EA in ESL Teacher Training Workshops

EA Workshop Session 1 June 2007

EA in ESL Teacher Training Workshops

June 4, 6, & 8, 2007 – 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Kapi‘olani Community College

Teacher Preparation Program

Shawn Ford and Veronica Ogata, Facilitators

Monday, June 4

Session 1-

4:30-4:40 Introduction and Overview of Workshops

4:40-5:05 Language Learning Myths and Facts (group discussion & lecture)

5:05-5:30 Language Development (group discussion & lecture)

5:30-5:40 BREAK

Session 2-

5:40-5:50 Overview of Session Issues

5:50-6:25 Pronunciation: Phoneme Awareness Activity

6:25-6:35 BREAK

6:35-7:05 Group Work

7:05-7:20 Group Reports

7:20-7:30 Wrap-up: Homework, Wednesday Preview, Feedback Forms

WELCOME!

Welcome to the EA in ESL Teacher Training Summer Workshops, sponsored by the new Teacher Preparation Program at Kapi‘olani Community College and funded in part by a federal Perkins grant. This workshop series is prepared for in-service Educational Assistants who work with NEP and LEP students in the state’s DOE system. The purpose of the workshop is to provide EAs with additional training in the form of knowledge and strategies that will help them better facilitate and accelerate the language development of the ESL students who they work with regularly.

We hope you enjoy our program and find it useful for your teaching efforts!

During the workshop, please remember to…

1. Actively participate and be open to new ideas.

2. Complete all group, reflection, and “homework” tasks.

3. Stay on task so we can complete the material in each session on time.

Group Roles

At certain times during the workshop, you’ll be asked to delegate the following roles to table members to complete tasks efficiently:

Leader
Responsible for keeping the group on task. Makes sure that all members of the group have an opportunity to participate and learn. / Timekeeper
Responsible for keeping time and making sure that the group finishes the task on time. / Recorder
Writes out results of group activities or important discussion points. Also prepares presentation materials for oral reports. / Reporter
Gives oral responses about the group’s activities or discussions.

Language Learning Myths and Facts

Here are 4 common myths about language learning that we occasionally hear. Working with the group at your table, take 10 minutes to discuss some possible responses. For this activity you’ll need a leader and a timekeeper.

Myths:

Children learn second languages quickly and easily.

______

Children have acquired a second language once they can speak it.

______

When learning a second language, it’s best to study grammar and vocabulary first before trying to use the language.

______

Children are just like sponges; they absorb the language around them just through exposure to the language.

______

Language Learning Myths and Facts

Here are some possible responses to the 4 previous myths about language learning.

Children learn second languages quickly and easily.

Fact: Learning a second language is as difficult for a child as it is for adults. In fact, it may be more difficult, as young children do not have access to the memory techniques and other strategies that more experienced learners can use in acquiring vocabulary and in learning the grammatical rules of the language. Also, children are likely to be more shy and more embarrassed before their peers than are more mature adults. Children from some cultural backgrounds are extremely anxious when expected to perform in a language they are in the process of learning.

Children have acquired a second language once they can speak it.

Fact: Often, people assume that once children can converse comfortably in English, they are in full control of the language. Yet for school-aged children, there is much more involved in learning a second language than learning how to speak it. A child who is proficient in face-to-face communication has not necessarily achieved proficiency in the more abstract academic language needed for many classroom activities, especially in the later grades. Research shows that, whereas developing conversational language skills takes from 2-3 years, developing academic language skills takes up to seven years of continuous study.

When learning a second language, it’s best to study grammar and vocabulary first before trying to use the language.

Fact: This is called the Grammar-Translation Approach and is the traditional method for second language classroom teaching. A great deal of current research shows that the most effective way to approach grammar and vocabulary is through content. Language always occurs naturally in some sort of context, so by extension, language learning should always take place in some sort of context. Contextualized language learning provides important opportunities for making form-meaning-use connections that are necessary to acquire grammatical and vocabulary forms.

Children are just like sponges; they absorb the language around them just through exposure to the language.

Fact: No, children are not like sponges, and language is not acquired through absorption. Language learning for children is challenging and difficult, and takes a great deal of time and active mental energy. Language learning takes place through interaction, as opposed to exposure. Through interaction, language learners have opportunities to test hypotheses about language and practice using new forms, and they have opportunities to receive reinforcement and feedback, both positive and negative. With feedback, learners either confirm or revise hypotheses and continue the learning process.

Language Development

In consideration of the previous 4 facts about language learning, we can think about the roles that different language skills, content, and interaction play in the process of language development.

Group Discussion: Working with the group at your table, take 10 minutes to discuss answers to these questions. For this activity you’ll need a leader and a timekeeper.

In what ways are everyday conversation skills, general language skills (such as grammar), and academic language skills different?

______

How can language skills be taught through required course content?

______

What role does feedback play in language development?

______

Language Development

Here is some information to help answer the previous 3 questions.

In what ways are everyday conversation skills, general language skills (such as grammar), and academic language skills different?

To answer this question, it’s important to know about the distinction made by Jim Cummins (1979) between BICS and CALP. BICS is the language used in daily interactions with other people: friends, family, store clerks, etc. CALP is the specialized language used in academic settings. It is necessary for listening, speaking, reading, and writing about subject area content material. CALP includes basic knowledge about the formal aspects of learning, or “schooling”. It also includes skills such as comparing, classifying, synthesizing, evaluating, and inferring, all skills at the higher end of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

BICS is generally acquired within 2 years through daily interactions. General language skills (such as grammar and vocabulary) are generally acquired within 3-5 years through interactions along with focused attention (e.g., formal studying). CALP can only be acquired through formal means and generally requires 5-7 years of focused attention to achieve high levels of success.

How can language skills be taught through required course content?

Content can provide wonderfully abundant opportunities to teach the whole range of language skills, including reading, writing, listening, and speaking, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and usage. Through required content, frequent and necessary vocabulary items can be taught, pronunciation of these items can be developed, frequently occurring grammar patterns can be worked on, and meaningful usage can be practiced. Opportunities for reading, writing, listening and speaking arise throughout this process.

What role does feedback play in language development?

Feedback is an integral part of any interaction. Feedback can be spoken or written and can be either positive (confirming) or negative (clarifying, rejecting). Feedback includes the strategies of repetition, recasting and expansion.

Language Development Maxims:

1. Language should not be taught in isolation.

Language should always be taught in some sort of context, using meaningful content. Any attention to discrete skills should arise from content demands.

2. Learner-directed speech should always encompass BICS and CALP.

This can be accomplished by using complete sentences to facilitate interaction. Repetition and recasting, along with expansion of ideas and the encouragement of inquiry should be part of all feedback.

Pronunciation Contrasts

Many second language students have difficulties pronouncing the unique sounds of English. This phenomenon can be explained through Contrastive Analysis of two different languages’ sound systems, or phoneme inventories. Here is a comparison of English consonants to consonants found in some common student native languages:

English / p / b / m / f / v / t / d / l / w / k / g / s / z / n / h / j / th / thz / sh / zh / ch / dz / r / ng
Tagalog / p / b / m / t / d / l / w / k / g / s / n / h / r / ng
Cantonese / p / b / m / f / t / d / l / w / k / g / s / z / n / h / j / sh / ch / ng
Marshallese / p / b / m / t / d / l / w / k / n / h / j / r / ng
Samoan / p / m / f / v / t / l / g / s / n

Sample Activity: Pronunciation Focus / t / and / th /

Content: Reading/ Language Arts – Holes by Louis Sachar

Context: 4th grade, Tagalog, Cantonese, Marshallese, and Samoan LEP pullout

Skills: reading, speaking, listening, writing

Lesson Plan Overview:

Visual recognition of symbols: recognizing the phonemes
Aural distinction of sounds: listening to the phonemes
Production: selecting the symbols + feedback
Production: saying the sounds + feedback
Production: writing the symbols + feedback
Visual recognition of symbols: reading the words
Aural distinction of sounds: listening to the words
Production: selecting the symbols + feedback
Production: saying the words + feedback
Production: writing the words + feedback
Awareness-raising & practice: minimal pairs/ sentences for reading & listening
Production: speaking in context
Feedback & Reinforcement
Production: writing in context
Feedback & Reinforcement

Lesson Plan Demonstration: Pronunciation Focus / t / and / th /

1. Visual recognition of symbols: recognizing the phonemes. Create index cards with the target phoneme contrasts / t / and / th /. Tell students the names of the letters in complete sentences.

2. Aural distinction of sounds: listening to the phonemes. Using the cards, pronounce the sounds of the letters in complete contextual sentences. Repeat. Use the cards to emphasize the sounds.

3. Production: selecting the symbols + feedback. Say the letters and have the student point to the correct cards. Say the sounds and have the student point to the correct cards. Provide either positive or negative feedback as appropriate.

4. Production: saying the names of the symbols and their sounds + feedback. Hold the cards and have the student say the correct names of the symbols. Also have the student say the correct sounds. Provide either positive or negative feedback as appropriate.

5. Production: writing the symbols + feedback. Say the letters and have the student write the correct ones. Say the sounds and have the student write the correct ones. Provide either positive or negative feedback as appropriate.

6. Visual recognition of symbols: reading the words. Create index cards with the target words ten and thin. Tell students the words on the cards in complete contextual sentences.

7. Aural distinction of sounds: listening to the words. Using the cards, pronounce the words in complete contextual sentences. Repeat several times. Use the cards to emphasize the words.

8. Production: selecting the symbols + feedback. Say the words in complete contextual sentence and have the student point to the correct cards. Provide either positive or negative feedback as needed.

9. Production: saying the words + feedback. Hold the cards and have the student say the correct words. Provide either positive or negative feedback as appropriate.

10. Production: writing the words + feedback. Say the words in complete contextual sentence and have the student write the correct ones. Provide either positive or negative feedback as appropriate.

11. Awareness-raising & practice: minimal pairs/ sentences for reading & listening. Choose minimal pairs and minimal sentences from the pronunciation lists. Have student practice repeating, reading and writing the sentence. Provide either positive or negative feedback as appropriate.

12. Production: speaking in context. Provide a speaking task that requires the student to use the target sound and words in the appropriate context.

13. Feedback & Reinforcement. Provide either positive or negative feedback as appropriate. Provide further opportunities for the student to speak in context, and focus on the target sound and words.

14. Production: writing in context. Provide a speaking task that requires the student to use the target sound and words in the appropriate context.

15. Feedback & Reinforcement. Provide either positive or negative feedback as appropriate. Provide further opportunities for the student to write in context, and focus on the target sound and words.

EA Workshop Session 1 June 2007

Main Group Activity

Working with the group at your table, take 30 minutes to create a lesson plan by filling in the missing information or making any changes, based on your chosen context and teaching approach. For this activity you’ll need a leader, a timekeeper, a recorder, and a reporter.

Pronunciation Focus

Content:

Context:

Skills: reading, speaking, listening, writing

1. Visual recognition of symbols: recognizing the phonemes

2. Aural distinction of sounds: listening to the phonemes

3. Production: selecting the symbols + feedback (how will you do this?)

4. Production: saying the sounds + feedback (how will you do this?)

5. Production: writing the symbols + feedback (how will you do this?)

6. Visual recognition of symbols: reading the words

7. Aural distinction of sounds: listening to the words