This week we were instructed to develop a vocabulary activity for intermediate level English language students from either the skills-based or task-based lesson plans that we worked on as groups. I have chosen to create an activity based on the skills-based lesson plan that incorporates the vocabulary from the written text in the reading task called the Manitoba Memo. The Manitoba Memo provides...
Summarizing the readings in this unit The first reading this week came from a website called English Club. The website provides information for both teachers and students. The information is about developing the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and improving grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The information is contained in articles and learning activities. The article that we were assigned this...
Some of the concepts covered in this course have changed my views about teaching English. One example is the use of language assessments. I had a narrow perspective and assumed that they were only conducted by teachers and by institutions like universities and resettlement agencies. I had not considered other uses for language assessments and the roles that students can have in their...
We were instructed to create a full lesson plan that ties together aspects of listening and speaking that we learned over this course. My lesson plan is targeted towards foundations (or pre-beginner) level students. The lesson is based on a medical appointment scenario because it is practical and a situation that the students will encounter. The lesson plan can be viewed below. ...
We were instructed to assess the pronunciation of an English language learner in a speaking test that was a part of an IELTS exam. I chose the video of the Korean L1 student, which can be viewed here. I decided to create an activity to address the difficulty that the student had with substituting and voicing final consonants. Both the assessment and activity...
Unit 4 has helped me understand the usefulness and limitations of assessments. The unit focused on ways in which listening and speaking skills can be assessed. The outline for this unit explained the differences between diagnostic, summative, and formative assessments. Diagnostic assessments are used to determine the skill level of students and usually are presented in the form of a standardized test. The...
Unit 3 focused on the strategies that English language teachers can teach and encourage students to use when they need to complete a listening task either inside or outside of the classroom. Wilson (2008) identifies three different types of strategies that English language learners can use for listening activities—cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-affective strategies. It is explained that cognitive strategies are what we use...
We were instructed to make a listening activity for Unit 3 in our Listening and Speaking class. When I was looking for resources that I could use for this activity, I came across a website called Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab.The website has a wide assortment of recordings, preparation exercises, and comprehension activities for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students. I decided to use...
We were instructed to create a pronunciation activity for Unit 2 in our Listening and Speaking class. We were told that the activity should address a pronunciation problem that we noticed in a speech sample that we were given to analyze. One of the problems I noticed was that the speaker had was distinguishing between vowel sounds, especially the sounds /æ/ (-ah), /e/...
Unit 2 focused on the decisions that English language teachers make about whether or not to specifically teach pronunciation to their students. Harmer (2001) discusses this topic and the strategies that teachers use to teach pronunciation. She explains that some teachers choose to teach pronunciation directly by focusing on sounds and intonation in their lessons while others teach it indirectly by addressing pronunciation...
One of the topics that was covered in this unit that I found interesting is teacher intervention. Teacher intervention occurs when a teacher provides feedback either during or following language learning exercises, usually to correct students’ errors. Harmer (2001) discusses this topic within the context of communicative and non-communicative activities in the ESL classroom. This entry will focus on the discussion of teacher...
