Unit #1 TESL 110 Grammar Fundamentals

You as a Subject Matter Expert

Starting this unit made me think of my beginnings of learning a second language. I don't recall every detail on how my teacher taught the grammar piece, but I can say it was done in a way we didn't notice or even being boring for that matter.
For several years I practiced my writing, paying particular attention to my punctuation and how I construct my sentences. I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the grammar rules right up until I took the Quiz. It shocked me to know how much I had forgotten about it. In other words, I fell right on my face!  What an "aha moment for me, and how embarrassing too. I find interesting how an L2 learner can go through a process of learning a language through grammar rules, internalizing those rules, becoming fluent in that language, and then not knowing how to identify the grammar pieces in a sentence. I wonder if native speakers feel the same.

Unit 10 : TESL 100

A Moment to Reflect

The Final Stretch

On this post, I am taking a moment to reflect on everything that I have learned so far, not only on this course but on the other TESL courses that I have completed. 

When I first made the decision to begin this journey I was very unsure whether this was going to be the right path for me. I was very insecure about my abilities to do a course online despite my poor tech skills; however, I realized that I was not alone in this. Many of my classmates expressed feeling the same way and that, not to make it sound mean, gave me comfort and confidence to continue thriving for what I want to do, and that is to teach.

Unit #9: TESL 100

How Do I Make Learning Fun?


We start this unit by talking about the benefits of using technology in classrooms. There is an infinite number of language apps that teachers and students can use as part of their teaching or learning resources.

Brown and Lee (Chap. 12, pp. 237-256), talk about how technology has immersed in the area of education over the years, acknowledging that the use of technology for "language learning began in the 1060s" and which is referred as CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning).

The development of CALL can be seen in three stages: behavioristic CALL, communicative CALL, and integrative CALL (Warschauer and Healey, 2009). To touch a little bit on how these stages of CALL were used, we can see that in the 1970s, behavioristic CALL was only used in universities and utilized as "a mechanical tutor" for language learning. Communicative CALL continued to be used in the 1980s "for skill practice but with more emphasis on communicative use of language, employing non-drill activities." And the last stage, integrative CALL, "began in the 1990s with the development of the World Wide Web," known as the internet.

Unit #8: TESL 100

 

How Do I Assess Language Learning?

Assessing language learning in the classroom is something that we have to take under consideration before, during and after a unit has been taught. This is what we refer to as Diagnostic, Formative and Summative assessments.

Diagnostic Assessment: it is done at the beginning of a lesson. Here, the teacher can use quizzes, tests or collect students' work to have an idea on what area to focus the lesson on.

Formative Assessment: it is done throughout the process of a lesson. This assessment is done without marking the students on their work. The students also have the opportunity of giving feedback to their classmates and do self-assessments on their own learning.

Summative Assessment: It is a compilation of what the students have learned at the end of a unit or lesson. Students can demonstrate their learning through homework assignments, portfolios or group activities that are to be graded.

Unit #7: TESL 100

 How Do I Manage My Class?

One thing that caught my attention in this unit was the possibility of something going wrong with students in a classroom. The scenarios may vary from students arriving late, to refusing to put away a cell phone during class time or a student refusing to work with other classmates due to religious beliefs. Whatever the situation, the teacher has to find a reasonable solution to the problem, and yet, not allow the students to think that the teacher will be making such changes just because the students want to. I totally agree with respecting specific requests made by students, but they also have to know that the way a teacher runs his/her classroom has to be regarded as well.
In addition to the above scenarios, there are other issues to think about. The teacher should also consider other learners with literacy needs, poverty, mental/physical disabilities, and LGBTQ and how to support them and include them like any other "normal" group.

Unit #6: TESL 100

  How Do I Plan For Language Instruction?

Lesson Planning, oh boy!

In this unit, we explored the fundamental factors in the creation of lesson plans for our future students. What do we need to consider? What's the difference between goals and objectives? What type of guidelines do we include in our planning? These and other questions are the beginning of our chapter 10 in Teaching by Principles by Brown and Lee. Thinking of these questions and trying to find answers to them are two things that are very challenging for me. I tend to have an idea of what I want to teach in a lesson, but I have such a hard time thinking of the objective of that particular lesson. I was talking to a friend the other day who's a new and fresh EAL teacher, and I asked her if she had any tips for me when creating a lesson. Funny, she shared her way of doing it, and it turns out that she works her lessons by starting backwards. What does this mean? She begins by stating what is it that she wants her student to learn at the end of the lesson? Once she has this clear, then she moves and establishes her objectives for the lesson. I think I'll give it a try and see how it works for me. I know that it's just a matter of time before I get better at it. 

Unit #5: TESL 100

 What Can I Learn From Others?

In unit 5, we looked at many different methods and approaches that exist and that are used for second language acquisition. Through the reads of chapter 2 and 3, Brown and Lee, we explore the evolution of such methods and the disintegration of some of them as well.

In chapter 2, Edward Anthony (1963) describes the difference between method, approach, and technique.

He describes method "as an overall plan for systematic presentation if a language course based on a selected approach.".An Approach is described as "a set of assumptions dealing with the nature of language, learning, and teaching." Techniques are"the specific activities manifested in a curriculum that was consistent with a method and in harmony with an approach as well."

Unit #4: TESL 100

How Languages are Learned?

Hall, 2011, p.63, states "what teachers believe about how languages are learned affects how they approach language teaching in the classroom." 

My interpretation of the above statement means that language teachers need to take caution when it comes to giving corrective feedback or immediate correction to their students. Yes, Ss don't mind having these types of feedbacks, but I think that if an S gets it all the time, the level of confidence will get lost and the ability to acquire the language would be at risk - this is my personal opinion. It is essential to maintain a balance of corrections in the classroom - that's for sure. 

Unit #3: TESL 100

 What Do I Know About The English Language?

If in chapter 2 I asked myself the question of who will I teach, in this unit I ask "what will I teach?"
As an L2 learner that I am, I thought that learning a "little bit" more about the English language was going to be like a refresher for me after so many years that I have been int he process of learning it. Well, it felt like a bucket of cold water poured over me when I began to read Hammer, J (2007). Describing Language, part of our reading material. Talking about the context of meaning in words, the structure of sentences, the function and the variable of the language, etc. left me feeling totally lost and unable to have a clearer understanding of these concepts.

According to Razfar A. and Rumenapp, J.C.2003, there are seven levels of linguistics which represent the language code and are lined up in a traditional progression - smallest unit to largest.

Unit #2: TESL 100

                                                                          

Who Will I Teach?

Who will I teach? This is an excellent question... at this point in this course, I am beginning to imagine myself teaching a class full of newcomers from all the nationalities and backgrounds. It is exciting for me to think that this is something that I really want to do- teach English!
In this unit, we have explored the difference between ESL and EFL classrooms and how they differ from each other. In an ESL setting, the learners' exposure to the English language is more accessible to them. The opportunities to practice are more significant and inevitable. The learner feels the need to learn such language so he/she can communicate and be able to function among native speaker and their society. In the case of an EFL setting, the needs and necessities of the learner are different. In my personal opinion, most L2 learners who want to acquire a language does it for the pleasure of it. The opportunities to practice are minimal and not consistent. EFL teachers must find ways to expose their students to activities outside the classroom that permits them to put into practice the skills learned.

Unit# 1: TESL 100

Who I Am And Who I Want To Become? 

I have to say that I am a little bit nervous about taking this course online. I have always felt that I am a visual learner and that I need someone in front of me, physically teaching me the content of any subject or any skill that I want to learn. So, I guess I am going to embrace this challenge that I have set in my life and allow the opportunity to learn new skills unknown to me at this point.

To begin this entry of experiences and reflections, I will start by talking a little bit about what our first unit in this course has been.

As a step one, we all had an opportunity to introduce ourselves and talk a little bit about our background. Who are we and what are our projections for the future?

For me, I have to say that the desire of becoming a teacher has always been on my "to do" list. At one point I tried to go for my Education degree, but as you might know, life gets on the way, however, who said that I could only teach children? For the past couple of years, the idea of teaching adult EAL came in such an urgent desire that I finally made the decision this year to enroll myself in the TESL program at the University of Winnipeg and just go for it.