Tammy+Dangel

November 20, 2012  I worked with Hood tonight on the grammar worksheets and also on his paper for the final portfolio. I noticed that he took a great deal of time reading through things and asked about the meanings of words a great deal. As i read through his paper I noticed that he had a very organizational issues and minor word choice issues that are common for ELL students. I would suggest another word, read it out loud and then read his out load and see which way he liked better. He had really good examples and explanations in the paper. I was disappointed that I did not get to finish it. Hood noticed that others were leaving and was very insistent that we be done. However from what I did get to read I could tell that he enjoyed his topic and therefore enjoyed writing the paper. It did not have as many mistakes and was far more organized than the other paper that was assigned on Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. I could tell his heart was not in that topic and he struggled greatly.

November 13, 2012  Tonight we worked with pronouns and other words in a more complex form. I worked with Mo and as always he was friendly and all smiles. While going through the text he seemed to be exasperated and I asked him what the deal was. He told me that sometimes this class makes him, " feel like such a child." I asked him what the meant and he stated that the topics were all elementary. I explained that not every body knew as much as he did. Then we continued. For the rest of the night while trying to create sentences I would throw the idea out there that suggested he plays on Facebook because hes bored. Or refer to him being better than this class. I was glad that I could joke with him about that and he was not offended. It seemed to take his mind off his aggravation When we did reach an point that he struggled I used the opportunity to teach him new concepts in his writing. He seemed to struggle with more local issues in his paper. I find that Mo is very logical and once he learns something a certain way it cements that way in his brain. regardless of how big or small. For example when I explained that after a period (.) there should be two spaces he argued it with me and said all he has ever used is one. Mo went as far as to argue that he was taught that way in 1010. Even though it was not a big deal to me, to him it was. He had to be correct. I find it funny and a learning experience that I was able to work with Mo at the beginning of the semester and then again towards the end. He hasn't changed much. I am not sure if that stubborn and logical born streak in him is going to help or hinder.

Oct 30, 2012  The Corn Maze at Black Island Farms was an interesting experience. I noticed that some in our group were just interested in getting it over with while Meemo wanted to continue. He was dead set on making it all the way to the back and then out. After the others in the group gave up to do different activities we went back in and managed to walk the length of the spelled out letters. He was methodical in following the map and I wonder if this was his way of accomplishing something. We talked about it and he said that he was unsure why he wanted to do it only that he did. I listened to him as he navigated almost to himself and when I remarked that his speaking skills were quite good he almost seemed to become embarrassed He even went as far as to deny it. I asked him why he didn't speak up more in class since he seemed to grasp things so well and he responded that he was afraid of being wrong and then laughed at. I told him that sometimes being wrong helped me remember the correct answer better. He just laughed and continued his navigation. Then jokingly I told him that now that I know he knows the material I would have to force him to raise his hand and answer aloud more frequently. This seems to be our little joke since I do it to him all the time. He chuckled and seemed to take it all in stride. I also enjoyed watching other students play on the slides and shoot corn. Towards the end after much of the class had left the staff started Pig Races. Nawaf and a couple others were still there and came to watch as well. I had my daughter and Nephew with me and they were a little shy until Nawaf came over with a new bag of Kettle corn and gave it to them. They were amazed at his generosity. After that my 8 yr old daughter stared asking questions about him and his name. After she finally understood his name she told me that it was a "cool" name and she's going to name her kid that. I haven't told Nawaf that yet but I think he would get a smile from it. Later my kids told me that initially they were a bit intimidated by the students but when they heard negative comments from bystanders they did not think it was right. They were instantly defensive on our students behalf. I must admit I experienced a moment of pride at their ability to overcome fear and recognize the prejudice as wrong. I was a unsure about taking my kids at first just because it was a class function but now I am so very glad I did. Not only did our students have fun experiencing something new but I learned something new too.

Nov 20 (TC): Thank you so much for bringing your family and, as always, interacting so enthusiastically with the 1010 international students!

Oct 23, 2012 Today the Masters class thought. Divided into groups we all worked together. I noticed that even when the 1010 students in our group had the answer some were still a little hesitant to answer. Being the kind of person I am, I ended up grabbing arms and forcing them up. I did this repeatedly and saw a build in confidence. The more they answered correctly and were rewarded with praise (and candy) the more apt they were to put themselves out there. It became a game within the game to see who would step up. During some of the sentence writing and during the movie I realized that concepts didn't hold our students back as much as knowing vocabulary. At one point I stopped and explained what a bear was in an attempt to bring the movie into context. I have noticed that having my iPad is proving to be invaluable when a quick translation or picture is needed. This is a trick I have picked up in visiting the homes of students where the parents speak limited or no English.

Nov 20 (TC): Technology, when also enhanced by face-to-face interaction, can provide so many great opportunities for supplying comprehensible input while teaching!

Oct 16, 2012 Today Kortnee and I worked with Hood, Husain, and Hassan. We discussed Halloween costumes and made jokes about going as Super Mario Bros. characters. We then watched Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge with the students and discussed the short film for a paper they were working on. The students were very apt to give suggestions and various reasoning behind their summaries. I noticed their thought process was very literal and a bit guarded Because it was holding us back I gave them a little background and a more in depth explanation of the story as well as explaining the daydreams. This spurred on further conversation and seemed to get the ball moving in the right direction. Kortnee and I sent them with the paper that cave ideas for their upcoming assignment as they were directed to another classroom.

Oct. 9, 2012 Today I worked with Mansour individually. He was trying to grasp the concept of summarizing. I noticed that it took him a great deal of time to read the paper he was given and even after Dr. Conrad suggested that I read it to him he continued to read on his own. I wasn't sure if he felt it a matter of pride to continue on his own or if he truly understood what he was reading. When I suggested that I read it to him he told me that was unnecessary. After completing the reading he tried to grasp the concepts and with a little direction he did. I drew him a diagram that I thought would help organize his summary prior to the 1010 class going to another room. Mansour was all smiles and easy to get along with. I feel he was frustrated due to a lack of vocabulary understanding though. For basic words he referred to his phone where he has installed a translator. I assured him that if that was helping then using it was a good thing.

Oct. 3 class cancelled

Sept 26th I missed class.

Sept. 19 2012 I found myself at a table with 5 ELL students while watching Amreeka. I must admit it was overwhelming. A couple of the late comers were on their phones or talking to each other and so they were disrupting the movie and could not hear instructions when they were given. This was unfair to the students who were there on time and trying to pay attention. I felt less inclined to help the disruptive students as they asked questions and wanted to focus on those that had legitimate questions concerning the assignment.

 Later on further thought I began to wonder if the lack of attention and nonchalant attitude was in direct correlation with the students ESL status. Was the lack of understanding behind the attitude in an effort to appear normal? Is it a facade to hide the lack of comprehension? It would be emasculating to be thought of as "less than" and for some of these guys I can see possible damage to their ego's. This is something I will have to mull over a bit more.

Sept. 11 2012

Working with Nawaf and Andre tonight continued to amaze me. Andre seems to be more advanced than Nawaf both verbally and non-verbally. As we were going through the quiz I noticed Nawaf rarely thought on his own and if he did and was disagreed with he would shrink away. Repeatedly I told him that this was designed to encourage discussion. This appeared to help slightly. The majority of the time he would wait for Andre to answer and then say he agreed with that. I get the feeling he is still unsure yet he has been in the USA far longer than Andre.

Andre is a go getter. He wants to tackle the assignments head on and is sometimes too hasty. We had to explain the dangers of jumping in and failing to read the instructions. I tried to explain that being thorough will pay off in the end. (Maybe the worksheet on following instructions would be a good idea). Despite his hasty manner—Andre is doing well. He had very good ideas and articulated his explanations well during the quiz and when the essay portion came up he had questions on organization and ideas but knew how to write them out. Nawaf, on the other hand, seemed to have a hard time decided what to write about and we were pulled out before I could decipher if it was due to lack of understanding or just indecision on his part. Hopefully I will be able to see what they wrote in the essay in the upcoming week. Like true students, I feel responsible for them and hope for their success.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">TC, 9-18-2012: Great chapter and tutoring responses, Tammy! Sounds like Mohammed is a feisty student who will keep us all on our toes. I'm glad you had such a fun and interactive experience with him, with interesting observations about his writing skills. Good discussion about blaming. Rather than blaming certain groups (students, teachers, parents, etc.), it's far more valuable to talk about different options, such as types of tutoring or sheltered-course resources, dual-language immersion, and other ways to assist rather than to blame people for not learning or teaching as we think they should. Providing resources and varied opportunities for learning are key to meeting the needs of ELLs and all students.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tammy Dangel <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Conrad <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chpt. 1 Response <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">September 1 2012

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The saying, “Stay in School” gains all new importance and meaning when looking at English acquisition by ELL’s. School has become so much more than education. It is the connection to otherwise resources inaccessible for many ELL families. Because so many ELL families live in poverty, school has evolved into “caretaker” status (p.10). Education, not only academically but socially as well, is the key in so many aspects. Health care, nutrition, childcare, employment, special education, housing and many other resources can now be accessed through the public school system. Public Elementary Schools are becoming the start of the “yellow brick road” with obstacles and hope in Oz. Without the path gateway provided by schools, the resulting alienation can be devastating on the family unit. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The idea “this is America, speak English only” is archaic. Acceptance is necessary for success. I cannot imagine being in another country and expected not to speak my native language. Implementation is key, but the specific needs and the fact that those needs change need to be a forefront issue to ensure success. With the average ELL needing years for proficiency, wasting time is an avoidable hazard. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] Dual Emersion Program article

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tammy Dangel

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Conrad

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chpt. 2 Response

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Recently I saw a cartoon in which there were two frames. The first was set in the 1960’s and the second was set in 2000’s. In both frames parents, student (child) and teacher were meeting over a paper that was clearly marked with an F for a grade. In the 1960’s frame the parents were talking to the child stating, “look what you’ve done” (or something to the effect. While in the 2000’s frame, “look what you’ve done” is directed at the teacher.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This cartoon comes to mind vividly as I read Chpt. 2 of the text. Too much blame is going around for the failure of students and especially that of ELL’s. With each failure the urgency becomes more pronounced and it is unfortunate that the teachers are caught in the middle. Urgency has spurred on the creation of many, many different teaching methods, testing styles and grading standards. How is one to keep up and where are the parents in all this. When did parents cease to have any responsibility in the education of their children?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sept. 4 2012 Tutoring

<span style="font-family: Arial Unicode MS,sans-serif;">I worked with Mohammed on his initial practice exam. He had very reasonable responses for the majority of the multiple choice questions. There were three questions that I attempted to correct and explain why. He was quite adamant and defended his answers. It was almost as if he felt emasculated when I corrected him. I am unsure if this is part of his personality or a cultural trait because during our conversations that do not revolve around his English Mohammed is funny and easy going. While we were going over his essay I found that his English is very good. I am sure far better than I would be in Arabic given the same time frame he has learned in. I feel he is working in a 8-9 th grade level (however my standards are quite high). While assigning a numeric number to his essay from the ACTFL 2012 Proficiency Guideline For Writing 10 Point Scale I discovered that we only slightly disagreed on the score. I leaned more towards a 4/ 5 and he was in the 6ish range. He wrote about his best friend and why he was so special. While reading I understood that Mohammed held his friend in high esteem and they were very close. For example they play soccer together and can finish each others sentences. It was also clear Mohammed missed his friend terribly and both are working hard to stay in touch via the internet (skype, email, ect) despite the distance. I did not however get a clear idea of why Mohammed held him in such High esteem. He repeated the same idea over and over again by rewording the sentences and failed to introduce new supporting arguments. The overall organization needed a little work. However, based on his ELL status I still found it very literate and well done. Grammatical errors were minor and frankly often overused by English college students. I feel he is going to do well.

<span style="font-family: Arial Unicode MS,sans-serif;">Mohammed is very funny and easy going. I enjoy working with him and look forward to seeing the progression during the next 13 weeks.