Podcast #2: ESL Reading Lessons

Bill and Sabah's ESL Teaching Tips, Episode #2

Our podcast contains some suggestions of how to conduct an ESL reading lesson. We will provide activity ideas to help students to improve their reading comprehension skills. We hope that you find our podcast helpful.

The intended audience is ESL instructors, but we welcome all listeners.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when listening to the podcast:
1. In the podcast, we talk about activity ideas for all three stages of a reading lesson: pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading.
2. We recommend sequencing the during-reading activities from general to more specific comprehension tasks.
3. In order to guarantee 3-5 during-reading comprehension activities, we recommend using an authentic reading text of 1-2 pages.

Link to Podcast:
http://billharris.podbean.com/bill-and-sabahs-esl-podcast-2-reading/


Useful Links:
http://esl-programs-lessons.suite101.com/article.cfm/improving_esl_reading_skills (pre-reading)

http://departments.weber.edu/teachall/reading/prereading.html (pre-reading academic)

http://legacy.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/reading.html (reading activities)

http://iteslj.org/Lessons/ (more reading activities)

http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/bl_baker2.htm (sample lesson plan with pre-, during, and post-reading activities)

http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm (copyright laws and education)

Providing Feedback for ESL Writing

In providing feedback for writing assignments, it makes sense to me to focus on more general aspects of writing (content, main points) in the first draft and more specific aspects (structure, and eventually forms) in subsequent drafts. As an instructor, I believe that it is important to not do all of the editing on a student’s writing drafts. I think that it would be valuable to point out the areas where improvement is needed without giving all of the answers.

For this reason, the idea of using question-form feedback (from the article by Chiu and Sauvignon) appeals to me as something that I may use when commenting on ESL writing drafts. According to the study discussed in the article, there was a high incidence of revisions when question-form feedback was given. I think that allowing the student to reflect on where and why improvement is needed will facilitate independent learning, increase student accountability in subsequent drafts, and eventually result in improvement in future writing samples. I also think that the use of the highlighting feature in MS Word will be a valuable tool when dealing with online learning.

Question(s):
When do you think it would be useful to edit a draft more thoroughly, i.e. provide 'corrections' instead of 'guidance'?

Podcast #1: Using Music in the ESL Classroom

Bill and Sabah's ESL Teaching Tips, Episode #1

Our podcast contains some suggestions of how to use music in the ESL classroom. Using music in the classroom can make learning fun while using an authentic listening input. In our podcast, we talk about some of the activities that an instructor can design to address not only listening comprehension, but also grammar, vocabulary, reading, and speaking.

The intended audience is ESL instructors, but we welcome all listeners.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when listening to the podcast:
1. In the podcast, we talk about activity ideas for all stages of a listening lesson: pre-listening, during-listening, and post-listening.
2. We recommend sequencing the during-listening activities from general to more specific comprehension tasks.
3. When using music as a listening input, we recommended a song length of 2-3 minutes in order to guarantee 3-5 listens during a lesson.

Link to Podcast:
http://billharris.podbean.com/bill-and-sabahs-esl-teaching-tips-episode-1/

Useful Links:

http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-3/music.htm

http://www.caslt.org/resources/english-sl/classroom-resource-links-music-teaching2_en.php

http://www.lingolex.com/userpages/music.html

Using Voicethread as a CALL Tool

Now that I have looked at some Voicethread examples to see how it is used, I think that it could be a useful CALL tool. I also believe that it has some limitations.

I like that students can respond to a posted video file, photo, or sound file on their own time and at their own pace, as Voicethread is an asynchronous CALL tool. I would consider using Voicethread in an ESL classroom by assigning audio/text posts as homework. Perhaps, the students could respond to a photo/video that is related to the previous class discussion, allowing for an opportunity for additional vocabulary practice (and, hopefully, more of a likelihood of vocabulary retention). In the audio supplement to a photo or video, I would pose questions geared towards fluency practice. I probably would not use Voicethread for accuracy-based activities.

Using Videos in Language Instruction

From a Student's Perspective
I watched a Spanish instruction video on food-related phrases. The following link will take you to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWO09ayQ0Gg&feature=fvw.

Although the video was useful, I did not find it to be very engaging. But, from the perspective of a student, I found the video to be helpful for vocabulary and pronunciation practice. The instructor said each word in English and then in Spanish. She repeated the Spanish word twice more, more clearly and slowly than the first time. As the instructor said a word in Spanish, the text of the word appeared on the video. A student could rewind the video if he/she needed to hear or see a word again, allowing for independent learning and self-pacing.

From an Instructor's Perspective
I found this video on the top five things to do in Chicago:
http://www.5min.com/Video/Things-To-Do-in-Chicago-112628012

I envision using this video (and others like it) as part of a lesson on Chicago landmarks. This video is rather short, but I think that it could be useful for an introduction to another activity, such as having the each student research and report on a Chicago landmark. The video gives quick descriptions of five landmarks, and the students could use the video as a model for their own presentations.

Question(s):
1. What is your opinion of the Spanish language instruction video?
2. As an instructor, how would you use videos in a language lesson?

Vocabulary Activities using CALL

As I was searching for vocabulary activities requiring computer use, I found the Visual ESL website (http://www.visualesl.com/). This website provides interactive vocabulary activities, the majority of which include visual representation of some sort (photo, drawing, etc). One can select from lists of vocabulary topics grouped according to five skill levels (Elementary, Lower-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate, and Advanced). The practice activities include drag-and-drop, fill-in, and multiple-choice quiz activities. Following the activity for each topic, there is a vocabulary list with audio clips of the pronunciation for each word.

The Activities for ESL Students website contains within it an extensive vocabulary practice section, which may be found at the following location: http://a4esl.org/q/h/vocabulary.html. The site offers many useful activities, including matching and multiple-choice quizzes. I think that it would be beneficial to students to be exposed to the vocabulary lists before doing the activities on the website. I would probably not use the Words Beginning with [fill in the letter] in a class, because the vocabulary items are not contextualized around a particular theme.

Question(s):
Which of the two websites would you prefer to use in an ESL class? Why?

Reading Activities using CALL

I found the Learning Resources website while searching for reading activities requiring computer-use. (http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html) The available variety of news topics allows for learner-choice, or an instructor could use one of the news stories as part of a themed lesson. If I were to use a story from this site as part of a themed lesson, I would add a pre-reading schema activation segment and a post-reading activity or two to be done in pairs/groups.

On the site, there are twelve categories of stories from which to choose. Each story is accompanied by vocabulary-building activities, as well as activities for sequencing events and checking reading comprehension. Having these activities readily available in a margin on the left side of the page, a learner will be able to work independently and at his/her on pace. One can do the practice activities on the left side of the screen while being able to view the story on the right.

Question(s):
Upon viewing the site, did you find it to be useful? Is it something that you could see yourself using in a class? How would you incorporate the given activities into an ESL lesson?