Taking Notes in Class

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Learning Styles, Meta-cognitive Strategies, Spelling, Study Skills

 Find the answer and supporting research in this article from the Boston Globe!

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/05/24/taking-notes-bring-pen-skip-computer/e3kGp47M7znyaNKOamUwrO/story.html

The Multisensory Checklist for Teaching Language

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Best Practices, Differentiating Instruction, Learning Styles, Study Skills

Here is a list I wrote to remind myself of the many modalities I can use in my class. 

Instructions:  Just think back to your last week or two of teaching and check the boxes off.  (To maximize this exercise, do it at regular intervals for several weeks.) Don’t expect to check all the boxes.    This is a self-observation tool.  The aim to help you become aware of the modalities you favor and the ones you avoid.  The real work is in trying to switch things up and use one of the un-checked modalities on this list.  

Did the students . . .
1.          look at illustrations or photographs?
2.          look at charts, graphs, or maps?
3.          read silently?
4.          read along as they listen to someone read aloud?
5.          read aloud to others?
6.          write in their notebooks?
7.          write on the board?
8.          trace words with their fingers?
9.          practice pronunciation chorally?
10.       practice pronunciation chorally with one ear plugged?
11.       practice pronunciation individually?
12.       use gestures, symbols,  or physical feedback to correct their pronunciation? (see Sarah’s blog “Let’s Get Physical:  Teaching Pronunciation”
13.       use movement or music to improve their intonation?
14.       study with flashcards?
15.       make their own flashcards?
16.       highlight or underline words in a text?
17.       write a vocabulary list?
18.       listen to the audio?
19.       listen to another student speaking English?
20.       listen for specific features:  stress, syllables, sounds, rhymes?
21.       work in small groups?
22.       work individually?
23.       work as a whole class on one question or assignment?
24.       work on a computer?
25.       use a dictionary or translating device?
26.       use a cell phone to show pictures?
27.       change seats?
28.       stand up in front of a group or the class?
29.       mime the meaning of a word or phrase?
30.       listen to relaxing music while doing individual work?
31.       listen to the words in a song?

 

Are there other modalities you use in your classroom that I didn’t list? Please share your ideas!

Other related posts:  http://wp.me/pMYto-2V

12 Ways to Teach Vocabulary

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Learning Styles, Self-directed Learning

The standard approach to learning a new vocabulary item is to define the word, practice pronouncing it, and using it in a written sentence. 

But words have many more dimensions! 

We learn and remember words by context, by collocation, by sound, by spelling, even by movement.  Here is a list of the many ways teachers can approach vocabulary instruction. 

 

Ways to learn a word:	The teacher asks:
1.        define	What does it mean?
2.        listen	How many syllables does it have?  What does it rhyme with?
3.        pronounce	Are there any tricky sounds?  How does the mouth move when pronouncing the word?
4.        trace	How do you draw the letters of the word?  Can you write the word with your finger?
5.       spell	What are the letters in the word?  Does it follow any special spelling rules?
6.        visualize	Close your eyes.  How many letters does the word have? What’s the first letter?  What’s the last letter?
7.    analyze	What part of speech is it?  Does it have a root word?    Does it belong to a family of words?
8.        personalize	What does it mean to you?  Describe someone you know with the word.
9.         associate	Where do you hear it: at work, at school, at the doctor’s office?
10.      categorize	How is it different from similar words?  Is it more formal or informal?  Is it used for more for men or women?
11.       collocate	Is the word often used with another word? (For example: save time, save money, save a seat)
12.      generate	Write a sentence with it. Use it in a role-play.

Asking the Right Questions: WHAT are you learning?

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Best Practices, Goal Setting, Learning Styles, Low-level ESOL, Self-directed Learning

How can we get students to develop independence in their learning?  Look no further than the questions we ask. 

What is the difference between asking students “What are you doing?” and “What are you learning?”  The difference is in the answer. 

 

 

“What are you doing?”

 Teacher:  What are you doing? 

 Student: “I’m filling in the blanks. “

 Teacher:  What are you doing?”

Student:   “I’m answering the reading comprehension exercises.”

 

What are you learning? 

Teacher:  “What are you learning?”

Student: “I’m learning how to write these verbs in the simple past.”

 

Teacher:  “What are you learning?”

Student:  “I’m learning about the weather and temperatures.”

 

 This observation was inspired by an article by Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher  called Purpose: The Foundation for High-Quality Teaching.  When classroom observers ask K-12 students What are you doing? they put the focus on the tasks students are asked to complete. When they ask, What are you learning? students focus on the deeper purpose and the enduring understandings of the lesson.  (Link:  http://www.principals.org/Content.aspx?topic=Purpose_The_Foundation_for_High_Quality_Teaching) 

The Ways of a Word

Tags

Differentiating Instruction, Learning Styles

 

The standard approach to learning a new word is to define it, pronounce it, and then use it in a sentence, but words have many more dimensions.  We remember words by context, by collocation, by sound, by spelling, even by movement (tracing the letters).  I use the following list to remind myself of the many ways students can learn a new word. 

Ways to learn a word:	Questions to ask:
define	What does it mean?
listen	How many syllables does it have? What does it rhyme with?
pronounce	Are there any tricky sounds? How does the mouth move when pronouncing the word?
trace	How do you draw the letters of the word? Can you write the word with your finger?
spell	What are the letters in the word? Does it follow any special spelling rules?
visualize	Close your eyes.  How many letters does the word have?What’s the first letter?  What’s the last letter?
analyze	What part of speech is it? Does it have a root word?     Does it belong to a family of words?
personalize	What does it mean to you? Can you describe someone you know with the word?
associate	Where do you hear it: at work, at school, at the doctor’s office? Is the word often used with another word? (For example: save time, save money, save a seat)
categorize	How is it different from similar words?  Is it more formal or informal?  Is it used for more for men or women?
generate	Write a sentence with it.Use it in a role-play.

Making Connections: Brain Research and ESOL

Tags

Learning Styles, Low-level ESOL, Study Skills

Last week-end I attended the Illinois TESOL Bilingual Education Convention (IBTE). There were lots of great ideas direct from the classroom and research.  The most inspiring session I attended was Dr. Janet Zandina’s  plenary How Language Learning Changes the Brain.

Here’s my take-away.

1. Fire to wire. Every time we learn something new our neurons fire, our dentrites (nerves) grow, and we create new neurological connections in our brains.  (Isn’t that amazing?)  The more often these neurons fire, the stronger their connections become.   Eventually they become neural pathways and require little brain effort (think about learning to drive a car).

2.  Use it or lose it.  The brain is plastic in both directions.  You can grow new neural pathways, but you can also lose them.  If you don’t practice your new learning,  those little dentrites get reabsorbed in the brain tissue.

3.  Learning English requires effort.  Every language has its own cognitive map.  As our adult students learn English, they are pushing their brains into terra incognita.  It requires effort, but with practice it becomes easier; strong neural pathways can carry the cognitive load.

4.  Cyclical Learning.  This science is not telling us to drill till we kill.  Dr Zandina says in order for those neurons to strengthen they need to re-encounter the learning material in different ways.  She tells us we need a rich variety of listening practice with variation in accents and lots of motor practice producing the language.

In the future  I want to talk to my students about this process and see how it affects their attitude toward language learning.  Perhaps this knowledge will carry them through those moments of mental exhaustion.

Fostering Learner Independence

Tags

Learning Styles, Self-directed Learning, Study Skills