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Continuous assessment is an essential part of any learning and this is particularly important in language learning, where all four skills are practical and constantly in use to be able to communicate.  Good ESL instructors use many strategies to assess during class time, such as monitoring, student led tasks, games, role plays, simulations, written exercises etc.

That said, a semi-formal or formal exit test must be a requirement to determine whether the student is ready to move up to the next language level or requires further consolidation. The difference in language learning is that the learner won’t be able to understand the lesson if their level of language is not keeping up with the general level of comprehension and communication skills, leading to a downwards spiral.

With ESL, many students may not have had to take a test for a while and find the prospect daunting, especially adults!  It is important that they understand that this process is there to help, not to humiliate or cause worry about failure.  An ESL test is a measurement of what needs to happen next in their language learning, not a reason to stop.

Nola Adams, English Instructor at Eton, has some very useful tips below on how to handle students and testing:

Helping Hints: Taking a Test

Saying the word “test” is usually enough to bring a dreadful silence over any classroom. Examinations or tests of any kind can indeed be scary stuff. In my teaching experience, I have noticed that many of our learners have little experience in how to take a test, in fact, I have even had students show up for a test without stationery.

There are plenty of other tips, but these are some practices that I have found to be most useful:

•   Over rather than under prepare

That might seem like a poor way to study, however, it is much wiser to take an exam too seriously and find it easier than you expected than to wish that you’d studied more, when it is too late. However, over preparing shouldn’t be confused with cramming!

 

•   Do not panic

In the worst-case scenario, a student might go into automatic, misreading questions, skipping key directions (e.g. “Choose only one”) etc. It’s important that students stay calm enough to focus. You might advise students to visualize themselves sitting down, reading the questions, planning responses and doing well. Another way to avoid panicking is to remind students how much time they really have.  Play down the importance and stress the test is to help the teacher understand their needs, rather than a pass / fail situation.

  

• Use allocated time wisely

For instance, encourage students to do the easy problems first. A far too common mistake is to tackle the problems in the order in which they are given; this leads students to waste disproportionate amounts of time on the first problem they are stuck on.  Sometimes this occurs on the first page of the test, which is a recipe for disaster because students will lose time and confidence.

 

• Do not rush

Students must remember to read the problems to ensure they solve the question that is asked. Many a clever student has written beautiful and elegant English but answered question incorrectly because of careless misreading.

 

•   Do not second guess yourself

Students will sometimes replace a correct answer with an incorrect answer, so let students know beforehand not to change an answer unless they are absolutely sure of the new answer. Instinct and going with what sounds right plays a large part in language learning!

 

• Most importantly, bring several writing instruments

I explain to students that if their one and only pen or pencil fails to function on test day and they need to borrow one, they will lose time, annoy others and above all look silly.

When all is said and done, studying ahead of time and a good night’s sleep before a test are possibly the two best ways to defuse stress and to do well.   

Thanks to Nola for a useful list.  Don’t forget the golden rule of tests:  always, always go through the answers and explain /give students a chance to ask questions and clarify.  This post test process is the most important benefit!

assessment · Test

A couple of weeks ago, we were looking at pronunciation in our TESOL group.  When I went home that evening, I had to chuckle when I read my son’s spellings:

Gardener

Voluntary

Portable

Temperature

Secretary

Cupboard etc

 On the face of it, this seems a strange choice of spellings for a nine year old, with no apparent theme.  However, any ESL teacher would immediately see the link.  The silent letter, of course!  My TESOL group had been looking at exercises that morning, one of which covered the silent letters as part of pronunciation work.

 Silent letters are letters that you can’t hear when you say the word, but that are there when you write the word.

 Unfortunately, there are no rules; your learners simply have to learn them.  The other bad news for learners is that over half the alphabet can appear as silent letters in words. They can be found at the beginning, end or middle of the words and, from the sound of the word, you wouldn’t know that they were there. 

 Fortunately, there are a few pointers for your students:

 1.            Silent e

Silent e is the most commonly found silent letter in the alphabet. There are some hard and fast rules for spelling when a word ends with a silent e.

 A.  When you wish to add a suffix to a word and it ends with a silent e, if the suffix begins with a consonant you don’t need to change the stem of the word.
For example:

Sincere + ly         =            sincerely

Force + ful           =             forcefully

 B. If however the suffix begins with a vowel or a y, drop the e before adding the suffix.
For example:

Fame + ous         =             famous

Criticise = ism     =             criticism

 2.            Grouping silent letters is a good way to make it more memorable

For more advanced groups, you can look at this as a whole (not hole….) or for lower levels, you can bring groups in when appropriate in different lessons e.g. deal with the silent h when introducing “WH” questions or set as mini homework challenges.

I’ve attached below some of the more common Silent Letter groupings, the ones that spell trouble (with a silent o) for our learners!

Silent N

Autumn

Hymn

column

 

Silent D

edge

hedge

Wednesday

handsome

handkerchief

badge

wedge

 

Silent G

gnome

gnarl

sign

resign

design

foreigner

 

Silent U

guest

guess

guitar

guard

building

guilty

rogue

vogue

biscuit

tongue

 

Silent H

what

when

why

which

whether

ghost

honest

hour

while

white

where

rhythm

 

Silent T

switch

fasten

castle

watch

butcher

scratch

listen

match

Christmas

mortgage

soften

often

 

Silent K

knife

knee

knot

knitting

know

knock

knuckle

knight

knack

knew

 

Silent B

lamb

thumb

numb

crumb

climbing

bomb

comb

doubt

plumber

limb

debt

tomb

 

Silent L

almond

palm

yolk

calm

salmon

calf

half

chalk

talk

walk

folk

 

Silent W

wren

wrote

wrestling

wriggle

wrinkle

sword

whole

wreck

two

wrap

wrong

wrist

writing

 I often (silent t…) use these as fillers or ten minute games i.e. match the word to the picture, find the silent letter, test each other on the spelling.  Or I may give them words with mixed silent letters and have a quiz in groups to read them aloud and see who can get the most right. 

 At the end of the day, we really do just have to learn them, much to my son’s disgust.  The more fun you can make it, the less your learners will lament the lack of rules!

pronunciation · silent letters

A good language teacher will always set learning goals for their learner (s) and make sure they assess these goals and progress on a regular and ongoing basis.  Learners and interested parties always want to know about their progress!

Engaged students learn more.  The Humanistic Approach may have its drawbacks but the one area where it works is involving the students in setting goals and therefore sharing responsibilty for their progress.  Nola Adams, one of our English instructors at Eton, uses this element of the approach very effectively in her classroom, by encouraging her learners to set themselves mini-goals, as she outlines below:

 

“I often ask learners on the first day of a new class what their reasons for learning English are and how they intend to keep motivated and on track. Without a destination in sight, it is difficult to maintain focus. You would not set off on a journey not knowing where you were going! Your destination may need to be adjusted on the way and that’s absolutely fine, but many of our learners need to be able to plan their learning journey from wherever they are now to where they desire to be and it is this ‘map’ that will help learners to develop their skills and  keep focused.

One way of keeping focused and motivated is to set targets for language learning just as you would for any other process that you need to work through to achieve your goal. We have all heard about SMART goals, so why not help our learners set some for language learning.

Here are a few tips on how to keep learners on track:

SPECIFIC: Help learners make specific goals, for example:

• A learner might need to be able to  send a text message or
• Be able to talk to their children’s teachers

MEASURABLE: Being able to speak the Queen’s English is a great target, but learners must be able to be honest and balance the reality against the dream. Learners should monitor progress in real outcomes:

• Being able to use new vocabulary in different situations
• Understanding a weather report on TV or
• Being able to write a short letter to a friend

ATTAINABLE: By breaking the tasks down into smaller chunks, learners can set out an achievable study program. Learners must think what is realistically attainable for them, for example:

• Can they learn 10 new words per day
• Can they attend 2-hour session classes per day?

 

RESPONSIBLE: Part of the learning responsibility can be shared with an instructor or a learning group, but ultimately each learner must be responsible for his/her own learning. In other words:

• How much time can a learner reasonably spend on studying to make the outcome effective?
• Learners must  know what they can manage
• Instructors should encourage students to ask for help

TIME: Taking into consideration how much time learners have to invest in studying and practicing the target language, even if learners hope to develop near-native fluency in the language, they will still need short-term goals. If they are planning to reach anything close to working fluency, one year out is a good time frame to start with. Learners can break the year down into 4 three-month quarters and set specific goals for each. For instance:

• 45 minutes a day of serious study
• Read 1 newspaper article per week
• Learn one new joke per month

Most importantly, surprises are all part of the fun of foreign language learning; therefore goals do not have to be set in stone. Encourage students to make a list of the skills they need for a particular situation. There are four very distinct language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking. If learners don’t need to learn writing for the activities they have identified, then they can eliminate this skill from their list of goals.

Every learner should set learning goals; this gives structure and shape to language training, allowing students to maximize results, as well as achieve them more efficiently. ”

Thanks, Nola, for some detailed ideas for effective goal setting. 

Key to this technique working well is to show an interest in the goals that learners set themselves, provide input if possible to strategies that may help them.  Above all, acknowledge your students when they pursue these goals as independent learners; make sure you praise them and let them know that you are interested and aware.  The desire to be appreciated is what makes us human!

goals · improving · Learning · progress · self study

People are different.  Therefore they will behave differently in your classroom.  Managing those differences and keeping all students focused at the exact time that you need them to focus is one of the challenges we face daily.  It is what makes our job so interesting but can be tricky!

I’m delighted to say Eton’s English instructor, Nola Adams, has some great ideas for handling classroom behaviour and shares them with us today:

In order to create a comfortable classroom community, it is important to encourage a fun and trusting environment where all students can be included and get the positive experience that they deserve.

 With this in mind, it is important to identify inappropriate behaviours and create classroom guidelines at the beginning of each class.

 I recently had the privilege of instructing a kid’s class, and, after my first class, where I had my 11 year olds bursting at the seams with energy and literally bouncing off the walls, I quickly realized that I had to adjust my classroom priorities.

 As it turns out, some of the strategies I used to maintain an orderly and positive classroom in my kids class have proven successful even in my adult classes, especially when larger groups are concerned.

  I think the most frequently observed misbehaviour is talking during instruction. I find it extremely distracting to instruct and teach a lesson when there are multiple side conversations in multiple languages occurring at the same time. Unavoidably, it is usually then those students who participated in the side conversation who later have questions regarding the content that they had missed.

 This is why I believe it is important to have a classroom routine set in place that is consistent, so students know what to expect and can participate productively in learning. For instance, depending on the level, I always kick off with a “brain warmer” such as a crossword puzzle, brainteaser or even a short text that students have to read and then write what they have understood. This lets students know that it is time to wake up, settle down and get stuck in.

  Also, after the 5-10minute coffee break, I find that students are often tired or too relaxed, so it is essential to get them active again, especially in classes of longer duration where concentration has to be maintained. For instance, I get them to put the answers up on the white board, so they have to get up and get involved; you will be surprised how much they love playing teacher!

 When delivering classes of more than two hours, it’s a good idea to allocate the last 15 minutes of the class to “talk time”, but make sure:

•  It is topic specific and challenging
• Dictionaries are used to build up vocabulary
• Pronunciation is stressed.

 However, there are days when some students prefer to have side conversations instead, so, when the gentle hint to be quiet fails to bring results, here are some practical tips to maintain classroom control:

•  If the students begin to have side conversations, use proximity control to try to stop them, literally stand next to them
•  If that doesn’t work, write the name of the talker on the board in bold and red, this is normally so embarrassing that they stop disrupting immediately, and if that doesn’t work
• Get a whistle: I have a whistle and I am not afraid to use it; sometimes the sight of the whistle is enough.

 I try not to forget to meet and get to know the students, ask them what their short and long-term goals are, and then attempt to tailor a class to fit their learning needs. Involving and empowering students in the classroom by using constant positive feedback is essential to overall success.

 I read somewhere that “good teachers don’t have to worry about discipline”. However, we work and live in an ever changing environment, so there might be at least one student who doesn’t pay as much attention as the others. It might not be on a consistent basis but it will occur at least once and it is important to be able to manage the situation in a positive and productive manner.

 Remember, if all else fails, get a whistle!

Nola Adams, English Instructor, Eton Institute

classroom behaviour · large classes

In my last blog, we looked at cultural evenings adding value for our learners.  This week, I’m delighted to feature another guest blog on the continued theme of how to bring languages alive, this time from our Head of French, Aurelie Palermo: 

The importance of field trips in language learning – A glimpse of France in Dubai

I am not sure if it is the smell of the freshly baked croissants coming right out of the oven, the mouth-watering pastries on display or the pleasant French tunes playing in the background that made it easier for our learners to start chatting in French, but one thing is certain; it is when fully immersed and involved in a real life situation that the students’ learning experience becomes unforgettable. In our case, the fact that if the students did not manage to place their order in French, they would not be able to satisfy their sweet craving was enough to make them come out of their shell.

The participants were beginner and elementary students, and it can be quite challenging and frustrating for these levels to communicate in the language not only because of the limited tools they have to express themselves with, but also because they are usually very concerned about their pronunciation and the grammatical accuracy of their sentences.

 Although we teachers try as hard as we can to design activities to simulate real life in class so that our students can develop fluency and gain confidence in speaking, it is important that every now and then the learning goes beyond the classroom walls. Field trips to coffee shops, markets, etc. are extremely important as they make students learn with an incentive. Interestingly, my students asked me for more homework on the unit related to food and making orders at restaurants once they knew that they were going to be put on the spot! While learners of English or Arabic can easily be exposed to the target language outside of the classroom, most of our French learners do not have the opportunity to put their skills into practice. Our first French breakfast attracted some language enthusiasts, some of whom had to drive from Sharjah and Abu Dhabi but admitted that because it was the only chance they had to practice the language, the commute was well worth it.

Following this successful experience, we now have to spread the word as our goal is to have a growing number of participants attend our monthly “Petit-déjeuner français”!

 A truly creative solution to bringing real life situation in France to our learners; living in Dubai provides us with a unique opportunity to explore different cultures outside of the classroom.  Having spent the last two weeks brushing up on my very rusty Spanish skills in Murcia, in the south-east of Spain,  learning new words such as key-cutter shop, I have been personally reminded that the best incentive to communicating in a language is having to make yourself understood in that language…….

culture · outside the classroom · special events

Cultural or social events for language learners are a key part of the overall exposure to the language.  Often these don’t take place due to lack of time or there always being other priorities.  Every now and then, make this your priority!  The time invested is well worth it, with multiple benefits:

• Increased interest in the language
• Increased willingness to book more than just one course
• Relationship building between students and teachers
• Team building within the department
• Professional development of teachers

 This type of activity is even more important for languages other than English, where often people study them as a hobby or special interest or because they have relatives speaking this language.  This is very common in Dubai for languages such as French, German, Italian or Spanish.

This week, I am delighted to be able to include a guest blog from the Head of our German Department, Angelina Steinberg-Beraia:

Our German Cultural evening took place on June 19th after much thought and preparation. It was an exciting time getting together with my team and planning this evening. I had so many questions and ideas with regards to the agenda and different topics for this event. The hard part was condensing all of them to a brief, two hour session; there is so much to say and explain about the culture of German speaking countries. For us, the most important thing was that the evening would be interesting for both beginners and advanced learners. The main intention was that it would be interactive with a lot of active communication. I believe that in the end we succeeded in keeping the visitors excited throughout the evening, due to the variety of activities and the opportunity to dive into the German culture.

  While external guests had the opportunity to get to know the German language, students already studying with us were able to have a deeper look at the language from a different angle and  more cultural point of view.

 Each language is the ambassador of cultural  characteristics!  

 Such events enable students to get even closer to this different culture. The language studied becomes more authentic, and I believe this is the most important thing when learning a foreign language. The closer teaching reaches reality, the more motivated and successful our students are.

 Bearing this in mind, it’s good to know that we are offering cultural evenings at Eton throughout 2011 and the German Department is already planning an event for Oktoberfest!

Looking forward to meeting you at Eton soon,

 Angelina

In her blog, Angelina captures perfectly all the benefits of cultural or social events in language learning.  I can’t wait until October!

No tags

Assigning homework serves various educational needs.  It serves as an intellectual discipline, establishes study habits, eases time constraints on the amount of curricular material that can be covered by the instructor, and supplements and reinforces work done in class. More importantly, it drives student initiative and independence, creating a willingness and confidence in the student to carry on learning outside of the tutored environment.

 As language instructors, we receive complaints from students if we give out homework.  We receive complaints from students if we don’t give out homework, although usually only from adults; I can’t remember a single time when a child has ever complained to me about not receiving homework!  So what is the right approach?

 There are mixed findings regarding whether homework actually affects progress or results. However, it has been proven that it increases learner confidence in trying tasks by themselves, encouraging them to be as willing to have a go at tasks / solving problems outside of the class as they are in the class. This thirst or desire for knowledge or learning is half the battle for any instructor.

 This is the benefit that is crucial for language learners.  If language is about communication, then the more words a learner has, the more willing they are to have a go, the better they will communicate.  Learning vocabulary, practising structures, being happy to make mistakes and learn from them etc. is essential to improving and enriching that communication and in turn making the learner more excited about the language.

 That does not mean to say that the more homework they have, the more they will remember.  In the case of language learning; less is more.  It’s better to have regular, ten- fifteen minute slots of homework after each class, rather than one or two hours over a period of time.  The more often the learner switches from the L1 (native language) to the L2 (target language), the more readily they will be able to do it in real life situations.

 I highly recommend homework for ESL classes, as long as it is in short doses and relevant to the teaching points of that lesson.  Make it traditional i.e. gap fills, sentence jumbles, write five sentences and make it fun and unexpected e.g. crosswords, word searches, anagrams, puzzles.  However, it should tie in to what they have already covered and should NEVER include something they have not yet learned or content they will be learning in the next lesson.

Tips for effective ESL homework:

Little and often:                Keep it to ten to fifteen minutes per lesson (if they want to do more, wonderful but it shouldn’t be compulsory).  This approach both motivates younger students with their short attention spans and motivates adult with busy lifestyles.

Relevant:                             Tie it in to the lesson they have just done so they see the benefit and it reinforces the learning for that day.

Provide feedback:           Make sure that the homework is corrected or brought into the next lesson e.g.  As a warm up, otherwise students will get wise and stop doing it.

Make it fun:                       Use puzzles, games, tasks in addition to traditional based exercises

Vary it:                                  Vocabulary is just as important as grammar and structures. 

The most important aspect to remember about homework is to reward and praise effort rather than purely output. It is essential that learners feel that the effort that they have made in their own time is appreciated and acknowledged, hence motivating them to continue.  I have seen the look on a child’s face when they have tried incredibly hard on a piece of homework, only to receive a single tick or a negative comment.  The look on an adult’s face isn’t that different.

homework

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be on holiday in Scotland. We spend a week on the banks of Loch Lomond at the same time every year; fresh air and truly inspiring scenery.

My husband and I have walked to the top of Ben Lomond (Elevation 974m, walk of 819m) a few times before but decided this was the year that we would climb it for the first time with our sons. Although it may by relatively easy for seasoned climbers, for irregular walkers it is a challenging four hour walk; a gruelling two and a half hour walk up, with a couple of short plateaus along the way, and then an equally gruelling one and a half hour walk down, using different muscles in the legs but resulting in the same pain factor!

  We asked ourselves whether the children would be up to it.  Of course, it turned out to be no problem at all for them and it was my husband and I that were struggling to keep up with their pace.

As I sat munching an apple half way up the mountain (any excuse to rest!), it struck me that climbing a mountain is very like learning a language.

Children seem to find it easier and that’s just a fact of life.  Just as their muscles are younger and more accustomed to use physically, their brains are more attuned to learning and developing, so they absorb words and phrases at an astonishing rate when they are having fun or enjoying the challenge.  Just as my sons argued all the way up the mountain as to who was going to get to the top first, there is a natural competitiveness in their learning that motivates them to keep up and overtake. 

As we climbed, they were eager to look up, getting de-motivated when we didn’t seem to be any closer to the peak.  Hence the apple stops, to make them look back down and see how far we had come, to appreciate the achievement and the view i.e. remember why we were climbing the mountain in the first place…..

Similarly, our language learners tend to focus on what they can’t do, not on what they can do.  It’s really important as instructors that we build in exercises that allow them to communicate in a structured but confident way, to show them how amazing they are and how much progress they have made.  Use consolidation games, revision activities, 5 minute games etc. to build confidence.  Let them enjoy the view!

Our students do plateau at points and it can be very frustrating for them.  Progressive, targeted learning should keep these plateaus short but it’s important that they are there.  At the point when my leg muscles told me that I’d had enough and I couldn’t keep going, I managed to hold on until there was a short, gentle incline for a few minutes.  Rest time: plateaus are important to allow rest time and to catch your breath before the next challenge.  Languages have their tough parts of the climb; we all know that there are certain bits of grammar that our learners always find a little more difficult (modals come to mind…..).    So, make the plateau a fun, rest time and use it to prepare them for the next challenge.  Just don’t make it too long or the muscles will warm down again.

Not surprisingly, those climbing up the mountain were a lot less chatty and sociable than those walking down.  Not because they were less friendly, but just because they weren’t physically capable of speaking due to lack of breath!  Our learners become more sociable, more themselves the higher the levels they go.  That in itself is an achievement.

So who reached the top first, you might ask? All of us!  The boys had to wait a little while for us to catch up but we made them stop just before the stone monument. Then we all linked arms, counted to three and touched the stone together.  My idea, as I was very sure that I would have been last otherwise and I didn’t want to listen to one of them gloating all the way down.

And the view from the top?  Well worth the climb!

levels · plateau