Creating a Caring Classroom that Fosters

Students’ English Language Production

Lourdes TalaveraDebra A. Burgess

Centro Cultural Peruano NorteamericanoArequipa, Peru

What are the teaching and learning challenges in your classroom for

developing students´oral language production?

Some Challenges

HoursClassroom Size

Lack of resourcesInterruptions in classesNumbers of Students

Unmotivated Students

How to Recognize the Moods of an Irish Setter

What Does a Motivated Language Student Look Like?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngRq82c8Baw

Forms of Motivation

• Extrinsic

Driven by factors outside of the learner.

For exampleGood grades, please the

teacher

• Intrinsic

Free from the influence of external influence like punishment or rewards.

Student reads or studies because it interesting or enjoyable

Motivating StudentsHow to be…..

• Competent

• Confident

• Communicative

What They Are Telling UsThe culture of their schools is impersonal,

giving few opportunities to work constructively with peers and connect to teachers

Instruction is passive and boring rather than active and related to real

life issues

The system is undemocratic and at times seemingly unfair

Engaging All by Creating High School Learning Communities

©2009 CenterSource Systems, LLC – Engaging All by Creating High School Learning Communities8

Inclusion – A Sense of Belonging

Presenting yourself

Stating your needs and expectations

Being acknowledged

Engaging All by Creating High School Learning Communities

©2009 CenterSource Systems, LLC – Engaging All by Creating High School Learning Communities9

Why a student-centered classroom important?

Lessons more

memorable

Students held

accountable for their learning

Caters to different learning

styles

Enables more

informal assessmen

t

Lessons more

interesting

“All Genuine Learning…

is active, not passive. It involves the use of the mind, not just memory. It is the process of discovery, in which the student is the main agent.”- Mortimer Adler

Student-Centeredvs. Teacher-Fronted

• Teacher-fronted classrooms:– Teacher is the “Sage on the Stage”

• Student-Centered classrooms:– Teacher is the “Guide on the Side”

Use interesting material

• If you are bored, the students will be too

• Use material relevant to the students’ lives– Ex) Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, articles

about their country/city

• Don´t use the textbook exclusively

• Ridiculous websites?

Generation Y

• Gen Yers …– are Digital Natives– want to work smarter, not harder– are kinesthetic and visual– are feedback dependent– love entertainment and games– customize tasks– seek a purpose and passion

(Reilly, Peter. "Understanding and teaching Generation Y." English Teaching Forum. 1 (2012): n. page. Web. 15 May. 2013.)

Give students resources to practice outside of class

Share info they discover with the class

Community Member Talk

• Invite a friend or colleague to the class in person or via skype to discuss a topic that is important to the class (the environment, public health, education, crime, etc.).

• Broadcast a Ted Talk. • Use the talk as a springboard for discussion

and research in your classroom.http://www.ted.com/

(Reilly, 2012)

Action-Packed Video Clip

• Show an action-packed video clip.• Have students write and then share sentences

about them with partners and then as a class.

• Example: Mr. Bean • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U24g88G

NgMI

(Reilly, 2012)

Interactive Listening/Chatting Options

• www.englishclub.com/esl-chat• www.eslcafe.com• Skype• Google Hangout• Facebook Chat or Video Chat• Global Schoolhouse

(Chinnery, George M. . "Speaking and Listening Online: A Survey of Internet Resources." English Teaching Forum. 43.3 (2005): n. page. Web. 15 May. 2013.)

Ready-to-Go Create-Your-Own• www.esl-lab.com• www.literacynet.org/cnnsf• www.americanenglish.state.gov• http://www.voanews.com/

• http://www.npr.org/• http://edition.cnn.com/• http://tv.msnbc.com/• http://video.nationalgeogra

phic.com/video/kids/• http://www.timeforkids.co

m/photos-video

Websites for Activities

Personalize content

• Use students’ names/life experiences in example sentences

– Sally took a bus to the conference.

vs.

– Diego took a Diablo Rojo to the TESOL Congress.

Use student-generated materials

• If you want to have students describe a picture, use a picture of your students

vs.

Involve the students in grammar explanations

• The Question Hand:

• Great for teachingquestion structure

• Have the students trace their own hand

(Question Hand courtesy of Aaron Corbin)

References

• Krashen, Stephen. Should We Teach Strategies. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 2013,Vol 10, No. 1, pp. 35-39

• Frank, Laurie S. Journey Toward the Caring Classroom, Wood N Barnes Publishing and Distribution, 2004.

• Gibbs, Jeanne. Tribes: A New Way of Learning and Being Together, Center Source, 2001.