Ebaby's ESL Teacher by mitchelk | English, baby! Blogs

Writing with Structure in the ESL Classroom

mitchelk — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:34:43 GMT

Writing with Structure in the ESL Classroom

Writing can be hard, even for me a native English speaker and ESL teacher. But once ESL students become comfortable with writing in English, it is important to introduce some common structures in English writing.

Traditionally in English, an essay states the main idea in the first paragraph and each paragraph that follows supports the main idea. While this rigid structure is not always followed, students should understand that normally they should structure their writing in that manner.

ESL teachers, especially native English speakers, may not consider teaching essay organization, but some cultures value other essay structures. There is a great video clip about a nonnative English speaker, Pablo Zapata, and his problems with the very direct manner of English essay writing.

Some students may have a hard time transitioning to this style of writing, but once their language is intelligible, it is a necessity. English readers have certain expectations about how writing should be organized, especially in academics. As teachers, we should give our students the skills to meet readers' expectations.

TOEFL, my life!

mitchelk — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:52:28 GMT

TOEFL, my life!

I live in Portland, Oregon and at the university in my town, like most US university, exchange students need to take the TOEFL exam before they can take classes. And they need to get a high score, a score of 197 or higher. The TOEFL exam has three parts: reading, writing and listening.

In my ESL class, students learn to read, write, and listen to English. But I wonder, do my students know enough to pass the TOEFL exam? At Portland State University, students need to get 197 points on the computer-based TOEFL test before they can go to school there. I always wonder, if I am teaching my students enough. The only way to know if my students are going to do well on the TOEFL is to work on their reading, writing and listening skills and practice answering questions like those on the TOEFL exam.

For some students, the best thing to do is to take a TOEFL prep class. I have never taught one of those, but maybe some other English teachers on English, Baby! have.

All I know is that the TOEFL test is hard and that it takes a lot of practice to get a good score on the TOEFL. Can any teachers give me some help on preparing my students? I think a good place to start would be to get a TOEFL practice exam and have the students do it.

On English, baby! we sell practice exams written by the real TOEFL test writers. The exams are just like the actual test. So students can take the practice test and see if their score is high enough to study at Portland State University.

Emotions in the ESL classroom

mitchelk — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:34:02 GMT

Emotions in the ESL classroom

It is a well known fact that ESL and EFL students cannot learn English in an overly emotional environment. In essence, students' emotions stop them from learning. Learning another languge requires so much of an individual that there just isn't enough energy or brain power to process new language and overwhelming emotions, like fear and sadness.

But what about the ESL teacher? Being an ESL teacher is an emotional job. For me, there are only so many emotions I can deal with and still be an effective teacher. Students often come to me with their problems. As their ESL teacher, I am supposed to help them learn the language and transition into a new society. But, sometimes there just isn't enough of me. Lately, my own personal troubles have stopped me from being the best teacher and the best support system for my students.

I guess, I would love some advise from experienced teachers. Or maybe there just isn't a solution. Maybe you can't be a great teacher, if you are too emotionally invested. Just like students who can't learn, teachers can't teach when their feelings aren't under control. How do you control your emotions?

ESL Classroom Atmosphere and Friendships

mitchelk — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:48:24 GMT

ESL Classroom Atmosphere and Friendships

Sure, sometimes ESL classes are scary and uncomfortable. Students are worried about making mistakes and teachers are forced to be the language police. Still, teachers and students can be friends and the ESL classroom can be a really fun and entertaining place -- a place where friends meet.

I really try to make my students feel comfortable. I don't force them to do too many things and I try hard to keep the class exciting. But how do you know if students are comfortable?

Well, this week my students showed me, how much they love the class, their fellow students and ME. I was so surprised. Yesterday, on Valentine's Day, two of the students got gifts for everyone. We all got balloons , candles, picture frames, candy, chocolate and a personal card. I was so impressed that they got everyone presents.

Both students were from Mexico. I found out the in Mexico Valentine's day is celebrated on the same day (February 14th), but it is called "Dia del Amor y la Amistad." That translates to "Day of Love and Friendship."

On the "Day of Love and Friendship," my two students from Mexico celebrated the friendships they have in class. They wanted to show their friends how much they loved them. I was just so happy to included as one of their friends. I felt so lucky! And I was excited that they had made friends in the ESL class.

I wonder how teachers can encourage friendships in class. Do you have any ideas? I often have students work together, but what else is important to developing a safe and friendly ESL classroom atmosphere?

Interlanguage and Teacher Frustration

mitchelk — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:35:41 GMT

Interlanguage and Teacher Frustration

Are they learning? It sometimes seems like students aren't learning. Or even worse that they are simply forgetting everything that they learned. It is important to remember that language learning is not linear.

Students create a complex interlanguage, while learning English. An interlanguage is a mental construct-- a language that only exists in the learner's head. The interlangauge may be similar in ways to a student's native languages (L1) and the target language (L2), but it is in many ways different. The diagram below from www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/jeilms/vol14/duran.htm illustrates how interlanguage is similar and different from the student's native and target language. In the diagram Language A and L1=native language and Language B and L2=English

Many language educators may be very aware of interlanguage. Students' interlanguage is individual and may follow completely different rules than their native language or English. Interlanguage rules are also more fluid and dynamic than normal language rules. Students' perception of how past tense is made, for example, may be ever changing and developing.

This happened in my English class. The students "learned" simple past several months ago. They successfully completed two tests on the subject and used simple past correctly in classroom discussions, but NO ONE remembers it now. Sure they know some irregular verbs, but they don't know how to ask questions or negate sentences.

Before I or any other teacher get too frustrated, we need to remember that language learning is not a simple progression from knowing one language to knowing a second language. Students are going to be constantly adjusting their interlanguage rules and sometimes that will make them perform more accurately and other times it will make them perform less accurate.

How can we as teachers overcome the frustration of learners' mistakes?

I think, we need to remember that they are creating a complex interlanguage. And their interlangauge will become more and more like English, but it takes time. And it is not linear!

Fun Online ESL Writing and Reading Lessons

mitchelk — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:44:21 GMT

Fun Online ESL Writing and Reading Lessons

Getting students to write in the ESL classroom is sometimes a drag. In a fun communicative classroom, solitary writing activities are hardly a perfect match. I have found one exciting writing lesson/ reading lesson: Addventures! One addventure site is :

http://www.protagonize.com/

On these sites, people can read through stories and at any point add a new variation, a new twist to the plot. Suddenly, writing and reading are interactive and creative activities. Here is a clip from one story:

This is a great story for an ESL writing or reading lesson. Students can chose what to do next. They simply click on their choice ("Kick it" "Bite it" or "Gently massage it's self confidence") and it takes them to the next part of the story. Or if they don't like the choices, they can create their own story line by clicking the "+".

So the story above could read: "Whoa. What is it? You've never seen anything like it." (click "Kick it") "You kick it. It flies off into the sky, and you can see where it landed, which you can see is about a quarter of a mile away. You still don't have a clue what it was.

However, the neighborhood you would need to walk through for it to only be a quarter of a mile is one that you wouldn't trust with your life, or the expensive new iPod in your pocket.

Your car is nearby in your garage, but you might wake up your spouse opening the garage door. (Yes, you've got one of those, too.)

Also, you have an orange and a toothbrush."

And then you would have to decide what to do next: "Walk towards the object." "Open the garage door." or "Stab the orange with the toothbrush." Again you can click on these to read more of the story or maybe you want to add something else.

This is a great way to stop boring lessons in their tracks. Start here and be proud of what your students create. Explain to them that hundreds of people will read their work. What a motivation! Students will edit their work more and be more creative. The final products are amazing.

Another bonus to the large sites is that they accommodate varied reading levels. Low and advanced students can find engaging story lines.

Overall, this ESL writing activity can work for everyone. The lesson is fun. The stories are varied. The options are endless.

So have fun!!! And tell me what you wrote.

Wikis in the ESL/EFL classroom!

mitchelk — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:07:28 GMT

Wikis in the ESL/EFL classroom!

Today, computer skills are essential. So how do we build computer skills into our ESL/EFL classroom?

Each week this month, I will address new ways of integrating computers into ESL/EFL classrooms. This week, I will take a closer look at wikis. Wikis are collaborative, quickly created websites. Using a wiki makes each student an author, an editor and a web designer. Here is my classes wiki: www.inspireenglish.pbwiki.com This page was completely created by the students and they are still adding to it.

To create your own wiki, pick a site to host your wiki. There are a lot of options. Look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_farm I chose pbwiki. It is simple to use and the language is easy. For example, the font size is “x-small”, “small”, “medium”, and “large.” It is a nice match for my students' language ability. Students will quickly get excited to decorate the page. So once you have the page, keep your input simple and allow the students to make it more interesting. Each class, teach them a new skill, like changing the font, creating a link or uploading youtube videos. My students have a great sense of humor. In the test section, they made it so that if you get a question wrong it brings up a page with this picture:

I have really encouraged them to have fun with the site. When we started, there were only three links on the homepage: story section link, a grammar section link and a test section link. Each day, students got to pick what they wanted to add to the page. If they didn’t want to add anything, they could edit what other students had put on the site. Editing the pages was a great learning experience for them.

If you looked at my site now, www.inspireenglish.pbwiki.com , you will see that the content and the organization of the site has changed drastically from what the students saw on the first day. One of my favorite parts right now is the action mazes section: http://inspireenglish.pbwiki.com/Action+Mazes We are still working on these, but to begin students created an outline on paper of what people could do if they had no money. Like this:

• You have no money.

• You could get a job.

• You could look in the newspaper for jobs.

• You could walk around town and look for "Help Wanted" signs.

• You could ask people for money.

• You could ask your friends for help.

• You could ask your parents for help.

On the site, we are putting the information onto a bunch of pages. The first page has: “You have no money.” And links to three possible things to do to get money, like "You could get a job." The links lead to more pages with what to do next.

All in all, this is a fun student-centered project. If you have any questions, leave them as comments. And if you create a wiki or have ideas of how to use them, PLEASE share.

Students as Teachers...hmm

mitchelk — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:28:06 GMT

Students as Teachers...hmm

Learners, I have a few questions for you: What do you want to do in class? What should you do in class? My students certainly did not know what I expected from them this week. Some students came late every day and when I say late, I mean an hour late. In some countries, tardiness is ok, but not in the US. My class and I needed to come to some understanding of what was acceptable. Too bad nobody could agree.

Teachers, you can try this English lesson in your class and see how it works for you. I gave students a list of classroom expectations and asked them to put a check mark next to the rules we have in our class.

This is a check mark:

For example:

If you think any of these are rules in our class, put a check mark in front of the rule.

__ Students should be on time.

__ Students should not eat in class.

__ Students should raise their hands to ask questions.

__ Students should turn off their cell phones during class.

I was so surprised; each student thought the class had a different set of rules. For the most part, they thought they could be a little late… and I agree. As for food, we decided no hamburgers and french fries, but drinks were allowed. Making rules is hard for me because I see so many exceptions. If my student needs to work, then he can be late. If they are hungry, they can eat. It is hard for me to set rules. I guess, I am glad that I took some time from grammar lessons to talk about classroom expectations.

Next, I had them write about what they would do if they were the teacher. And let me tell you: they would be horrible teachers. One of my students would have pizza and music. She would make the students dance the whole time, but she, as the teacher, would just laugh at them. My other students were also not very helpful. Except, there was some hope that my student, Jesus, could be a good teacher. He would take the class to the swimming pool. There, they would swim and talk about life. I wish we could all go swimming that would be fun. Even though we can’t go swimming, we are going to “talk about life” more. As I teacher, I think we already do, but today Jesus is going to lead the conversation. I want them all to feel like they own a part of the classroom. Maybe we will start using Ebaby so that they can "talk about life" with their peers and without the teacher hearing. I am excited for class now; they are engaged and now they know my expectations better.