Like Christina I found a lot of useful information in theis module. i will adapt my classes to include more vocabulary.
I have students register with the educational resource lab to take advantatge of the tutors and other services available.
Thanks Lisa...excellent strategy! It engages students to learn from each other and changes the pace of the lab a bit. Bravo!
Jay
ED106 Facilitator
I teach medical terminology to 3 new starts of students per year. (150 total)
I find it helpful to give them tips in the begining of the class start. Examples:
Flash cards, color coding, stickers, make songs to remember the words ect.
Then 1-2 weeks into the class I have the students give study tips to the rest of the class.
This helps give fellow class mates new ideas on how to remember the words.
Thanks, Karen; there is no substitute for individual attention! One question: Other than the given challenge with language, what do you perceive as other learning challenges from your ESL students?
Jay
ED106 Facilitator
Along with teaching I also work as a tutor at my college. I make sure that I spend individual time with my ESL Students out side of class working on assignments and just talking about their ideas and goals related to design .Also I let them know that I appreciate them being patient with me as I learn how to understand their learnign styles. I find that the more communication the better I understnd and relate to my diverse student population . It helps the student realize that you care and want them to learn .
Hi Christine!
Their field experience helps out a great deal in giving ESL students practice with the language; we still find, as you know, that we have to adjust our communication styles, and our pace, to adapt.
Jay
ED106
This has been one of my biggest challenges! Luckily in most of my cases the students that come and speak english as a second lanuage have had expierience in the field. (Dentists from other countries)They cannot practice in the U.S. and decide to take a lesser position.
Hi Paul!
I really like that strategy as it covers several things. Let me suggest too that students might add an additional component to their intro essays: a brief description, or personal assessment, of their learning styles (ex:hearing, seeing, writing, doing) and from their perspectives, where they feel their strengths and challenges are as students.
It's hard to reach every student in every class. What are a few teaching strategies that you have effectively used to touch upon students from diverse backgrounds and varying learning styles?
By starting the entire course off with a small essay from each student about what they want to learn through this course and where they want to succeed in his/her field is a great way to quickly catch students with diverse learning needs.
We use these surveys to keep them motivated throughout the course as well as pinpointing students with reading/writing comprehension.
--paul
Thanks Herschel! I have reviewed all of your excellent forum comments and appreciate your interest in the discussion activities. Certainly having students work a case together and then present their findings as a team allows them to not only analyze information and recommend solutions, but also synergize their inputs in a team dynamics atmosphere.
In addition, I often have had students keep a learning journal where they summarize concepts and applications as well as develop questions on the material and even relate relevance as to how they would utilize concepts in the workplace. This seems to particularly help students with ld and tends to cross learning styles.
Incidentally, a colleague of mine once gave his MBA students a case to analyze and respond to, but the case did not involve anything that needed to be "fixed." Instead, the company was doing well in every category and my colleague asked students to make further performance inprovement recommendations based on existing positive performance. It "blew their minds" because they were so used to looking at problematic situations...a little different twist...interesting.
My courses that I instruct and the students in these courses are all focused on a "change process"; the goals are to learn new skills that will help their company improve and maintain or increase profitability; I tell the students these skills are theirs to put into their own personal "toolbox" and will help them in any position (or company)they find themselves in. This helps set the "big pictue" for the learning process.
Although I have had students that English was not their "home" language, I have been fortunate that all have been very conversant in English and that word definitions were not a problem. The Reading and Writing diversities that I have seen are based on the "tech speak" language and jargon that the highly technical and highly focused engineers will use in the class to explaon or defend their position. My approach is to remind the student eithr privately on in class to be mindful of the audience to whom he will be presenting his findings or proposal. This is like the student that has difficulty with the meaning of words or terms, that the student needs to be aware of the limitations of the audience he is talking to. As part of my instructional plan and service for th class, I try to make sure that the "message" the student presnts cn be understood by all, the class andthe audience he/she will be presenting.
Being sure to listen more than you speak. "Being" with each of the students to get that first sense of who's who and how they participate. Managing the frequent contributors so space is available for those who are not. Letting the class know that everyone should participate, and pulling out those who are reluctant by directing a question to them and acknowledging their reply. Creating an atmosphere in the class which is slightly competative, but also team based - letting the class know that their collective success depends on them supporting each other. Talking about different learning styles and personalities at the beginning of class. Ensuring the syllabus is specific regarding class participation, the type, and the weighting it gets.
Tutoring in most cases, i'll small groups when i get that situation.
This is true, culture plays a big role, even something as simple as the language we use that not normal english, slang and phrases i mean. some students who learn english as a second languge might not understand common american phrases like "ballpark figure", etc.
Using examples and language that is universal works best.
And yes i have noticed that some students take praise differently.
Hi Joseph! Does the group leader have any additional responsibilities during group formation and activity? How is the group leader chosen?
We have found that the most difficult challenges for groups as they get started are to clarify the specific roles and responsibilities of group members and establish a foundation of ground rules or guidelines. How does that work when your groups form?
We have used small groups and identified at the onset the group leader will be reporting out for the group.
Had success with small group discussions
Hi Christina! Good point! And yes, vocabulary can be an excellent indicator of understanding; plus, through considering the vocabulary diverse learners use, instructors can get a better insight into students' cultural differences, values and mores.
This one is hard to identify, I usually don't find out their reading or writing ability until they actually write an essay and find out at what level they are on.
It is difficult assuming that because they are at this level not all of them are necessarily at the 12th grade or college level.
The introduction of vocabulary is important and really never thought about the application of in introducing them to the students.
Many of our classes are lab and they are self paced so it does not present the teacher/student relationship that I would like; however, this moducle did introduce some information that I probably would not have thought about.
