Conversation Partners Program/ Volunteers in the language classroom

Last semester I tired to get a conversation partner program going for my students; the rationale being that my adult students get little to no practice speaking English outside of class and very few of them have English-speaking or US American friends.

Therefore, in order to facilitate genuine English conversation, cultural orientation and friendship, I attempted to match volunteers with students. In order to abide by our school’s non-disclosure policy, I gave the students the volunteers’ contact information (and not vice versa) and the students were given the responsibility to contact potential conversation partners.

This basically didn’t work because the students did not contact the conversation partner volunteers either because they were too shy or they just didn't have time.

This semester I’m trying a new approach. I am inviting the volunteers to come to my class to have a sort of discussion night or “English Party” as I’m calling it. This way there is less pressure and the students can pursue more time outside of class with someone they've already met. Also, those who simply do not have time to meet a volunteer outside of class have at least the opportunity to engage in English conversation once a month in class.

This will be an informal gathering, maybe with snacks. Students need unstructured English with native or near-native speakers. This will not be tutoring, rather an evening of conversation. Volunteers do not need any prior teaching or language experience to volunteer. This is an opportunity for students to engage in natural and genuine conversation with Americans and speakers of English. I will have conversation starters ready if the students and volunteers don’t know where to start. If a student and a volunteer would like to meet outside of class for more language practice that remains a possibility and having met in class will hopefully facilitate more exchanges.

In order to collect data regarding the students’ normal English usage I will have the students take the following survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/85VZXLZ

At the end of the semester the students will take a post/reflective survey to gauge the effectiveness of the program and measure the benefits of the volunteers’ participation.

This project is at the beginning stages and I will be tracking its progress here.

As a note to teachers of English abroad and teachers of other foreign languages, this sort of program is of course adaptable to your classroom.

More to follow.

The flow of traffic

During a professional development session, we watched a teaching demonstration. The purpose of the video was to demonstrate how to integrate drawings and personal or familial history into the ESL classroom. The primary activity was interesting but there was another strategy the teacher used in the video that I found more intriguing.

After giving directions for the following activity the teacher asked if the students understood by holding up cards of green, yellow, and read pieces of paper. The students then responded accordingly.


This mirrors a stop light;

Red: Stop. I don’t understand. Please repeat.

Yellow/Amber: Slow down. I understand a little. I need more examples or practice

Green: I understand. Keep going.

I made a traffic light like this one and posted it on the wall next to the main white board.

Then I cut out red, yellow, and green pieces of paper for the students to use in class.

The great advantage of this method is when there are different levels of proficiency and comprehension a verbal comprehension check is not sufficient. If you ask the class, “do you understand?” those with greater proficiency will answer, “yes” and those who still have questions may not get the chance to voice their concerns or may be too embarrassed to ask for more explanation.

This comprehension check method allows students to self-assess and equalizes the students’ feedback opportunities.

So, do you understand?

Give me the Green Light. 

First post as a teacher in Washington DC

I am now teaching at Carlos Rosario International Charter School. It is a very exciting opportunity. My students are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Togo, The Republic of Guinea, Morocco, and Vietnam. They are men and women aged 22 to 69 with a wide range of life stories and educational backgrounds. They are wonderful people and wonderful students.
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I found Pacaya (a kind of palm flower, not a volcano) at the International Food Mart. This is a traditional food in Guatemala. The cashier was from Mexico and she said she had no idea how to prepare them, “We don’t eat those”, she said but then she pointed out another cashier, “She’s from Guatemala…” This second cashier was more than happy to explain to me how to cook them and considering her enthusiasm for one of her national dishes, I was compelled to buy a jar- partly out of curiosity, and partly to show my interest in and appreciation of the cashier’s culture. Now I have a jar of pacaya palms in brine sitting in my kitchen. There are three students in my class from Guatemala. Today I’ll bring the jar to class and ask them to explain to their classmates the dish which I intend to attempt.

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So the curriculum has computer literacy objectives for the students. It is the life skills aspect of the ESL/adult education class. This means that approximately once every two weeks a “technology teacher” comes to my class and leads the class in some kind of computer activity using student laptops. Last night was the first time that teacher came to class. An objective to the course is being able to read maps, give directions and use Google Maps. With respect to this objective, I have observed that there is a wide variety in capacity in the class. I have done a few map reading activities with them, including a map scavenger hunt in which students found specific information on maps around the room such as fellow students’ hometowns, the maps’ scales, and other information indicated in the legend. I also had them do this. Some students had no trouble finding the information during the scavenger hunt and completing the city map activity but others struggled and had difficulty identifying the scale, legends, and coordinates. Likewise, with the computer lesson, many students are familiar with Google Maps and were essentially bored for an hour and half while others needed assistance typing in a URL address.