Etienne and ESL

TESL 0100 Unit 10 Reflection: Look How Far We’ve Come! (Source: Etienne Robin) It’s incredible how quickly time has flown by! Within the blink of an eye, we are already heading into the last week of this course. Seeing as this is the last blogpost I’ll be writing for TESL 0100, I would like to take the time to stop and reflect on my learning over these past ten units. We’ve covered quite a bit of content and so I would like to share three things that really resonated with me. The first thing that particularly stood out to me were the different roles a teacher must assume in the classroom. Brown and Lee (2015) outlined these roles on pages 259 – 261: 1.)     Teacher as Controller 2.)     Teacher as Director 3.)     Teacher as Manager 4.)     Teacher as Facilitator 5.)     Teacher as Resource Until reading this chapter, I hadn’t given much though to the various roles a teacher needs t...

TESL 0100 Unit 9 Reflection: Social Media and Language Learners  (Source: https://pixabay.com/en/social-media-3d-render-bubble-2636256/ ) At the turn of the 21 st century, the internet revolutionized the way we interact with each other, namely with the birth of social media. Thanks to this innovation, the world no longer feels like such a big place; we can now connect with people from every corner of the Earth instantaneously. By its very communicative nature, social media can also be a powerful tool for language learners. Through social media, they can now extend their language learning outside of the classroom in new and exciting ways. Below I have taken four headings from Brown and Lee (2015) to outline some ways in which social media can enrich language learning: 1.)     Opportunities for Interaction: Social media offers language learners an abundance of opportunities for them to interact with others in their L2. They can “…express themselves, ...

TESL 0100 Unit 8 Reflection: Test Anxiety                                     (Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/albertogp123/5843577306 ) Imagine that you are a student about to take a test. The teacher hands out the papers and you are instructed to complete this test within an hour. You look down at the test paper and your mind immediately goes blank. Your palms are clammy, and your heart is racing. You try to focus on the questions in front of you but the fatigue from staying up all night studying clouds your memory. You try to make sense out of the questions, but they don’t resemble anything you covered in class. You focus on trying to solve the first question, but you struggle to come up with an answer. Before you know it, the teacher announces that there are only five minutes left until you must hand in the test and you’ve made very little progress.  Does this sound...

TESL 0100 Unit 7 Reflection: Controversial Topics in the Language Classroom (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Debate_Logo.svg ) For this week’s blog post, I’d like to discuss the use of controversial topics in the language classroom as a way for students to develop their skills in debating and expressing opinions. To start, I think that these can make for some incredible learning opportunities, where students can develop their language skills while exchanging their opinions on relevant issues. These activities can help build better informed individuals and allow them to use language in a powerful way. However, with that said, I feel that teachers should also use some caution when introducing certain controversial topics, especially ones that relate to politics and religion. These can be sensitive areas that not all students may feel comfortable talking about. As a teacher, should you encourage students to step out of their comfort zone and share their beliefs on...

TESL 0100 Unit 6 Reflection: Lesson Planning for the Unexpected   (Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/83633410@N07/7658298768 ) This week’s readings focused around the mechanics of lesson planning and how to structure one that will effectively address the students’ needs. On that note, I would like to talk about planning for the unexpected. Although I do not have much experience in lesson planning, one thing I have learned is that it involves a lot more calculated guestimates and predictions than I had initially expected! While there is research and plenty of resources to guide teachers in their lesson planning, there are still many unknown variables that teachers must address; variables that do not always have clear cut answers. Will my students find this activity difficult? Will this keep them engaged? When should I correct my students? The list goes on and on. There seems to always be some element of uncertainty. With all that said, I think that is a good thin...

TESL 0100 Unit 5 Reflection: Favourite Approaches to Language Teaching                                                                        (Source: https://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/saadan-kan-indvandrere-faa-langt-stoerre-viden-om-sundhedsvaesnet)  After having read about all the various methods and approaches that are out there for ESL education, I’d like to go over three of them that I quite like for this week’s blogpost. Task-Based Language Teaching: This is one variant of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) that is built around learning language in order to accomplish a goal or a task (Brown & Lee, 2015). These goals can range from something simple like learning how to fill out a form with personal information all the way to planning a complex itinerary for an overs...

TESL 0100 Unit 4 Reflection: Languaculture and English                         (Source: https://pixabay.com/en/international-world-flags-countries-1751293/ ) For this week’s blogpost, I’d like to discuss the term “languaculture” and some questions that came to me regarding this concept. Brown and Lee (2015) refer to this term as on of their eight principles behind second language acquisition (SLA). According to them (2015) “language and culture are intricately intertwined, and often an L2 is so deeply rooted in a culture that it is not quickly and easily discerned or internalized by a learner.” (Brown & Lee, 2015, p.81) This essentially is what languaculture is all about. It’s the idea that language and culture are essentially inseparable, meaning that in order to learn a language and fully understand it, one must also learn about the culture from where the language originates. Personally, I have expe...

TESL 0100 Unit 3 Reflection: Everything in Moderation                                                                                                                        (Source:https://www.flickr.com/photos/61056899@N06/5751301741)  As I went over this week’s assigned readings, I was interested to learn a little about the history of grammar instruction over the past hundred years. What especially stood out to me was how language education went through several “fads”, where views shifted from one extreme to another. During the first half of the 20 th century, two methods were particularly popular; the Grammar Translation Method and the Audiolingual Method (Brown & ...

TESL 0100 Unit 2 Reflection: Moving Beyond the “Plateau”                                                       (Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Old_Harry_rocks_cliff.jpg) As unit two of this course comes to a close, I would like to take some time to reflect on Brown and Lee’s overview of teaching learners at the intermediate level. In this section of their book, “Teaching by Principles”, they describe how it is common for learners at this stage to feel that they have “…reached a plateau in their language learning and do not perceive that they are making further progress.” (Brown & Lee, 2015, p.146) This statement really resonated with me because I personally have experienced this very phenomenon.   For the past ten years, I have been studying Japanese on and off and have come to a point in my abil...

                                      TESL 0100 Unit 1 Reflection: Putting Yourself in Someone Else’s Shoes                                                                     (Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mens_brown_derby_leather_shoes.jpg ) After having taken the last four months off to enjoy the summer, I’ve finally returned to continue my TESL journey with the University of Manitoba. I must say, it’s good to be back! This will be the last course I take before I complete the program, so I’ll be sure to make this one count! For this week’s reflection, I’d like to go over a concept that Brown and Lee (2015) discuss in chapter eight of their book “Teaching by Principles”, that is, the...

TESL 0160 Unit 2 Reflection: ESL Students and Group Work - Classroom Language                                                                                                  (Source: Pixabay)  While reading chapter 13 from Brown and Lee (2015), one point stood out to me that I had never considered before; "Do students have the language to be able to complete a group work activity?" They refer to this language as "classroom language", which refers to the vocabulary and grammatical structures necessary to carry out a group task (2015). Until now I hadn’t considered this when planning my group-based activities, and yet it is essential to planning effective group-work. Otherwise, the students may feel overwhelmed and not accomplish...

                                    TESL 0160 Unit 1 Reflection: English as a Lingua Franca                                         (Source: https://pixabay.com/p-909149/?no_redirect ) Until now, I always believed that in order to learn a language, one must also immerse oneself in that culture in order to better understand it. For example, I have studied Japanese for a number of years and one approach that has helped me immensely is to listen to Japanese music, watch Japanese TV programs, and read Japanese news. In addition to this, I have learned about Japanese customs, which has given me a greater context for how and why the language is the way it is. However, in my case, I am learning Japanese so that I can communicate with other Japanese people, in Japan. What’s important to note...

TESL 0140 – Assignment 3: Self-Evaluation (Source: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/d-man-thinking-red-question-marks-over-white-background-36749970.jpg)  Your goal for this course: How are you going to learn it? How will you know you have achieved it? How will you demonstrate that you have learned it? Notes: GOAL 1: I hope to be able to effectively use resources and strategies to assess the needs of my students and evaluate their progress. I will use the assigned readings, various assignments and class discussions to educate myself on suitable methods. I also plan to use my PLN and discuss with them how they approach assessment and evaluation in their own classrooms.  I will be able to look back at the assignments I have completed and reflect on how I’ve used different approaches to assessment and evaluation. In addition to this, I will be able to apply what I have lear...