Etienne and ESL

TESL 0130 Unit 3 Reflection: Word-Learning Strategies  (Source: https://wordstodeeds.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/istock_000015756375xsmall-copy.jpg) Today I’d like to discuss a couple of different approaches to word-learning strategies. To start, I think it’s essential that students are equipped with effective strategies for acquiring new vocabulary, especially when they are on their own outside of the classroom. This is an important point to keep in mind because students will be exposed to many new words wherever they go and will need a way to process all this new information. According to H. Brown and H. Lee, in order for someone to understand something like a newspaper or a novel, a vocabulary of 8,000 to 9,000 words is necessary (2015). That’s a daunting number of words and by no means will all of them will be acquired solely in the classroom. Therefore, it is imperative that students acquire ways to effectively learn vocabulary on their own. One thing that stud...

                                                    (Source: https://www.fda.gov/ucm/groups/fdagov-public/documents/image/ucm401764.png)  This is a vocabulary focus designed for a Task-Based Lesson Plan on reading nutrition labels.  I suggest beginning the lesson with this vocabulary activity as a way to prime the students for the upcoming game they will be playing.  1.)     Write words that appear on a nutrition label on the white board as headings (i.e. calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, etc.) 2.)     For each word, ask students if they think having a lot of it is healthy or unhealthy. Use this as an opportunity to help students understand the meaning of each word and to help them distinguish between what to look for as healthy and unhealthy on a nutrition label.  3.)   ...

Hi everyone, Here is my think-aloud recording on the survivors of residential schools excerpt. I really enjoyed using this method and look forward to making use of it again in the future.   References:  Now Staff. (2017).  Survivors of residential schools tell their stories . Retrieved from:          https://nowtoronto.com/news/residential-schools-survivors-stories/

TESL 0130 Unit 2 Reflection: Think-Aloud               (Source:    http://www.phxtutoring.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/woman-reading-green-book-out-loud.jpg  )  During this unit, what stood out to me the most was the “Think-Aloud” activity. I think that it is a very effective way to not only help students process a reading text, but it allows the teacher to see the student’s comprehension first hand as they make their way through the reading passage. When I think back to the text I read while using this method, I can recall more clearly its details and the thoughts I had while reading it. By saying your thoughts out loud, you are reinforcing what you think and so if students use this method, I feel that the material they read will be easier to understand. Furthermore, I feel this method may be especially helpful to students reading longer reading materials, as each pause helps to break the material into chunks. ...

This blog post discusses how the following text could be adapted for different situations, depending on the level and age of the students, and the type of English class that this activity is being used in. Click on this link to read the text: https://universityofmanitoba.desire2learn.com/content/enforced3/272540-16743.201790/Content/Readings/Reading%20Skills%20Practice%20Foreign%20Exchange%20Emails.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=R2QiPzVF9vbU3DCxZNqAuVRuF&ou=272540 While this reading text was originally targeted towards teenage students, I feel that this could also be used with mature LINC 4 Level students. The language used in this reading text meets the targets for a LINC level 4 class (length of the text, the difficulty of the vocabulary and grammar all seem to align with what would be expected of a student at this level). To adapt this text to older students, I might change the context of the email exchange to being between a parent and their son. In this case, I’d get my s...

TESL 0130 Unit 1 Reflection: Reading Fluency                                                 (Source: http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/591c522edd0895970f8b4a2e-480/reading.jpg )  While completing the assigned readings for this unit, I started thinking about what defines “reading fluency”. Douglas Brown and Heekyeong Lee define it as “…a combination of both reading rate and reading comprehension.”(2015). So ultimately, for a person to become fluent in reading, they must achieve a desired reading rate all the while be able to understand the content that they are going over. However, I feel that depending on who you ask, the definition of “reading fluency” changes. Someone with an academic background may argue that to be a fluent reader, one must be able to comfortably read through research papers or scholarly journals on a wide range of to...

Blended Speaking and Listening Lesson Plan Topic: -         Giving and following directions. Context: -         This lesson caters to adult immigrants who have recently moved to Winnipeg with an upper beginner level of English. Focus: -         Students will learn to give and interpret directions. This lesson will focus on task-based, transactional communication, making use of both fluency and accuracy speech. Strategies: -         Speaking: o    Use recordings of the students role playing to help students reflect on their performance and improve on their pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary usage. -         Listening: o    Students will learn to use both the Bottom-Up and Top-Down methods to listen to directions and follow them. Students will also employ cognit...

TESL 0120 Unit 4 Reflection: Multi-Level ESL Classes (Source:  https://ak3.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/2302613/thumb/1.jpg?i10c=img.resize(height:72) As I went over this unit’s readings, what really stood out for me was the section on multi-level classes. In a multi-level classroom, students of varying abilities are brought together to learn. This has been noted to sometimes cause challenges, especially for the teacher because it requires them to adapt the content of their lessons to meet the needs of all their learners. Otherwise, there is a risk that higher level students may become bored or that lower level students may become frustrated and overwhelmed with the materials. However, as the saying goes, there is always a silver lining to every cloud. In this case, this provides a unique opportunity for the students.  It gives higher level students a chance to help teach the lower level students as they work together to complete activities. This situati...