Homework 5 (Story Telling---Past Tense)

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This is my homework 5 produced with movemaker. I used the video clip of "The Simpsons" (The Devil and Homer Simpson) and the theme song of "The Simpsons." This clip is the story of "Treehouse of Horror IV," the fifth episode of The Simpsons' fifth season and the fourth episode in the Treehouse of Horror series of Halloween specials. It describes that Homer Simpson liked eating donuts so much that he would like to sell his soul to the devil (Ned Flanders)for one donut. But before Homer finished the donut given to him, he realized that the Devil would not be able to take his soul if he did not eat the last piece. So he decided to keep the last bite in the refrigerator. Unfortunately, while half-asleep and looking for a midnight snack, he ate the final piece, and the Devil immediately reappeared to take his soul. In the hell, Homer was punished to eat all the dounts in the world, but it seemed to be no problem for him. Instead, he wanted to eat more, which surprised the devil.


This movie is designed for ESL or EFL students to practice using past tense and practice telling a story in English. I divide the video clip of "The Simpsons" into three parts and students have to watch each part for two times. The first time they watch the video without sound (mute)and are asked to figure out what happened to Homer and the devil according to the animation. Then they discuss with their partners or neighbors and share their ideas with the whole class. In the pair work or class discussion, they are reminded to use past tense. For the second time they watch the video with sound to see if they get the right answer. After that, they describe the plot to their partners by using past tense. In this way, they continue finishing the three parts of video clip to learn grammar and stort telling. In the end, they are required to create an interesting ending for this movie by writing or discussing orally.

Diverse Classroom & Peer-feedback Activity (Chapter 8)

As what I talked about in the response of chapter 6, diverse classroom is a big challenge for teachers in the United States. According to many researches on sociolinguistics, what causes the difficulties for minority students is mostly their different preschool education or variable cultural backgrounds. Therefore they have different ways to approach literacy, structure the world, and make meanings out of symbols. For example, African American children tend to use topic-associated style while white children prefer topic-centered style. Then these differences result in their difficulties with studies since the current curriculum is designed mainly for white children. However, many teachers do not recognize this factor and still hold bias toward these students of lower socioeconomic status or culturally minority groups. They have lower expectations and choose the teaching methods of drilling and practice even with computers.

So in my opinion, it is very important for teachers to first understand each student’s cultural background and how it influences his or her learning patterns. Also it is teachers’ responsibility to let students learn to respect others and value diverse cultures. In collaborative communities, teachers should provide more opportunities for minority students to show their expertise and teach dominant ones. Moreover, virtual community is another good way. With the internet and cyberspace, students can meet people all around the world and contribute their knowledge to finish a share project, which creates a sense of belonging. In this way, teachers open doors for students and introduce the world to them, which broadens their horizon. Students will understand the beauty of diversity and gradually discard their prejudice under teachers’ guidance.

As for the peer feedback activities proposed by Harries, I have heard about a similar teaching experience. A senior high school teacher set up a blog for writing practice. She found a girls’ class in another school and a boys’ class in her school and divided all of them into several groups. The teacher assigned an opening of a story and the members of each group took turns finishing the story. After that, students could give feedbacks to all the postings so that each group discussed how they could revise the story based on the comments. Finally, the teachers arranged a real meeting for the two classes to present their final stories and vote for the winner. This writing community helped students to compare each other’s performance and have chances to reflect on theirs. Also they cooperated together to achieve the same goal and contributed to the success of the team.

Managing Information Efficiently (Chapter 7)

What the authors talk about in chapter 7 really has troubled me for a long time. In such an information age, children nowadays have to cope with large amount of information which they have easy access to after they are born. At young age, they use the internet to watch video clips, download files, chat with classmates, make their own blogs, or even make internet friends in other cities. However, living in the era with information explosion and information overload, the rapidly produced information is far more than what we can digest and use. In order not to be overwhelmed by so much information, children should learn how to search and identify the important and related information, judge the authenticity, be responsible for their publication, and create and communicate their own messages or opinions. In addition, they need to be aware of and careful about the traps and dangers which exist on the net, such as dealing with strangers or recognizing advertisements.

In Taiwan, there are still few activities designed to teach elementary school or middle school students about information literacy. In my opinion, we can start with something which ESL students are familiar with. For example, many children watch the Disney movie about the woman warrior Mulan who joins the army for her sick father. So teachers can present the story in different media, such as The Legend of Mu Lan: A Heroine of Ancient China (the first English language picture book in 1992), Mulan (Disney animated movie in 1998), Song of Mu Lan (bilingual version in 1991), and Lady General Hua Mulan (Hong Kong Musical Film 1964). Students can compare the similarities and differences between them and discuss the validity of the information. Then teachers may ask students to look for several English websites which contain authentic information about Mulan. Finally according to students’ findings, the whole class shares their searching tips and how they evaluate these websites to judge their reliability.



(Lady General Hua Mulan, 1964)

Literacy and Culture (Chapter 6)

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Chapter 6 talks about extended meanings and applications of literacy --- from traditional print to computer technology. In the 21st century, it is important for teachers to help students learn about all the symbol systems, the necessary cognitive strategies to interpret the message, and the larger patterns to structure messages in diverse symbolic systems. However, the close relationship between literacy and culture is often neglected in educational settings. In such a global village like the U.S., at school there are people from different cultural backgrounds. Their diverse backgrounds influence how they approach the literacy. For example, African-American children often use a “topic associating” style when narrating while white children use “topic-centered” style. Therefore AAVE students are usually misunderstood and evaluated negatively since their literacy performances do not conform to those of dominant groups.

The same case also happens to foreign language learning. In English writing, it is writer-responsible while in East Asian countries, it is reader-responsible. For instance, instead of introducing the statement of purpose initially, Chinese learners prefer to dance around the topic and gradually turn to the main point. When they transfer from L1 to L2, their English writing is labeled as unclear and unorganized by native speakers of English who think writers should take responsibility to clarify the theme.

As a result, when teaching students of different culture backgrounds or ESL/EFL learners, educators should keep in mind how culture influences literacy learning. In spite of the same symbol systems they have to learn, these cultural minority groups have different ways of encoding and decoding messages and different discourse forms, which may result in their difficulties with literacy learning in the countries of dominant groups. It is also a challenge for teachers to teach literacy of a variety of symbols in the increasingly diverse classrooms.

Alternative Assessment in Writing (Chapter 9)

In chapter 9, traditional standardized tests are criticized for its primary concern of the product of learning. It only focuses on the acquisition of the desired skills and facts and lacks measurement of higher-level thinking. To solve the problem, alternative assessment is proposed and promoted to test students’ cognitive and constructive skills. It reminds me of the learning experience in the writing class I took as an English major. At that time, every week every student was required to hand in one journal. From our writings, the teacher picked up five to ten sentences or small paragraphs which she found problematic in structure and meaning. She made these selected sentences or paragraphs anonymous, so we did not know who of our classmates had produced them. The whole class was divided into several groups and assigned certain sentences or paragraphs to discuss how to make them better. Then each group explained their revision and listened to the opinions of the other groups. After that, the teacher returned our homework and asked us to revise based on her feedback.

Unlike the traditional assessment, this kind of peer evaluation made us analyze the problem and tried to solve it with all the knowledge which we had learned in class. By doing so, when revising, we reflected on our own writing and paid attention to the same problem which we also had. The next time, we would remind ourselves and avoided making the same mistake. When we knew how to improve others’ writing, we knew how to make our own writing better at the same time. For the teacher, the process of learning was emphasized and she built the assessment into the instructions. Instead of directly and explicitly telling us the problems of our writings, she designed the task for us to solve. By listening to our discussion and evaluating the sentences each group revised, she could measure our deeper understanding and relevant knowledge. For foreign language writing, I think it is an excellent way for alternative assessment instead of just giving explicit feedback.

Problem-Solving Activity in EFL Teaching (Chapter 5)

The problem-solving activities mentioned in chapter 5 impress me because they really motivate students to engage in learning effectively. However, it seems difficult to apply to foreign language teaching especially in outside circle (countries where English is not the first or second language). Take foreign language learners in Taiwan for example, they have little chances to interact with native speakers, which causes some difficulties with complex and realistic contexts required by anchored instruction.

But still, there are some resources for teachers to make use of. For example, a problem-solving activity which I participated in was produced with the help of American educational fair held twice every year in Taiwan. Since every year the school where I worked as a student teacher at that time held studying tour for studetns, the teachers addressed the problem “Which school in the fair will you choose for studying tour this summer?” Then teachers made a list of the schools in the fair and each group of students was in charge of five schools. Several aspects were assigned for evaluation: course, club, event, environment, and cost.

First teachers introduced related vocabulary of school life, such as semester, credit, drop, register, and dormitory. Then students surfed the websites, made some research of assigned schools, and used spreadsheets to list the characteristics under each aspect. Next each group had to figure out ten questions about each school which they would ask the representatives in the educational fair. Third, teachers guided student to learn communicative skills in American culture, such as how to greet, break the ice, change the topic, and end the conversation. Since students had to talk to the representatives who were native speakers of English, they felt the need to learn how to talk appropriately and politely. The next step was to go to the educational fair and have interview with the representatives. After the fair, students chose one of the five assigned schools and made power point to introduce it to other classmates. Finally all the students voted and decided on the best school for studying tour. This activity took several weeks and worked very well. By means of real interaction with native speakers, students in outer circle had opportunities to not only practice speaking but also applied what they had learned to real-life context, which made learning become more meaningful.

Teaching Structures in ESL (Chapter 4)

In chapter 4, it is shown that one important aspect of accessing knowledge is to grasp disciplinary structures. Instead of memorizing a collection of facts and theories, understanding the patterns can help students make connection between concepts and acquire the disciplinary knowledge more easily and effectively. It can also be applied to foreign language learning where memorization is emphasized a lot. When learning English vocabulary, it is helpful for students to know how words are structured ---- the concept of morphemes. With the database of lists of familiar words, teachers may assist students to analyze, categorize, and define what roots, suffixes, and prefixes are. By learning what common suffixes and prefixes mean, students are able to apply to unfamiliar words and infer their meanings. For example, “re” is a prefix added before a root,meaning “repeatedly” or “again.” Grasping it, students can get the big picture of what “reforest” or “reframe” mean even if they have not learned these words. Another example is the antonym. By analyzing the occurrence of prefixes “ir” “in” “im” and “il” used to make antonyms, students will find the rule of assimilation --- “ir” appears before words starting with the letter “r,” like irregular and “im” appears when the words starting with bilabial sounds. By grasping these basic patterns, L2 learners can remember English vocabulary more efficiently and guess the meaning of new words approximately. Therefore ESL teachers should teach students these underlying structures, which equip them with the ability of handling plenty of new but highly related information.

Related Links: Teaching Prefixes "ir" "im" "il" and "in"

Using Tools (Chapter 3)

In chapter 3, Wiburg talks about what kinds of tools educators can choose to enhance the design of opportunities for students to learn. With highly-developed technology, there are a variety of choices for teachers to present the same information. In recent years, in most educational settings, a myth has formed that students can learn better and faster through the use of technology. For example, in Taiwan, computer assisted language learning (CALL) has become popular for many years. Many educators, parents, and students think CALL not only helps students acquire new information efficiently but also makes courses more interesting. In order to meet the expectations, teachers apply as much technology as they can to the designed courses. For example, instead of books and blackboard, they make graphics, use power point, play videos, set up websites, or employ bulletin boards.

However, the learning result does not always improve and sometimes becomes worse because teachers do not really think about which tool works best for specified course, topic, context, and students. For instance, based on my teaching experiences, to teach English grammar, teachers can choose to explain with chalks on the blackboard or make power point with animation. Although using power point seems creative and stimulating for students, in fact there are some disadvantages teachers have to take into consideration. On the one hand, when power point is played and the light is turned off, it is hard for students to stay focus on the screen. Due to the darkness, students usually do something else instead of keeping paying attention to students. On the other hand, the fancy animation used to mark the change of sentence patterns might distract students’ attention. After the slideshow, learners may remember only what kind of animation is demonstrated instead of which sentence pattern is taught. In this case, the use of technology does not work at all. Therefore, in spite of many strong points of technology in educational settings, teachers cannot blindly employ different tools without considering their true effect.

Multiple Intelligence (Chapter 2)

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In chapter 2, a view of intelligence is taken into consideration when designing leaning opportunities for students. Nowadays most educators know that each student learns the same materials in different ways. Some students with linguistic intelligence learn better with words while some with spatial intelligence acquire better when pictures are used. Therefore, teachers have been trying hard to apply multiple intelligences to their teaching as much as possible. For example, when teaching numbers in the target language, teachers can read aloud (linguistic intelligence), ask math questions (logical-mathematical intelligence), sing a song of numbers (musical intelligence), or ask students to make hand gestures with numbers (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence). In this way, learners may have more chances to develop their distinct intelligences and access information better.

However, as a former teacher in a private school, I understand how difficult it is to teach a class of 50 students who have different levels and various intelligences. Because of limited class time, it is hard to apply so many intelligences to courses if they have to contain information prescribed by national or local standards. To control time and assure the efficiency, usually many educators still use the traditional way--- lectures -- for instruction. Although there are many difficulties practicing it in class, teachers can still make it after school. By designing different types of homework and assessments, students at home can choose the learning methods which work best for them. For instance, when learning historic events, such as civil war, students can select to write a report, produce a small play, make a time line, interview someone, or even visit a museum. Through these ways, students can cultivate their intelligences and find out the most appropriate and efficient ways of learning. Nevertheless, the only problem is how teachers can evaluate students' performance and understanding fairly and accurately through different assessments.

Metacognitive Activities in ESL Teaching

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In the field of ESL, metacognitive activities are usually used when teaching ESL students reading skills. Through designed instructional activities, L2 learners are encouraged to engage in metacognitive thinking. When reading in target language, they monitor the reading strategies they use and compare them with those of peers. In this way, they become aware of not only the advantages and disadvantages of different reading strategies but also when and where certain one should be applied. Then they figure out how to improve and remedy their own.

However, according to me observation, metacoginitive activities do not work well on advanced or old ESL students. The reason is that most advanced or old ESL students have already got used to certain mode and therefore have difficulties changing it. They have used their own strategies for a long time or transferred from L1 strategy, so it is harder for them to adjust their mode even if they understand the pros and cons.

In addition to reading, I think metacognitive activities can also be applied to ESL writing. Teachers assign the topics, such as making up a story or writing by pictures, and students post their homework on the website or forum. They are asked to read others’ compositions and make comments. Thus they can see what strategies peers use to write and reflect on their own work by comparing with others’ homework or reading teachers’ comments. Moreover, teachers can choose some of their work and make students discuss how to refine certain paragraphs or sentences. Through looking for what can be improved in others’ works, L2 learners can be aware of their own pros and cons in writing. Finally teachers can ask them to rewrite or revise their homework again to access how they progress.

Using Hypertext to Teach K-12 Students

In the two experiments made by Foltz(1993), it showed that there was no significant performance differences between the readers of the hypertext and the linear text. On the whole, the subjects used equivalent reading strategies and coherent manner for different types of texts, so they achieved similar comprehension. Even if their assigned goal was to find specific information, the subjects with little background knowledge tended to acquire necessary background context first in a coherent manner instead of jumping to the specific knowledge directly.

However, if hypertext is applied to the learning of k-12 students, I think the result will be quite different. The subjects in these experiments are undergraduate students who are capable of reading texts in a coherent and organized way. But according to my teaching experience, k-12 students still have to develop their logic and reading skills through education. Therefore, if they are not familiar with the topic, they get confused and lost easily when using hypertext as learning materials. Unlike undergraduate students, if k-12 students are asked to search for specific information, they will probably look for evident labels and use jumps to go down to it instead of understanding the whole text coherently. Although it seems that they can find the relevant information efficiently, they may not really grasp at the big picture of the text. As a result, in this case, teachers play important roles in designing accurate guided questions to lead students to read the hypertext coherently and logically. Moreover, it is critical to select the well-structured hypertext as teaching materials, which makes k-12 students easy to follow. So it is a bigger challenge for teachers to apply hypertext to teach k-12 students.