TOEIC Preparation - Week 2 - Part 1 Photos

Task 1: Preposition Practice 

You already practiced hand gestures for these prepositions with your teacher. Now it's time for you to practice with your partners. In each group one person will be the leader. The leader will do different gestures and the partners will say the preposition they see. The leader will go quickly so that it is difficult. Then after a minute, the leader will not do anymore gestures. He or she will only say a preposition and the partners have to do the corresponding gesture. After a few minutes, you can change the leader and try again. 

Click the picture to see the full version.

Task 2: Identifying Physical Relationships with Prepositions - Click on the pictures below and analyze them. What object can you identify in the picture? What prepositions can you use to describe them? Look at the sentences. What prepositions would make senses in those examples? 

Click the pictures to see the full version.

Now for the last picture, work with your partner to create sentences to describe the relationships between the people and objects in the photo. Try to use as many different prepositions as possible.

Click the picture to see the full version. 

Task 3: Facts or Opinions?
Look at the images and the descriptions below them. For each one, decide if it is a fact about the photo or an assumption. You do not need to write, only discuss.

1. The businessmen are having a meeting. (Fact / Assumption)

2. Some people are sitting on the grass. (Fact / Assumption)

3. The friends are about to play a game. (Fact / Assumption)

4. There are some clouds in the sky. (Fact / Assumption)

5. Some of the men are wearing jackets. (Fact / Assumption)

1. The repairmen are discussing a problem. (Fact / Assumption)

2. The light is difficult to fix. (Fact / Assumption)

3. The stepladder is very heavy. (Fact / Assumption)

4. There is a sign above the door. (Fact / Assumption)

5. Both men are looking up at the light. (Fact / Assumption)

1. The man is carrying plates of food. (Fact / Assumption)

2. He is about to serve some customers. (Fact / Assumption)

3. The waiter is working very hard. (Fact / Assumption)

4. The man is wearing a long-sleeved shirt. (Fact / Assumption)

5. The restaurant is very busy. (Fact / Assumption)

1. The tourist is taking a photograph. (Fact / Assumption)

2. The woman is wearing sunglasses. (Fact / Assumption)

3. There are some cars in the background. (Fact / Assumption)

4. The camera has failed to function. (Fact / Assumption)

5. She is holding something in her hands. (Fact / Assumption)

Task 4: Analyzing Distractor Types

Click your group link and follow the instructions. 

• 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 5: Analyzing Photos

Click your group link below and complete the document with your partners.

• 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 6: Group Practice

Now you will complete a short quiz to put into practice what we have been studying. One person should share their screen AND computer sound. Then you can take the quiz together. If you need to listen to part of the audio again, you can do it before moving to the next section. When you finish, check your answers. Say what is wrong with the incorrect distractors. 

• Group Quiz 1: CLICK HERE
• Group Quiz 2: CLICK HERE

  Culture of English Speaking Countries - Week 2 - The Culture Experience

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 2 of the course Culture of English Speaking Countries for the bachelor's in English teaching at ULACIT term IC 2023. This week we will discuss content related to the culture experience, the four cultural knowings, ethnocenrism and cultural relativism, and also the topic of cultural pluralism and national identity.

Today's Goals:

• Describe the four cultural knowings that make up the culture learning experience.
• Classify the content, activities, and outcomes of culture learning.
• Compare and contrast the perspectives on immigration and cultural pluralism in the US and your home country.

Guiding Questions:

• What are the four cultural knowings and how can they help me better understand the cultural expderience?
• How can the cultural knowings help teachers conceptualize what aspects of culture to teach and how best to do it?
• How does cultural pluralism contribute to the national identity of my country?

Warm Up: Where in the World?

Click the link below and follow the teacher's instructions to play the game.

• JamBoard: CLICK HERE

Task 1: Week 1 Recall

Last week we introduced the course and discussed several important topics. Let's strengthen your memory by making some attempts to recall some of the key moments of last lesson. Discuss these questions with your partners:

• Teacher: Mark mentioned that one of his favorite foods is ceviche and he showed a picture of one he made. Can you remember the secret ingredient?

• Assessments: Your teacher summarized the key points from the syllabus and you were expected to read the syllabus in detail over the week. What do you remember about the following assessments. 

• Culture Learning Journal (25%)
• Reading Responses (15%)
• Cultureal Map Video Podcast (15%)
• Folktale Analysis Presentation (15%)
• Holiday Research Paper and Presentation (20%)
• LinkedIn Learning Course Certificate (5%)
• CEPA (5%)

• Poem: You reconstructed, read, and analyzed a poem called "The Blind Men and the Elephant". What was it about? What was the author's message? How can the poem serve as a metaphor for the process of learning, describing, and teaching culture?

• Cultural Analysis: You read about the rituals of the Nacirema people. What do you remember about their customs? What was the authors intended message? What is the importance of the following terms: 

• Ethnocentrism
• Cultural Relativism

• "Culture hides much more than it reveals, and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants. Years of study have convinced me that the real job is not to understand foreign culture but to understand our own." - Edward T. Hall

• English Speaking?: We finished by questioning what we mean by the term "English Speaking Country". Why is the definition of this phrase not obvious? What complexities did we explore regarding this topic?

Task 2: Reading Response Exploration

Now work with your partners to discuss some of the ideas from the chapter you read in Moran (2001) called "The Culture Learning Experience". You can have your study guide open but try to look at it only when it's absolutely necessary.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE

Theory Break: The Cultural Experience

• "As teachers, we have little difficulty listing cultural topics, but organizing them is another matter entirely. For good reasons. Culture is multifaceted and complex, and there is no consensus on what culture is (Moran, p. 13)."

• "As language teachers, our challenge is to bring some order to the apparent randomness of culture, both for ourselves and for the students in our classes, as a first step in making culture accessible (Moran, p. 13)."

• "Culture has many definitions... For the most part, these definitions present culture as an abstract entity that can be separated from the experience of participating in it. While they do help us understand the nature of culture, these definitions remain abstract, disconnected from the people who live in that culture, and more importantly, from the experience of participating in that culture (Moran, p. 13)."  

Theory Break: The Cultural Knowings

• "The cultural knowings framework offers a means for describing culture in terms of what students need to do in order to learn it - their encounters with another way of life. Once these interactions are specified, the learning objectives follow, as do the choice of teaching and learning activities and the appropriate means of evaluation (Moran, p. 15)."

• In terms of the stages of the cylce, concrete experience becomes participation, where the task is direct or indirect engagement in the culture, with an emphasis on knowing how. Reflective observation becomes description, with a focus on knowing about. Abstract conceptualization becomes interpretation, where learners concentrate on knowing why. Active experimentation becomes response, with an emphasis on self-awareness, knowing oneself (Moran, p. 19)."

• Reflection: Moran gives the example of a female college student from the US studying abroad in the Dominican Republic. What were some of her initial confusing experiences? How did she interpret them? How did she come to greater levels of self-awareness as she also learned the other knowings (about, how, and why)? 

• Task: Describe a time when you had an experience with another culture. Use the language of the experiential learning cycle and the Cultural Knowings framework to illustrate your learning process and your own reactions to it.

• "The cultural experience is highly personal, and therefore idiosynchratic. Individual learners need to understand themselves and their own culture as a means to comprehending, adapting to, or integrating into the [target] culture (Moran, p. 17)."

• "In the end, individual learners set the limits of knowing about, how, and why. They decide. For this reason, knowing oneself is the organizing dimension of the cultural knowings. Learners' abilities to make such decisions depend on their awareness of themselves, their situation, and their intentions. The more aware they are, the more focused their work becomes in the acquisition of cultural information, skills, and understanding (Moran, p. 17)."

Learn the Rules of Trash Collection in Vermont

• Knowing How: The landlord told us to be careful and pointed us to a sign with rules. We tried and failed. And tried again and failed again.

• Knowing About: We read the rules. We discussed it with our neighbors and professors and even with our landlord again.

• Knowing Why: We understood the importance of helping the environment for the people of Brattleboro.

• Knowing Myself: We rejected this cultural practice after several attempts to participate.

Task 4: Sharing our Culture Learning Journals

Last week you read the chapter "Understanding the Culture of the United States" and wrote the firest entry in your Culture Learning Journal. Take a moment to open your journal (CLICK HERE), share what you wrote, and discuss the additional prompts below:

• Summary: 
• What were the main points made by the author? Speak in general terms. You don't need to remember every detail.

• Reaction: 
• What did you think about the content of the reading? What were your thoughts, opinions, reactions, or interpretations?

• Connection:  
• Mention how these ideas are similar or different to what you know about your own home culture. What similarities and differences can you see between what you read and your own culture?


• The author describes the United States as a nation of immigrants. Would you say that your own home country is also a nation of immigrants? Why or why not? What impact have immigrants had on your culture?

• Read the following quote from page 6. Then answer the questions that follow. 

• Quote: "One of the critical questions facing the United States today is what role new immigrants will play in their new country. To what degree will they choose to take on the traditional American values and culture? How much will they try to maintain some of their own language and cultural traditions? Will they create an entirely new culture based on some combination of their values and those of the traditional American culture?"

• What challenges do you think immigrants and the children of immigrants have when trying to form their identity in the United States? Do you think immigrants in your home country face similar challenges? Is there concern in your country that immigrant populations do not assimilate into the mainstream culture? Is cultural diversity celebrated or is maintaining cultural values and traditions from the immigrant home cultures seen as a threat to your country's national identity?


• One of the cultural issues your teacher encountered early in his experiences in Costa Rica was the sensitivity that some people have about the words America and Americans. On page 8 of the chapter, the author describes why this is truly a linguistic problem rather than a view of superiority.

• What do people in the United States mean when they say America or Americans?
• What do people in Latin American mean by those terms?
• Why don't people in the US use terms like "estadounidense" in English?
• What is the problem with refering to people from the US as North Americans?

References:

Kearny, M., Crandall, J., & Kearny, E. (2005). American Ways: An Introduction to American Culture (3rd ed.) Pearson Education, Inc.

Moran, P. (2001). Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice. Heinle Cengage Learning.

 Teaching Grammar and Writing - Week 2 - Grammar as a Process

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 2 of the course Teaching Grammar and Writing for the Master's in English Teaching at ULACIT in term IC 2023. In this class we will discuss challenges to the traditional structuralist views of grammar and instead make the case that it is a skill and a dynamic organism. We will also look at your grammar drill design and consider principles for guided discovery techniques in grammar instruction.

Today's Goals:

• Discuss ways grammar can be viewed as a dynamic process or action rather than a product or object.
• Describe the relationship between grammar and context.
• Consider alternative metaphors for grammar and langauge acquisition.

Guiding Questions:

• What are some differences between product and process views of grammar?
• What is the relationship between grammar and context?
• In what ways is a mechanic view grammar and an acquisition view of language learning inadequate?

Task 1: Activity Type Demo - Grammar Drills

In this course you will be asked to create sample grammar activities in order to compile a portfolio of grammar activitiy types that describes their basic features, strengths, and challenges. 

• Characteristics: What are the features of a drill or restricted output activity?
• Example: What activity did you create?
• Strengths: In what ways are drills potentially beneficial?
• Challenges: What potential limitations or challegnes are associated with drills?

• Additional Considerations: CLICK HERE

Task 2: Assigned Reading Discussion - Grammar as a Process

For homework you read the chapter "Grammar as a Process" from the book Uncovering Grammar (Thornbury, 2001). Take a few minutes to discuss the questions below to review some of the concepts.

• Thornbury begins the chapter by asking the question "Is grammar a thing or is it something that happens?"

•  What does he mean by that? 
• In what ways can we think of grammar as a noun and in what ways can we think of grammar as a verb?

• Consider this quote from the beginning of the chapter. Read it carefully then describe what it means to you and what you think about it.

• "Inferring the process of language acquisition from its product (grammar) is like inferrring the process of 'omeletting' from the omelette... It ignores the fact that the product and the process are two quite different things - that there is grammar and there is grammaring, and the latter is not easily inferable form the former. In short, a description of used language is not the same as language being used."

• Another part of the chapter descriped situations in which very little (if any) grammar is needed to communicate and other situations in which grammar is needed to "fill in the gaps". 

• What are some examples of situations where less grammar is needed? 
• In other situations, what are the kinds of gaps that grammar is needed to fill?

• There chapter also contained the first two diagrams below talking about the relationship between context and grammar. I also added a third diagram to illustarate the influence of social distance and status on grammar. Explain in your own words what you undertand these diagrams to mean.

Click to view full size image.

• In the chapter there were two sample dialogues. Read each one aloud then discuss these questions.

• Which dialogue sounded more natural? Why?
• Which circle(s) from the diagrams above does this example help to illustrate?

Click to view full size image.

Task 3: Grammar as a Dynamic Organism

Chapter 3 from Diane Larsen-Freeman's (2003) book Teaching Language: From Grammar to Grammaring contrast the traditional "static"conception of grammar by proposing four ways in which it is a "dynamic" system, one that is better described with an ecological or organic metaphor rather than the traditional mechanistic ones.

References:

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2003). Teaching Language: From Grammar to Grammaring. Heinle Cengage Learning.

Thornbury, S. (2001). Uncovering Grammar. Macmillan Education.

  TOEIC Preparation -Week 1 - Course Intro and Part 1

Introduction: Welcome to the first day of the course. Let's take a moment at the beginning of the class today to get to know each other and set our intentions for this course.

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
• Studies (past, present, future)
• Work
• Hobbies
• Favorite things

Task 2: Class Experiences (10 minutes)

Now discuss some of your previous experiences with English classes.

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?

Task 4: Page 7 - Task A - In this task you are asked to identify words and phrases that describe an event. Look at the event on the left and then consider the phrases on the right. Which phrases do you NOT ASSOCIATE with that event? Why not?

Click the picture to see the full version.

Task 5: Group Practice

Now you will work together with your partners to complete a strategy practice and group quiz. One member of the group should share the screen (and computer sound), click the link below, and follow the instructions. 

• Group Quiz: CLICK HERE

Task 6: Preposition Practice 

You already practiced hand gestures for these prepositions with your teacher. Now it's time for you to practice with your partners. In each group one person will be the leader. The leader will do different gestures and the partners will say the preposition they see. The leader will go quickly so that it is difficult. Then after a minute, the leader will not do anymore gestures. He or she will only say a preposition and the partners have to do the corresponding gesture. After a few minutes, you can change the leader and try again. 

Click the picture to see the full version.

Task 7: Identifying Physical Relationships with Prepositions - Click on the pictures below and analyze them. What object can you identify in the picture? What prepositions can you use to describe them? Look at the sentences. What prepositions would make senses in those examples? 

Click the pictures to see the full version.

Now for the last picture, work with your partner to create sentences to describe the relationships between the people and objects in the photo. Try to use as many different prepositions as possible.

Click the picture to see the full version. 

 Teaching Grammar and Writing - Week 1 - Why (not) Teach Grammar?

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 1 of the course Teaching Grammar and Writing for the Master's in English Teaching at ULACIT in term IC 2023. In this class we will discuss the structure, content, evaluation activties and major due dates of the course. In addition, we will consider traditional reasons for teaching grammar in English class and evaluate whether all of these reasons can still be justified.

Today's Goals:

• Review the course content, evaluation structure, and important dates from the syllabus.
• Analyze traditional reasons given for teaching grammar, list their consequences, and evaluate whether or not these reasons can be justified. 
• Generate a list of controversies, unresolved issues, questions and areas of curiosity related to the teaching of grammar that you would like to explore during the course.

Guiding Questions:

• What are some of the key issues in the area of grammar teaching for English language learners?
• What are good reasons and bad reasons to teach grammar?
• What are the features of grammar drills?
• What do I hope to learn in this course?

Task 1: Initial Thoughts on Grammar Teaching

Click play on the video timer. Then discuss the following questions with your partners. When the time is over, go to Task 2.

• What is your "common sense" definition of the word grammar?
• Do you agree or disagree with the following statements. Say why.

• Grammar is the most important aspect of language to teach in a class.
• Students should master one grammar structure at a time before being introduced to another.
• My students think grammar is boring.
• I think grammar is boring.
• I have wonderful memories of the English grammar lessons I received in high school.
• Most commercial ELT textbooks don't focus enough on grammar. 
• I am familiar with a wide variety of strategies and activity types to teach grammar.
• Explicit correction of students' grammar errors is necessary to avoid fossilization.
• The best way for students to learn a new grammar structure is for the teacher to "give them the formula".
• I feel confident in my abilities to answer students' questions about grammar, even the unexpected questions.
• Advanced grammar in English involves structures like 3rd conditional and passive voice.
• It is absolutely necessary that students learn the future perfect continuous. 
• Even though I'm a teacher, I sometimes get confused with grammar terminology.

• On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best, how do you rate your current ability to teach grammar? Why do you give yourself that rating?

Task 2: Why Teach Grammar?

Click your group link below to analyze different reasons that have been used to justify the role of grammar in ELT and follow the instructions in the document.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

Task 3: Drills: The Typical Grammar Practice Exercises

Structure based drills are the most common form of grammar practice exercise in ELT. Although there are many variations of drills, they all share some common characteristics, strengths, and challenges. Click your group link below to explore this activity type in more detail.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

References:

Swan, M. (2002). Seven Bad Reasons for Teaching Grammar - and Two Good Ones. In J. Richards & W. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice (pp. 148-152). Cambridge University Press.

Ur, P. (2012). A Course in English Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Culture of English Speaking Countries - Week 1 - Ethnocentrism

 Culture of English Speaking Countries - Week 1 -  Course Introduction

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 1 of the course Culture of English Speaking Countries for the bachelor's in English teaching at ULACIT term IC 2023. This week we will review the course syllabus, articulate our starting point ideas about culture, define what we mean by English speaking country, and discuss the idea of cultural relativism.

Today's Goals:

• Review the course syllabus, evaluation structure, and calendar of important dates.
• Articulate your starting point ideas and questions about the topics we will explore in the course.
• Discuss the phenomena of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Guiding Questions:

• How can I become sensitive to the invisible dynamics of culture?
• How does my own culture influence the way I view others?
• What do I hope to learn in this course?

Warm Up: What do you see?

Click on your assigned link below and describe your image to your partners with as many details as possible. Try to determine what are the similarities and diffrences between your images.

• Group A: CLICK HERE
• Group B: CLICK HERE
• Group C: CLICK HERE
• Group D: CLICK HERE

Now, let's consider another image (CLICK HERE). Discuss these questions with your partners. 

• What does this new image make you think about?
• What do you think the artist's message could be?
• How might this image serve as a metaphor for teaching?
• How might it serve as a metaphor for culture?

Task 1: Reconstruct the Poem

Click your group link below and work with your partners to reconstruct the poem then discuss it's significance.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE

Task 2: Cultural Investigation - The Nacirema People

To wrap of this first session, let's analyze a summary of a famous ethnographic case study that is often discussed in most introductory anthropology courses to see what insights it can give us about cultural perspectives. Click your group link, read your text, and discuss the questions. Be ready to summarize the main ideas in your own words when we get back to the main room.

• Part 1: CLICK HERE
• Part 2: CLICK HERE
• Part 3: CLICK HERE

Now let's read some quotes from the introduction to our main textbook, Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice. How do these quotes connect with the ideas we just discussed about the Nacirema?

• "Milton Bennett makes the point that ethnocentrism is the natural state for peoples of the world. Our instictive reaction is to assume that our culture, our way of life, is the right one, and that all others are not. Whether we simply tolerate these other ways of life or treat them as enemies, our attitude toward them is essentially the same - ethnocentric."

• "Overcoming these ingrained cultural perspectives, according to Bennett, has to be consciously learned. Developing sensitivity to cultural differences, in other words, does not come naturally (Moran, 2001, p. 7)."

• Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism: CLICK HERE

Task 3: Thinking about Culture

Let's take a closer look at some of the important questions to consider at the beginning of this course:

• What do we mean by culture?
• What do we mean by English speaking?

Click the link and follow the instructions:

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

References:

Miner, H. (1956). Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist. 58(3), 503-507.

Moran, P. (2001). Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice. Heinle Cengage Learning.