questions and clarifications

Questions and clarifications

STARTALK HL TEACHER WORKSHOP

Maria Carreira

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

• Feedback to students: What goes into it? • Students who fit only the broad definition of HL

learners: How do you teach them? What kind of curriculum do you follow?

• The “Pakistani Challenge”• Friday’s presentation: Mechanics

Approximately 10 minutes

Use rubrics 1, 8, and 9 for best practices, learner-specific characteristics, goals and objectives, and assessment practices.

The Abuelos Project: A Community-based Curriculum

Curricular implications of the NHLRC survey

HL curricula should

• Be grounded in local (HL) communities;• Be authentic and personally meaningful;Rationale:Most HLLs are US born or are early arrivals; study the HL to communicate with family and friends in the US; use their HL in the context of the home, derive benefit from belonging to a community of speakers;

Curricular implications (cont.)

HL curricula should • Have a bilingual and bicultural outlook;Rationale: HLLs describe themselves as hyphenated Americans and report making frequent use of both of their languages together• Be input rich; Rationale: HLLs have little exposure to their HL• Progress from the aural to the written registers;Rationale; HLLs have relatively strong aural skills and weak reading and writing skills;• Accommodate different levels of proficiency;Rationale: HLLs in a given class can vary significantly from each other.

In addition…language-specific and institution-specific issues

• With Latino students, the curriculum should focus on developing general literacy skills.

Rationale: The Latino academic gap, Latinos’ professional goals for Spanish.Note: Relative to other HLLs, Latinos have well-developed reading and writing skills in their HL (decoding and encoding). However, their literacy skills in English (command of registers) may not be as strong as those of other students.

What are the “issues” in your language and institution?

The Abuelos Project

Overview• Source

Projects by Profs. Olga Kagan and Ana Roca

• GoalsTeaching students how to learn grammar and vocabulary in contextExpanding students literacy skills and bilingual rangeConnecting students with elderly members of the HL communityExploring cultural, historical, social issues pertaining to the HL community through the experiences of the “abuelos” and othersMaking learning accessible to students at all levels

Students

• All HL learners• All: Intermediate-plus to advanced listening skills in

Spanish• Most: Intermediate-plus to advanced speaking skills

in Spanish, informal registers• All: Basic reading and writing skills (decoding and

encoding)• Few: Grade-appropriate literacy skills• Greatest area of variation: Command of the past

tense (spelling, conjugation, grammatical use)

Description of curriculum

Big plan: • Students work with an elderly or community member. They visit with this person at various times of the semester or school year, as they work on different projects; • This person’s life story forms the basis for a series of written products: an interview, a short story, a short research paper.

Scaffolding:• Before completing these writing projects, students read and study samples of each genre to familiarize themselves with genre-specific properties and language. In addition, they practice each type of writing with a classmate.

Products

• Pertain to the US Latino experience;• Proceed from the aural to the written and from the

informal to the formal registers.

Interview (oral) (Unit I)Interview (written) (Unit II) -> students produce two written interviewsOral narrative (Unit III)Oral narrative and short story (written) (Unit IV)Short story (Unit V) -> students produce two short storiesAcademic paper (Units VI, VII &VIII) ->Students produce a short academic paper/essay

General structure of units

• Students examine 2-4 samples of the type of text they will be asked to produce (Providing rich input);

• They compare their own life experiences to those described in the texts (Connecting to their communities of origin);

• They analyze the organizational properties and language of the texts (Progressing from the aural to the written registers, developing literacy skills, accommodating different levels);

• They work with a classmate to produce this type of text (scaffolding, formative assessment).

• They work with the older relative or neighbor to gather information that may help them produce this type of text. (Exploring their HL community ).

Example: The “interview” unit (I)

• Students watch an interview on YouTube of writer Zoe Valdés about her life as a Cuban exile;

• Students read an interview of Valdés about her Chinese grandfather, who immigrated to Cuba at the turn of 20th century;

(oral -> written, recycling of vocabulary/grammar, spiraling);

Example: The “interview” unit (2)

• Class compares the written v. spoken interview;• Class discusses the structure of the written interview:

vocabulary, register, tone, organization, etc.• Class compares the interview genre with other

written formats for representing personal information (job application, passport);

• The grammar and vocabulary emerges from the readings and video clips.

Past tense (spelling, conjugation)

Capitalization, orthography

Vocabulary

• Key vocabulary and grammar is posted on a “word wall” on Blackboard.

The Interview Units

Writing an interview

To scaffold and support writing• Students listen to and read sample interviews to familiarize

themselves with this genre (oral -> written, rich input);

• Language needed for the interview is previewed and posted on a virtual “Word wall” (scaffolding of vocabulary + grammar);

• Opportunities for low-stakes writing practice are

provided (formative assessment, scaffolding);

Process writing

• Students interview each other and write an interview;

• They edit each other’s interviews for content, organization, and language;

• The class discusses key issues that emerge from the peer editing activity and drafts a rubric for writing an interview.

• The final draft of their peer interview is graded holistically and placed in the portfolio.

Process writing (2)

• Students visit an elderly person who is an HL speaker;

• On the basis of their conversations, they identify themes or ideas for their interview and write questions;

• Working in small groups, they revise their questions and fine tune their ideas for the interview;

Process writing (3)

• Students interview the “abuelo” and write up their interview;

• Working in small groups, they peer-edit their interview following the rubric (results are discussed and posted);

• The final draft of their interview is graded holistically and placed in the portfolio.

• This interview forms the basis of the next writing project: the short story (material is recycled at a higher level).

Products -> Portfolio

Interview (peer + abuelo) Short story (peer + abuelo)Short academic paper

Students select one of these for their final “high stakes” writing grade. The others are graded holistically on an eight-point scale that takes into account: Organization (2 points); spelling (2 points), grammar/vocabulary (2), genre/register (2 points)

FILLING IN DETAILS…

• Sample activities from the Abuelos units

• Identifying “best practices” and components of “enduring understanding”

• Challenges

Challenges

Voces by Reinaldo Arenas

Nosotros vinimos por el aireNosotros vinimos por el marNosotros llegamos amarrados a la cámara de un autoNosotros llegamos sujetos a la rueda de un aviónNosotros salimos conjurando tiburones y guardacostasNosotros salimos taladrando un túnel en el aireNosotros salimos agarrados a la cola de un cometaNosotros llegamos a nado, vomitando la bilis,soltando el bofe,los huesos al sol, deshidratados,descarnado el corazón.Sí, sin duda somos los más dichosos-los afortunados.Los demás yacen sin tiempo bajo el maro condenan nuestra fugamientras secreta y desesperadamente desean partir.

Why is this poem well suited for use with HL learners?

Challenge

Can you use this poem in a mixed (HL + L2) class? How can you make it accessible and meaningful to L2 learners?

Accessible:

Meaningful:

Making themes meaningful to both populations of learners

• Text-to-self-connection

• Text-to-world connection

A line from the poem

How it relates to your ancestors

Line from the poem Examples of other immigrant groups

Challenge 2

In terms of products, what can students do with this poem? Write a poem?

Re-writing the text: Advanced version

Nosotros vinimos por _________________Nosotros vinimos por _________________Nosotros llegamos____________________Nosotros llegamos ____________________Nosotros salimos _____________________Nosotros salimos _____________________Nosotros llegamos ____________________Nosotros llegamos ____________________,Sí, sin duda somos los más envidiados-los que pasamos con suerte.Los demás ________________________________________________________________.

Voces by Mayra Ocampo Nosotros vinimos por tierras prohibidasNosotros vinimos por tierras perdidasNosotros llegamos torcidos en la cajuela de un autoNosotros llegamos con una identidad robadaNosotros salimos conjurando serpientes y patrullasNosotros salimos aferrados a una fe incierta, rezando a un Juan soldadoNosotros llegamos escarbando un túnel en la sierraNosotros llegamos hambrientos, deshidratados, desesperados,con las tripas vacías,los huesos al sol, la lengua al aire.Sí, sin duda somos los más envidiados-los que pasamos con suerte.Los demás yacen olvidados en el desiertosus almas perdidas y vagandomientras familiares sufren su partiry sueñan con un milagro.

Re-writing the text: Simplified version

Nosotros vinimos (por) ___________ (avión, barco, el desierto, caminando, nadando)Nosotros vinimos por _________________Nosotros llegamos_________ (asustados, contentos, solos, perseguidos…)Nosotros llegamos ____________________Nosotros salimos _____________________Nosotros salimos _____________________Nosotros llegamos ____________________Nosotros llegamos ____________________,Sí, sin duda somos los más envidiados-los que pasamos con suerte.Los demás ________________________________________________________________

Re-writing the text: The mixed class version

Los __________vinieron por _________________Los __________ vinieron por _________________Los ___________llegaron ____________________Los ___________ llegaron ____________________Los ____________salieron _____________________Los ____________salieron_____________________Todos nosotros llegamos ____________________Todos nosotros llegamos ____________________,Sí, sin duda somos los más envidiados-los que pasamos con suerte.Los demás ________________________________________________________________.

Challenge 3

• What else, besides re-writing this poem, what other products can students work on?

Challenge 4

What language point(s) can you teach using this poem?

The past tense

Possible topics HL learner, FL learner or both

Basic conjugation, regular verbs

Spelling

Irregular verbs

Standard v. non-standard forms

The “Charlie” Unit

• Challenge 1:

What can beginning writers do beside write a letter?


• Challenge 1:


Oral letter


• Challenge 1:


Oral letter

Fill-in-the blank letter


• Challenge 1:


Oral letter


Text-to-self connection


• Challenge 1:


Oral letter


Text-to-self connection

Venn diagram


• Challenge 1:


Oral letter


Text-self connection

Venn diagram

Survey (racism, nicknames, generalizations)

The Charlie Unit

• Challenge 2

How can you make a unit about names meaningful to both HL and L2 learners?

The Charlie Unit

• Challenge 2


How did you get your name?


Name of a family member

Name with religious significance

Name of a famous or popular figure

Popular/trendy name

Made up name

The Charlie Unit

• Challenge 2



Naming practices

The Charlie Unit

• Challenge 2

How can you make a unit about names

meaningful to both HL and L2 learners?


Naming practices

Where does your last name come from? (-ez ending in Spanish – Menéndez, what’s the equivalent in English?)

Food: The teaching demonstration

• What “best practices” are exemplified?

• What aspects are well-suited for L2 learners?

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• Challenge 1: How can we adapt this unit for an HL class?

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• Challenge 1: How can we adapt this unit for an HL class?

• Challenge 2: How can you adapt it for a mixed class?

.

To keep in mind

Start with cultural themes or issues that are likely to be meaningful to HL learners. Adapt them to make them also meaningful to L2 learners in mixed classes. Use rubrics to make personal connections. Use scaffolding to make authentic materials accessible to learners at different proficiency levels e.g. previewing vocabulary, tapping into background knowledge, recycling material, using visual organizers, providing low-stakes practice, etc.

Thank you!

questions and clarifications

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