Student Seminar: Learning Styles

Visual:

Auditory:

Getting into groups.

Students engaging in group work.

Tactile:

Students acting out the airport scene from Home Alone.

Students building a robber trap like those used in Home Alone.

Students presenting their robber traps.

I conducted three, three-hour seminars on learning styles for new students at the college. First, I explained the different learning styles. Then, I showed students pictures and asked them to identify the learning style being used. Next, we practiced each learning style by studying an English movie. Students were asked to reflect upon which learning method felt the most comfortable for them; they took home a handout on learning styles and appropriate study methods for each, along with a quiz to help them identify which learning style they prefer.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

Changes

I'm in a transition period right now. The Level A class was canceled due to the scheduling error, and I'm restructuring my Level B class.

Three new Level A classes have begun, and I'm using modified versions of the lessons presented in the first days of the trial class.

For the Level B class, I am choosing easier and more practical conversation topics. Though I was given the original conversation topics by the college, they proved unsuitable for the majority of my students.

Updates to come...

Level B: Conversation 2.1

Conversation 1 Review:



We began the second conversation topic this week: what makes a good teacher. Our grammar focus was conditional sentence with if-clauses. The class was more helpful to some than to others:

Things that worked:

The warm-up activity (change places). This activity got people listening, smiling, and moving. It was the perfect way to begin class. We started with easy and observable statements like "If you're wearing blue, change places," before switching to would rather and would prefer statements. Some students got a chance to lead the activity. In addition to asking people to lead who did not find a group, I asked people if I heard them speaking Vietnamese. That was appropriate for this exercise because I acted out the words so beginner students did not have to rely on their neighbors' translations.

Discussion. During discussion, we talked about teaching methods in Vietnam (past and present), differences in education between our countries, and challenges that educators face. The beginner students were visibly uncomfortable, sitting in a circle with no table to hide behind or piece of paper to stare intently at-- so I assured them that I would only ask for volunteers to speak and that they should listen for general meaning of the conversation. Their bodies visibly relaxed. The conversation seemed to engage most students. I watched as the beginners' faces changed from confusion to understanding time and again, like the sky darkening and clearing before and after a storm. Nevertheless, I felt bad about having a discussion in which only half of the students felt comfortable contributing.

Things that didn't work:

Interviews. During the interviews, students remained seated and talked to people at their tables. This meant that each person talked to two or three people, rather than six. Students also spent considerable time writing sentences, which slowed the pace of conversation, and, in some cases, limited the number of students engaged. Lastly, sitting created a stilted atmosphere, in which students were less likely to expand on topics and get into conversations than to insert words into the framework before staring into space.

When I debriefed the exercise, I mentioned that next time I would ask students to stand and mingle because it's helpful to listen to different peoples' pronunciation, vocabularies, etc. In my own reflection, standing usually gets the creative juices flowing, as it's more awkward to stand together in silence or stand without a partner than to sit. I would also give students a chart to record the names of their six interviewees, as a way to guarantee movement and give people something to do with their hands.

Practice Teach. This activity flat-out failed. Students did not understand my instructions about demonstrating teaching methods or teaching vocabulary words to their group. I was disappointed because the plan suggested dual infallibility: teach students new vocabulary, while appealing to tactile learners. Perhaps it was too narrow to expect students to teach a vocabulary word, or maybe I should have given information about mnemonic devices. Regardless, after several attempts at an explanation, I had students bring their chairs into the circle for class discussion.

Homework. I have not figured out a way to assign effective homework for these students, or to use assignments effectively. Thus far, I have assigned articles, journal entries, and speaking assignments. Articles mentally prepare students for a topic, but the one time I asked students to discuss an article, very few had read. Journal assignments help students synthesize their thoughts before or after a discussion, but only one student turned in the last writing assignment. Speaking provides positive backwash for the competence I'm trying to build. However, there's little way to check that students have done this work. I have not decided how much this concerns me. I'm inclined to provide students with supplementary material and let them peruse it at their leisure. They have demanding personal and professional lives (most are married with children and work at the college), varying levels of English ability and motivations for study.

Things I'm pondering:

Corrections. When to give corrections? On what to give corrections? Whom to correct? The advanced students are primarily taking the class to practice pronunciation. The beginner students want to begin to speak. I want to encourage the beginner students, so correcting them after every word (or simply repeating and emphasizing with correct grammar and pronunciation) would be counter-productive. I need to stretch and support both groups, but it's difficult to correct an advanced student's subtle errors without correcting a beginner student's blatant mistakes. Last but not least, when I'm training my ear to the lowest common denominator, I'm listening for meaning above all else; so when an advanced student pronounces something incorrectly and I understand, my brain skips ahead for the big picture. I need to fine-tune my listening to pick up on these subtleties, at which point I can determine the best way to call attention to the mistakes.

Structure. Do I want to do 10-15 minutes on pronunciation each class, despite the fact that it will be difficult to integrate into the themes of the lesson? Or do I want to set aside several full class periods for pronunciation? I'm leaning toward the former. Secondly, when to include jazz chants/sentence stress? This class's conversation structure works well for grammar, but I have yet to formally integrate other language components.

Attendance. It fluctuates a lot because teachers are busy and things come up. I'm inclined to treat class like a club in which people come when they're free (classes don't build on each other as they do for Level A); however, low numbers means less classroom energy, and I think that's detrimental for a conversation-based course. After today's lesson, I sent text messages to people I had not seen in a week or two (completely appropriate here), saying I missed them in class and hoped everything was okay. People responded positively, and I anticipate a large attendance bump next week. When it comes down to it, many faculty members need English to qualify for programs abroad, so a little push from me might not be a bad thing.

Vibe. Relaxed and friendly with food and out-of class activities? Or more formal? I'm leaning heavily toward the former for faculty members, as they work all day and a fun atmosphere is what I've been advised. I have already gone to coffee with some, and am beginning to initiate my own invites, as well. If I establish relationships with the faculty members, I think they will feel more inclined to attend class and work hard. With Monday through Wednesday students, boundaries and some formality will be more important-- attendance and grades will also hold more weight.


And lastly, a self-evaluation...



*The warm-up activity was inspired by Mr. Lam, one of my hosts in Vietnam. The vocabulary chart in Activity 2 was inspired by Stephen C, Fulbright ETA 2010-2011.

Level A: Unit 2.2

Activity 1 (Listening):


Activity 3 (Acting):


This class did not go quite according to plan because a student meeting was scheduled at the same time, which the college gave precedent. Total class attendance was nine students, which apparently will be a trend for the rest of the year if the class continues. As it stands, English is not part of students' main schedules, so they must skip a class (or meeting) to attend. The classes they skip must slow their paces for absentees, or are canceled all-together. As a result, many schedules are compromised, teachers feel frustrated, and students are confused.

The majority of students in the class are third years, and the course began before the start of the new academic year. The college has proposed canceling this class and starting a new class for first year students from the same department (technology). This wouldn't be too off base since placement tests are happening this week for students in the business and agriculture departments, who will have class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, respectively. Altering the schedule would mean I would teach Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday classes of students in the same year, with English included in their main schedules. Downsides to this plan are that the current class has made significant progress, many students are devoted to learning English and need it more immediately for jobs after graduation, and the level at which they began the class (higher than the first years) may be more conducive to full-immersion language instruction. A decision has yet to be made.

Despite low attendance, class proceeded. I was concerned that the lesson would be too easy since many students have moderately-sized vocabularies, but little experience listening and speaking. I was correct: the students were familiar with the time expressions, so I modified the lesson to focus on hearing the difference between "What are you doing now?" and "What do you do?" and providing an appropriate response. We practiced with the blackboard race, which was slated to be warm-up. I worked to engage the most students by sending four to the board at a time instead of two and quizzing people in line about how they would respond to scenarios. Scenarios included, "It's raining after class. What do you do?" "It's 7:00 in the morning. What are you doing?" etc.

Though the blackboard race seemed to be the highlight, the sequence of activities was 1) lesson, 2) listening, 3) blackboard race, and 4) write a schedule and share-- with incremental increases in difficulty. We did not have time for the acting activity, nor did we have enough students. In hindsight, I question the activity's level of ambiguity and the extent to which is would have engaged and empowered students of varying skill levels. I continue to assess students' abilities to shape a class that stretches them, while building their confidence.

Lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level B: Conversation 1.2

Activity 2 (Preference Chart):

Students working together during Activity 2 (Preference Chart):


Today we finished talking about what makes a successful English student by reviewing the modals for necessity and suggestion and learning new sentence structures with "rather" and "prefer". I did not include the by + gerund structure for explaining manner because I wanted students to fully absorb the main lesson. The following is what I have processed about the class:

1. Review old sentence structures; do not teach too many new structures; apply the structures I teach to different contexts.

Activity 1 (speed ball) was not quite as effective with the adult class as with the student class - perhaps because the question and response structures were more varied and complex, or because I did not give the activity long enough to gain momentum. Either way, it emphasized the need to review and incorporate last week's sentence structure. My current plan is to use warm-up periods to review all former grammar structures, giving most weight to those that are recent, but attending to the oldest structures, as well.

Today, I put former structures on the board, but this looked cluttered and will not be an option as we get more. My alternative is to hang them on posters around the room. The walls are currently empty, so I'll have to see if that's allowed. Posters would be a helpful visual reminder, particularly as we move to new structures and conversation topics.

I am still evaluating the method of teaching through sentence structures. So far, it seems to be suitable for beginner and advanced students because the former can learn something new and the latter can work toward competency. Unfortunately, grammar lessons do not build on each other, as they would in a traditional class. Instead, each sentence structure is a key to deal with a different situation - or the same situation differently - requiring a basic English foundation which most students have. Despite the choppy nature of information, I hope to establish continuity in my lessons to earn students' trust.

I also need to evaluate whether it's too passive for students to come to class with the grammar structure on the board, and, if instead, I should elicit the structure from students. It is difficult for me to write on the board and not turn my back to the class. I'm also not entirely comfortable explaining the reasons behind some grammar rules. Both are important and attainable skills, and I imagine that active contributions when forming sentence structures would be more effective than not.

2. When an activity is working, don't stop.

Activity 2 (preference chart) was very effective at getting students talking in pairs and small groups. I interrupted several times- though it pained me because students were so engrossed in conversation. First, I told students to probe for more by asking "why". Second, I highlighted a common mistake I had heard regarding verb forms for "rather" versus "prefer". Third, I gave a time check and challenged students to stop looking at the sentence structures on the board and try to speak from memory. Overall, I let the activity run for about 20 or 25 minutes. After students had returned to their seats, I de-briefed by saying "Who preferred X to X? Who would rather do X than X? Why?..." "Did anything surprise you in this activity?" "I heard a lot of laughter in this activity. What made you laugh?"

In the future, I will have more conversations like this as a class. Students have gotten more comfortable speaking, so it is not a struggle to get volunteers. It's helpful for students to listen to my pronunciation as I facilitate, and it's an opportunity for everyone to listen and build off of ideas.

3. As much as possible, address individual students' needs.

During activity 2, one of the most advanced students, who also holds a top administrative position at the college, sat down early. Sitting and thumbing through a dictionary looked less awkward than standing without a partner, as many people seemed too intimidated to practice with him. Having already talked through the structure together, I decided to sit with him and try a different approach. I know that he's interested in pronunciation, and since the class was off on its own, I showed him some minimal pairs exercises. We worked one-on-one for five minutes, and I assured him that we would have a full class on pronunciation after the next conversation topic. Shortly thereafter, everyone came together and moved to the next exercise. I glimpsed a special spark in the man's eye, a sort of thank you for seeing and supporting his needs.


Lastly, a self-evaluation:

Lesson Plan Evaluation Forms

*These forms are from the Fulbright Teacher Training Manual.

Level A: Unit 2.1

Activity 2 (Daily Routine): Cut into strips before class. Some students will get more than one piece if others are absent. One option is to remove non-essential elements from the sequence.

This was the first class that I left feeling tired and somewhat unsure, as it took a lot of work to diagnose issues and redirect the energy of the class. Hindsight and positive feedback from my mentor teacher have lent a rosier lens, but this is how things developed:

Only eight of 30 students arrived to class on time due to a scheduling conflict in which every student has another class scheduled during our period. The standing rule (as the college figures things out) is that English class takes precedent; but exams, graduation requirements, and students' personal agendas dictate otherwise. Needless to say, late arrivals, after some students had been corralled from other classes, were disruptive and disjointing.

During the class, particularly during the lesson and activity 1 (describe the pictures), it seemed like students were not very challenged* or engaged. They quickly and accurately listed the verbs to describe peoples' activities, and after a few corrections, everyone was writing them as present participles. However, students were not using the whole phrase to describe the pictures (subject + helping verb + main verb/present participle), many were speaking in Vietnamese rather than English, and some were writing and not speaking at all.

I think part of the issue was commitment to the class. Some students had been pulled from other classes -- which may or may not be more important to their fields. And since I only see students once a week, we don't have enough of a relationship yet for them to necessarily want to work hard for me. Needless to say, it took a lot of attention, diligence, and energy to take the pulse of the room and individual students-- and to provide the direction, perspective, encouragement, and humor needed to get students on course for optimal learning. But I think by the end, I succeeded. The following is what I did to try to turn a flat and somewhat unwilling group into relatively happy and productive learners:

I used movement in activity 1: from group to group and around the room, providing reminders about using the present participle, the whole grammatical structure, and spoken English.

I practiced re-thinking rules in activity 2 (daily routine): first allowing students to put the sentences in order on the table, using mainly their reading skills; and then re-explaining the rules and purpose for round two after students had switched papers.

I tried giving students perspective in activity 2: "Listening and speaking are like muscles," I said. Before you play football, you have to practice and build your muscles; and before you listen and speak in English, you have to practice and build your skills. You should see me when I go to a Vietnamese restaurant to eat. I struggle to say the words and have to use facial expressions and gestures to supplement my speech (!), but I am trying and getting better. I know this activity is difficult for you, but you are up to the challenge. And in this class, we will work hard."

I commandeered two adolescent boys' jokes in activity 2 into shared, innocuous, and even productive jokes for the whole class: "Yes, of course, this is funny! You should hear me when I speak in Vietnamese! But that's how we get better. So it's good to laugh a little, but not to laugh so much that it distracts us from our work."

Finally, I facilitated extensive practice through the day's MVP activity 3 (speed ball). I adapted this activity in several ways. First, we followed different themes, starting with the ones from the homework assignment: "It is your first date. What are you doing?" etc. Then, I introduced a prize (homework pass) and rules for elimination, which accumulated and increased in difficulty in time. First, students could not drop the ball. Then, students could not repeat a phrase. Next, students could not make grammatical errors. Finally, students could not hesitate too long in their response. As it turned out, the game met the class's needs perfectly: they started using the grammar structure confidently and reflexively, and everyone had fun.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

red=hindsight modifications


*The role of my class, according to the college, is to supplement an almost exclusively reading-and-writing-based language education with listening and speaking. Most grammar structures, particularly at the beginning of the year, will be review. The goal is to get students using and recognizing them in speech.