Reflection about Lesson Planning & Micro-Teaching

Write about your Practicum experience at Humber. This experience includes making lesson plans and doing micro-teaching in our class.

• What have you learned about lesson planning and micro-teaching?
• What have been some memorable moments about micro-teaching for you?
• What are you most proud of? How was your overall feeling?
• What experiences will you take back to Korea?

Post your thoughts here.

English Phrases According to Dialect

Hi, Everyone,

Given our interesting discussion on Monday morning about region-specific English phrases, I thought I'd post some interesting links for websites that "claim" to know the answers. I must warn you, however: can anyone really claim 100% that certain expressions "don't exist" in a specific region in which English is spoken? I don't think so!

English greetings: formal/informal, American perspective: http://www.english-at-home.com/speaking/english-greetings/

Vocabulary differences:
http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/britishcanadianamericanvocab.html

British Slang:
http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml

The BG-Map English (British) to American Dictionary: http://www.bg-map.com/us-uk.html

http://www.learnenglish.de/basics/greetings.htm

Enjoy,

Lara

CLBs: Canadian Language Benchmarks

Hello, Everyone,



Here are some interesting links for the Canadian Language Benchmarks that you might want to take a look at.

To download a PDF version of the CLBs, click on:


http://www.language.ca/display_page.asp?page_id=254

For all related information on CLBs, click on:

http://www.language.ca/

Enjoy!

photo source: http://www.language.ca/display_page.asp?page_id=254

Intensive Reading Textbooks

Somebody asked for some suggestions for intensive reading books. Without more details about the particular needs, it's difficult to make any suggestions, but the Reading Power series is quite good.

Word Order Discussion

Here are some sentences with different word order. Do you think the different word orders are correct? Is there a difference in meaning? Post your thoughts here!

Example #1
a. The long-stemmed, red roses are the loveliest.
b. The red, long stemmed roses are the loveliest.

Example #2
a. The movies at the downtown, six-screen cinema always change on Friday.
b. The movies at the six-screen, downtown cinema always change on Friday.

Thanks

Thank you all for being so attentive this morning. I hope it was interesting and challenging. Please, feel free to send me any comments or questions you have. My e-mail is brett.reynolds@humber.ca

Also, you might find my blog interesting.

I hope the rest of your course goes well and I hope to hear from you when you get back to Korea.

브레트

Reading & Vocabulary links

1. The complete (sic) lexical tutor vocabulary profiler.
2. The BYU corpus of American English.
3. The British National Corpus.
4. Basic English-Japanese 1000-word (word forms) list with examples sentences. (You need to log in to Yahoo and maybe join the ETJ group).
5. Simple Wiktionary (for word lists, and free definitions and examples).
6. Lesson 11 file.
7. Powerpoint file.
8. Just the word (we didn't talk about this, but it's useful all the same).
9. Anki flash card software.
   

Reading & Vocabulary: Your needs?

Next Wednesday, I'll be leading a seminar focusing on vocabulary and reading, mainly from a theoretical viewpoint. (In the afternoon, I believe Irene will be working with you on more practical aspects). I've already done a good deal of planning, but I'd like to hear from you. What do you already know? What have you often wondered about? What problems do you and your students have? What successes have you had? I look forward to hearing from you. Feel free to comment here or to send me e-mail at brett.reynolds@humber.ca

Secret of the Wild Child

Post your comments about CPH, Genie and Victor. What do you think about CPH? After watching the video, how has your understanding of L1 and L2 acquisition changed or not changed?

First and Second Language Acquisition

Hi, Everyone,




I enjoyed going through FLA and SLA with you this morning. It's a subject I'm very fascinated with.



Here are some links to the videos you were shown, as well as the interesting New Yorker article on the Piraha people in Brazil and how their language "disproves" the UG position (please note my quotations on "disproves"!)




1) Chomsky lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJp1-Od67-U

2) How babies learn language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZAuZ--Yeqo&feature=related

3) Piraha language (it's non recursive!): http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_colapinto

Also, I encourage you to search www.youtube.com for interesting videos in English for your students. It's an easily accessible (and free!) site which can be valuable for language learning.

See you next Monday,

Lara

Photo source

Re: "Richest Line" from Chapter 6

You have all chosen some poignant and insightful quotes from the text. I can definitely relate to all of your observations.

I think we can all agree that the role of a teacher is a complex role, particularly for teachers who speak English as a second language. The role is a "performance" of sorts, which demands professionalism, respect, honesty, and the recognition that all students are equal and should be treated as such.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

(I also posted this as a comment)

Chapter 6 - Describing Teachers

You already wrote about what kind of teacher you are. Now, read Chapter 6 and choose your 'richest line.' The richest line can be any sentence or two that meant the most to you when you read this chapter. Post your richest line on this blog. You only have to post one or two sentences.

Online Pronunciation Websites

Please visit the following link, which will give you a list of many online pronunciation websites. You can practice your pronunciation in your spare time by clicking on this link.

http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Pronunciation/

BLOGGING TASK #1

Introduce yourself on Blogger. Write a few short paragraphs to answer these questions:
1. What does it mean to be a teacher?
2. Who are you as a teacher?

Introduction

Welcome to Humber!

My name is Irene Kouretsos, and I am a TESOL professor. I have worked at Humber since 2002. I have taught a variety of courses including Communications, ESL, EAP, and TESL. I have also tutored students in the Writing Centre part time. I completed my M.A. in Applied Linguistics from York University in 2006. I did research in the field of pronunciation with an emphasis on attitudes and perceptions of foreign accents.

I am a very dynamic teacher who is passionate about her work. I thrive on the interaction in the classroom. I like to learn from my students very much, and I feel that the process of teaching and learning is entwined together. For example, one could not exist without the other. For me, the greatest teachers have been the ones whom I remember not for what they taught, but for how they taught. I hope to be one of those teachers.