When reading these chapters, Freire triggered a lot of memories of discussions on power relations throughout our TESOL classes. Knowing that students need to feel that their home languages are not only valid, but appreciated helps the students connect with learning their L2. Because we've studied this for so long, Freire's work helped solidify what we already know.
I can remember language teachers throughout high school that simply used the banking method of teaching. We read units out of the textbook, worked on activities provided by that textbook, memorized idiomatic expressions and took a quiz or test. After years of being taught like that, I learned very little. Being in France is when my French language skills skyrocketed. This type of situation shows what Freire was explaining; teachers need to establish an environment that encourages students to inquire and share opinions and ideas about topics. Teachers, in this case, will learn just as much as the students do. This learning community will serve everyone as well as decontextualize knowledge in terms of sitting in a desk in a classroom and transform the classroom into a place to inquire about the world.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
ENG 345: ch 33, 34, 35
In our TESOL testing and assessment classes, we are learning about how important it is to have a mix of assessments for our students. We decided it is best to include regular testing as well as alternative assessment to see where our students are at in terms of their language learning. These articles helped me to see different ways of assessing writing and other means of language.
The two most important things I found in these articles was that (1) Students need to have practice and skills in self-editing and peer editing and (2) Students need to receive constructive and personal feedback to improve their writing.
Self-editing and peer editing needs to be taught. This can happen with teacher modeling as well as worksheets that show students what they need to look for. Even if the students do not pursue academic English, it is a survival skill to be able to proofread, and edit writing for grammatical errors, as well as content errors. However, students aren't born with this skill. By explicitly showing them what to look for, they will be able to make these connections and use this knowledge in the future.
Personal and constructive feedback is important for students to improve their writing. Simple words such as, "elaborate" or "vague" may help an L1 student who is a more advanced writer, but typically ELLs and students that aren't as advanced in writing need more personal feedback from teachers. Having the students double space their typed papers will allow teachers more room for examples and more personal corrections and feedback.
I thought that dialogue journals was an excellent idea to get the students writing without value judgments from teachers. It allows the teachers and students to make personal connections with one another while the student practices writing in English. Practice, as we all know, is a huge part of language learning. These dialogue journals will help the teacher and student be on equal levels, allow the student to practice and the teacher to make a connection with them in a non-stressful environment.
The two most important things I found in these articles was that (1) Students need to have practice and skills in self-editing and peer editing and (2) Students need to receive constructive and personal feedback to improve their writing.
Self-editing and peer editing needs to be taught. This can happen with teacher modeling as well as worksheets that show students what they need to look for. Even if the students do not pursue academic English, it is a survival skill to be able to proofread, and edit writing for grammatical errors, as well as content errors. However, students aren't born with this skill. By explicitly showing them what to look for, they will be able to make these connections and use this knowledge in the future.
Personal and constructive feedback is important for students to improve their writing. Simple words such as, "elaborate" or "vague" may help an L1 student who is a more advanced writer, but typically ELLs and students that aren't as advanced in writing need more personal feedback from teachers. Having the students double space their typed papers will allow teachers more room for examples and more personal corrections and feedback.
I thought that dialogue journals was an excellent idea to get the students writing without value judgments from teachers. It allows the teachers and students to make personal connections with one another while the student practices writing in English. Practice, as we all know, is a huge part of language learning. These dialogue journals will help the teacher and student be on equal levels, allow the student to practice and the teacher to make a connection with them in a non-stressful environment.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Eng 345: Critical Culture Awareness
I completely agreed with Kuma when he argued that people have a cultural lens and becoming aware of others' cultural lenses will help us eradicate stereotyping. I liked that he said it would enhance cultural awareness and not necessarily change the way you view the world. No matter how culturally aware you are, you will most likely still see through your own cultures lenses, simply because that is what you were raised to see.
Kuma, in his article, portrays stereotyping as an easy way to blame someone's culture for expectations and failures. This seems to be an almost ridiculous excuse from a teacher's point of view. I'm sure we all read this thinking well I'm never going to blame someone's culture for their behavior. But part of me thinks it's slightly unavoidable at certain points. Think about it. If we, as TESOL professionals are enhancing our knowledge on not only English pedagogies for ELLs, but also on incorporating and learning as much as possible about our students' backgrounds, it would be easy to mistake being culturally aware with being slightly stereotypical. For example, past articles we've read in this class have talked about Confucius and the learning and teaching expectations coinciding with his work. Say a student in your class is Asian (I now know all of the issues that are homogenized into this term...) and is less interactive than other non-Asian students. Yes, we as TESOLers would be able to point out several other factors that might attribute to this. But maybe the school (s)he came from was oriented around Confucius's methodology. Knowing that we would never think "oh, well (s)he's just Asian, that's how they are," it is hard to determine where the line between being culturally-sensitive and respectful and being stereotypical and negative. Sometimes the dichotomies here are much smaller and more subtle than we think.
Kuma, in his article, portrays stereotyping as an easy way to blame someone's culture for expectations and failures. This seems to be an almost ridiculous excuse from a teacher's point of view. I'm sure we all read this thinking well I'm never going to blame someone's culture for their behavior. But part of me thinks it's slightly unavoidable at certain points. Think about it. If we, as TESOL professionals are enhancing our knowledge on not only English pedagogies for ELLs, but also on incorporating and learning as much as possible about our students' backgrounds, it would be easy to mistake being culturally aware with being slightly stereotypical. For example, past articles we've read in this class have talked about Confucius and the learning and teaching expectations coinciding with his work. Say a student in your class is Asian (I now know all of the issues that are homogenized into this term...) and is less interactive than other non-Asian students. Yes, we as TESOLers would be able to point out several other factors that might attribute to this. But maybe the school (s)he came from was oriented around Confucius's methodology. Knowing that we would never think "oh, well (s)he's just Asian, that's how they are," it is hard to determine where the line between being culturally-sensitive and respectful and being stereotypical and negative. Sometimes the dichotomies here are much smaller and more subtle than we think.
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