I told my language arts students on Monday how proud I am of them for working so hard on these research projects. I was flying high all weekend because most of them are up to date with all of the checkpoints in the process. I know that there are a combination of factors that are attributing to their success, but I really do think that doing this project at the beginning of the school year rather than the end has had a huge effect. Their minds aren't yet fatigued, I'm still energetic enough to bounce around and help each student, and we all still have patience enough to work through lapses in comprehension rather than just give up.
After I told them how pround I am of them, I also told them that THIS is the most difficult part: putting together the research with their own ideas to create an essay. If they give it a few days of hard work and focus, though, it will be over soon enough. This seemed to take off some of the pressure that overwhelmed them.
I read through their rough drafts Monday night, and many of them are still having problems with citing their sources. Either they cited nothing at all, or they did it incorrectly. I was careful to edit as much as I could to help them correct these mistakes (and others). I also showed them some examples on the board, and gave them a handout from our Media Center's website that shows correct MLA in-text citations. More of them seemed to understand after receiving the information in three more ways.
During class on Tuesday, I handed back the students' rough drafts (bleeding red from all of the comments I'd made), and instructed them to write a second rough draft, using my comments and corrections as a guide. I told them to go slowly--sentence by sentence--to make sure they corrected everything and made all necessary changes. This gave them the opportunity to improve and revise their work and ask me questions if needed. I used to hand back the rough draft, and say "OK, now use your rough draft and my comments to type your final draft." I found, however, that students often got hung up on making their corrections on their final draft. It was too much pressure or they knew they were almost done and didn't care as much...I don't know exactly. I do know that having them hand write their second rough draft made it a much more meaningful exercise to them. They were focused on improving, and that's what I wanted for them.
Today, Wednesday, we were in the computer lab so the students could type their final drafts. I'd already given them my example essay on teen dropouts in correct MLA format, so I told them to look at that to set up the format of their own papers. Most of them needed help with the header and double spacing, but then their fingers were flying around on the keyboards, typing their final drafts.
I am also practicing writing with my LDC IV students. I've introduced them to chunck paragraph writing, and it is going well! The first time was rough. Most of them didn't quite get it. Yesterday was much better, though! They turned in very nice paragraphs in response to two topics I gave them which were related to the chapters we'd read on Monday from Tuck Everlasting. Today is grammar day for them, and tomorrow is speaking day. I really would like to find some speaking activities that helps improve their pronunciation. I have a couple of Korean boys, and a couple of Hispanic girls who still don't pronounce their English words very well. I want to find some verbal exercises they could do here and at home to strengthen their pronunciation...sort of a Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle experiment. :)
Quote of the Day (Tuesday):
"S____, these paragraphs are awesome!"
"Thanks, Miss! Remember when I first wrote a paragraph for you and you said that it was horrible?"
"I didn't say 'horrible.'"
"You did! See?" (She shows me her paper with my red letters: "This is horrible!")
"...Oh."
"It's OK, Miss. I'd rather my teacher tells me my writing is horrible than to keep being dumb. Now I'm getting better!"
Quote of the Day (Wednesday):
A____ asked me: "Ms. Greene, if I type 'this situation damaged their reputation,' how do I spell reputation?"
I began, "R-"
"Oh wait," he said excitedly, "I just remembered how inside of my own brain. Thanks anyway."
Haha! I love the "I figured it out inside my own brain" phrase. That's great. :)
ReplyDeleteI tutored a couple of Korean boys for a few years, actually, and I noticed some consistencies in Korean pronunciation. First, they often pronounce the letter "p" with an "f" sound, and vice versa. Second, the "v" is pronounced to sound something like a "bw" sound. Third, and most commonly with many Asian dialects, "l" and "r" are either inverted or mispronounced entirely.
One of my boys, who was 15 when he had this dilemma, told me that he got embarrassed in class when he was asked to read aloud. Now, we had been working together for over three years at this point and his pronunciation was markedly better. What had embarrassed him, though, is that when he came to the word "work," it came out more like "wok." Of course his classmates laughed because that's what kids do. He said, "I always mix up 'walk' and 'work,' but they never sound the way they sound when you say them." I told him to watch my pronunciation very very closely and then I exaggerated my lip, teeth, and tongue movements when I said "walk" and "work." I told him to put his fingers on the sides of his mouth when he spoke to feel the change in the shape of his mouth--"walk" requires a wider shape, and "work" a more rounded shape. I told him to practice for ten minutes every day, in front of a mirror, saying this sentence: "I walk to work." I said, "When you first practice it, I want you to exaggerate it. Don't say it the way I say the words in a regular conversation. Make sure to make the 'l' and 'r' sounds very carefully." He did this for about two weeks or so, and came running into our study room one afternoon saying, "I walk to work! I walk to work!" He sounded like a natural. :)
So, the shortened version of my advice then is two-fold: 1. assess exactly what the pattern of their mispronunciation is, and 2. create easy sentences for them to practice with you and at home while paying close attention to the shape of their mouth as well as to what's happening with their tongue, teeth, and lips.
I don't know if that'll really help you or not...I'm not specifically trained in ESL. But my advice just comes from a few anecdotal moments, I guess. :) Good luck! And be sure to share what ultimately worked for you! :)
Thanks, Amanda! Yes, I've noticed these patterns in my Korean students' pronunciation also.
ReplyDeleteI've done a couple of hours of research this afternoon, and have found a couple of activities to help diagnose each students' mispronunciations. I'm sure I'll blog about these activities later, so I won't go into detail here.
My biggest issue is that this class is a Level 4 ESOL class (these students SHOULD be close to bridging the gap into fluent English), but there is such a mix of levels! Some of the students have excellent English skills. Others are still mispronouncing simple things (like my Hispanic students pronouncing watched as "watch-ed" instead of "watch-t"). These things affect their spelling, too. They sometimes write "watched" instead of "watch it."
With my Korean's (on top of the issues we've already addressed), they are still adding an "uh" sound after words with hard end consonants. "Sound-uh" "Make-uh". I need to get them out of this habit.
Horrible? You used horrible on the poor child's work? Shame on you!
ReplyDelete(Is it "horrible" I am busy laughing over here, now?)