I introduced my students to the concept of author's purpose last week. Their initial reaction was somewhat along the lines of, "You mean there's actually a reason people write this stuff?" I'm hoping that by the end of the year they'll grow to: "Yeah, leave it to a teacher to take a perfectly good writing selection and ruin it", or even, "Author's purpose, no sweat!" Since my students are all new to the country and their English proficiency level is very low, I decided to focus on only entertain, inform, and persuade for now. I've had a genre wall for a few years now. It consists of posters that name, define, and give examples of the various genres that students run across. As we read different books and short selections, we identify the genre, put the title on a small cut out (bulletin board shapes), and stick it to the appropriate poster. This wall has really helped my students become comfortable with identifying genres (not to mention the vocabulary--how many beginning level ESL students do you know that easily use the word genre?), and so I decided to do something similar with author's purpose. Since we are all familiar with the acronym PIE, I decided that a single graphic-organizer poster in the shape of a circle would be better than multiple posters. I enlisted some help from my favorite engineer to draw the circle and divide it into thirds (Did you know there is a formula for putting a triangle inside of a circle and that can then be used to divide the circle into thirds? Yeah, neither did I.) A little work with a marker and some letter stickers and voila, an author's purpose anchor chart is born! Of course the students needed to do some intensive practice to get things started, so we did a sort activity. I took short stories that I found on the internet (all free and yes, you can download them here) and created sort cards. After printing them on different colors of paper (easier to sort out and identify whose is whose when they get mixed up, dropped on the floor...), laminating, and cutting them, we were nearly ready to go. I then paired the students up, giving each pair a large white board (I made mine by purchasing white panel boards from Home Depot, asking them to cut them in quarters, and then duct taping the edges), and having them make and label three columns. The students then read the cards and placed them in the appropriate columns. Since they love anything that involves the "giant" white boards, they proclaimed the activity to be a lot of fun. Of course we also did some paper-and-pencil practice and, in typical fashion, they struggled the most with distinguishing persuasion from the other two, but I think they are starting to get the idea. I'm hoping the continued practice with the anchor chart will help to cement the concepts in the minds. It would be very nice if the next time I mention author's purpose they don't all say they've never heard of it! |
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Once again this week I found myself having to explain the many acronyms and terms we use in the ESL world. I thought it might be helpful if I gave a quick run-down of the practical definitions of some of the most common terms. If you are hoping for an in-depth, dictionary-worthy list, this is not for you; if you are just hoping to better understand what-in-the-world your ESL teacher is saying, this is what you need!
ESL= English as a Second Language, this is the name of the subject, this is what we call English language classes in English-speaking countries, students are living in these countries as students or immigrants and are often multi-lingual EFL= English as a Foreign Language, another name for the subject, this time for classes in non-English-speaking countries, students are generally trying to learn English for a variety of reasons (work, school, hoping to emigrate to or attend school in an English-speaking country, etc) and are usually mono-lingual ELL= English Language Learner, this is the name of the student ESOL= English for Speakers of Other Languages, often shortened to ESL, this term came about because for many people English is their 3rd, 4th, 5th....language, rather than their second TESOL= Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, this is the name of what I do and the official name of most degrees in the field L1= first language, this would be referring to a person's native language Low Intermediate= this is a student who is still is the beginning stages of language acquisition, but has the general structure and a good amount of basic vocabulary, there is a wide range of proficiency levels included in this term and it's generally a good idea to follow up such labels with more questions to get specific details on what the user considers LI to be High Intermediate= this is a student that is progressing well in their language, it is likely that they can use the language quite fluently in daily situations and accomplish everything they need to socially, they are still lacking finer grammar points as well as academic proficiency, it is also not unusual for a high intermediate student who speaks English at school but not home to be lacking in basic vocabulary for home items and activities; again, this is a broad label and needs some clarification based on who is using it Native-Like Proficiency= often shortened to just Proficient, this describes a learner who is able to use the language with great skill and in every situation, to the trained ear there will be indications that English is not their first language (unless he/she started learning English at a very young age) but the general public may not realize it and will have no trouble understanding and communicating with this person SIOP= Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, this is a method of instruction that has been researched and proven to work well with ELLs, but don't put it aside due to a lack of ESL students, it's also very effective with special education and intervention students IELTS= International English Language Testing System, a standardized test for non-native speakers of English who would like to study in an English-speaking country (more utilized in Britain) TOFEL= Test of English as a Foreign Language, a standardized test for non-native speakers of English who would like to study in an English-speaking country (more utilized in the USA) This list is far from exhaustive, but these are the terms you are most likely to encounter in the general education world. I hope it makes things a little bit clearer, but if you are still confused feel free to ask! ESL people are teachers and we are very experienced at explaining what words mean; it's kind of what we do. ;) |
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