Unit 33: Giving Feedback

     Teachers and learners are together in the teaching and learning process, but we will not have good learning outcomes if we do not support them to continue improving their knowledge and the best way to do it is giving feedback to students to they realize the points where they need reinforcement and practice. That is motivation for our students because it shows the teacher is worried about their students and their progress; feedback can be given orally or written, but the content is the same with the objective is the same, "improving". Feedback is used for both: formal and informal assessment, that means that in any activity done in class is a good opportunity to offer feedback, but we should know how to give feedback to our students in an encouraging and constructive way and not as making they feel ashamed in front of the others. Feedback is not only one- way directed from teachers to students, it could also be given from students to teachers eliciting feedback form our students to know their interests and we improve as educators looking for topics that are suitable form them if we did not get our students' attention using boring or uninteresting topics in class. Therefore, feedback is one of the main stages that we should adapt into our class if we want our students keep learning and improving.   

I attach a link with a really useful PDF document filled with more information from this unit that would be useful for teachers: 

https://www.cabrillo.edu/services/jobs/pdfs/giving-feedback.pdf

Unit 32: Correcting Learners

     We have to be aware of correction and the usage of it because using correction depends on the activity that we set our learners to do, there are activities in which we should avoid correcting our students to they do not feel confidence because if a teacher abuses of correction students will feel disappointed of themselves and they will be afraid of talking to not make mistakes blocking their fluency at using the target language. Then, we have to keep in mind when to correct our learners and the way how we use correction. There are many ways for correcting, but they all cannot be used at any time, personally I try to use general correction to avoid a student feel ashamed; there is also a good technique of correction which is prompting. using gestures  or fingering that consists on helping to the student giving some clues to they correct themselves. Also, teachers are not the only ones who have the possibility to correct students, there is also possible their classmates correct mistakes. On the other hand, reformulating is good to make any mistake noticeable and students correct at that time. To summarize, we use correction only if it is really necessary and to avoid fossilization in our students and we have to correct in any activities for not interrupting our students' language production.

I have included a link which has good information of language funtions used in the classroom:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/teaching-tips/error-correction

Unit 31:Grouping Learners

     A class should not be monotonous or simple usign a typical seating arrangement, we as teachers have some seating arrangements that are really useful to be done looking for our students usage and language development. When we plan our lesson, we decide how our learners are going to be grouped, we do that according to the interaction patterns to be used in class and according to the students' learning styles. An advantage of grouping learners is that it facilitates learning; however, if there is a poorly chosen grouping would create problems in the classroom because as there are different students learning styles if we group students with interpersonal and intrapersonal learning styles that would be a problem because they are not similar and may not be a good idea they both work together. On the other hand, students with similar learning styles are going to fit really well together and they would work cooperatively working each other. As a result, we have to take into account our students' interests, learning style and physical al and cognitive development to make they work together, the most appropriate is to make our students form groups with students of their same age as a useful tip 

I attach a link above which contains more information related to this unit for you to check and read:

http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/assessment/grouping/

Unit 30: Teacher Roles

     Teachers have many things to do inside a classroom, that implies assuming many functions to make our learners keep progressing in their learning process to manage a language. We as teachers need to adapt to the situations that may be present in class because every single group of learners is different and we have to know their needs to know how to help them. As we assume many roles we have to know what each role is used for. Then, before beginning a class with a group we need to know our class profile such as level, age and interests to create a nice environment to learn and they work feeling confidence to keep a good average of learning. Also, it is important to know how to respect and be respected to avoid loosing our students' respect as being a disciple monitor with younger and be a guide or facilitator. Therefore, it is difficult to monitor and maintain discipline at the same time, but it is possible.  To conclude, we have to recognize our group of learners and then take a role in class even if we do not feel comfortable with any role. 

I include a link at the bottom of the entry which contains a useful summary with information related to the roles of a teacher:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept07/vol65/num01/Ten-Roles-for-Teacher-Leaders.aspx

Unit 29: Categorizing Learners’ Mistakes

     Mistakes are common in a learner’s process to reach a communicative level at using language as natural as their mother tongue. However, we as teachers have to take into account some aspects as recognizing and categorizing our learners’ mistakes to know when to act to correct any of them and if it necessary to be corrected. Sometimes, there are some issues that students have to deal with and that is what creates mistakes, errors or slips in students such as being afraid of talking in front of the others or giving a speech for a large group of people even if a student has got a dominance at using the target language. There are some other mistakes such as using the wrong register and other factors may create inaccuracy in oral mistakes. On the other hand, it is good that students make mistakes because we could identify the problems they have and help them to improve at the right time; we can get information from their language through homework, tasks, observations and informal assessments to keep a record of their progress

I include a link I consider has extra and really useful information for a teacher about students’ mistakes:

http://www.antimoon.com/how/mistakes-in-learning.htm

Unit 28: Identifying the Functions of Learners’ Language

     There are some ways of interacting or talking in the language, that is the main reason we as teachers have to notice how language works and it means that we have to use different registers in the language to keep sure students associate the meaning to the language and its use giving them the right input through speaking them and interacting with every single student and organizing the class group to they interact each other. Then, it is important to mention that using register and style shifting is an important part in our class to make students understand how to use the language in a communicative purpose because appropriateness at using a language is essential to convey the correct meaning and avoid misunderstanding. However, there are some areas in the language such as chunk in which students could get confused and there is where we need to use some clarification, but avoiding using L1 because that would cause interference. Finally, we could say that a class should not only be directed, we have to make our students talk and try to elicit their ideas to they start using real language at the right moment.

I attach a link at the end there is useful information related to this unit in which we could check more information of the communicative functions:

http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/?pageId=508

Unit 27: Using Language Appropriately for a Range of Classroom Functions

     Language in class is used differently by the teacher to help student develop their communicative skills giving them opportunities to they not fell frightened or afraid of using the target language in a communicative way. It is not just a matter of giving prompts and instructions freely, we have to associate language and the way how we access our students into it.We should use a language according to our students’ profile, a language that make us get their attention to keep them awake, after giving them some instruction on how to use any structure and model the language avoiding to use L1,  besides have to give them the right input, that is also necessary to encourage them to use the language in situations where they really need giving them confidence and sometimes prompting just to push them remember in different context as formal or informal situations, that is offering support to our students during their learning process. To conclude, we as teachers must instruct our students in the language and give them good guidance to they keep motivated to continue learning.

I have included a link which has good information of language funtions used in the classroom:

http://www.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/best%20of%20bilash/functionsof%20lang.html

Unit 26: Selection and Use of Teaching Aids

     We as English teachers have to wonder a question ourselves, “Is the material that the syllabus and course book offer enough to my students really learn into the class and for me to achieve my aims for the class enough?”, to avoid this trouble we could look for extra teaching aids for making our class more attractive, more fun, more interesting and more engaging. Maybe the most attractive aids we have as teachers are visual aids because they help us to catch our students’ attention keeping their minds into the classroom because aids help us to develop an attractive class making our students more participants awaking their minds up. We have to know that aids are sometimes not easy to get, there is where we need to know how to select them because some extra aids as puppets or some others are expensive, and then we need to know how to discriminate good and effective aids from inefficient and expensive aids.   Of course,  it is also important to know that we need to keep in mind our students’ profiles into account to choose the right teaching aids.

I leave a link that contains useful information on how to use teaching aids that would be really helpful if any teacher want to complement thier class using aids:

http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/teaching-and-learning-strategies/lesson-materials-and-teaching-aids/

Unit 25: Selection and Use of Supplementary Materials and Activities

     Sometimes the materials that we have for offering our students do not help to cover the whole lesson, and then there is where supplementary materials help to students and teachers respectively. Supplementary materials are nowadays easier to get because almost everybody has access to internet that is a really powerful tool and source to get extra materials and aids for an educator. Supplementary materials should be selected according to the topic we teach to reinforce our students’ learning outcomes, these extra materials and activities would be useful at the moment some students’ finish the activities set earlier or for some other students that find difficult the assigned tasks. Finally, to clarify an important point is that when we take supplementary materials to a class we are not changing the syllabus, just making it fits to our students’ necessities. 

I attach a link of a webpage above that gives more information on how to select supplementary materials giving us clues on what to take into account before selecting supplementary materials:

http://iteslj.org/Articles/Kitao-Materials.html

Unit 24: Selection and Use of Coursebook Materials

     Coursebook materials  is an important part in the academic formation of students, then we have to know how to select it; for that we have to keep in mind our students’ profiles such as: learners’ needs, age, level and interests to fit our students. However, the syllabus in public and private schools set the coursebook materials and it is not always right for our students’ level and we have to know how to adapt our resources such as coursebook, cd audios and workbooks to our students’ needs. There is where we need to analyze this situations and try to look for more coursebook materials to help ourselves to keep our students’ interest focused on the class to avoid possible problems caused for the coursebook materials, we also need to apply strategies such changing things in our methodology, adapting materials or extending materials or even skipping some unnecessary units presented in the coursebook to avoid students hate the class offering variety and attractive materials visually in the class.

There is a link above of a PDF document which contains really helpful information on how to choose English Language Teaching books that are right coursebook for students:

http://203.72.145.166/elt/files/42-4-1.pdf

Unit 23: Consulting Reference Resources to Help in Lesson Preparation

     Teachers need to have materials and things for planning a class, but is important to know where to get reliable information that will help to develop a good class using good reference materials. We have to know that a class needs reference materials related to the language we are teaching which are course books, dictionaries, are etc.., stuff related to the language we will teach. There are also, supplementary materials and maybe this has taken more relevance nowadays because we have access to websites related to teaching; there are some other references if we consult to our colleagues to ask for some useful materials. Therefore, a good teacher should develop the ability to compare and contrast reference resources deciding which is the best to apply into the class. Another important fact that we have to take into account is to predict our students’ questions because there could be confusion because L1 is interfering. There are so many good and reliable websites where we can find materials and resources for teachers.

I will leave a useful link above that will help teachers to plan a better lesson using good reference resources:

http://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/

Unit 22: Choosing Assessment Activities

     Teachers need to assess their students to be sure their students are getting good learning outcomes and to make any changes if that is not the situation. However, before assessing it is important that teachers know the right activities for the right learners because every single group of students is different having different interest and necessities according to the age, level and goals.  Then a teacher should keep into mind that assessing is not only a fact of assigning grades, it is a more complex process that requires knowledge in this field as keeping a record on each student and how they are going in the learning process to be assessed. Formal or informal assessment take part on this, so monitoring students is essential at this point to assess our students in the receptive and productive skills to be sure there is meaningful learning, which will make us able to determine where their weaknesses and strengths are to provide effective feedback. Therefore, continuous assessment is the best way of keeping a record of our students and accomplishes our goals as teachers and help our student achieve their goals as learners.

There is a link above that I consider is useful and has more information related to this topic:

http://www.fresnostate.edu/academics/oie/assessment/activity-planning.html