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.
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!
Why is the Emoji becoming a global language?
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.
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.
After reading “Local Teachers Work Through Challenges” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
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.
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.
Learning an L2 in a troubled world – Interest in learning te reo Māori continues to grow. When, in 2018, Anton Matthews, co-owner of his family restaurant Fush, in Christchurch, offered free lessons, some 600 people showed up. And classes at polytechnics and other institutions are now regularly filled to capacity.
So perhaps it’s not straying too far from the essential subject of these columns, to consider why, in a world of uncertainty – a world that, indeed, seems increasingly beset by “wars and rumors of wars”, by disruption of climate patterns, loss of biodiversity and by new virus outbreaks (to name but a few concerns) – why, in such a world, should the learning of another language be reckoned of such value.
An obvious answer is that language is important in providing a way to better understand, or make sense of, the world in which we live – and, indeed, the importance of language may well be, if anything, greater in times of adversity or conflict.
Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Stuff.
After reading “Learning an L2 in a troubled world” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.
Too much emphasis on test scores – We live in testing times. We also live in a time of globalization, immigration and the internationalization of schools and universities around the world.
Our current obsession with school accountability and student learning outcomes has resulted in the increased use and abuse of test scores —in particular language test scores.
Despite the considerable consequences of language testing, what exactly do test scores indicate? What can we tell about someone and their achievement or professional capability from a single test score? What are the implications when bureaucrats and education officials misinterpret test scores when making policy decisions on immigration or attracting more international students?
In my role as director of the Assessment and Evaluation Group in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, I’ve been involved in research on how students are tested for language proficiency and the consequences of such testing.
It’s an important topic because evidence shows that an ability to speak a second language can determine so many things about an immigrant’s future, including economic success, social integration and their overall ability to contribute to society. My research looks at the prevalence and impact of language testing. A key issue is how test scores are used or misused by policy makers.
We should not be using a single test score to make decisions that can have a huge impact on someone’s life. However, governments and organizations tend to do this because it is cheaper and they believe it offers a more clean-cut case on immigration, university entrance and professional certification.
Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Phys.
After reading “Too much emphasis on test scores”, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. And visit my channel by YouTube.
Bilingual language program for babies – Knowledge of multiple languages has long been shown to have lifelong benefits, from enhancing communication skills to boosting professional opportunities to staving off the cognitive effects of aging.
A new study by UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, or I-LABS, part of researchers’ ongoing work with infant education centers in Spain, not only found that bilingual teaching led to sustained English-language comprehension and vocabulary-building, but also that the method could be scaled up to serve more, and more economically diverse, children.
“We knew our research-based method worked to boost second language skills rapidly in infants, without negatively affecting their first language, but the question was, how can we train people worldwide to use it? Here, we show that online training works,” said Naja Ferjan Ramírez, the lead author of both studies who is a new assistant professor of linguistics at the UW and a former I-LABS research scientist.
The study, published online Jan. 22 in Mind, Brain, and Education, extends previous research that examined whether and how infants can learn a second language in the context of an early education center, if they don’t get that exposure at home. That 2017 study involved 280 children at four infant education centers in Madrid, Spain, and showed the effects of an interactive, play-based English-language program, compared to the standard bilingual program already available in Madrid schools.
The new study used the same curriculum but trained tutors differently, using an online program called SparkLing developed by I-LABS researchers. By testing a remote form of teacher training and providing lessons to larger groups of children, researchers explored how to spread the benefits of bilingual education across a wider population.
After reading “Bilingual language program for babies”, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. And visit my channel by YouTube.
English Teaching Jobs Online – English teaching jobs online are the key to convenient, meaningful, and well-paid work! Teaching online is a great gig to fund your travels, be location independent, and immerse yourself in another culture. Many ESL teachers are getting out their laptops and applying for online English language teaching jobs as oppose to the traditional in-class teaching position. If you’ve got a knack for working with ESL learners and don’t quite want to commit to a contract abroad, teaching ESL online may be just for you.
How do you figure out where to find these jobs? What country of origin will your students be from? Do you prefer to teach adults or children? Is this going to be your full-time income or a side gig to fund happy hour? Before applying to every job out there, consider why you want this job and what kind of commitment you are willing to fulfill. Soon enough, you’ll be pulling out your laptop, lesson planning from home, and hanging out with students thousands of miles away!
Although you can teach students from all areas of the world, here are some of the best online English teaching jobs—particularly if you’re excited about working with populations from East Asia, where the online English teaching job market is popping. (P.S. If you still need that oft-required TEFL certificate, check out International TEFL Academy to get started!)
Companies
You’ll likely find that most online ESL companies are catered to teach English online to Chinese students. There are tons of companies out there with their pros and cons. Here are a few of the top Chinese online ESL companies to sift through.
Teach English one-on-one to kids in China through one of the top online ESL companies. Students range from ages 3-16 and go through a curriculum based on their ability. Not to keen on teaching pre-school ages? Great! You can decide what levels you want to teach and get certified for the age ranges you prefer. Classes are only 25 minutes and you have all the work planned for you. There’s minimal prep requirements and paychecks come into your bank bi-weekly.
Pros: No minimum hours required. Your schedule is based solely on when you want to work.
Cons: Fairly strict cancellation policy. From the time of hire it can take either days or months to get that first class. Only hires teachers from the United States and Canada.
Use your bachelor degree and provide high quality educations to children in China by becoming a ESL teacher with GoGo Kid! All classes are one on one, offering you the opportunity to really concentrate on your students individually. It is not guaranteed that you will be teaching the same students each time, but if you make a good impression and they like you, the students will request you for each class. Isn’t this a great way to get feedback on your job, or what?
Pros: Like VIPKID, there are no minimum required hours; they are more lenient about contract cancellations.
Cons: Newer company so not as many students. Only hires teachers from the United States and Canada.
Magic Ears is a great innovative platform for ESL teachers that want to teach English to Chinese children of ages 4-12 in a fun and effective way. With flexible hours, a 1-on-4 (teacher-student) class format to ensure that each student interacts with both the teacher and other students, and a wonderful closing song, teaching for Magic Ears is so enjoyable that it hardly feels like a real job. To top off the awesomeness of working for this company, the lessons schedule is already designed for you and class only takes 25 minutes. Too good to be true? Check it out yourself!
Pros:LOTS of Bonuses! Arrive to your class 3-10 minutes early and receive a bonus. Also, after 60+ hours of teaching, you receive another bonus!
Cons: The hiring process can be a bit long and overwhelming and the pay rate is determined by your credentials.
Teach English online to Chinese students with ages ranging from 4 to 12, in a fun and dynamic way, through animated and engaging stories with Qkids! Teach on an interactive gaming platform with original characters, and fun props to make a 30 minutes class the best class for your students. You can have up to 4 students per lesson, AND you don’t have to communicate with the parents, because the staff has it all covered. Give this new way of teaching English a shot!
Pros: Very fun and unique way of using games as a teaching English system to students.
Cons: Currently the company only hires teachers from U.S and Canada and the schedule is set weekly.
SayABC is one of the most popular platform for online English teaching to children all over China. With clases lasting 40 minutes, you can help Chinese children with ages between 5-12 year old to boost their confidence in their English speaking skills. The company will provide you with the needed tools such as notes, reward cards, feedback, and they will even provide support with your lessons. All you gotta bring is fast internet connection and audio/video capabilities.
Pros: SayABS has the best online rates AND you can can make your schedule however fits best for you and your lifestyle.
Cons: The company’s standards are quite high, requiring a degree, TEFL or some form of teaching certification.
Teach English online to Korean students from the comfort of your own home with PAGODA, a leading company in the industry for over 30 years. You will not be instructing your normal teenage students, but adults from large corporations or government employees that want to perfect their business English skills. You can work as a full time teacher, Monday through Friday, but as a new teacher you’ll start with a split shift, where you teach in the morning until 11 am and then come back in the evening around 6 pm. In between is up to you how you spend your time, but the more you teach, the more you get paid.
Pros: You can teach full time or part-time, and you can even do it in the weekends if you want the extra cash.
Cons: To qualify for the position, you have to be an English native speaker with a neutral accent and pass an oral exam.
GMNY (Global Mate New York) is a Global Educational Call Center in the US that gives ESL teachers the opportunity to teach English online to Korean students from home. Most classes you will be teaching will be about 20 minutes long, and in time your number of classes may increase. Also, depending on the quality of your work, you can get different bonuses and increase your income. Working with GMNY you will mostly be teaching South Korean professionals or students ages 19-50.
Pros: Before you start teaching, you will receive free training, practice with a mock class, and get a renewable 6 months contract. This gives you enough time to decide if you want to continue working with them or consider other possibilities.
Cons: At the moment the company only hires native English speaker from U.S., Canada, Australia, U.K., New Zealand etc. and they must reside in the U.S.
If you’re passionate about teaching and are a native English speaker, or speak English at a native level with an American accent, you can start teaching English online to Korean students today. Eine Teacher offers flexible class schedules to suit both the teachers and the students, but you will most likely be teaching early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The classes have a one-on-one format and last around 25 minutes and your students will be at an age anywhere from 5-60 years old. Some of the students are beginners, some are at an intermediate level and very few are advance English learners. Also, there is no limit as to how many hours you can teach per month, so the more, the better for your pocket.
Pros: No matter what level you are teaching at, the company provides you with the teaching lesson plan and required materials.
Cons: The pay is pretty low, starting at $1.4 per 25 minutes, with a chance of salary increase after 7 months of working for the company. This of course depends of your performance, popularity and good reputation with your students.
Average pay per hour: $5
English Teaching Jobs Online Rules
Feeling overwhelmed by all of the options? Some companies allow you to work for multiple agencies if you can balance your schedule. In this case, you may be able to pick and choose which one is best for you to continue with after being hired on. So go and apply for those jobs and get the cash rolling in from the comfort of your own personalized classroom.
Teaching online English definitely comes with its advantages, but it also comes with great personal responsibility, dedication and self management. If you feel like you do not meet these requirements, then you might want to rethink your decision. However, we’re here to tell you that there’s nothing better out there than being able to do what you love, from your sofa and on your own time. At least give it a try!
Speak English? Love travel? Own a laptop? If you can say “check, check, and check” then we’ve got the opportunity for you—remote, home-based online teaching jobs! If you’re interested in teaching abroad but are worried about having to commit to one location, we have good news: Teaching is one of the best paid online jobs from home, as well as among the fastest growing careers for remote workers. There’s a particular need for online TEFL teachers, as there’s a huge demand for English language learning in Asia, especially in China. You’ll be able to earn an income while building your experience interacting with international students and maintaining the flexibility of an online job.
After reading “English Teaching Jobs Online”, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. You can also visit my channel on YouTube.
Immersion schools students L2 When the morning school bell rang, students in the halls of the International School of Indiana’s lower school building hurried into their respective classrooms.
The elementary classrooms bustled with the sound of students chatting with one another as they get settled in for the day.
Unlike other classrooms across the state, these kids aren’t speaking English.
In one kindergarten class of about 12 students, Claudia Rodriguez leads the kids in counting. Rodriguez is from Monterrey, Mexico, and has worked as the ISI kindergarten Spanish teacher since 2015.
Another class of kindergarteners listened intently to their teacher, Wenjie Lyu — who is originally from Liaoning Province in China — as she speaks to them in Mandarin. And her students responded in the same language.
This atmosphere is a daily occurrence at ISI.
Language immersion schools positively affect intellectual growth and lifelong communication skills — particularly if a child is enrolled from a young age, according to research conducted at institutions such as the University of Minnesota and the University of Maryland. These schools also provide children with the asset of fluency in multiple languages once they enter the job market.
After reading “6 Strategies for Teaching English “, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. And visit my channel by YouTube.
The best English-language remakes – As Downhill – the underwhelming US remake of Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure – hits the cinemas, we present the finest reimagining of foreign-language films.
Clint Eastwood has never been hip, exactly, but there was a time when he exuded a sort of counter-culture credibility – and it’s largely down to this brilliant film from Sergio Leone, which introduced the idea of the “spaghetti western” to the world. As has been exhaustively documented, Dollars is in fact a key piece in a jigsaw of east-west cultural exchange: Leone had seen and was inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s 1961 swordsman picture Yojimbo, which itself had taken key ideas from Dashiell Hammett (notably The Glass Key and Red Harvest). Leone never acknowledged the films’ similarities, and later settled out of court with Kurosawa. But Fistful’s legacy lives on: not only in its sequels, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but also in spaghetti’s enduring influence via obsessives of the Tarantino persuasion.
After reading “The best English-language remakes”, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. And visit my channel by YouTube.
What is meant by research, and how do we identify Second Language Research Methodology good research questions?
These are questions that are not always easy to answer, but we anticipate that by the end of this book you will be in a better position to think about them. This book is intended to be practical in nature, aimed at those who are involved in second language studies and second/foreign language teaching. We recognize that many people are often put off by the word research, including teachers who have been teaching for quite some time but are not involved in research, and those who are just beginning in the field. We hope to demystify the process.
The American Heritage College Dictionary defined research as “scholarly or scientific investigation or inquiry” or as a verb “to study (something) thoroughly” (2000). Thus, in its most basic and simplest form, research is a way of finding out answers to questions.
A Good Book
We begin by reminding the reader that we are all involved in research every day. For example, consider what is probably part of many of our lives—being stuck in a traffic jam. As we find ourselves not moving on a freeway, we ask why this has happened and come up with a hypothesis (e.g., because there is an accident ahead, or because it is 5:00 P.M. on a Friday afternoon).
We then seek verification of our hypothesis by waiting patiently (or impatiently) until the traffic starts moving again. If we see an accident or the flashing lights of an emergency vehicle, we can confirm or at least strengthen our hypothesis. In the absence of an accident, we might conclude that it must be typical rush hour traffic. In other words, every day we ask questions, come up with hypotheses, and seek confirmation of those hypotheses.
After reading “Second Language Research Methodology”, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. You can also visit my channel on YouTube.
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!
