Wish I'd found this sooner...

Even though we're almost done teaching in Argentina, I'm sure some of you are not done with teaching.  I'm not!

I stumbled upon this website that's by a collective of "radical teachers" in NYC. Here's a page of lessons that can be used to integrate themes of social justice, discrimination, racism, and other subjects that can be difficult to teach, but are, in my opinion, relevant and necessary.

http://www.nycore.org/curricula.html

These lessons are very comprehensive and integrate different forms of media and are interdisciplinary in nature.  I think they're great for EFL or ESL because they address issues that are deeply embedded in US society and that some international students might not be so familiar with, although on the other hand maybe such lessons can help them make a connection between the US and their home country.  I hope you like it.

Love, Kristal

Group Poetry

Hey Guys -- I don't know if anyone is still looking at this thing, but hopefully so.

I had a good lesson today, inspired by Dead Poet's Society. It could last anywhere from 10 minutes to a good half an hour or more. 

I started by asking them if they had seen Dead Poet's Society. Many of them had. I asked them to recall a scene in which Robin William's character asks his students to go home a write a poem and them come back and read it to the class. One student doesn't and Robin Williams procedes to bring this student to the front of the class and evokes this fabulous poem out of him.

Then I asked them if poetry was useful in a conversation class because most people don't talk in poetic language in everyday life. We talked about how poetry grows out of feeling and how in order to express feeling, you have to have an advanced command of language and the more diverse your vocab is, the better you can express things, etc.

From there, we played word association (one person says a word, the next person says the first word they think of, and so on) to warm up. From there, we began creating a group poem. I started with "The waves crashed against the shore." We live in Mar del Plata near the beach, hence the sea reference. From there, we went in a circle, adding lines as I wrote exactly what they said on my computer. At the end we had a poem which I read to them. They LOVED it and were really excited about their poem (Everyone asked me to send it to them by e-mail). This activity could be modified to take up more or less time, depending on your need (creating different poems, different themes, poems from different groups). Hope your classes enjoy! :)

The poem we created is below:

Untitled

The waves crashed against the shore

The woman looked to the sea

She saw the seagull

Flying across, around... I don't know the preposition

Use the one that goes

And she was holding her son's hand

She felt peaceful

She was pondering her past

To see made her feel

Peaceful

Thinking about what to do the next day

She flung her arm's open wide

And hugged her son

And that's it.

No!

I kept on watching

As I felt the sea breeze on my face

I was dreaming

Such a wonderful view

Made me remember

My childhood

A long time ago.

Wiki for Lesson Exchange!

Hey!
Here's a wiki compliments of Rachel from Chile.  If you'd like to add anything to the wiki (and if you're gonna take you should give back!) email her at:

rsloughATgmail.com... like @ but we're trying to avoid spam.

Here's a link if you wanna check it out... it's a work in progress and hopefully we can keep this going!

Hip hop and you don't stop

Our party's location has been confirmed:

HIP HOP AND YOU DON'T STOP

feat. invited deejay DJ Mobil (from Brasil)

Friday, July 4th - 11:55 pm until the next morning

at FRIDA Bar - Calle 5 e/ 54 y 55

Check out our Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21917927236

A game about cultural integration

In my English III sections we just finished watching the independent film Smoke Signals, which I love. Our discussion of the US and Argentina's treatment of their first peoples segued nicely into a discussion about our shared immigration history. We discussed terms like assimilation, pluralism, multiculturalism, interculturalism, melting pot, salad bowl, etc. Ooh! Also if anyone has Fievel: An American Tail or Fievel Goes West DVDs on hand send it over, we'd love to watch it! Haha!

Anyway, here's the game:

FOR ALL LEVELS OF ENGLISH (I used it in English III)
Time: Between 15 minutes and an hour, depending on how complicated you want to make the rules.

You divide the class into two different groups. Each group represents a "culture." Each culture has rules that you make up. Here are some we used today:

Group 1. You can say anything but before speaking you must hug the person to whom you are directing your comment. One person is chosen as the leader. Everyone else has to copy this person's gestures.
Group 2. Affirmations are not allowed in this culture - you can only speak in questions. You can not speak unless you are sitting first.
Group 3. No touching people is allowed. You can only speak by asking questions and saying "yes" or "no."
etc. etc. The rules can get pretty creative. They'll do a good job coming up with their own if you repeat the game.

Once each group is clear on the rules, they will each send a visitor to see the other group. This visitor can stay until they break some rule of the culture they are visiting, at which point they will be sent back. A new visitor will be sent about every 2 to 3 minutes or whenever the visitors are eliminated, whichever comes first. After each cycle of visitors, the groups can confer with the visitors they sent to the other group to try to figure out the rules of the other culture. The game ends either when they figure out the rules of the other culture or when the time runs out, whichever comes first.

The best part of this activity was wrapping it up as we discussed the fears, anger, frustration, confusion, etc. that they felt trying to figure out the rules of the culture they were visiting. After hearing the stories of visitors from their own cultures, many of them who went later had developed preconceived notions about what the other culture's rules were like. This metaphor was really powerful as we started talking about more abstract concepts like inter-cultural contact, cultural relativism vs. universality, models of cultural integration, immigration, etc...

Hope you have as much fun with it as we did!
Charly

I don't mean to misuse the blog...

but I just wanted to remind you that there is a 4th of July party in La Plata to which you're all invited!  Come dance your homesickness away to the hip hop soundtrack of your life.  This will be cultural understanding at its finest...

Love, 

Kristal

Last minute writing exercise...

for those days when your supposed to show a movie and your technology never comes... and there just happens to be a newsstand across from the facultad...  well, at least it worked for me!

If you want to take the time to plan this one and your students have access to the internet and a printer, have them go onto craigslist.org and find any classified ad from any city as long as it's in English. It can be an ad for anything; a car, a job, a used jacket, even a personal ad or a "casual encounter".   Have them print the ad out and bring it in to class.  

If you want to use this opportunity to expose the students to a little literature, bring in any vignette from "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros.  I use "No Speak English" but it's just because I randomly got a copy of it. Read it, and explain what a vignette is... you know, like a snapshot as opposed to a story (vignettes don't really have a typical beginning, middle, end).

The assignment:

Write two vignettes based on the classified ad.  One will be about the person who places the ad, and the other will be about the person who answers it. This should not be a boring description of a character, but rather a creative snippet of this character's life.  Use a minimum of 1/2 page per vignette. Attach the ad to the vignettes.

So, have them share with each other, then collect them and correct the grammar, spelling, etc.  These are really fun to read for us, too! 

If you want to use this as a last minute thing and don't have time to ask them to bring in a craigslist ad, just get some newspapers before class, and even the the ads are in Castellano, they can still write in English. Obviously, they can share newspapers if you have a big class... that way they can bounce ideas off each other too.

Enjoy,

Kristal

Hey hey!

Hey all,

This blog was an excellent idea, and even though up until now I haven’t posted, I have been reading everyone’s suggestions. I used that mystery stories website the other day. It worked great! Here are some of mine:

1) 20 questions with the vocab that you have been learning throughout the year. This is better for reviewing EVERYTHING and not just one unit or one class. Otherwise, the guessing game will be too easy.
2) With my first years, I made us play Jenny McCarthy’s game show Singled Out to review physical characteristics and personality traits. For the high school/ early college age group, this can be a big hit. You dress up as Jenny McCarthy (haha, already a good time) and make up questions beforehand. Have one contestant be the one everyone wants to date and choose 5 or so others to step toward or away from the contestant as they agree or disagree with the statements involving whatever vocab you are studying. You can adapt the game to lots of different lessons. When someone reaches the contestant, they win the date. You don’t have to make them go on a real date, although that would be funny too.
3) Jeopardy!! (Do I watch too many game shows?) Seriously, this is a great group review game too.
4) When reviewing stories, I write key points of the plot on posters and make the students tape what happened on a timeline that I draw on the board. It gets everyone up and moving and thinking about what happened when.
5) To review a grammar lesson, split the class into two teams. Divide the board in half. One player from each team comes up to the board and holds chalk ready in their hand. You say a sentence (that involves recently learned grammar) and the students race to write the sentence correctly. The first one to get the sentence written correctly earns a point for their team. Team members are not allowed to shout what to do. If neither student gets the sentence correct, you can call “substitute” and another person from the team runs up and fixes the sentence. This rule keeps everyone paying attention. My first years LOVED it.

Ok, ask me a question if you have any! See you all soon!

online resources

I have been searching for quite some time now for short stories/plays. http://www.scribd.com/ has full texts of a wide variety of literary pieces in an easy to email/print format. Also, classicreaders.com is another good resource.

besos, kt

Collective Storytelling

This is a great activity to fill up 10 minutes at the end of class if your lesson ends ahead of schedule.

1. The teacher starts off the story and sets the mood. "On a dark and stormy night, Mark set off into the night..."
2. Next, the teacher either throws a paper ball at or uses a hand guesture to signal to another student. This student then must continue the story before passing the storyteller role to another student and so on and so forth.
3. When time is up, the teacher should tell which ever student is selected next to make up an ending to the story.

Notes:
1. You can practice the concept of this by doing a modified written version of the activity before trying the oral version. Write down an opening phrase on a piece of paper and fold it down so that only that line is showing. Pass this around during class having each student add to the story based on only the line written by the previous student. At the end of class, collectively read the story.
2. Emphasize that the students should just add whatever comes to mind. There should be no, or few, "uhhh.. ahhh... I don't know!!" pauses. This activity practices spontaneous language. When a student runs out of something to say, he or she should pass to the next student.

Another Great Icebreaker

Another fun icebreaker...

1. Explain the term icebreaker (and the expression "to break the ice")

2. Have everyone write down 3 facts (could be modified to 1 to save time) about themselves. Give examples: "I am left-handed." "I speak three languages." "I had a pet ferret growing up."

3. Collect all the pieces of paper and redistribute them.

4. Choose a random student and have him or her read (in a loud, clear voice) what is written on his or her paper. This student then has to guess who the paper belongs to.

5. The person who wrote it will identify him or herself and explain one (the most interesting) fact. You can stimulate discussion by asking questions (ex: wow? three languages, huh? which ones? why those languages? etc.). This person then continues the game by reading what is on his or her paper.

This icebreaker works well both on the first day and later on in the semester once students already know one another. It can be shortened (by using one fact) to fill in the last 10-15 minutes of a class.

The Giving tree

Here's a lesson that I did with my third year students. Or...I think they're third years but I don't really have a clear idea. We read "The Giving Tree" in class and tried to listen to the following audio (spoken in very slow english, ideal for our students) but technology doesn't like me. Maybe it will work better for you: http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2008-01/2008-01-06-voa1.cfm. VOA, in general, is an awesome source for audio clips and the likes. Here are some of the questions I asked:
Giving/taking
• Did the tree give too much? Is the boy happy in the end of the story? The text always says the tree was happy except for when the boy moved far away. Do you believe that she really was happy? Can the Tree be happy in such a diminished state? How would you explain the tree’s happiness? Is this how you would define happiness? Who are we to judge someone else’s happiness?

• Describe the codependent relationship between the Tree and the boy.


• How would you characterize the boy’s love for the Tree?

The stages of the boy’s life
• Describe the boy’s relationship with the Tree. How does it change over time? Consider what he takes from the tree as he ages. Does he ever give back? Why is this significant?

• Compare and contrast the life stages of the boy with those of the Tree. What does this signify?


Parental relationships
• The tree, unlike most parents, never faces the moment in which the boy asks for something that she cannot provide. Is this a realistic portrayal of parenthood or is this relationship a mixture of the human and divine? Should parents aim to be like The Giving Tree, giving, bending, breaking themselves down until they no longer are physically there? Did the Tree spoil the boy? Has she failed as a mother? Or is this a beautiful story of the ultimate parenthood? Do you aspire to be like the tree, to have nothing left but a stump in old age?

• Why does the boy keep coming back to the tree? Is it because he is greedy or because he truly loves her? Clearly, the tree loves the boy, and it is this love that allows him to come and go so many times.


• Is the tree victorious in the end? The boy stays with her, but can she enjoy his presence?

Language of the story:
• What is the significance of the ellipses?
o “And the tree was happy/…but not really”
o “Then you can/Sail away…/And be happy.”
o “I wish I could give you something…/But I have nothing left to give/I am just an old stump/I am sorry…”

• The Boy never grows up, and the reader never knows his name. Why?

The lesson went well because it's a very simple story (linguistically speaking) with a lot of interesting themes/issues to discuss afterwards.

My Favorite Icebreaker

Hi all,

Here's my favorite icebreaker.  It takes no prep time and no material.  It's good for most levels... actually, pretty much any level can do this.  It's also good for all ages. It's perfect for the first day, but it also works for a group that's been together for a while.  It's called 2 Truths and a Lie.  It goes like this:

1.) Have each student introduce themselves, and maybe give another random fact if it's the first day (i.e. their favorite musical group in English). This is good for the first day or when you're still learning names, and you can covertly take attendance all the while ;)

2.) Then have them say 2 true things about themselves and one lie, but without telling the class which is the lie.  Then, the rest of the class guesses.  

Sometimes it's fun if you have a hacky-sack or a soft ball so that each student that goes picks the next one by throwing the ball at them.  Also, the teacher should start do they get the idea.  For example, I usually saw "My name is Kristal, and my favorite group in English is Midnite.  (Holding up one finger) I hate to cook, (holding up 2 fingers) I have a pet frog in the US, (holding up 3 fingers) I have 8 brothers and sisters.  Which is the lie?"  Also, if your students are shy, it's good to guess which are their lies first.  This can be tricky when the game is good.  One said "I have 1 girlfriend, I have 2 girlfriends, I'm gay"  and didn't get that there should only be 1 lie... Funny things happen!  It's a good game!!! 

*Kristal

Class blog

Hello Fulbrighteros,

Kristal and I actually made a blog like this one for our advanced English discussion sections at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Here´s a link to our blog. We announce our extracurricular activities there and we encourage our students to post comments. One of our students submitted an awesome short stories website.

I´m looking forward to hearing your ideas and sharing lesson plans - what are your students like? Same age as you? Very young? Our students come from all over Argentina. The advanced students are on average the same age as us (and have beautiful British diction - muy capos).

Best of luck!
Saludos desde La Plata,
Charly

Class Mystery

This lesson is based on the classic "5-Minute Mystery" stories. If you want a copy of the handout I used, e-mail me.

Suggested Lesson Plan:

1. Find a short mystery story and identify any possible vocabulary words. 

**www.mysterynet.com publishes monthly whodunnits that are great for classroom use. I recommend the relatively "solve-it" stories (www.mysterynet.com/solveit).

2. Create a handout with the story, a short list of vocab words, and the mystery questions (Who did it? How do you know?). *Note: the "solve-it" stories on mysterynet.com have questions already prepared.

3. In class:

1. Hand out story
   
2. Pre-teach any necessary vocabulary
   
3. Read the story as a class out loud. Encourage your students to act it out/read dramatically. It often helps their pronunciation.
   
4. Spot check for comprehension.
   
5. Have a student read the "who did it?" and "how do you know" questions.
   
6. Brainstorm possible answers. Encourage discussion and have students explain their answers. If your class is large enough (4 or more), split students into pairs or small groups and have them discuss together and then present their "crime theories" to the class. Let students try to convince other groups of their opinion.
   
7.  Finally, if everyone is stumped or only partially correct, read them the correct answer.
   

Level: Intermediate to Advanced. 

Goals: Practice speaking skills and explaining an opinion. Also increase vocabulary.

Time: 40-60 minutes depending on the size of the group and how long you allow for discussion.

Welcome to the Argentina ETA Blog

Welcome. The general idea of this blog is to share successful teaching tips/lesson plans with other ESL teachers. If you have a lesson to share, e-mail us at ArgentinaETA08@gmail.com.