Today I learned a bit more about my own website from a fellow English teacher and friendly fan.

A gentleman from Tennessee called my home, thanked me for the sample conversation materials, and asked some insightful questions about the updated Compelling Conversations website. I appreciate his call – and his giving a practical suggestion on how to improve the site for adult educators by adding clearer language. The influx of new immigrants, mostly Spanish speaking with limited formal education, can be seen across the United States. As you might expect, many churches are providing many education and literacy programs for new immigrants in the South – often on a shoe string budget.  I’m glad that the free reproducible worksheets can be of some assistance.

Second, the gentleman’s call encouraged me to take a longer look at my own website through new eyes. Designed more for English teachers than English language learners, the revised site does include an entire section for students. The materials, however, are probably too hard for most English students to understand since they are written for high intermediate and advanced ESL students.

Fortunately, there are also  rough Google translations for the Compelling Conversations website now for speakers of  46 languages. The long list goes beyond the usual suspects (Chinese, French, German, Korean, Spanish) to cover tongues ranging  from Albanian and Arabic to Vietnamese and Yiddish! That’s sort of amazing – even if the computer translations remain imperfect and contain many errors. Consider me jealous of my computer’s language skills! Wouldn’t it be great to just know 10 words in 46 languages?

Perhaps in the future. For now, I’m grateful for Google translations – and dedicated English teachers who share their experiences about my small, evolving website and niche conversation textbook.  Maybe it is silly, but I still get a kick when – like today – an adult education teacher tells me about how their students enjoy the book – even when it is a bit difficult.

So please feel free to share your experiences, positive or negative, because we are learn from each other. As the cliche goes, “everyone is a student; everyone is a teacher.”  Today I learned quite a bit about my own website, its strengths and flaws. Have you visited the revised website yet? What worked? What could be improved? Do you have some suggestions for the next version?

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Cheap pleasures can sometime be the most satisfying.

Reading, an activity that often costs nothing, falls into that category. Reading provides many pleasures and many insights. So does talking about reading.

Following a December ritual, I’ve been reviewing the year and find many reasons for satisfaction. Co-writing a monthly column called “Instant Conversation Activity”  in the newspaper Easy English Times makes the list for the third straight year. Each monthly newspaper column in the Easy English Times, modifies and expands a thematic chapter from Compelling Conversations, an advanced ESL textbook, for lower level English language learners. The August issue, for example, talked about watching television and favorite programs; the November 2010 issue celebrated the American tradition of choosing leaders in elections. (Immigrants, refugees, new citizens, and potential citizens often appreciate voting while too many American citizens fall into apathy.) It’s an honor to have the lessons used in ESL, EL/Civics, and literacy classes.

In reviewing the 2010 clips, however, my favorite column this year remains “Reading Pleasures and Tastes.”
Reading can be a great – and overlooked – pleasure. Reading allows us to imagine life in distant lands and times – and better understand our own lives and climates. It broadens our imagination, highlights absurd situations, shows new possibilities, and can deepen our sympathy. Since urban Californian classrooms often resemble a mini-United Nations, reading provides a passport to better understand our classmates and our ever-changing world. .

Yet too few American adults – including adult education students – allow themselves the pleasure of reading books and newspapers in English. We can see and hear on adult school campuses how the inability to read causes real problems. We know the many studies that document the links between illiteracy, poverty, and criminal activity. One reason might be that reading builds empathy and instills information. Reading can also provide solace, inspiration, and perspective. Celebrating the pleasure and power of reading to the Easy English Times column audience, including adult immigrants, GED students and some prisoners, seems appropriate. Perhaps it could have been called “Three Cheers for Reading – Even if Life is Hard.”

Yet I also like the Reading Pleasures column because discussing books has created some of my most poignant classroom moments. During a decade of teaching advanced adult ESL, we often read short stories, memorized proverbs, and wrote about living in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Many ESL students also demonstrated their passion for literature. A Polish student sought help translating romantic poems, a Mexican immigrant constantly recited lines from Cervantes, and an Iranian woman journalist discussed her fear of reading banned books – even while in the United States.. Reading matters and transcends borders.

Let me give another example from a global classroom with a dozen or so different best languages. Each evening we would have a “brave volunteer” give a short oral presentation at 8:30 as a closing activity.  I wanted everyone to be a volunteer, but I left the choice of presenting to students. Some students introduced their hometowns, a few  gave product reviews, and many recommended movies. Topics and styles varied.

One night an older Korean woman gave an eloquent, moving book review of To Kill A Mockingbird that combined personal biography and literary criticism. Chloe, not her real name, began smiling because she had just finished rereading her favorite book in its original language – English. She joked about how long it took, but she had patience. Chloe went on to confess that she often had racist feelings like some ugly characters in the novel. “But I learned from the noble character too”. Chloe stated that living in Santa Monica and studying English she had learned to overcome racism. Her daughter was going to marry a non-Korean – something once unthinkable. Then, returning to the novel, she concluded by quoting her favorite character. “I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks. ” Her daughter visited our class that night, and cried. She was not alone. Powerful. Poignant. Unforgettable.

Reading remains a great pleasure and a helpful guide. Literature can also enliven our ESL classrooms, and discussing our favorite books opens up new possibilities. The humanities should be for everyone – including English language learners. Let us, as Emily Dickinson advised, “dwell in possibility” and bring more literature into our English classrooms.

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Personally, I’ve slightly modified my oral skills course this semester to provide greater emphasis on interviewing skills. Students interviewed each other for 10-15 minute videotaped mock job interviews for their first assignment.

The use of videotaping students in class has gained far more acceptance in the last few years, partly due to the technological advances. OTAN, the adult education website established by the California Department of Education, even created an entire section devoted to using videotapes and videocameras in the adult ESL classes.

Another factor has been the increasing popularity of YouTube videoclips by students seeking practical information. I’ve combined those two trends by requiring students to find and review YouTube clips on vital employment skills and speaking skills. Students found and reviewed videoclips, and emailed them in as homework. Afterwards, I combined all the student evaluations into a single email that I sent to the entire class with a few editorial comments and minor editing.

Here is the homework sheet for that assignment. As with the reviews, “use or lose.”

Getting Job Interview Advice from YouTube!

Student Name:
Class:
Teacher:
School:
Date:

Please find an YouTube videoclip that helps people successfully interview for jobs – in English – that you would like to share with your classmates. Watch the video, take notes, and review it for your classmates.

Video title:
Web address:
Length:
Creator:

Please describe the video.

What interview tips did the video provide?

Where do you think the video was produced? Why?

How practical did you find the advice? Why?

What was the strongest part? Why?

What was the weakest part? Why?

Who do think is the target audience for this video?

Why did you choose this video?

How would you rate this video 1-5 stars? Why?
————————————————

This simple worksheet combines research, critical thinking, and language skills. As English teachers, we can use simple technology to help English language learners develop their language skills, especially when they are motivated to learn and search out new sources. Instead of dismissing YouTube searching as a waste of time, let’s turn their interests into productive learning opportunities and share insights. After all, employment interviews often serve as a real-world language tests for our ESL students.

Let’s make sure we give them the tools to pass those crucial tests.

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Last week book editor SMDP Dane Robert Swanson wrote a very positive book review, in simple clear prose, directed at Santa Monica immigrants. Noting the importance of literally speaking English to achieve the American Dream, Swanson suggested immigrants practice their conversation skills and build their vocabulary using Compelling Conversations in their classrooms and in local cafes.
Naturally, I’m very pleased with this long, strong book review written in a simplied English style. As an ESL writing instructor, however, I wish the reviewer had used more transitions between paragraphs to add greater cohesion. English students can read more than simple sentences when collecting information on new books. Still, Swanson’s instincts to write short sentences is spot-on for local immigrants. Consider me grateful and pleased!

Here, without editing, is the entire July 16 book review.

Visit us online at smdp.com FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2009 9
Call us today at (310) 458-7737
B Y D A N E R O B E R T S W A N S O N
BOOKREVIEW
‘Compelling
Conversations’
Eric H. Roth and Toni Aberson
Chimayo Press

America is a great land of opportunity. I am sure we
all want to get ahead in this country. We want to find the
type of employment that is suited for us. We wish to
advance in the work world. We wish to make friends.

The best way to get ahead in the world is to speak the
mother tongue of the country you are living in. In this
case, we are talking about English. With so many
“English as a Second Language” courses being taught
there is no excuse for not learning. The problem is, what
book do you use to learn from?

Have you been looking for a good ESL manual? If you
have, I think this is one to consider. The topics cover:
Your Life, The Civic Life, along with the everyday aspects
as dating, enjoying money, handling stress.

The editors put it together in an easy to use form. You
have conversation starters such as, “How much time do
you spend each week in cars? Why?”

There is a section in each chapter for vocabulary
building. A section on common sayings is included, as
well. To increase the conversation we have such questions
as this: “Do you prefer to drive in the city or the
country? Flat or hills?”

Each chapter in the book concludes with quotations.
An example is this one by Woody Allen, “I have bad
reflexes. I was once run over by a car being pushed by
two guys.”

This manual helps conversation by giving common
subjects to talk about. Since English is one of the confusing,
difficult and strange languages for a foreigner to
grasp and be comfortable conversing in, the compilers
pack in 45 chapters over 30 questions, 10 or more targeted
vocabulary words, some proverbs, and quotations
per chapter.

Each chapter focuses on a promising conversation
topic. They start with easy questions and continue on to
questions a bit more abstract. Each question is there to
allow the speaker to share his life experiences along with
his insights.

This manual will go best with the advanced ESL student
or even at coffee shop conversation clubs. It will
bring about authentic, not stilted communication, which
should be the purpose of an ESL course. It is easier for a
person to learn a language through conversation rather
than by a given list of vocabulary words. That is what
makes this a welcome addition to the material which can
be used for the immigrant who must learn English to
advance in the world.

Eric H. Roth has taught many ESL courses at Santa
Monica College, UCLA Extension, Cal State Long Beach’s
American Language Institute. Toni Aberson has taught
English and supervised teachers for over 35 years and
holds to the view that when you have a lively classroom
you have optimal learning going on.

This manual is available at Amazon.com. It can also be
purchased on the Web site: www.CompellingCoversations.com.
There is a substantial discount available for schools and bookstores.

DANE ROBERT SWANSON is the best looking book reviewer in Santa Monica and wishes to get feedback from you.
Smdp_review@yahoo.com.
——————————————

Thank you Dane, for the wonderful review.
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” French proverb

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How many American adults can’t even read this blog? How many American adults can’t read a simple newspaper article, understand warning labels, or write an effective complaint letter? Can’t read? Take a guess. Five million adults? Ten million adults? Twelve million adults?

According to a new federal study just released, an estimated 32 million American adults remain functionally illiterate in 2009.

Greg Toppo told part of the depressing story yesterday in an excellent, concise USA TODAY frontpage article. Title? Literacy Study: 1 in 7 U.S. adults are unable to read this story. “A long-awaited federal study finds that an estimated 32 million adults in the USA — about one in seven — are saddled with such low literacy skills that it would be tough for them to read anything more challenging than a children’s picture book.”

Is the situation improving? NO! “From 1992 to 2003, it shows, the USA added about 23 million adults to its population; in that period, an estimated 3.6 million more joined the ranks of adults with low literacy skills.” A U.S. Education Department expert explains. “”They really cannot read … paragraphs (or) sentences that are connected,”

USA TODAY deserves credit for bringing more attention than usual to this avoidable tragedy. President John F. Kennedy famously noted that “a child miseducated is a child lost.” Those lost children have become adults!

So how can we explain these shocking (yet very familiar to experts) findings? How is this possible? Why is this awful situation tolerated? Please don’t tell me that there is a lack of money because the federal government just gave away – without conditions or even pretense of accountability – $350 BILLION dollars to wealthy banks and mega international corporations.

The American public education system is failing on multiple levels. Adult education remains the stepchild of public education. Underfunded, often overlooked, and seldom appreciated, adult education plays a vital role in teaching essential life skills – including reading and writing – to thousands. Thousands of adult educators work long hours in stressful jobs, often part-time without fulltime benefits, to help high school dropouts prepare for a GED and new immigrants learn English. Yet the gap between the objective educational needs and funding to provide a real first world education to these struggling adults remains huge.

“Only the educated are free,” noted Epictetus, a former slave and Greek stoic philosopher, over 2,000 years ago. How free are those 32 illiterate American adults?

Will President Obama address this widespread, documented crisis in public education? Perhaps.
The United States is wasting our capital resources! It’s long past time to invest in our own people, rebuild our inner cities, and recover the American dream. So will Obama reorganize our education system and direct billions needed to provide real universal public education?

Consider me, as so often, a sceptic.

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