07.07.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg - Chapter 3

07.07.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg - Chapter 3

This is the second half of Curtain and Dahlberg's chapter 3 (we were required to read the first part on 6/27) and the final pages only deal with how one communicates in the presentational mode. The presentational mode is when information is given to an audience with little or no interaction, like when you give a speech or when you teach a lesson using direct instruction. One of the fun things this chapter talks about is "presenting" information of language students through dramatic songs. Even though I am a bad singer and I would never sing in front of other adults, I really love using songs with children. I don't think there is an easier way to put them at ease with what they are learning (lowering the affective filter). Of course, all of the writing ideas in this chapter were useful as well.

07.02.13 ~ Richard-Amato - Chapter 13

07.02.13 ~ Richard-Amato - Chapter 13

This chapter was about ways in which literacy develops in a second language classroom, and the ways in which literacy can be fostered. It seems to me that teaching literacy in a second language is a lot like teaching literacy in general. The language experience approach is one of the same strategies a kindergarten teacher may use for her students who are learning to write in their native languages. This chapter also discusses why literature based lessons should be used and strategies for teaching them effectively. Mostly all of these strategies mirror what I have learned about teaching literacy to children who are learning in their native languages. So, I think my training as a classroom teacher will come in very helpful when I am an ESL teacher!

07.02.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg - Chapter 10

07.02.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg - Chapter 10

Being in the elementary education program I am already very aware of the importance of connecting the different subjects I will teach, and that is what this chapter was about, only it was specific to connecting the teaching of language to the other content areas. You (Dr. Ferree) told me that you thought it was important for an ESL teacher to have experience as a classroom teacher, and I know that understanding these connections is the reason why. Students need this "comprehensible input" to give reason and motivation to learning language. I also like how ways in which each of the content areas can be connected to foreign language education are explained. It really helped me to think about some ideas for our upcoming content area lesson.

07.02.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg - Chapter 5

07.02.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg - Chapter 5

This chapter focused on teaching reading and writing to younger students who are acquiring a second language. This chapter really hit home for me. I was interested to read that the research now supports that reading and writing should be introduced early, and that writing in a second language will not affect a student's progress in their first language. When I was teaching my students in Japan, I struggled with how to address reading and writing to young students. They were not required to read and write until middle school, but some were obviously ready earlier and seeing the written words helped some of the students a lot. I adopted an approach much like what was discussed in this chapter, by simply letting the students be exposed to the print without explicitly teaching it to them. In this way, many of my students learned to recognize and produce many words before they were in middle school. It made the transition to middle school English much easier on them, and so I agree with this chapter.

07.02.13 ~ Schwarzer - Article

07.02.13 ~ Schwarzer - Article

This article was about the use of "dialogue journals," or notebooks where the student and teacher converse back and forth in the target language. One major feature of the article was to discuss the difference between translation and codeswitching, where translation refers to writing passages in both the target and native language, and codeswitching is just writing a word here or there (embedded within the text of the target language) in the native language. One great thing about this article was that the author stressed that foreign languages classes should not be an all-or-nothing approach. That is, teachers should have to expect students to translate all the time or only work in the target language all the time-- there should be a happy balance. I agree with this completely and I think using that happy balance in conjunction with dialogue journals is a great way to support students in language learning. The journal itself already lowers the affective filter (students can be creative, don't have to speak out) and if English can be used here or there as needed, it will lower the affective filter even more.

07.01.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg - Chapter 4

07.01.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg - Chapter 4

This chapter was about interpersonal communication in the classroom, specifically the effective use of partner and small group activities. It described in detail many strategies and suggestions for effective group work, which I appreciated. The majority of the chapter, however, was dedicated to suggestions for activities to do with a partner or as a group. I especially liked the "Finding Differences" activity with the animals. That is definitely something I would take the time to recreate so I could use it in my classroom. I'm also happy that the book acknowledged that a lot of the time having students work in pairs or in groups can be just as much or even more work for the teacher than whole class activities. I think that is an important point.

One extra thought: I thought it was weird that this chapter suggested that students can get into groups "according to the make of their family car." Do a lot of kids know this?

07.01.13 ~ Richard-Amato - Chapter 9

07.01.13 ~ Richard-Amato - Chapter 9

This chapter deals with the natural approach to teaching language, which was developed by Terrell and our friend Krashen. The four principles of this approach are comprehension comes before production (silent period, TPR), language production occurs in stages (the silent period, early speech, speech emergence and beyond), goals are communicative, and activities should help lower the "affective filter." I appreciated the section in this chapter that talked about how some foreign language teachers feel overburdened by the demands of this curriculum, in the sense that they are "trudging across campus with sacks filled with fruits to talk about and eat, dishes with which to set a table for an imaginary dinner..." I laughed at this image because I am sure we have all felt like this at some point or another. But of course it is still important to do those things!