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Content Type: 1
Title: 40 Hard-to-Pronounce Words You’re Probably Getting Wrong
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This list provides 40 common and less common words in the English language that are notoriously difficult to pronounce. It includes a pronunciation guide as well as a definition. This resource would be useful for high-level learners who are working to fine-tune their pronunciation.
To see the list, go to: https://www.thoughtco.com/hard-to-pronounce-words-4156950?utm_campaign=wilat&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=17982455&utm_term=
Source: ThoughtCo.
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Title: Euphemism (Words)
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This article details what a euphemism is and how it is used within the English language. The author places an importance on the value of euphemisms and how they have evolved for different concepts over the course of the English language. The article additionally has a wide variety of authentically sourced examples of euphemisms which could be used as prompts or discussion topics in the classroom.
Source: ThoughtCo.
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Content Type: 1
Title: 5 Apps for English Learning and Teaching
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From: http://blog.tesol.org/5-apps-for-english-learning-and-teaching/
This article contains five app suggestions for teachers to use in the classroom or for students to use in their out-of-class language learning. These apps would be great to incorporate in a class to encourage students in their studying as well as to provide a new interface for in-class activities like quizzes.
Access summaries of the apps’ capabilities at: http://blog.tesol.org/5-apps-for-english-learning-and-teaching/
Source: TESOL Blog
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Title: Ask the Expert
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From: https://frenchteachernet.blogspot.com/2019/10/ask-expert.html
This activity is an extension of the more common “ask and move” exercise where 4+ students are the experts on a topic and share it with one another. This task posits that if there is only a small number of students in your class, you should make each one individually the expert. After reading a chunk of text, they should be able to answer in-depth questions as the expert of the topic. This type of activity could be applied to any target language.
Read more at: https://frenchteachernet.blogspot.com/2019/10/ask-expert.html
Source: Language Teacher Toolkit
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Content Type: 1
Title: What is the Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon?
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This article describes the “tip-of-the-tongue” phenomenon in which the speaker has the phonological outline of the word, but cannot recall the whole word. It goes on to describe scenarios in which this happens as well as why it happens.
Read the full article at: https://www.thoughtco.com/tipofthetongue-tot-phenomenon-1692548?utm_term=&utm_campaign=grammartip&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=18259635
Source: ThoughtCo.
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Title: Technology Tips on How to Evaluate Educational Apps
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From: https://www.educatorstechnology.com/2019/10/teacher-tips-on-how-to-evaluate.html
This infographic has some quick tips for how teachers can determine what apps are useful in their classroom and which ones are less so. It posits questions about engagement, developmental appropriateness, instructional design, motivation, and accessibility. This resource is great for a teacher who wants to incorporate more technology into their classroom but isn't sure how to evaluate the resources available to them.
To view this infographic, go to: https://www.educatorstechnology.com/2019/10/teacher-tips-on-how-to-evaluate.html
Source: Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
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Content Type: 5
Title: Join Us at ACTFL 2019
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Each year, CASLS and its sister Language Resource Centers attend the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention. This year’s convention will be held November 22-24 in Washington, DC.
The ACTFL Annual Convention provides a unique opportunity for language educators to meet colleagues from across the country, build their professional learning network, and learn from each other as well as national experts.
All of the Language Resource Centers will be sharing one large pavilion in booth 1232. We hope you’ll stop by to find free or low-cost teaching materials, professional development opportunities, assessment and evaluation services, and more from the LRCs!
We look forward to connecting with many of you at ACTFL and hearing about your experiences, which we often use to shape new products and resources.
Source: CASLS
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Title: Join Us at #ACTFL2019
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The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention culminates the fall conference season, and our staff can’t wait to meet you at this year’s convention in Washington, DC! We hope you’ll stop by the Language Resource Centers at booth 1232 and join us for the following sessions:
Free Standards-based Language Teaching Resources from the LRCs
Friday, November 22 4:30-5:15
Room 151B
Come learn about free standards-based resources for more than 142 languages available from 16 Language Resource Centers funded by the Department of Education: assessment, classroom materials, and professional development for all levels and languages. URLs for downloadable resources are provided.
Publishing Your Research in ACTFL’s Foreign Language Annals
Friday, November 22 2:30-3:15
Room 155
Learn more about ACTFL’s Foreign Language Annals and how to get your research published.
ACTFL Research-oriented Papers on Pragmatics
Friday, November 22 5:00-5:15
Room 158B
Although pragmatic, intercultural, and interactional competence are essential to language development, assessing these skills in second language classrooms is challenging. This presentation demonstrates a digital simulation that uses lifelike scenarios in immersive digital environments to allow participants to perform intercultural assessment tasks.
Empowering Progress: Developing Learners’ and Teachers’ Reflective Practice
Saturday, November 23 10:00-10:45
Room 151A
Reflection, goal setting, and self-evaluation promote increased outcomes in any learner. Yet, teachers find it difficult to set aside time for such important practices. Several processes for reflective learning designed to cultivate teachers' professional growth and support them in developing their students' reflective practice will be shared.
Navigating Chaos: Structuring Spontaneous Communication for Learners
Saturday, November 23 4:30-5:15
Room 144B
The dynamism and chaos of real-time communication can be overwhelming for language learners. This session explores how awareness of the environment (i.e., material objects like handouts and mobile devices) as well as situational dynamics (i.e., social settings and roles) can inspire learners to participate confidently in unrehearsed contexts.
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Title: Planning with Proficiency in Mind
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Stephanie Knight, CASLS Assistant Director
The word proficiency is slippery at best; it is the focus of most language classrooms and assessments, yet, as we established last week, there is no common definition nor singular approach to operationalizing what proficiency looks like. This reality can make distinct levels of proficiency feel like moving targets of sorts for teachers, which understandably complicates lesson planning.
In order to plan proficiency-oriented lessons, no matter the definitions or conceptualizations of proficiency that are operationalized in a given school or district, we recommend that teachers keep the following recommendations in mind:
- Define language functions as learning targets and only focus on the content which is critical to engagement in said functions. If a teacher desires to teach learners to apologize to friends in the target language, he or she may need to focus on familiar imperatives (e.g., Forgive me), but delving into all imperative conjugations would be unnecessary. By limiting instruction to only the critical content, educators not only help learners focus their working memory on the content at hand, but they also highlight grammar in a way that showcases what is salient for communication.
- Design scaffolded learning experiences that progress learners through increasingly more active levels of cognition. Have learners begin lessons by gathering information through collection of texts, observation journals, or taking inventory of what they understand and don’t understand. Then, ask that they analyze the texts at hand to both induce meaning as well as create robust schemata for their newly acquired knowledge and skills. Finally, have them either delve more deeply into understanding the learning targets or ask that they practice the language function(s) at hand with increasingly fewer scaffolds.
- Remember the critical nature of social interaction. Engage learners socially to not only practice target language functions but also to analyze and inspect target language functions and cultural nuances. Ask that they work together to understand, model, and practice the various conventions of communication (gestures, strategies for getting one’s point across) as well as the genres and associated audience expectations and needs for relevant texts.
- Protect time for reflection. Learners need to evaluate their work consistently and set goals for themselves. Make sure to protect time for short evaluations (e.g. exit tickets) as well as longer, more in-depth evaluations (e.g. portfolio analysis).
Certainly, adherence to these recommendations support the creation of a proficiency-oriented classroom. To further support educators, this week’s Activity of the Week provides a template to use that explicitly addresses these considerations.
Source: CASLS
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Content Type: 4
Title: Proficiency-Oriented Lesson Planner
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This activity is designed to help teachers engage in planning for proficiency-oriented lessons.
Outcomes:
Teachers will be able to:
- Articulate learning targets for a proficiency-oriented lesson and the critical content associated with those targets.
- Articulate classroom activities that engage learners in observation, analysis, and extension of targeted language functions.
- Articulate classroom activities that engage learners in goal setting and reflection.
Materials: Lesson Design Template
Procedure:
1. Begin by identifying your goals. Make sure to only list 1-3. For example, as part of a unit on travel, teachers may wish to articulate the following goals:
- I can understand weather reports and other weather descriptions that I listen to.
- I can suggest what to wear based on the weather details that I hear and read.
2. Next, articulate only the critical structures, vocabulary, and strategies that you will focus on as part of the lesson. For the aforementioned learning targets, teachers may wish to focus on present progressive (3rd person singular only), complex future (3rd person singular only), weather expressions, and a suggestion giving strategy in the target language (e.g. for Spanish learners, you might choose forming a question with negation).
3. After that, articulate the learning experiences that learners will engage with as they acquire the lesson’s targeted knowledge and skills.
- Observe-Notice-Interpret: Articulate activities that will help learners take inventory of what they need to know for a language function. Typically, these activities require considerable work in the interpretive mode. Some common activities you might see at this phase include observation journals, inductive reasoning, genre analysis, and introduction of critical content via direct teaching.
- Analyze-Process-Interact or Present: Articulate activities that will help learners closely examine the language in question. Typically, these activities involve the interpersonal and/or presentational modes. Some example activities might include marking texts, analyzing notes, partner discussions, and the practice of language learning strategies.
- Apply-Extend-Interact or Present: Articulate activities that will help learners practice language and/or enhance their understanding of targeted language functions. Typically, these activities involve the interpersonal and/or presentational modes. Some example activities might include outlining and planning a future creation, language simulations, jigsaw activities, and research.
4. Finally, protect time for learners to engage in evaluation and reflection. Sometimes, this phase will involve in-depth analysis of the work that the learners have created over time, and other times, it may involve shorter activities such as peer review, quick, holistic self-evaluations, or exit tickets.
Source: CASLS
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