Time flies – especially when focusing on taxes, grading papers, and browsing the internet!
Somehow, the calendar reads April 15. Everybody knows that this is America’s tax day. Yet California English teachers might also remember that April 16 marks the opening of our annual CATESOL conference too.
For better or for worse, that also means I have less than 60 hours before presenting my workshop for ESL teachers too. Time to review the worksheet materials and update my presentation to include insights gained interviewing English teachers and students in Vietnam. Curious about my presentation?
Here is the CATESOL program description:
Techniques and Practices for a More Democratic Classroom
Eric Roth, USC
Demonstration C/U
11:00 – 11:45 a.m. Convention Center 207
A more democratic classroom encourages student speech, features student created content, allows student choice of assignments, reflects student interests, and includes peer evaluations. Democratic classrooms create autotelic, or self-directed, students where everyone learns by stumbling and making “good mistakes.” Includes handouts.
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If you are visiting Pasadena or Los Angeles, teach English, and want to discover new teaching ideas and find the latest ESL materials, please consider attending the 2009 CATESOL convention this week. http://www.catesol2009.org/confprogram.html
Consider me psyched.
By the way, a smile crossed my face while reading through the detailed CATESOL 2009 conference program. CATESOL, and the ESL field, continue to attract many dedicated teachers and ESL professionals who enjoy sharing their insights and teaching experiences. As so often before, I will learn a great deal. One presentation title, however, caught my eye. How to be a Benevolent Dictator! Naturally, it’s lead by a friend and fellow USC instructor.
As so often in live, variety adds spice. Perspectives differ – especially among friends and English teachers!
Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visit www.CompellingConversations.com
Do you want to create a more student-centered, democratic ESL classroom? How do you tailor assignments to individual students? What websites and resources do you incorporate in your classes to help students improve their speaking and listening skills? Finally, are you an English teacher working in California interested in these topics?
If so, my CATESOL workshop titled “Techniques and Practices for a More Democratic ESL Classroom” should appeal to you. The 50-minute presentation/workshop will include a dozen flexible, reproducible worksheets to create more student-centered lessons. I will emphasize a few familiar themes, including the need to create classroom rituals that allow students to share their interests and experiences. From my perspective, a democratic classroom is one where everyone feels comfortable speaking and listening – and has the power to choose their assignments and content. Let’s help our students become autotelic (self-directed) learners!
Model lessons will include using YouTube to teach stress patterns and job interview skills, choosing radio segments for listening comprehension, and teaching students to become “reporters” on their personal interests. The hands-on teacher’s workshop will also allow participants to exchange their most successful, student-centered lessons. I will also include feedback on how student reactions from my university students and EFL students in Vietnam using Compelling Conversations. (Asia Pacific University of Vietnam has adopted Compelling Conversations as a core textbook for their new Practical and Academic English Language program for university and graduate students needing more English.)
Naturally, I’m quite psyched since this will be my first state CATESOL presentation. The 2009 CATESOL conference will be in the Pasadena Convention Center, April 16-19 with the theme “Whole Learner, Whole Teacher.” Visit www.catesol2009.org for more information. My section, #15686, is on Friday, 11:00-11:45 A.M. in Rm. 207 of the Pasadena Convention Center. If you are attending, please consider dropping by. It will be worth your time!
Who gets to speak in class? Whose ideas count? Who chooses the assignments? How do students receive feedback? Do students have a chance to conference with their instructors? Can YouTube be a valuable source for homework assignment? Do you want your students to become self-directed – or autotelic – in their studies?
Here’s a quick checklist that ESL teachers that I created for a recent CATESOL workshop called “Techniques for a More Democratic Classroom”. My core assumption remains that giving students more opportunities to literally speak, write, and share their insights leads to a more engaging, dynamic, and valuable classroom experience. I will write more on this topic in a few days, but here are some questions to consider.
Who do you currently teach? How would you describe the students?
What are some of their personal interests?
How can student interests be better incorporated into the curriculum?
Which assignments do students currently choose? Which seems most successful? Why?
What are some benefits of greater student participation?
What are some risks of greater student participation?
Do you want to increase the number of choices students make?
What critical language skills can be taught by tapping into their interests?
How can you tweak current material to better individualize instruction?
What internet resources can you use to augment the current curriculum?
Which exercises or activities do you find most successful in your classroom?
What decisions do you keep as your prerogative as the instructor?
Will your students become self-directed learners?
How can you encourage that possibility?
How can you create a more democratic classroom?
What are some obstacles to a more democratic classroom?
How does technology encourage a more democratic classroom?
“Education is a kind of continuing dialogue and a dialogue assumes, in the nature of the case, different points of view.” Robert Hutchins (1899-1977), former President of University of Chicago and educational philosopher
Do you agree? Disagree? Why? Feel free to let me know.
I’ll post an article in a few days outlining some of my thoughts and sharing some materials.
Keeping perspective remains a challenge, especially during stressful times.It’s easy to feel discouraged as we disappoint ourselves.
Yet sometimes we reap benefits from our prior work that can remind us of small successes. This week, a very awkard and difficult work week, could overwhelm. But an old project, Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics, provided solace when I felt tired. Strangers and old friends, reached out to communicate with me and express gratitude to lift my spirit.
Highlights include:
- An English teacher in Spain praising the book, and gently asking for a sequel geared toward teenagers.
- An English teacher in the United Arab Emirates sharing positive experiences in his classroom.
- Another Amazon reviewer praised Compelling Conversations, especially for tutors.
- An ESL administrator calling me in the morning to order a class set for an adult education center in Kentucky. America is changing so fast. In my youth, there were very few immigrants in Indiana – let alone Kentucky. It feels good to be on the right side of history.
- The L.A. CATESOL officials giving me convenient back-to-back presentations for this weekend. Collecting and sharing teaching tips often energizes me – especially when I’m running on empty.
These small, long distance exchanges with fellow English language professionals have provided smiles and solace during a hectic work week. In this case, I have “relied on the kindness of strangers” and friends. Compelling Conversations is a small drop in the huge ocean, but I’m that I added that drop too!
Are you looking to share practical techniques with your fellow English teachers? What works in your ESL classroom? What tends to work in other ESL classrooms? Why?
The Los Angeles Regional CATESOL conference, titled “WWW. What Works and Why” at Biola University on October 25 features over 60 workshops and panel discussions. The annual event is expected to attract over 500 ESL professions from K-12 classes, adult education, IEP, and community college and university programs. CATESOL members receive a discount on the conference fee.
Do you live in Southern California? Do you have plans for October 25th yet? Visit
http://www.lacatesol2008.org/ if you are interested. This regional conference is larger than many state conferences and reflects the importance of studying English to immigrants in Los Angeles – especially during economically difficult times.
By the way, I will be giving a 45-minute presentation titled “Techniques for a More Democratic Classroom” and a joint presentation titled “Creating Win-Win Workplace English Programs That Work for Both Employers and Employees.”
In my solo presentation, I will review classroom practices like tailoring assignments for individual students, effective peer evaluations, and organizing students to create classroom materials. Some exercises come from Compelling Conversations, but most exercises are practices that I’ve developed over time in both writing and speaking courses.
The second presentation, with Troy Parr, comes out of a series of vocational ESL workshops that we designed for an important union for healthcare workers, the SEIU, in Los Angeles. (The director of their workplace educational programs read Compelling Conversations., and contacted me. I brought in Troy, who wrote his thesis on best practices in workplace ESL programs.) We emphasize the importance of creating practical, participant specific exercises that both introduce new workplace vocabulary and provide many opportunities to speak, write, and reflect on workplace issues – in English. These workshop exercise such as rewriting forms, writing memos, and giving presentations on safety tips also help students develop their language skills for beyond their immediate job.
Naturally, I hope you can make the LA Regional CATESOL conference. See you there?
For more information:
http://www.lacatesol2008.org/
http://catesol.org
Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations. Visit www.CompellingConversations.com
