I got my degree as a teacher of English (EFL) in 1984 at the Alianza Cultural Uruguay-Estados Unidos -a binational and bicultural institue- where I worked for twelve years. In 1988, I had my diploma as a French teacher (CAP) at the Alliance Francaise. In 1995, I graduated from the Catholic University in Montevideo with a degree in Education: "Licenciatura en Educacion". Since 1988, I have been working at the Lycee Francais "Jules Supervielle" in Uruguay.
My present interests are exploring new ways of creating communicative opportunities for the students and of incorporating modern technologies to the daily classroom activities. I am posting below some of the outcomes of this research work hoping they can be of help to other colleagues.
All your comments are welcome!
Developing Speaking Skills by Creating our Own Simulations for EFL Courses published at: the English Teaching Forum , a quarterly journal published by U.S. Department of State for teachers of English as a foreign or second language.
Index
The Internet, E-Mail and Foreign Language Teaching published at: 18 March 1998 · Computers in ELT · Supplement 5.1 –pages 18/19· ELT News & Views
Reflection on the Use of Modern Technologies in EFL classes presented at URUTESOL 7th Convention "Tomorrow’s Here to Stay", Montevideo, Uruguay, September25-26, 1999. URUTESOL is our local TESOL branch.
Intercambio Cultural con el Uso de las Nuevas Tecnologias presentado en II Evento de Docentes sobre Tecnologia Informatica , Instituto Crandon, Montevideo, Uruguay, 15 y 16 de agosto de 2002.
Developing Speaking Skills by Creating our Own Simulations for EFL Courses
published at: the English Teaching Forum , a quarterly journal published by the U.S. Department of State for teachers of English as a foreign or second language.
Objective The purpose of simulations is to have students interact in meaningful and realistic contexts, generating their own discourse. Simulations also provide a background for the integration of the four skills and for the development of language-learning strategies, fostering peer correction and self-assessment.
Developing oral skills is a real challenge for many EFL school teachers since the students do not live in an English speaking environment and most of them attend schools where English is taught as a curricular subject (for example, 120 minutes a week). In this context, it has traditionally been very difficult to achieve good standards of oral production because the input students receive is insufficient. There are too few classroom hours, and most teachers, although proficient in the target language, are not native speakers of English. In addition, it is difficult to find realistic situations which motivate the students to communicate in the foreign language.
My question so far has been the following: How can we, EFL teachers who work with teenage students who do not need to communicate in the foreign language, motivate them to speak in English? I have found that the best way was simply by "playing and having fun" in the classroom situation, since for them language learning is mostly considered a classroom activity whether we like it or not. I therefore try to move from controlled pair work (including repetition and dialog memorization, which proved to be very important in developing fluency and learning pronunciation) to creative sketches where students had to decide what to say and how to say it.
Simulations are a good way of integrating speaking and daily classroom activities because they can be adapted to the requirements of the syllabus and the textbook of the course and are also an excellent way of introducing culture. Some simulations I created are "A Trip to England," "A Restaurant in London," "The Shopping Mall," and "A Street in NYC."
Working it out In my classes each simulation started by describing the setting and the characters. That is, each student was assigned a character, either at random or by having the pupil choose the one s/he preferred. All the characters were organized into families, were work-mates, or were assigned special roles in the simulation. In "The Mall," for example, all students were employees or owners of the shops in a mall in Manhattan. In "A Trip to England," some were the members of the crew and the rest were passengers organized into families. To help the students keep a record of their characters, it is useful to have them fill out forms to define each role clearly: its personality, family links, job, history, projects. This can be done gradually as the simulation evolves since at a second stage interactions start occurring.
In "The Street," for instance, the students are grouped into families, workers, or shop owners. Some are professionals; there are old and young people who greet each other, argue, discuss problems, ask for information, sell, buy, or apply for jobs. All these interactions are organized by the teacher, who acts as a controller of the activity. The result is that these simulations become, to a certain extent, the spinal cord of the course, where functions, patterns, vocabulary, and even culture can be introduced, practiced, and recycled.
The teacher plans this activity from beginning to end, breaking it down into sets of role-plays in which every student participates, without forgetting to plan its ending, which is in general chosen by the students. For example, in ``The Mall" all the characters won the lottery prize and decided to take a trip together; in ``The Street" participants decided to demolish shops to build a shopping center.
In my experience, it is helpful to organize sets of role-plays around content areas. These content areas are topics derived from materials already discussed in class, which could be used as a starting point for the sketches the students produce. This provides a contextualized background that allows students to "shift from comprehension-based activities to controlled-production activities, and finally to activities which require the learner to engage in real communicative interaction" (Nunan 1989:118).
This results in meaningful use of the target language, not mere manipulation, and realistic contextualized communication, since this activity involves the interplay of' verbal strategies (functions, mimicry, register, intonation, pronunciation, inferences) and the knowledge and understanding of different cultural practices and habits (complimenting, ordering, body language). On the other hand, as students are ``masked" behind a new identity, they generally overcome shyness and feel free to express themselves and to act out their sketches. They play and have fun and do not view this activity as classroom work at all.
Finally, as the main purpose of this activity is having students generate their own discourse, the use of this technique has an important motivational value for them, especially if we take into account that they do not have many chances in the local environment to communicate in the target language. As a consequence, the students get involved immediately and feel eager to participate, not only because of the extrinsic motivation that results from interacting in realistic contexts, but also because they are intrinsically motivated to express themselves, use their imagination, and be creative.
Procedure First of all, it is necessary for the students to keep a record of all aspects related to their characters (by means of forms or diaries). The teacher has to keep another record of the interactions which occurred, organized in sets and filed in chronological order, so as to maintain coherence and, if possible, create suspense.
Example: "A Restaurant in London" (16 students [ss]):
The Restaurant (3 ss): owners: the father (cook), the mother (helps the father), the son (the waiter)
The Grocery Store (3 ss): owners: the father, the mother, and the son (he is the milkman)
The Post Office (2 ss): an employee and the postman
The Bed and Breakfast (4~ ss): the owner and three foreign students
The Club (3 ss): the secretary and the football coach
The Video Club (2 ss): the owner and the employee
PART 1: "Getting to know each other." The students work in groups with their families or work-mates. They describe themselves (appearance, nationality, likes, personality, their houses, etc.)
PART 2: The teacher plans the sets of role-plays and writes guidelines for each group. An example of what a first set of role-plays can be is the following:
"Getting in touch": The teacher prepares slips of paper (as in the examples below) and the students get together and prepare the dialogs. It is very important at this stage that all the students participate and are included in one of the sketches, all of which occur simultaneously.
Early in the morning at the Post Office: the employee is giving the postman the letters to be delivered.
The owner of the Bed and Breakfast is talking with the milkman. They greet each other, ask and answer questions about the new students. Then, the postman arrives, greets everyone, and explains that he has some letters for the students. The students appear and introduce themselves.
The coach and the secretary are at the restaurant. They order lunch. The cook calls his wife and asks her to go to the grocery store to do some shopping because there is nothing left. They write down the shopping list, and she leaves. Meanwhile, another customer arrives, but there is nothing left, only leftovers?
After the students interact and conduct the role-play, the teacher prepares the third, fourth (or the necessary number) sketch until the simulation is completed. The number of the sets of role plays to be included and the content to be practiced and recycled is up to the teacher and if possible negotiated with the students.
Acting it out When the students are asked to interact and conduct the role-play, three phases should be observed: rehearsal, performance, and debriefing (using Di Pietro's words (1987), even if the way in which they are described here differs and does not correspond exactly to his definitions).
Rehearsal:
The teacher gives out slips of paper, with the instructions for the groups mentioning the students who work together and a general reference to the topic of the conversation (as in the before-mentioned examples). These are mere guidelines which can be integrated to any conversation. What and how it is said is decided by the students.
Students can write down the script and may ask the teacher to give an opinion or some advice. More advanced students can just sketch an outline of how the interaction may progress. The idea is to have the students gain confidence and fluency so as to gradually shift to an improvisation like activity.
At this stage it is important to make sure that the following points are carried out:
· The students know exactly what thev have to do and understand the instructions.
· They understand the ground rules: The discussíon should be in the target language, even if the students' native tongue could be accepted in some special insiances (e.g., beginners). But in either case, the final product has to be in good English. This means students would be consulting dictionaries, grammar books, textbooks, or other useful material.
· The dialogs students write have to be clear, coherent, logically sequenced, and well-balanced so that every member of the group has a chance to participate in its creation and performance, If the roleplay is to be filmed, students have to agree on the stage, customs, makeup, etc.
The teacher should proceed as follows: · Make certain that the students know exactly what they are supposed to do.
· Help the groups in need of assistance to find solutions by suggesting ways, possibilities, and viewpoints that would help them carry out their task.
· Be prepared to model utterances in the target language, as required, and to give explanations. At this stage the attention is drawn to accuracy: the teacher has to correct the students' productions-wrítten and oral-before they act them out for the class.
· If the teacher feels the need to provide further practice, s/he should take notes during the role-play for points that students should practice in the debriefing phase.
· Observe the group dynamics to cater to different kinds of problems or characteristics of the students (shy, talkative, cooperative), to foster cooperation and mutual tolerance, and to find out about the students' learning strategies: "We know that students need to develop a range of skills, not only related to language, but also to learning and learning-how-to-learn" (Nunan 1989:94).
Performance:
In a certain way, the performance is the shortest phase of the activity, but the one the students enjoy the best. Each group is invited to play the sketch they prepared. Obviously, even if the scripts are written beforehand, students are not allowed to look at them. The scripts are just guides for the students, and if someone changes or forgets part of it, the others have to help them so as to keep the conversation going. It is important that students become aware of different communication strategies such as paraphrasing, making gestures, and asking for feedback.
In the case of traditional role-plays, the first requirement is a framework; that is, the teacher or one of the performers explains the theme of the sketch to the audience. Generally, in simulations this is not necessary for the context, and the characters are well-known to the students. But if this is important for comprehension, then students should be provided some guidance as to the procedure to be followed.
It is important to record on a video-cassette all the production so as to analyze individual and group progress and understand how the activity transpired. In some cases, students who were never filmed before were reluctant to be filmed. The teacher can let students know that nobody, unless agreed with the class, will see the film. It may also help to show the class what other students have produced. There are always groups of students willing to show everybody what they did!
Debriefing:
In this phase, the teachers plays the role of discussion leader. At this stage, peer correction, self-assessment, and self evaluation are fostered. Attention is drawn to how well the performers attained their goal. The focus is on fluency rather than accuracy, with the following points of emphasis:
· How well did the students make themselves understood, including what they said (appropriate vocabulary, etc.), and how did they say it (intonation, pronunciation, etc.)?
· What strategies kept the conversation going (mainly through peer support, asking questions, making gestures, improvising, etc.)?
Much research has been done in this area, and the general conclusion is that "practice makes perfect"-the more we speak (or write) the better we become at these activities. "It is within the matrix of fluent speech that accuracy can actually develop" (Rivers 1987).
These guidelines should foster students' comments and questions about, among other things, grammar and vocabulary. At this stage, we can say the best way of contextualizing grammar and the teaching of vocabulary is by starting with the pupils' own performances. In many cases, the students themselves can give an answer to those questions and provide clear and correct explanations or examples. In other cases, the teacher may want to clarify or round up items, give reinforcement, and provide further practice.
The classroom atmosphere
If interaction is the aim, it is necessary to create a suitable atmosphere that would allow students to express themselves freely and make them feel eager to communicate, to "mean" in the foreign language. A teacher-centered classroom would never provide the opportunities for the students to interact.
The classroom, thus, must be a non threatening environment where students are eager to communicate and where the focus is on the process of learning, not on error correction. Errors should be viewed as a natural part of the learning process, never as a drawback.
Students should care about their own and other students' progress and should share projects, goals, and interests if we expect interaction to occur and if we look forward to introducing creativity, imagination, and fun to our classrooms.
Integrating the four skills
Thc four skills can be integrated successfully in simulations by working with content areas. Students are asked to look for information in newspapers, magazines, books, ads, maps, menus, recordings, or by interviewing natíve speakers. They are later asked to use the information collected for their oral interactions (ordering, planning a trip, giving advice, applying for a job, reporting), and ín written followup activities (diaries, newspapers, postcards, stories).
Evaluation As previouslv said, the focus is on the process, on how the students improved their performances, and, of course, the final product achieved. All along the process, students are stimulated to gain accuracy (rehearsal phase) and fluency (performance phase), keeping in mind that errors should be corrected so as to have students learn from their own mistakes (Klassen 1991).
On the other hand, simulations fulfill the requirements of interactive, proficiency-oriented tests where students are put in situations where they hear and react to real uses of the target language or where what they read is to be incorporated into some further language-using activity, which replicates normal uses of language as much as is feasible (Rivers 1987:13).
Why this technique
For the teacher, simulations provide an opportunity to develop accuracy and fluency (Hammerly 1991) and to practice the four skills. On the other hand, students develop strategies not only related to language learning, but also to learning-how-to-learn, placing students within an atmosphere of collaborative work.
Simulations keep students highly motivated, giving them a chance to be involved in creative language use, to be exposed to the language as a system, to derive input from authentic resources, to develop strategies that will be of importance in their learning processes, and to develop skills of self-monitoring and self-evaluation. Students also learn to cooperate with classmates each time a new set of sketches is proposed with new groups. In this way, all the students are integrated and learn to be tolerant and to adapt to new working groups and situations. This results in a holistic view of the learning process where the cognitive and humanistic aspects contribute to the student's and the teacher's personal growth.
References
Bygate, M. 1987. Speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Di Pietro, R. 1987. Strategic interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hammerly, H. 1991. Fluency and accuracy:
Toward balance in language teaching and learning. Clevedon, UK: Multi-lingual Matters Ltd.
Hyland, K. 1993. Language-learning simulations: A practical guide. English Teaching Forum, 31, 4, pp.l6-21.
Jacobs, G., and H. Stephen. 1994. Implementing cooperative learning. English Teaching Forum, 32, ~l, pp. 2-4..
Klassen, J. 1991. Using student errors for teaching. English Teaching Forum, 24, 1, pp. 10-16.
Nunan, D. 1989. Designing taslcs for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rivers, ~. 1987. Interacttve Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18 March 1998 · Computers in ELT · Supplement 5.1 –pages 18/19· ELT News & Views
S. Beatriz Chelle de Porto is a Uruguayan EFL teacher who has taught for ten years at the Alianza Cultural Uruguay-Estados Unidos, a binational center in Montevideo, and currently teaches at the Lycée Francais in Montevideo. Her present interest is finding new ways of incorporating modern technologies to EFL teaching.
I have come to realize that many teachers and school administrators seem reluctant to invest their time and money in Modern Technologies (PCs, e-mails, the Internet). Teachers should be trained and the school administration has to buy expensive equipment: a computing lab and at least one computer with modem and a connection to the Internet.
Fortunately, countries in the Cono Sur are making significant efforts in terms of education and many schools, including public ones, already have computing labs. In spite of this, almost no language teachers work in the labs. There seems to be a general belief that PCs mean computing classrooms and technicians. Only a srriall number of teachers would seem to be interested in learning how to use and exploring how to integrate those modern tools into their teaching praxis. The purpose of this article is to share with my colleagues in the Cono Sur countries some of the infinite possibilities Modern Technologies offer.
WHY MODERN TECHNOLOGIES?
The reason these should be incorporated into classroom activities is mostly because things are not the same after the digital revolution. Computers have changed:
a. how people (mostly children and teenagers) spend their leisure time: playing computer games, surfing the net, chatting on the Internet.
b. how people communicate. People can chat on-line, participate in discussion forums, send each other messages or letters via e-mail. This is very interesting since people can receive immediate feedback and communicate with people from all over the world in a matter of seconds.
c. how people interact with information. It is now accessible to everyone at his/her own discretion: from academic essays, to book reports, news events, or even the written productions of EFL students.
Internet, E-mail and FL Teaching
After having worked with the Internet and e-mail, I found these tools proved to be effective in three aspects:
1. Class Work.
a) Reading Materials:
The Internet is an unlimited source of authentic reading materials ranging from a map of a city to articles in magazines or journals, or games and poems for children. It's handy, interesting, varied, presented in different formats. This is very important for EFL teachers since in our local environment it is hard to find this kind of input and up-to-date information which can be exploited in various ways with different kinds of students.
b) Cross-cultural experiences:
I joined an exchange project with almost 40 partner-classes around the world. I got in touch with them via Internet and use my email to send/receive letters. My students and I are learning á lot about how teenagers in other parts of the world live, study, spend their free time and many other things. What is more, many references (related to population for example) raised topics such as immigrants, which were exploited in interdisciplinary activities.
c) Writing for a reader:
Another effect of being engaged in an exchange project is that students write for an audience, there is a reader and what is more, most of them are native speakers, so there is a feeling of achievement: they can communicate in the target language efficiently and feel more motivated to use it. All this is reinforced by the fact that when a message is sent via e-mail, it is immediately received by the reader and they normally receive the answers in less than a week (the next day in some student-to-student pen pal exchanges).
2. The teacher.
a) The Internet:
can link the teacher to important ELT sites such as TESOL, IATEFL, TESL, CALL, among others so as to keep updated and well-informed since many articles are posted online. Other sites help teachers clarify vocabulary or grammar questions. There are even virtual dictionaries and thesaurus on-line.
b) E-mail:
allows them to join forums in which colleagues and specialists discuss varied issues related to language teaching. I found this very enriching, the sharing of experiences and viewpoints made me reflect and analyze my teaching praxis and approach.
3. Research work.
a) The Internet:
Provides faster search facilities and links to vast sources of input, book reviews, articles published online, virtual libraries.
b) E-mail:
Teachers can also get input from colleagues via forums or e-mail who may come up with ideas, comments, book references or even their own articles published online which are always valuable for your own research project.
a) Adopting a teaching approach which implies the construction of meaning through collaborative learning, the use of authentic material, and an emphasis on the teaching of cogrutive and metacognitive strategies.
b) Modern Technologies have changed the degree of interconnection between people. The isolation of the classroom is tending to disappear and the instruction and information conveyed by the teacher can be questioned and challenged, and together with it the authority of the teacher as traditionally understood. Teacher and student roles are redefined and classes become student-centered and foster collaborative and independent learning.
Reflection on the Use of Modern Technologies in EFL classes
URUTESOL 7th Convention "Tomorrow’s Here to Stay", Montevideo, Uruguay, September25-26, 1999
Presenter: Beatriz Chelle.
Summary: After working with the Internet and e-mail in language classrooms, the
presenter seeks to share with other teachers the outcomes resulting of two years of
exploring how modern technologies can be effectively incorporated in the classroom.
"WHY MODERN TECHNOLOGIES?"
The reason why they should be incorporated into classroom activities is mostly because things are not the same after the digital revolution.
Computers have changed:
- how people spend their leisure time
- how people communicate
- how people interact with information
THE WORLD WIDE WEB
The www is an unlimited source of authentic reading material ranging from games and poems for children to articles in magazines or journals on-line. All skills can be practiced –with the appropriate tools- since students can even listen to or talk with native speakers or other learners.
It is handy, interesting, varied, presented in different formats It is also a source of recent and uncensored information
And a wonderful source of “raw material” for a research paper: provides faster search facilities and links to vast sources of input, websites, book reviews, articles published online, virtual libraries and bookshops.
WEBPAGES:
You can:
-introduce yourself.
-explain exactly what you want to do and how.
-post your students productions and pictures (parents’ authorization is required for this and it is also necessary to avoid posting the students’ family names, addresses or phone numbers)
-help students surf the web
-makes it possible to get feedback from your readers (by posting and email address or a feedback form)
What makes a good page:
-there’s a clear home page: indicates what is on the site and how to get there.
-it loads fast (mainly text, the fancy stuff –such as pictures- is clearly shown and is only for those who want to open it)
-points the places where you and your students want to go (links)
E-MAIL:
- Students and teachers can communicate with people from all over the world in a a matter of seconds and receive immediate feedback.
- E-mail projects are truly communicative:
a) students write about themselves and want to know all about one another
b) they determine themselves what they want to write about (even if there are guidelines)
c) cross-cultural experiences make it possible for the teachers and students to learn how people live, interact, study and many other things. Many refereces raised topics (immigrants, tlte weather) which could be exploited interdisciplinary .
- May facilitate correcting and editing written work:
- When you answer you can decide whether or not to have the text of the e-mail you received inserted into your answer. In such case, the textof the e-mail you received appears in full in your response and is also marked in a specific way, in italics or with a > at the beginning of every line. So you can correct, give feedback very fast. For exapmle:
>she have two beautifuls dogs.
“has” “beautiful”
- Students get immediate feedback and save time because they can edit their work faster using “Word” tools such as “cut”, “paste”, etc.
- E-mail can greatly enhance teacher/student communication: students can email their questions, teachers can give feedback and extra exercises to the whole group or to certain students only.
- The use of email is necessary if the teacher wants to join forums in which colleagues and specialists discuss varied issues related to language learning and teaching.
- Research work can be facilitated since teachers can get input from colleagues and specialists via forums or e-mail who may come up with ideas, comments, bookreferences; their own articles published on-line.
TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL E-MAIL EXCHANGE PROJECTS
A. The Partner Teachers
-They should do their utmost to ensure that their students write in a responsible manner and stickto the lines.
-They should ensure that their students understand instructions, know the background rules, and "netiquette” rules.
-They must be willing to cooperate, be present and keep in touch with you. This helps in many ways: to identify problems, find solutions, discuss objectives, etc)
- The activity should have a beginning and an end, it is better if a project has its time span set from the beginning.
B. The Students:
. They should be paired according to their age and if possible to their language level (this is important if they are beginners)._ This avoids drop-outs due to language discrepancy and lack of interest.
. For beginners, it proved to be helpful to find partners who shared the same background (for example: culture, native tongue)
. Make sure students meet deadlines, writeand get e-mails regularly (they can either keep a “folder” in each one’s mail, or print the letters they send/receive and keep them in a folder or envelope you check regularly)
. They know how to use "W~d" r~k with "émail" and í~ has an email account.
. They know how to use the word processor, how to work with e-mail and have their own email accounts.
CLASSROOM PRACTICE:
Incorporating modern technologies implies:
- a new teaching approach: student-centered and which implies the construction of
meaning through collaborative learning, an emphasis on the teaching of cognitive and
metacognitive strategies, the use of authentic material.
- modern technologies have changed the degree of interconnection between people.
The isolation of the classroom is tending to disappear and the instruction and
information conveyed by the teacher can be questionned and challenged, and together
with it the authority of the teacher as traditionally understood. Teacher and student
roles are being redefined and classes become student-centered and foster collaborative
and independent learning.
Intercambio Cultural con el Uso de las Nuevas Tecnologias
Trabajo presentado en ocasion del II Evento de Docentes sobre Tecnologia Informatica , Instituto Crandon, Montevideo, Uruguay, 15 y 16 de agosto de 2002.
Links to other sites on the Web
