Documenting ANOTHER Year as an ESOL Teacher

11 Questions Blog challenge- tagged by @josettelb

12/21/2013

This has been my first year writing on this blog and exchanging ideas with people on Twitter, and what an incredible year it has been! I’ve met teachers in different parts of the world (e.g., Korea, China, Brasil, Turkey, Italy, Israel), and well, the cooperative spirit and enthusiasm of so many folks has been an incredible gift in my life. While I sure hope to meet some of these teachers in person one day, for now, I am thankful to have the opportunity to read about their experiences and learn from their reflections.

Josette, who tagged me on this 11-question blog challenge, is one of those people who have inspired me to continue reflecting about my teaching, motivating me to write. Answering these questions was fun, and now I would love to get to know a bit more some of the people I follow online, so here are my 11 questions for
@michaelegriffin
@timjulian60
@hartle
@bucharesttutor
@breathyvowel
@annehendler
@alexswalsh
@gotanda
@thesecretDOS (who wouldn’t want to find out more about this mysterious blogger?)
@muranava
@Florentina_T

Tagged Folks: there is no pressure to answer. However, if you would like to continue this idea, here are some of the guidelines:

1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
4. List 11 bloggers.
5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.

MY ANSWER TO JOSETTE's 11 Questions

1. Why did you start blogging?
As someone who has always enjoyed journaling and writing, I had always wanted to blog, but was very insecure about it. Who would want to read? What would I even write about? Earlier this year I got a great excuse to begin: the community college I used to teach at sent me to work in China for a semester, so I started a blog to document and reflect on some of my teaching experiences. It was intimidating to commit to a blog, but this year for me as been all embracing challenges by committing taking baby steps towards a desired goal. Because of this, I set out the goal to blog once a month. I skipped August and October, but I’m so happy I did begin –writing 10 posts rather than zero feels great!

2. What keeps you teaching every year?
The desire to learn something new. This year, I learned (or began to learn) what it was like to teach large mixed levels (A1-B2) without a pre-existing curriculum. I also started to learn about Project-Based Learning. I’ve met some amazing people (students, other faculty, teachers online), and I think the interaction and exchange of ideas with others also keeps me motivated and going each year.

3. Do you have a pet peeve? If so, what is it? If not, have you ever had one, and how did you get over it?
I think I have several pet peeves, but one the one that comes to mind right now is the use of the expression “real world” when referring to what you do outside of the classroom. Where are we if not in the real world when we are learning with others? Nothing more real than developing relationships with others who may have similar goals to yours. Sure, schools can be a bubble at times in terms of how different issues are discussed or approached, but it is still very real and not some sort of artificial experience.

4. Do you prefer planes, trains, or automobiles when traveling?
Trains! Most of the trains I’ve ever taken have been to visit friends of family in Italy, so there’s something nostalgic about them. I love preparing all the snacks I want to have with me, choosing a book to read on the trip, and having a good playlist. I suppose planes accomplish this too, but I really enjoy how much I can see from a train window.

5. What’s your favourite movie?
An Italian film that came out in 2001 called “Le Fate Ignoranti”. I think it’s been translated as “The Ignorant Fairies”. The movie is about a young widow who finds out her husband had a male lover for many years. She sets out to search for the lover, and through him, ends of discovering a lot not just about her diseased husband, but about herself. The movie is filmed in Rome, and the stories it tells are so moving.

6. Has a complete stranger ever showed you kindness? What happened?
This is such a hard question to answer because I can’t recall one big moment. Rather, I think I’ve been shown kindness many times in small acts –like when people offer to help carrying something, or when a stranger has said something nice to me just on a day I really needed to get some encouragement.

7. Tea or coffee?
It’s a close call, but being half-Colombian and half-Italian (Seattle is also home), I have to say coffee! I could go a week without tea, but it’s hard to go a day without coffee. I am picky about my coffee, too. I like good quality coffee, fresh, strong, and black.

8. What was one of the sweetest moments that ever happened in class – between you and the students, or between the students?
I once taught a Saturday morning, four-hour remedial English course to MBA students in Colombia. It must have been a group of 12 students, and all of them were at such different levels! I literally had one student who could not understand when I asked him if he liked the textbook, while another one was ready to tell me all about his travels and work experience. The first day of class, at one point after the break, the student with the most limited English decided he would not take the class. All the other students convinced him to stay and told them everyone would work together. It was amazing! They really did work well together and the student in question, a guy in his 40s, ended up really motivated to learn! He took private classes on the side and continued (and successfully completed) his MBA. This was all the work of students though, and I was touched to see that level of support.

9. You have the whole day to yourself. What are you going to do?
Cook something nice while listening to music or the radio (I love NPR’s Radio Lab). I would make coffee or tea and read the news paper for a while, then go out on a walk (preferably in the city) and take lots of pictures. At the end of the day, I would go to the movies –haven’t gone alone in a while, but it’s a great experience. I would take a long bath at night, again, listening to music. Wow, I feel relaxed now just to think of this imaginary whole day to myself!

10. If you could spend a year focusing on research, what would you research? Why?
I am fascinated by Italian dialects (they’re more like languages, actually). I would like to do research on linguistic heritage and find out how maintaining the language of our family or communities affects how we think and who we are. There’s a strong personal motivation behind my interest in this subject; I grew up listening to my Italian grandmother speak in Sanremasco (the dialect of Sanremo in the region of Liguria), and I love how Sanremasco sounds. When I was a kid I would always try to understand as much as I could and I would ask my grandma lots of questions about what she was saying, or try to impress her by translating into Italian. I love how we sound different when we switch languages, and I’m saddened by the fact that the sounds of many generations are disappearing as dialects become less commonly used.

11. What’s your favourite word? :)
I really like the word “stentorian”. I remember I first head it in a Fiona Apple song having to do with being heartbroken. The song is called “Oh Well!” and that word for some reason reminded me of the importance of being strong, of listening to that loud inside voice and searching what I really wanted.

My 11 Questions
1. Why did you begin blogging?
2. What is an aspect of teaching that you struggle with and have tried to improve on?
3. What is your ideal lesson like?
4. What would you hope your students remember you for?
5. Why did you become a teacher of ESOL?
6. If you were given a paid semester off to do whatever you wanted, what would you do?
7. Do you listen to music while grading? If so, what do you listen to? If not, why not?
8. Who has influenced your teaching?
9. If you could go anywhere in the world to teach, where would that be and why?
10. Do you have a pet peeve? If so, what is it? If not, have you ever had one, and how did you get over it? (taking this question from Josette)
11. What is your favorite resource (website, object, activity) in teaching?

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The challenge of written feedback

11/21/2013

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When I was a student, I don’t think it ever crossed my mind how much work giving written feedback would be. I just gladly took it and read every word my teachers would add to my work. This term I’ve begun teaching an English 101 class, and I have to read approximately 60 essays several times during the semester. Whereas previously I used to spend 10-15 minutes giving feedback on a students’ essay, I am now spending anywhere between 30-35 minutes on each essay. Don’t get me wrong, I am not necessarily complaining about the amount of work (this is what I signed up for and I do see the value in doing it!), but giving so much feedback has inevitably led me to question how I give feedback and how I can help students make the most out of it.

Perhaps because of the length and level of the essays I read now has increased, or maybe because I will meet students one-on-one to discuss their essay for 20 minutes after they get feedback on the first draft, I have become extremely self-conscious of every word I add when I begin writing comments to my students’ work.

This is how I am going about giving written feedback nowadays:

- I started giving electronic feedback this term just so I could actually edit my comments as I write, and so I would have more room to write.

- I am combining both shorthand writing comments, e.g., SV, Punct, #, VT, Run-on, Frag, along with longer comments in which I imagine I am talking to the student. It would be great if I could just record my comments, and while I vaguely remember someone mentioning there is software to do this, I have not used it before.

While the formats we use to give feedback matter, clearly what we say and how we say matter the most. This is actually what I’ve spent most of my time wondering lately. Am I doing is the best for my students? What could I be doing better to make my written feedback more useful for those who receive it and less time consuming for me to produce?

As I write comments on my students’ papers, I often wonder:

-Will they understand what I mean or just skip it and ignore it because it is not clear? I cannot just write a question mark or a very technical explanation of an error and expect the student to get it. But sometimes it is hard to put comments in words without writing too much! The picture I chose for this blog post is a good example of too much feedback.

-Am I sounding too harsh? I certainly don’t want to discourage students, but I also don’t want to sugar coat errors when something the student wrote is not working and needs to be revised. I have to say I do not like the way comments appear on Word --all the red lines and boxes are too much; however, I have not found a good substitute.

-Am I writing too little? Sometimes, especially when I read a paper that has more errors than the average essay, I feel like I need to just get to the most important errors and skip others. I do not want to overwhelm the student with too much feedback. But what if the student then thinks everything else he or she wrote is fine? What if they think I simply did not take the time to give feedback on everything else or did not read it? I suppose I need to continue to remind my students that I will not comment on every error on their work, just the most important ones.

As I get ready for a second round of first draft papers to come from my students, I am thinking of how I want to go about giving feedback (the language I use, the length of my comments, even where I add them). Last time, I asked students to come to tutorials prepared with questions about their feedback and essay writing. I believe this was effective for students who came prepared, as they were in charge of the discussion we had during tutorials, not me. In other words, my feedback had become theirs to adapt and question. My challenge now is making the process of giving feedback more sustainable for me while still being thorough and clear in my comments. I would love to hear tips or personal experiences from any teachers of ESOL reading this blog.

Let’s see how this next round goes. This time, I’ve got a great new playlist and some fun tea for those long nights grading essays. I’m ready!

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On Failure, reflection, and learning

9/28/2013

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“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.” – John Dewey.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in a world in which you never made mistakes and were still able to do everything you set yourself to do? I’m sure that nobody enjoys the feeling of disappointment that mistakes bring about; however, if you never experienced the pain of making mistakes, would you really be learning? While I am not saying that we have to make mistakes in order to learn, I would argue that some of the most valuable learning moments in our lives, as teachers or language learners, come from identifying what has gone wrong when we've followed a less than ideal course of action.

In my experience, as painful as it can be to realize I have not done something the way I anticipated I would, it is liberating to realize that every day brings a new chance to do things better and to not repeat the same mistakes. Call it processing or reflective teaching practices, this semester more than ever, I have taken to journaling after each and every class in order to process what went well, what could be better, and how I feel about those objectives I set for myself and my students each lesson. My teaching journal has also helped me deal with those emotional moments in which I may feel insecure or uncertain about something. Sometimes possible solutions to my issues come up as I write –always a welcome result of journaling.

As a teacher, life would be really hard if I don't embrace my own mistakes or if I am not willing to even admit to them in the first place. Of course, this is easier said that done. Who can honestly say they like how they feel when they make a mistake? It is also much easier to always look for an external reason justifying why things didn't go the way we expected. What I do know is that I internalize a better course of action much more easily when I've experienced the incorrect or least preferable way to go about something. If I blame someone else for my mistake I will miss an opportunity to better my teaching practices. Take, for example, giving clear instructions. When I began teaching, this was one of my weakest points. Nothing like 20+ people staring at you and doing something completely different from what you “instructed” them to do (or not doing anything at all) to make you realize that you need to you need to change your course of action. It does not feel good at all to make the mistake of giving instructions incorrectly, but because I know that giving clear instructions does not come naturally to me, I now focus on this each time I write a lesson plan. Most importantly though, I keep reminding myself to be patient with myself and not expect perfection. We all make mistakes and those mistakes teach us something about ourselves. What matters the most is how we deal with them.

I have always reminded my students to embrace the mistakes they make when learning a new language and take them as an indicator of growth –our mistakes allow us to identify the areas we need to focus on. This semester I have had to put my own advice into practice as I am not only teaching a new subject, but I am also learning a very foreign and challenging language to me: Turkish. As a student, I see how the languages I speak (including my attempt to learn Mandarin) permeate this new language I’m learning. I feel uncomfortable every time I can’t understand my teacher’s instructions or can’t remember a new word, but I can only hope that I will continue embracing my mistakes and continue reflecting and implementing changes with an open mind (and heart). I have a feeling my teaching journal will run out of pages very soon, and that is OK. When it comes to learning, as long as I don't run out of patience and self-compassion, life will be all-good.

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chinese gifts

7/31/2013

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“I survived. I made it! This laoshi (teacher) survived.”

These were the thoughts that kept popping in my head for a week or two after I was done teaching this semester in China. Not that I haven't had challenging terms in the past, but this was different. This was my first time teaching without a team of coworkers around to share ideas and process day-to-day events. This was also my first time teaching without an assigned textbook, which meant that I officially didn’t need to be concerned about “following a textbook” or “covering materials” students need to learn. All I had was the curriculum I had designed: themes, assessment guidelines, course goals and objectives, and ideas to adapt materials and create activities as I got to know my students.

You could say I had a lot of freedom, but of course with this came a big responsibility. It was a bit scary at first to think about putting together lesson plans for 4 months without one specific textbook. I often wondered if I’d have enough reading texts available or the right kind of audio for students to practice listening and note taking. Fortunately, I had the Web and I was able to adapt materials and create reading and listening tasks using news articles or short videos.

Ironically, while living behind the Chinese Internet firewall, I started networking with several teachers around the globe via Twitter. I also took two online courses as part of an online certificate offered through TESOL and started reading more blogs from some inspiring teachers in different parts of the world.

At the risk of stating the obvious, I have to say that it is mind-blowing how empowering it can be to connect online with professionals in your field. At times when I felt isolated teaching in China, I could go online and share ideas and teaching reflections with like-minded professionals –giving me the creative energy that me made my term in China one of the most intense and enjoyable experiences I’ve had. By using Twitter and following blogs, I have started to develop what is called a PLC or Professional Learning Community, and I’m impressed at how supportive and nurturing this online ELT community has proven to be. I’ve posted questions, joined discussions, and shared materials with strangers. Now I feel like I have several colleagues in various parts of the world. How cool is that?

Networking with other ELT professionals out of the need to have coworkers to connect with while in China was one of the best and most unexpected "Chinese gifts" I got. Being 'forced' into not simply covering materials, but actually actively thinking of effective ways to engage students in learning was another gift. The students I worked with in China were receptive during our time together and embraced project work, group work, and the concepts/language that we worked on together. Through them I experienced what the Chinese education system can be like and even though I still wouldn’t claim to understand it, I now can now understand a little better what students go through. China makes a little more sense to me now, and that is a lot to say.

Many aspects that I still don't understand about China and its educational system have gone into my imaginary, mental, Chinese-mystery box –a place where I've thrown all the things I couldn't figure out and allowed them to just stay there. One day I hope to understand some of my Chinese-mystery items, but for now I'm thankful for all gifts I received by way of meeting my students, sharing experiences with the local teachers, reaching out to a larger ELT community online, and getting motivated to develop new lessons.

BLOGS I STARTED FOLLOWING

Here are a few of the new (to me) blogs I've enjoyed over the last few months. I've found it useful to subscribe to blogs via e-mail; this way I can save the message I get each time there is a new post and read it at a later time.

http://eltrantsreviewsreflections.wordpress.com/

http://thesecretdos.wordpress.com/

http://hughdellar.wordpress.com/

http://throwingbacktokens.wordpress.com/

http://tesolnotebook.wordpress.com/

TIPS

·      Before traveling, join online forums of teachers in the country you are going to. I used a Chinese forum on Yahoo! to ask about availability of reading materials in China and the current use of technology in the classroom, but I saw others helping each other with questions related to living conditions and travel related issues.

·      Ask many questions and listen to the teachers and administration where you are. Try to be patient and flexible –it will make your life easier. Things won’t generally go as you have planned, but any plan can be revised and adjusted, right? It’s easy to get stressed out when we are in a new situation, so I try to come in reminding myself to be extra patient.

·      Check out a few activity books for ideas and see if you can get their electronic versions. I am a fan of the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers series and one of them was available for my Kindle.

BOOKS I REFERENCED:

-Teaching Large Multilevel Classes (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers) by Nathalie Hess.

-Lessons from Nothing: Activities for Language Teaching with Limited Time and Resources (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers) by Bruce Marsland.

-Discussion Strategies: Beyond Everyday Conversation (Prolingua Paperback) By David Kehe.

-Dictations for Discussion (Prolingua) by Judy DeFilippo, Catherine Sadow and Raymond C Clark.

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teaching to be rich and famous

6/3/2013

1 Comment

A year ago, I completed my MA in TESOL from the New School University and graduated with a diverse crowd of people teaching all over the world. This was my first experience learning online, and it definitely changed my outlook on e-learning. I met some incredible people (both faculty and classmates) every semester, and found my courses to be more demanding and engaging than my preconceived notions of an online program had me believe. Thanks in part to having taken a couple summer courses onsite, I got to meet in person the classmate I admired the most: Adriana Picoral. Each one of her posts were always so well thought, full of good examples, and to the point. I also met one of the funniest, brightest teacher friends I have to this day, Katrina Schmidt. A year later, we still communicate via Facebook and email, and we continue to share our work online. Last Saturday, the three of us submitted a proposal to present together at the next TESOL Convention. If we get accepted, this will be our first presentation at an international conference.

Because this year I’ve decided to focus on embracing professional challenges little by little, I’ve decided to try and do a poster presentation at next year’s TESOL conference as well. A poster presentation appeals to me because I’ll have a chance to interact with other teachers one-on-one and hopefully learn more about the subject matter: using flash cards to teach vocabulary.

As usual, I’ve been procrastinating writing all weekend long. This blog post is in fact the cusp of my procrastination (I think I have a few more hours left to submit it because of the time difference). Writer’s block, insecurities, self-corrections, ADHD, and too many tea breaks are all to blame for my half-written proposal. Then came Katrina’s email this morning right after officially submitting our proposal online. Her confirmation message to Adriana and I read, “…my horoscope said that something i do early this month will be very good for my professional future SO YOU KNOW THAT MEANS WE WILL BE ACCEPTED AND THEN WE WILL BE FAMOUS AND RICH TEACHERS, right?”

A funny comment turns into a somewhat serious reflection and the perfect excuse to continue procrastinating...

While it does infuriate me that many teachers have to have two jobs in order to make a decent living, and it bothers me to no end that our profession is generally underpaid, I do have to say that I feel extremely lucky to love what I do. I also feel fortunate to have the chance to meet so many motivated and engaging teachers all over the world and to work doing something that always inspires me to keep learning and asking new questions.

Since I have been trying to access corpus tools to improve my understanding of language and help students learn vocabulary, I thought I'd do a quick check about teachers being rich and famous by looking up the most common adjectives used to describe a teacher.

For your viewing pleasure (or corpus-based reality check), here are the top 100 collocations of "teacher."

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computer-ASSISTED language learning in china

5/26/2013

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View in front of our school building

Using computers and the Internet has been extremely valuable in my current teaching context, especially considering I don't have a course book or a predetermined set of already-made materials. I am working with large mixed-level groups, and it is dreadful to have to base classes on content that is only appropriate to some students. When I get to involve them in activities in which they use resources from the web, students can work at their own pace, and most importantly, with materials that might be closer to their level.

When I am not using the computer lab, sometimes I end up bringing texts to class that are too complex. There's not much I can do to change this situation, but at least I have the freedom of adjusting the materials and lesson plan so that students help each other learn.

On those days we go to the computer lab, differentiated instruction becomes feasible for these large groups of students. Using a good learner’s dictionary online (not easy to get printed ones here in China) and getting authentic content to read are just a couple of the many advantages of computer-assisted language learning in my teaching context. A lab makes it easier to to manage a large classroom, as students can advance at their own pace if you place written instructions on the Web and give them the links to materials. One example of this would be Webquests, but I'll blog about that on a different post.

When I was planning the curriculum for my two groups, I had no idea of what our real access to technology would be. I was told there were a couple computer rooms in school, but they were not used for English classes. Fortunately, after teaching a few weeks here, I was able to get 3 periods a week for each one of my groups at the computer labs. Sure, the rooms are incredibly dusty and dirty, but I am convinced that the time my students spend at the computer room is some of the most productive time in our class.

Many times in the past I've wondered (and complained) about my students not being able to send emails properly. It may seem surprising in this era of smartphones and tablets, but it's not unusual to see emails without a subject line or signature. Here in China I've had to teach a few students how to actually open their email inbox and send a message as they only use their QQ (Hotmail-like service) for instant messaging. It's quite annoying to get an email message without a name, leaving you to guess who is writing.

I've also gotten frustrated at the students' overuse of online translators and lack of basic Word processing skills. Some of my most frequently used lines in class are, “Please don't use online translators! I can tell when you use them, and I'd rather read your mistakes than the computer's weird sentences.” Inevitably though, I always end up getting at least a couple online translations. I know I am not the only EAP instructor facing these issues, so I've decided that as important as it is for students to come to class with paper and pencil, it's important for them to know how to use Word, send an email properly, and have some basic Internet search skills.

I am a firm believer that we need to teach how to use computers and the Internet wisely. There are so many available resources out there, but it's easy to get lost with all the digital garbage on the Web. If I want to help my students avoid plagiarizing, I must help them learn to paraphrase and cite properly using online sources. After all, that is most likely where they will turn for information. If the class objectives include students actively using new vocabulary and expressing their own opinions, I have to think of ways in which they can use the technology they already have to do this, but use it responsibly. In my view, teaching students how to use the web to learn English is one way of 'learning how to learn'.

I'm curious to learn about what other teachers are doing, so I'd like to ask:

What are ways in which your students can benefit from using computers and the Internet in your class? What are the challenges? Let's open up the discussion here!

Below I've listed some of the activities we've done so far.

Reading

1. Objective: Identify main ideas and supporting details

I model the use of a highlighter (two different colors) to mark main ideas and supporting details in an article. Students then go to www.VOAnews.com (could be BBC or CNN) and read an article of their choice. This is helpful because they choose something of interest to them. The article also tends to be text that is closer to their level. After they are done highlighting, I ask them to write a short summary, their opinion (separately) and to email the article to me. When emailing, I also remind them of naming files correctly. It's quite annoying to get 35 “doc1” or “homework” files and have to rename them when saving them to give feedback. While students are working, I encourage them to use a learner's dictionary, and I monitor the use of online translators. Students will probably still go back to online translators at home, but at least during class I try to coach them to read without them.

Note: while this is not an activity that has to be done using computers (a highlighter and a printed news article will do). Working online allows students a greater choice of articles, access to online learner's dictionaries, and practice using Word, naming files correctly, and sending emails.

Making a lexical set on Quizlet

Vocabulary acquisition

1. Objective: Review recently learned vocabulary

Students create www.quizlet.com accounts to create vocabulary flashcards. I ask students to join my class so I can see everyone's work and they can share their vocabulary sets among each other. Every other week, students make a vocabulary set of new words. I let them choose the words by reviewing their notebooks and each card they make has the definition in their own words.

2. Objective: Examine academic words by exploring how they are commonly used

Lately, I've asked students to make lexical sets by selecting target vocabulary first and then finding collocations. Some of my students have used the AWL highlighter to get a list of academic words in their reading passages. All they have to do is copy the text and put it in the website. After that, I ask them to go to www.just-the-word.com so they can see frequent collocations of the word. Once they get three common collocates for the target word, they make a set on Quizlet and practice the new vocabulary.

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On Learning a (very!) Foreign Language

4/14/2013

1 Comment

This is how I felt at first when I tried to say I did not eat meat and still got dishes with meat in them. Getting these tones right is hard!

For a couple of months now, I’ve experienced what it feels like not to understand a single word people say around me, not being able to read signs or chat with neighbors, not to know how to make simple requests or share basic personal information with others. Unfortunately, since I will only be in China for 3 more months, I can’t say that I will learn a whole lot of Chinese. I have, however, already gained invaluable insights into what it feels like to be so vulnerable when you cannot a common language to communicate. I am discovering what kind of language learner I am, and it is extremely entertaining to try new ways to hopefully end this journey in China with a few useful expressions under my belt. More importantly, I’m hoping that this self-discovery process will ultimately benefit my future students and make me a better teacher.

Some people assume that because I speak more than one language, I must be a good language learner. I wish that were true, but this is actually the first time I’ve had to start from cero learning a foreign language. It seems to me that being a good language learner is more about figuring our what works for you and how you like to learn. As a foreign language teacher who is now learning a language, I think I suffer from the disadvantage of overanalyzing what I am doing and setting unreasonably high expectations for myself. It’s funny how I would never expect my students to remember vocabulary or concepts immediately after they come up in class, yet for some reason, when I first arrived in China I started to get a bit down at the fact that it was taking me so long to learn basic things, like the numbers from 1 to 10. In fact, it took me almost 4 weeks to learn these numbers (and sign them), but now I think I’m a lot more patient and persistent than I was when I first got here. Also, it wasn’t like I was practicing them every day. I was avoiding learning them because it just seemed too hard at first. Being able to finally able to count from 1 to 10 to the ladies playing cards outside of my building was so rewarding though! Maybe I’ll learn how to ask if I can play with them sometime. So what if it takes me a while to learn new words and expressions? At least I will eventually learn something if I don’t give up.

In the past few weeks, I’ve discovered that I learn better from using the language immediately and figuring it out myself. I also, to my surprise, need a lot of repeating out loud the same words over and over. Getting some basic grammatical explanations was useful to figure out the negative and interrogative forms, but I don’t think I’d do well just talking about the language. They mainly serve as that final “click” if it’s taking me too long to notice a pattern, like it did with the particle ‘ma’ for questions in Chinese.

The people I try to learn from and communicate with the most are street vendors, the women at the grocery store, and the cleaning crew at the school. They’ve been the most willing and patient with me. Best teachers so far. Sometimes I repeat what they say over and over. Other times, when I get frustrated at not understanding something and I really want to know what it is that I’ve been repeating for a while, I record what they are saying using my iPod and ask a student to translate it for me later. Using some translation has been the way in which I’ve been able to cope with not understanding a lot, but still getting some information that would be impossible for me to access with my lack of Chinese language skills.

What’s been amazing to experience too is the value of getting meaning from context. Depending on where I am, I’m starting to feel like I understand what is being said (if it’s basic, of course) and that’s only because I get it from the context we are in. It doesn’t matter if I don’t know the words, but if I can match gestures to expected behaviors, then I am able to answer yes/no and do what I need. I think sometimes we might not give students enough opportunities to try and practice identifying meaning from context in class. To me, understanding the general meaning of what is said by use of context clues has been helpful because then I don’t feel like I need to understand every single word. Instead, I can focus on learning one or two useful words from the exchange. Sometimes I feel like a little kid, but that’s precisely when I try to relax and tell myself, “You are like a little kid right now, enjoy it!”

But now, what’s the lesson learned as a teacher?

Well, for one, I think if I were ever to teach beginners, I would probably not frown upon translating a bit –something I wouldn’t have accepted before. What I would do though is try to incorporate opportunities for students to reflect on how they feel learning the language and what they think works best for them. If they were beginners, students would need to do this reflection in their first language. I still think, however, that it could be really beneficial to personalize learning strategies and not feel forced into learning only one way. We all communicate and relate to the world in such different ways, why try and learn how to BE in a new language by following someone else’s style?

Finally, as a teacher, I think it’s important to keep in mind that our experience as learners cannot be fully equated to that of any language learner. Many people learning English are immigrants in a country where they may experience discrimination and lack of access to employment or housing because of their limited language skills. The challenges each language learner faces also vary. Perhaps the biggest lesson learned is that if we want to help our students feel successful, we need to help them learn more about themselves and what they need in order to achieve their goals -sometimes that might also mean setting realistic expectations.

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Reflective Journal: Three Weeks in China

3/13/2013

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This is my third week teaching in Hefei, China. I'm journaling a lot these days -reflecting on the rationale behind my lesson plans and their implementation and trying to understand the way I perceive students are participating and learning from our time together in class. I think I needed these initial three weeks to feel more grounded in my view of this curriculum I've created and I'm fine-tuning as I go.

During those 7 weeks I had to prepare to come here, I was really worried I wouldn't have enough materials and I'd be stuck without the 'comfort' of an office stocked with books and resources. Not having a textbook as the backbone for these classes was scary at first! I'm glad to say that in reality, not having a textbook to follow has been a blessing in disguise. I am able to be creative, think about what really suits my students and my teaching style, adapt materials around me, and set our own agenda! Having a textbook would not allow me to do this. Of course, I'm not coming up with everything from scratch. I use 4 different books from the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers and I also use some books for speaking (and listening) activities. In addition, I've been starting to adapt articles from the web and create my own materials by using Ted Talks or texts from NPR and the BBC. Again, the challenge here is the fact that these are multi-level groups and I need to learn how to work with students who are beginners and others at an advanced level all in the same classroom. One strategy I've used so far is assigning different types of questions to check for comprehension. I'm also trying to be very deliberate about the way group work is conducted in class.

Anyhow, here are some thoughts about what has not worked as I expected, what has worked well, and what I still need to improve or figure out. I'm hoping that by comparing my expectations to what's actually happening, I might be able to learn more about my teaching and the needs of a program such as the one I am working with right now. Any suggestions or comments on these reflections will be greatly appreciated! Teaching in a new scenario can be a pretty lonely act and I do much better when able to socialize ideas and teaching plans.

Original curriculum includes:

-Weekly themes or topics so that all materials and activities are connected by a common thread.

-Daily routines to aid classroom management, which I anticipated would be an issue in these large multilevel classes (22 and 35 students ranging from A1 to B2 under the CEFR*)

-Project-Based Learning to motivate students to be autonomous learners, creative, and practice expressing their own opinions.

-Task-based learning with differentiated tasks according to the students' level.

-Self-evaluations in the form of individual learning contracts for students to set their own learning goals and take responsibility for their learning.

How has it worked so far?

-The weekly topic worked well the first two weeks. For Week 1 we did “Getting to Know Each Other and Asking Questions.” Week 2 was “Learning Styles and Diversity.” This week, however, I felt as if I still had work pending from last week and I couldn't figure out what the theme should be. The students are still practicing how to ask questions, and revising learning contracts. I've also had 3 periods less than usual. In addition, today I spent a whole period showing students how to navigate through our class websites and how to check their grades on Engrade. This was my test day to learn how to use their computer lab. In conclusion, there is no theme for this week. I worried at first, but it's not really an issue since I'm learning what works best. I'm still planning on having a theme next week (family matters? food? spending habits?) but what matters the most to me now is that students have a clear understanding of what the expectations are of them as students in an academic setting in the U.S.

-The daily routines have been a great help to save time in class and help students become more organized. Since here in China they use lots of workbooks in class, students are not used to taking notes or having a dedicated notebook for class work.

I have not done the 'exit tickets' I envisioned at first (not enough time!), but I do write new vocabulary each day and keep a log for myself so I'll remember to recycle it in future lessons. I need to find a good way to briefly review what we’ve done in class each day. Currently, students are keeping a vocabulary log and writing sentences to practice using these words. I still need to incorporate them in larger tasks, but it’s hard to tie it all together in something coherent. For now, this is their default homework if I don't assign anything else. I will continue to evaluate this vocabulary log strategy, but for now at least provides a way to practice the language we’ve used in class and it is a set routine we have. Each day I take 10 index cards with the students' names each day and check those notebooks only. That helps manage my time with these large groups. Another routine I have been very consistent about is writing objectives and activities on the board each day. I ask students questions about the objectives and hope this is a reminder for them about the rationale behind class activities. I'd like for them to realize that there is always an immediate purpose for everything we do in class.

-I have not been able to start our projects, but plan to introduce them next week. Again, I think I needed these first three weeks to get a good understanding of who I'm working with and what resources are available. This week I finally got a computer room for both groups. That will make a big difference in terms of having time to do research and conduct Project-Based Learning (PBL) in school.

-We have done lots of task-based learning (TBL) and very little language without a communicative purpose. However, I need to plan more authentic tasks.

-I don't know if the self-evaluations are really working, but students have written down specific things they think they should do in order to make improvements in their English language skills and study skills. We revised these today with my younger students and will be writing new learning contracts and doing a more formal self-evaluation in two weeks. More about whether this is working or not then!

All right, this is a long blog post. If you are still reading, please know that I really, really value all and any feedback I can get!

Will be checking in again soon…

Laura Adele.

1. CEFR = Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/elp/elp-reg/cefr_EN.asp

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planning to create and consume

2/19/2013

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For the past 7 weeks I’ve been preparing as much as possible for these upcoming months teaching in China. It’s a strange feeling to say the least, but I think I may be able to share what preparing to teach in a new environment feels like by comparing it to something else I love doing, cooking.

Imagine you were told you had 7 weeks to come up with a plan to cook daily meals for 66 people that you have never met. You know their previous cooks, but their cooking style and even ingredients are different to yours and well, the idea is not to repeat exactly what was done before. You’ve cooked many different kinds of meals before, but you’ve never had to leave your kitchen and cook in someone else’s space, without all your trusted regular ingredients at hand, and to such a large group!

But back to these unknown (lovely) people you are about to cook for --or actually, with-- for 4 months. You wonder, “What do they eat? How many will have special dietary needs? How many meals can they share so I don’t have to cook so many different dishes in one day? How much should I involve them in the kitchen? Will they like what I come up with?”

If you like planning meals and cooking, then you are probably following my analogy. I like thinking of teaching English as being similar to cooking. Food, like language, is not only an enjoyable aspect of our lives; it’s essential to living!

Everyone has their own preferences (both cooking and eating), but even then, most of us tend to mix a lot of different flavors and types of dishes together. To me, teaching efficiently requires being able to incorporate enough of what your students enjoy doing (learning styles, topics, activities, tasks), as well as taking the lead and bringing new plans they may feel apprehensive about but come to love, or at least appreciate later ---like trying a new type of food or dish we wouldn’t have tried if someone hadn’t motivated us to do.

My biggest worry right now (and for the past 7 weeks) has been having enough materials out in China. I am not talking about textbooks necessarily, but certainly not having a main textbook to follow has made me more aware of all the resources I generally use to supplement, like texts for listening and speaking and ideas for communicative and collaborative practice of vocabulary and grammar. The challenge here has not been so much pulling materials together but rather wondering, “how will I do this with a large mixed-level group? How do I (or should I) incorporate Project-Based learning (PBL) without knowing how the students will interpret my ‘inviting them into the kitchen to cook their own meals’? If PBL is all about learning by doing, then certainly I need to do a good job at guiding these students, helping them discover a passion for learning, and organizing our shared learning space (guidelines, feedback, etc.).

I’m excited about living temporarily in another part of the world and learning about the preferences and views of many young people who will probably move to this side of the world in the near future. I have two more full days to prepare before I finally get on that plane to China and take my tools and ideas to a place that many people have described to me, but I have yet to experience on my own. I wonder about how the mix of my style and theirs will make this learning experience look like for all of us involved. All I know for now is that I am taking my best tools and heading with all the desire to be flexible, to adapt, to listen, and to ultimately learn as much as I intend to teach.

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A MENTAL IMAGE BOUND TO CHANGE (THINK OF AS THE 'BEFORE' PICTURE)

1/20/2013

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In a little over a month, I will be leaving Seattle to teach for 4 months in Hefei, China. This will be my first time in Asia and the first time I'll be in a culture that is very different to anything I've experienced before. Or so I’ve been told. After working with so many students from China this past year and a half, I've become eager to learn about the ways in which people go about their daily life in China, how they participate in their communities, the role of women in their family and among coworkers, and well, just experience what China feels like! Most importantly though, I'm excited about learning firsthand what education may look at the secondary level. What an amazing opportunity I'll have by being at a Chinese high school and getting to live what a regular school day is like.

The world of education in China is all very new and fascinating to me. When I first began my MA program in TESOL, I had several classmates participating from Asia (Korea, Vietnam, Japan), but I don’t recall anyone being in China. Still, one thing that caught my attention was how strikingly different my colleagues experiences sounded to my own. I have to admit that I was also a bit distrustful when reading about how students in Asia (big sweeping generalization) were quiet, passive, and prone to memorizing everything. Could it really be that everyone there acted that way? Sometimes some of the differences mentioned sounded downright racist to me, like ‘we’ had some sort of superior way of learning and teaching. I know most of my classmates did not mean this, but that’s how it felt to me at the time.

A year and a half ago, when I began working with international students at a community college, I started hearing more and more about the differences in teaching and learning styles between Asia and the US. I kept thinking, “Could it really be that we are all that different?”

While I would say that I relate to my Chinese students differently than to my former Colombian students, I've tried to avoid making too many generalizations or stereotyping any group. How much of these differences can be attributed to my own ways of interacting with people after all?

Sure, the students I worked with in Colombia would always interrupt, I mean, interject with their opinions in class and many tried to find creative ways to go about their work by always personalizing it. Something that does not always happen with my current students. However, the Asian students I met my first quarter at the community college also had their own strong opinions and different approaches to conducting a task. They were perhaps quieter, but if given the chance to talk in small groups, students had lots to say. Moreover, when talking informally with them after class, they didn’t seem that different to many domestic students I’ve met.

So why is it that deep down these comparisons between domestic students and Asian students bothers me?

For one, the "othering" that goes along with being quick at pointing at our differences doesn’t seem constructive. At some point it's like we forget we probably share many common personality traits. I'm also afraid that doing this also hurts our ability to feel empathy and put ourselves in the other person's shoes. Deep down, it all comes down to my strong belief that we all share common behaviors as human beings and our differences aren't that divisive anyways.

Why not focus instead on finding similarities and creating a smoother path for us to meet our needs at the middle of the road?

So, that is what I’ve set myself to do now. Instead of looking for differences between China and the US (or Italy, or Colombia –my other home countries), I will look for similarities. I will try to find ways in which I can relate much better to the people out there by sharing our commonalities.

There is something beautiful and moving about discovering a new place and comparing our first impressions to that mental image we had created before getting there. Often, before setting out on any trip to a place I haven’t been to before, I try to envision what it will look like. How will the people be? How will the streets I will walk by every day look and smell? Will I make new friends? Will navigating through the city be challenging, or will I feel at ease?

Thanks to all the helpful comments from coworkers who have already been to the school I am going to, and thanks also to my former students, I have a rich mental image of what life might be like in Hefei. Of course, I also expect it all to change, and to change me as I take it all in. This must be why I love teaching. Every day I get to design a plan, envision what it could be like, and go in a classroom to see it all change, changing me along the way. Teaching, like traveling, is often one big adventure with detours and new stops found along the way. Let’s see where these new few months take me!

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11 Questions Blog challenge- tagged by @josettelb

The challenge of written feedback

On Failure, reflection, and learning

chinese gifts

teaching to be rich and famous

computer-ASSISTED language learning in china

On Learning a (very!) Foreign Language

Reflective Journal: Three Weeks in China

planning to create and consume

A MENTAL IMAGE BOUND TO CHANGE (THINK OF AS THE 'BEFORE' PICTURE)

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