ might be necessary (p. 18).”
Read the blog summary at http://www.anthonyteacher.com/blog/researchbites/research-bites-speech-perception-speech-production-and-corrective-feedback
Source: Anthony Teacher.com
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Title: Free Classroom Poster: 5 Ways Being Bilingual Makes You Smarter
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Here is a poster-size infographic from Middlebury Interactive Languages that you can download after sending in your name and email address: https://www.middleburyinteractive.com/classroom-poster-5-ways-being-bilingual-makes-you-smarter
Source: Middlebury Interactive Languages
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Title: teawithbvp Episode: Is Testing Necessary?
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Our October theme in InterCom is assessment. The September 29 topic of Bill VanPatten’s weekly radio show was “Is Testing Necessary?” Dr. VanPatten starts by taking this position: “We can and perhaps should get rid of paper and pencil tests, or any kind of test of knowledge … if our goal is acquisition, communication, and the development of proficiency.” You can listen to the show (Episode 33) at this site: https://soundcloud.com/teawithbvp.
The shows air live on Thursdays; you can learn about the latest show at http://www.teawithbvp.com/
Source: teawithbvp
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Title: Learning from Classroom Tests After They Have Been Taken
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By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
Imagine Sarah, a strong student who is always in class, participates, and is motivated to do well in her German class. The week before the chapter exam she is really busy and ends up only finding time to really study the night before. She is up late learning the material for the test and, when it’s done, feels like she did pretty well, but may also have missed some things. The next few days she thinks about the test, but after that just waits for the grade and focuses elsewhere. A week later, her instructor returns the test. She has a score of 91/100. Sarah is happy with the grade. She spends a few minutes looking at the places she made mistakes and then returns the exam to her teacher as requested, never to be thought of again until she calculates her final grade in the class. She remembers some of what she learned a week ago, but also is missing some as well.
While the exam served the purpose of measuring what Sarah knew of the chapter content at that moment, additional reflection and work with the chapter test after it was taken would have afforded her the opportunity to learn additional material and use her mistakes for learning. Fail states can be a powerful learning tool. In addition, it would have required her to return to the material she had “crammed” the week before to recycle the content and connect it to what she is currently learning. With limited classroom time, it often feels like there is no time to return to something that has already been addressed, but a number of short reflective activities can be implemented in the classroom to enhance the learning experience. A few examples are given here:
- Learners can be asked to take their test home and, for each incorrect response, use a different color pen or pencil to redo the activities and find the answer. Then, in class, they can work with a partner to ensure all test items have been corrected accurately. This second step allows learns to work together to negotiate any discrepancies and help eliminate the temptation to just make quick corrections and forget about it.
- Learners can be asked to complete a reflective learning journal in which they are asked to analyze their success (or lack there of) using three key questions –Based on your performance, (1) what are three things you know really well and will likely remember long term?, (2) what are three things you knew then that are not as clear now?, and (3) what do you still not know at all and need to revisit. These journals can then become part of the overall evaluation score of the test.
- Learners can be asked to write a new test item (with the answer key) for the section in which they did the worst. In this way, they are required to reconsider what they need to know and work with the material. Then, as a warm-up in class, students can be asked to take each other’s test items and compare their test items with answer key.
Regardless of the technique used, any effort to engage students with the test beyond the grade can enhance learning and add additional opportunities for growth. Happy reflecting!
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Title: Customize Your InterCom Subscription
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Thank you to those of you who responded to our survey about InterCom last week. Quite a few subscribers mentioned receiving too much content, or content about languages that they don’t teach. Now is a great time to re-visit your personal subscription preferences so that you can customize for what content you receive. To do so, go to http://caslsintercom.uoregon.edu/, click on the Members tab, select Log-in, and enter your email address and password (there is a password recovery link if you can’t remember it). From there you can select the language(s) you are interested in along with other areas that will limit the articles you receive to only the most relevant to your situation. We hope that you continue to enjoy your InterCom subscription.
Source: CASLS
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Content Type: 4
Title: Reflecting on Assessment Data
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By Marilyn Mi, Chinese Teacher on Special Assignment at Portland Public Schools, Stephanie Knight, CASLS Language Technology Specialist, and Dr. Linda Forrest, CASLS Research Director
The activity featured below is for educators. It is one approach to working with assessment data from proficiency assessments.
Learning Objectives: Teachers will be able to
- Demonstrate understanding of ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines.
- Compare and contrast learner work with exemplars.
- Use data to inform instruction and instructional strategies.
Modes: Presentational Speaking, Presentational Writing, Interpersonal Communication, Interpretive Reading, and Interpretive Listening
Materials Needed: Student assessment exemplars, ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, Student work
Procedure:
- Review assessment data for learners (either on the class level or a district level depending on context). Use the following questions to guide your thinking:
- What is the middle score? Is that indicative of my class on average?
- What are the highest and lowest scores? What is the relationship between the range of scores and level of differentiation I need in my classroom?
- What are the scores of the ‘middle half’ of my students? How does this information inform the learning activities that I develop for my learners?
- How do my learners’ productive skills compare to their receptive skills?
- How do my learners’ reading and writing skills compare? What about listening and speaking? How might this/does this relate to their interpersonal communicative abilities?
- Review assessment exemplars from the proficiency assessment in question in order to ensure understanding of how learner-produced texts are evaluated. This process is best realized by first attempting to evaluate the exemplars with the appropriate rubrics and then discussing how the exemplars were actually evaluated. It is important during this discussion to focus on how key phrases from the rubrics should be interpreted.
- Choose a random sampling of texts produced by learners in your class to compare with the exemplars. Use the following questions to guide your thinking:
- What proficiency levels should my learners be at? Are they there?
- Where do the strengths of my students lie? What does that information tell me about my teaching?
- What are the weaknesses of my learners? What are some instructional strategies that I want to focus on to address those weaknesses?
- Based on the text comparison and the data analysis, what is one realistic goal that I can set for my learners? What steps will I take to achieve that goal?
Notes:
While it is fine to engage in this assessment review process individually, understanding and strategy development is more robust when engaging in the assessment review process in groups such as Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).
The process for data analysis is most fruitful when educators are able to look a specific learners’ data over time in addition to the data discussed in this activity. Such an analysis, in combination with conversations with learners, has the potential to reveal general factors that impact learner success.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Title: New Issue of Language Learning & Technology
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The October 2016 issue of Language Learning & Technology is available online at http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2016/index.html. In this issue:
• Individual Versus Interactive Task-based Performance Through Voice-based Computer-mediated Communication
• Oral-performance Language Tasks for CSL Beginners in Second Life
• Mapping Languaging in Digital Spaces: Literacy Practices at Borderlands
• Applying Form-focused Approaches to L2 Vocabulary Instruction Through Podcasts
• Mobile English Vocabulary Learning Based on Concept-mapping Strategy
• Positioning Identity in Computer-mediated Discourse among ESOL Learners
• Data-driven Learning of Collocations: Learner Performance, Proficiency, and Perceptions
• Syntactic Enhancement and Second Language Literacy: An Experimental Study
Plus announcements, calls for papers, columns, and reviews.
Source: Language Learning & Technology
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