Week 11 class reflection

In class some people said that there are some biological or gender differences when people acquire second language. I think that the differences are not biological or gender differences but individual differences. (Our focus was literacy skills in the class; however, I would like to write about it from speaking skills.)

     Generally speaking, we think that woman is talkative rather than man. In other words, the amount of output of woman is much bigger than that of man. Therefore, woman  is good at acquiring second language rather than man. However, according to the article of scientific America, I forgot the title and researchers’ names, some researchers conducted the experiment and they concluded that there is no big difference of amount of output between woman and man.

     Therefore, I believe that there is no biological or gender differences when we acquire second language. The difference is individual differences. 

Week 11 reading reflection

Nowadays, growing number of countries are moving toward making English language instruction mandatory from a young age. I heard that in Korea, they start to learn English from 3^rd grade in the elementary school. This is based upon the new curriculum. In order to know the truth,  I asked about it to my roommate who is from Korea and his age is 21. Then he said that he started to study English when he was junior high school students. He does not know the change of curriculum. From this, I think that the change of curriculum is really new. Japan also tries to change the system or curriculum like Korea. However, I can not agree with them. I never believe Critical Period Hypothesis by Scovel.

     According to the book, it is controversial whether to introduce English young age or not because there are several advantages and disadvantages. I really want to say that Japanese ministry of Education consider about it. We should not be in a hurry to change the curriculum. 

week 10 class reflection

In class, first, we talked about what kinds of reading strategies are taught. I was just taught only grammar translation and SQ3R system. Compared with me, other group members experienced variety of strategies. For example, skimming, scanning, guessing vocabularies from the context, and reading between lines. I experienced only two strategies. I thought that I should learn more and more strategies because if I have variety of reading strategies, I can adjust students’ need in the future.

     During discussion, we tried to think about the question ‘what should we do in order to create background knowledge?’ I think that the best way to create background knowledge is to read materials which are written in native language. For example, if we want to understand biology, we should read material which is written in native language and connected with biology. I experienced this strategy when I studied TOEFL. I think it is very helpful and easy to do. 

week 10 reading reflection

My reading experience

 

When I was junior high or high school student, I was taught English reading based upon grammar-translation. I always translated English into Japanese word by word or sentence by sentence. Any other reading skill except for grammar-translation was taught by teacher at that time. I really hate that because it is not useful if our proficiency level advanced. However, when I was university student, I learned SQ3R system. I think it is really helpful when we read. When I become a teacher, I would like to introduce SQ3R system to my students in the future.

There are a lot of reading assignments now. I would like to know and acquire more effective reading skills. It is good for me and my future students. 

week 8 reading

After reading both MCM and Brown book, I hit upon questions that speaking skills and pronunciation (skills) are same? Should we have to think of them separately? I do not know the answer. Therefore, someone, could you tell me the answer?

In the Brown book, seven principles for teaching speaking skills are introduced. Among them, I like the part of 2^nd. That is ‘provide intrinsically motivating techniques. It says that it is important to help students to see how the activity will benefit them. Students often do not know why we ask to do certain things. When I was a junior high or high school student, sometimes I do not know why we should do some kind of activities. I think that it is really important to make the student know the reason of the activities. It will motivate students.

In MCM book, techniques of child’s speaking skills are introduced. I think that Jazz Chants can be used not only for children but also for adults. When I teach speaking skills, I would like to use jazz chants. 

Week 7 class reflection

In the class, Aaron and I presented about oral skills. First, I expalined why the learners have difficulties in speaking. After that we tried discussing following things. 

1. Cover multiple subjects from textbooks
2. Discussion w/ class (10 min), Topic: Why EFL/ESL students tend to have difficulty speaking:

1. What experiences do you have with this personally?

2. What are the differences between a proficient L2 speaker and a native L1 speaker of English?

3. How can our ESL/EFL students improve their speaking?

4. What would be some good speaking strategies for our ESL learners in the US? What about in other cultures (maybe where English is a widely used 2^nd language, i.e. Russia/Russian accent,  ?

5. What activities can we use to enhance learners’ speaking skills?

6. What forms of technology should we use and are they helpful when teaching oral language skills?

 

II.                Activities

a.       In small groups (5 groups of 3 people) create a discussion using multiple speaking strategies. Remember to take notes during or just after your discussion. (Topics: Politics/international relations, cultural differences, food, sports/fashion (gender speaking differences), television/movies, media control, etc.) (10 Min.)

b.      As a class, share the notes about your group’s conversation and (if time) discuss how these strategies could be taught. What else can we do to improve and motivate/encourage (i.e. confidence) our students’ speaking ability?

Unfortunately, we did not enough time to cover everything. However, we could discuss a lot. I think that it was good. Next time, I am going to focus on writing. I will do my best.             

week 7 reading

Week 7’s focus is on oral skills. In MCM book, Brown (1994) introduced several reasons why the ESL/EFL learners have difficulty in speaking. First, he focuses on segmental level. In English speech, there are a lot of reduced forms, such as constructions, vowel reductions, and elisions. Second, he focuses on suprasegmental level. English speakers often use their unique stress, rhythm, and intonations. In addition, Lazarton, who is the author of this section, mentioned the most difficult part. It is that almost always accomplished via interaction with at least one other speaker. In other words, the learner have to monitor and understand the other speaker, think about one’s own contribution, produce that contribution, monitor its effect, and so on. The learners are not prepared for spontaneous communication and do not cope with all of its simultaneous demands. I agree with these opinions. 

week 6 class reflection

In class, we discussed what the most interesting and effective technique of listening was. When I was junior high or high school student, I never experienced interesting listening techniques. All of the techniques were very boring for me.

I mainly learned listening skill by dictation in Japan. I hate that technique because 1) it is not authentic, 2) it is monotonous, and 3) it is very frustrating if we do not understand. First, this technique is not authentic because in real world, we never write down what a speaker says. Second, it is very monotonous. In dictation, we just listen same dialogues many times. Third, it is easy to be frustrated. Sometimes we can not understand what the tape says even though we listen many times.

For all these reasons, I hate dictation.

In a textbook, many techniques are introduced, so I would like to try these.