final idiom

NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

That effective collaboration ben- efits students (and teachers alike) is affirmed by the well-deserved attention it has received most recently in the professional literature (see, for example, DelliCarpini, 2008, 2009; Honigsfeld & Dove, 2010; NACTAF, 2009; NEA, 2009; Pawan & Ortloff, 2011) and in the TESOL educational community (e.g., themes of 2011 New York State and Kentucky TESOL conferences). Acknowledging the im-portance of collaborative exchanges among teachers is not a completely novel idea, though. Close to three de- cades ago, Judith Warren Little (1982) examined the differences between more and less effective schools and found that the more effective ones had a greater degree of collegiality. She noted four unique characteristics of collegiality (or collaboration) in successful schools, where teachers participate in the following activities:• Teachers engage in frequent, continuous, and increasingly con-crete and precise talk about teaching practice.• Teachers are frequently observed and provided with useful critiques of their teaching.• Teachers plan, design, evalu-ate, and prepare teaching materials together.• Teachers teach each other the practice of teaching (pp. 331– 332).

Consider what Warren Little’s (1982) frequently quoted four key ideas could mean for ELLs in today’s schools. What if we translated her seminal findings into a contempo- rary framework of four Cs, in which “collaborative” serves as a defining adjective, followed by a key activity or desired teacher behavior neces-sary for improved student learning?• CollaborativeConversations:Through enhanced communication, all teachers have the opportunity to develop ownership and shared

Collaborative Conversationsby Andrea Honigsfeld

New

Yor

k St

ate

Teac

hers

of E

nglis

h to

Spe

aker

s of

Oth

er L

angu

ages

responsibility for ELLs’ learning.• CollaborativeCoaching:Through an encouraging school climate and supportive framework, teachers offer and receive feedback on their teaching practices.• Collaborative Curriculum De- velopment: Through curriculum mapping and alignment and collabo-rative materials development, teach-ers match both their long- term and day-to-day instructional goals and activities.(continued on page 20)

http

://w

ww

.nys

teso

l.org

Conversations

IDIO

M

ContentsCollaborative Converstions......................1 Conversations in Support.........................3 Acting...................................................................4 Resources for the Common Core.....6 Talking is learning.........................................10 Small Talk..........................................................14 Conversation Table.....................................24

Regular Features/ Special Announcements

Promising Practices.......................................8 Book Review..................................................12 SIGs and Regions.........................................17 Members Only Website .........................18 Editorial Notes..............................................22 Upcoming Idiom Themes........................22 Calendar and Announcement..............22 NEW Membership Form.......................23 • • • • •

NYS TESOLAnnual Conference Oct. 28-29

Marriott Hotel Melville www.nystesol.org/annualconf/

JohannaTorres_idiom_template.indt 1 6/25/12 4:34 PM

NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

22 Dear Colleagues,

I hope you have been enjoying a happy, healthy and restorative summer. I would like to update you on some changes and challenges facing educators.

On July 13, I attended the Bilingual/ESL COP (Committee of Practitioners) meeting at Teachers College, Columbia University. The most major changes include the New Evaluation Law for K-12 teachers and principals: 1. Annual evaluations for all teachers and principals 2. Clear, rigorous expectations for instructional excellence, prioritizing student learning 3. Multiple measures of performance 4. Multiple ratings: Four performance levels to describe differ ences in teacher effectiveness 5. The new system should encourage regular, constructive feedback and ongoing development 6. Signifi cance: results are a major factor in employment decisions. You can view all documents discussed at the COP Meeting at the following link: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/biling/bilinged/BilingualESLCOP.html. For more information about the Common Core Standards, please consult the website at: http://www.corestandards.org/ and see the article in this issue. Though it was not considered at this meeting, the 14 Bilingual/ESL Techni-cal Assistance Centers (BETACs) across New York State closed permanently on June 30, 2011. This puts both our schools and our LEP/ELL populations at risk of not having the appropriate resources to meet their educational and programmatic needs over the next fi ve years. Our new Commissioner of Education, Dr. John B. King, Jr., may not be famil-iar with the importance of the resources offered by the BETACs. You may e-mail him directly at: [email protected]. In addition, you may email the NYS Board of Regents on this issue at: RegentsOffi [email protected]. At the Melville Marriott October 28-29th, I will be passing the gavel to our incoming President, Rebekah Johnson. I would like to thank the many wonder-ful members of my Executive Board and the many SIG and Region Leaders for their service to the organization. Special thanks to Cornelia Randolph, a constant support and inspiration, and Fran Olmos, for her guidance. You will be receiving ballots for the Executive Board slate in the mail shortly. Thanks to our Nominating Committee, led by Cornelia Randolph and Terri Brady-Mendez, for their time and efforts. Members, please do not forget to vote for your new leadership in our organization by returning your ballots. As always, please continue to keep in touch with issues, concerns, and ideas on how our organization can best serve you. Best wishes for a great school year to all.

Peace and blessings to you, Nanette Dougherty, President, NYS TESOL P.S. We’re so very excited to be launching our new Members Only website please read more about it in this issue and log in soon to check it out. Please contact us with ideas!

New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

Officers and Executive Board 2010-2011

President, Nanette Dougherty NYC Public Schools

First Vice President, Rebekah Johnson LAGCC, CUNY

Second Vice President, Christy Baralis South Huntington School District Second Vice President Elect, Olivia Limbu Pace University

Past President/TESOL Liaison, Constance Dziombak Mount Vernon City Schools

SIG Coordinator, Laura Van Tassell South Huntington School District

SIG Assistant Coordinator, Jennifer Scully Consultant

Regions Coordinator, Tina Villalobos Hicksville Public Schools

Assistant Regions Coordinator, Lynn El-lingwood Brighton Central School District

Membership & Marketing Chair, Patricia Juza Baruch College, CUNY

Assistant Membership Chair, Drew Fagan Teachers College, Columbia University Curriculum and Standards Chair, Maria Dove Molloy College

Assistant Curriculum and Standards Chair Position Open Professional Concerns Chair Porfi rio Rodriguez, East Ramapo CSD

Professional Concerns Assistant Chair Position Open

Publications/Technology Chair, Fran Olmos Yonkers Public Schools

Idiom Editor, Cara Tuzzolino Werben Nassau Community College

Dialogue Editor, Sue Peterson St. John’s University Webmaster, David Hirsch New York City Business Manager/Treasurer L. Jeanie Faulkner, Cornell University

Certified Public Accountant Jim Stotz

From the President’s Deskz by Nanette Dougherty, NYS TESOL President

NYS TESOL Executive Board Meetings and General Information

Members are welcome to attend Board meetings. For information, contact: NYS TESOL Box 185 Teachers College, Columbia University 525 W. 120th Street New York, NY 10027 Tel./Fax: (212) 678-3074 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.nystesol.org


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

3Adolescent ELLs are second language learners who are still devel- oping their profi ciency in academic English. Moreover, they are learning English at the same time they are studying core content areas through English. Thus, English language learners must perform double the work of native English speakers in the country’s middle and high schools. At the same time, they are being held to the same accountability standards as their native English-speaking peers (Short & Fitzsimmons, 2007, p. 1).

Conversations with ELLs and col-leagues are viable ways for ESL teach-ers to help their students navigate academic challenges. My short time at Jamaica High School has been filled with conversations that have driven my instruction to best support the ELLs in my charge.

Curriculum Experiments Based on Conversations with

ELLs At Jamaica High School, an ESL

support class is offered zero period, 7:22 to 8:06 a.m., to provide interme-diate ELLs with additional targeted in-terventions. September 2011 will be the third year I am teaching zero pe-riod, and each year is an ongoing cur-riculum development action research experiment. I conduct the course as a combined resource room and adviso-ry class model. Based on daily conver-sations with my students about their challenges, I provide homework help; teach problematic topics in mathemat-ics, science, and social studies; and as-sess and teach diverse skills necessary for academic success. The first year of the experiment, my curriculum includ-ed mathematics symbols and word problems; the living environment top-ics of scientific method, evolution, and organ systems; social studies topics of feudalism, estates, and analysis of po-

litical cartoons; English language arts topics of idioms, formal versus in-formal language, and dictionary/glos-sary skills; and academic readiness in test-taking strategies, study skills, time management, notebook organization, public speaking skills, and computer skills. I also taught graph skills across the disciplines. This class was one of a select few JamaicaHigh School English and ESL classes that benefited from TeenBiz3000 (Empower3000), a Web-based individualized reading program by Achieve3000.

Conversations with ELLs form part of the data collection that drives my curriculum changes. Several fi rst-year students (participants in Experi-ment I) reported the lessons and ac-tivities helped them pass content-area finals and New York State Regents exami-nations. When asked how the support class could be improved for the following year, ELLs suggested that I allot more time to science, contin-ue teaching math and social studies, and retain computer instruction on TeenBiz3000. One student, who was particularly resistant to my teaching anything but ESL all year, later admit-ted he benefi tted from content-area instruction by his ESL teacher. All stu-dents expressed a deep appreciation for the bilingual content area glossaries I provided.

In the second year (Experiment II), I spent less time on dictionary/glos-sary skills; did not teach idioms; and, upon careful review of recent living environment Regents exams, added an ecosystem unit, a lesson on pH, and group activities on bar and line graphs. I replaced the formal versus informal English lesson with daily academic English and everyday English expla-nations and definitions. Students as-sessed their multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983; Gardner, 1993, 2996; McKenzie, 1999), and learning styles

(Dunn & Dunn, 1993; Dunn & Griggs, 2003, 2004, 2007; Missere & Dunn, 2005). I added native-language trans- lations of key content vocabulary to my student notebook grading rubric. Groups researched continents and explorers and presented their Pow- erPoint slide shows to ELLs in other classes. TeenBiz3000 was replaced by Study Island, Web-based instruction built on New York State standards, that provided all Jamaica High School students practice for English, mathematics, science, and social studies Regents exams; and for national Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) and Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Based on requests from Experiment I participants for Internet resources for speaking practice, I created lists of Web sites and links with podcasts and speaking exercises.

As I gear up for Experiment III in the 2011-2012 school year, I plan to devote more time to dictionary skills, such as alphabetizing, and content area textbook structure, with special attention to textbook glossaries and indices; the participants in Experiment II were lacking in dictionary/textbook research skills and did not make op-timum use of these resources. I pro-vided a list of Web sites and links for Regents practice and bilingual glossa-ries, and will again provide copies of bilingual glossaries in Experiment III. I have decided to step up test-taking strategies and content writing prac-tice in the zero period support class beginning in September.

Conversations with Families Individual writing conferences of-

ten involve reinforcing the student’s strengths and discussing specifi car-reas in need of improvement (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001). I had conversations with each student about his/her mul-tiple intelligences and learning style profi les generated from the Dunn (continued on page 26)

Conversations in Support of High School ELLs

by Victoria Pilotti


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

4Acting is a sport. On stage you must be ready to move like a tennis play-er on his toes. Your concentration must be keen, your refl exes sharp; your body and mind are in top gear; the chase is on. Act-ing is energy. In the theatre people pay to see energy. —Clive Swift

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. —Gail Godwin

If “acting is energy,” teaching is many things: a combination of knowledge, experience, awareness, exper- tise, and care. It is also the energy we, as language instructors, bring into the classroom that absolutely affects the order of the day. As a theater lover and past occasional performer, I have often thought about the parallels be-tween teaching and acting. Here are a few that come to mind.

You’re on stage. All eyes are on you. You’re the initial focal point of attention. Your presence shifts the energy in the room. Sometimes, you literally have a podium, with desks ar- rayed in rows before you like patrons at a theater. There is noise, chatter, laughter, shuffl ing in the room until the lights dim. Curtain up! Enter stage left, the professor. Cell phones get put away, or at least discreetly placed to the side. Chitchat dies down. The room is hushed a moment, the pause of anticipation before the fi rst words of dialogue are spoken.

All eyes are on you. An actor uses her body to convey information about her character before she even speaks. So do you. How are you dressed? Does what you wear convey some message about your position in this play, your role, your persona as teacher, leader, or facilitator of the energy in the room? How do you walk in? Are your eyes downcast, refl ecting

All the World’s a Stage: Ways in Which Teaching Is Like Acting

by Elizabeth Fonsecayour students’ spent energy at the end of a long week, or do they sparkle? Do you walk in the room with pizzazz, transmitting vital energy to them, to create the cycle of give-and-take nec-essary for effective language learning? Do you use gestures, winks, and nods to convey information, emotion, even comedy? These are things worth thinking about, because one of the most important ways you are like an actor is in this all-important function. Your energy and presence set the tone.

Just as audiences must have faith in actors and suspend their disbelief to fully enter into the world the actors are creating, your students must agree to the unspoken contract of trust that bonds them to you in a vulnerable learning situation. Your ability to cre-ate that atmosphere of trust is impor-tant; your dynamism helps your class generate energy that in turn feeds you and helps the learning environment be dynamic. This is important for learn-ing as well as for the teacher’s abil-ity to sustain energy and passion both within a class and over her entire run.

Actors use their voices as tools, relying on not just word choice but infl ection, intonation, varying volume, and the judicious use of pauses to capture the audience’s attention, rivet them, spellbind them, draw them forward in their seats wondering “What’s next?” You too can use your voice itself as a tool that weaves the bewitching spell of energy, dynamism, and trust that makes for a lively and effective learn-ing environment.

The show must go on. There are days when you can’t imagine generat-ing that energy at all. On those days, you have to “act as if”: put on your teaching persona as an actor dons a mask or stage makeup, preparing her-self to go before the lights. If you don’t show up, or show up without energy,

you might flop. This leads us to the all-important

teaching persona. As an actor slips into a role through preparation, curi-osity, and the desire to share emotion and information with an audience, you can slip into your teaching per-sona, comprised of your sincere and genuine self with a soupçon of public-role poise, strategic sass, and teacher’s tools you’ve learned throughout your teaching days that help you on the way.

Is your persona the classic schol-ar? Do you have a little playful clown thrown in? Are you the compassion-ate guide, leading students to the knowledge they already possess? Can you switch hats to that of the task-master, pushing for and demanding the very best? It can be useful to think of the teacher role as composed of these different personae that serve useful functions in the various pro-cesses of learning, including enabling you to reach students of different backgrounds, needs, and learning styles. Even if you are not like that, your alter ego, “Profesor Picky”, can be. Although you are more lenient, “Scholar Strict” can be called upon as necessary to whip an underachieving class into shape. Being a teacher is a public role that requires daily public speaking; why not train for it and fi nd useful tools and approaches that may aid in maintain- ing your interest, cre-ating a positive learning environment, and aiding in effi cient classroom man-agement?

If you think some training might help you focus your body as instru- ment and help you channel energy more effi ciently and effectively in the


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

55classroom, here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Take an acting class. Learn how to use body language, breath, and voice to create energy and atmosphere. • Take a public speaking class. Learn relaxation techniques, visu- alization techniques, and tips for effectively conveying a message. • Join a group such as Toastmasters International, where you’ll learn tips for public speaking. • Listen to and read poetry aloud. Learn about cadence, rhythm, and volume to use your voice more ef-fectively—and to save it from too many of those hoarse, raggedy, “I’ve-spoken-too-much” days! • Similarly, take a vocal or voice training class. Learn specific breath-ing exercises to strengthen your voice and to become expert in ef-fectively and efficiently using and saving your voice. Here is a website to get you think-

ing about your own parallels between acting and teaching: http://www/jbac-tors.com/actingphilosophy/ actingquotations.html.

References Godwin, G. (1974). The Odd Woman.

New York: Ballantine Books.

http://www/jbactors.com/actingphi-losophy/actingquotations.html

Elizabeth Fonseca is an avid traveler who has taught ESL/EFL in such countries as Italy, Tur-key, and the United Arab Emirates. Her work has been published in the Arabia Review and the Traveler’s Tales series, among others. Her interest in acting stems from high school and community theater days, as well as more re-cent poetry readings. She currently teaches at Nassau Community College in New York. <[email protected]>

NYS TESOL Remembers Jeanette D. Macero by Vel Chesser

The field of ESOL has lost one of its most revered members, Jeanette D. Macero, who died May 9, 2011. Jeanette was passionate in her dedication to non-native speakers of English as exemplifi ed by her teaching, mentoring and participation in professional organizations.

Jeanette, one of the founders of NYS ESOL BEA (now NYS TESOL—see note below), was a leader in that organization nonstop until her retirement from Syracuse University in 1998, as associate professor of English and TESOL co-ordinator of languages, literatures and linguistics. She moved to Medfi eld, MA to be near her family.

Many NYS TESOL members will testify to the mentoring they received from Jeanette, who held leadership positions in the organization for her en-tire career. Jeanette graduated with a BA in English from Barnard College, an MA in linguistics from Columbia University, and did doctoral study in linguis-tics at the University of Michigan. She was president, second vice president twice, and chair of various TESOL committees: publications, paper selection, awards and nominations. Twice, she received the NYS TESOL Distinguished Service Award. In addition to Jeanette’s full-time teaching at Syracuse University, she published skill books for beginners of English through Laubach Literacy (now known as ProLiteracy), as well as a number of scholarly papers and ad-dresses, edited books of readings, and acted as consultant to many groups.

All those who knew Jeanette are aware of her many accomplishments in professional organizations and her skillful teaching, but those closest to her will remember most her kind and compassionate manner to all she met and worked with, her hearty laugh, and her engaging personality. Jeanette’s friends and colleagues have lost a treasure.

Vel Chesser, retired from Syracuse University, can be reached at <[email protected]>

Editor’s note: With thanks to NYS TESOL historian George Morris: The very fi rst organization was called NY TESOL (No “S” for State), then NYS ESOL BEA. The founding date is 1970 (hence our 40th anniversary in 2010). The split into NYS TESOL and NYSABE was in the early 1980s.


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

6The Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) have been adopted by dozens of states. The NYS Board of Regents adopted the new P-12 CCLS for ELA, Literacy, and Mathematics in January 2011; it will be phased in over the next year. Beginning in school year 2012-13, NYS assessments for Eng-lish Language Arts and Mathematics will measure student achievement of the P-12 CCLS. Find New York State’s complete CCLS timeline at www.usny. nysed.gov/rttt/docs/ccsstimeline.pdf.

The initiative began in the spring of 2009 and was coordinated by the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSO). The advisory group for the initiative comprises Achieve, Inc., ACT, the College Board, the Na-tional Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), and the State-Higher Education Executive Offi cers (SHEO).

The Common Core State Stan-dards Initiative released a draft of the math and language arts content standards for public comment in Sep-tember 2009, and the individual K-12 grade-level content standards in these subjects were released for public comment in March 2010. Both sets of content standards were fi nalized in 2010.

Criteria for Development This process differed from past

standards initiatives because it was state led and had the support of edu-cators across the country as well as prominent education, business and state leaders’ organizations. The stan-dards were developed by the follow-ing criteria:

• Aligned with expectations for college and career success;

• Clear, so that educators and parents know what they need to do to help students learn; • Consistent across all states, so that students are not taught to a lower standard just because of where they live; • Inclusive of both content and the application of knowledge through high-order skills; • Built upon strengths and lessons of current state standards an standards of top-performing na-tions; • Realistic, for effective use in the classroom; • Informed by other top-perform-ing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; • Evidence and research based (Quay, 2010); • Application of the Standards for English Language Learners. Common standards can potential-

ly provide a greater opportunity for states to share experiences and best practices within and across states that could lead to an improved ability to serve ELLs. The K-12 English-language arts and mathematics standards do in-clude information on the Application of the Standards for English Language Learners, located at http://www.corestandards.org/assets/application-for-english-learners.pdf.

One segment of the Application of ELA Core Standards recommends that to help ELLs meet high academic standards in language arts it is essential that they have access to:

• Teachers and personnel at the school and district levels who are well prepared and qualifi ed to support ELLs while taking advan-tage of the many strengths and skills they bring to the classroom;

• Literacy-rich school environ-ments where students are im-mersed in a variety of language experiences; • Instruction that develops founda- tional skills in English and enables ELLs to participate fully in grade-level coursework; • Coursework that prepares ELLs for post secondary education or the workplace, yet is made com-prehensible for students learn-ing content in a second language (through specific pedagogical techniques and additional resources); • Opportunities for classroom discourse and interaction that are designed to enable ELLs to develop communicative strengths in language arts; • Ongoing assessment and feed-back to guide learning; • Speakers of English who know the language well enough to pro-vide ELLs with models and sup-port; • Need for English Language Proficiency Standards.

The Common Core did not spell out how the standards applied to specifi c levels of English profi ciency. It was left up to states to create English Language Profi ciency Standards that align with the Core Standards or to best be taught to students depending on their level of English profi ciency. In her July 12 blog at Education Week, “Learning the Language,” Mary Ann Zehr recognized this need by re-porting that Stanford University has received a $1 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to create English Language Profi cien-cy Standards for the states’ Common Core Academic Standards. Dr. Kenji

Resources for Implementing the Common Core for ELLs

by Diane Garafalo


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)7N

YS

TES

OL

Idio

m

Vol.

41, N

o. 3

(Fa

ll 20

11)7

NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)7Hakuta, a professor of education at Stanford University, a member of the Common Core Validation Committee, and a long-time expert on ELLs; and Maria Santos, the former director of programs for ELLs for the New York City school system, are co-chairs of this national effort to write standards for ELLs to parallel the Language Arts and Mathematics Standards of the Common Core, as well as the Science Standards that are expected to be de-veloped. This grant award fi lls the gap in the process of implementing the Common Core for ELLs (Zehr, 2011). The grant, which lasts for two years, is called “Building on Common-Core Standards to Improve Learning for English-Language Learners.”

“The effort is to think about the content areas in the common core that offer strategically fertile areas around which language instruction can take place,” Dr. Hakuta explained. “The standards will elaborate on what ELLs should know and be able to do in the content areas at different English-proficiency levels,” he added. (Zehr, 2011).

Preparing ELLs for the Com-mon Core—A Webinar

On May 5, 2011, Dr. Hakuta presented a webinar at www.teachscape. com called “Research to Practice: Pre-paring ELLs for the Common Core.” He offered his thoughts and ideas during the webinar under the topic of planning for the Common Core, including:

• Recognize that language is necessary to teach, learn, and demon-strate understand ing in school subjects, and that this is true for all stu dents, but especially for ELLs; • Engage in the idea that excellence in instruction and as sessment around content revolves around the idea of rich language use; • Build the professional devel opment around the idea

Some Helpful Resources

• Common Core Curriculum Maps: www.commoncore.org/free/

• Common Core Standards and English Language Learners: www.colorincolorado.org/ educators/common_core

• Common Core State Standards Initiative Web site: www.cores-tandards.org

• Common Core Standards Work for ELLs: The Importance of Linking English Language Profi - ciency Standards to the Common Core Standards www.colorin-colorado.org/ powerpoint/ELL- ELPStandardsPPT%20Slide.pdf

• K-6 Units in ELA Aligned with Common Core Standards: www.elementarytests.com/blog/ k-6-ela-common-core/

• P21 Common Core Toolkit www.p21.org/images/p21_ toolkit_fi nal.pdf

• www.thejournal.com/ arti-cles/2011/08/02/ common-core-toolkit-aligns -standards-with-21st- century-skills-framework.aspx

Websites of the members of the advisory board to the Common Core Initiative:

Achieve, Inc.: www.achieve.org

ACT: www.act.org

The College Board: www.collegeboard.com

National Association of State Boards of Education: www.nasbe.org

State Higher Education Executive Offi cers: www.sheeo.org

that language instruction is the domain of all teachers, not just English Language Arts and ESL teachers; • Identify your objectives, assessments, and best practices in classrooms and ensure that you’re making progress toward those objectives; • Use the Common Core to recognize and amplify the op portunity for rich language development for ELLs and for all students (Hakuta, 2011). According to Dr. Ha kuta, there are some key elements for ELLs regarding the Common Core, including: The Common Core pro vides a strong incentive to examine the role of language in content instruction and in assessment; there is a role for leadership to take advan- tage of this opportunity; • Even though the Common Core says nothing about the English Language profi ciency expectations of ELLs, there is a re-quirement that English language profi ciency be aligned to the Common Core; • There will be more commonality across states in the identifi cation of students because there will be more common profi ciency tests; • The Common Core has the po-tential to move ELL performance/ profi ciency both across schools and across the country (Hakuta, 2011).

Criteria for Writing Common Core Curriculum Materials

Last summer, the nonprofit group Common Core issued a set of free curriculum maps. The maps are de-signed to give an understandable se-quence of thematic curriculum units that connect the skills provided in the ELA (continued on page 17)


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

8Idioms pop up everywhere in Eng-

lish media, often met with confused looks by our students. Even more ad-vanced students have diffi culty using them with any degree of competence, especially if the idioms are culturally different from their own (Irujo, 1986). Given their importance, more atten-tion should be paid to teaching idioms in ESL settings (Cooper, 1998). It is up to teachers to help students not only learn idioms, but also to encourage their usage in an intelligible manner. How can we incorporate idioms into classroom settings in a relaxed, communicative, and student-centered way? More important, how can we teach the intonation of idioms to achieve students’ maximum intel-ligibility? I have found the following three activities to be helpful for my students.

BYOI—Bring Your Own Idiom Each student chooses one idiom

to “teach” the class. They may choose from any source, and learn it well enough to be able to explain it in front of their classmates. This is a great warm-up; it’s student-centered and exciting, since they have chosen these idioms themselves based on their own interests. Don’t be sur-prised if a number of idioms come from Gossip Girl or Glee, American television programs centering around high-school students, so idioms relat-ing to dating and shopping tend to surface quite often (i.e., It’s on me; She’s into him; Those shoes are to-

tally you). During the students’ expla-nations, I stay off to the side and will assist only if the situation calls for it; I have even done this activity remotely via Skype when I was home sick in bed. Having the students in charge of this activity made it quite manageable. It can also act as a springboard for all kinds of culture related discussions.

Where Is the Change? A major obstacle facing our stu-

dents is intelligibility, especially when using idioms. While pronunciation may be a factor, an equally important fac-tor is proper intonation. As the pitch in our voices rises and falls, these changes in intonation are processed by the listener (Cruttenden, 1986). If you have ever studied Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese, you may be familiar with the inextricable link between the proper tone and communication. In English as well, when language is given the correct intonation, com-munication can be greatly enhanced. To emphasize this point with my stu-dents, I imitate the “wa wa” teacher from Charlie Brown. I walk around the class, lock eyes with a student, raise my hand, and slowly say “Wa, wa wa Wa?” What I am actually saying is “Hi, how are You?” Students inevita-bly guess correctly and are quite sur-prised that they can understand what I am saying. Once they have caught on, we can then create contextual situa-tions and apply the proper intonation. A mini-dialogue I might have with a student in front of the class, in which my role would be B, is as follows:

A: What are you doing this week end? B: This weekend? Nothing special. I’ll probably just hang OUt. A: OK. Give me a call. B: Alright.

After the classmates have heard the dialogue, I will ask them, “Where is the change?” Hopefully, they will hear “OUt” on the first try. I will then mark it on the board. The rise in pitch at the beginning of “OUt” rather than on the word “hang” is essential to the

intelligibility of the idiom as well as to the rest of the dialogue. Teachers play a vital role here. Once an idiom is presented, either the students or the teacher should provide/elicit the proper intonation and then mark it. This marking system is especially im-portant for non-native-English-speak-ing teachers who may be unfamiliar with the proper intonation of idioms.

The good news regarding idiom-atic phrases is that there are general intonation patterns. In an emphasized two-syllable word, such as “brainer” in the expression “no-brainer,” the word tends to receive a higher tone or pitch on the fi rst syllable. It’s a no-BRAIner. In the case of a one-syllable word, such as “cake” in the expres-sion “piece of cake,” there is a higher tone on the fi rst half of the word: It’s a piece of CAke. In either case, the rising intonation at the beginning is then followed by a falling intonation. Saying the idiom in front of your stu-dents in slow motion can really help to clarify this, and it is also good for a laugh. When students know the prop-er intonation, communication can be achieved even with less-than-perfect pronunciation. This is good news for our students, as it is generally much easier to change the pitch of a word than to pronounce the word properly.

Mini Dialogues The mini dialogues written by

the students, followed by an in-class role play, are not only a lot of fun but practical and effective exercises for ESL students (Nunan, 2003; Scott & Ytreberg, 2000). They could be done as homework or in class individu-ally, in pairs, or in groups. These dia-logues supply the context necessary to achieve natural usage and effective communication (Nippold & Martin, 1989). The task is to write mini dia-logues, where each dialogue contains at least one idiom from class, either from our text or from one of the students’ BYOI. There should be just enough

Piece of cake! Idiom activities and the importance of proper intonation by Andrew Edison Schneider

Promising Practices This is an ongoing column,featuring advice for effective teaching. Please send article submissions tothe column editor, Ann C. Wintergerst (contact information on page 22 of this issue).


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

99context (4-6 lines) for the exchange to be meaningful (Nippold & Martin, 1989).

Make sure the students under-stand that even though these dia-logues are being written down, they should be striving for spoken and not written English. I also ask them to consider the roles of the speakers as in the following student dialogue (the professor is putting on her coat as her student enters the office):

A: Excuse me. Professor? Are you busy? B: I’m running LAte, actually. I’ll be here tomorrow. A: Ok, thank you. B: Alright.

This exchange meets the crite-ria in that it is a spoken dialogue, the roles are defi ned, at least one idiom is used, and the idiom is marked with the proper intonation. Once their dialogues are done, I collect, correct, and return them. Afterward, I circu-late, taking student questions on my corrections. Then, I have each pair practice and perform at least one of their dialogues in front of the class. Eye contact, body language (students must sit facing each other), and voice management should be emphasized during practice time. Be sure to circu-late, as some students will simply read the dialogue together. I walk around with a blank sheet of 8½ x 11 paper, which I use to cover up the dialogue they are working on. This forces them to look up and, hopefully, at each other. The students then perform at the front of the class. I act as the director, yelling “Action!” and opening/closing my cell phone like a director’s slate. The class listens for the idiom used in the dialogue.This is always fun, as students enjoy watching their classmates perform. I like to supply props/wigs to spice it up. Be prepared for the cameras to come out! I also quiz them on the idiom and the intonation right after each dialogue.

Conclusion English continues to be a global

language. Proper knowledge and us-age of idioms are powerful tools for anyone requiring English in daily com-munication. By focusing on the proper intonation for our students to achieve maximum intelligibility, we are better equipping them for the English-speak-ing world. It is important for us as teachers to go the extra mile.

References Cooper, T. C. (1998). Teaching idioms. Foreign Language Annals, 31(2), 255-266. Cruttenden, M. (1986). Intonation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Irujo, S. (1986). Don’t put your leg in your mouth: Transfer in the acquisition of idioms in a second language. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 287-304. Nippold, M. A., & Martin, S. T. (1989). Idiom interpretation in isola tion versus context: A de velopmental study with ado lescents. Journal Speech & Hearing Research, 32, 59-66. Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English teaching. New York: McGraw Hill. Scott, W. A., & Ytreberg, L. H. (2000). Teaching English to children. New York: Longman.

Andrew Schneider has been teaching ESL/EFL for 20 years, having taught in Japan, Spain, and the United States. He currently teaches medical students in Kanazawa, Japan. <[email protected]>

Introduction from the new Idiom Editor, Cara Tuzzolino Werben

Greetings Idiom readers,

I am delighted to combine my background in publishing with my love of TESOL as the new editor of Idiom. Thank you to my predecessor, Julie Dziewisz, for her great work and help with a smooth transition. I also thank the column editors, copy editor, NYS TESOL leadership and members for the warm welcome. My career began with a B.A. in journalism from NYU. After I switched to marketing, and later fundraising, I volunteered in an ESOL classroom and loved it. I enrolled in Teachers College, Columbia University, graduated with an Ed.M. in TESOL, and began working as an adjunct at Pace, CUNY, and Columbia. Presently, I work in an intensive English program at Nassau Community College. We focus on improving students’ skills through an integrated, holistic approach, so that they can exit our program and be prepared for college-level work. I also instruct and mentor aspiring TESOL teachers at the Literacy Assistance Center. I welcome the chance to meet with interested writers during the Annual conference in October. See you there! --Cara <[email protected]>


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

10ESL teachers employ a variety of instructional tools in the classroom. Conversation can be used to help students practice pronunciation, to pre-pare and develop a well-thought-out paragraph, and to enhance listen-ing skills. Most important, conver-sational activities tap into students’ schema to help them fully develop critical thinking skills in English. Be-low are several activities I have used with my students.

To introduce the concept of stu-dents’ origins, I show students how to use the Reporter’s Questions (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) to gather information. Students part-ner with one another to ask these questions and record the answers. When the class comes together again, I ask the group, “Who has a partner coming from a country whose name begins with the letter A?” Students might answer Argentina. The class then identifies which continent Ar-gentina is on. Students check the map in the classroom to know more about their partner’s home country. This is repeated until the end of the alphabet. Students work with their partners to see what they already know about these countries. This prior knowledge helps students realize that they know more than they think about geography and other topics.

Next, the class discusses the va-riety of languages spoken by the stu-dents. After obtaining this informa-tion, students put the names of these languages on the board. This fi rst conversation in class provides infor-mation needed for the first writing as-signment, which is the biography of a class member. The first draft begins in class and is peer reviewed for content by the student’s conversation part-ners. Their homework is to review the draft and to rewrite it at home on the computer. The next day, I review the

homework with students and focus my comments on a grammatical topic, such as verb tense usage. I choose to focus my feedback on one or two aspects of the writing assignment so that a completely marked-up paper does not increase students’ writing anxiety.

The next assignment involves reading a biography about a famous American. It might be a commonly known American like George Wash-ington or someone from a particular field. After forming groups and prior to reading, students discuss what they already know about the person and what they expect to see in the arti-cle. I introduce the concepts of topic and main idea as well as vocabulary specific to the story. After reading the biography, students individually an-swer the Reporter’s Questions from the article, and then share their an-swers with their conversation group.

In groups, students generate their own questions using the Reporter’s Questions. When the class comes together, one student from each con-versation group writes one question on the board—the questions should not be duplicates of other groups’ questions. Students read each ques-tion aloud. I ask the whole class for grammatical corrections to the ques-tions. After completing the exercise, students write a summary of the biog-raphy—they can use these questions or the ones from the conversation group—and show this to their con-versation partner for feedback. Their homework is to create a revised ver-sion of the in-class written summary that incorporates their partners’ feedback. They staple the draft to the top of the rewrite.

Using conversation sheets, such as those available at www.boggles-worldesl.com, also provides opportu-nities for interaction. Each conversa-

For ELLs, Talking Is Learning by Elaine Caputo Ferrara

Come to the

Annual Conference

October 28-29, 2011

New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

41st Annual Conference

“Enhancing English Learning: Connecting Communities Through

Collaboration”

Marriott Hotel Melville, NY

For further information, go to

www.nystesol.org

and check your e-mail on the

NYS TESOL Listserv

If you are interested in volunteering

or have questions, contact

Conference Chair Christy Baralis at

[email protected]

tion sheet centers on a theme such as seasons, media, habits, and customs. These can be used to talk about the topic in conversation groups, to learn


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

1111vocabulary specific to a topic, and to practice pronunciation. I ask students to look up defi nitions of highlighted words on the sheets. As an instructor, using these sheets is a way to deter- mine students’ familiarity with Ameri- can culture and to plan class trips. Students can also conduct research to enhance their knowledge about media.

I used these conversation activi-ties with levels 3 to 7 students (as mea- sured by the Best Plus) enrolled in non-credit ESL CUNY courses for a semester or more. Students ranged from 18 to 60 years, were from all over the world, and spoke a wide variety of languages. Some were re-cently arrived professionals who had university degrees; others had a basic education in their native country.

Students developed a sense of community because of the shared conversation exercises. Many good friendships began in class and continued after graduation. These friend-ships made it more enjoyable for many to attend class on a regular basis and did lead to fewer absences. By the end, students learned how to express their ideas more clearly in English and how to formulate ques-tions for future educational use. Their critical thinking skills were used to evaluate the new information and to compare it to what they already knew.

Elaine Caputo Ferrara received a Master’s degree from N.Y.U. in educational psychology, with a specialty in reading and special education. At the College of Staten Island, she teaches reading and writing to college students in ESL classes. Recently, she developed a citizenship class for students. <[email protected]>

CALL FOR AWARDS Exceptional Professionals

To honor contributions made within our fi eld, NYS TESOL presents several awards annually, including:

James A. Lydon Distinguished Service Award Outstanding Teacher Award

Recognition Award Lifetime Achievement Award

James E. Weaver Memorial Award

Special Award

Year Award Honoree 2010 Recognition Award Dr. Anita Batisti Outstanding Teacher Dr. Maria Dove

2009 Lifetime Achievement Award Estee Lopez Recognition Award Dr. Walter Sullivan & Saul Cohen Outstanding Teacher Barbara Suter 2008 James E. Weaver Memorial Award Alison O’Neil

Recognition Award Sam Hoyt Outstanding Teacher Donna Bove 2007 James A. Lydon Distinguished Service George Morris

Recognition Award Maria Neira Outstanding Teacher Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld & Caryn Bachar 2006 James A. Lydon Distinguished Service Dr. Frank Tang

Outstanding Teacher Patricia C. La Rose 2005 James A. Lydon Distinguished Service Diana Segovia Praus

2011 Award Winners will be presented at the 41st Annual Conference

October 28th & 29th, 2011

Please review our available awards and criteria for submission at www.nystesol.org.

Submit all nominations and supporting documentation as attachments via e-mail to:

Meredith Van Schuyler, [email protected] submissions due September 23, 2011.


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

12Book Review This is an ongoing column, featuring reviews of books and other materials for ESOL teachers and stu-dents. Please send article submissions to the column editor, Nanette Dougerty (contact information is on page 22).C

More Grammar Games: Cognitive, Affective and Movement Activities for EFL Students. By Mario Rinvolucri and Paul Davis. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. UK. (2010). 176 pp. ISBN: 978-0-521-46630-1

Reviewed by Kathryn North

Mario Rinvolucri and Paul Davis’ More Grammar Games: Cognitive, Af-fective and Movement Activities for EFL Students provides a revamping of their earlier work Grammar Games, which was originally published in 1984. The authors designed the text to pro-vide EFL/ESL teachers with a frame-work for games that can be modifi ed to be appropriate for different age groups and varied English profi ciency levels. Therefore, while the usefulness of the book as a supplemental text in the adult ESL classroom is the main purpose of this review, its utility can be applied to various teaching sce-narios.

The text is divided into nine sec-tions including “Competitive Games,” “Cognitive Games,” “Feelings and Grammar,” “Listening to People,” “Movement and Grammar,” “Meaning and Translation,” “Problem Solving,” “Correction” and “Presentation,” for a total of 81 games, or mini-lessons. As the titles suggest, many lessons are rooted in the principles of well-known English language learning methodologies including the Silent Way, as well as Counseling-Learning/Community Language Learning (CLL). The book begins with a table of contents noting the games and page numbers. This is followed by a de-tailed map of the book with the game titles, grammar topics covered, and levels and time needed. The introduc-tion also includes commentary from

the authors on how the book can be used and their rationale for the methodologies utilized by section.

Each game begins with the title of the game and a box restating the de-tails from the map of the book. If the game can be adapted for other structures and levels, a sub-box states this. To start the main portion of the mini-lesson, the authors note any preparation required before class. This is followed by a breakdown of the in-class procedures of the game. The authors also include examples, variations, a rationale overview, and notes or acknowledgements when necessary. Lastly, any required hand-outs are provided. On a minor note, the examples and handouts are writ-ten using British English vocabulary.

In the case of classes in the United States, instructors will need to rewrite these in Standard American English.

The first section includes com-petitive games, which are designed to increase motivation by fostering col-laboration within groups while creat-ing a safe, spirited environment. Many of the games in this section focus on the correction of material provided by the teacher. This, of course, means that the instructor must devote time to the preparation of the game. For some this could be less than ideal.

The cognitive games in section two are unique in their structure as, according to the authors, the exercis-es are mostly open-ended ones: this differs from many grammar exercises that require one correct response. The flexibility of the activities allows students to discover various aspects of the language without the direct influence of the instructor. While these types of activities can be very creative and have their place in certain contexts, giving students unlimited control over the types of sentences produced can cause the direction of

the lesson to be diverted. For this rea-son, although this section follows the Silent Way method in its purest form (Larsen-Freeman, 2000), the lack of fi nal language destination does not fol-low the integrated and pragmatic way that the Silent Way is often practiced in the classroom.

Sections three and four, which deal with feelings and listening to others, respectively, are arguably the strongest chapters. Here, games are designed to promote healthy inter-personal discussions, which require speakers to make use of a specifi c grammar structure. Many teachers can attest to the positive influence that mutual understanding, respect and personal investment in the class-room can have on produc-

tivity (e.g., Counseling Learning and Community Language Learning—see Larsen-Freeman, 2000).

Section five is made up of games that incorporate grammar and move-ment. While there is a modicum of Desuggestopedia inherent in games throughout the text, this section ex-plicitly focuses on the usage of move-ment to instill language concepts. The rationale seems to be that students are more open to language learning when the preconceived mental and emotional barriers to learning are “desuggested” through lighthearted activity (LarsenFreeman, 2000).

In the meaning and translation games found in section six, the mini-lessons focus on having students de-velop a deeper grasp of the nuances and root meaning of language by linking English with their mother tongue. While the debate over the use of translation in the ESL classroom continues, using native languages as a resource in the foreign/second language classroom can help to build linguistic abilities in both languages, bridge existing knowledge to the acquisition of the new language,

“Many of the games in this section focus on the correction of materia l provided by

the teacher. “


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

13new language, and give validity to the first language (Baker, 2006; Gibbons, 2009). Therefore, if instructors use these mini-lessons, they may fi nd that when properly administered, deep learning can take place during games that use translation.

The last three sections are less substantial. Section seven deals with problem solving. Section eight offers techniques for self, peer and teacher corrections. Finally, section nine rec-ommends alternatives for the pre-sentation of new grammar topics to a class.

Both students and teacher have much to gain from More Grammar Games. The authors offer ideas for games that appeal to many different learning styles. With the exception of musical and natural intelligences, this book contains games that promote all the multiple intelligences (Gard-ner, 2006). The book also lists games specifically designed to strengthen re-ceptive skills to help students become more active listeners and readers. Fur-thermore, utilizing grammar games, an instructor can adeptly introduce grammar topics without the use of overt grammatical language. Although the discussion of teaching grammatical form vs. focusing on communicative interactions is still very predominant in the ESL teaching fi eld, research has shown that the integration of gram-mar with contextualized language cre-ates the most effi cient mode of learn-ing (Larsen-Freeman 2001).

To offer some criticism, the orga-nizational structure of the text can be challenging. For those who normally organize lessons in a progression of scaffolded topics, the division by un-derlying pedagogical approaches may be less intuitive. In addition, the or-ganization within the sections is un-clear and fi nding a game for a specific grammar topic or level requires some hunting within the map of the text. Further, many of the games, especially in sections one and two, require a fair amount of setup. While an instructor may hope to use a book of games as

2011 NYS TESOL Stu-dent Essay Contest by Laura Van Tassell NYS TESOL SIG Coordinator

In coordination with the 2011 NYS TESOL annual conference, “En-hancing English Learning: Connecting Communities through Collaboration,” the topic for this year’s student essay contest, “How has your community helped you learn English?,” revolved around communities and the role that living, working, and interacting in them plays in the English language learners’ (ELLs) acquisition of English.

The essay contest was held for students who are current or former ELLs within three categories: students in grades four through eight; students in grades nine through twelve; and students enrolled in a university or anadult education program, including students enrolled in Intensive Eng-lish programs, community colleges, degree-based programs, and ESOL programs.

The student essay contest was very successful, with 113 essays re-ceived from throughout New York State. A winner and an honorary men-tion were chosen from each of the three categories. The names of the winners and honorary mentions will be announced during the Friday lun-cheon at the annual conference and their essays will be printed in the con-ference booklet. The winning essays will also be included in the winter edition of Idiom as well as be posted on the NYS TESOL Special Interest Group (SIG) Student Essay Contest page.

Please join me in thanking all of the students who submitted essays to the sixth annual student essay con-test! Watch for news about the 2012 contest in an upcoming issue of Idiom, as well as on our website.

a quick reference for lesson ideas, the time required for fi nding an appropriate lesson and setup prevent the book from being used in that manner. Finally, while one would assume that all of the games are related explic-itly to grammar, some have a more semantic focus. This does not deter the student from gaining knowledge but should be noted.

References Baker, C. (2006). Foundations of bilin gual education and bilingual- ism (4th ed.). Toronto: Multi lingual Matters. Gardner, H. (2006). Multiple intelligences: New Horizons. New York: Basic Books. Gibbons, P. (2009). English Learners Academic Literacy and Think ing: Learning in the Challenge Zone. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Teach- ing and Principles in Language Teaching (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2001). Teaching grammar. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Lan guage (3rd ed.) (pp. 251- 266). Boston: Heinkle & Heinkle Thomson Learning. Rinvolucri, M., & Davis, P. (1995). More Grammar Games: Cognitive, Affective and Movement Activities for EFL Students. New York: Cam bridge University Press.

Kathryn N. North is a recent graduate of New York University’s Master’s Program in TESOL. An ESOL instructor with the New York Public Library, Kathryn also tutors writing and devel-opmental reading at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. <[email protected]>


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

14Engaging English Language Learn-ers (ELLs) in a few minutes of small talk prior to the start of ESL class can be a very useful strategy. The purpose of small talk is not about gauging how grammatically correct my students can speak in English -- although I do make mental notes of students’ gram-matical diffi culties for subsequent les-sons. It provides the opportunity for my students to be heard in a very relaxed setting, while allowing their English to emerge. It certainly can be a challenge to insert those few min-utes during the fast-paced schedule of a typical school day, but I have found it to be a source of valuable information.

I often begin the small talk session with an informational “wh” question such as “How was your appointment at the dentist?” or “What did you do after school yesterday?” The respons- es are quite revealing. Some students, especially those in middle school, are initially guarded, while others seem surprised that I want to know more about them Gradually as they learn to trust me as well as their classmates, the students slowly open up. It is gratifying to see a once painfully shy kindergarten student now coming to class with daily announcements such as, “You know what? Yesterday, I lose (sic) a tooth.”

There are other times when students express more sensitive issues, which we discuss further in private. One example of this occurred when an ELL in third grade told me dur-ing our small talk session that one of the other students in the mainstream class made fun of his speech and called him “stu- pid.” Neither his classroom teacher nor I had noticed any tension between these two students. The fact that theELL who mentioned this incident had always felt self-conscious about his ability to speak English prompted my

Small Talk: A Meaningful Conversation Tool

by Joy Scantlebury

immediate arrangement of a meet-ing with his teacher and the other student. Fortunately, we were able to resolve the situation, but it taught me to become more vigilant when working with ELLs in the mainstream classroom.

It is impressive to listen to a stu-dent retell a story or incident, but the most gratifying part is when he or she is able to connect it to a new concept. When studying the concept of cause and effect during a rea ing lesson, I sensed that only a few students understood this concept, while many did not. Suddenly, one student announced, “Do you remember when I told you the story about how I accidentally spilled water on the kitchen fl oor?”He proudly continued, “That was an example of cause and effect. The cause was when I spilled water on the fl oor. The effect was when my mom became angry.” His classmates nodded their heads in agreement. It was as if a light bulb had been turned on! I could not have provided a bet-ter example of cause and effect!

As ELLs become more confi dent in speaking English, more of their per- sonalities emerge. During one of our small talk sessions, I asked a beginning ELL in the fi rst grade, “Where does your brother go to school?” Without hesitation, she stated, “My brother go (sic) to Sleepy Hollow School. Zzzzzzzz. Sleepy School. I am soooo sleepy!” as she put her head on the desk and pretended to sleep. Prior to that comment, I had not seen that humorous side of her. I noticed how thrilled she was that she had made me laugh. I then decided to fol-low her quip with another “wh” ques-tion. I tapped her on the shoulder as her eyes snapped open and her head bobbed up from the table. “What does your brother like to do at school?” I asked.

She smiled and impishly replied, “He like (sic) to sleep.” How clever this little girl was! I realized several things during our small talk exchange. This student demonstrated that she understood the word “sleepy”, she connect- ed that understanding to a different context, and she found a way to make it humorous. None of these is easy to do, especially at the beginning of the language acquisi-tion process. Later in the day, I had this student retell the joke to her teacher and some of her classmates. This small talk session was a pivotal moment for this student because she was clearly pleased to see that she could be funny in English.

I have noticed that ELLs have the capacity to dissect words in interest- ing ways, especially when these words are spoken. When native English speakers think about words, we tend to focus on the sum and not the parts. When a student was beginning ELL in second grade, I recall his reading a passage out loud. After encountering the two-syllable word, “awesome”, he pronounced it as if were a three- syl-lable words, “a – we—some”. Prior to that day, I had never realized that the word “awesome” is comprised of three smaller words: “a”, “we” and “some”. That was a revelation for me. How awesome!

I am sure that many ESL teachers utilize small talk or some variant of it in their classrooms. It is not a novel concept, but I fi nd that it is valuable during a limited amount of time. Con- versations, which on the surface may appear superfl uous, are in actuality a gold mine of enriching and relevant information.Joy Scantlebury is a graduate of Smith College. She received her M.A. in TE-SOL from Teachers College, Columbia University. Joy currently teaches ESL at Pocantico Hills Central School in Sleepy Hollow, NY. <[email protected]> �


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

1515


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

Sonia Portugal, Peru, performs Floating Words, a dance she choreo- graphed to portray the spirit of English language learning.

Ahmed El-Habashi, Egypt; Tomoko Kihira, Japan; Ufualè

Afola Amey, Togo; Osiris Romero,

Dominican Republic and Elena Lyumanova ipation of

their panel presenttion.

1616Everyone listens as Ufualè Afola Amey talks about

learning English from her teacher Dave,

a Peace Corps volunteer.


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

17standards with recommended stu-dent objectives, texts, and activities.

Examples of these thematic curriculum units include: Grade 1: The Amazing Animal World; Grade 3: The People, the Preamble, and the Presi- dents; Grade 6: Folklore: A Blast from the Past; Grade 9: Literary Elements of a Short Story; and Grade 12: Europe-an Literature: Renaissance and Refor-mation. Common Core is working with schools and districts in different states to implement the maps. Arizona and North Carolina are using them state- wide to help districts put the standards in place (Gewitz & Robelen, 2011).Two writers have recently crafted

Resources for Imple-menting...(continued from page 7)

documents outlining Common Core curriculum criteria. Working under acontract with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a strong supporter of the standards, David Coleman and Susan Pimentel, co-authors of the Common Core Standards for ELA/Literacy, wrote two docu-ments highlighting the key ideas of the standards and de- scribing the qualities of instructional materials they consider an accurate refl ection of them (Gewertz, 2011).Common Core Assessments and PARCC

According to the National Gov-er- nor’s Association/CCSSO, the Com- mon Core State Standards will also ultimately be the basis for a sys-tem of high-quality assessments. New York State is a governing member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), which was awarded Race to

the Top Assessment funds in 2010.The PARCC Web site can be viewed at http://parcconline.org/. Over the next few years, New York and 25 other states will develop a set of Eng-lish Language Arts and Mathematics assessments, which will be fi nalized in 2014-15 (NYSED, 2011). Common Core Standards Assessment Resourc-es are located at http://education northwest.org/resource/1331.Idiom will work to keep readers aware of all the upcoming changes.References

August, D., Cortese, A., La Fonde, S., Leos, K. (2010). Making Common Core Standards work for ELLs: The importance of linking English Lan-guage Profi ciency Standards to the Common Core Standards. October 21, 2010. AFT Educa-(continued on page 21)

SIG LeadersSIG CoordinatorLaura Van Tassell <[email protected]>

Assistant SIG CoordinatorJennifer Scully <[email protected]>

Applied LinguisticsAndrew MillerLindsay Wells<[email protected]>

ESL in Adult EducationTamara Kirson <[email protected]>

ESL in Bilingual Education Co-ChairLydia Gutierrez<[email protected]>

ESL in Elementary Education Co-ChairsSusan GoldsteinDiane Howitt<[email protected]>

ESL in Higher Education Co-ChairsDafna Ben AnathLisa Kraft <[email protected]>

ESL in Secondary Education

NYS TESOLSpecial Interest Groups (SIGs) and Regions Leadership Directory

2010-2011

Lan Ngo <[email protected]>

ESL in Special Education Co-ChairPatty Barry<[email protected]>

Teacher Education Co-ChairsSoonhyang KimJoanna Labov<[email protected]>

Teaching English InternationallyCo-ChairsClaudette OliverasMelissa Duquette<[email protected]>

Regions Leaders

Regions CoordinatorTina Villalobos <[email protected]>

Assistant Regions CoordinatorLynn Ellingwood <[email protected]>

BuffaloElena Dokshansky-Zelfond<[email protected]>

Capital Region Co-ChairsLiz AllenRoma Kumar <[email protected]>

Hudson Valley Co-ChairsKatie Werner Rebecca Horwitz<[email protected]

Long IslandVicky Giouroukakis<[email protected]>

New York City Co-ChairsJoe TillmanElaine Roberts <[email protected]>

Rochester/Syracuse Co-ChairsGloria DancauseElaine Ferlicca <[email protected]>


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

1818 Check out the new Members Only website!

We’re very excited to announce the launch of the new Members Only website for NYSTESOL. We are just gearing up, but hope this will become a major resource and networkingsite for our members.

Current members were sent an email alert in early September containing their username andpassword. Of course, your email system may have fi ltered our message into a spam folder —if you are a current member and did not receive a notice with your login information, pleasecontact us at [email protected].

With annual conference registration already under way, please act quickly to login and verifyyour profi le data and networking preferences.

What’s There Coming Soon• Your profi le page • Networking options• Membership renewal • SIG/Region E-lists• Discounted event registration • Job Coach/Career Mentoring• Members Only online publication, Dialogue • Service opportunities and awards• Discussion boards

Your PRIVACYThis site is viewable only by active members. And, because this is new, we have also

blocked your contact information from members. So, unlike Facebook, where you decide whatto set as ‘private,’ we’ve already done this. The only information visible to other members is:your Name, Member Type, Region and SIG preferences. You can privatize these, too, if youwish, by updating your profi le.

However, for those of you who want to network with other members, there are 2 optionalfi elds – an “email to share” and a “website/blog address” both set up as viewable by all members.And you can upload a photo. You control the privacy settings for these fi elds andcan edit them at any time.

What’s Next?We’d like you to tell us! Please look around the site, update your profi le, join a discussion

board, and send us ideas for additions and improvements.

Discounted Membership UpdateNYS TESOL is committed to providing members with the most up-to-date resources, news and education-

al tools. To enable access by all members of our fi eld, NYS TESOL offers discounted memberships. Recently, we revised the documentation policy for discounts to align with other non-profi t organizations as well as to create greater consistency and transparency. Please check the new requirements when you prepare to renew. For questions regarding membership status and discounts, please contact us at [email protected].


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

19


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

Collaborative Conversations

Talk about• Students’ needs• Students’ lives• Students in and out of school work• Curriculum and instruction• Teachers’ own struggles• Teachers’ own successes• What matters to you, the teacher

Collaborative Coaching

Use peer coaching to improve• Lesson planning• Lesson delivery• Unit design• Use of supplementary materials• Adapted content• Modifi ed instruction• Assessment practices

Collaborative Curriculum Development

Align• Lesson objectives (language objectives and content objectives)• Unit goals• Curriculum maps• Primary and supplementary instructional

materials• Adapted texts and materials• Resources

Collaborative CraftsmanshipExplore• ELLs’ background knowledge• ELLs’ prior learning• Peer coaching• Planning instruction collaboratively or in

thecontext of co-teaching• Effective methods for aligning curriculum

and objectives• Using time more effectively• Making the most of collaborative efforts

20Collaborative Conversations(continued from page 1)

• Collaborative Craftsmanship: Through conscious efforts for continuous improvement of the craft of teach-ing, teachers explore ways to enhance instructional time, language development, and content area resources, and offer support for each other. Table 1 shows how the concept of collegiality and collaboration may offer a system of support in a linguistically and culturally diverse school context by including the four Cs with ample examples.

Table 1: The Four Cs of Collaboration

Collaboration may start out as a small, grassroots effort, involving only two or three teachers who share the respon-sibility for some of the same ELLs and are concerned about their students’ progress. It may involve an entire grade level. Some examples include grade clusters working together to develop or enhance curricula in elementary schools; an interdisciplinary team of math, science, social studies, English, and ESL teachers (sharing responsibility for a cluster of classes in middle schools); or a discipline-specifi c department (focusing on preparing all students to meet graduation requirements of high schools). Regardless of the local context, all these collaborative efforts start with professional conversations, through which teachers collaboratively explore their students’ needs and responsive practices.

References DelliCarpini, M. (2008). Teacher collaboration for ESL/EFL academic success. The Internet TESL Journal, 14(8). Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/DelliCarpini-TeacherCollaboration.html


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

21DelliCarpini, M. (2009, May). Dia- logues across disciplines: Prepar- ing English-as-a-second-language teachers for interdisciplinary collaboration. Current Issues in Education (Online), 11(2). Re- trieved from http://cie.ed.asu.edu/ volume11/number2/

Honigsfeld, A., & Dove, M. (2010). Collaboration and co-teaching:

Strategies for English learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NAC- TAF). (2009). Learning teams: Creating what’s next. Retrieved from http://www.nctaf.org/documents/NC-TAFLearningTeams- 408REG2–09_000.pdf

NEA (2009). NEA reiterates collabo-ration as key to keeping teach-ers. Retrieved from http://www.nea. org/home/31477.htm

Pawan, F., & Ortloff, J. H. (2011). Sus- taining collaboration: English-as- a-second-language and content-area teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 463-471.

Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld is associate dean and professor in the Division of Educa-tion at Molloy College, Rock- ville Centre. She is the co-author with Maria Dove of a recently published book, Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Strategies for English Learners (Cor- win Press, 2010).

<[email protected]>

*Sections of this manuscript have grown out of the author’s collabora-tive conversations with Dr. Maria Dove and are featured in their coau-thored book, cited above.

Resources for Implementing...(continued from page 17) tional Policy Forum. http://www.

colorincolorado.org/powerpoint/ELL-ELPStandardsPPT%20Slide. pdf

Colorin Colorado (2011). Common Core Standards and English Lan- guage Learners. Reading Rockets. WETA Learning Media. http:// www.colorincolorado.org/ educa-tors/common_core/

Gewertz, C. (2011). Common Core Writers Craft curriculum criteria, July 22, 2011. Education Weekly. http://www.edweek.org/ew/article s/2011/07/21/37curriculum.h30.ht ml?tkn=UPSFLpcFv4ebJmsg2qZx 2C7B8rKm7AL%2FiacG&cmp=c lp-sb-ascd

Gewertz, C., & Robelen, E. (2011). Curriculum maps aim to bring ELA Standards to life. July 25, 2011. http://blogs.edweek.org/ edweek/curriculum/2011/07/the_ nonprofi t_group_common _cor. html

Hakuta, K. (2011). Webinar: Research to practice: Preparing ELLs for the Common Core, Teachscape, May 5, 2011. http://marketing. teach-scape.com/K12Kenji ELLMay-2011WebinarAccess.html

Lopez, E. (2010). ELA Standards: Shifting the focus to the Common Core comments, standards and curriculum, NYS TESOL, October 2010. http://www.nystesol.org/ curriculum-standards/standards. html

Nagel, D. (2010). Feds award $330 million to fund alternatives to high-stake bubble tests. The Jour- nal, September 2, 2010. http:// the-journal.com/articles/2010/09/02/feds-award-330- million-to-fi nd-al-ternatives-to- high-stakes-bubble-tests.aspx?sc_ lang-en

NYSED (2011). FAQs—Common Core learning standards. http:// www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/com- mon_core_standards/faq.html

NYSUT (2011). Educational Resourc- es for English Language Learners. http://www.nysut.org/cps/rde/ xchg/nysut/hs.xsl/k12_13765.htm

Quay, L. (2010). Higher standards for all: Implications of the Common

Core for equity in education. Civil Rights Research Roundtable on Education, Berkeley Law, April 2010. http://www.law.berkeley. edu/fi les/Education_Roundable_ Standards_Brief_ 4_10.pdf Washington State School Board

(2010). Common Core Stan- dards—Process FAQs. http:// www.sbe.wa.gov/docu-ments/ FAQ%20Common%20 Core%Standards%20Process.pdf

Zehr, M. A. (2011). Conference: Implementing Common Core

Standards for ELLs, Learning the Language Blog, August 11, 2010. Education Weekly. http://blogs. edweek.org/edweek/learning-the- language/2010/08/conference_ implementing_common.html

Zehr, M. A. (2011). Stanford to lead creation of ELL standards for “Common Core” Learning the Language Blog, July 12, 2011, Education Weekly. http://blogs. edweek.org/edweek/learning-the- language/2011/07/stanford_to_ lead_creation_of_e.html

Diane Garafalo is a former ESL teacher at Oswego City School District. She was also a secondary English teacher, with a total of fi fteen years of public school teaching experience. Diane’s previous positions include working as an adjunct professor of written communi-cations for ITT Technical Institute and a human resources and training manager for a variety of Fortune 500 companies. Currently, Diane is an HR and workforce literacy consultant for DRG Associates. <[email protected]> � Idiom is a quarterly publication for


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

2222Idiom is a quarterly publication for members of NYS TESOL. The editors welcome articles as well as reactions to articles. All copy (maximum 1000 words, typed, double-spaced, with word count provided ) should follow APA guidelines and be submitted via e-mail (MS Word). Please include your name and address (including telephone number and e-mail address), as well as a brief (3-4 sentences) biographical state-ment. Please visit idiom.nystesol.org for links regarding APA guidelines and to view a sample article. Idiom’s editorial goals are to be accurate, to maintain the writer’s mes-sage, content, and style, and to fi t the work in the space allotted. Idiom reserves the right to edit all manuscripts for clarity, brevity, and style; the editors will consult with con- tributors on substantive revisions. Ar- ticles from Idiom may be reprinted with proper acknowledgment of the source.

Editorial Notes

Editor:Cara Tuzzolino Werben LINCC-Nassau Community College One Education Dr. Garden City, NY 11530 (516) 573-0165 E-mail: [email protected] Editorial Notes Editorial Consultant: Ceil Goldman Printing and Mailing: The Coughlin Printing Group, Water-town Column Editors: Book Review Nanette Dougherty Email: [email protected]

Culture Notes Elisabeth Gareis 257 Crest Drive Tarrytown, NY 10591 Tel.: (914) 524-7915 E-mail: [email protected] Promising Practices Ann C. Wintergerst Dept. of Languages and Literatures St. John’s University Queens, NY 11439 E-mail: [email protected]

Calendar and Announcements October 28-29, 2011 NYS TESOL 41st Annual Conference

“Enhancing English Learning: Connecting Communities Through Collabora tion” Melville Marriott in Melville, Long Island. See http://www. nystesol.org

February 11, 2012 33rd Annual Applied Linguistics Winter Conference “Connections: TESOL and Applied Linguistics in a Global Context” We’ll continue to keep you posted! Questions? Contact us at: [email protected]

March 28-31, 2012 TESOL International Convention and English Language Expo “A Declaration of Excellance” Philadelphia For more information: www.tesol.org/s_tesol/convention2012/index.html

Upcoming Idiom

Themes

Annual Conference

Please submit articles based on

presentations at the NYS TESOL conference

(Oct. 28-29, 2011) “Enhancing English Learning:

Connecting Communities Through Collaboration”

at Melville Marriott Submission Deadline:

December 1

TBDDeadlines and themes for 2012

will be published in the Winter 2011 issue of Idiom.


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

Special Interest Groups (SIGs): Please select yourtop 2 priorities from the interest groups listed below by marking a “1” and a “2” next to your top choices._____ A ESL in Adult Education _____ SE ESL in Special Education_____ B ESL in Bilingual Education _____ TE ESL Teacher Education_____ E ESL in Elementary Education _____ L Applied Linguistics_____ S ESL in Secondary Education _____ T Teaching English Internationally_____ H ESL in Higher Education

1st SIG. This is your primary interest group with NYS TESOL. You may hold office and vote in this SIG.2nd SIG. You may receive information from this SIG.Region (check one)____ Buffalo ____ Capital District ____ Hudson Valley ____ Long Island ____ New York City ____ Rochester/Syracuse

_____ Please omit my name from mailing lists provided to other organizations.______ Please sign me up for the NYS TESOL E-list.

Renewal:____ New Member:____

First\ Last Name: _______________________________ Last______________________________________

Street Address: ______________________________________________________Apt No.: _______

City/State: ____________________________________ Zip Code: ____________

Email: _________________________________________________________________________________ (required to receive online newsletter)

Preferred Telephone: (______) _______________ Home _____________ Work __________ Cell__________

Position: ______________________________________Organization: _______________________________

New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other

LanguagesMembership Form

(effective 9/1/2011)

Membership Category (select one)

Individual Member: $40.00/yr. ___ $70.00/2 yrs. __ NOTE two-year savings!

Discounted Memberships: Proof of Eligibility Reqd.Documentation requires completion of the Eligibility Webform and written confirmation as described below.

Part-time / Adjunct: $35.00/yr. ___ $60.00/2 yrs. ___ Aide/TA/Para (Please circle your category): $20/year ___Documentation: A letter on your employer’s letterhead Documentation: A letter on your employer’s letterheadconfirming that you do not have full-time employment. confirming your position in the organization. Retiree: $20/year ___ Full-time Student (3-year limit): $20/year ___(Documentation may vary. Please access Eligibility Documentation: Proof of full-time status in a degree-granting program Webform to begin process.) (transcript w/ min. 12 credits per semester or letter of confirmation from Registrar).

Please submit your documentation within 30 days. Access Eligibility Webform at: http://www.nystesol.org/membership/applicationform.htmlIf you are unable to provide the required documents, you have the option to pay the balance to subscribe as an Individual Member.

Payment Information:____ Check payable to NYS TESOL enclosed Please charge my: ___ VISA ___ MasterCard ___ DiscoverPlease write numbers clearly and sign: Card #:___________________ Exp. date:__/__/__Signature: _______________________________

Send to: NYS TESOLTeacher’s College, Box 185525 W. 120th Street, Z-316New York, NY 10027

Office Use Only:Check Number: ________ Date: ___________ New Expiration Date:___________


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

24A single conversation across the table with a wise person is worth a month’s study of books. —Chinese proverb

Once a month, the Haggerty Eng- lish Language Program at SUNY New Paltz hosts an informal learning luncheon known as Conversation Table to encourage casual conversation on a range of topics in an inviting environment. The program was estab-lished to help promote interaction and dialogue between international students (particularly ESL), faculty, and staff and American students interested in international studies. Occasionally, community volunteers attend as well.

Conversation Table is held at the Center for International Programs on a different weekday each month to ensure that students have the op-portunity to attend at least once a semester. At the catered lunch, 20-25 guests meet for 45 minutes. Attend-ees are seated at a large rectangu-lar table conducive to interaction. Faculty, staff, and volunteers may lead discussions with students on topics such as food, cultural similarities and differences, religion and government. If a student seems lonely, the faculty is there to make introductions and initiate dialogue.

The program promotes Conver- sation Table in a variety of ways. At the beginning of each semester, all new students receive an event handout. ESL teachers review it in class, answer questions, and promote attendance. One week prior to the luncheon, fl iers are posted and e-mails sent out. Students can RSVP and comment on the event’s Face-book page.

The day before the event, we re-mind students to attend. On the day of the luncheon, the event coordina-tor arrives early at the venue to set

up and greet guests. At the end of the meal, students are asked to help with cleanup.

After the gathering, photographs of the event are uploaded onto the ESL department Facebook page. Stu-dents post photos and comments. A student survey on Facebook following the luncheon helps with preparation for future events. A student journalist writes an article about Conversation Table for the ESL department news-letter, which is distributed to all ESL students as well as other departments on campus.

Conversation Table has become increasingly popular because of the opportunity it offers for socialization and discussion. Attendees leave hav-ing shared dialogue, laughter, smiles, and good food. ESL students also have a valuable language experience and new connections with native speakers.

Sarah Elia is a lecturer in ESL at the Haggerty English Language Program at SUNY New Paltz. As the program’s event coordinator, she works to ac- tively promote positive interactions between international students and American students. Elia has a B.A. from Bard College and an M.A. in TESOL from SUNY New Paltz.

<[email protected]>

Timed Conversations By Phillipa Arthur

Introduction During Timed Conversations,

learners primarily practice listening/ speaking skills and a host of other conversational skills, including but not limited to: turn taking; the language of encouragement and praise; the language of expressing unfamiliarity with topics; comprehension checking; and

agreeing and disagreeing. Although generally referred to as Timed Con- versations, some specify the time limit in the title, for example: Four Minute Conversations. Timed Con-versations are typically fl uency-based and opportunities for learners to personalize and converse about a topic, for a specified period of time.

For the instructor, Timed Conver- sations can function as: a warm-up activity to activate learners’ sche-mata, to focus learners on the lesson topic or to connect the previous and current lessons; a follow-up activity to allow learners to expand on and personalize lesson content; a fi ller activity to purposefully utilize ‘extra time’ at the end of a lesson; a stress-reliever activity to infuse a sense of fun into a lesson; a review activity for content courses; and a speech-sampling activity to gauge learners’ conversational skills. Materials

In order to conduct Timed Con- versations you essentially need two things- a timer and topic cards. Con- veniently, wrist watches, cell phones, iPads, computers, stop-watches, kitchen timers and classroom clocks can all function as timers.

Ideally, the topics refl ected on the cards should complement your les-son topic. For example, if you were planning a lesson on ‘classic baked goods,’ each topic card could refl ect the name of a classic baked good. Format topic cards on a computer, print in color and laminate them (if these are resources available to you and if you will add this activity to your repertoire). Of course, you can also prepare a slide show of ‘topic cards’ to display on a computer or iPad. Topic cards can be word-based (pie, quiche, tart); question-based (“How would you prepareicing?”); statement-based (“Tell me about your favorite baked childhood des-sert.”); and picture-based (image of a six-tiered wedding cake). (continued on page 27) �

Conversation Tableby Sarah Elia


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

25Let’s Talk about It! by Yanick Chery-Frederic

ELLs respond well to lessons in the form of conversations as another way to incorporate some of the same strategies and scaffolds used for writ-ing. As an example, I often give stu-dents a prompt of 5-10 words. For all grades I have used “My greatest surprise.” Fourth graders write about justice.

The students use the prompt as a starter and begin writing, eventually producing a well-developed para-graph. These same prompts can be used to maintain intelligent discourse among students. The difference with making conversations the major goal in a lesson is that the discussion will not be based on previous read-ing and/or writing, but strictly on the present conversation. Self-expression, thoughts, ideas, and opinions will begin and end with clarifi cation through conversation only. Making this an integral part of lessons will address the challenges faced by our ELL population in verbal communica-tion, and can enhance the student’s listening and speaking skills.

Another value with conversations as a major focus is that the vo-cabulary challenges faced by many of our ELLs will be considered. Our students may have divided language skills. They are comfortable with a specifi c lexicon from the home language, but use a different second language lexicon. A stronger empha-sis on classroom conversations will allow for a balance and exchange of word comprehension of similar vo-cabulary in both languages. Conver-sations will be a major theme in my ESL classrooms this school year in support of enhancing my students’ oral language skills.

Further Reading Beck, I., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L.

(2002). Bringing words to life: Ro-bust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford.

Gordon, T. (2007). Teaching young children a second language. West-port, CT: Praeger.

Yanick Chery-Frederic is an elemen-tary school ESL teacher for grades 2-4 in Central Islip, as well as an adjunct professor of ESL at Suffolk County Community College. She has also taught a Methods undergraduate course in TE-SOL at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue. <[email protected]>

Explicit Communi-cation by Ellen Terry Vandrew-Wald

The manner in which language and writing are understood and misun- derstood promotes success or fail-ure. Understanding what is said is the key to communicative competence.

Explicit communication is dialogue that is clear, sure, and restated when necessary. Crawford (1993) states that the processes of literacy and lan-guage learning require learners to be immersed in meaningful, relevant, and functional situations. In this way, students can learn to handle themselves in various situations.

Let’s begin with a kindergartener meeting an instructor for the fi rst time. If the child is asked to describe something, perhaps drawing it is a much better way of communicating what happened. Description may not simply be done by talking. The explicit communication would require that the teacher talk and demonstrate so that this student knows what to do.

Middle school students who do not speak English can benefi t from explicit communication as well. Class-mates might offer to translate for this

student, but that means that every utterance requires assistance. When I write the aim and other particulars on the board (I verbally explain to the rest of the class), I open a new-comer’s notebook and write a few of the words from the board in his or her notebook, giving the student ex-plicit communication for instruction by demonstration. The student cop-ies what is on the board. Then I say “Copy.” From that time on, this stu-dent knows what the word “copy” means and can copy.

Explicit communication with par-ents is one of the most important types of communication. After all, the parent(s) or caretaker is the first teacher and the one who can do the most to facilitate a student’s aca-demic success. In parent meetings, I combine simple words with academic language and have the requisite bilin-gual dictionaries. By explaining and demonstrating slowly and carefully, explicit communication and a good dialogue can be created.

When one speaks with humility and caring, the communication is ex-plicit. Explicit communication is the key to all forms of dialogue; if one method does not work, just keep on trying. References Crawford, L. W. (1993). Language

and literacy learning in multicultural classrooms. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Ellen Terry Vandrew-Wald was born in the Bronx into a multicultural, religious background. Barry Wald, her husband, encouraged her to become a teacher. She got her B.A. from Marymount Man-hattan College in 1999 and M.A. in TE-SOL from Hunter College in 2004. She is a NYC public school K-12 teacher, and also an adjunct. <[email protected]>


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

26Conversations in Sup-port... (continued from page 3) and Dunn Learning Style Model high school assessment Learning in Vogue: Elements of Style (LIVES) (Missere & Dunn, 2005) and suggested individual study and homework strate-gies. My students had critical conver-sations with their families about their personal preferences, strengths, and areas for improvement. Some stu-dents discussed their need for a quiet, cool, and brightly lit place to study and complete homework assignments.One student, who was not a morning person, discussed her need for an alarm clock to wake her so she could arrive to class on time. Sadly, her family did not want to be disturbed by the sound of an alarm clock so early in the morning and the student’s guidance counselor suggest-ed dropping her from this support class. Conversations with Colleagues

My fellow ESL teachers, bilingual guidance counselor, and department supervisor met regularly to discuss parent outreach, truant students, mis- placed students, overcrowded classes, credit accumulation, and NYSESLAT scheduling, among the numerous challenges facing our ELLs. These conversations led to solutions and consensus on major decisions and new initiatives. Colleagues who shared students would (a) discuss division of language skill focus—one would emphasize the writing process, vocabulary, and grammar, while the other would provide readings of a broad range of literary genres, teach literary terms and vocabulary, and emphasize listening and speaking, (b) collaborate and share data for each student before making arrangements to call parents on each other’s be-half—each teacher relayed messages of both teachers, and (c) preview and review each other’s lessons so we could reinforce what was learned in each other’s classes.

Much to our dismay, we discov-ered that students often did not transfer learning between ESL classes and teachers—somehow, the learning remained in the classroom environ-ment and was forgotten in a new set-ting.

Conversations with mainstream English colleagues centered on imple- mentation of TESOL strategies to meet the needs of transitional and postELLs. Conversations with mathe-matics, science, and social studies as-sistant principals and teachers helped me focus on topics that they found were the most problematic for ELLs. As the ESL teacher component in a collaborative team teaching mathe-matics class, daily co-teaching experi-ences and collaborative conferences led to differentiated tutoring and small-group instruction. I reinforced basic math skills to the students who did not know simple addition, sub-traction, multiplication, and division, while my math colleague reinforced higher-level math skills and concepts.

Conclusion These conversations take time and

energy. High school teachers of ELLs may fi nd they, too, are performing double the work to support adolescent ELLs in meeting the challenges of second language acquisition in an academic environment. This increased responsibility, however, may prove worthwhile when the resulting con-versations lead to targeted instruc-tion and interventions as teachers collaborate in assessing ELLs and planning instruction for their stu-dents.

References Dunn, R., & Dunn, K. (1993). Teach-

ing secondary students through their individual learning styles: Practical approaches for grades 7-12. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Dunn, R., & Griggs, S. A. (Eds.). (2003, 2004, 2007). Synthesis of the Dunn and Dunn learning-style model research: Who, what, when,

where, and so what? Jamaica, NY: St. John’s University’s Center for the Study of Learning and Teach- ing Styles.

Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (2001). Guiding readers and writers grades 3-6: Teaching comprehension, genre, and content literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelli-gences. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (1993, 2006). Multiple intelligences: New Horizons. New York: Basic Books.

McKenzie, W. (1999). Multiple Intel- ligences Inventory. Retrieved from http://surfaquarium.com/MI/inventory.htm

Missere, N., & Dunn, R. (2005). Learning in vogue: Elements of style (LIVES). Retrieved from www.learningstyles.net

Short, D., & Fitzsimmons, S. (2007). Double the work: Challenges and solutions to acquiring language and academic literacy for adolescent English language learners—A report to Carn-egie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Victoria Pilotti, Ed.D., is an ESL teacher at Jamaica High School. A former Region 3 secondary schools mentor, NYC Department of Educa- tion, she has taught TESOL method- ology graduate courses at St. John’s University and Hunter College. <[email protected]>


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

27Timed Conversations (continued from page 24) Preparation

Consider your learners’ profile, lesson topic and objectives when de-ciding if this is an appropriate activity to do with your learners. 1. Consider how much time you want

to allot to the activity. Multiply the number of topic cards by the dura-tion of each conversation- 10 topic cards X 2 minutes per conversa-tion = 20 minutes total.

2. Decide which version of the activ-ity you are going to do. You can choose to keep: a. Conversation pairs static and have learners switch topic

cards. With static pairs, learners get to ‘bond’ with one con-vesational partner over various topics while focusing on sharing their ideas and personalizing the topic.

b. Topic cards static and have learn-ers switch partners. With dynamic pairs, learners get to interact with diverse speakers while refi ning their ideas about one topic and polishing their delivery.

c. Both topic cards and conversa-tion pairs static while reducing the duration of the conversa-tions in set increments. This version lends itself to learners who are preparing for timed oral presentations and assess-ments, by allowing learners to refine their ideas about one topic and polish their timed

delivery. d. Decide how you will pair off your learners and if pairs are

going to sit in two rows or stand in two concentric circles facing their partners.

3. Decide what an odd-numbered learner would be responsible for- time keeper or ‘English only’ enforcer. If you choose to have all learners participate (and have them change partners instead of topic cards), an extra chair can allow the odd-numbered learner to ‘rest’

for one turn. Of course, you can always choose to participate in

4. Plan to model activity and deliver clear instructions specifi c to the

version of Timed Conversations you are going to do.

5. Plan what you will observe while monitoring learners during the ac-

tivity. This will consequently direct the feedback you will give learners.

6. Plan the questions you will use to elicit feedback from learners after

the activity about their perfor-mance during activity.

Procedure Use teacher talk appropriate to

the profi ciency level of your learn-ers to deliver clear instructions and to confirm your learners’ comprehen-sion of your instructions. 1. Deliver global instructions to your learners which include: the activity title, sequencing/format, purpose

and duration, and, if necessary, responsibility of odd-numbered learner or use of ‘rest’ chair.

2. Pair off learners and arrange pairs so that they are either seated in two rows or standing in two con-centric circles facing their partners.

3. Model activity for class and dem-onstrate how: a. you will start the activity by

saying “begin” b. pairs will take turns to converse about the topic indicated on

the topic card for X minutes c. pairs will converse only in English d. every X minutes, a time keeper will say “switch” indicating that pairs need to switch topic

cards by passing them to the pair to the right (or to the left)

e. you will end activity by saying “the end.”

4. Model that learners can remind their partner to stay on-task by simply pointing to the topic card

5. Model some of the conversational language you expect learners to

use the language of urging and praise; of agreeing and disagreeing and so on.

6. Begin activity and cycle through

the number of topics you have planned. Circulate and monitor learners throughout activity.

Follow-up Elicit feedback from learners

about their performance. Give learn-ers feedback based on how suc-cessfully they completed the activ-ity. Remember, this is a fluency-based activity. However, if you modify it to include specific verbal strategies or a focus on form, you could document the inaccuracies of your learners’ Eng-lish as you circulate, and do a whole-class correction on the whiteboard following the activity. 1. Elicit specifi c feedback from learn-

ers about how they felt about having to: a. sustain a conversation in Eng-

lish for X minutes at a time b. switch topics every X minutes c. include conversational lan-

guage d. have a classmate time them or

sit in the ‘rest’ chair e. Stand or sit during activity; pass along topic cards; change partners

2. Give learners specifi c feedback about: a. how well they sustained their conversations in English for X minutes at a time b. how well they stayed on task c. their use of conversational language d. how effi ciently they followed instructions

3. Promise to do variations of activity throughout the semester.

These fluency-based activities may generate future conversations in your classroom, providing rich opportunities for students to interact and practice English-speaking skills.

Phillipa Arthur has taught ESL/EFL in the United States, China and Korea. She is currently a Language Lecturer at Yeungnam University in South Korea. <[email protected]>


NY

S T

ESO

L Id

iom

Vo

l. 41

, No.

3 (

Fall

2011

)

NYS TESOLBox 185Teachers CollegeColumbia University525 W. 120th Street

New York, NY 10027

Nonprofi t OrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDWatertown, NY 13601

Permit #108

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

IDIOM

Applied LinguisticsWinter Conference

NYS TESOL The 33rd Annual

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2021Teachers College, Columbia University525 W. 120th Strret, New York, NY• Presentation throughout the day• Poster Sessions• Publisher Exhibitions

Connections: TESOL and Applied Linguistics in a Global Context Call for Proposals & Registration

Information Coming Soon!

Organized by NYS TESOL Applied Linguistics SIG & TEachers College, Colounbia University. Contact us at: [email protected]

SAVE THE DATE!

Upcoming Idiom Themes The theme of the Winter 2011-12 issue of Idiom is “Annual Conference.” The deadline is December 1.Interested in writing for Idiom? Review article submission guidelines at http://idiom.nystesol.org/guidelines.html


final idiom

Documents