Designing a scenario-based syllabus for young learners

As we tentatively proceed into this brave new teaching world of the 21st century, much debate is centering on the effective teaching of English to young learners. Key to this discussion has been the role of the young learner syllabus. While this article makes reference to the teaching of English to young learners in an ESL context based on documentation developed within the European Union, the issues raised are by no means particularly specific to this region nor merely to the teaching of the English language. On the contrary, this article aims to show how to use the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (the CEFRL) to effectively design a scenario-based syllabus and complementary materials suitable for young learners, regardless of location. The need for appropriate target setting is stressed, and the case is put forward for a scenario-based syllabus. The underlying rationale is that a second language syllabus must reflect the world of the young learner and facilitate the acquisition of language in the classroom

Promoting 21st-Century Learning: Online Collaboration through Design Thinking Framework for Today\u27s ESL Students

Learners of the 21st-century engage and learn differently than ever before. Policymakers and teachers are now challenged to makeshift into the 21st-century education model and adapt their approaches to better prepare the students for the future work world. 21st-century ESL classrooms should reflect this learning model through a more engaging, collaborative, and student-centered approach. Collaboration and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills are vital in 21st-century learning. Research shows that ESL learners can benefit from collaborative activities and the use of technology improves students\u27 language reception and production. However, due to the lack of understanding of the paradigm shift in education, lack of teacher support, and time restrictions it is challenging for teachers to adapt their teaching approach to this new model. As a result, students are not engaged in their classrooms or well prepared for their future studies. Due to the novel coronavirus, most classrooms have shifted to online teaching. Teachers need support in how to adapt their teaching into an online platform. Through online collaboration tools, ESL teachers can promote student engagement, 21st-century skills, and second language learning. The website in this project is created to support the knowledge and understanding of the ESL teachers who want to integrate a 21st-century approach to their current teaching practices. The website will be useful for ESL teachers to find resources on online collaboration and adapt their online teaching and/or improve their current one. A 21st-century framework; Design Thinking is also introduced with tools to help ESL teachers when promoting a meaningful collaborative learning model

Tutor Handbooks: Heuristic Texts for Negotiating Difference in a Globalized World

I would like to begin this article by telling a true story. When I was a graduate student earning my doctoral degree, I worked in a writing center on a midsized and predominantly white university campus. Every week I attended and sometimes facilitated the writing center’s tutor education workshop. At one of these meetings, an undergraduate tutor from a Euro- American background said that one of the things she liked about working at the writing center was that if she had a question about grammar during a conference with a client, she could simply lean over to the next table and ask another tutor for advice. In response to this statement, an African-American tutor said that she would never ask another tutor for grammar help because she felt that doing so would undermine her authority and lead clients to question her competence in Standard American English. At this point a bilingual Asian-American tutor said that clients often doubted her ability to tutor based solely on her appearance. For many of her American clients she was too foreign, while for many of her international clients she was not American enough. This discussion was a revelation for many of the Euro-American tutors, since it had never occurred to them that one’s physical appearance could bring his or her linguistic competence into question. All of the tutors learned a great deal from this remarkable discussion, and the theory and practice of the writing center shifted in ways that more fully accounted for the experiences of tutors from diverse backgrounds. I tell this story for two reasons.University Writing Cente

Peer mediation for conflict management: a Singaporean case study

The burgeoning interest in conflict and its management has recently begun to impact on schools and school systems worldwide. Motivated by a concern for increasing levels of violence in schools and student�student conflict, many school administrators are looking at conflict management programs as a means of dealing with the problem. Most of the more widely used programs have their origins in the United States; their appropriateness and effectiveness in other countries and cultures is, at best, unknown, and in some respects open to conjecture. In this paper the cultural appropriateness of a peer mediation program in a primary school in Singapore is the subject of investigation. The study also addresses, in an exploratory manner, the effectiveness of peer mediation as a mechanism for student�student conflict management

Using web-based language learning activities in the ESL classroom

This article looks at ways of using Web-based language learning (WBLL) activities and reports the results of a WBLL project that developed a Web site as a supplementary resource for teaching English as a second language (ESL) and tested the Web site with a group of students in an ESL context. The Web site provides WBLL session plans for ESL teachers, containing three types of WBLL activities: pre-created Web activities for grammar, vocabulary, reading and listening; task-based Web activities that require students to use the Web to produce certain outcomes; and teacher-made Web activities. Participants in WBLL sessions using the Web site showed positive attitudes toward WBLL and expressed the view that they would like to use more Web activities during and outside class time

The Troubled Sense of Otherness among Christian and Non-Christian ESL Freshmen at a Christian College in the Midwest

This study was derived from an ethnographic study conducted with five ESL learners and their peers in a Christian college in the Midwest. The theoretical framework of this article was built upon Freire’s (2000) and Kumashiro’s (2001) anti-oppressive education. The study employed various data sources to find out how Christian and non-Christian ESL freshmen experienced a sense of otherness in the local college community. The findings reveal the hidden norms in the faith-based college, which marginalized the non-Christian ESL freshmen from being legitimate participants (Lave & Wenger, 1991). The researcher provides recommendations to educators and administrators in higher education for advising international students and providing services to them. The researcher also highlights the importance of having a deeper understanding of the plights experienced by non-Christian ESL freshmen at Christian colleges in the USA

Dissecting Dialogue: The Value of Music Education in ESL/ELL Programs

Among educators and philosophers alike, critical dialogue is widely regarded as one of the most effective ways to communicate and educate in the classroom. In his quintessential work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire reflects upon the importance of dialogue stating, “Only dialogue, which requires critical thinking, is also capable of generating critical thinking. Without dialogue, there is no communication, and without communication there can be no true education.” This point is reinforced in other notable texts such as Teaching as a Subversive Activity, which describes the “new education” as not only student and question centered, but “language-centered” as well. From a theoretical point of view, these approaches to learning bear merit and, in many cases, are effective when successfully applied in the field. However, with the dawn of the twenty-first century and the continued growth and complexity of globalization, these theories are in need of constant revisions as educators attempt to apply dated practices in an ever-changing society. Particularly in the United States of America, which since its inception, has maintained its reputation of a “melting pot” of peoples and cultures, it is vital that educators incorporate progressive interpretations of these principles in order to best enlighten, and therefore educate, an increasingly diverse population of students. Accompanied with a wide range of cultural beliefs that span numerous languages, educators currently face this paradox: How does one use dialogical tools to nurture what Freire deems “critical thinking” in classrooms where linguistic differences inhibit the implementation of these same tools? In response to this dilemma, the responsibility falls on music educators and administrators to develop policies that address the educational inequalities produced by the cultural and linguistic differences found in classrooms to provide an egalitarian and accessible education to all students that simultaneously encourages and utilizes dialogue and praxis

ICT and applied linguistics – A project approach

This workshop discusses and shows examples of student-created ICT projects developed as part of Applied Linguistics coursework. A “Top 20 Site Search” asked students to select sites to recommend to other (novice) teachers of English. Besides student learning resources, they also located resources of use to teachers for lesson planning, test development, and so on. A similar project was conducted with students in a graduate Materials Design course. Students submitted their top sites, which were compiled and made available on web CT. In class, they took turns showing the best features of their favorite sites. Perhaps the best example of learner motivation linked to IT comes from undergraduate courses in first and second language acquisition. Although not explicitly asked to use IT, the better projects integrated digital video clips so as to show samples collected during their research. Another example is a fieldwork “scrapbook” presented via Power Point. It is clear that students went well beyond the requirements of the assignment when implementing and presenting their projects. IT was obviously a valuable tool and even a motivator for students as they explored language learning issues, processes and concepts

Seeking Effective Policies and Practices for English Language Learners

A study by the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy finds that English language learners (ELLs), a rapidly growing percentage of the Commonwealth's student population, are qualifying for transition into mainstream classrooms at a much slower pace than originally expected. The report examines the evolution of policies and practices affecting ELLs since the passage of Question 2 in November 2002. Question 2 mandated English immersion as the primary means of instruction for most ELLs and compelled schools to expedite the transition of students to mainstream classes. While Question 2 sought to limit English learners' immersion experience to a "period not normally intended to exceed one school year," federal Civil Rights legislation trumped Question 2 and mandated that students could not be re-classified out of ELL status until they can "participate meaningfully" in English-only classes.The Rennie Center's report examines whether expectations for an expedited transition process have been met and explores the ways in which the state Department of Education and schools and districts have tried to make sense of the conflicting mandates on what constitutes an adequate amount of time for a student to become proficient in English.Data from the Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment (MEPA), a test designed to gauge the progress of English language learners, shows that after one year of English immersion only 17% of ELLs score at levels indicating they are ready to transition to mainstream classrooms. Among ELLs who have been in Massachusetts' schools for five or more years, only slightly more than half score at the transitioning level. The report also found that schools throughout Massachusetts have developed diverse ways of interpreting and implementing sheltered English immersion.At a time of national debate about the status of immigrants and sharp increases in the numbers of non-English speakers in cities and towns across the Commonwealth and nation, it is critical that public schools focus greater attention on the issue of how best to meet the needs of English language learners. The report cites that while ten years ago only slightly more than half the school districts in Massachusetts enrolled ELLs, today that proportion has soared to nearly three-quarters. The number of districts enrolling one hundred or more English language learners has risen 37% in the past decade.As the number of English language learners continues to rise, their performance persistently lags far behind that of native English speakers. According to the Rennie Center's report, ELLs scored below the median at every grade level in every subject on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). Further, ELLs are 57% less likely than their native English-speaking peers to earn the competency determination needed to graduate from high school. Both the No Child Left Behind legislation and the Massachusetts Education Reform Act require schools to ensure that ELLs meet the same performance standards as their native English-speaking counterparts. According to report authors, "That we are so woefully far from that goal should be cause for alarm and action."The Rennie Center's study seeks to shed light on this issue by providing an analysis of policies and practices affecting ELLs in Massachusetts over the past five years and examining the state role in promoting improved practice. The report includes case studies of three schools that are making significant strides with large populations of English language learners and highlights common elements that the three schools have utilized to successfully meet the needs of English language learners. For example, each school studied offered multiple types of programs to accommodate the needs of students at varying levels of English proficiency, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Case study schools also developed a staged transition process that provided vital support as students moved into mainstream classes.Next Steps at the State and District LevelsIn a series of recommended next steps, the report urges state policymakers to encourage flexibility and experimentation with innovative approaches to meet the needs of English language learners;offer opportunities for schools to share practices;get specific about when students should transition out of ELL status and to provide clear guidance to schools and districts;ensure a pipeline of leaders for ELL programs;require sheltered English immersion training in teacher preparation programs.And schools and districts to:consider staged transition processes;set goals and create incentives to get teachers trained;pool resources among districts with small ELL populations; andfocus more attention on reaching out to communicate with and provide guidance for the families of ELLs.The report, Seeking Effective Policies and Practices for English Language Learners, was released at a public event on May 31, 2007 in Marlborough, MA