Author Archives: commonsenseesl

• Going Beyond Learning Language Skills in ESL Courses.

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Cover Integ Revised going beyondIt’s understandable that ESL teachers would like to include something more than language-skill development in their courses. However, this desire can become a mission which can override the real needs of the students.

Teachers who have a passion about a topic, for example, the environment, social justice, animal rights, racism, and technology, can feel, as one colleague explained, “This topic is very important for all students to know about.” This can lead to a theme for a course in which the focus of each lesson is about that topic as students read, write and talk about it and learn the specialized vocabulary connected to it.

A problem can arise when the theme starts to overshadow skill building. For example,
when working on reading skills, if a reading passage has “important” content but is above the students’ reading levels, the teacher will “orally” explain what they read. Students are evaluated on how much they knew about the content rather than on their language-skills development.

As another example, if the conversation or discussion skill that is supposed to be developed during the course isn’t naturally applicable to the theme, it may not be practiced.

Teachers at the next level might find students with a lot of knowledge about causes of air pollution or the challenges of recycling or discrimination in hiring practices or the potential of AI or social media, but weak language skills.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be an either-or situation; in other words, we don’t have to choose between skill development or content.

Engaging content and skills development. It is possible to have both.

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• Getting Backed Up with ESL Paperwork: Effective Solution

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Cover shot

There seems to be certain times during a term when we can feel a bit overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork coming in. During those times, it makes sense to establish some priorities concerning how we approach “marking” the various assignments.

It’s sometimes tempting to rationalize not giving any feedback on or returning some homework assignments by thinking that there are intrinsic benefits for students to just do the exercises. We say to ourselves that it’s not absolutely vital that they get them back quickly (or even, in some cases, ever). Thus, we might consider doing a “triage” with assignments. Essays might get top priority for our time and attention with “lesser” assignments just filed away or held off until sometime in the future when we are all caught up.

Surprisingly, this feeling of being overwhelmed can actually open up a motivation to respond to homework assignments in a way that is more effective than how we would “normally” do it when we have plenty of time.

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• Final ESL Conversation Speaking Tasks:  Most Meaningful Evaluation Forms

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Oral exams PART 3 COVER REV

(This posting includes a handout which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

In Part 1,   • Common Challenges and Goals for Final ESL Conversation Speaking Tasks , I described the challenges Conversation teachers face when deciding which students should be promoted to the next level. In Part 2, • Final ESL Conversation Speaking Tasks: Rating Three Methods I compared three different methods for determining this.

In this Part 3, I’ll share some final tasks for pairs and triads and evaluation forms that teachers can use to help them make the decision about the level each student should be in the next term.

My colleague was totally dumbfounded early in the term. Somehow some unprepared students in her Level 4 Conversation Class had been passed from Level 3. Then we found out how this happened. For the final task in Level 3, the teacher had students do presentations. Their final grade was mostly based on how well they had prepared and memorized their presentation monolog. Thus, students who had not developed actual conversation-skill techniques, like asking questions, using rejoinders, responding with details, and asking for clarifications, were able to pass Level 3.

In a truly student-centered Conversation class, most activities will revolve around students working in pairs, triads and small groups. Also, during the activities, they will be practicing techniques that will help them develop their conversation and discussion skills. Thus, it makes the most sense that their final task should mirror those two points.

Sample final task formats and evaluation forms.

(Notice: These could be used as a midterm and/or final exam.)

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• Final ESL Conversation Speaking Tasks: Rating Three Methods

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REVISED Oral Exams Part 2 Cover shot

In Part 1, I described the challenges Conversation teachers face when deciding which students should be promoted to the next level. Also, I had included descriptions of the skills that teachers should consider when determining which students at five different levels should demonstrate in order to pass.

In this Part 2, we will analyze three methods teachers can apply to a final conversation task using these criteria:

Time teacher energy SHOT

The three methods including a recommended one.

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