This website is dedicated to all English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers.
PDF #180 – Linguistic knowledge: perspectives from phonology and from syntax
In their day-to-day research practice, phonologists and syntacticians are guided – implicitly or explicitly – by ontological and epistemological assumptions about their respective objects of study. These views of phonology and syntax are in turn inscribed within wider conceptions of the nature of language in general and of the proper conduct of linguistic research
Emojis Part of Language – What if emojis were part of language learning?
Learning a language after one’s early childhood home language is often referred to as second language learning (despite the fact people may in fact be learning their third or fourth languages). In Canada, an officially bilingual country, both English and French are widely taught in superdiverse urban centers.
Increasingly, a popular avenue for adult language learners is mobile language learning via free or cheap downloaded apps. A number of apps for mobile language learning claim top-market share: Duolingo claims to teach 200 million language learners worldwide; Busuu, 90 million learners; Babbel and Memrise are also major players.
I analyzed these four apps for their approach to and treatment of language and language learning. I found that they relied problematically on past models of what language is and what language does.
None of these four top-selling apps are capitalizing on how language is changing in online communication where features such as emojis or hashtags — conventions used in texting and tweeting — are fundamentally altering how people communicate.
Rather, these apps tended to teach by testing, drilling vocabulary and simple phrases. Thus, “I read a book” is presented for memorization and contrasted with “she reads a book,” with little if any grammatical explanation.
Grammar is the backbone of a language; it’s the structure that words fit into so they make sense for users of the language. Online grammars have diverged from standard “sentence” grammars, which typified printed texts, in myriad ways.
Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Ottawa Matters.
The word Emoji comes from the Japanese “e” (picture) and “moji” (character). The world’s first Emoji was created in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita (1), who took his inspiration from weather symbols. His vision of capturing emotion through digital messaging with small emoticons has turned into a modern-day, global language.
The increased use of Emojis through communication developers such as Apple, Android etc, have made the emoticons we see today part of an every-day conversation. The small digital image spans across different media stories, from the creation of “World Emoji Day” (held on the 17th July), the world’s first Emoji translator, the ‘crying with laughter’ emoticon being named Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2015 and finally the increasing use of emojis appearing in court cases!
Well, the answer is actually very simple, it is one of the most universal languages. A smiley face in the UK is the same in Spain, France and Germany. Obviously, when it comes to different culture there will be some language barriers, but a universal language in which emotions, most items and other aspects of conversation are multi-lingual is a strong starting point for global communication.
We have established that the Emoji is used in day-to-day conversations, through texting and social media, but how can it be applied to business? The predominant way in which Emojis are used by businesses is through marketing campaigns. Domino’s Pizza took advantage of the Pizza Emoji for a Twitter campaign. In it people all around the world could tweet the company with the Emoji to order a pizza. A marketing campaign that is understood across the world, with the use of socially relevant trends highlights how the Emoji is not only dominating human conversation, but how it breaks down language barriers for brands as well.
Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Language Insight.
After reading “Emojis Part of Language” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
PDF #179 – Clitics and Constituents in Phrase Structure Grammar
In this study, I address a set of problems on the status of Phrase Structure Grammar and its importance to the syntax-morphology and the syntax-phonology interfaces. The point of departure of this study was the realization that the results of the classical constituency tests which have been proposed to motivate constituent structure in generative grammar, as inventoried for instance in a classical syntax textbook, pose a number of problems with respect to the classical assumptions about the constituent structure of English, and even more so, of French. In this paper the author makes an inventory of such tests and discuss their results – at a very naive level of linguistic sophistication – concentrating especially on the question of the internal syntax of the NP. This review lead to a number of somewhat surprising results. It first shows that the constituency tests can be largely divided into two groups, syntactically oriented criteria and phonologically oriented criteria. The it shows that the syntactically oriented tests largely undetermined constituent structure choices below the phrasal level, to an extent which is not usually taken into account. Furthermore, it shows that the results of the phonologically oriented tests often contradict the choices classically made for sub phrasal constituency in syntax.
After reading “Phrase Structure Grammar” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
Lean on Me is a 1989 American biographical drama film starring Morgan Freeman. It tells the story of Joe Louis Clark, a troubled and unorthodox high school principal, whose school is at risk of being taken over by the state unless students improve their basic skills test scores. To make things worse, Clark’s school is a den of drug abuse, gang violence, and urban despair. It isn’t long before Joe’s unconventional methods come into conflict with city officials, teachers, and parents, who threaten to undo all his efforts.
If you want to know more about Javier, please visit his Facebook page.
After reading “Lean on me” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs.
Local Teachers Work Through Challenges
Last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered schools to remain closed until April 15. Most students have been learning from home for about two weeks at this point, and many virtual classrooms are still very much in the adjustment phase.
Ashley Kenyon recently marked her fourth year as an English as a Second Language teacher at Troy Middle School. She says every day is different as they figure out their new normal.
“It was such a whirlwind going into this that everyone is kind of figuring it out as we go – trial and error right now,” said Kenyon.
Once the school district made the decision to close, teachers had roughly two days to pull lesson plans, make paper copies, and make sure their students were equipped with everything necessary to learn digitally.
“It’s a whole different ball game. I’m used to seeing kids every day; I’m used to talking with people in person and collaborating that way. Delivering lessons in the classroom looks really different than delivering something online,” said Kenyon.
A normal day of online teaching for Kenyon starts at 8:15. She checks in on her co-teacher’s Google classrooms, sees which students are doing work and who has questions.
Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Spectrum Local News.
After reading “Local Teachers Work Through Challenges” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
PDF #178 – ESL Learners’ Writing Skills: Problems, Factors and Suggestions
Writing is an important skill for language production. However, it is considered a difficult skill, particularly in English as a second language (ESL) contexts where students face many challenges in writing. Therefore, the present study was conducted with an aim to investigate problems in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners’ writing and factors that hinder their writing skills.
It also aimed at obtaining suggestions on how to improve Pakistani ESL learners’ writing skills. For this purpose, focus groups of Pakistani English language teachers’ and undergraduate ESL learners were conducted.
groups of Pakistani English language teachers’ and undergraduate ESL learners were conducted. Writing samples were also collected from 30 ESL undergraduate learners to find the major problems in their writing. The interviews and essays were analyzed using thematic content analysis.
The findings reveal that the major problems in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners’ writing are insufficient linguistic proficiency (including command over
grammar, syntax and vocabulary), writing anxiety, lack of ideas, reliance on L1 and weak structure organization.
These challenges are influenced by various factors including untrained teachers, ineffective teaching methods and examination system, lack of reading and writing practice, large classrooms, low motivation and lack of ideas. The study also sheds light on the remedial measures such as increased reading, conscious and incidental vocabulary teaching, writing practice, trained teachers, reforms in the examination system, and writing competitions.
Writing is a significant skill in language production. Its significance increases when it comes to writing in English language which is extensively used for global mediation of knowledge (Mahboob, 2014; Mansoor, 2005; Marlina & Giri, 2014; Rahman, 2002). Hyland (2003) believes that performance in language development is subject to improvement in writing skills. A text of an effective ESL writer must be cohesive, logical, clearly structured, interesting and properly organized with a wide range of vocabulary and mastery of conventions in mechanics (Jacobs & L, 1981; Hall, 1988).
After reading “Local Teachers Work Through Challenges” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs.
ESL classes are improving the workplace
For years, Baltazar Ruiz avoided paying inside gas stations because he couldn’t tell the attendant which gas pump he was using.
He threw away most of the mail arriving at his home in Le Center, Minn.
Visiting a doctor? A bank? “That was really bad,” he said.
Born in Mexico, Ruiz legally immigrated 34 years ago so he could work and help support 10 siblings back home. But he never fully learned English and that impeded both his home life and his career.
Nearly five years ago, he signed up for a new program at the Cambria countertop plant where he worked in Le Sueur, Minn. The company was offering courses in English as a second language (ESL) as part of participants’ workdays, a leader in Minnesota in the training and only a handful of employers offering it in the state.
Cambria had an ambitious goal: make sure all of its 300 foreign-born workers at the 650-worker factory could read and write English at an eighth-grade level or above. The ESL program was born with one instructor. It now has four teaching 50 classes with a total of 123 workers in Le Sueur and Belle Plaine.
“It was right away, I learned a lot,” said Ruiz, who came into work on his days off to take extra classes.
Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Star Tribune.
After reading “ESL classes are improving the workplace” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
Episode #32: “Dino Buzzati Trio” – Here is the LINK to the podcast
This week we read “The Collapse of The Baliverna”, “Catastrophe”, and “The Epidemic”, all by Dino Buzzati. So begins the our eternal shamble towards better audio, primarily Steve’s inability to record local audio. This crusade includes myriad stops, not the least of which being this week’s Damon Money Appreciation Special: A retrospective on our favorite, satellite correspondent. Also in this episode:
-Lord Of The Rings; at length
-“I’m doing the Lavazza”
-Boots on The Ground Reporter, Damon Money
-RIP Mr. Peanut
-The Great Barrier of Grief
-Wealth Strata v. Self Respect and Decorum and Social Apocalypse
AND MORE.
“Podcast” is a portmanteau, a combination of “iPod” and “broadcast”. The term “podcasting” was first suggested by The Guardian columnist and BBC journalist Ben Hammersley, who invented it in early February 2004 while writing an article for The Guardian newspaper. The term was first used in the audioblogging community in September 2004, when Danny Gregoire introduced it in a message to the iPodder-dev mailing list, from where it was adopted by Adam Curry.[10] Despite the etymology, the content can be accessed using any computer or similar device that can play media files. Use of the term “podcast” predated Apple’s addition of formal support for podcasting to the iPod, or its iTunes software.
Other names for podcasting include “net cast”, intended as a vendor-neutral term without the loose reference to the Apple iPod. This name is used by shows from the TWiT.tv network. Some sources have also suggested the backronym “portable on demand” or “POD”, for similar reasons.
After reading “Episode #32: “Dino Buzzati Trio” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
PDF #177 – Deva Richards – EFL Teaching and Teacher Training in Nicaragua: A Master’s International Experience
English as a foreign language is a mandatory part of public education in
Nicaragua, Central America. Many Nicaraguan English teachers, however, lack the English and teaching skills to be able to do their job effectively. Furthermore, teacher training and professional development opportunities for English teachers in Nicaragua are often inaccessible and/or of low quality. As a Master’s International Program student, I studied Teaching English as a Second Language/Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TESL/TEFL) and served in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua, where I sought to improve EFL education. This M.A. Project tells the story of my Master’s International Program.
In Chapter 1, Introduction, I outline the project. In Chapter 2, Master’s
International Training and the Nicaraguan TEFL Context, I describe the TESL/TEFL training I received at Humboldt State University and in the Peace Corps, and the relevancy of that training to my later TEFL development work in Nicaragua. Chapter 3, Co-Teaching, discusses the two years I spent as a Peace Corps volunteer training Nicaraguan EFL teachers through co-planning and co-teaching high school English classes. Chapter 4, Secondary Projects, details the other TEFL development work I did in Nicaragua, including teaching English at the community and university levels and giving workshops to Nicaraguan EFL teachers. Lastly, in Chapter 5, Conclusion, I summarize my thoughts and feelings regarding my Master’s International Program.
You can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs and visit my channel by YouTube.
Season Two continues- We’re in fine form as we join our sponsors for the 31st- and by proxy spookiest- episode of all: our Passover 2020 Spooktacular! Now two-for-two on misogynistic/male angst literature! Very cool, and not at all a poor choice for our grand homecoming. Also in this week’s episode:
-Zoom Industries, and Our Third Eye
-“Steve’s here, pretend you aren’t enlightened!”
-Passover 2020 Spooktacular
-R L Stine’s “Cats In The Window” (Thanks, Scholastic and Pizza Hut)
-Confronting Misanthropy/Antisocialism in Society
AND MORE.
“Podcast” is a portmanteau, a combination of “iPod” and “broadcast”. The term “podcasting” was first suggested by The Guardian columnist and BBC journalist Ben Hammersley, who invented it in early February 2004 while writing an article for The Guardian newspaper. The term was first used in the audioblogging community in September 2004, when Danny Gregoire introduced it in a message to the iPodder-dev mailing list, from where it was adopted by Adam Curry.[10] Despite the etymology, the content can be accessed using any computer or similar device that can play media files. Use of the term “podcast” predated Apple’s addition of formal support for podcasting to the iPod, or its iTunes software.
Other names for podcasting include “net cast”, intended as a vendor-neutral term without the loose reference to the Apple iPod. This name is used by shows from the TWiT.tv network. Some sources have also suggested the backronym “portable on demand” or “POD”, for similar reasons.
After reading “Season Two continues” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
