Compelling Conversations

Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics for ESL learners and teachers

Archive for category technology and education

Happy New Decade! How Will We Change? Will We Discuss Change in Our ESL Classes?

Dec 31

Posted by Chimayo Press in ESL, ESL worksheets, educational philosophy, favorite quotations, teaching tips, technology and education | 1 Comment

As the decade ends, this 2008 Did You Know videofor a Sony conference seems more relevant than ever. With quick factoids and fast edits, it shows how radically our world is changing. How do we prepare students for a world full of new technologies, new jobs, and new challenges?
2008 Sony Conference Video on Change
Did you notice how dated this celebration of technological possibilities felt with the MySpace reference from just 14 months ago? “Nothing is constant except change,” observed the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus in 500 B.C.E!

From my perspective, this new high ultra-high tech world will demand more attention to “high touch” interpersonal social skills. The ability to critically think, creatively imagine, and deeply reflect will be more important than ever. Our English classrooms should provide space for students to develop their speaking and thinking skills.

One simple method is to make change a topic in our classes. Cities, products, families, schools, and people change. This moment also allows us to ask some “big” questions.

• What changes have you seen in your hometown this decade?
• What changes have you seen in your family this decade?
• How has your country changed this decade?
• How have you changed this decade?
• What changes would you like to see in your country?
• What changes would you like to see in our world?
• What changes would you like to see in your family?
• How would you like to change in the next decade?

Yet change is always relevant in the 21st century. How will our classes change in the next decade? How will the field of teaching English change? How can we, in President Clinton’s classic phrase, “make change our friend”? Here’s change, a free chapter from Compelling Conversations, for you and your English language learners. Visit http://www.compellingconversations.com/pdf/change.pdf

Happy new decade! Let’s make sure the next decade provides more smiles and fewer sighs.

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2008 Sony Conference Video on Change

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INTESOL Conference on ESL Teachers and Technology Offers Practical Tips

Nov 14

Posted by Eric Roth in ESL, ESL worksheets, INTESOL, academic matters, adult education, teaching tips, technology and education | No Comments

From assigning audio journals and monitoring classroom conversations to videotaping mock interviews and analyzing YouTube videotapes, Indiana ESL teachers heard presenters share practical tips and favorite lessons at an outstanding INTESOL conference today.

Several INTESOL presenters also lead workshops and shared materials and techniques to incorporate the internet, radio, and other authentic materials into ESL classrooms. Further, several speakers – including keynote ESL guru Randall Davis – emphasized the need for appropriate technology and “less is more” when designing classroom lessons. As ever, we discussed ways that technology could help English classrooms become more student-centered and provide additional critical thinking activities. More English teachers, at least at this Indiana English Teachers convention seem eager to adopt practical classroom tools like videocameras, MP3 recordings, and websites. Another consistent theme: administrators need to spend more money on staff training and less on technical hardware to realize these technological tools!

On a personal note, both of my presentations were quite well-received with over 50 people attending my “Creating Autotelic Learners” presentation. Based on the number of questions and feedback forms, the presentations made a meaningful contribution. Guiding students toward becoming self-directed, or autotelic, learners seems natural, and these exercises provide students with a choice of topics.

Here are three handouts that I shared today INTESOL workshop. Use or lose.

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————————————————————————————————————
This I Believe Homework Worksheet
Links: This I Believe

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138

Please select one radio segment, based on a personal essay, and read by writers. Find a story that resonates with you. Listen carefully. Take notes. Fill out the worksheet below. You will be asked to share your selection with classmates in both a small group and the entire class.
Student:
This I Believe Title:
Author/Reader:
Length:
Who is the author?
What’s the main idea?
Why did you choose this podcast?
Did you hear any new words or phrases?
1.
2.
3.
Who do you imagine is the audience for this podcast? Why?
What is your reaction? Why?
————————————————————————————————————
PRESENTATION
PEER REVIEW
TOPIC:
PEER:
GOOD TO SEE
POINTS TO WORK ON
BEST PART
WEAKEST PART
OBSERVATION TIPS
Please circle the appropriate overall rating 1-10 (10=BEST)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
————————————————————————————————————
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?

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Have You Added Informational Interviews to Your Advanced ESL Class Yet?

Oct 1

Posted by Eric Roth in ESL/EFL teachers' resources, academic matters, adult education, teaching tips, technology and education | 2 Comments

A broad consensus exists among adult educators, especially ESL instructors, that we should take every possible opportunity to focus on job interview skills in our English classes.

During these difficult economic times, however, I would suggest that ESL and even EFL instructors working with college and university students also should focus on practical employment skills. Videotaping practice interviews – and longer is better – remains an invaluable tool.

Yet ESL teachers can also help ESL/EFL students conduct research for possible jobs with information interviews. A common practice in the United States, informational interviews allow job seekers to meet working professionals in their field, collect detailed information on working lives, and expand their network of valuable contacts. Sometimes it also leads to job leads, internships, and even jobs.

More About Informational Interviews on the Web

Vanderbilt University, an elite private university in Tennessee, has compiled an impressive list of 60 informational interviews from a wide variety of disciplines and professions. (Peabody is a leading school of Education within Vanderbilt University). These provide illuminating examples of real-life informational interviews. Note: some speakers have a strong southern accent.
http://streams.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/hod1210/sort_field.htm

Here’s a solid collection of typical informational interview questions from About.com, a fairly reliable New York Times-owned website. Questions are divided into Occupational and Functional categories.
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/infointerviews/a/infointervquest.htm

Here’s a basic video, perhaps targeted for adult education and community college students, that reviews the fundamentals of conducting an informational interview.
http://education-portal.com/videos/Conducting_an_Informational_Interview_Video.html

Naturally, many students hope to find job leads from their informational interviews. ESL students can always use more practice job interviews. This chapter of potential job interview questions and quotations comes from Compelling Conversations that I have used with community college, adult education, and university students.
http://www.compellingconversations.com/pdf/practicing_job_interview.pdf

From my perspective, holding both long mock job interviews and hearing trip reports of information interviews are practical, effective uses of precious classroom time.

Have you added informational interviews to your advanced ESL class yet? If not, why not?

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Do You Really Use Youtube in Your EFL Classes? How?

Jun 7

Posted by Chimayo Press in EFL, ESL, English class, Teaching English in Vietnam, academic matters, adult education, democratic classroom, teaching tips, technology and education | 3 Comments

Do you use You Tube in Your EFL classes? How?

Absolutely!

Like so many other English teachers, I begin teaching with student interests and habits in mind. Of course, I also want to take them from the old and familiar to new and unfamiliar while improving their English language skills. You Tube remains a powerful classroom tool to achieve that goal.

I’ve used YouTube to have students research job interview tips, stress patterns, pronunciation problems, and informational interviews. The results have been consistently positive as I have students write concise video reviews and email me their reviews for homework before the next class.

Then I slightly edit the reviews, watch the videos and add my own comments in blue ink, and combine the reviews into a single document that is emailed to all class members. “Use or lose” I say, but here are the reviews from your classmates. Result: almost every student watches every video recommended and spending far more time on the topic than I could allocate in class. It’s both popular and quite effective.

As English teachers, we are truly blessed to be working in the YouTube era.

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This I Believe

Mar 24

Posted by Chimayo Press in EFL, ESL worksheets, ESL/EFL teachers' resources, English class, adult education, radio programs, teaching tips, technology and education, worksheets and charts | 2 Comments

What are your core beliefs? More importantly, what are your students’ core beliefs? How can you help English language learners improve their listening skills while exploring their own personal philosophy? Do you use radio podcasts in your English classrooms or ask students to write personal essays? If so, you might want to visit www.thisibelieve.org for excellent, fascinating authentic listening materials.

This I Believe, originally a radio program hosted by legendary American journalist Edward R. Murrow, has been resurrected by National Public Radio. Here is a sample podcast and personal essay by Jim Haynes that should appeal to ESL teachers, EFL tutors, and English students everywhere called “Inviting the World to Dinner”.

The “This I Believe” website includes a tremendous amount of free resources for teachers and students. Naturally, I also have a simple reproducible worksheet that allows students to find, summarize, and share their own favorite podcasts. Students can choose between thousands of essays and hundreds of podcasts on dozens of themes. In my oral skills class, students will present their own “This I Believe” presentation for the final assignment. Consider me curious about what they will choose to share.

English teachers can sign up for the free mailing list and download an exceptional discussion guide at the www.thisibelieve.org website. Check it out if you are looking for quality, reflective materials to enliven your ESL classes. Feel free, as usual, to use the worksheet below for your English classes.

—————————————————————————————————-
This I Believe Homework Worksheet

Links: This I Believe – www.thisibelieve.org
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138

Please select one radio segment, based on a personal essay, and read by writers. Find a story that resonates with you. Listen carefully. Take notes. Fill out the worksheet below. You will be asked to share your selection with classmates in both a small group and the entire class.

Student:
This I Believe Title:
Author/Reader:
Length:

Who is the author?

What’s the main idea?

Why did you choose this podcast?

Did you hear any new words or phrases?
1.
2.
3.

Who do you imagine is the audience for this podcast? Why?

What is your reaction? Why?

————————————————————————————————

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Teaching Interview Skills Vital for Adult ESL, University Students

Feb 16

Posted by Chimayo Press in Conversation lessons, ELL, ESL, Speaking Skills, adult education, adult literacy, educational philosophy, forms and worksheets, technology and education, workplace communication skills, worksheets and charts | 1 Comment

How can English teachers encourage adult and university students to expand their language skills and improve their employment opportunities in a difficult economic climate?

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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Teachers Urge Google to Create Search Engine for K-12 Students

Jun 24

Posted by Eric Roth in English class, Teaching matters, academic matters, educational philosophy, resources, technology and education | No Comments

How do students conduct online research for their K-12 classes? Do they systematically pursue a topic, use critical thinking to evaluate sources, and focus on the assigned topics? Or do they wander, often confused and easily distracted, from site to site? Is it possible for Google, the creator of the best online search engine,to create a specialized search engine just for K-12 students? Could Google, in other words, do for the K-12 students, teachers, and librarians what it has done for elite graduate students with Google scholar?

That’s the question that Dorit Eilon and a group of tech savvy teachers and educators are asking at Classroom 2.0 .

“We are a group of educators who for the past 7 months did an extensive research about on-line research and the education world. According to studies most students (and teachers) have difficulty conducting an efficient on-line research and most do not understand how Google or other search engines work.

Students, well versed in IM and SN (Social Networking) stumble when they conduct on-line research.
Even with technology many teachers still use the web in isolation. Teachers find great links that… stay on their computer, on their own website or their own blog.

So a group of us, educators, would like things to change.
We dream of a search engine that is unique to the education community with searches that produce text, video, audio results at the same time, where both commercial and school created material is accessible and monitored (we have a whole plan), where the resources will be identified, contributed and monitored by educators in phase one and Middle School / High School students in phase two. A search engine that it’s content will grow by the education community. and we want Google to be a part of it, to work with us to develop it and provide the technology.

But, we need librarians, teachers and students to talk about the day-to-day difficulties of navigating the web. We need educators to speak up so we can show that there is a real need not just plain statistics.

We imagine a search tool that will allow you to search within sites created by teachers, ability to rate sites / review, ability to search by “author” (person contributing links) , connection to Google Maps and much more.

If you feel the same way please go to our blog to look at comments and votes. While there, please take a vote and leave a comment to have your voice and opinion heard. http://cangooglehearus.blogspot.com/

Together we can make a difference.”

Sounds right to me. As the leading search engine and innovative technology company, Google can play an even more prominent role in improving education across the globe. Let’s hope Google hears this eloquent plea for a more student and teacher friendly search engine.

If you feel the same way, please visit and sign the petition.

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