Blogger, Triadic...

Meskill, C. (2005). Triadic Scaffolds: Tools For Teaching English Language Learners With Computers. Language Learning & Technology. 9 (1). (pp.46-59).

This article is all about active communication and its connection to learning. I think that technology in the classroom should be encouraged. Words like context of use, teacher verbal strategy, role of the computer, and what is the strategy accomplisher is are new terms to me. In this technological world, I feel the author is pointing his finger to me! I should really jump on board and learn, it already.
"ESL ghetto" made me so mad. "Left behind" is also how I feel. I am so angry I cannot blog.

Dodge, B. (1997). Webquests. Retrived July 22, 2008, from San Diego State University Webquest site:http://webquest.sdsu-edu/aboutwebquests.html

Some thoughts about webquests is about resources from the internet with an option t0 go on video chat. There are two options for inquiry purposes: short term and longer term options. They both last from one class to a month class periods for levels of expertise. There are six steps in the process to learn webquest: introduction, task, information sources, process, guidance, conclusion.
I am not sure what the benefits are from this. Can you help me out Sabine or Kathy? Thanks, I appreciate it.
Guru "helloooo" out.

Words as Big as the Screen: Native American Languages and the Internet by McHenry

McHenry, T. (2002). Words as Big as the Screen: Native American Languages and the
Internet. Language learning & technology, 6,(2),pp.102-115.

Research done on the language revival of Native American languages have factors other than the dying language to consider, such as politics, economic and social factors all contribute to the languages becoming extinct or on the verge of not having written documentation that they exist. According to Krauss from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks campus, he wants the Native languages in Alaska to have written documentation so that possible variations in phonological or syntactic theory could be researched in languages that might not get recorded.
The biggest point that I got out of the article was that the researcher said that she is concerned that Native languages are not recorded by Native speakers, so then the translations are biased and from a Non-Native perspective. And also if the languages are learned and shared through the internet, the font should match the speakers’ ways of writing the language.

Rethinking Myspace by Garcia

Garcia, A. (2008). Rethinking Myspace. 22,(4).

The author uses myspace as a form of communication in his classroom for assignments, finding out how students are and helping them with applications for SAT and other forms like financial aid and posting homework. He sees the myspace site as a way for him to get his students to communicate and stay in touch with him, because a lot of them have absences from school a lot. Some of the quiet students are chatting with him and he hears from students that he is concerned about when they reply to his messages or explain their absence situation.
I think the myspace site is a good tool. I chat with students in my village and I get lots of information from their comments and their pictures. It is so amazing how much technology can teach you about people’s personalities and their preferences. It is really important to teach students about the bad side of having too much information posted on the website for safety and personal issues.

The Laptops are coming! The Laptops Are Coming! by McFarlane

McFarlane, S. (2008). The laptops are coming! The laptops are coming!, Rethinking
Schools, 22, 22-26.

This article expresses concern over laptops in the classroom. I am not sure how the impact is in the bigger schools and how the rules for the technology is played, but I know in our school the way the laptops are used is strictly for information usage and sites like myspace are blocked. The technology department in central office down in Mountain Village has access to our computers and can totally shut down the first class system to keep our minds on the conference during our workshops or in-service days.
I am not sure how I feel about using laptops in the classroom, but I know they are useful. I am concerned about the interpersonal skills that the author mentioned that was missing in her English Language Learner program. Like her, I am aware of how much “quiet” time students have and that they are perfectly happy if they don’t have to speak up in class. It is like having lessons in math using Saxon as the only resource and teaching skills but not using the whole class as mini-lesson opportunities. Some teachers use that program as the only source to teach math and therefore leaving out elements like daily lessons for the whole class. Kids get really bored with that method and say that their teacher does not teach them but that they are stuck on worksheets and that is the only method of lesson delivery.
Laptops to me are a useful tool, but you have to ask yourself those hard questions about using it as a resource and not as the only mode of teaching. Language use and practice as well as students who struggle to learn how to use the computers are some elements to look at and consider.

New Technologies and Additional Language Learning by Thorne

Thorne,S.L. (2006). New Technologies and Additional Language Learning. (CALPER
Working Papers Series, No.7.) The Pennsylvania State University: Center
for Advanced Language Proficiency, Education and Research.

Technology in the classroom provides new roles for the teacher as well as the student to have tools that create language usage rather than an oral discussion where not all the participants are engaged. Words like Internet-mediated intercultural L2 education, intercultural competence, languaculture, and pragmatic rules of interaction are now a part of the second language lexicon.
Second language learning through the Internet provides opportunities for L2 learners to have hands-on support for linguistic and pragmatic developments that comes alive with conversations with a Native speaker of a new language experience. It connects people globally through wiki, podcasting, blog connections as well as facebook, myspace, vlogs, friendster.com. Digital media also contributes to the concept of communication through the computer.
The technology age is here. Kids born in the 1990’s have the tech savvy that they need at the tips of their hands. The virtual world is out there. Opportunities to learn new languages is as simple as choosing a language and then using resources like myspace or yahoo instant messenger to connect you to a personal tutor in that language. The plus on that too is that you get to choose someone you like and might have a personal crush on as your guide to a new lexicon on a language of your choice.
With more use of the Internet, opportunities for making informed decisions to use the tools in the classroom is critical. Curricular innovation, institutional policy and regional and state agenda setting are elements to consider to help make policies that includes technology in the classroom.

"How She Was Given Her Name" by Luci Tapahonso

The poem, “How She Was Given Her Name” by Luci Tapahonso (Dine) is a wonderful personal story about how the baby was given her pet name, “Beep-beep.” Because she was not allowed to run outside in the winter, the baby loved to run to the road in the winter, laughing and waving her arms all the while having the thrill of her life knowing that someone was chasing her. She whizzed down the road, whenever no one was looking. Therefore getting her nickname, “Beep-beep” like the roadrunner in the cartoon of a roadrunner that runs really fast. This is a great poem to lead into nicknames and how you would get one in your family for doing something personal.

LING 611 Week 1 Comments and Questions

I am taking away the definition of language and how it is looked at in the schools. In our school language consists of Yup'ik, Village English, and English in the academics and standards. Stakeholders are all involved in the process of creating a language program that districts implement. Language that requires translation have limited resources in the curriculum and translations are expensive and harder to create for the Yup'ik language in our YK region. Even though English written materials are readily available they are still difficult to gather and evaluate the relevancy of the materials.
My question is what are the views on education our current candidates for the President of the United States are and how will that affect education for Americans?
How can I involve stakeholders in the process of making language an important issue for our language program when the stakes are high for proficiency in English in our national standards?

Erben, Sarieva Chapter 1-2

Erben, T. & Sarieva, I. (2008). Calling all foreign language teachers: computer-assisted
language learning in the classroom. Introduction: calling all foreign language
teachers (pp. 1-12). New York: Eye on Education.

Chapter 1
This chapter is about Erben’s desire to provide foreign language teachers with technology assistance to have them use that knowledge in their classrooms. Finally a framework that assists technology strategies that helps to train teachers to be technologically savvy!

Chapter 2
This chapter talks about the design of content standards consisting of five C’s-communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities. Developed to assist teachers to provide language teachers with a framework to help them learn to use technology features in their lessons to provide a network for students to expand their language knowledge. The goals for the program is to promote higher thinking skills and knowledge construction that also assists students to be able to find, think about, and gather information. Students are given the opportunity to engage in their learning through various means and not to rely on the teacher to give them lectures and they are able to find information and share it through other means than traditional writing and responding techniques that were used before technology was developed. Language skills will be able to be posted on the teacher’s web page and students can have access to various ways to learn words, structures, and explanations of second language.
Techoliteracy is another tool of literacy knowledge. It helps teachers to become up to date on the technology usages of today’s youth. By providing and using the tools in technology to enhance learning, students will be well on their way to becoming life long learners.
I think I would use the current technology as much as I can create and have it be a relevant tool in my classroom. I already use digital pictures but I want to have my students create material that they can easily do in kindergarten and first grade. I already see my Yup’ik teacher use the recording and video aspect of her digital camera to record my students participating in songs and Yup’ik dancing. I think I would love to use the blog if I had enough people to chat with or share information with. Technology to me used to be a scary thing, but I am slowly getting sold on its use in the classroom.

Richards, Chapter 8-9

Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. The role and design
of instructional materials (pp. 251-309). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 8
Teaching materials are key components in teaching a language program. Authentic, created, text –based, technology materials are the basis for teaching resources. There are many ways that materials can be used and gathered from. The key to finding materials that work for your teaching situation is to be creative, ask, collaborate with your teaching staff, become very familiar with your school’s curriculum and read the pages where the curriculum provides materials for you to get what you need for lessons in your classroom. In order to get materials you have to be very familiar with your teaching situation and seeing material as a resource and not your only way to teach language. Materials should help teachers lead students through the process of developing their skills at an appropriate level of skill, engaging, and want to have and practice those skills by motivational means. The whole process of selecting materials to the evaluating of textbook materials is a worthwhile journey that gives you feedback on learning how to select language materials to teach in your classroom. Read your school’s scope and sequence and any other mandated educational guideline and find out how you can evaluate textbooks, and materials that will best meet the individual needs of your students and school. The key to good material selection is to know where your students are at and how to make sure they are going forward on their education experience at their pace and also includes lots of engaging and motivational activities.

Chapter 9
Evaluation in the language program is essential to see if the needs of the language program are met. Overall evaluation of a language program aspect includes the evaluation of the curriculum design, the syllabus and program content, classroom processes, materials of instruction, the teachers, teacher training, the students, monitoring of pupil progress, learner motivation, the institution, learning environment, staff development, decision making. Accountability is key for funding purposes for curriculum programs and materials. Through documentation done by the curriculum department, the means to get a language program evaluated is to use a variety of information gathering techniques such as interviews to the students, teachers, administration, and the stakeholders involved in the whole concept of school. The documentation has to be relevant and can be an important tool to show whether or not the language program works, and if not, what are the needs and how to meet them are evaluated. My school gets evaluated by the number of students passing the standards based assessment and the high school qualifying exam that the state of Alaska uses as their evaluation tool to measure how the district programs work and which schools need major changes made. When schools do not pass they are evaluated and required to make changes and are forced to partake in the State of Alaska’s assessment tools that supposedly help students to get on their grade level. We also have a yearly Language English Proficiency test to administer to measure how much English our students know and whether they are English speakers or not. Evaluating your language program and its quality are essential steps to meet the goals of your program.

Chapter 6, Richards 10 Syllabus Types

Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Course planning and syllabus design. (pp. 145-197). New York: Cambridge University Press.

There are ten syllabus designs that this chapter discusses and describes the elements in each that concentrates on grammatical, lexical, functional, situational, topical or content-based, competency-based, skills, task-based, and text-based.
Grammatical syllabi map out grammar items that go along with possible lesson content using topics, skills and activities that form the course. Language syllabi differ from each other in that respect even though they are focusing on the same levels of proficiency. This assumption focuses on grammar and is a main component in learning a second language. I can see the problem where only focusing on the grammar content that does not include elements bigger than the sentence structure, form, and communication skills. Communicative competence plays a big role in grammar, therefore it should not be ignored when teaching a second language. In my course design I do have to teach the grammatical component of learning English and even Village English styles.
Lexical syllabi concentrates on the word lists that are part of the second language vocabulary that is used in elementary, intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced levels of teaching language. This is only one strand of a language course that would be more comprehensive. Students learn the first 500, 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000 words in a language which starts the process of learning new words commonly used in a second language. In my course design I do concentrate in literacy the first 100 words that are known as fry words that students need to know to be able to read. This sometimes is a problem because I can see teachers easily using this method to teach words in isolation and therefore students will not be able to connect their vocabulary to other content areas.
Functional syllabi help students learn communicative competence rather than just focusing on language components which were the main content criteria up until the 1970's. It focused on younger learners purpose of using English for social survival and travel purposes. They miss some components of grammatical knowledge for the learners because it has a phrase-book approach that teaches English without focusing too much on all grammatical rules. I like this approach for the non-graded approach to learning English for my primary students. In my course design, I would not use it strictly as my curriculum focus because I do have to include grammatical knowledge for my students, but the overall approach is fine with me. I just have to make sure that I don't overemphasize the concepts, without including the whole approach to learning English for my students.
Situational syllabi are centered on language needed to fit a certain situation. If you are a hotel, the focus will be on situations that you might encounter in a hotel setting. Focuses on transactions that occur in language and the type of behavior that happens in that particular setting. Problems include having the situation language transfer to other situations that may occur and not being able use the needed language in another situation. It is different than my design where I don't use language based on only one setting or situation. Ideally I would like to teach language based on the funds of knowledge I would gather from my class.
Topical or content-based syllabi has the content as the starting point rather than grammar, functions, or situations. Comprehension is a major outcome. Topics is the focus and that can either be a good thing or a difficult one and requires different levels. It has a major dilemma issues about assessing for content or language basis.
Competency-based syllabi focuses on specific competencies that learners are able to develop proficiency in. Widely used in social survival and work-oriented programs for essential skills, knowledge, and attitudes for effective skills in those situations. Critics don't like that it is focuses on observable behavior and not on the question aspect of the program. In my course design I would use it for directions on how to cross the street in the city.
Skills syllabi would be utilizing listening, speaking, reading and writing as the focal point and teaches students how to pass entry level University classes, as a specific example of how to focus the syllabus. Students learn note taking and how to take notes in a lecture. Does not focus on global and integrated communicative abilities. In my course design I would not use this so much because I teach primary students in the primary level of language usage.
Task-based syllabi focuses on tasks students will do in their language lessons. Tasks are related to real-life language use. Students learn how to use language through a series of activities that teach them about most content areas. Two common tasks are pedagogical and real-world tasks. Both help students to naturally learn language through the tasks rather than focusing on grammatical acquisition. In my course design I would use tasks as a way to create lessons that are creative and engaging to students.
Text-based syllabi is an example of an integrated syllabus that combines and includes various types of syllabi. It provides guided text practice for students who are developing their language skills for meaningful communication. One of the criticism is that it may be impractical in many situations. In my course design I would like to think that I would use it, but I need to figure out how it would fit into my cultural component of learning Yup'ik in my primary classroom.

Ling 610 Chapters 5-6

Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Planning goals and learning outcomes (pp. 112-197). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 5
Language goals, aims and objectives in English are used to help create an English language guideline for teaching various people from different language experiences how to learn English more effectively. Technology is huge part of the process in order for learners to get access to information and use it as a tool to help their current situations in all their life needs. Learning a language was a way that countries had people all learn their language of choice by requiring the language to be learned in the schools, thereby creating language users that fit their needs. How the languages were taught were based on the needs of each countries' goals and purposes of the language learned.
I believe that language will be best taught if it is relevant to the culture and is also what the community wants and creates their outcomes for that language. With support, language learning can be a huge success and everyone can feel confident that they are part of the whole community, thereby creating an atmosphere of positive learning. Language should be taught with a curriculum that is created that meets the needs of all the stakeholders. No one should be forced to learn a language just to fit in or be considered "respectable." Each language regardless of which is spoken, should be acknowledged and respected just in itself and no if, ands, or buts.

Chapter 6
Scope and sequence of courses are important first steps to creating a syllabus for the goals of the language criteria. Courses are planned and organized with a specific audience in mind. The goal is to have a plan for who the language learners are and what they should be able to learn by the process of teaching/learning the course content. Based on the needs of the learners, it can be to help people be able to function and aware of language uses in a variety of settings. This helps the learners use language in a way that helps them to meet their syllabus' scope and sequence. Reading and listening courses are two good examples of the kinds of language experiences a syllabus would address.
I myself would like to learn more about the kinds of experiences a listening course would offer. I would be very interested to use this method in my experiences learning and trying to understand Yup'ik.

Hayyy

Here is my first posting. Do you like it?