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Stelle Speaks Spanish and Tagalog | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4902 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 297 of 384 14 July 2014 at 11:59am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for that incredible summary, Stelle.
Kujichagulia, maybe you should consider using islands in your language teaching. I'm a teacher in England, but not languages. In "year 11" (the same as "10th grade"), students in the UK have to take external exams in most of their subjects, called GCSEs. A few years ago students came into my computer room to print paragraphs they had written in Spanish about themselves, which they were going to memorize to use in the spoken part of the GCSE exam. They memorized paragraphs about their family, activities they like, where they went on holiday, and so on. It seemed to me like they were sort of cheating, but they said that it was only to give them bits of speech to fall back on. Later I read about Shekhtman's islands, and I realized that was exactly what they were doing. Possibly their teacher (or their teacher's teacher) was familiar with Shekhtman. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4840 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 298 of 384 15 July 2014 at 2:35am | IP Logged | ||
The school where I teach is, academically-speaking (or rather, entrance examination-speaking), a low-level school, and the English department here discourages original English composition in class. It's not banned, but it is seen as "problematic" here. Our kids, believe it or not, have a hard time using dictionaries and writing compositions in their own, native language, so the teachers don't think they can use an English dictionary to write something like an island on their own. That said, I have one or two students every year who develop a healthy interest in English. They come to the office during lunch and after school, and I'm glad to encourage them to develop English islands. But I don't think I can incorporate that into my class lessons. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4137 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 299 of 384 16 July 2014 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||
It bothers the teacher in me when "low-level schools" have lower expectations for their students. It turns into a vicious cycle that keeps kids performing at a lower level into adulthood. How can they compete with their peers in higher performing schools if the expectations for them are so much lower? But you're a part of a team, and it's really hard to buck conventions. I do think that - if you want to try islands - you could find ways to do it without exactly going against your school's approach/philosophy. At least to start, you could work on islands together as a class. The first basic islands are almost fill-in-the blank sentences that could be the same for everyone: My name is _______. I go to school at _________. I live with __________ in _____________. (Or whatever you think would be useful to your students.) Short bursts of fluency might increase your students' confidence and, by extension, their motivation to learn more English. If you like it (and your students find it useful), then you'd have something positive to show to anyone who might question your methods. It's not easy changing things in a school! You're in an interesting situation! Edited by Stelle on 16 July 2014 at 5:48pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4137 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 300 of 384 16 July 2014 at 5:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Not about Spanish, but… I've started learning islands in Tagalog. Since it has to do with some of the discussion on
this log over the past few pages, I thought I'd link to it here: islands in Tagalog (scroll to message 63) And now for something in Spanish: I really enjoyed this Fallo de Sistema podcast, about the Turing test and artificial intelligence. Lots of interesting interviews/discussions with scientists and philosophers: Desmontando a Kurzweil Edited by Stelle on 16 July 2014 at 5:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4902 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 301 of 384 16 July 2014 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was thinking the same thing about using islands to help less confident students. You could have a list of words to go with each blank, and the student creates their own paragraph by making selections. Then they have to learn to speak it to each other and to the class. At first they could use a written version of the paragraph, but maybe they could gain something (an award, a higher grade) by reciting their paragraph from memory.
I'm no stranger to low-performing students. The school I saw islands being used in was in the 7th most deprived area of England (according to government measures). 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4137 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 302 of 384 17 July 2014 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've put up a new post on my blog linking to my favourite Spanish podcasts (many of which I've mentioned in this
log): Spanish podcasts 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4137 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 303 of 384 30 July 2014 at 3:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's kind of funny...now that I'm using exclusively native materials, I just don't have as much to say on my log!
Yesterday, I was actually a bit disappointed at the end of the day because I "hadn't done any Spanish". Except that I'd listened to Buenos Dias America (30 minutes), run through my anki cards (4 minutes), read a novel for 20 minutes and clicked on several links on my Spanish twitter feed. That's more than an hour of Spanish. And it felt like nothing. I think it's a huge step for my learning...but I'm not sure what it means for this log! It seems a bit strange to post weekly updates that all pretty much say the same thing: I read, I watched an episode of a TV show (I've reeeeaaaallly slowed down with TV - need to add a bit more), I listened to podcasts, I talked to someone on Skype. Riveting stuff! Haha! I started watching El Tiempo Entre Costuras on Drama Fever last week (a show that Kerrie also mentioned on her log). It's very good if you like period dramas! It's set during the Spanish Civil War, and the costumes are beautiful. I've gotten several emails from blog readers over the past few months asking how I learned Spanish. I guess they found the resources that I posted useful, but they were feeling a bit overwhelmed. So I wrote a ridiculously detailed post explaining what I used and how I used it: Spanish from scratch using free resources 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| evilado Diglot Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3999 days ago 64 posts - 82 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 304 of 384 30 July 2014 at 6:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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I know exactly how you feel, I feel guilty when my brain is too tired to do any more
Chinese, and I just slack off and read something in Spanish or listen to another podcast. I remember when podcasts were a reward for all my hard FSI work, now it's all reward, all the time. Congratulations, you've earned it. I might have to check out El Tiempo Entre Consturas now. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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