20130306 Model of the Teaching Role.

Model of the Teaching Role

The role of a teacher in today's world

This teaching model is based on an idea that teaching can be compared to an engineering process.  The engineering of malleable little minds is, at its simplest level, a matter of transferring information.  The OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) standard for information exchange in computer networks is used here as a scaffold to support the ideas of the teaching model.

All manufacturing processes use resources create a product.  The fundamental process has an input material, a process in which some kind of change takes place, and an output of a finished product.  The teacher in the classroom adds value and guides the process to completion.  If all goes according to plan, the desired result is a happy, well balanced, informed, educated, and enlightened citizen of the world.

Layer One - Physical facilities.  The teacher performs the functions of the layer-one delivery system by providing the physical pathway for the transfer of information.

Layer Two – Data Link.  Each student is allocated a reference that is unique, identifiable and locatable.  Students are localised and assigned a physical space in which the delivery and processing occurs. 

Layer Three – Information transfer protocols are established.  The teacher must use recognisable common languages and symbols.  The physical layer for two-way communication is now established including a common channel for error checking and corrections. 

Layer Four – Information transport is established with the class.  Greet the class as a group.  Establish order using proactive classroom management techniques. 

Layer Five - Session information is established with each student.  Direct communication is established with frequent and regular scanning of the classroom to check for signs of communication problems and make corrections. 

Layer Six – The teacher presents the information to the class as a broadcast message using an error-correction protocol to establish a link with every student.  The teacher checks the input quality by using frequent and relevant questions delivered and presented in a manner that gives students time to process and store the information.

Layer Seven – The application of the information is assessed.  The teacher can decide the method of determining the quality of the retention of the information by several methods.  It is common for students to sit an exam at the end of the semester or a quiz at the end of the lesson.

References:

( Leo Alting, Geoffrey Boothroyd 1994 ) -  Manufacturing engineering processes

OSI Network Layers -  http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/internetworking/technology/handbook/OSI-Protocols.html

http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_ics_browse.htm?ICS1=35&ICS2=100

20120922 Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Bridge TEFL Module 3.

20120922  Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

TEFL Bridge.  The TEFL course which offers accredited training by peer-review.

“The BridgeTEFL TEFL & CELTA certifications are recognized both in the United States and in many countries." says certified TEFL Online & CELTA Graduate Don Guadagni.  So the course is perfect for teaching in the USA and many other non-specific and un-named countries.  If you have no idea where you want to go, then BridgeTEFL can get you there.

Bridge TEFL upholds the standards of the industry by a peer review by the The Accrediting Council on Continuing Education, ACCET, who expresses its sincere appreciation to all volunteers who serve as evaluators.  ACCET was founded in 1974 for the purpose of improving continuing education and training and has been officially recognized by the U.S. Department of Education since 1978 as a "reliable authority" as to the quality of education and training provided by the institutions we accredit.  Being recognized by the Department of Education is apparently just as good as actually being a part of the Department of Education.

Here is an example of the standard of work that can be expected and accepted according to the rigorous marking scheme of the peer-reviewed and accredited BridgeTEFL.  It is unacceptable to use first-person when writing at the tertiary level at most respectable universities but at BridgeTEFL, they take a more modern and relaxed approach than an established and accredited university by allowing the use of first-person as the subject.  After, all this course is about you, the teacher.  The curriculum advisers were told to prepare teachers work in far-away exotic countries and the accountants were given the same instructions regarding your course fee.

Module 3. 

1. Take a look at the list of items below. Decide which system these relate to: lexis, phonology, grammar or function.

I went to London; I´ve been to London.

Grammar

Lend me $5. Could you possibly lend me $5?

Function

library; bookstore

Lexis

foot; foots

Grammar

I'd rather not; No way!

Function

hit; heat

Phonology

photograph; photographer

Lexis

should; must

Lexis

2. Imagine that you work in a language school. You have just received a new student from Korea who wants to study English prior to entering a university in the U.S. The student takes the placement test, which is all grammar and vocabulary and mostly multiple choice. She scores quite high; however, she does not speak very well and has difficulty understanding even the

simplest spoken language. What balance of the four skills and the four systems would you recommend for her study program? For example, would you focus on reading and writing or utilize her strengths in grammar to introduce topics, but make the exercises mostly listening and speaking? Would you focus on function, pronunciation, productive skills because the test was multiple choice and not a fair assessment of her success in a university with writing papers and listening to lectures?Explain what an appropriate balance would be. How did you reach that recommendation?

I would a create a study program where the student listens to recordings and then answers comprehension questions.  All instructions would be given in writing to take advantage of her reading skills. 

There would be no transcript of the recording – the student must listen to the recording.  I would choose a skill level that accounts for student’s difficulty in understanding the spoken language.  (Can we assume that there are no other factors such as a hearing impairment?) The test answers would start as multiple choice answers and other open answer questions that require a short written response progressing into spoken presentation answers as the student develops.

I would focus on function because the skills will be needed to participate in the course and also when she starts university.  The recordings would be examples of asking questions in a classroom and how to elicit a response from a teacher.  Within the teaching of function there would be built-in components of grammar, phonics and lexis that would develop her productive skills.

As her receptive skills improve, the focus would be shifted from developing her listening skills to a fuller, more rounded course where all the receptive and productive skills are further developed in harmony with each other – so that the student is equal in her abilities in each component of the language .

I believe an appropriate balance of receptive versus productive skills would be 80% receptive in the form of listening and 20% productive in the form of written and spoken answers.

My recommendation is based on information in the text – it states that the student has passed a multiple choice question test on vocabulary and grammar.  It seems that the student has developed the reading and writing components of the language well but has not developed the listen and speaking components equally.  The text also states that the student  ”does not speak very well and has difficulty understanding even the simplest spoken language”  and as a result the recommended course of action would be to develop her listening and speaking skills.

Teachers comments

Your choice to utilize reading as a segue to promote an intensive listening and speaking focus shows an astute grasp of integrating and balancing the skills based on individual student needs.    Also, your ability to match the items listed in the question with the appropriate language system shows an excellent grasp of the systems concept.

The History and Spelling of English

Describe how your knowledge of the history of the English language will help you explain things to your students in an EFL class. Give specific examples.

As a Native English Teacher working in China I have had times when I have had to explain that the English language is made up from other languages.  The explanation is usually centered around the terrifying number of wars that Europeans were so good at starting but really needed some help in learning how to stop.  Knowing that a good portion of English is from Latin helps to explain the strange names the English give to appliances as compared to the stark descriptions given to mechanical devices in China.  As an example, in English we have the word television derived from the Latin words “far” and “see” which basically describes the machine as the thing that lets you see what is far away.  The Chinese word for television is Din Shi – or “electrical job” or the thing that uses electricity and to make one is a big job. 

The Chinese students have an English text where a character in the book goes to France.  While there, the character meets a French man named Monsieur Bas – I had to explain to the Chinese students that this is not an English title or name and that most of the letters in French are not pronounced.  The correct pronunciation is “Monsieur Bah”.  I think that it is unfair to introduce a difficult French name to young children that are already trying to learn English.

What differences in student approach to English do you anticipate when working with students who speak a Latin or Germanic language versus students who speak Japanese, Chinese or Arabic?

As a Native English Teacher working in China I have had the experience of teaching the words “athletic” to Chinese children only to have the lesson taken up with explaining how to make the “th” sound.  The problem is compounded when teaching this to a young child who may not have the fine motor skills to form the correct sounds. 

Describe strategies you will use in class to help you with your own spelling, if it´s a problem, like bringing a dictionary to class or writing down troublesome vocabulary in your lesson plan.

I overcome spelling problems by having a dictionary and noting troublesome words in the lesson plan – also as discussed  – eliciting a response from the students can be helpful.

Teachers comments

Your answer shows that you understand the importance of having a working knowledge of the history of English, an awareness of your students´ linguistic backgrounds, and a strategy for dealing with your own spelling weaknesses.  However, more specific examples of how these issues might play out in the classroom would strengthen your response.  Also, when discussing the differences between students of differing linguistic backgrounds, don´t forget that Arabic and Asian students also have a completely different alphabet.

Overall mark

60/70

References:

http://www.bridgetefl.com/index.php

http://www.accet.org/accreditation

http://www.bridgetefl.com/accet-accrediting.php

1011212030 My Interview Went Well.

Meanwhile... .

And so my contract as a Native English teacher with the wonderful Chinese Catholic girls' school in Wong Tai Sin ended. My last day was ordinary, anti-climactic and sobering. The lesson ended and within a few minutes another teacher came to the classroom. She asked if I had finished because she needed the classroom for a violin lesson. That simple administrate gesture put my life in perspective.

I applied to work at another primary school and my interview went well. The few subjects that I passed in my Bachelor of Education were useful in the interview as I talked to the English teachers about the psychology of learning and the importance of formative assessments which lead to an in-depth discussion about the indicators of functional cognitive ability. I told them I was studying towards my Bachelor of Education but I am not a teacher and that is why I am not registered as a such with the relevant authorities in Hong Kong. There was a long pause. "We will discuss this with the principal and inform you of our decision."

The next day there was a long silence.

Then, late on Friday night, the agency called to tell me that the school would like me to start on Monday and could I please attend a planning meeting at eight o'clock in the morning. I thanked them and assured them "I will be there" with a postscript on how utterly amazed I was at the offer.

The school is about 50km away from where I live. In Hong Kong that means it is also two hours away and requires the crossing of three tunnels, two bridges and a partridge in a pear tree. On Saturday morning, early Saturday morning after dragging my half-unconscious carcass almost to China, I found myself at the planning meeting with the head of the English curriculum and the other English teachers. We talked about the lessons for the next few weeks and I committed to attending the parents and teachers night, the sports day and their upcoming 10th anniversary concert.

The principal talked to me afterwards and asked me at what university did I get my education degree.
It is at this point when I digress to talk about a famous Australian author, Miles Franklin, who wrote a book about her brilliant career. The book is aptly titled My Brilliant Career. She also wrote another less-known sequel called My Career Goes Bung. That is how I would aptly describe what happened next.

The principal casually asked for a copy of my Hong Kong ID card, my work visa and a copy of my first degree. I told the principal that I do not have an education degree or a first degree; and it could be argued, with a high probability of success, that I do not even have an education. "I cannot talk to you anymore, I will contact the agency. Good day." said the principal amid a flurry of apologies but he then took the time to explain to me that he had asked the agency for an English teacher, one who has actually completed a degree, preferably in the English language, about the English language and with the purpose and intent of actually teaching English as a career. Not a telephone technician. The English teacher looked at me silently for a few seconds and then asked me to return her books.

A few minutes later, I was riding my scooter along the long Yuen Long freeway back to Hong Kong. In my mind was the haunting image from a youtube movie showing a scooter accident that occurred on the same stretch of road a few days earlier. The scooter accident represents how quickly life can change.

As of Sunday night, I have not heard from anyone about where to be on Monday morning, so I sent an email to prompt the agency to contact me. It went like this:

The situation:
I have not heard from the agency
I have not heard from the school
I have not signed a contract
I feel like a fool

I cannot start on Monday
I am not welcome there
If I sit and do nothing
It will not be fair

Everyone was so helpful
It happened so quick
"Please show me your papers"
I can't do such a trick

One minute I worked there
The next I was gone
They want a real teacher
But I just fix phones.

So now in the evening
I plan my next day
Do I go in the morning?
What do you say?

( I really did not mean it to turn into rhyming couplets but I was thinking about a play called the Misanthrope.)

References:
Miles Franklin. My Brilliant Career (1901)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Brilliant_Career

Misanthrope. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, Known as Molière (1622-1673)
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides2/Misanthrope.html

Scooter Accident in Hong Kong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZenB1F6cdw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

0812182200 Teaching English as a Foreign Language

I have started an online course in TEFL - Teaching English as a Foreign Language and I am about half-way through. I had to write an assignment for lesson seven about what I learned regarding grammar.


What is Grammar? & Language Awareness

Describe your experience in school learning grammar.
My experience learning grammar at school is non-existent. I do not remember a single lesson although I am sure the public school system in Australia in the nineteen seventies was at least up to world standards. I can vaguely remember being corrected by my grumpy grandmother, now deceased, whose grammar was such that she spoke as if she had learned the language from an illiterate Spanish pirate.
One of the many motivators for learning grammar as an adult was when I found it odd that managers at work seemed to use personal pronouns the wrong way. They all referred to themselves as “myself”. One day, after a particularly nasty corporate restructure, a new manager walked in and grandly stated “You have been transferred to myself”. I looked at him in bewilderment. I had only been speaking English for forty odd years at the time and so I wondered if it was just me that had the grammar rules all wrong. Maybe there really was a rule that allowed authority figures to abuse personal pronouns in the same manner that the Queen of England can refer to herself as “We”. There is no such rule, and if a rule ever becomes acceptable then Baden Powell, if he was still alive, would turn in his grave.
How much preparation will you need to be ready to teach in the ESL/EFL classroom? Or, do you prefer to ´learn as you go´?
I will need, and I will do a great deal of preparation for the classroom. It can either be hard now, at the beginning of my new career or even harder later, and probably more embarrassing when questioned by a student. I believe that preparation is also a major component of confidence. The December school holidays will be a good opportunity to catch up on some of the grammar rules and get ahead in the lesson plans. It has already been said by a greater man than I, “Be prepared”.
How could knowledge of the basic rules of grammar work to your advantage?
Some of the great advantages of knowing the grammar rules will be confidence and professionalism. Part of my career plan is to be a TEFL teacher in China – having a professional approach to the role must include a working knowledge of the rules. This approach may result in favourable references and lead to a lucrative contract.
A working knowledge of the grammar rules is the shifting-spanner in the tool box of a TEFL teacher. It should be a goal of the TEFL teacher to become a general authority on the English language at the workplace. Someone is paying a TEFL teacher to solve any and all English language problems at a school or an international business. It would be like hiring a repairman and have him scratch his head and walk away saying that he can’t fix it. I, for one, would not call that company again.

You saw many examples of ´metalanguage´, or, language about language, (noun, verb, clause, etc.) in the test. How important will this be to you as a teacher?
Metalanguage will be important to me as a teacher because it enables conversation among peers. It enables other professionals to discuss specific terms within their professions. It will be used in the classroom to describe the rules, phrases and conventions used in the English language that result in specific actions being carried out. A clear, unambiguous and concise description of the grammar rules can be conveyed to the students who in turn will be able to ask the right questions using the correct terms.
Were there any surprises that you encountered in this module? Describe them and what they will mean to your future as a teacher.
This module had a few surprises. It has taken me four days of constant pondering to accept that the statement “I have gone” is really present perfect tense. My mind was perplexed – I was riding my Vespa along a winding mountain road on the south side of Hong Kong Island oblivious to the majesty and splendour of the scenery because of this grammar rule. I was thinking “Surely it must be past tense?” as I instinctively rounded a sweeping left corner without paying much attention to the speed at which I was travelling. How can being gone be present? - I pondered as I deftly flipped the Vespa between a bus and a tip-truck while zipping through a busy round-about. Eventually it became apparent, the rules state clearly that the sentence is quite definitely a present condition of being gone. Being gone is also a condition that I nearly found myself in as I realised that riding a motorscooter around Hong Kong requires constant attention.