Introducing our Grammar Activities

 Introducing Your Grammar Activities

Introduction: Take time to share the grammar activity you created with your partners. Explain your activity, then discuss it using the framework we use in class. The phases at the bottom of the page can help you begin the discussion.

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Summarize & React: What were the steps of the activity? What am I thinking about it?

• Ok, so in that activty you...
• The purpose of the activity was to...
• First we..., then we...
• I think the activity was...
• Wow, I wasn't expecting that because...
• One thing I liked about it was...

Strengths & Challenges: How does the activity help learners understand or practice the grammar structure? What aspects of the activity might be diffiuclt for the teacher or students? Why? 

• One thing that was helpful for learning was...
• (Specific aspect) was effective because...
• One challenge I predict is...
• It might be difficult for students to...
• I wonder if it will be hard for you to...

Applications & Variations: What other grammar topics could this type of activity work for? How could the activity be modified to make it easier or more challenging, shorter or longer?

• I think this kind of activity would also be perfect for...
• You could probably also use this to...
• Maybe you could change... so that ...
• If we wanted to make it more difficult, we could...
• To save time we could...

 Demo Teaching Walkthroughs and Feedback

Introduction: In order to better prepare for your team teaching sessions, you will do a brief walkthrough of one of your lesson sequences. Afterward we will use the following feedback sequence to help us process the experience. 

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English V - Week 2 - Families and Culture

 Families and Culture

Introduction: In today's class you will discuss the topic of family dynamics in different cultures and compare them to your own. Follow the teacher's instructions to complete the tasks below.

Task 1: Question Storm

Let's play a game to get to know each other better! You will work in groups of 3 or 4. Take turns asking one of your group members as many questions as you can in one minute and thirty seconds. Ask a question and as soon as your partner answers, ask another one. See how many questions he or she can answer in the time limit. Then change partners for the next round. Click play on the video to start your timer for each round.  

Start the Timer

Task 2: Practice with Auxiliary Verbs and Question Formation

Work with your partners to complete these exercises to practice the formation of questions.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE
• Group 4: CLICK HERE
• Group 5: CLICK HERE
• Group 6: CLICK HERE

Task 3: Reading Discussion

In the next activity, you will work with your partners to read about a typical family in another country. Before you read, take a few minutes to discuss these questions with your group members.

• Who is in your immediate family?
• Name some people in your extended family?
• Do your immediate and extended family members live in the same geographic area?
• Who do you have a close relationship with?
• Who do you live with now?
• Who did you grow up with?

Task 4: Let's Read

Your teacher put you in a group. Click on your assigned link below and follow the instructions.

• The Kamau Family
• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE
• Group 4: CLICK HERE

• The Qu Family
• Group 5: CLICK HERE
• Group 6: CLICK HERE
• Group 7: CLICK HERE
• Group 8: CLICK HERE

Task 5: Discussion Time

Now you will work with a new partner who read about a different family. Pretend that you are one of the parents from your family (Boniface & Pauline or Qu & Liu). Ask each other questions about your family dynamics in order to discover the following information:

• What similarities and differences exist between your families?
• How have your lives changed over the years?
• What regrets or worries do you have now?

Task 6: Typical Family in Costa Rica

Now that you have read about typical families in other parts of the world, you are going to work with your partners to create a profile of a typical family in Costa Rica. In order to do this, you are going to add the following information to your Padlet post. In the end, we are going to present the families and choose which one is the MOST typical.

• What are their lastnames?
• What are the names of the family members?
• How many children do they have?
• Who else lives in the house?
• Where do they live (specifically)?
• What are their jobs?
• How do they spend their free time?
• What is important to them?
• What are some other characteristics about them?
• You can add pictures too if you want!

 

Making Learning Visible: Lesson Planning for Virtualized Contexts

Initial Thoughts

Instructions: Reflect on your expereiences teaching and learning face to face and online and discuss the following questions.

• What challenges are present in BOTH face to face and virtualized classes?
• What unique challenges are presented by the virtualized format?
• What does "effective teaching" mean to you in a face to face context? In a virtualized context?

Demo Analysis

Instructions: Let's analyze the demo lesson you just participated in. Look at the pages from the unit and the PPT slides and complete the tasks below. CLICK HERE to access them.

Task 1: Discuss the following questions:

• What design features can you notice?
• What is the possible rationale behind them?
• How do they affect the learning experience from the student perspective?

Task 2: Read the list below and identify the points that seem most important to you. Discuss the questions from Task 1 regarding your chosen points.

Task 3: Synthesize your analysis and make a comment in the chat so you can share with your partners when you get back to the main room. In your comment, articulate at least three design principles that you have identified in the demo lesson. For each one, state a brief description of the principle and the rationale behind it. In other words, how does this design principle contribute to the students' learning experience?

Example: Principle 1 - State the instructions for the task in the PPT slide in student friendly language. Rationale - Students benefit from processing instructions in multiple modalities (spoken/written) The written instructions also serve as a referece point for students when they are working in breakout rooms, allowing them to work more independently.

Lesson Planning Task

Instructions: Now it's time for you to create your own lesson sequence using the Backward Design framework and the design features that you identified in the demo. You can choose to create your sequence for Lesson B or C of the same unit. CLICK HERE to access the unit PDF. CLICK HERE to access the PPT template. Be sure to download the template onto your computer so that you can edit it. You have 35 minutes to complete this task.

 Reflecting on our Observations

Instructions: Take the next 15 minutes to process your observation with your partner. You may want to open your observation form to remember specific details. Be sure to click play on the video to start the timer and ensure that you get though all of the questions.

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DOGME: A Noble Experiment

Introduction: Is there an argument for a materials-light approach to language teaching? Well, a group of English teachers in 2001 were disillusioned with the current state of ELT and they got together in an online community (a new concept at the time) and created a radical approach to teaching foreign languages. The named their approach DOGME in honor of an experimental movement in cinema of the same name that had been popularized a few years earlier. Through DOGME, these teachers hoped to put the learners and their needs at the center of the teaching-learning process. 

Scott Thornbury, the group's unofficial leader, stated in his 2006 book An A-Z of ELT, "Dogme ELT argues for a pedagogoy of bare essentials, that is, a pedagogy unburdened by an excess of materials and technology, a pedagogy grounded in the local and relevant concerns of the people in the room (p. 70)"

Task 1: Dogme Manifesto

The DOGME group outlined their core beliefs in the following manifesto. Read each declaration carefully and answer the following questions.

• What does it mean?
• What do I think about it?
• To what degree does it match my own views about language teaching-learning?

The DOGME Manifesto: 2001

Task 2: Group Discussion

• Which of the statements from the manifesto stand out to you? Why?
• What could be the authors' rationale for expressing these statements?
• Which statements have some connection with the topic of didactic materials?
• DOGME was created in reaction to what these teachers saw as a decline in the effectiveness of ELT. What might these statements suggest about the reality of the teaching contexts in which these teachers were working?
• DOGME was created before our current online pandemic teaching paradigm. Which of their beliefs might still be applicable in our current context?
• For many reasons, DOGME is too radical to be a practical approach to language teaching in a formal context. However, what can we rescue from this nobel experiment? 
• How can some of these ideas influence your own approach to materials evaluation, design, and use?

Bibliography:

Thornbury, S. (2017, June 26). M is for Manifesto. An A-Z of ELT. https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/2017/06/25/m-is-for-manifesto/

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Macmillan Education. 

 Discussing the Eight Parts of Speech

Instructions: Work with your partners to complete the Parts of Speech Rally. Click on your assigned group link below and get started. 

Task 1: Parts of Speech Rally

Group 1: CLICK HERE

Group 2: CLICK HERE

Group 3: CLICK HERE

Group 4: CLICK HERE

Group 5: CLICK HERE

 Semi Intensive 5: Milestones

Introduction: In today's class we are talking about important life acheivements. Work with your partners to complete the tasks below.

Warm Up: Guess the Picture Charades

Follow your teacher's instructions carefully. You will open the pictures and try to help your partner guess what it is by using gestures only.

• Picture 1: CLICK HERE
• Picture 2: CLICK HERE
• Picture 3: CLICK HERE
• Picture 4: CLICK HERE
• Picture 5: CLICK HERE

Task 2: Unit Opener

Read the paragraph aloud with your partner then discuss the questions. 

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Task 3: Milestone Survey

CLICK HERE to open the survey. Work with your partner to complete the information. Only one of you needs to submit your answers.

Task 4: Grammar Exploration

Click on your group link below and follow the instructions in your worksheet.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE
• Group 4: CLICK HERE

Task 5: Grammar Practice

Click on your group link below and follow the instructions in your worksheet.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE
• Group 4: CLICK HERE

Task 6: Speculating about Milestones

CLICK HERE to access a series of images. For each person you see, discuss the milestones you think this person has achieved in his/her life and ones he/she hasn't achieved by using these phrases. If you need ideas, you can look at the wordcloud for inspiration.

• "He/She has ________ , but he/she hasn't ________."

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Task 7: Play the Part

Now look at the pictures again and this time pretend to be that person. Answer your partner's questiosn about your milestones and life experiences.

• Have you ________?
• When did you first ________?

Task 7: Interview a Member of Your Community

In this task you will interview an elderly member of your community. You will have 5 minutes to ask the person as many questions as you can about the different milestones they have passed in their life, when they achieved them, and how they felt. Press play on the video to start your timer. Remember to keep talking until the time is over.

 Exploring Communicative Activities, CLT, and Communicative Competence

Introduction: In today's session we will review CCCN's principles and see how they relate to your own beliefs about teaching and learning. We will also explore the content from your flipped homework assignments in more detail. Follow the instructions to complete the tasks below.

Task 1: Synthesizing the principles

Your facilitator will give a presentation to describe the organization of the 7 Principles that make up CCCN's pedagogical model as well as explain each principle in detail. During the presentation, take notes in the Padlet below. For each category add the following information:

• Keywords and phrases
• Justification
• Examples
• Connection with your own beliefs
• Questions and doubts

Task 2: Our Teaching-Manifestos

Take turns sharing your Teaching-Learning Manifestos. Use the following instructions to guide your discussion.

Click to view full size image.

Task 3: Communicative Activities

Take 10 minutes to complete Task 3. Click on the YouTube video below to start your timer. Then answer the questions with your partner. 

1. How would you define the word "communication"?
2. What role should communication play in the teaching-learning experience?
3. In the article you read, Thornbury describes six characteristics of communicative activities. Without looking at your notes, which of those characteristics can you remember?
4. Now CLICK HERE to view a list of definitions of the terms. Can you remember the terms?
5. Now CLICK HERE to view a list of the terms. Match them with their definitions and explain why they are important.
6. Share the communicative activity that you identified in your homework and explore with your partner how it fits all six characteristics of communicative activities outlined by Thornbury.

Task 4: Two Approaches to Language

Take 5 minutes to discuss the questions below.

1. What do the terms strong & weak and deep & shallow mean in the context of communicative language teaching?
2. What are their differences and similarities?
3. In what contexts might you prefer one approach over another? Why?
4. The words strong & weak and deep & and shallow are loaded terms, meaning that they have connotations that imply that one way is better. Strong and deep sound more important than weak and shallow. What alternative metaphor could you suggest to contrast these two important approaches in contemporary language pedagogy?

Task 5: Demo Lesson Reflection and Analysis

Now that you have participated in a brief demo lesson. Take a moment to reflect on your experiences from a student point of view and analyze the lesson sequence and its characteristics from a teacher perspective. 

1. What are your first thoughts, reactions, and impressions regarding the lesson?
2. CLICK HERE to view some key words. Choose three of them as a group and discuss any memories or observations you made in the demo lesson regarding each topic.
3. Were any of the principles addressed in this demo lesson? You can review the notes you took in the Padlet if you need to refresh your memory.
4. Now CLICK HERE and discuss the analysis questions with your partners.

 Practice with Personal Information Questions

Instructions: Creating questions can be a challenge because of those tricky auxiliary verbs but in this exercise you will find that it is not so difficult as you might think. Your teacher assigned you a group number. Click on the corresponding link below to access your digital worksheet and follow the instructions in it. 

Group 1: CLICK HERE

Group 2: CLICK HERE

Group 3: CLICK HERE

Group 4: CLICK HERE

Group 5: CLICK HERE

Group 6: CLICK HERE

Course Introduction - Inglés V - IIIC 2020

 

Course Introduction - Inglés V - IIIC 2020

Introduction: Welcome to the first class of Term III of 2020. Let's take a moment at the beginning of the class today to do the tasks below.

Task 1: Nice to Meet You (5 minutes) Have a conversation to get to know your partners. Ask and answer questions to learn basic personal information.

• Name
• Hometown
• Major (carrera universitaria)
• Work
• Hobbies
• Favorite things

Task 2: Class Experiences (10 minutes) Now discuss some of your previous experiences with English classes in this university and in other places.

Click the picture to see the full size.

Task 3: Class Rules and Requests (5 minutes) Online classes and face to face classes are not the same. What are some recommendations we should follow to make this course a nice experience? 

• What do you need from: the teacher, your partners, and yourself?
• What you want your teacher, your partners, and yourself to do?
• What are some positive actions that your teacher, your partners, and you can do to contribute to a nice learning experience in this course?

SLA Support for Use of Tasks and Grammar Teaching in Materials Design

 SLA Support for Use of Tasks and Grammar Interpretation Activiteis in Materials Design

Instructions: In chapter two of English Language Teaching Materials: Theory and Practice (Harwood, 2010), Ellis tells us that there are two kinds of tasks. 

• Focused Tasks: Ones that are designed to elicit or require a specific linguistic feature
• Unfocused Tasks: Ones that elicit general samples of learner language but are not designed with a specific feature in mind

Ellis also lists the following criteria that must be fulfilled to consider an activity a task and not a contextualized grammar exercise:

• There is a primary focus on meaning.
• Students choose the linguistic and nonlinguistic resources needed to complete the task.
• The task should lead to real-world processes of language use.
• Successful performance of the task is determined by examining whether students have achieved the intended communicative outcome.

Look at the following three materials for classroom activities and decide if they meet the requirements to be considered a task. If so, decide whether they are focused or unfocused tasks.

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Ellis also explains that structured-input activities, like input-enriched activities, are ones that highlight the target structure and bring it to the learner's attention (stimulus), but they also require the learner to process it in some way (the response). In addition, he gives the following criteria for designing structured input materials:

• The stimulus can take the form of spoken or written input.
• The response can take various forms (e.g. indicate true-false, check a box, select the correct picture, draw a diagram, perform an action), but in each case the response will be completely nonverbal or minimally verbal.
• The activities in the task can be sequenced to require first attention to meaning, then noticing the form and function of the grammatical structure, and finally error identification.
• Learners should have the opportunity to make some kind of personal response (i.e., relate the input to their own lives).
• Learners need to be made aware of common errors involving the target strucutre as well as correct usage.
• Structured-input tasks require the provision of immediate and explicit feedback on learner's responses to the input.

Analyze the material for the strucutred input task below and identify if all of the criteria are present in it already and if not, say what the teacher could do to ensure that all the criteria ar fulfilled. 

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Finally, Ellis describes the purpose of consciousness-raising tasks, outlines their characteristics, and gives some tips for their design. Characteristics of CR task are the following:

• There is an attempt to isolate a specific linguistic feature for focused attention.
• The learners are provided with data that illustrate the targeted feature and they may also be provided with an explicit rule describing or explaining the feature.
• The learners are expected to utilize intellectual effort to understand the targeted feature.
• Learners may be optionally required to verbaize a rule describing the grammatical structure.

Analyze the sample CR task below, say how it is structured, and discuss the possible learning benefits that this kind of activity can provide students of English.

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Ellis also provides the following information that can help you create your own consciousness-raising tasks. All CR tasks consist of two elements:

1. Data containing exemplars of the target feature
2. Instructions requiring the learners to operate on the data in some way

Types of Data: You can take into consideration the following options for creating the data that students will analyze.

• Authentic Text vs Contrived Text
• Oral Text vs Written Text
• Text in Discrete Sentences vs A Continuous Text
• Well-Formed Sentences vs Deviant Sentences
• Gap vs Non-Gap

Types of Operations: Students need to do something with the example text in order to raise their awareness about how the target feature works. Consider the following operations that Ellis suggests.

• Identification (e.g. learners underline the target structure in the data)
• Judgment (e.g. they respond to the correctness or appropriateness of the data)
• Completion (e.g. they are invited to complete a text)
• Modification (e.g. they are invited to modify the text in some way, for example, by replacing one item with another)
• Sorting (i.e., they classify the data by sorting it into defined categories)
• Matching (i.e., they are invited to match two sets of data in accordance with a stated principle(
• Rule Provision (e.g. they may be asked to state the rule they have discovered)

Ellis says that by combining different variations of data options and types of operations, we can create a huge variety of consciousness-raising tasks! "A CR task constitutes a kind of puzzle that, when solved, enables learners to discover how a linguistic feature works (Harwood, p. 49)."

Bibliography

Harwood, N. (2010). English language teaching materials: Theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 Approaches to Teaching Grammar

Instructions: In this activity we will review five popular approaches for teaching grammar. Your task is to read about your assigned approach, synthesize important information, and create a post in the Padlet at the bottom of the page that addresses the discussion questions. When we return to the main room, you will present your information to the rest of the class.

Group 1: CLICK HERE Communicative Language Teaching 

• Basics: What is CLT?
• Rationale: Why was CLT created?
• Example: How can CLT be applied in a classroom context?
• Opinion: What are its strengths and challenges?
• Anything Else: Personal reactions, questions, doubts, or comments

Group 2: CLICK HERE Grammar in Context and Recasts for Error Correction 

• Basics: What is Grammar in Context?
• Rationale: Why was Grammar in Context created?
• Example: How can Grammar in Context be applied in a classroom context?
• Opinion: What are its strengths and challenges?
• Anything Else: Personal reactions, questions, doubts, or comments
• Error Correction: What are recasts? Do you think they are an effective way to provide error correction? Why or why not?

Group 3: CLICK HERE Output Hypothesis and Preemptive Targeting of Errors

• Basics: What is the Output Hypothesis?
• Rationale: Why was the Output Hypothesis created?
• Example: How can the Output Hypothesis be applied in a classroom context?
• Opinion: What are its strengths and challenges?
• Anything Else: Personal reactions, questions, doubts, or comments
• Error Correction: Describe the three stage process of preemptively targeting errors. Do you think this is an effective way to help students avoid common grammatical errors?

Group 4: CLICK HERE Processing Instruction

• Basics: What is Processing Instruction?
• Rationale: Why was Processing Instruction created?
• Example: How can Processing Instruction be applied in a classroom context?
• Opinion: What are its strengths and challenges?
• Anything Else: Personal reactions, questions, doubts, or comments

Group 5: CLICK HERE Task Based Language Teaching

• Basics: What is TBLT?
• Rationale: Why was TBLT created?
• Example: How can TBLT be applied in a classroom context?
• Opinion: What are its strengths and challenges?
• Anything Else: Personal reactions, questions, doubts, or comments