vrijdag 17 juni 2011

Videos

These are the videos I truly want to share with you.

Videos for the subject: multiculturalism

(blog: CSET: lesson 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu3hUlWr3u8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POkP2oCFhA&feature=related

Videos for the subject: high and low context

(blog: high and low context)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tIUilYX56E

Videos for the subject: logos and mythos

(blog: the iceberg metaphor & logos and mythos)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FceBRjp0MTE

Videos for the subject: cultural dimensions
(blog: Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions)
The dimensions explained: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gJzRS0I7tA
Power distance index: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqaa42gbqhA&feature=related
Individualism – collectivism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW7aWKXB5J4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK9HLOB2-Hk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwDDb_h2i0A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCIAb6hvPgY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkmS-jTGN1A

Videos for the subject: language registers

(blog: language policy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9AMiKmzV0M

Improving literacy

It’s not if somebody isn’t good in academic language, he’s stupid. Pay attention to that fact if you are a teacher.

The vocabulary teachers use is most of the time very difficult for pupils (define, illustrate, compare, …). It’s important as a teacher that you teach those words. You can’t expect that if you never said: compare, that the pupils can compare on a test. Make exercises while using these words. Then it’s possible for the pupils to do the right thing, the thing you’ve asked because they will know the words then.

Talking in class

The intention of this article is that you understand that there are different registers and that you can learn them. This is important for us, teachers. We can teach our pupils the registers they need in their later career. It’s an art to master the language.

Language is an instrument.
The main idea of language is shaping and reshaping ideas, to understand and to give interpretations to it. We, as teachers, need to stimulate this. We need to create a space for the pupils to shape their ideas, to reshape their ideas, to understand each other and perhaps to give interpretations to some things. Reading is not the same as talking. So it is important that the pupils talks in the class to shape ideas.

When you look at it, every teacher is a language teacher. Every teacher needs to give attention to language.

90% of the teaching is implicit, 10% is explicit. So 90% of our own knowledge is implicit learning. As teachers we need to pay attention to it.

To construct hypotheses, you need to master your language. Understanding is very important is this situation. You need to understand the context in the own language and then translate it. You need to speak properly.

For example, it’s better that you, as a teacher, motivates the pupils to speak Dutch in the class, but that it is possible to talk their mother language at home (if the mother language is not the same as Dutch). This for the following reason. If your parents don’t talk Dutch as their mother language, it’s possible that they make a lot of mistakes in Dutch. Then it’s better to talk your mother language, because otherwise you will learn mistakes. It’s hard to forget mistakes and learn the correct Dutch. So as a teacher, if you know your pupils have another mother language, do not motivate them to talk Dutch with their parents if they don’t master the language.

Language policy

Our lesson of today was one of the subject: language policy.

Very interesting because we, the students who are becoming a teacher, need to know what it is and how we can be a part of it.

The language policy are some rules and agreements how you can take marks for spelling mistakes or mistakes in terms of language. For example: the teacher who gives IT can lower the mark if a pupil makes a “dt-mistake”.

It’s very important as a teacher that you know that there is or isn’t a language policy. You need to live by these rules and agreements!
That’s also one reason why the subject: “communicatieve vaardigheden” is so important. We need to have those skills if we want to improve the skills of the pupils.

We need to make sure we will never forget the fact that there is a difference between the academic language and the language pupils use at home. We need to have respect for this fact, but we also need to stimulate and motivate the pupils to improve their language skills. It’s enrichment. The critic says that it’s not good to take time for these language skills, because it’s not good for the ones who already achieved a good level of the language skills. It’s enrichment for everybody. Exercise is the best way to make the academic language one of your own languages. We need to achieve an active knowledge (=ownership).

These skills are for a lifetime, so when we practice this a lot, this will be a higher achievement for all pupils.

How can we achieve this as teachers? Well we need to stimulate and motivate the pupils to pay attention to it. And we need to make sure that we use the correct academic language. It’s possible that you need to adapt your own language. We need to improve the academic language with the pupils, so give a good example to them. The vocabulary we use, the sentences we make, etc. are very important! The pupils will take it over!

Also it’s important to remember that this is a process that needs a lot of time. It’s not a process of one day or less. We ALWAYS need to pay attention to it and we must always try to improve that language by our pupils.

We can achieve this by:
- being explicit and intentional;
- using sheltered instruction techniques;
- using appropriate grade level texts.

It’s very important that you don’t simplify the texts! But it’s also very important that the levels of the texts aren’t ‘over the heads of the pupils’. Use appropriate grade level texts!

It’s bad to say to somebody that his or her language skills are poor, because you will create a negative reaction (“oké, my language is bad and I will not make an effort to improve it”).

Never say to a student: “shut up” because that’s wrong. We need to stimulate them to talk! Off course, here are boundaries. They need to talk about the class itself, not about subject that are situated outside of the class.