Author Archives: Andrew Sansone

Sansone & Yang- UC Davis & Curriculum Design

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Kathy: It is a pity that Andrew and I missed the last session of Curriculum Design class, which was also the most exciting Trade Fair occasion – but you can’t eat your cake and have it at the same time, that’s life. ☹ I have all my faith in my colleagues in doing excellent jobs presenting their projects, since everyone has put so much passion and efforts in designing their creative curricula. Another round of applause for my peers!

While at the same time, Andrew and I had a great time in UC Davis presenting an assessment-related project that we have been working on for most of the semester. Based on a previous test review project on TOEFL-iBT that Andrew and I did for Jean, we took an audacious move to apply for the third Language Symposium held on UC Davis and made our first appearance on a professional language teaching stage successfully. Although we were the last session on that day, we were still lucky enough to a decent number of audiences to share our findings. I’m so glad and excited that it turned very well! All the sweat and tears finally paid off on the last day of school in an insanely intense semester!

Andrew: I agree, Kathy! It was great getting to have the audience check out our hard work.  So cool!

Kathy: I can definitely view the transferable knowledge and skills of design thinking that I gained through the curriculum design process have worked in our research project. The research question of our project is whether the ETS stated constructed validity correlates with the applications of TOEFL-iBT in the higher institute through the perspectives of LPAs, teachers and students. We experienced real struggles when designing the survey because we had no clue about who would be the potential survey takers. Although we received some leads of TESOL graduates from Jean and Kathi, it was still hard to do the audience design. So instead of sticking to the original one-for-all survey, we created three versions of the survey to accommodate different groups, which varied in range and types of questions. Even though collecting as much as data by reaching out to as many people as we could was so time-consuming and energy-draining, the experience of doing research with a large and entirely unfamiliar audience was priceless for us.

Andrew: Our project was quite interesting, and both Kathy and myself really enjoyed getting to work on the UC Davis project.  We learned quite a bit, and it was great getting to see the other presentation in action.  Although our project was more focused  on the TOEFL iBT and critically analyzing its validity and testing constructs through our research, there were several elements of our experiences at UC Davis that could be extended to curriculum design.

For instance, I think that some of the presentations- which focused on student agency and how particular registers are socially constructed and signal meaning in society at large- would be valuable for any curriculum designer.  Anyway, it was great experience for both of us!

Terrific Trade Fair

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Andrew Sansone & Danna Agha

What an experience!  The trade fair for our class was a blast to participate in, and really rewarding for all the participants.  It was great to check out everyone’s work and see the creativity expressed in all the activities.  It was so interesting to see how everyone came up with different classroom activities which could be easily applied to a language classroom environment.

We felt as though everyone did a really good job with their presentations.  Each one was really interesting, and everyone’s presentations showed off a particular element of their personality.  It was so cool to see the creative and engaging ideas that everyone worked so hard on developing come to life.  It was also very cool to learn that many kinds of symposiums and conferences include these sorts of activities.  We think that a focus on readily adaptable, dynamic, and practical lesson components is an important part of teacher development.  Getting new ideas that can be immediately applied in the classroom is such a critical part of the field- it’s nice to discover that many symposiums have a strong focus on this.

While we enjoyed our experience synthesizing our our own ideas for our project (Shiri Tori), a lot of the other lesson ideas were really impressive.  One of the lessons that was particularly engaging- Escape from the Chinese Room- was especially impressive.  It involved placing students in a scenario where they were trying to find a key hidden in the room based off of several clues provided by the teacher.  The activity incorporated realia- in the end, the key was actually hidden underneath a potted plant- but also encouraged students to think outside the box.  Students also were given clues in L2 being taught, which further acted as an excellent comprehension exercise.  This activity would also work great in an FL teaching environment in China.  Businesses called ‘secret rooms’ are increasingly common in many Chinese cities.  Usually themed after horror tropes or Sherlock Holmes, these places include puzzle and code solving elements in themed rooms.  For example, patrons would be asked to unlock a door using a code hidden inside a book.  Students who already enjoy the secret rooms experience would doubtlessly love Escape from the Chinese Room.

We certainly found that everyone’s efforts and hard work showed immensely through their posters. One that stood out in particular was Chandra’s Spanish book-making idea, which presented the idea of adding a noun phrase after a conjugated Spanish verb, creating a story. This would vary depending on the level of the students and their proficiency in the language. The reason I liked activity so much was because it could pan across any language and all proficiency levels (and it looked fun!).

The trade fair was truly a fun, interesting, and engaging experience and I can whole-heartedly say that I am so proud of everyone and their projects, progress over the semester, and their dedication to creative thinking in the TESOL/TFL program.

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Glory to Arstotzka! Multimodal Learning, Learner Autonomy, and Video Games

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Andrew Sansone

Video games are a new addition to the toolkit used by language educators, and a great deal of their effectiveness is a result of their focus upon learner autonomy and contextualization.  It also offers new ways to engage learners who themselves enjoy video games in their leisure time.

One example of learner autonomy is the use of Papers, Please in a lesson focused on travel document vocabulary.  Normally, this lesson would be conducted using a textbook and traditional approach, including vocabulary presentation, contextualized reading, and listening comprehension activities.

However, this lesson could be enhanced by using multimodal learning.  Papers, Please involves a simple conceit- you take on the role of an Arstotzkan (a lightly disguised version of East Germany) border guard.  Your job is to decide which people enter your country, and which are rejected.  Your basic salary is based upon the number of people you process, and is usually insufficient- but you can earn extra money by reporting ‘criminals’ and taking bribes.  Your family requires money for food, medicine, and heat.  Students get to use the TL in a new and creative way- and given the role playing aspects of the game.  Students are asked to spot forged passports and visas by checking the issuing city, biographical details of the subject, and by analyzing their conversation with those looking to enter Arstozka.  The following PDF illustrate the various visa/passport/biographical details that students must juggle and engage with with playing the game. Obviously, all of these factors use the TL in a natural and authentic way.

Passport and Visa Details

Students in a class can play collaboratively, with the teacher controlling the mouse and the students telling him or her what to investigate or do.  Student autonomy is central to the success of the lesson, as the directions players take in game can shape the atmosphere their character inhabits. For instance, students who take bribes to allow resistance members into Arstotzka can personally profit, but weaken the foundations of an immoral state.  Those who choose to follow the ‘party-line’ will find the state strengthened, but their own moral compass malignly affected.


After playing the game, students then fill out a response to how they feel about the game and what they learned.

Mood master: A study in affective jiujitsu:: how to make your students sip on the nectar of knowledge like a happy baby

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The Griffiths and Keohane article laid out a number of interesting activities related to emotional status.  Affective activities can be quite effective in the language learning classroom.   Students might benefit from engaging in these sorts of activities and find the classroom to be a friendlier and more motivating space.

The article has a number of excellent activity ideas-

  • Changing other learners’ mood by sourcing jokes from students.
  • Building relationships with other learners by describing themselves using certain affective adjectives.
  •  Demonstrating appropriacy  and methods to avoid answering questions.
  • How to sympathize with negative and positive comments by other learners int he classroom.

Andrew Sansone, Catherine Purdy, Phil Martin, Ben C, Jerry Kim

Classroom Activity- The Game of Rows

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Today in class, we were exposed to a new (and very interesting) classroom activity.   The game was quite a lot of fun for everyone in the class, and gave all the participants an equal chance to participate.

The game was fairly simple.  The students are placed in two rows, standing (or sitting) opposite to each other.  The students are paired with the person in front of them.  One row is given a question prompt by the instructor.  The other row must predict the answer which their partner would provide.  The questions can be scaled in difficulty as the game progresses, moving from dichotomous responses to multiple choice.

We were given the following prompts as questions-

  • Would you take a billion dollars if you were not allowed to leave California for the rest of your life? (Y/N response)
  • If you won a competition, what would you want as a prize? (M/C question- A. 2 months paid holiday in Europe, B. Free Tesla & Lifetime Charging, C. New Wardrobe, D. Lifetime Supply of Chocolate)
  • Given the chance to have dinner and conversation with any person (alive or dead), who would you choose(M/C question A. Politician, B. Musician, C. Writer, D. Actor).  Respondents were then asked to expand their answers and justify them conversationally.

This activity was really interesting to take part in and provided a number of chances for natural, authentic conversation.  We all found the activity to be quite engaging, and lots of fun to participate in.  However, it might not work well for groups which are not already somewhat familiar with each other.  Students who are unfamiliar with each other might be made to feel uncomfortable by being asked to judge the preferences of others without any background information.

It might also be possible to extend the activity by asking questions that use a freer response model.  This could elicit more conversation from students, and prompt them to engage more.

There seems to be a distinct motivation behind restraining Q&As to yes/no or M/C questions during the initial question period.  Both rows of students should be asked to provide more explanation as the activity continues.  It would be possible to structure the activity so that both rows explain their choices and justify them.  Asking each row the same question might be possible and add more interaction in the class.  Expanding the scope of the questions asked might lead to more engagement by the learners- some of the questions from the previous 4-square activity might work well here.

Appropriateness for student levels is always a consideration- this activity is especially valuable since can be easily adapted to any learner level and remain engaging in fun.

 

Andrew Sansone, Kim Liao, Jerry Kim, Amy Liu

Proper, Prolific, Pragmatic, Professional Presentation Practices

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Today, we had the opportunity to view and respond to a an ESL student’s presentation on a professional topic.  Our presenter was a Japanese IESL student presenting on new methods for contrast imaging, specifically focussed on cancer research.

We took away several different impressions from the presentation.

Responses to the presentation-

Our feedback was focused on the clarity of the presenter’s speech and the comprehensibility of their content expression.  Before starting the feedback, we made efforts to integrate the presenter into the group and build rapport by discussing travel history and experience with the presenter’s hometown.  Rapport is critical for providing accurate and well-received feedback, and helps to move the recipient of feedback from the hidden to open self (according to the Johari window framework).

We tried to focus on both positive and critical aspects of the presentation.  This included reviewing the relative success of the presenter’s exposition regarding complex scientific terminology in simple terms.  Our group found the presenter to be quite effective in this regard.  It is critically important to provide honest, improvement-focused feedback. As such, we also worked with the presenter to improve his pronunciation of particular, high-frequency words. Our group felt like some mispronounced words negatively impeded the reception of the presentation; words like molecular, carbon, variation, and method are commonly mispronounced by Japanese EFL learners.  We provided feedback focused on awareness of the issue, and also suggested mitigation strategies to help improve.

Strategies to implement/activate presentation skills in the classroom:

Speaking skills-  Focusing on improving oral fluency before a presentation would be helpful.  Presenters would also likely benefit from some guidelines on note-taking, which could help provide them with some structure when encountering unexpected questions during a presentation.

Content & Vocabulary- Peer review/group work can be an effective technique for helping students master the vocabulary related to presentations.  Mind-mapping can also serve as a tool to explore synonymous terms for complex scientific terminology.

Body Language & Eye Contact–  Learning about body language and eye contact is important.  Completing practice presentation in small groups, followed up my a reflection/feedback sessions would help students become more comfortable when presenting.  This could be followed up by a full, intraclass presentation with the focus on implementing this feedback.

Pronunciation- As we mentioned above, working with students on especially important/high frequency words to ensure proper pronunciation is important. Eliciting repeated versions of these words, alongside an explicit review of certain common phonetic errors could be helpful. If, (as in this case) the students largely from a particular L1 background, covering common errors made by learners from that particular L1 would be useful.

Benjamin, Annabelle, Aaron, Andrew, Ivanne

Alternative Alligators- Productive Speech Tasks in the Classroom, Sansone 1

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Andrew Sansone Blog Post #1-

Today in class we learned about a new activity that I found to be quite interesting- Alligator River. The basic concept was meant to spark discussion and act as a concrete example of effective group roles. In this activity, the students are presented with a narrative involving several characters who interact with each other in a series of connected events. These interactions are deliberately open to interpretation, but they range in affect from positive, neutral, to strongly negative. Students are asked to rank the characters on an ordinal scale from least morally objectionable to repugnant. The activity takes shape as students debate the characters’ actions with the intention of negotiating a unified group ranking for all the characters.

I feel as though this sort of activity has a direct corollary in the language classroom- a mock trial. Mock trial activities are similar in that they involve moral judgment, clashing perspectives, persuasion, and an overarching theme of persuading peers of the value of their opinions in a freewheeling/natural style.

Mock trials can be different from Alligator River in that they provide a formal framework and assigned roles for group members- lawyer, judge, jury, etc. Additionally, mock trials necessarily involve technical language related to the courtroom- bench, unanimous, verdict, hung jury, client, prosecutor, etc.

Alligator River might be more appropriate for older learners- the less restrained aspects of the activity lends itself to more productive, natural speech. Mock trials might be more appropriate for younger/less confident learners- having the framework of a role placed on the learner might help him or her focus on language production/interaction.

As an example of how mock trial activities can be used in the same way as Alligator River to produce speech, I’ve appended role cards given to students in a mock trial activity we used at my former school. Another teacher devised a scenario where I had been in some kind of bicycle accident, and students had to r/p the various roles.

Note the inherent difference (and productive speech potential between) Witness 2 and the Prosecutor.

Witness 2 – You were driving in your car and saw a crazy foreigner on a bike serving in front of you. He didn’t seem to be able to ride the bike very well and looked like he would fall off at any moment. He went into a dark alleyway near your home. You knew there was a big scary dog living in that alleyway, so you shouted out of the window but he didn’t hear you. You stopped your car and followed him into the alley, but couldn’t find him. Suddenly you heard a big crack! You looked under your feet and found Andrew’s glasses, covered in blood!

Prosecutor– You know the defendant killed Andrew. Now you need to prove it. Listen carefully to the witnesses and ask lots of questions. Make sure you show the facts well to the judge, so he will believe you. Don’t let Andrew’s killer walk free!

Given the framework of roles to play (which could help shy students participate more fully), mock trials can be as effective as Alligator River in terms of eliciting productive speech from students.

Additionally, mock trials serve as an excuse to use the Law & Order theme in class.

Cognitive Strategies in the Language Classroom.

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It might be helpful for the instructor to survey students at the start of a lesson to discern their current learning strategies.  Then, the teacher could expose students to new learning strategies, either elicited from other learners or suggested by the instructor.

This data could also be used by the instructor to adjust teaching strategies, or classroom activities where appropriate.

Teachers could record their lessons, and after reviewing them, could possibly score their interactions with students based on the variety of cognitive strategies employed in the classroom.  Teachers could then collaboratively review their interactions  using a 2/2/1/1 format focused on cognitive strategies.

Since observation/recording changes the dynamics of the classroom, an alternative might be for students/teachers to self report their use of cognitive strategies.

Instructors should stress language use in the classroom and focus on practical applications of language points.  This focus should take into account expressed student cognitive preferences.

Some strategies might include:

  1. Requesting vocabulary lists from students with an eye towards practical applications
  2. Providing vocabulary lists for TL in the classroom.
  3. Applying Ebbinghaus’ ‘Forgetting Curve” (structuring the frequency of review sessions to maximize efficiency and results)
  4. Carefully considering cognate recognition activities/commentary to avoid false friends.
  5. Asking students to serve as teachers for difficult language points, with the goal of both instructing the group as a whole, while reinforcing deductive strategies for the students serving as teachers.

Andrew Sansone, Sara Borgstrom, Kathy Yang, Chung Hui Liao (kim)