It has been exactly 4 days since the 28th Blog carnival went live with the Dani Lyra’s engaging themes of Critical Thinking and EFL/ESL
Using Technology to Raise Cultural Awareness
So for the 29th Blog Carnival although at the end of the Academic year I would like to take a look at the Future. Over the last year at conferences I have been inspired to think about the future of education. Sometimes it has seemed that we will be lost in an education system described by Sir Ken Robinson as a standard factory in his video ‘Schools’ Kill Creativity’. A system that killed creativity. Then I saw an excellent presentation that said you can be in the system but bring the students to a place of the future. I have met in the last month some amazing educators from Southern Utah University who are actively bringing a creative future into their institutions, classrooms and courses. So for this blog carnival I want to explore and focus on the future of education in our field. I would like any posts on the future vision of all kinds of English Language Education, moving more towards the future of the system, changing your system to meet future needs, future hopes and dreams, even reform ideas. Please submit your posts by June 15th to sharonzspace@gmail.com.
I was fortunate to attend the TEDx summit last week in Doha, where we were privy to a sneak peak by Chris Anderson to the new TED-ED platform that has now gone live this week. Watching this progress over a while the launched platform is exciting, open and full of future potential.
There are three great features:
1-Short animated lessons submitted by educators around the world and illustrated by the best animators. This makes the lessons ideal for language classrooms as they are short, and come ready with multiple choice questions on content, open ended thinking questions, a digging deeper section focused on further research and finally section. You can track the answers given in certain sections:
2-This is the exciting part!!! You can also FLIP THE LESSON. This means that you can create your own lesson using the TED ED’s open BETA software. Currently you cannot adapt the multiple choice questions. Because TED ED have also partnered with YOU TUBE you can also create a lesson from any you tube video and produce your own content. Still in the early stages as language teachers we might need to put our language questions into the Thinking part of the frame creation. I have been experimenting. Here is a rough one that I have produced for my learners who are about to learn English for Astronomy and need to know the vocabulary for the phases of the Moon to access a lecture that will be happening soon on the discoveries of Galileo. Here I have experimented with one gap fill question and then several open ended questions focusing on the vocabulary they need for a part of the lecture. In digging deeper they research the history of the early cosmologists and then there is an extensive reading part where they browse the current blogs being written by the current pioneers of space at the International Space Station. Some parts of these blogs also include some of the vocabulary and concepts needed for the later parts of our English for Science course. Here is the Link to the lesson below:
3-You can nominate great educators who have an effective 10 minute lesson or an animator and create a new lesson
A FEW POINTERS: The platform is right at the beginning so there features that still need to be ironed out. Here are a few points to keep in mind when using this resource:
1-To flip and create your own lesson currently you need to be a member of TED.com. This will change over time as they are trying to do it through Facebook to make it more accessible for learners and teachers. The account is free and it is easy to sign up.
2-Once you finish a question slide at the moment you cannot edit it or reposition it. This however might change.
3-You decide who you share the lesson the with.
If you want more details about TED-ED and Flipping then click here.
This is a call out to all bloggers either writing from the perspective of EAP or ESP or writing about their EAP/ESP teaching environment. I am opening two collective Pinterest boards. One is the EAP/ESP bloggers’ showcase and one is for your new EAP/ESP posts:
As we all know EAP/ESP is a relatively new field and finding fellow bloggers takes a lot of hunting around. There seems to be a void in the EAP/ESP blog link up and Pinterest seems a great way to bring us all together.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest for those of you who are unfamiliar with it is a social media sharing platform where you pin an image that is linked to the URL of your post. It creates a visual board of all the pins and you can write a brief description. The great part is that it can be repinned to other people’s boards and so on. A little bit like a visual Twitter. If you don’t have a Pinterest account please click here . If you need an invite please email me @ Sharonzspace@gmail.com.
So why don’t we come together and collaborate on Pinterest as EA/ESP bloggers. That way you can easily keep up with what’s new in the EAP/ESP blogger world Here are the details of each board:
The EAP/ESP Bloggers’ Showcase:
If you blog is EAP/ESP focused please leave your blog URL in the comments box below or alternatively you can send your blog URL and JPEG image to go on the pinterest board to my email address at the end of the post. You will then be added to the EAP/ESP Blogger showcase. I will also create a badge that you can add to your widget area to show that you are an EAP/ESP friendly blogger. That way we can all grow our EAP/ESP PLN.
EAP/ESP Collective:
If you sign up for the Blogger’s showcase above you can then become a collaborator on the EAP/ESP Collective Board. This will be the more dynamic of the two. As a collaborator you can pin any new post that you write as long as it is either been written in an ESP/EAP environment or has an EAP/ESP focus. That way we can all stay upto date with what is going on in the EAP/ESP world more effectively than we do now. Please send your Pinterest URL to the email address below.
So to recap if you want to be a part of the two boards please send an email to Sharonzspace@gmail.com. In the email please include your:
1)Blog URL, JPEG image and a 60 word summary of your blog.
2)and if you have completed step 1 and want to join the collaborative EAP/ESP Collective please send your Pinterest URL.
I look forward to connecting and collaborating with you all.
I know that I have been off the radar for a while with posting on the blog, but I have been working on something. Last year I ended up in an MRI machine with them looking to see if anything was wrong with my head. The neuro specialist was a really fascinating man and he asked me about my job. When I explained what I did he came up with a striking comment:
I don’t envy you he said, how any one can educate another is beyond me. Each brain is different which makes standard exams or curriculum’s a little insane.
Then in December I attended a conference and one of the presentations that I saw had used Bloom’s Taxonomy as a basis for a new publication. Then the question sprung in my brain, with all of our new awareness of neuroscience, brain imaging how valid is Bloom’s Taxonomy. This has led me into researching ELT and neuroscience over the last couple of months, hence the silence. I am no where near that answer but I thought that I would share in this post some fascinating discoveries so far on this research adventure.
In order to make sense of the whole field I thought it might be useful to include a diagram of the brain and the various functions that we could all refer to as I sometimes get lost and need to go back and look at exactly which part of the brain they are talking about.
The brain diagram:
If you want to check out some brain basics interactively then here is a website that you can visit the FINR 3D Brain Atlas.
Neuroscience and ELT
Now that we have the brain basics underway, the study that I am going to mention that refers to ELT are pioneering in a very new field, which means that this post is more about awareness of what is out there right now not necessarily curriculum changes or systems of learning as no one has conclusive data or applications as yet.
There is a fine line between EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and ESP (English for Special Purposes) in an academic environment. However, from the movements going on in corpora such as Ken Hyland and even publishers, such as Garnet, starting to produce a wide range of material for specific disciplines such as engineering and medicine, how would you cope if you were asked to teach this. How about if you were asked to teach content based courses based on mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology? What would be your honest response? How open minded would you be to the challenge?
About six years ago I became an Upper teacher on an EAP programme during the spring semester. As part of our Upper programme, to prepare students for their first year of Freshman where they all have to take Calculus and Natural Sciences, we have a module called English for Maths and Science. I remember attending the first math lecture of this programme. The lecturer began and all I remember was a bewildering array of numbers and formulas explained in English running across the white boards in the auditorium. I was lost and desperately hoped that my students wouldn’t ask me any questions. After leaving the lecture I remember sitting in my office wondering how on earth was I going to post review lessons that took place every week with my students not focusing on the math but on the language used in the lecture. Fortunately, the language part wasn’t too hard but I had to face the fact that if I was asked about the math I would not be able to answer. This is when I reached two very important conclusions and made two equally important decisions that not only changed my teaching or my life. The first one was that I was terrified of math from my own experiences of education and part of the reason why I was not able to concentrate in that lecture was that voice in my head that said ‘you cannot do maths or physics’, ‘you are no good at maths or physics’. I decided that after a 15 year break from ever having looked at Math, Physics or Natural Sciences I was going to tackle that scared me so much. The second decision was based on my reaction of appearing foolish in front of my learners. Did it really matter that I didn’t know the math? Why did I feel that I was the only expert in the room? I realized that by letting my learners be the experts could actual strengthen their learning and give them essential responsibility in the classroom, to let them take charge of their learning. It is now six years on from that experience and I am different from the person who first sat in that lecture. I can understand the Math and by being open to the learning opportunity I discovered a love of physics and quantum physics that I now read in my free time!!!! My classroom is also a much freer place as I got rid in all areas of my teaching that ‘I am the only expert’. It has become a much better learning environment. With this in mind and for any of you reading this in a similar situation below are some resources that helped me understand essential science and math concepts taught at university Freshman level. Read the rest of this entry →
Well we are definately into the new year. We are just over 3 weeks away from TEDxSabanciUniversity hence the lack of posts although I have three to four in draft form. With this post I wanted to share a discovery and two new projects: Read the rest of this entry →
As you may know from previous posts I have written about TED.com for listening and TED conversations. Today I want to tell you about another initiative that can give your learners some real world hands on authentic experience organizing an event in English.
About a year ago one of my preparatory English students, Can Aztekin now an irregular freshman at Sabancı University in Turkey, came into my classroom and put an idea into my head that just wouldn’t go away. You see Can knew that I loved TED and he was also a TEDSTER (the term for a lover of TED). His friend at Emory University was organizing an event called TEDxEMORY. The concept of TEDx is
Created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading,” the TEDx program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.
In other words, if you enjoy the TED format you can bring a local TED style event to your local community TEDx. Can inquired whether this would be possible for our own university. At the time I was really busy organizing another event so I told him that it sounded interesting but left it at that. However the idea just wouldn’t go away and I started to take sneaky looks at the TEDx organizers’ page over the next 8 months and started to realize that a TEDx experience on our campus could provide an excellent opportunity for our university students to gain real world and life experience through the medium of English. After contacting Can in June 2011 to co organize this event together, I want to explain the concept more clearly and the steps needed to host such an event with your learners. Read the rest of this entry →
There have been comments and posts going backwards and forwards this weekend online over the Edublog Awards. Some posts point out the good that they do for educators and education, while others question the idea of choosing the best or the way in which voting is conducted. To give credit to the Edublog organizers, I was impressed by how they acknowledged the other side of the argument in such an open and collaborative way. They have gone even further up in my estimation than they already were.
I started to think about this weekend why it has caused such a discussion. Perhaps with the Edublog Awards it is not the awards themselves but maybe a reaction from educators as our jobs are more linked to performance review and being categorized and labelled and then graded on our performance in our work places through performance reviews and award systems in-house. For me blogging has been a way to escape this criteria led environment, to have space to breathe, to write freely. Read the rest of this entry →
Following on from the previous post The Internet: The ‘Ultimate’ Challenge and Opportunity this one deals with accepting the challenge through a practical educational application of Facebook that I am currently in the middle of researching in my classroom. Secret Facebook groups are being implemented as an integral part of my courses. I want to look at the methodology and reasons for using Facebook, offer considerations about practicalities in setting up Facebook groups for classroom use and finish with some raw data so far.
The Background: Why Social Media and Why Facebook?
Before deciding which medium to use it is important to have a clear solid framework when deciding which technology best fits each situation that you wish to apply it in. If it is not considered carefully and with purpose technology can become an empty sideshow that might interest learners with its gimmick appeal but they will lose interest quickly if there is no underlying substance. Read the rest of this entry →
Doğaş University’s 1st International Conference: Turning Challenges into Opportunities is in full swing and the first plenary of the Day was David Crystal. He spoke on Language on the Internet: The Ultimate Challenge and Opportunity. In this post I want to summarize his talk, and intersperse it some data from my online research conducted with Adam J. Simpson and Ekrem Simsek in March 2011. (See foot note below for the whole research document).
According to David Crystal the ‘ultimate challenge’ for educators today is the Internet. Read the rest of this entry →
One of the conundrums of academic text or articles is the frequent absence of the use of ‘I’. When asking learners in the classroom what the writer’s opinion is, they often search the text, scratch their heads and then generally look up and say the writer does not have one. They also feel this frustration when writing objective, academic assignments. One learner once described it as if their right to have an opinion was being denied because they could not generallh use the word ‘I’. This led me to create exploratory activities with my learners to uncover how ‘I’ is not directly said but is stamped all over texts.
With the learners I entitle these activities ‘I’ hunting. I have found that if I get them hunting, in 10-15 minute segments over a couple of weeks, after reading and then apply to some writing or speaking later on it has a more lasting impact. Below are just some examples of ‘I’ hunting I have conducted with the learners. All of the quoted text used in these examples comes from our in-house text book ‘Beyond the Boundaries’ : English in an Academic Environment: Level 3 Book 1 2nd Edition (Sabanci University 2008) Read the rest of this entry →
Before we look at vocabulary activities, I want to examine the notion of which vocabulary we are taking out on the pitch through the lens of Ken Hyland and Polly Tse’s 2009 article,Academic Lexis and Disciplinary Practice: Corpus Evidence for Specificity. (A link to a free downloadable copy of this article can be found at the end of this post). When academic vocabulary is mentioned often thoughts turn to the Academic Word List (AWL). Often when teaching EAP, practioners consult the Academic Word List, however as Hyland and Tse explain in their 2009 article, the idea of a generic academic vocabulary appears to be a false supposition; a conclusion based on extensive corpus research explained in the article. They reached this conclusion after running corpus analysis over 8 disciplines which then fell into three areas; social sciences, engineering and science . In this article Hyland and Tse (2009) reach several conclusions about the Academic Word List, the nature of academic vocabulary and implications for courses and EAP practitioners. Read the rest of this entry →
One of the keys to being able to read academically is knowing at least 95% of the vocabulary in the text. Often in my experience, one of the hardest areas of academic English is the amount of new academic vocabulary learners have to grapple with and the stamina they need to keep this active inorder for it to become automated over time. Over the years of teaching learners who have come through a rote learning system, I have tried countless ways to get learners to start doing something more productive than just memorizing vocabulary and recording it in a long one word list with their own L1 translation streaming on endlessly through their notebooks. Learners try to hang on in there with their memorization technique but as the Academic English marathan unfolds they want to start exploring new techniques or new ways of looking at vocabulary. However, this often comes half way through the 1st semester. Over the last 15 months, I have started to employ a different approach so that learners would begin to question their realiance on memorization, so that we could begin finding some alternative methods.
DROPPING THE QUESTION:
At the start of every new semester, after the first couple of classes together I leave them at the end of the lesson with a question:
Over the next week as you are studying I want you to keep this question in the back of your mind, does memorization work? Why or why not?
We all head off to lunch and at the beginning of every session with them for the next week I ask for opinions on this question. To start with they are puzzled and, in the first session after the question is live, they are confident that memorization is working. The second session, one or two might start to express that they have noticed that even though they have memorized the words they cannot activate them quickly enough in a reading, or understand them in the context, or use them in speaking and writing. By the third or the fourth session as we are working on other activities in the class they might ask me why memorization is not working or why they are having difficulty activating so by the fifth session the ground is ready to look at alternative ways to learn vocabulary.
TAKING A NEW DIRECTION:
Walking away from memorization for many learners who have successfully used this system and passed exams with this technique is hard. For there to be any change to a more active study habit they need to be given lots of mini steps and plenty of encouragement to keep going. As teachers, helping them through this process and transition we need to be aware that they will ebb backwards and forwards and that breaking the memorization cycle will take a great deal of time with many ups and downs on the way. With this in mind, I want to share some dictionaries, and a starting activity that have worked for my EAP learners (these would also be relevant for ELT/ESP).
STEP 1-DICTIONARIES:
The English Language has so many variations and usages of individual words that I encourage learners to use dictionaries that can give them meaningful connections and information to navigate this maze of vocabulary. I also like sources that clearly show the scientific use or mathematical use of a word as my learners need to be able to access this information for Natural Sciences and Calculus.
One word of caution: all of these disctionaries need to be introduced on seperate days to learners and incorporated into regular vocab work within the classroom. The learners need a model from you for how it works and some learner training with hands on supervised practice.
Dictionary 1:Visuwords (FREE)-This is an online graphical dictionary and thesaurus based on Princeton’s Univeristy Wordnet that also displays the relationships between a word and its various forms and connections; similar to neural pathways.
The Visuwords legend, depicted to the left, codes the connections for the learners. It is important that learners gain experience in how to exploit the legend through learner training activities, that gets them to type in the word and then use the legend to answer various questions about the word.
The most exciting part of the Visuwords experience is watching the word explode into life after pressing the enter button. It is so captivating that for me as a visual learner I want to study the word. I wish I had had this resource when I was studying French academically at univeristy. I might have been more successful at vocabulary learning. Visit the website or visit the demo video below to watch how the dictionary moves and works.
As an aside, learners often email me, even after we have stopped studying together, to remind them of this site.
Dictionary 2: Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary (FREE)-(I am already a fan of Merrium Websters full site with a medical dictionary option for those of you teaching ESL.) This dictionary is a newish addition to the site and although it is more conventional than Visuwords above it has a few features that I have noticed are really accessible for learners:
1-Once they sign up, learners can create their own dictionary. With their own dictionary they can create their own groups of words and turn these into customised flashcards for that group. Although this is a small step away from memorization, it ia a large step for learners who are now creating a more organised thematic resource, that has the sentence in context. It is also accessible on their iphones, smartphones and ipads so during their commute they can look at the vocabulary quite comfortably in the confined space of public transport.
2-Clear labelling: I use this dictionary alot when we are covering the natural science and mathematics material as the minmalist nature of the dictionary layout helps learners and their teachers locate the scientific and mathematical terminology easily. It is also explained in such a way that it is accessible and clear to understand. Take a look at the entry on the word ‘proof’ to get a feel for the dictionary.
COLLOCATION THESAURUS:Just the Word-This one was recommended to me by a student five years ago and is generally a popular resource for my learners. This is a corpra based thesaurus, which shows the word in various contextual patterns. It shows the frequency of clusters and when the examples are clicked on, 5-10 example sentences exemplifying the usage of the word appear. It will also allow you to make a wordle of that entry for your more visual learners. For an example entry click on the word ‘THEOREM‘ here.
STEP2: Actively recording the word or passing the ball.)
For a while now I have been using a football analogy with my learners to contrast actively manipulating the word while studying verses memorization. I usually ask my learners to:
Imagine that yor national football team has made it to the world cup finals, come out onto the pitch, lined up, sung the anthem, got into game formation. The referree places the ball, blows the whistle and both teams just stand there. What would your reaction be?
Usually there is a small shocked gasp at this point, as Turkey like the UK is a football loving nation. Then when they have recovered they say it would be strange or who would think of doing that. I then go on to explain that:
The reason I have used this metaphor is that just by making a list and finding the Turkish meaning of the word and then memorizing you might be able to stand on the pitch, sing the anthem etc, but when you come to kick the ball you just can’t because it is not active. You can’t actually get into the game. instead you would just stand there.
Passing the Ball
We then go on to discuss various ways to become more active. One resource I have been developing for my learners situation, is calledPass the Ball (you can download the excel sheet for recording vocabulary, access the step by step instructions for the students, as well as the voice thread with further explanation by clicking on the words Pass the Ball above.) You will also notice on this page a vocabualry learning idea written by one of the learners to explain how she studies vocabulary so that learners can see their peers experimenting with different techniques.
What is ‘pass the ball?
Pass the ball is an activity that encourages learners to record their vocabualry on a preprepared excel sheet. (This Pass the Ball Excel Sheet PDF for Teachers document explains the different components of the worksheet. Just click on the sticky notes to read each comment)
This activity encourages learners to:
move from a solely memorization based vocabulary learning system to a more active approach
move towards actively learning vocabulary using website resources that have been used in class
encourage linkage of different registers of English that learners are having difficulty connecting i.e neutral and academic
rereading the text to increase automation
activate different learning senses-i.e visual, movement through typing and lateral thought
maintain stamina when dealing with large amounts of academic vocabulary
When introducing this to learners, I usually ensure that they have had inclass and homework exposure to the various dictionaries above. I introduce ‘Pass the Ball’ and then help get them going. I usually allocate an hour of classtime to let them explore how to record and use the excel sheet hand on. They are usually fully on task for that hour while doing this activity. Please feel free to try it out and if you do and have any feedback please pass it along to keep this ball rolling.)
TO BE CONTINUED… In my next post I will discuss how to move from the kick around stage we are at now to starting to play the beautiful game of using vocabulary actively.)
Working within EAP is in a way similar to existing in the realm of the evening or morning twilights. Everyday you are an English language professional with an academic twist. That academic twist is not just concerning language but the culture of academia as well as the content. At times you are steeply learning and teaching all at the same time which is why the metaphor of the twilight seems quite appropriate. It is not exactly day or night. In the same way that EAP is not exactly ELT but at the same time you are not exactly traditional academic faculty of assistant professors and professors, yet in your teaching sphere you touch both worlds. This personally is an exciting place to participate in on a daily basis. There is always something new to learn and to explore as well as to teach.
However, how do you stay in touch with the EAP world around you. There are many ELT blogs and chat forums as well as published academic articles and the same goes for higher education. You move between the two worlds but only some parts are relevant to you others not. Fortunately there are a few places you can go that are at least 70-100% relevant depending on your EAP environment:
This journal is available quarterly every year and in its own words:
The Journal of English for Academic Purposes provides a forum for the dissemination of information and views which enables practitioners of and researchers in EAP to keep current with developments in their field and to contribute to its continued updating. JEAP publishes articles, book reviews, conference reports, and academic exchanges in the linguistic, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic description of English as it occurs in the contexts of academic study and scholarly exchange itself. A wide range of linguistic, applied linguistic and educational topics may be treated from the perspective of English for academic purposes; these include: classroom language, teaching methodology, teacher education, assessment of language, needs analysis; materials development and evaluation, discourse analysis, acquisition studies in EAP contexts, research writing and speaking at all academic levels, the sociopolitics of English in academic uses and language planning.
As many EAP practictioners are developing their own materials based on their unique situations I have found that JEAP has upto date and cutting edge articles that keep me informed not only about materials but current reasearch happening in this field. When you visit the site you will notice that this is a pay for publication but through your university library/information centre you will most probably beable to access it for free or request a subscription.
They have recently launched a website which is quite new but it is their conferences I wish to highlight here. All of the content is EAP oriented and for the first time in a long while every session I attended was highly relevant to my EAP environment with high quality speakers.
He is chair of Applied Linguistics and Head of the Centre for Applied English Studies at The University of Hong Kong. Much of his research, particularly on corpra is where the EAP publishing world is slowing moving towards. He always seems to be slightly ahead and on the cutting edge of new findings and research that will have implications for the way we teach language. He can communicate clearly in his writing and always find something new and insightful for those twilight hours.
Twilight destination number 4: Your own institution
Your own academic institution is one of the best learning grounds to keep abreast of all of the needs of your students and of the faculties. Ideas for using your institution wisely:
1-Find out what the learners will be doing once they leave your classes and join faculty or while they are in faculty coming to your classes. I have invested time in reading the whole of the Freshman courses and finding out what happens in recitation classes, lectures, office hours, assignments, presentations etc, talking to some of the lecturers.
2-Learn again: Since entering EAP, I have found a love of Geometry, trigonometry, calculus, quantum physics and natural sciencesthat I never had at school. Be open to the learning process. this also makes your teaching dynamic.
3-Immerse yourself in the academic environment: Join symposiums, go to lectures etc. Do not be afraid to join other faculty because you are not a professor. It will help make your EAP environment more meaningul and help build important bridges to faculty members who can help you develop you EAP programmes.
At the dawning of this Turkish twilight hour I leave you with Yeats and wish you well on your journeys in the EAP twilight:
Come, heart, where hill is heaped upon hill:
For there the mystical brotherhood
Of sun and moon and hollow and wood
And river and stream work out their will;
I discovered TED.com from a student who walked into my classroom one day and asked me whether we could watch a 20 minute video in English related to the unit we were studying on technology at the end of the lesson. I am so pleased I said yes as the wealth of content on TED.com and the amount of further videos I have used in my lessons since that moment have been priceless. Infact, as an aside I started watching the TEDtalks for my own interest and joined the TEDcommunity. But back to Academic listening and TEDtalks.
TEDtalks are a maximum of 18 minute lecture style listenings which make them perfect for the EAP setting. Despite TED originally standing for Technology, Entertainment and Design, they now cover almost every topic imaginable by an impressive array of speakers. They come with English subtitles or no subtitles options as well as other language subtitle options. They have an interactive tape transcript that learners can refer to while listening or post listening, or that you can refer to create class study content. Read the rest of this entry →
