November 1, 2013
Today we start off with a moment to talk about what we have done in our MAC and CPE students in order to make associations so that they may remember words and expressions better and expand on the new lexis based on Scriverner's associations chapter. Here are some of the ideas mentioned by my peers:

• Collocations: one student sits with his/her back to the board and the other can say part of the collocation
• Pictures which remind students of the vocabulary
• Pictures which remind students of the words in a different context with a lead in which the expression is blocked out
• Pictures which show the situations that illustrate the idioms
• Associate vocabulary with movement and sound
• Describe the situation and they have to come up with the word

In the light of our task: Action Research; these ideas above are just great reminders that we must revisit vocabulary presented in different contexts. Continuity and connectivity are key words so that courses are really courses and not separate lessons. Also, our classroom experience and research is on opportunity to see continuity and connectivity is an uninterrupted experience, thus progress is made. Teachers make progress in their daily practice by doing action research looking back on their lesson plans and taking the outcomes and difficulties into account when planning the next lessons.

Our final presentations are our next challenge! Mamma mia, here we go again, bye bye....

October 18, 2013
We started our session by sharing our adaptations to a MAC lesson. Great moments of reflection and some thought-provoking comments so that we may continue this learning path for Teaching Advanced Levels.
Our instructor asked us to discuss what has happened in the classes we have taught and what evidence we could give to support our action research topics. The most mentioned activities were: revisiting of language by proposing different activities, i.e. pictures on the board, writing parts on the board. Eliciting words and grammar via concept questions and systematizing it by themselves. Pausing in order to allow them to experiment with the language and going back instead of speeding them up or spoon-feeding.

The most important areas for working with texts are pointing out patterns and similarities, helping learners to discover ways of storing and retrieving vocabulary items, applying different techniques and media for presenting vocabulary and thus making it more memorable, encouraging to appreciate the sound, beauty and origin of words and chunks.

To wrap up we read a text from Scrivener's book on associations, learners should be encouraged to make associations so that they may internalize new lexis. Next blog entry I will summarize ways of applying this to our Advanced lessons.

Cheers,
Juliette

Hi!
I must say I have been much more successful in having students use their lexical books, hurray.
It has all depended on an opportunity I have given them to NOTICE how they benefit from the lexical book. I have complimented them on sophisticated outcomes in which new chunks and vocabulary were used and also recorded their outcomes on the flipchart (spoken). Also have I given examples of chunks and language throughout the lesson to simplify the usage of lexical book. Instead of  being reluctant to use their lexical books it has become a MOTIVATIONAL factor due to the fact that they have been able to see the benefits of their lexical books. This is a good example of noticing an issue, reflecting, adapting and analyzing the results.
Well, I am on the road of action research, really.
Juliette Gaasenbeek

Hello once more.

In my next blog entries I will be sharing experiences from the Advanced level classroom. Action, reflection and making adjustments are steps which are very helpful when it comes to improving lesson planning. I have got a MAC 3 group and they are very reluctant to use their lexical books. Therefore I will try new ways to encourage the usage of such by pointing out the real value of it. For this I will use the test- teach - test approach, that is I will ask my sts to do a task, record it on the board and have them do a similar task by the end of the lesson and record it on the board. I will enable the sts to notice the sophistication of their production after having been exposed and lexical books will have helped them to do so. By doing so I hope to reassure sts of the necessity and value of their lexical books. ;)
I will ask sts feedback on these lessons and record their feedback in the next blog entry.
That's all for now.
Juliette Gaasenbeek

How do student's feel when they have to write?

How do we go about the process? 

Today we were able to browse through some websites with film reviews and select lexical chunks. We literally sat on the student's chair! Wonderful. Here is my film review. The underlined parts were chunks I previously selected and by re-contextualizing placed carefully in my piece of writing. Hope you enjoy it. 

I certainly did......

Intouchables unveils an astoundingly fresh approach to stereotypes

Based on a true story, this laughter-packed non-English film is a pleasure for those who want something different from the regular Hollywood-like films. This is the most striking film about disability I have ever watched. It pictures an odd-couple friendship between Phillipe (François Cluzet), a rich, handsome, cultivated quadriplegic, and his new carer, Driss (Omar Sy).

Driss (Omar Sy), an intelligent, charismatic, uneducated young working-class West African who has done time for robbery finds himself in desperate need of a job. When he applies for a caretaker’s vacancy he tries to impress with his natural wittiness. And so he does. Not only is his employer attracted to his naïve approach to life but also to the fact that Driss doesn’t have any prejudice whatsoever when it comes to the disabled. In other words, Driss treats Phillipe as he would treat any other person. Philippe’s household is completely changed by the coming of Driss.

The city of lights, Paris, was chosen to offer even more pleasure to the viewer; therefore it is really a joy to the eye. Realistic shots filled with real emotion, wrinkles and smiles play an important part when showing the no-nonsense approach the makers have clearly chosen.  

With an amazingly bold dose of humour does the film unfold towards a more serious underlying reality of fear and desire which all human beings experience. The contrasting physical appearance of the main characters and their equally human desires become evident. A must-see film in which chuckle and tissue sit side by side.  
Juliette Gaasenbeek

Critical thinking in the Advanced classroom

How to foster more critical thinking in the Advanced classroom?

This article caught my attention on the topic. Jackson posted it last week and after our last session I decided to write a few words on it. http://www.edutopia.org/stw-kipp-critical-thinking-10-tips-for-teaching?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=blog-critical-thinking-tips

The first tip is to ask questions. The right questions that is. We cannot take students' learning for granted and must check with concept questions. Also shall we trigger engagement by asking questions without being board-centered, we may well have a couple of questions prepared to start of a group discussion instead of having everything projected on the board. Students contributions are to be explored and questioned as well, not only by the teacher, by their peers too. Critical thinking moments often appear when questioning takes place. Hope to talk to you next week!

Juliette  

Once more a brief blog-entry on the Teaching Advanced levels course which is offered to teachers in order to improve our skills in this area. I have been attending classes, which have been meaningful and fruitful.
My motto these days: Put yourself in your students shoes. While preparing lessons, this has been one of my goals. Instead of just thinking of which topic and grammar point/ outcome, I am doing research on how I can make students think critically so that the lesson enters another level than just the informative one. Well, I have been having lots of moments in which critical thinking was triggered by concept questions. One example was when sts had to match titles to stories, I asked them to imagine what the stories could be about. The outcomes were creative and funny, also some lexis parted from the students, peer correction and collaborative learning were going on.
While browsing the net on the topic I found this entry on Thornbury's blog, an eye-opener really. If you have 10-minutes, read it all. If you have 5, scroll down to his likes and dislikes for the language classroom.
 http://scottthornburyblog.com/2013/09/15/back-to-school/
Thanks for reading once more.

Juliette Gaasenbeek