Remembering: a valuable classroom lesson (not associated with a unit)

(Please note: This is not a blog on one of the class units but I wanted to include it because it was a real learning experience for me)

Authentic real life learning is at the heart of ESL learning, but this can also be applied to volunteers and teachers learning from their students in the classroom. I volunteer with an ESL class and I recently had a very authentic learning experience that I will not soon forget. 

The lesson was on Remembrance Day.  The teacher was forced to cram the topic into one day because of other time constraints and was uncomfortable with this, but she approached it with her usual cheery and practical self. 

The topic was introduced by talking about holidays, and how some are happy holidays (like Halloween), but others are quite sad holidays. She asked about what holiday was coming up on Nov 11^th.  Some students knew it was about remembering, but nothing else. She explained to them it was about remembering people who fought in wars for Canada, for our freedom. 

The teacher chose to show the learners a short Government of Canada video with images of WWI, poppies and other images of our armed forces.  She asked them to think about answers to ‘who, what, where, when, why and how’ in the video.  The video played.  Answers to the question of ‘who’ we remember were ‘our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers’, etc. as taken from the voice in the video.  As the video played again and the discussion unfolded, I glanced around the room.  All students were fully engaged. But their looks and body language were quite varied. Many of the students were from countries that are or have recently experienced war. Their body language said everything.  One particular woman had her arms crossed and a very somber look.  She is usually one of the first to answer questions.  Today she said nothing.  

As I watched the class and lesson, I wondered who (brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers) and what they were remembering. I felt so bad for them that I was close to tears.  Is this lesson necessary?  Does it do more harm than good?  How would I feel in this situation? The lesson was taught gently and with respect for the student’s feelings.  There were no recent images of war.  Yet it was so difficult to watch.  

After the lesson, I had a discussion with the teacher. She assured me that lessons on Remembrance Day are very important, and may be even more so for those that have experienced the trauma of war. She has found that many students had told her that they find it consoling that in Canada, something so negative can be remembered in a positive light. The act of remembering those we have lost that fought for our freedom, and remembering those that some of our students have perhaps lost recently in wars fought over freedom, is very important to them! 

As ESL teachers, we promote authentic learning experiences for our students. There is great value for ‘want-to-be’ ESL teachers in volunteering in ESL classrooms for our own authentic experiences. Our students can teach us so much! 

Putting the Fun in ESL! (Unit 9)

‘Fun learning may mean different things for different people’ (TESL 0100 Fundamentals course, Unit 9).  We all enjoy different activities and excel at different things, and must be considered when developing activities for our students in the classroom.  How will we make learning fun and enjoyable for our learners?  Of course not all activities can be fun, but we must interject some learning experiences where learners almost forget they are learning.  

Much focus has been put on incorporating digital technology (e-learning) in the ESL classroom to reflect the realistic expectation of using digital technology in our everyday lives (Brown and Lee 2015).  Smart phones are the norm in the wider population, and we essentially have a computer in our pocket!  Tablets are easy to use for students, and can accommodate a wide variety of learning. Desktop computers may be less accessible for some classes, but very essential for learners who are focusing on the job market where computers are ubiquitous.  

The question is how do we seamlessly incorporate e-learning activities, and make it a fun experience.  First, we must consider the accessibility of the chosen technology to our students. Do they all have a smart phone, and if not, how do we allow for this, and make it an inclusive activity?  Can we supply tablets for students to share? Is there a classroom computer available? Or is the expectation that students will have one at home?   Often students do not have a smartphone or access to a computer.  These are expensive items and smartphones are often shared in families.  Tablets and computers are additional expenses that many cannot afford.  So we must consider these questions when planning activities. 

 Second, what types of e-learning activities work? Diane Ramanathan (TESL 0100 course, Unit 9) shares some excellent ideas on how we can incorporate technology: 1) motivate and engage (eg. Kahoot or writing a newsletter); 2) support and encourage collaboration amoung learners for new technology; 3) use tech tools for tasks and projects (eg. Publisher, Survey Monkey, Padlet); 4) use technology to introduce and practice language (eg. language apps and social media).   There are huge varieties of apps and activities available to choose from.  Mobile learning (m-learning) using smartphones and tablets can make anywhere a classroom and offers real authentic learning (https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/mobile-learning-improve-english-anytime-anywhere).  M-learning is a focus of organizations such as UNESCO as a highly accessible education tool in developing countries (https://en.unesco.org/themes/ict-education/mobile-learning) and therefore may already be utilized and recognized by many ESL learners. 

Third, do we need technology to make this fun?  Are we using technology, just for the sake of using it, or is there a better way? As stated, fun is different for everyone.  Students (and teachers) who are comfortable with technology often gravitate to it, and use it more frequently.  Those that aren’t may shy away from it, and even become very frustrated.  So we must offer a balance in the classroom. Are we comfortable with the technology ourselves? We must use technology as a teaching tool where appropriate and warranted, and allow students to adapt to it, with support when required.  But fun can also be in the form of more traditional games, paper exercises, contests, skits, etc.  These are all a necessary part of making the classroom a fun experience as well. 

As with all our planning, we must consider our learners, our context, our resources and our abilities when considering how and when incorporating e-learning to add another dimension of learning to our classroom. 

References: 

Brown, D. & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language 
      pedagogy (4th ed. revised) Chapter 12  Upper Saddle River:Pearson Education.

            

 TESL 0100 Fundamentals of Teaching English as a Second Language course
       (Unit 9) (Video in Course Notes) University of Manitoba 2018

The Art of Assessment (Unit 8)

How am I doing in this course?  Am I learning?  Is it ‘sticking’?  Am I getting something from it?  Am I doing it right?

These are all questions that I often ask myself as I progress through courses. And how do I know?  The answers come in assessment.  Adult learners need to know the answers to these questions and more, to ensure their learning is on the right track, they (or the sponsor) are getting value for their money, and they are confident that their needs as learners are being met.  

Assessment in English as a second language (ESL) courses can occur in a variety of ways, and can be dependent on the type of course, the learners and class size, the level of the learners, etc.  Classroom-based assessments are the most commonly accepted, as opposed to standardized large scale testing (although these have their place as well). However, all forms of testing require certain principles of assessmentto be met. These are validity, reliability, practicality, and item facility(Galetcaia 2018).   Validity ensures that the assessment measures only the skill it is designed to measure; reliability ensures that the assessment is consistent; practicality ensures that the assessment can be reasonably applied; and item facility determines how well an item or question can be answered. As we are designing our assessments, we must keep these principles in mind.  

Classroom-based assessments can be diagnostic (to evaluate the learners needs and goals), formative(ongoing assessments which establish progress) or summative(at the end of a term or cycle).  All of these are necessary in an ESL classroom, and all can be administered in a wide variety of formats (eg. observation, quizzes, surveys, presentations, learning logs, conferences).  One of the most useful form of assessments, and a focus of the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) program is portfolio-based language assessment (PBLA Emerging Practices Guidelines 2018).  This uses a binder as a portfolio which students add representative pieces of their classroom work.  It is used in combination with other forms of assessment but establishes a sound basis for students to evaluate a student’s progress, as well as allowing the student to review and reflect on their own progress. This occurs through a teaching/learning cycle. Portfolio-based assessments are particularly useful with beginner levels of ESL, where assessment at more advanced levels can use more complex and independent forms of tracking their progress such as journals, workbooks and essays.  Self-assessmentand peer assessmentare also essential to ESL for learners to become reflective about learning.  When they focus on assessing themselves and their peers, they can more clearly see the need for goals and objectives, and work towards them, both inside and outside the classroom. 

Feedback is an important aspect of a successful assessment, as it directs and focuses future learning. Proper feedback will be reflected in the type of assessment as well.  In informal assessments, feedback can be short verbal comments with substance (not just ‘good’, ‘excellent’ but rather ‘can you see your improvement?’). More formal assessments, such as a written paragraph, can use the ‘stop doing this, start doing this, continue this, consider this’ assessment format where students receive very constructive feedback on what can improve and what they are doing well (Williams 2015).  

The use of a variety of forms of assessment and appropriate feedback will ensure that students are receiving information that answers the questions about their learning progress.  Assessment may be artfully entwined with the lesson, at times so well that students are unaware that it’s happening.  We must also constantly reflect and evaluate our assessments and update our assessment tools to ensure that we as teachers are giving valid, fair and accurate assessments. 

References: 

Brown, D. & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language
        pedagogy(4th ed. revised). Chapters 20 and 21  Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.

Galetcaia, T  2018  Assessment in [Language] Learning  slide presentation from the author

PBLA Emerging Practices Guidelines 2018, Center for Canadian Language Benchmarks from
        https://pblaepg.language.ca  Accessed Nov 4, 2018

Williams, Shawna (2015)  ‘Action Oriented Feedback’  from
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDbkhsNfmK4   Accessed Nov 4, 2018