Dave's ESL Cafe

A deep and fascinating web site on ESL. Kinda kitschy looking, but it's worth it just to read the Hemingway quote. ~Terry

This is one of the site's Dr. Eckard has us review for his TESL class. It's useful to both the teacher and the student. Carrie

In the writing center, I get this website coming to me as a "Review" however, it's usually referred to as "THE Dave's ESL Cafe" Shaun

This one is for you, Derek.

ebr6>--tomasula

Welcome to Engrish.com!

Carrie, this one's for you. Actually, it's for anyone with an interest or a need to understand ESL students ~Terry



That is funny, yet oddly true. I have seen strange signs in English in other countries. I'm sure Derek could name a few too. Carrie

micro films

Just for fun check out these little animations(?). I would like to make some of these. Remind me of flip books.

I like the little guy crawling out of the bottle and up the nose! Carrie

Politi-wonks, here's a great site. Catching out intellectual bad actors wherever they rear their ugly heas.

FactCheck.org - Annenberg Political Fact Check

Kate,

Give them a problem to solve: how can we make this class work? I know it seems like you are copping out asking them to do this, but if you are frustrated and even a little mad at them., well ... let them know. You might introduce this by showing a short clip from the movie Network where the main character does his "I'm mad as hell speech..."

I know we have all made fun of Parker Palmer, but the guy is pretty much "spot on" when he says that you have act from an honest place within yourself. Every place else is swamp because the enemy instinctively knows it's not you. And that ain't touchy-feely, that's a harsh reality.

I have the same problem when I discuss the assigned readings in class. That's why I use the readings in the middle. this is how I do it, your mileage may vary.

1. Do first draft.
2. Workshop the draft.
3. Do second draft.
4. Do readings that are relevant to that assignment.
5. Discussion centers on comparing Short Takes essays to their own through discussion.

The idea is to try to create a personal context from which to speak. Thus (a big transition here, I admit), they become part of the writing "club" in which reading becomes a fundamental tool inextricably vined into their writing. I always forget how speaking is a skill, too, that must be taught. Being able to speak about their own writings intelligently and helpfully is a skill that must be "educed" so be patient. If you can get them to do that several times in the course of a semester, pat yourself on the back. This is not low expectations, but a recognition of how difficult this reading/writing/speaking/listening/reflecting act is. And always, always, always have plan B. My Plan B is to tell stories, read them articles, have an apt poem handy.

I am not a teaching god here. Anyone who has taught for more than a semester (at least with their eyes wide open) will tell you that the only rules are that there are no rules. Except one: you must teach who you are. I have an apt excerpt from John Taylor Gatto's book A Different Kind of Teacher that addresses this. He says that teaching is a "continuous demonstration". Evocative is good, yes?


or just threaten to beat them! ;-)
Carrie

I teach through the back door on the stoop. Or maybe under the radar if you prefer a war metaphor. Kate, have you looked at their sat;/act verbal scores? It helps to know what you are up against and to remember where they come from.

I write along with my students. I have assigned a narrative essay first. I have asked them to come up with something they feel is worth writing about. I model that by always bringing in my little daybook where I write down potential writing ideas. I share those ideas and show them which ones I think I will work on. Today they had to have a first draft plus two copies for the students in their workshop group. I knew we wouldn't get to the workshop, but I made note of who had it and who didn't. I found out who would take enough rope to hang themselves. Mental note: email those with a gentle reminder if I have time. I had copies of my first draft--really crappy and sketchy like all my first drafts are. Took me all of ten minutes to go from my little daybook entry to my first draft (very loosely defined). They see my process for luring words out into the open so we can kill them.... er um I mean revise them. Then I show the second draft which is built on top of the first. That's all of two pages that I wrote this morning from 7:00 to 7:40. I deliberately leave it incomplete. I leave question marks in it. I leave brackets in it with stuff I want to flesh out later written down. I want them to get the idea, the radical notion, that their writing at this stage is fluid, that the ink ain't dry. I make mistakes when I write at this stage and they see it.

Before I read this draft I divide them into workshop groups of three. I introduce them to the idea of being a "responsive" reader and how to do that. while I read my second draft aloud to them I model the kinds of responses I am looking for. I ask myself questions, I tell how it makes me feel, I describe what I am reminded of as I read, you know, all the thinkings that come up when you are reading well. I lead them to ask questions. It is slow go, but as we read, responses pick up. When we are done, class is nearly over and we have accomplished several things: 1. we have read an essay together, 2. the word 'draft' begins to have a different, less daunting meaning (it's all about feeling at this age), 3. you demonstrate how to make the workshop function properly (they have a long way to go , be patient) and 4. you begin to have a new identity and competence to them--that of writer. I cannot overemphasize how important I think it is to help them feel they are part of the game. And that it is the best damned game in town. (Show don't tell.) On Friday I will review and ask them to mimic what I modeled for them in addition to one more task: each reader has to indicate what "point" the writer is trying to make. I try to steer away from the word "thesis" at this point, it has a connotative stink to it much like "portfolio" does for Kentucky high school grads., but all I am asking them to do is to state the thesis. That's what I mean by coming in under the radar. Results? Depends. That is the answer you will always get to that question in education. I know this is long-winded, but I hope you will begin to trust your instincts. This is very hard to do when you first start, but if something isn't working it's OK to stop, count to five, and honestly ask your students, "This isn't working, is it?" The look of surprise on their faces is worth the risk you take in asking it.

---(darn old piece of shit that won't let me italicize to differentiate)---I guess I'm just feeling a little lost. I know what I want to happen, but the precise details of getting from point A to point Z elude me. I need to just get over that. Control freaks make bad profs. I can't write their papers for them, so I need not hold each ones's hand through the process. I'm in search of more general ways to get them on the right track. Thanks for the advice, Terry. -- Kate