Week 16

I have previously read part of Pedagogy of the Oppressed in another class, so I was familiar mostly with chapter two and Freire's banking concept in education. I have to say that I understand where Freire is coming from; oftentimes many students and teachers in this age of standardize testing feel as if banking is the only way to get meaning across. But I agree with Freire that this concept does not allow for free thought and and exchange of ideas among our diverse student (and teacher) population. I think a little lecture is fine, every now and then, but student centered learning and discussion based classes really do allow for a much more productive learning environment and exchange of ideas. I feel that there is much to be done in education for all of our diverse students, and I hope in this age of testing, we are able to move away from the banking concept.

Week 15

I had it written down that I was supposed to blog for Thursday, but I realize we only had readings for Tuesday, so I am writing a belated blog for the week.
Since we've already talked about the Anthology and Kuma. articles in class, I suppose I will talk a bit about what I thought of the Kuma. chapter.  I think Kuma. has some interesting things to say, as far as M&M model goes. In school, I had never experienced one of my teachers being observed or observing another teacher, so in reading how to do this, I think it is a really interesting idea. One reason is it shows students that the faculty are supportive of each other which is important in creating a school community.  I also think that, as a teacher, this a great opportunity to get feedback from your co-workers and to correct things that aren't working within your class that you may never have noticed before. I think that I would, as a future educator, enjoy feedback like this, and hope that I will be able to experience this.

NCTE conference

I was able to attend the NCTE conference in Chicago on Nov. 19.  It was really a very interesting place! I was able to attend a few really great sessions, but unfortunately I was unable to see any that directly pertained to TESOL.  The first one I attended was on how to get LGBT authors into your classroom for free to talk to your students. It's a great resource, and I heard a lot of ideas from current teachers on how to best use this resource in the classroom. I'm really glad I went to that session because it gave me some ideas for my own class. The second session I attended was on blogging (I was inspired to go to it from my experiences from this class) but was rather disappointed. I am happy to say I have learned more about blogging in this class than what the presenters were discussing in their panel, and I really did not think it was a worthwhile session. The last session I went to was about the use of film as text in the classroom. As a preservice English teacher (with some experience in TESOL) I hope to be able to use different means of textual representation in the classroom and the session really helped me to better understand ways to incorporate film as literature in the classroom. All in all, NCTE was a great experience, and I was very glad I was able to attend.

Week 13: Assessment

Tuesday's reading cover section 14 of the Anthology book.  Each of the articles weighed in on different thoughts, ideas, and/or approaches to alternative assessment in the second language classroom.  I would have to agree with using alternative assessment in a ESL setting as well as any other classroom setting. As far as the articles go, I really like what the Huerta-Macias had to say about the usage of alternative testing.  She writes in her article how "alternative assessment..consisting of valid and reliable procedures that avoid many of the problems inherent in traditional testing, including norming, linguistic, and cultural bias...[alternative assessment] as the power to tell a story" (342).  I think this is very important to keep in mind because of how assessment can affect our students.  Alternative assessment is no less valuable than any other means of assessing students, and, in fact, it can engage more students by allowing them to express themselves more fully than a traditional test.  Alternative assessments--like journal writing, for example--can allow students to express themselves while teachers can keep up with students' progress and give them great feedback.  Overall, I really approve of alternative assessment because of what it can do for both students and teachers.

Week 11: Integrating Skills

Tuesday's readings both came from the Kuma book from chapters 9 and 10.  Chapter 9 focuses on how to provide the context for language learning for L2 learners, while chapter 10 looks for ways to integrate L2 language skills for the learners.  I think that both topics are very important, as they help to provide a language learner with a better way of understanding the language, but I think that you would need to really know your students well to be able to meet their basic speaking needs in order for these theories to work.

Week 10: Vocabulary

Thursday's articles focused on vocabulary. Vocabulary, of course, is important for students in any language classroom because it helps to build upon all other aspects of the language.  The two articles in the Anthology book as well as the Folse article provide interesting ideas for teaching vocabulary.  I  particularly like how both of the articles in the Anthology book discuss the importance of students being able to develop strategies for learning the vocabulary on their own.  I think that looking for words in context can be very beneficial for students because it allows for a greater understanding of the word.  I know from my own personal experience in learning a second language, seeing the word used in context in a sentence allowed me to be able to remember it much more than memorizing its definition from the list.  I really liked how in Hunt and Beglar's article they address what students should do in the classroom, as well as what they should do for independent practice.  I think dictionaries can be very beneficial, but at some point a student can't solely rely on one, so I like what they had to say about how to use dictionaries.  They note that while "bilingual dictionaries have been found to result in vocabulary learning" (263).  The important thing is for students to be able to understand how and when to use a dictionary and to help track their proficiency levels.

Week 9: Learning Strategies and Learner Autonomy

Today's readings dealt with how L2 students utilize learning strategies in acquiring an L2.  The Anthology articles, by Rebecca L. Oxford and David Nunan (respectively), and the article by Stephen Cary each provide different insights into this topic.
Oxford's article went over various aspects of how different learners use their strategies in L2 acquisition as well as talk a little bit about cultural aspects and how effective or ineffective the strategy can be.  Nunan uses a real life example of how students in Hong Kong are presented with different learning strategies, especially with the use of guided journals to help with their English acquisition.  Cary's article went a similar route, talking about how teachers use different strategies (the article talks about reading strategies like graphic organizers to help students) that provide students with a better understanding of the material. 
I have to say, that unfortunately in much of my learning of a second language, I was expected to use more rote memorization techniques rather than more natural methods.  I wish I had been able to use some of these other learning strategies that were talked about in the articles, I think that would have helped me become more proficient in Spanish.  In Oxford's article, I believe she mentioned something about cultural aspects and learning strategies needed to be further researched, I agree.  I think that there are many possibilities of understanding L2 acquisition more if there is more research done on the more subtle aspects like culture.  The Nunan and Cary articles were good in showing the application of different types of learning strategies that teachers can present their students with and in showing how effective each can be.