The Center for Applied Linguistics Suggests Workshops at TESOL

How do you choose which of the many tempting ESL workshops at an international convention of ESL teachers and researchers?

Naturally, I chat with friends and co-workers picking up a few leads. I also exchanged emails. Finally, I consult and explore the internet.

First stop is the outstanding Center for Applied Linguistics website, featuring many resources for ESL teachers, program administrators, and university researchers. Their goal, which I share, is to bridge the huge gap between academic theory and classroom practice, finding effective ways to help adult English language learner gain fluency in our confusing tongue. Adult educators will find a plethora of valuable materials here. Yet ESL teachers working with children will also discover practical information such as an introduction to Student Oral Proficiency Assessment .

As part of my preparation for the TESOL convention, I checked the CAL website for
a list of recommended workshops by CAL researchers. As ever, the Center for Applied Linguistics website provides some practical suggestions.

“World of TESOL, Worlds of Refugees”, “Strategies for Serving High Advanced Adult ESL Students”, and “Building Academic Language Through Scaffolded Instructional Conversations”, and “Analyzing Oral Proficiency to Guide Instruction” sound like sensible, smart choices. “Applying Teacher Input to Improve Assessment” also sounds like an excellent idea. Two other workshops that caught my eye, “Interested in Working as as ESOL Consultant” and “Connecting Culture and Language in ELL Instruction”, but I’m not going to any workshops that start at 7:30 AM or 7:30 PM while visiting New York City.

English teachers, teacher trainers, program administrators should consider bookmarking the site to stay current on research to help ESL, ELL, or EFL students.

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Are you going to the TESOL convention next week?

Are you going to the TESOL conference next week? Did you see all those narrow, niche topics? Have you created a schedule? How did you decide which workshops to attend?

Personally, I found the selections simply overwhelming. For work, I'm going to focus on the workshops on testing language skilsl, especially oral skills and writing. For personal interest, I'll probably go to the workshops on technology and ESL. I might also wander into a few workshops on the internationalization of higher education. But consider me flexible. Do you have any recommendations?

For now, I’m playing it by ear.

I'd be glad to exchange ideas.

Thanks

Eric

eric@compellingconversations.com

www.compellingconversations.com

Going Beyond the ESL Classroom to Teach English

Why stay indoors on a beautiful sunny day? Do you want your class discussions to go beyond the predictable textbook lesson? How can ESL teachers use shopping malls, museums, and movies to help students develop a more practical vocabulary?

“The Outside World as an Extension of the EFL/ESL Classroom”, by Mark A. Pegrum, makes a compelling argument that ESL teachers should go way beyond dry textbooks to engage in the practical needs and broader cultural life. This exceptional article, written in proper academic style for elite educational audiences, clearly outlines the many reasons for engaging ESL students in the world around them. The article advocates field trips, conducting surveys, visiting museums, discussing movies, obtaining information from public offices, and summarizing television programs. Numerous activities, along with the suggested level and focus, are provided in this article/collection of lesson ideas for multiple levels. While I can’t bring myself to write in this style with all the appropriate footnotes to make commonsense sound so respectable in academic journals, I’m very glad that Pegrum wrote this outstanding article for ESL professionals. Good job!

These lessons work better for adult education and intensive English programs than community college or university level ESL classes. Many college ESL teachers, however, will also find excellent suggestions for supplemental intermediate and advanced activities. Check it out for lesson ideas to create authentic language and deepen practical life skills for your curious ESL students.

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Proverbs Provide Perspective for ESL Students

Proverbs provide perspective.
Short and pithy, proverbs often capture a point of view in vivid words. We learn proverbs our entire lives - from our relatives, our teachers, our friends, the media, and our literature. They contain folk wisdom gathered through time and experience. They often capture a common human experience.
Yet I like to use proverbs in ESL classes for three other distinct reasons.
Students can share proverbs from their own countries. In ESL classes where you have students from many different countries and numerous first languages, proverbs allow students to affirm the insights and experiences of their native culture. “Home is where the heart is.”
Students can easily memorize proverbs. Using the right proverb at the right moment gives students a tremendous sense of competency and fluency in English – something that immigrants often struggle to achieve. “No pain, no gain.”
Studying proverbs from around the world helps create a more global education, and counters the fears of English displacing the insights and words of other tongues and times. “The sky is blue everywhere” and “birds return to old nests.”
Sharing proverbs shows a respect for tradition and the past while students expand their vocabulary in a new, modern language. Many immigrants, particularly older ones, have very mixed feelings about their new lives in an English speaking nation. “Old habits die hard.” et “you’re never too old to learn” gives hope.


For instance, an immigrant from rural Mexico learning English in Los Angeles might find themselves also learning to live in modern, urban city for the first time. While the formal subject may be English, immigrants are also discovering new ways of living and thinking in the school. Proverbs seem to affirm the concept that “the more things change, the more they remain the same” and “the unexpected always happens.”

When I taught an advanced ESL conversation class at Santa Moncia Community College, I usually introduced conversation topics with a proverb. Students would soon be paired up to interview each other and share experiences. When we returned together for a group discussion, I noticed that students often explained their answers using proverbs. I decided to “go with the flow” and build proverbs into course materials.

“The lotus springs from the mud.”

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Obama Shows How to Give a Great Speech!

Obama shows how to discuss race in a calm, rational manner

Do you use current events in your ESL class? Do you teach American history, citizenship, speech, or political science? Have you found a way to candidly discuss the pervasive and destructive role of race in American history in a calm, rational manner?

Hopefully, you have already had a chance to hear Senator Obama’s eloquent, reflective speech on race and American culture. Faced with a political crisis of his own making, Obama tried to both distance himself from his fiery pastor’s sermons, condemn their ignorant accusations, and explain the source of his pastor’s anger and bitterness. It’s a masterpiece of modern oratory.

Can Americans unite to solve serious national problems such as collapsing schools, collapsing bridges, and the collapsing dollar? Will Americans find a way to develop to honestly discuss the role of racial categories in our history, acknowledge the pain caused by racism and violence, and avoid name-calling to affirm a common destiny? Can Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asian, and Native Americans move beyond skin pigment and group complaints to renew our nation? Is there a way to calmly, rationally discuss deep emotional gaps and economic divisions that still plague the nation’s diverse racial groups?

Senator Obama’s speech yesterday deserves to be seen, heard, and read and reflected upon. Tracing the tragic role that race has played in the United States from the sanctioning of slavery in the Constitution to economic anxieties today, Obama provided personal and collective examples with maturity, understanding, and respect. He also listed the sources of “white resentment” such as affirmative action programs, busing, and violent crime in urban areas.

Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech,seems destined to become a classic. I consider it a 21^st century version of Dr. King’s 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech. It deserves to be added to curriculum on many levels:

1. Classic rhetoric built around a solid structure.
2. Exceptionally vivid examples and memorable phrases
3. A clear, compelling review of the nation’s history – and noble ambitions
4. A poised delivery style, with exceptional eye contact, and clear pronunciation.
5. An outstanding vocabulary supporting a focused message for multiple audiences
6. A mature review of the enduring legacy of racism for multiple audience
7. An affirmation of our common destiny and founding ideals as Americans in a changing world.

English language learners, immigrants, and international students will also gain vocabulary, history, and insights from hearing, watching, and reading the speech.

Click on the link below to read or hear the speech.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/18/america/18obamaspeech.php

Listening to Student Fears About Crime in ESL Classrooms

How often do English students fear being cheated, robbed, or even physically attacked? How many have been victims of crime? How often are student experiences and fears of crime acknowledged in our English classrooms?

Outraged by some exceptionally disturbing murders of students around Los Angeles, the United States, and the world, I’ve chosen the chapter “Crime and Punishment” as the conversation sample. We need to hear student fears, understand their experiences, give them a chance to reflect, and speak in our classrooms. Students have many stories and insights to share - and they often need the vocabulary to effectively communicate. Sometimes we share a sense of disappointment. Yet we often also can also share resources, provide additional information, and review safety tips.

Few topics engage students more than candid discussions and writings about crime. From bribery, scams, and kickbacks to stolen bikes, violent fights, and hit and run accidents, students have stories to share and classmates can learn from experiences. Ask students to suggest suggestions for safer schools, safer communities, and safer trips. You will hear a range of ideas from the practical and polite to wild, crazy, and rude. Lively classroom discussions can lead to poignant, personal problem-solution essays.
An experienced teacher should be able to hear the fear, acknowledge the threats, and help students confront a real problem facing far too many English language learners around the world.

Do international students sometimes have an exaggerated sense of danger in American cities? Sometimes. Are schools immune to the violence, crime, and chaos of surrounding areas? Certainly not. Will ignoring fears and crimes make them go away? Never.

Let’s provide English language learners, whether adult students or college students, both the place and time to reflect on laws, crimes, and the search for justice.

I hope that the conversation lesson called “Crime and Punishment” inspires compelling conversations in classrooms. Please visit www.compellingconversations.com , look over the material, and see if it works in your ESL classroom.

PS. Every school that I have taught in - from inner city high schools and urban adult schools to world famous community colleges and private universities - has had students attacked, robbed, and even murdered during my time teaching there. For worse or for better, this experience has influenced my sensitivity to student fears and concerns about crime in the United States.

Why are so many guns and bombs invading our schools?

“He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it,” warned Seneca, a Roman philosopher almost two thousand years ago.

Guns, bombs, and murders in schools and shopping malls fill the headlines today. What is going on? How many more young people have to die because of the violent urges of psychopaths armed with guns, bombs, and hatred?

Look at some of today’s headlines and stories:

An undergraduate UC student is arrested, with two pipe-bombs, in Southern California. A frontpage L.A. Times article notes “The Homocide (murder!) Rates Rise in Los Angeles”. Another headline, in the letters section, reads “Local Gangsters Are Terrorists”. Two other letters to the editor discuss recent murders of young Americans raised in tough neighborhoods. In the last month, several mentally disturbed individuals have gone to their school, pulled out their gun, and brutally shot fellow students and strangers. How did these crazy people obtain guns? Where was security? What is going on at American school campuses?

Yet the violent madness in schools and shopping malls extends beyond just the United States borders. Today a gunman murdered at least 8 students and shot another 30 human beings at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem. Religious hatred appears to have motivated the gunman, and deluded fanatic probably expected to go to paradise. Crowds in Gaza cheer. What is going on?

In a Baghdad shopping district, people went shopping and were enjoying the simple pleasures of daily life. Another religious fanatic changed their morning plans - and blew himself up and murdered several surrounding people. When horrified humans went to help the wounded and dying, a second man filled with hatred and wrapped in explosives decided to murder some more humans. All the victims were Iraqi, and probably Muslim. What is going on?

Why are so many people filled with so much hatred, violent fantasies, and armed with dangerous weapons? What is going on?
Schools and shopping centers should be safe places where people gather, smile, and enjoy life. In our public schools, universities, and ESL classrooms, we celebrate diversity and individuality. We share stories, exchange insights, and encourage each other. We see the positive possibilities. Respect, tolerance, and the search for more information and knowledge guide us.

The terrible headlines today emphasize how fragile our schools remain. Our classrooms, often seen as an oasis of safety and possibility in dangerous neighborhoods, no longer seem automatically safe. I want more security and more sanity in schools. I want stricter gun control laws in the United States. I also want less hatred, religious fanaticism, and violent bigotry in the world.

Why are so many guns, bombs, and psychopaths entering so many schools? What are we doing to prevent future school shootings, massacres, and funerals? Or are we turning away, pretending their is no problem, and encouraging more tragedies?

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Raise the roof for adult English Language classrooms!

What do English language learners need to succeed at work, in college, and in life? That's a tough questions with few easy answers.

How many adult immigrants want to improve English language skills? How many adult immigrants need to improve their English? Do current adult education programs provide the language skills so students can enter and survive in community college classrooms? How can we improve the quality of English language classes in adult education programs?

OTAN opens new forum on the transition from adult education to community college.

The forum includes an outstanding collection of recent research studies looking at the numerous obstacles, program needs, and best teaching practices to help adult education – including ESL – student enter and succeed in mainstream college classes. Take a look!

Some of the clear conclusions include:

1. - ESL students can and sometimes do succeed despite many obstacles.
2. - A huge gap remains between students needs and current adult education programs
3. - Only a small percentage of adults who would benefit from English language courses attend free adult education courses in California
4. - ESL students face exceptional barriers and require additional resources
5. - adult education needs far more resources to meet its missions
6. - English classes need to teach broader, deeper language skills
7. - English teachers need far more support
8. - Current funding formulas fail to adequate fund English language programs
9. - adult schools should offer a wider range of courses at far more times
10. - adult education needs to provide more fulltime teaching positions
11. - funding shortages limit the ability of educators to meet student needs
12. - Students need to write and speak better to realize their goals
13. - English remains the passport to the American dream for immigrants

“California’s Commitment to Adult English Learners: Caught Between Funding and Need”, an excellent study written by Arturo Gonzalez for the Public Policy Institute of California (2007) also details these problems with considerable tact. Focusing on the outdated and inadequate funding structure, the report documents the conflict between large classes – needed for attendance – and quality language instruction. It also notes the tension between providing minimum educational services for California immigrants and the fiscal costs of exceeding their allotted caps for enrollment. The report warns that “Without a change in the funding formula, the conflict between funding and mission may result in a long-term decline in the quality of instruction and diminish the pace of immigrant integration.”

That’s very polite language for a tragic bottomline: our current adult ESL programs provide too little help to too few students for too short a time. The standards are too low, and the standardized tests only measure passive skills like listening and reading under the rubric of “life skills.” Far too many adult ESL programs currently fail to meet the student needs to master enough language to enter and succeed community college, earn enough money, or realize their American dreams. If current funding formulas don’t change, the huge gap between the official ambitions of adult education programs and the actual classroom realities will grow far worse.

Immigration, especially illegal immigration, remains a very hot and heated political issue – in California and across the United States. Yet helping immigrants, both documented and undocumented, learn English should bring everyone together. Immigrants want to join the national family and need to learn English. The current naturalization law mandates that immigrants “read, write, and speak English” before becoming citizens.

Let’s help adult immigrants take that huge step by expanding and deepening English language classes. English language learners win, English language teachers win, program administrators win, and California residents win when everybody shares a common language.

Let’s raise the roof on English language programs – in California and around the United States!

What are your most precious possessions?

What possessions do you treasure most?

We own so many objects. I just spent the last few days purging my library, cleaning my office, and restoring some empty space to my home office. Where do all these pieces of paper, odd books, extra copies of old ESL lessons, and strange souvenirs come from? How do I decide what to keep and what to let go?

While confronting the clutter of my own making, I rediscovered this great quote from an underappreciated Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. “Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.” These wise words come from a lifetime of exile, persecution, and a search for personal freedom.

Many English students have often learned this hard lesson. Adult ESL students, often refugees seeking a new life to escape persecution, left their homelands with just two suitcases - and sometimes less. Luckier International students have also packed their lives in suitcases, seeking new experiences, knowledge and adventure in other countries. Doesn’t this ability to move, relocate, and start a new life count as a life skill?

Although I love traveling, I have also become quite comfortable in the same Westside Los Angeles home for over six years. It’s easy to forget the wisdom that our students have gained and can become lost in a sea of beautiful, sentimental, or practical objects. What objects would I take with me if I had to flee? What possessions do I treasure most? How would I decide what to keep, what to give away, and what to leave behind?

Los Angeles remains earthquake country. Wildfires have destroyed thousands of homes in the last decade. During a crisis, what would I grab? Photographs? Laptop? The answer, in this case, is not blowing in the wind.

What about you? What would you take with you if you had to leave home and start all over? What possessions do you treasure most?

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