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Week 18 – They won’t get it unless ….. September 10, 2010

Posted by Liz Mead in : TESOL , add a comment

Captain’s Log: I’ve heard TESOL is a beautiful and simple place. The climate is temperate and the people are sweet, there is abundant fresh food and a rich, diverse culture. Many who make the journey there choose to stay in this Utopia.  I am impatient to catch sight of it.   

I missed a class on role play this week (ironically, because I wagged uni and went to the theatre instead). I saw the STC production of August -Osage County… BRILLIANT!!

The second class this week- which I did attend - was a Creativity Implementation class. In this class, we all got to showcase a communicative activity we’d seen, delivered or wanted to deliver.

My favourite one was J’s. I liked it because J puts herself in the learner space and that provides a filter of empathy and simplicity you can’t fake.

I play to the audience. But a classroom isn’t an audience.  Teaching is a different kind of space. Everything has to be made explicit. So although my peers liked it, I believe it could have been much better as a learning experience.

Luckily Teacher S gives great feedback. She reminded me to keep asking will they get it? If I do that, I’ll establish the right register and reach my learners.

This sort of teaching is formulaic.  Some mainstream teachers I know don’t like such a formulaic approach to teaching – but for baby teachers like me, it provides a clear roadmap.

The directions are clear: Contextualise, elicit, drill, practice, produce and then if you need to cement the learning with some written exercise or debrief – do so at the end.

Whatever we do affects the learning experience. Our own language and instructions have to include absolutely clear and correct grammar. Unless modelled correctly we will pass on the wrong message to our learners.

So here I go for the last 2 weeks of this journey:  keeping it simple, remaining vigilant about my own language, being thorough, making things explicit, and working to the formula.

Can I see land?

PS Discovered a great Vocab tester on FreeRice It is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program.

Week 16 Diving into the Tesol sea August 28, 2010

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Captain’s Log: Last night I dreamt I’d swum into Davy Jones’ locker. And in the dark depths of the ocean, I hovered, expecting to see the locker - full of old pirate graves, or meet face to evil face- old Davy himself.  I found myself, instead, suprised by a sudden shaft of sunlight that had made its way into the depths. And as it penetrated the darkness, I caught sight of treasure troves of gold and jewels, and heard  a faint whisper, “ not yet… not yet.. there is much to do .. much yet to do”.    

 Just completed a happy week on this Tesol journey.

This week,, the class dived into the power of shared stories and discussed their usefulness in the learning proces. We explored the bottomless pit of IT as a teaching aid, including the value of using wikis to strengthen collaborative learning. We even re-discovered Russell Coight and an unfortunate camp chair in the process.

And to top it all – I was delighted to be assigned a migrant prac teaching class.  

 Heave ho.. much to do.

All good indeed.

Week 15 -Bail or row? August 22, 2010

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Captain’s Log: Bail! I shouted, and the crew not working the oars frantically scooped water over the side as the her prow reared into the sky. Row!! I bellowed, and the oars bit the water and we fell into a trough of the ocean with a crash that made her timbers tremble *

This week I am undone.

Just handed in a language analysis assignment that has removed all the joy from this TESOL journey.

I’ve also discovered that migrant education in Australia will require me to acquire even greater certification than the level I’m striving towards. This exhaustive mountain climb just got a whole lot steeper. Another significant leak has been noted. Bail!

And why shouldn’t migrant education be highly specialised?  I think it should ask the best of our teachers and I believer our migrant classes should receive the best. That’s not the issue.

The  issue  for me is about stamina and sense-making. But I’m too far out to sea to even recall the logic of commencing the course, save that it seemed a valuable addition to my skill set.  Alas not valuable enough.

I know it’s way too early in the process to estimate the value or otherwise. I haven’t even stood up in front of a class to see if I like teaching or if teaching likes me. But it’s not too early to be questioning the route I’ve taken.

This particular week  included 2 classes on integrated skills – Dictogloss (and reconstructing a text).  2 new books, a plethora of reading and the bitter sweet victory of completing an assignment.

Whatever they do with this certification – I believe their classes will be richer for knowing them.

Our 6 hours of prac classes start in a minute, and with that challenge comes a whole new sea of white caps!

Bail!? or Row!!!

 

*With apologies to B Cornwell

Week 12 -We’re going through a mixed up phrase July 30, 2010

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Captain’s Log:  Have made great headway this week. The winds have been in our favour. I’ve spent most nights studying the maps of these new waters, and commissioned a new map from Cartographer Multi. A productive fellow and the best at the trade..he should be for what we’re paying!  His latest map of the phrasal reef  is the finest he’s done. I must admit it is splendidly detailed. When pouring over it, I found he’d named a shoal after himself – the rake!

We’re going through a phrase of multiple verbs. Verbs you can’t separate. Verbs that are increasingly popular in modern venacular, and all because of the Norman Conquest. Why those Saxons didn’t defend their phrasal territory a little better I’ll never know. Pesky romance and germanic languages!!

D reckons a set of coloured boxes will sort it out. I find her box technique as perplexing as her use of improvisation skills. What she lacks in acting ability she makes up for in enthusiasm and it’s impossible NOT to applaud such a bold attempt.

S taught us how to teach writing. 4 models to chose from (of course!) There are always 4. The class decided a mixed up version was the best to hone foundation skills and increase fluency. And produce an academic essay, flowery love letter or application letter at the end – fit for purpose.

So as we start Semester 2 with a multi-page 100 point essay that has turned my hair more grey (if that’s possible?) I craft this  blog as testament to the e-genre -ation with this final verse:

It’s  too late to pack up
And don’t believe we’ll get off (lightly)
So still sort of mixed up
but not sure that I’m put out (nightly)

Thank God this is just a phrase we’re going through!

Week 9 -’Tween test times July 7, 2010

Posted by Liz Mead in : TESOL , 1 comment so far

Captain’s Log:  Midshipman Suprasegmental shot an albatross yesterday. The feeling of fear in the crew is palpable.

It’s the lead up to a TESOL test

A quiz, a trial that needs my best

But all I’ve got is mild distress.

The time invested studying

Has only worked at muddying

This addled brain of mine.

My skin in the game isn’t Wall Street inflated

It’s more like a ball of potential deflated.

So now when my rubber

is hitting the road,

Assessment is stymied

by mind-bending loads.

I’d decided to write upon my sleeve

when lo –there came a day’s reprieve.

so….

As English is stress-timed

and meaning is made

with focus on key words

once rhythm is laid.

A rhyming verse

Would do me well

To practice my phonemes

And suprasegme’ls.

Alas this mess of homophones

Is surely not a verse

But crafting it ‘tween test times

Has hardly made it worse!

Week 8 – This ‘aint simple! July 2, 2010

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Captain’s Log: Full fathom five thy father lies, of his bones are coral made,  those are pearls that were his eyes, nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea change – into something rich and strange. (The Tempest)

This week has been like a runaway train.

It began by watching a brilliant pronunciation teacher identify and correct erros to the beat of syncopated jazz. I am deeply admiring of those who do this for a living.

Later that night in a language analysis session, I took on way too many functions and way too many forms! Though S and the watch were pretty funny.

In the following class we got the dirt on the phonology assessment: Piece of Cake! In 20 mins - translate phrases of phonemes into words and vice versa, describe where in the oral cavity we form sounds, tick off inflections and stress, and throw in a few suprasegmentals – what IS  suprasegmental??  Let me say our booking agent wasn’t overwhelmed with offers.

Chugging into the station for the micro teaching class, where we unpacked the food chain and designed a zoo with passive verbs and polite suggestions, I realised my train was starting to de-rail.

By the time we got to the last lesson, where we learnt how to describe things that will have occured sometime between now and the future that hasn’t happened yet, I was ready to pull the emergency switch.

And the coach wants me to keep it simple.

Sigh.

Choo Choo.

Week 7 – Windswept and Unknown June 24, 2010

Posted by Liz Mead in : TESOL , 1 comment so far

Captains Log: It does us all good to be out on the open seas finally! The salt spray, the white-capped waves, the sails unfurled, the wind in our favour. We’re making good progress.  With a belly full of rum, the crew are in fine voice - I believe able-seaman J sang loudest of all ! I can’t say the same for our passenger Ms Longrange, who refuses to leave her cabin. It seems the pitching and rolling doesn’t suit everyone.

Hit the wall this week.

An $84 parking ticket from last night’s scramble to get a spot. Annoying, because I just didn’t read the sign properly.

This TESOL journey has certainly pitched me out of my normal routine. I’m developing my own brand of sea-legs. No flippers or fins yet, but this rocking and rolling certainly’aint from the sixties- it’s a whole new dance routine.

I can’t see clearly anymore. I don’t know where it will lead me and if it will lead anywhere.

I don’t expect to see the future as the present is where we’re at. But it’s a balancing act to maintain equilibrium and to keep my normal (increasinly busy) job balanced with these additional demands.

I have a foot in each camp and I feel an increasing chasm open beneath me. The chasm, aka “unknown” is my only certainty:

Wouldn’t mind a compass though.

Week 5 – Tesol and the Beatniks June 9, 2010

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Captain’s Log. The noise of the islanders’ drums went well into the night.. it has now been 30 days straight…My crew are either bewitched or drunk. Was it just the rum, the kava or the  drums that are so soporific? Can’t afford to give in…yet I want to. Strange  how enticing that rhythm is..must maintain clear head…. will beat to quarters … must ..imperative..something..or is it intonate something?  is that a word? ..the drums…oh the drums….

 We’re moving to the beat alright.

Our united band of beatnik learners struggled wearily into the night this week in order to master

•           Tonic stress
•           Rising and falling inflection
•           Cigarette–sausage- bananas emphatically described words and
•           Altering meaning through emphatic stress.

Who’d have thought promising to buy roses for imaginary partner would give us all such para-linguistic joy!  S’s  discovery that para-linguistics meant everything other than the actual language - was a great relief to all. Do P’s lollies count as a paralinguistic aid?

Still the beat goes on…

We stretched, squeezed and rounded our vowels. We exploded our consonants, and pushed the language right through the top of our, lime green and pretty pink heads, someone might have been wearing a red dress, I can’t recall.

And the beat went on…..

English as a stress-based language is notoriously difficult for new language learners to get “right”.   It was a relief to know the Windsor palace tone is not necessary! There’s no need to even drill the “R”. “Rrrrrreally?  sigh.. (I was looking forward to a good roll mid alphabet).

Note to self: purchase yet another Michael  Swan’s book  on some commonly occurring speech problems.  This Swan bloke is fast becoming my significant other.

Now we’re really moving to the beat…

Whilst the World Cup in South Africa takes over our mass media,  I realise I have my own world cup game each week, this week’s draw saw

I would change it for the world… come to think of it .. that’s exactly what we’re  trying to do..

Week 2 – Tesol and the Pussycat all at sea May 25, 2010

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2nd week at Sea. 

Captain’s Log

We had a rough passage through the PPP straits: Present, Practice and Produce (aka a teaching methodology acquired as part of my TESOL training). I could see the isle of Tesol in the distance. Have taken in a lot of water, when the hull was savaged by a small coral reef of modal auxiliaries, Language Acquisition theoreum and Communicative Teaching methods.

I am to learn the structural rules around this native language of mine: verb tenses, sentence structures, participles, infinitives, gerunds, classifications, categories, types of language and to top it all – a phonetic alphabet!

One good thing about learning something you already instinctively or naturally know (with apologies to Chomsky),  is that the fear is minimised.  It’s like closing the fourth Johari window, consciously rememembering what we unconsciously already know.

At the same time – to rest my weary brain, I’m reading Lear’s biography of Beatrix Potter. She was adept at botanical illustrations, and would have made a brilliant naturalist. She chose, instead, thank God! to illustrate humanity and the natural world for children. Using the sophistication of her thought and language to unravel mysteries for “little rabbits”.

The Potter books by-passed me as a child. I read, instead,  “Breer Rabbit” by her contemporary Joel Chandler Harris, and Edward Lear’s “The Owl and Pussycat”. 

It seems my early reading was done with hindsight – for I sure need them now that I’m all at sea. 

So I close this log – still miles from the Isle of Tesol, but optimistic and hardy, stocked up with Honey, phonemes and pea green boat.

Learning from scratch – Lesson 1 TESOL May 18, 2010

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Just started at a 20 week course learning how to teach. Teach English as a second language that is.

First week had a total immersion in another language for 10 mins. Freaked me out. Great experience though, to see the huge chasm between the learner and teacher if the language is not your own. These things I gleaned:

Will use this blog as a parking space for insights about the process