Contents
Content Type: 1
Title: Five Helpful Criteria for Can-Do Statements
Body:
From http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/
Megan Smith asks us to consider five criteria for writing good daily Can-Do statements: they should be communicative, have a cultural connection, target the right proficiency range, be age appropriate, and be measurable by the end of class.
In her post, she has readers evaluate several potential Can-Do statements against these criteria: http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/can-dos/
Source: Creative Language Class
Inputdate: 2018-01-24 15:16:49
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-01-29 03:50:01
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-01-29 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-01-29 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
Content Type: 1
Title: Classroom Management Plan B: Body Language for Individual Disruptions
Body:
From https://nobodyexpectsthespanishacquisition.com
Many teachers refer for Fred Jones for addressing classroom behavior (http://www.fredjones.com/). Among them are Ben Slavic and Tina Hargaden, who have created a course called "The Bite-Size Book of Classroom Management" (https://ci-liftoff.teachable.com/p/the-bite-size-book-of-classroom-management). In this blog post, read a language teacher's summary of "Plan B," the approach recommended when overall the class knows behavioral expectations, but one students is failing to follow them. The approach relies heavily on body language and the teacher's non-verbal cues and can be especially helpful to break down veteran teachers' postures for novice teachers.
Read the blog post at https://nobodyexpectsthespanishacquisition.com/2018/01/22/classroom-management-plan-b/
Source: Nobody Expects the Spanish Acquisition!
Inputdate: 2018-01-24 15:17:58
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-01-29 03:50:01
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-01-29 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-01-29 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
Content Type: 1
Title: Using Flipgrid for Language Learning
Body:
The video sharing platform Flipgrid continues to take the language teaching world by storm. In addition to these past InterCom articles linking to teachers' uses of Flipgrid (http://caslsintercom.uoregon.edu/content/23652 and http://caslsintercom.uoregon.edu/content/24447), here are two more recent posts about using Flipgrid:
From Discovering CI, "Promoting Interpersonal Communication with @FlipGrid": https://discoveringci.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/promoting-interpersonal-communication-with-flipgrid/
A post by Jess Bell on getting started with Flipgrid: http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2018/01/22/guest-post-getting-started-with-flipgrid/
Spanish teacher Maris Hawkins invites other Spanish teachers to collaborate with her by having their and her students speak Spanish with each other via Flipgrid. Learn how you can participate here: https://marishawkins.wordpress.com/2018/01/21/lets-have-our-students-speak-spanish-together-collaborate-via-flipgrid/
Source: Various
Inputdate: 2018-01-24 15:18:45
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-01-29 03:50:01
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-01-29 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-01-29 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
Content Type: 1
Title: Podcast: A Departmental Shift to IPA-based Units
Body:
Episode 36 of the We Teach Languages podcasts is an interview with high school Spanish teacher Rich Madel about his department's move from a textbook-based curriculum to units based on Integrated Performance Assessments, or IPA's.
Listen to the podcast at https://weteachlang.com/2018/01/19/ep-36-with-rich-madel/
Source: We Teach Languages
Inputdate: 2018-01-24 15:19:18
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-01-29 03:50:01
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-01-29 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-01-29 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
Content Type: 1
Title: Research Summary: Language Learning through Social Networks
Body:
Clare Maas summarizes a 2016 study by Chin-Hsi Lin, M. Warschauer, and R. Blake, "Language Learning through Social Networks: Perceptions and Reality." The study focused on Chinese learners of English through Livemocha. She concludes, "The boosts to motivation and self-confidence participants in this study reported regarding their language learning highlights the potential of LLSNS like Livemocha in creating opportunities for richer L2 socialisation and engagement than traditional language lessons. Further potential of such platforms can be found in the increased opportunity for authentic language production, and more opportunities to monitor one's own language production than in a traditional classroom. Nonetheless, none of the case study participants here continued to submit exercises to the site after eleven months, with some ceasing to use the platform much earlier. The reasons for this would be an interesting focus for future work in the area. This finding shows, though, that merely having access to learning resources is not a guarantee that learners will use them to their full potential - this is applicable to LLSNS as well as other CALL provisions or MOOCs. Guidance and support from language teachers may be key to maintaining learners' engagement with such resources over time. An interesting discussion is whether this type of support could be provided within such LLSNS platforms."
Read the full research summary at http://www.eltresearchbites.com/201801-language-learning-through-social-networks-perceptions-and-reality/
Source: ELT Research Bites
Inputdate: 2018-01-24 15:20:09
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-01-29 03:50:01
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-01-29 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-01-29 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
Content Type: 1
Title: Moving from Feedback to Feedforward
Body:
From https://www.cultofpedagogy.com
Jennifer Gonzalez interviews Joe Hirsch, the author of The Feedback Fix: Dump the Past, Embrace the Future, and Lead the Way to Change, and summarizes the six essential elements of the "feedforward" concept. In a nutshell, feedback as typically implemented gives students information about something they've already done; in other words, we are hoping to foster change by giving students information about something they can't change (because it's in the past). Feedforward works by interacting with students during, rather than after, the process of working on a task and asking the student questions about how to improve what he or she is doing.
Read a short summary of this concept and listen to the hour-long interview with Mr. Hirsch at https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/feedforward/
Source: Cult of Pedagogy
Inputdate: 2018-01-24 15:20:49
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-01-29 03:50:01
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-01-29 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-01-29 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
Content Type: 5
Title: The Sixth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence
Body:
The Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) is proud to have been one of the co-sponsors of the Sixth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence with our sister National Foreign Language Resource Center, the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL). This conference took place January 25-28 in Tucson, Arizona, and focused on intercultural competence and mobility in virtual and physical spaces. A CASLS team was on hand to discuss a variety of CASLS projects in a symposium entitled “Harnessing Digital Technologies to Unpack the Dynamism of Human Interactions.” The projects featured include a virtual reality project for refugees in Germany, an approach to game-enhanced learning featured on Games2Teach, the development of metapragmatic awareness through digital mindfulness, and the ongoing development of the Intercultural Pragmatic Interactional Competence Assessment.
Thank you to our colleagues at CERCLL for a wonderful and thought-provoking conference!
Source: CASLS Spotlight
Inputdate: 2018-01-26 18:08:09
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-01-29 03:50:01
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-01-29 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-01-29 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
Content Type: 5
Title: CASLS Welcomes New Group of International Studies to the UO
Body:
Integrating language and culture learning with practical career experience makes a powerful combination. CASLS' Oregon International Internship Program (OIIP) does just that for students from China, Japan, and Taiwan. CASLS will be welcoming a cohort of eight students beginning in February 7.
“This incoming cohort includes students with a diverse range of interests, including the program’s first-ever music major, and all students are interested in teaching,” says East Asia Program Director Li-Hsien Yang. “I’m looking forward to meeting them when they arrive, getting to know them, and working with them during the duration of the program.”
Over the course of six months, the students will enroll in a course designed to specifically explore intercultural communication while they complete internships in Eugene-Springfield elementary schools.
OIIP students share their native language and culture and help local students learn common core curriculum. This cohort will be the first to have an opportunity to complete their internship at Roosevelt Middle School in Eugene.
In addition, OIIP students stay with local families to further learn about American family life.
“We’ve expanded the number and types of our homestay families,” says Yang. “It’s exciting to be able to match students with homestay families in our area that share the same interests and passions.”
Students from the incoming cohort are arriving from Southwest University in Chongqing, China; East China Normal University in Shanghai, China; and National Chiayi University in Chiayi City, Taiwan.
Source: CASLS Spotlight
Inputdate: 2018-01-29 14:13:47
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-02-05 03:52:53
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-02-05 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-02-05 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
Content Type: 4
Title: Online Interactions
Body:
By Zach Patrick-Riley
In online spaces, communication goes beyond simple text and includes visual representations of feelings and objects. This activity demonstrates how these visual cues are being used and is aimed at helping students feel more confident when interacting online. This activity also helps learners get to know more about each other in a fun way and has the potential to help build a stronger classroom community.
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- Navigate basic commenting functions on social media platforms.
- Communicate with basic language and non-verbal cues in online contexts.
Mode: Presentational
Materials needed: Lingro to Go Video (for students of Spanish), private class Facebook group, device with Internet access, learner accounts on Facebook
Procedure:
1. Create a private class Facebook group where all students are members prior to class. Have a post ready in the target language that is similar to the phrase below and make sure to include a GIF:
I love chips because they are crunchy and delicious. : P What's your favorite food? Comment with a GIF! Say y u like it!
2. Show the class the LingroToGo video (or another source that is relevant to how to make social media posts in the target language) and ask students to write down the three tips they hear (see step 3 for the specific tips).
3. Engage students in a Think-Pair-Share protocol. First, students reflect on the tips. Then, they should discuss them with a partner. Finally, the whole class will discuss the tips so that the teacher can make sure students understand and have examples of these three key tips for commenting on social media posts. At this point, it may be beneficial to reference an SMS dictionary in the target language so that your students have an idea about ways that phrases are typically abbreviated (for Spanish SMS resources, go here).
4. The students then practice the tips by responding to your post in the private Facebook group.
5. Students respond to others' posts with text, emojis, and/or other GIFs. The teacher helps facilitate as necessary and responds to students' comments as well.
6. Wrap up the activity and have students reflect on their experience. In this stage it is important to highlight that one can communicate meaning with GIFs, emojis, and abbreviated words.
Notes
To expand on the celebrate your relationship point, have students discuss how the GIFs, commenting, and emoji use/reactions help strengthen the classroom community.
Modifications:
- This activity can be adapted to any language.
- The activity can be extended by seeing what the most popular food was.
- The activity can be extended by asking students what their favorite emojis, abbreviations, and GIFs are and why.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
Inputdate: 2018-01-29 14:29:02
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-02-05 03:52:53
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-02-05 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-02-05 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
Content Type: 3
Title: Beyond Words: Pragmatics in Language Learning
Body:
By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
Words have the power to to shape history, heal relationships, cause conflict, connect families, and facilitate negotiations. We should not underestimate their power. However, in language teaching and learning, words themselves are often relegated to one-to-one relationships with an image or translations or placed in long lists for students to memorize. Take, for example, the many popular self-study language applications that focus on translation or the numerous vocabulary quizzes in which learners are required to recall a list of words based on a picture. While none of these practices is necessarily detrimental, they are not reflective of the power words can have when approached from a meaning-based (i.e., pragmatic) perspective. In addition to learning “what words mean,” a meaning-based approach adds the perspective of "what words can mean," thereby emphasizing that word meaning can be dynamic and is always shifting based on the experience of interlocutors themselves.
For example, the word "coffee" often appears in a textbook with a picture of a brown beverage with steam. But the reality is that when two friends decide to go for “coffee,” they might order tea, or scones, or a full meal. Thus what coffee means is a hot brown bean-based beverage, but what it can mean is time set aside with a friend. A learner who replies, “I don’t drink coffee, but thank you anyway” is missing out on the extended meaning, in which coffee is used to frame a friendly invitation.
A meaning-based approach enables learners not only to match a word with a definition, but also to use that word in alternative ways for humor, to create inside jokes with people they are close to, and to shift their understanding of a word when it is used in a professional setting instead of a vernacular domain. This skill also helps limit frustration that often arises with the occurrence of too many unknown words by enhancing decoding skills and encouraging students to understand meaning as it directly relates to the context in which it is used. A meaning-based approach does not require a drastic shift, but rather a subtle movement towards the dynamic nature of human language.
Here are some ideas for learners to expand their understanding of the extended meanings of words:
- ask learners to make a list of words they have used as inside jokes and then have them explore ways in which words they need to learn have been used in other ways.
- ask learners to observe the way language is used over the course of a week, while making note of any time they notice a word used in a way that does not fit with its typical definition.
- ask learners to think of any words or phrases that have a unique meaning in the specific shared culture of their classroom environment.
Regardless of the approach one takes, understanding the value of words as active tools is fundamental to long-term language success.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
Inputdate: 2018-01-31 11:51:22
Lastmodifieddate: 2018-02-05 03:52:53
Expdate:
Publishdate: 2018-02-05 02:15:01
Displaydate: 2018-02-05 00:00:00
Active: 1
Emailed: 1
Isarchived: 0
