Reaction to class on 3-30-09

Urban Dictionary defines an Asshat as "one who is oblivious to the world around them, lacking common sense". That's what I felt like when I showed up two weeks ago and didn't have a presentation ready. I wrote down the wrong date in my binder, never bothering to double check it against the syllabus.
I did, however, learn how an effective teacher can improvise a "plan b" when something doesn't go as planned. Esther didn't miss a beat and she gathered all the students together for a roundtable discussion on how to get students excited about reading, and what sorts of troubles and issues they can and will run into while learning to read. The discussion was lively and educational as well, and I'm glad I got to hear what everybody had to say about reading.

Readings for the last week of March

I love writing. I don't often think that I'm an amazing writer, but I do often feel as though I'm a proficient writer at the very least. Because of this, I was especially interested in this week's subject of writing.
In the P&B book, there are several different techniques which can be used with beginning to intermediate writers to teach the writing process and the organization of thoughts. Being the amazingly ADHD person that I am, I really enjoyed how the different techniques were presented. It was almost like a list, and very easy to follow.
I remember back in middle school and using the idea of clustering to come up with ideas. Maybe I could use this in my presentation tonight? Even though I had used clustering, I had never heard of mapping being used the way it is in this book. I REALLY like the idea of having a prompt in the middle, and then clustering the ideas around it. Even thought I'm a kinesthetic learner, it always helps to see the ideas on paper before me. It helps keep me focused, and the mapping and clustering techniques are chaotic enough to appeal to my nature, and they're organized enough to keep me focused on the task at hand and help me come up with better, more coherent writings.

Readings for March 23rd

I've never been able to read as fluently in my L2 as I can in English, and I've always been very envious of those who can. It was always a little bit of a sore-spot seeing my fellow students read and understand fluidly while I struggled to keep up.
Like Thea, I have trouble stopping and deciphering every word. I read in an ESL textbook that it's best to reread as many times as it takes to get the "gist" of the meaning instead of deciphering every word. It's IMPOSSIBLE to keep up with that much input and still figure out what you're reading about.

Last week

Class was interesting tonight. I really liked how Mariya led a half-hour discussion with two questions, something which I could not accomplish. I suppose if I had to, I could fudge it, but I need more than that to take a half hour. I don't have the focus. :-)

I don't know if I would want to correct students as they made errors, because I think the hardest thing would be staying consistent. I think I would give up after a while, but it would make students rely on me too much, and if I stopped correcting them, they would have a very hard time discerning whether or not they had stopped making mistakes, or if I had merely stopped correcting them.

Comment to Jodi

Jodi - I can't comment on your blog for some reason, so here's the comment I left:
Aaaahahahaha, I love the joke. What about having the students write their own jokes? That may be more useful (or usefuler) for advanced students, but still pretty great.

That one reading for that one week

I think one of the worst exercises for teaching an l2 is having the students read a pre-written script to each other. I've always known that stronger connections are made if students are made to think in the l2 "on the fly" rather than reading a prescribed piece. As long as it was written in English characters, I could READ anything handed to me. I would probably learn nothing, but I could form the letters together to make noise that sounded like words. I would much rather be placed on the spot to form a conversational phrase than anything else, and I feel that would be much more efective at cementing knowledge than prescribing a script.

Class from Febtober ninth

I love words. I've always loved words. When I was young, I would often speak in spoonerisms, much to the annoyance of my poor mother and teachers. I used to read books on secret codes and how to speak in Pig Latin and other pseudo-languages because I loved words. Naturally, last week's presentation by Rachel and Officer Stephanie really reached out to me. I was partnered with Lillian, and between the two of us we learned some new words and puzzled out the meanings of others. I was inspired to go home after class and google "Top Ten weirdest words" and see what I could find. I found a list with the words they used with the class, along with some choice other words. Click here to see that list.

You're sleeping on the couch tonight!

Even though we are all in school to become teachers, this program teaches us much more than simply methods of education. There are always delicious little snippets of information which can be used in our daily lives. MCM, for examples, tells us that most days, we listen roughly twice as much as we speak, and almost five times as much as we write! Interestingly enough, this could be potent fodder for fights with that special someone. Take the following dialogue as an example:

Wife: I told you last week we were going to spend today finding out how many shoes I have that match my purses! You never listen! I hate you! You're sleeping on the couch!

Husband: Well, my beautiful wife, according to Marianne Celce-Murcia, we listen TWICE as much as we speak. Why, today alone I've engaged in bi-directional listening 17 times, and autodirectional listening this morning when I was asking myself what I wanted for breakfast! I listen to you five times more than I write to you! Doesn't that count for anything?

Wife: I'm sorry, you're so brilliant and handsome. I love you.

See what happened there? I totally defused a potentially hostile situation just by using information I acquired during my education.

There were a few questions I had during the reading though. Is reading considered unidirectional or autodirectional? Is autodirectional listening considered a constant? As in, am I CONSTANTLY engaged in autodirectional listening, and can I be engaged in bidirectional listening (or a conversation) and autodirectional listening simultaneously? Or do we switch from one to the other? I will have to watch for this.

Time + Distance

Time + Distance

LISTEN

by Leslie Monsour
The tea you pour is black and strong.
It doesn't taste like tea to me;
I must have been away too long.

It isn't jasmine, spice, oolong;
It tastes like an apology—
This tea you pour, so black and strong.

Where's that old fork with the bent prong?
What happened to the hemlock tree?
Have I really been gone that long?

I think I hear the saddest song;
It has no words, no tune, no key.
The tea you pour is black and strong.

You're careful to say nothing wrong,
You seem too eager to agree...
Yes, I've been travelling far and long,

And now it's clear, I don't belong.
I watch you sash your robe, as we
sit, sipping tea that's black and strong.
I went away too far, too long.

Don't "Hey Smidt" me!

What a discussion. Apparently I'm a strange breed, being a native speaker who corrects without mercy. Most of my friends know that when they're around me, they need to watch their grammar and colloquialisms, since I would rather be taken out behind Morris Hall and beaten senseless with a Brook Trout than be caught using bad grammar.

One other thing I enjoyed discussing was how teachers are addressed in different cultures. Esther made a comment that she doesn't mind being called "Dr Smidt" or "Esther" but being called "Smidt" really gets her blood a'boilin'. The biggest comment which stood out to me from class was her saying "You can call me Esther, but don't 'Hey Smidt ME!' "

I also felt moderately smart because I referenced a conversation that Bekir and I had early last semester about personal boundaries. In Turkey (his home country) it's considered VERY offensive to step back when one enters your personal space. I think I would die in such a context. I like having my space, and I can't bear for casual acquaintances or strangers to enter it.