Author Archives: Gerri Falk

Gerri’s Pedagogical Repertoire

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Pedagogical Repertoire

  1. “Bad English” Error Correction Activity
    • Good for all level due to high adaptability, but primarily aimed at beginners
    • Students correct errors found from publish sources or their own work.
    • Helps to build confidence
  2. Morning Routines
    • Beginners
    • Students pick a member of their household and describe their morning routine
    • Uses familiar people to foster student participation
  3. Preference Four Square
    • All levels
    • A 2×2 matrix is put on the board with two categories of things labeled above each section. Students get sorted into blocks based on their preferences, and then discuss in small groups.
  4. Inside-Outside Circle
    • All levels
    • Students standing in two circles, one outside the other. Outside circle rotates, while the inside circle remains that same. Students are given a question and asked to discuss with peers, then outside circle switches.
  5. Make Me laugh
    • All levels
    • Students stand in two lines facing each other. They then take turns trying to make the person standing across from then laugh using only their target language.
    • Helps break the ice.
  6. Getting in the mood
    • All levels
    • Students imagine their worries as an object, and describe and discuss the object that they imagine with a partner. After the paired discussion, students imagine the object erased.
    • Helps students relax and focus.
  7. Making Rain
    • Intermediate or advanced
    • Students discuss rituals as a class, and then get into groups to make their own. After they make their own, they take turns sharing and explaining.
  8. Info Gap Direction Map
    • Beginner or intermediate
    • Students are paired off and handed maps. Each map (2) has different places labeled and missing. Students direct each other to the missing places.
  9. Personal Dictionaries
    • Beginner or intermediate
    • Students make their own pocket dictionaries with words they have trouble with. They include the word with the article, picture, and definition. The teacher then makes a class dictionary with their definitions and pictures.
  10. Life Line
    • All Levels
    • Students are placed into groups of 4. Each student receives three sticky notes, and writes a brief descriptions of a travel experience on each note, including the month and date. The sticky notes are put into chronological order to create a line to form a game board. Students then take turns rolling a single die, and move coins across the Life Line board. If a student lands on their own sticky note, the other three students ask them one question each related to the event written on the note. If the student lands on another student’s note, they ask a question to that student, followed by the other two students.
  11. Hot-Cold-Lukewarm
    • Intermediate or Advanced
    • Students write three abilities that they have piece of paper: strengths at one end, weakness at the other, and a line between the two. They are asked to think of the line as a continuum between the two extremes, the positive end being hot, the negative end being cold, and the middle being lukewarm, and then place themselves on the line. The students then list ways they can work on the abilities that are on the cold end, and share in groups, then with the class.
  12. Balloon Debate
    • Intermediate or Advanced
    • Students start by listing ways that they let people know that they agree and disagree with each other. Students then split in groups of five. Each group member is given a role (ex: doctor, lawyer, old man/woman, mother, child, athlete etc). Students are then told that they are on a hot air balloon that going to crash because it is too heavy, and to save the balloon one person must jump off. Each student must make a case as to why they should stay on the balloon, and the students must decide a group who has to jump off. Students then discuss as a group who each of their picked, and what strategies they all used to get their point across.

Bad English- Pedagogical Trade Fair

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Bad English Error Correction Activity

  • What is it?
    • Students point out errors in the English around them through published example (newspapers, signs, etc) or samples from their own papers.
  • Who is it good for?
    • Beginning to advanced level students (see adaptations)
  • Materials
    • Power point of signs up on board/ screen, signs are numbered
    • Students each have corresponding worksheets that are also numbered, each sign’s English on paper, three questions underneath
      1. What do you think the sign was trying to say?
      2. Why/ how do you know? Explain what you think the context is.
      3. How would you correct it? Re-write it.
    • One example as class to start
    • Small groups meet next (depending on the class size), have them agree on a re-write out  of each sentence in each groups
    • Share group responses as a class, discuss over-arching themes, ex: all mistakes were in articles, use of past tense, auxiliary verbs etc. Teacher facilitated discussion also allows students to go back and pin point why they’re making certain mistakes (as listed in question 1 & 2).
  • Expansions
    • Signs from internet, newspaper headings
    • Can uses student’s own work as material for correction (advanced students, after work has already been handed in). Make sure if this is done, particularly shy or self-conscious students are should not be selected for “bad” examples either at all or without good ones too. You could also use non-specific examples from patterns of errors that you notice.
  • Why Use it?
    • Boosts student’s confidence shows students that while they may not be able to produce that they can still recognize correct English. This is why this activity is good for beginners, because beginners might not be able to produce just yet. This helps cut down on the “I’m bad at English” attitude that can pop up in unconfident students.
    • B y having students correct their own work, you help them recognize areas of strength and weakness in their own work. This helps give students a strategy for success in your class and others.
    • Shows students that everyone makes mistakes, even native speakers. Helps bring up the discussion between how language is taught (prescriptivism) vs how it’s actually used (descriptivism). This activity allows students to see that there are multiple ways to correct the same sentence.
    • Lowers affective filter

The pedagogical trade fair was a really incredible experience. Everyone was so excited to share what they had created, and it was especially nice to have faculty members from different departments come and see our work.

My main take away from the experience is that, first of all, there are so many different ways to teach. We all had very different activities that tackled different aspects of learning, and yet I think they all had one thing in common: they all tried to make learning fun and engaging.

The collaborate aspect of the trade fair also struck me. It was tremendous fun to see my peer’s work, but what I found beneficial was being able to go and talk to those peers and having them talk to me. When other people are able to comment on your work, you’re really able to work out some of those troublesome kinks that might remain, or even see issues you hadn’t even thought of. It is also very rewarding to be able to help my classmates talk over their ideas. The whole experience reminds me of a saying that people sometimes use “it takes a village to raise a child” While I don’t have kids of my own yet and can’t comment on raising them, I think I can say with certainty that it takes a village to teach them.

Bayview en francais

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by Gerri, Kendall, and Dee

Kendall, Dee, and I chose to teach a third and second grade class French at Bayview. We all had very mixed teaching experiences up to that point. Dee and I both participated in the TAPIF program: I worked in a high school and Dee worked with elementary school children. Kendall also taught French students in high school during her studies abroad. All of us taught English before, but not French.

Needless to say, while Kendall and I looked forward to the  opportunity to try new things, Dee was the most comfortable walking into this experience.

Our first class was with third graders. Overall it went smoothly: the children paid attention, stayed in their seats, and seemed enthusiastic about what we were teaching them. However, we forgot to hand out the worksheet we had made right off the bat, and out lesson would have gone more smoothly had we not neglected to do this. In particular, the children enjoyed looking at the books we brought in and the coloring activity at the end of our lesson.

The second grade class was completely different. While we learned from our previous mistake, and handed out the worksheet right away, they lacked the attention span to make use of it. The class’ teacher did not stay in the room with us, and the children outright refused to listen to the aid that remained in the room.

Kendall and I were particularly flustered by the second grade class. While we both love children, we came out of the experience  not  comprehending how anybody manages to teach children, and having great admiration for those that do. It was frustrating to see such a lack of classroom discipline and not knowing how to fix it. We were not told the quiet signal before the lesson, however it might not have made much of a difference, as the children ignored it when the aid used it. It also became very clear to us that the worksheet we made was too advanced for their grade level, which we’re sure did not help the disorderly classroom situation. Our lesson too, for this reason, took longer than before.

We understand that this class is not reflective of all classes, and take the experience with a grain of salt. The difference in each class really showed us just how varied teaching can be, and how important it is to be flexible in your lesson planning. Having a high tolerance for ambiguity and setting expectations for your classroom early on also seemed to be useful.

On a positive note, this experience reminded us all why we chose to become teachers in the first place: to see that moment of joy when students are engaged and understanding what they are learning. The children were incredibly insightful and creative while designing their planets, and it was so much fun talking to them about their creations. We even got a note from a third grader saying “you rock”.

Don’t be such an Umbridge: Umbridge = negative affect

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Today’s activity started with a think-pair-share with respect to negative and positive emotions related to language learning and teaching.

The activity allowed us to see how different students who have learned a language can have similar positive and negative emotions associated with language learning. Even though we had all studied different languages at different times (and even in vastly different countries), we were able to come up with five over-arching categories. This allowed us to think about teaching techniques and approaches that could reduce negative associations with language learning and augment positives feelings.

Our motivation to complete this task was due, in part, to our extrinsic desire to make Peter laugh, as well as our competitive nature. Our intrinsic motivation came from our genuine desire to become better, more aware, and more accommodating language teachers.

The broad freedom we were allowed while making the poster decreased pressure and enabled us to be more engaged and creative. This falls within one of the categories we used in our poster regarding comfort, and how we were all able to succeed in the language classroom when we were in a safe environment.

PS: Thank you Peter, for indulging our obsession with the color purple and Harry Potter.

– Gerri, Kelly, Aaron, and Josiah