Connie+Toone

Teaching Journal for July 16, 2012 Madahi made it to class tonight. Last Wednesday, she was late getting home from her job in Layton. She has another class after ours and so she found something to eat and went to her other class. Tonight she had more phrases to share with us. She had heard them at work and needed clarification as to what they meant. We laughed a lot about the different meanings of English words and the ways people use them. Tonight we also worked on choosing the correct preposition and verb phrases. At the end of class we talked about math questions she had from the practice test she was working on. Snow helped her with one question and I answered a few others. Karla also helped us tonight. It was fun to have so many good ideas.

Teaching Journal for July 11, 2012 Madahi did not make it to class tonight. We planned to have Gregg show her his school web site where she could watch videos designed to help people study for the Math Accuplacer test. After the general group activity was complete we waited a few more minutes and then went home early.

Teaching Journal for July 9, 2012 Our time together tonight continued in the same direction we have headed previously. Madahi did test practice questions on the computer followed by work on verb tenses from our class resources. She has started working at the Layton campus with a program called "Gear Up". She has lots of questions about the meanings of phrases she hears her co-workers use. It is fun to help her unravel the mystery of the correct meaning for the English words that confuse her. She also wants to know how to buy an economical used car in the future. Gregg explained how she could get on to KSL.com to look at used cars for sale. Madi also needs to learn more about insurance and how to finance big purchases like this. July 7, 2012 (Tim Conrad): I can tell from your journal that Madahi feels very happy about the class and your teaching. As far as she being able to "teach herself," that's a great goal for any __#|teacher__, to find that the work you're doing is enabling students to take charge of their own learning.

Teaching Journal for 7/2/2012 I enjoyed mingling with class members during Heather's icebreaker activity. Personalities unfold quickly through the use of these "starter" activities. Madahi surprised me by bringing a homemade treat to share called Dobladas. She is helping me to learn a few Spanish words without knowing it. This treat is a homemade corn meal tortilla (4-5 inch diameter) filled with potato and chicken. After it is cooked it is topped with a seasoned tomato sauce. Madahi's desire to learn and her gratitude have had an amazing effect on me. I am not sure that I have been of that much help to her, but I want to do everything I can to help her succeed here. Her questions from last week's __#|work__ have to do with sentence order and when the words __in__ and __to__ can replace each other in a phrase. I tried to use examples such as, " I live in __#|Utah__," or "I am going to Utah", to help her understand the difference. Any ideas from the professional language people in class would be appreciated. We continued to work on verb tense and worked through reading questions online. Her reading is okay, but it is slow going as she still thinks in Spanish first. We used basic test taking skills to help choose the correct answer multiple choice answer. Even though the answers were easier to find this way, She is afraid if she does not go back and read through each word of the passage again she will miss something. Since the test she is taking is timed, I encouraged her to trust her first answer and then come back if she has time at the end. I hope that is a possibility on the Accuplacer test.

Teaching Journal for 6/27/2012 The participation in our warm-up activity was great. The second language learners needed little help once the activity started. I liked the addition of writing the name of the movement of the board. Overlapping the listening, speaking and writing domains should make stronger memory connections in the brain. The most helpful part of our individual work was using the #|laptop to #|practice questions about sentence structure that were similar to the questions Madahi will need to answer when she takes the Accuplacer test again. She was excited to see that she could go online and use __#|free__ #|ACT practice #|tests to __#|study__ multiple choice questions similar to those she would be tested on. I feel like and serving more as a resource than a teacher. She can almost teach herself at this point. I can help her improve her #|reading skills by teaching her to look for key words that tell the tense of a sentence and by repeating aloud words she feels uncomfortable pronouncing. We did a short activity with homophones, homographs and idioms which made her laugh.

July 1st, TC: "All 3 also feel shy about adding to conversations at school and work because of experiences they have had where people complained about it being hard to understand them." Such an important aspect of language development you can __#|help out__ with. As you indicate, this is an area that anyone can help, not only "teachers," as we use our natural skills to comprehend and interpret messages that language learners are valiantly attempting to communicate.

Teaching Journal for 6/25/2012 Monday's class went better than I expected. The #|team building experience that I shared with the group was interesting to watch unfold. I __#|bet__ the students wondered why we were standing in a group throwing things at each other. I just kept reminding myself that businesses __#|hire people__ to come work with their employee's to build trust and unity. The activity I was sharing was designed to do the same thing for our class. The longer we played and the more challenging the objective for each round became, the more relaxed the class members became with each other. During the first round choosing someone to throw to and pronouncing a new name was a big concern. Gradually the group started to focus on other things such as improving the time and watching for the next item coming to them. They forgot about themselves as they began to work together calling out names, listening for their own name and juggling the various items around the circle. I loved looking at their faces and seeing the smiles that blossomed. Body movement is a wonderful memory strategy to include in our teaching. It will be interesting to see if we can remember more names as a result of taking time to do this group energizing activity. Next, Madahi and I met with Heather's group to share the paragraphs that the students had written concerning the movie clip, "For the Birds". I had never done anything like this with my 7th grade #|ESL students. The results were amazing. This activity opened up dialog that ranged from Idioms to our diverse types of cultural and human __#|behavior__. All three students in our group were bright, intelligent and would be considered advanced in ESL terms. All 3 also feel shy about adding to conversations at school and work because of experiences they have had where people complained about it being hard to understand them. We hope to be able to help them with that because they have wonderful ideas to share if people are willing to really listen. Finally Madahi and I worked independent of the other group on choosing the correct verb tense in writing sentences. Her Accuplacer test showed us that the results were lowest in __#|sentence structure__. I could use help finding questions similar to those on the Accuplacer test where the students need to re-write sentences in the correct form using a multiple choice format.

June 26, Tuesday (Tim Conrad): I love reading your descriptive, heartfelt journals, Connie. We're all teachers in this class so I'm sure we can brainstorm with each other about our __#|lesson plans__ as this quick one month program proceeds. Also I'm always happy to talk to you, look for lesson ideas, see what books or materials I might have either after class or if you ever want to have a meeting with me before class or anytime during the week. If Madahi finds that she can't come at night, maybe you could tutor her at another time, perhaps replacing that evening teaching experience, for example, leaving our class at 6:00 or after the opening activity. Or maybe we can #|find someone else who can help her with the Accuplacer and preparing for the 1010 class. There may also be a challenge #|test she could take to move from the 0955 to 1010. I'm teaching a 1010 class this fall for #|international students.

Teaching Journal for 6/21/2012 It was interesting to find out more about the 15 __#|students__ that we will be __#|working__ with. I was surprised to find out how much I already cared about people I just met the day before. Each member of the group was unique and had their own language needs and desires. The one thing that I felt in common with everyone in the room was the love for learning. Our class time together will be profitable if we open our minds and hearts and let that love for learning guide us through the experience. I was hoping for more guidance in developing #|lesson plans, but Dr. Conrad seems to trust us and is letting us feel our way one __#|step__ at a time. I feel a bit like a baby bird being pushed out of the nest. I am flapping my wings and hoping I can fly. Years of teaching experience will help me in some ways, otherwise I feel as green as I did my first day of student teaching. The resource materials shared with us in class are a starting point for the first lesson. I think I will prepare three different lesson plans around items that the Accuplacer test assesses and use the one that Madahi feels she need the most help with. Then I plan to get with Jaron and his students for the last part of class and do speaking and listening activities. At this point I can see that I am going to learn more from the second language learners than they are from me.

Teaching Journal for 6/20/2012 Wednesday evening I interviewed a delightful young woman named Elizabeth Madahi Mejia. Her friends call her Madahi. She is a 25 year old student from Guatemala that will __#|enroll__ at Weber State in the fall. Madahi is part of a family of 6. She is the second child and oldest daughter. Madahi is interested in our class because she must be qualified for English 1010 to get into her __#|university program__ this fall. She started #|studying English 12 years ago when she was in Junior High. Her speech is easy to understand, but she confessed that when she needs to ask a question or write a paper the thoughts come to her in Spanish and she is slow transferring the ideas into English. American phrases, vocabulary (especially medical term), verb usage and composition are things she would like to learn from us. Madahi took the Accuplacer test on Tuesday. According to the results she should be placed in 0955 English which is one class below where she needs to be to start her medical #|classes. She is very determined to learn what she needs to know to #|take the Accuplacer test again and score high enough to be placed in Eng 1010. Madahi will go to school on a grant in the fall, but she also is __#|looking for a job__ to help with __#|financing__. She has applied for a night job. If she gets the job she will not be able to attend our class, so the information about the ELL class held during the day was important to her. Her goal is to finish school in two and a half years and return to her country to work. She appears to be a solid level Level 4 merging into Level 5. To be of the most help to her we would need to know the areas she was lowest in on the Accuplacer test.

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