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T E NY S O L

New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

This issue’s theme: Conversations Contents

Collaborative Conversations..1 Conversations in Support..3 Acting..4 Resources for the Common Core..6 Talking is learning..10 Small Talk..14 Conversation Table..24

Regular Features/ Special Announcements Promising Practices..8 Book Review..12 SIGs and Regions..17 Members Only Website..18 Editorial Notes..22 Upcoming Idiom Themes..22 Calendar and Announcements..22 NEW Membership Form..23

NYS TESOL Annual Conference Oct. 28-29 Marriott Hotel Melville www.nystesol. org/annualconf/

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

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New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Officers and Executive Board 2010-2011 President, Nanette Dougherty NYC Public Schools

Professional Concerns Chair Porfi rio Rodriguez, East Ramapo CSD Professional Concerns Assistant ChairPosition Open Publications/Technology Chair, Fran Olmos Yonkers Public Schools Idiom Editor, Cara Tuzzolino Werben Nassau Community College

First Vice President, Rebekah Johnson LAGCC, CUNY

Dialogue Editor, Sue Peterson St. John’s University

Second Vice President, Christy Baralis South Huntington School District

Webmaster, David Hirsch New York City

Second Vice President Elect, Olivia Limbu Pace University

Business Manager/Treasurer L. Jeanie Faulkner, Cornell University

Past President/TESOL Liaison, Constance Dziombak Mount Vernon City Schools

Certifi ed Public Accountant Jim Stotz

SIG Coordinator, Laura Van TassellSouth Huntington School District

NYS TESOL Executive Board Meetings and General Information Members are welcome to attend Board meetings. For information, contact:

SIG Assistant Coordinator, Jennifer Scully Consultant Regions Coordinator, Tina VillalobosHicksville Public Schools Assistant Regions Coordinator, Lynn EllingwoodBrighton Central School District Membership & Marketing Chair, Patricia JuzaBaruch College, CUNY Assistant Membership Chair, Drew FaganTeachers College, Columbia University Curriculum and Standards Chair, Maria Dove Molloy College Assistant Curriculum and Standards Chair Position Open

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NYS TESOL Box 185 Teachers College, Columbia University 525 W. 120th Street New York, NY 10027 Tel./Fax: (212)678-3074 E-mail: nystesol@nystesol.org Web site: http://www.nystesol.org

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

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From the President’s Desk

by Nanette Dougherty, NYS TESOL President Dear Colleagues, I hope you have been enjoying a happy, healthy and restorative summer. I would like to update you on some changes and challenges facing educators.

On July 13, I attended the Bilingual/ESL COP (Committee of Practitioners) meeting at Teachers College, Columbia University. The most major changes include the New Evaluation Law for K-12 teachers and principals: Annual evaluations for all teachers and principals

For more information about the Common Core Standards, please consult the website at: http://www.corestandards.org/ and see the article in this issue.

Though it was not considered at this meeting, the 14 Bilingual/ESL Technical Assistance Centers (BETACs) across New York State closed permanently on June 30, 2011. This puts both our schools and our LEP/ELL populations at riskof not having the appropriate resources to meet their educational and programmatic needs over the next five years.

Our new Commissioner of Education, Dr. John B. King, Jr., may not be Clear, rigorous expectations for familiar with the instructional excellence, prioritizing importance of the resources offered by the student learning BETACs. You may e-mail him directly at: jking@mail.nysed.gov. In addition, you may Multiple measures of performance email the NYS Board of Regents on this issue at: Regents Office@mail.nysed.gov. At Multiple ratings: Four performance the Melville Marriott October 28-29th, I will levels to describe differences in be passing the gavel to our incoming Presiteacher effectiveness dent, Rebekah Johnson.

I would like to thank the many wonderful The new system should encourmembers of my Executive Board and the age regular, constructive feedback many SIG and Region Leaders for their andongoing development service to the organization. Special thanks to Cornelia Randolph, a constant support Significance: results are a major and inspiration, and Fran Olmos, for her factor in employment decisions.You guidance.You will be receiving ballots for can view all documents discussed the Executive Board slate in the mail shortly. at the COP Meeting at the following Thanks to our Nominating Committee, led by link: Cornelia Randolph and Terri Brady-Mendez, http://www.p12.nysed.gov/biling/ for their time and efforts. Members, please bilinged/ do not forget to vote for your new leadership BilingualESLCOP.html. in our organization by returning your ballots.

As always, please continue to keep in touch with issues, concerns, and ideas on how our organization can best serve you. Best wishes for a great school year to all.

Peace and blessings to you, Nanette Dougherty, President, NYS TESOL

P.S. We’re so very excited to be launching our new Members Only website please read more about it in this issue and log in soon to check it out. Please contact us with ideas!

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Collaborative Conversations*

by Andrea Honigsfeld That effective collaboration benefits students (and teachers alike) is affirmed by the well-deserved attention it has received most recently in the professional literature (see, for example, DelliCarpini, 2008, 2009; Honigsfeld & Dove, 2010; NACTAF, 2009; NEA, 2009; Pawan & Ortloff, 2011) and in the TESOL educational community (e.g., themes of 2011 New York State and Kentucky TESOL conferences). Acknowledging the importance of collaborative exchanges among teachers is not a completely novel idea, though.

key ideas could mean for ELLs in today’s schools. What if we translated her seminal findings into a contempo- rary framework of four Cs, in which “collaborative” serves as a defining adjective, followed by a key activity or desired teacher behavior necessary for improved student learning?

CollaborativeConversations: Through enhanced communica- tion, all teachers have the oppor- tunity to develop ownership and shared responsibility for ELLs’ learning.

CollaborativeCoaching: Through an encouraging school climate and supportive framework, teachers offer and receive feed- back on their teaching practices.

Close to three de- cades ago, Collaborative Curriculum Development: Judith Warren Little (1982) examThrough curriculum mapping and alignment ined the differences between more and col- laborative materials development, and less effective schools and found teachers match both their long- term and that the more effective ones had a day-to-day instructional goals and activities. greater degree of collegiality. She Collaborative Craftsmanship: Through noted four unique characteristics conscious efforts for continuous improveof collegiality (or collaboration) in ment of the craft of teaching, teach- ers successful schools, where teachers explore ways to enhance instructional time, participate in the following activities: language development, and content area resources, and offer support for each other.

Teachers engage in frequent, con- tinuous, and increasingly conTable 1 shows how the concept of collegicrete and precise talk about teachality and collaboration may offer a system ing practice of support in a linguistically and culturally . Teachers are frequently observed diverse school context by including the four and provided with useful critiques of Cs with ample examples. their teaching.

Teachers plan, design, evaluate, Collaboration may start out as a small, and prepare teaching materials grassroots effort, involving only two or three together. teachers who share the responsi- bility for Teachers teach each other the some of the same ELLs and are concerned practice of teaching (pp. 331– 332). about their students’ progress. It may inConsider what Warren Little’s volve an entire grade level. Some examples (1982) frequently quoted four include grade clusters working together to

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develop or enhance curricula in elementary schools; an inter- disciplinary team of math, science, social studies, English, and ESL teachers (sharing responsibility for a cluster of classes in middle schools); or a discipline-specific department (focusing on preparing all students to meet graduation requirements of high schools). Regardless of the local context, all these collaborative efforts start with professional conversations, through which teachers collaboratively explore their students’ needs and responsive practices.

References DelliCarpini, M. (2008). Teacher

collaboration for ESL/EFL academic

success. The Internet TESL Journal,

14(8). Re- trieved from http://iteslj.org/

Techniques/DelliCarpini-TeacherCollaboration.html

DelliCarpini, M. (2009, May). Dia-

logues across disciplines: Prepar- i ng English-as-a-second-language

teachers for interdisciplinary collab-

oration. Current Issues in Education

(Online), 11(2). Re- trieved from http:// cie.ed.asu.edu/ volume11/number2/

Honigsfeld, A., & Dove, M. (2010).

Collaboration and co-teaching: Strategies for English learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

National Commission on Teaching

and America’s Future (NAC- TAF).

(2009). Learning teams: Creating what’s

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

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Table 1: The Four Cs of Collaboration Collaborative Conversations

Collaborative Coaching

Students’ needs Students’ lives Students in and out of school work Curriculum and instruction Teachers’ own struggles Teachers’ own successes What matters to you, the teacher

Lesson planning Lesson delivery Unit design Use of supplementary materials Adapted content Modified instruction Assessment practices

Talk about

Collaborative Curriculum Development

Align Lesson objectives (language objectives and content objectives) Unit goals Curriculum maps Primary and supplementary instructional materials Adapted texts and materials Resources

Use peer coaching to improve

Collaborative Craftsmanship Explore

ELLs’ background knowledge ELLs’ prior learning Peer coaching Planning instruction collaboratively or in the context of co-teaching Effective methods for aligning curriculum and objectives Using time more effectively Making the most of collaborative efforts

next. Retrieved from http://www.nctaf.

Centre. She is the co-author with Maria Dove

dards and English Lan- guage Learn-

408REG2–09_000.pdf

Co-Teaching: Strategies for English Learners

Media. http:// www.colorincolorado.org/

org/docu- ments/NCTAFLearningTeamsNEA (2009). NEA reiterates collab-

ora- tion as key to keeping teachers.

Retrieved from http://www.nea. org/

of a recently published book, Collaboration and (Cor- win Press, 2010).

<ahonigsfeld@gmail.com>

*Sections of this manuscript have grown out of

home/31477.html

the author’s collaborative conversations with Dr.

Sus- taining collaboration: English-as-

book, cited above.

Pawan, F., & Ortloff, J. H. (2011).

a-second-language and content-ar- ea

teachers. Teaching and Teacher Educa-

Maria Dove and are featured in their coauthored

Resources

tion, 27, 463-471.

for Implementing... tional Policy Forum. http://

dean and professor in the Division of

StandardsPPT%20Slide. pdf

Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld is associate

Education at Molloy College, Rock- ville

www. colorincolorado.org/powerpoint/ ELL-ELPColorin Colorado (2011). Common Core Stan-

ers. Reading Rockets. WETA Learning educators/common_core/

Gewertz, C. (2011). Common

Core Writers Craft curriculum crite-

ria, July 22, 2011. Education Weekly. http://www.edweek.org/ew/article

s/2011/07/21/37curriculum.h30.ht

ml?tkn=UPSFLpcFv4ebJmsg2qZx

2C7B8rKm7AL%2FiacG&cmp=c lp-sbascd

Gewertz, C., & Robelen, E. (2011).

Curriculum maps aim to bring ELA

Standards to life. July 25, 2011. http://

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blogs.edweek.org/ edweek/curricu-

Core%Standards%20Process.pdf

mon _cor. html

Implementing Common Core Standards for ELLs,

search to practice: Preparing ELLs for

Education Weekly. http://blogs. edweek.org/

lum/2011/07/the_ nonprofit_group_comHakuta, K. (2011). Webinar: Re-

the Common Core, Teachscape, May 5,

2011. http://marketing. teachscape.com/ K12Kenji ELLMay2011WebinarAccess.

Zehr, M. A. (2011). Conference:

Learning the Language Blog, August 11, 2010.

edweek/learning-the- language/2010/08/conference_ implementing_common.html

Zehr, M. A. (2011). Stanford to lead creation

html

of ELL standards for “Common Core” Learning

Shifting the focus to the Common Core

Weekly. http://blogs. edweek.org/edweek/learn-

Lopez, E. (2010). ELA Standards:

Introduction from the new Idiom Editor, Cara Tuzzolino Werben

the Language Blog, July 12, 2011, Education

Greetings Idiom readers, I am delighted to combine my backNYS TESOL, October 2010. http://www. ation_of_e.html ground in publishing with my love of nystesol.org/ curriculum-standards/stanDiane Garafalo is a former ESL teach- er at TESOL as the new editor of Idiom. dards. html Oswego City School District. She was also a Thank you to my predecessor, Nagel, D. (2010). Feds award $330 secondary English teacher, with a total of fifteen Julie Dziewisz, for her great work and help with a smooth transition. I million to fund alternatives to high-stake years of public school teaching experience. bubble tests. The Jour- nal, September Diane’s previous positions include working as an also thank the column editors, copy editor, NYS TESOL leadership and 2, 2010. http:// thejournal.com/artiadjunct professor of written com- munications for members for the warm welcome. cles/2010/09/02/feds-award-330- milITT Technical Institute and a human resources My career began with a B.A. in jourlion-to-find-alternatives-to- high-stakesand training manager for a variety of Fortune nalism from NYU. After I switched bubble-tests.aspx?sc_ lang-en 500 companies. Currently, Diane is an HR and to marketing, and later fundraising, I NYSED (2011). FAQs—Common workforce literacy consultant for DRG Associates. volunteered in an ESOL classroom and loved it. I en- rolled in TeachCore learning standards. http:// www. <dgarafalo@earthlink.net> ers College, Columbia University, p12.nysed.gov/ciai/com- mon_core_ graduated with an Ed.M. in TESOL, standards/faq.html and began working as an adjunct at NYSUT (2011). Educational Resourc- es Pace, CUNY, and Columbia. for English Language Learners. http:// Presently, I work in an intensive English program at Nassau Commuwww.nysut.org/cps/rde/ xchg/nysut/ nity College. We focus on improving hs.xsl/k12_13765.htm students’ skills through an integratQuay, L. (2010). Higher standards for ed, holistic approach, so that they all: Implications of the Common Core for can exit our program and be preequity in education. Civil Rights Repared for college-level work. I also search Roundtable on Education, Berkeinstruct and mentor aspiring TESOL teachers at the Literacy Assistance ley Law, April 2010. http://www.law.

Center.I welcome the chance to berkeley. edu/files/Education_Roundmeet with interested writers during able_ Standards_Brief_ 4_10.pdf the Annual conference in October.

Washington State School Board See you there! --Cara (2010). Common Core Stan- dards— <idiom@nystesol.org> comments, standards and curriculum,

ing-the- language/2011/07/stanford_to_ lead_cre-

Process FAQs. http:// www.sbe.wa.gov/ documents/ FAQ%20Common%20

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Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

Conversations in Support of High School ELLs

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by Victoria Pilotti Adolescent ELLs are second language learners who are still devel- oping their proficiency in academic English. Moreover, they are learn- ing English at the same time they are studying core content areas through English. Thus, English language learn- ers must perform double the work of native English speakers in the coun- tryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s middle and high schools. At the same time, they are being held to the same accountability standards as their native English-speaking peers (Short & Fitzsimmons, 2007, p. 1).

Conversations with ELLs and colleagues are viable ways for ESL teachers to help their students navigate academic challenges. My short time at Jamaica High School has been filled with conversations that have driven my instruction to best support the ELLs in my charge.

Curriculum Experiments Based on Conversations with ELLs At Jamaica High School, an ESL support class is offered zero period, 7:22 to 8:06 a.m., to provide interme- diate ELLs with additional targeted interventions. September 2011 will be the third year I am teaching zero pe- riod, and each year is an ongoing cur- riculum development action research experiment. I conduct the course as a combined resource room and advisory class model. Based on daily conver- sations with my students about their challenges, I provide homework help; teach problematic topics in mathemat- ics, science,

and social studies; and assess and teach diverse skills neces- sary for academic success. The first year of the experiment, my curriculum included mathematics symbols and word problems; the living environment topics of scientific method, evolution, and organ systems; social studies top- ics of feudalism, estates, and analysis of political cartoons; English language arts topics of idioms, formal versus in- formal language, and dictionary/glos- sary skills; and academic readiness in test-taking strategies, study skills, time management, notebook organization, public speaking skills, and computer skills. I also taught graph skills across the disciplines. This class was one of a select few Jamaica High School English and ESL classes that benefited from TeenBiz3000 (Empower3000), a Web-based individualized reading program by Achieve3000.

Conversations with ELLs form part of the data collection that drives my curriculum changes. Several first-year students (participants in Experiment I) reported the lessons and activities helped them pass content-area finals and New York State Regents exami- nations. When asked how the sup- port class could be improved for the following year, ELLs suggested that I allot more time to science, continue teaching math and social studies, and retain computer instruction on TeenBiz3000. One student, who was particularly resistant to my teaching anything but ESL all year, later admit- ted he benefitted from content-area instruction by his ESL teacher. All students expressed a deep appreciation for the bilingual content area glossa- ries I provided.

In the second year (Experiment II), I spent less time on dictionary/glos- sary skills; did not teach idioms; and, upon careful review of

recent living- environment Regents exams, added an ecosystem unit, a lesson on pH, and group activities on bar and line graphs. I replaced the formal versus informal English lesson with daily academic English and everyday English ex- planations and definitions. Students assessed their multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983; Gardner, 1993, 2996; McKenzie, 1999), and learning styles (Dunn & Dunn, 1993; Dunn & Griggs, 2003, 2004, 2007; Missere & Dunn, 2005). I added native-language trans- lations of key content vocabulary to my student notebook grading rubric. Groups researched continents and explorers and presented their Pow- erPoint slide shows to ELLs in other classes.

TeenBiz3000 was replaced by Study Island, Web-based instruction built on New York State standards, that provided all Jamaica High School students practice for English, math- ematics, science, and social studies Regents exams; and for national Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) and Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Based on requests from Experiment I participants for Internet resources for speaking practice, I created lists of Web sites and links with podcasts and speaking exercises.

As I gear up for Experiment III in the 2011-2012 school year, I plan to devote more time to dictionary skills, such as alphabetizing, and content- area textbook structure,

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with special attention to textbook glossaries and indices; the participants in Experiment II were lacking in dictionary/textbook research skills and did not make opti- mum use of these resources. I pro- vided a list of Web sites and links for Regents practice and bilingual glos- saries, and will again provide copies of bilingual glossaries in Experiment III. I have decided to step up test-taking strategies and content writing practice in the zero period support class begin- ning in September.

Conversations with Families Individual writing conferences often involve reinforcing the student’s strengths and discussing specific areas in need of improvement (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001). I had conversa- tions with each student about his/her multiple intelligences and learning style profiles generated from the Dunn Conversations in Support... (continued from page 3) and Dunn Learning Style Model high school assessment Learning in Vogue: Elements of Style (LIVES) (Missere & Dunn, 2005) and suggested indi- vidual study and homework strategies. My students had critical conversa- tions with their families about their personal preferences, strengths, and areas for improvement. Some students discussed their need for a quiet, cool, and brightly lit place to study and complete homework assignments. One student, who was not

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a morning per- son, discussed her need for an alarm clock to wake her so she could arrive to class on time. Sadly, her family did not want to be disturbed by the sound of an alarm clock so early in the morn- ing and the student’s guidance coun- selor suggested dropping her from this support class.

Conversations with Colleagues My fellow ESL teachers, bilingual guidance counselor, and department supervisor met regularly to discuss parent outreach, truant students, mis- placed students, overcrowded classes, credit accumulation, and NYSESLAT scheduling, among the numerous challenges facing our ELLs. These conversations led to solutions and consensus on major decisions and new initiatives.

Colleagues who shared students would (a) discuss division of language skill focus—one would emphasize the writing process, vo- cabulary, and grammar, while the other would provide readings of a broad range of literary genres, teach literary terms and vocabulary, and emphasize listening and speaking, (b) collaborate and share data for each student before making arrangements to call parents on each other’s behalf—each teacher relayed messages of both teachers, and (c) preview and review each other’s lessons so we could reinforce what was learned in each other’s classes.

Much to our dismay, we discovered that students often did not transfer learning between ESL classes and teachers—somehow, the learning re- mained in the classroom environment and was forgotten in a new setting.

Conversations with mainstream English colleagues centered on imple- mentation of TESOL strategies to meet the needs of transitional and post- ELLs. Conversations

with mathemat- ics, science, and social studies assis- tant principals and teachers helped me focus on topics that they found were the most problematic for ELLs. As the ESL teacher component in a collaborative team teaching mathemat- ics class, daily co-teaching experienc- es and collaborative conferences led to differentiated tutoring and small-group instruction.

I reinforced basic math skills to the students who did not know simple addition, subtraction, multipli- cation, and division, while my math colleague reinforced higher-level math skills and concepts.

Conclusion These conversations take time and energy. High school teachers of ELLs may find they, too, are performing double the work to support adoles- cent ELLs in meeting the challenges of second language acquisition in an academic environment. This increased responsibility, however, may prove worthwhile when the resulting conver- sations lead to targeted instruction and interventions as teachers collaborate in assessing ELLs and planning instruc- tion for their students.

References

Dunn, R., & Dunn, K. (1993). Teach-

ing secondary students through their

individual learning styles: Practical ap-

proaches for grades 7-12. Boston, MA:

Allyn & Bacon.Dunn, R., & Griggs, S. A. (Eds.). (2003, 2004, 2007). Synthesis of the Dunn and Dunn learning-style

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NYS TESOL Remembers Jeanette D. Macero model research: Who, what, when,

by Vel Chesser

where, and so what? Jamaica, NY: St.

John’s University’s Center for the Study of Learning and Teach- ing Styles.

Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (2001).

Guiding readers and writers grades

3-6: Teaching comprehen- sion, genre, and content literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind:

The theory of multiple intelligenc- es.

New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (1993, 2006). Multiple

intelligences: New Horizons. New York: Basic Books.

McKenzie, W. (1999). Multiple Intel- li-

gences Inventory. Retrieved from http:// surfaquarium.com/MI/in- ventory.htm Missere, N., & Dunn, R. (2005).

Learning in vogue: Elements of style

(LIVES). Retrieved from www.learningstyles.net

Short, D., & Fitzsimmons, S. (2007).

Double the work: Challenges and

solutions to acquiring language and academic literacy for adoles- cent

English language learners—A report

to Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Washington, DC: Alli- ance for Excellent Education.

Victoria Pilotti, Ed.D., is an ESL teacher at Jamaica High School. A former Re-

gion 3 secondary schools mentor, NYC Department of Educa- tion, she has

taught TESOL method- ology graduate courses at St. John’s University and Hunter College. <vpilotti.TESOL@ gmail.com>

The field of ESOL has lost one of its most revered members, Jeanette D. Macero, who died May 9, 2011. Jeanette was passionate in her dedication to non-native speakers of English as exemplified by her teaching, mentoring and participation in professional organizations.

Jeanette, one of the founders of NYS ESOL BEA (now NYS TESOL—see note below), was a leader in that organization nonstop until her retirement from Syracuse University in 1998, as associate professor of English and TESOL coordinator of languages, literatures and linguistics. She moved to Medfield, MA to be near her family.

Many NYS TESOL members will testify to the mentoring they received from Jeanette, who held leadership positions in the organization for her entire career.

Jeanette graduated with a BA in English from Barnard College, an MA in linguistics from Columbia University, and did doctoral study in linguis- tics at the University of Michigan. She was president, second vice president twice, and chair of various TESOL committees: publications, paper selection, awards and nominations. Twice, she received the NYS TESOL Distinguished Service Award.

In addition to Jeanette’s full-time teaching at Syracuse University, she published skill books for beginners of English through Laubach Literacy (now known as ProLiteracy), as well as a number of scholarly papers and ad- dresses, edited books of readings, and acted as consultant to many groups.

All those who knew Jeanette are aware of her many accomplishments in professional organizations and her skillful teaching, but those closest to her will remember most her kind and compassionate manner to all she met and worked with, her hearty laugh, and her engaging personality. Jeanette’s friends and colleagues have lost a treasure.

Vel Chesser, retired from Syracuse University, can be reached at <vfchesse@syr. edu> Editor’s note: With thanks to NYS TESOL historian George Morris: The very first organization was called NY TESOL (No “S” for State), then NYS ESOL BEA. The founding date is 1970 (hence our 40th anniversary in 2010). The split into NYS TESOL and NYSABE was in the early 1980s.

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All the World’s a Stage: Ways in Which Teaching Is Like Acting

by Elizabeth Fonseca Acting is a sport. On stage you must be ready to move like a tennis player on his toes. Your concentration must be keen, your reflexes sharp; your body and mind are in top gear; the chase is on. Acting is energy. In the theatre people pay to see energy.

—Clive Swift Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.

—Gail Godwin If “acting is energy,” teaching is many things: a combination of knowl- edge, experience, awareness, exper- tise, and care. It is also the energy we, as language instructors, bring into the classroom that absolutely affects the order of the day. As a theater lover and past occasional performer, I have often thought about the parallels between teaching and acting. Here are a few that come to mind.

You’re on stage. All eyes are on you. You’re the initial focal point of attention. Your presence shifts the energy in the room. Sometimes, you literally have a podium, with desks ar- rayed in rows before you like patrons at a theater. There is noise, chatter, laughter, shuffling in the room until the lights dim. Curtain up!

Enter stage left, the professor. Cell

phones get put away, or at least discreetly placed to the side. Chitchat dies down. The room is hushed a moment, the pause of anticipation before the first words of dialogue are spoken.

All eyes are on you. An actor uses her body to convey informa-tion about her character before she even speaks. So do you. How are you dressed? Does what you wear convey some message about your position in this play, your role, your persona as teacher, leader, or facilitator of the energy in the room? How do you walk in? Are your eyes downcast, reflecting your students’ spent energy at the end of a long week, or do they sparkle? Do you walk in the room with pizzazz, transmitting vital energy to them, to create the cycle of give-and-take nec- essary for effective language learning?

Do you use gestures, winks, and nods to convey information, emotion, even comedy?

These are things worth think- ing about, because one of the most important ways you are like an actor is in this all-important function. Your energy and presence set the tone . Just as audiences must have faith in actors and suspend their disbelief to fully enter into the world the actors are creating, your students must agree to the unspoken contract of trust that bonds them to you in a vulnerable learning situation. Your ability to cre- ate that atmosphere of trust is important; your dynamism helps your class generate energy that in turn feeds you and helps the learning environment be dynamic. This is important for learn- ing as well as for the teacher’s ability to sustain energy and passion both within a class and over her entire run.

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Actors use their voices as tools, relying on not just word choice but inflection, intonation, varying vol- ume, and the judicious use of pauses to capture the audience’s attention, rivet them, spellbind them, draw them forward in their seats wondering “What’s next?” You too can use your voice itself as a tool that weaves the bewitching spell of energy, dynamism, and trust that makes for a lively and effective learning environment.

The show must go on. There are days when you can’t imagine generat- ing that energy at all. On those days, you have to “act as if”: put on your teaching persona as an actor donsa mask or stage makeup, preparing herself to go before the lights. If you don’t show up, or show up without energy, you might flop.

This leads us to the all-important teaching persona. As an actor slips into a role through preparation, curiosity, and the desire to share emotion and information with an audience, you can slip into your teaching persona, com- prised of your sincere and genuine self with a soupçon of public-role poise, strategic sass, and teacher’s tools you’ve learned throughout your teach- ing days that help you on the way.

Is your persona the classic scholar?

Do you have a little playful clown thrown in? Are you the compassionate guide, leading students to the knowl- edge they already possess?

Can you switch hats to that of the

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

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taskmaster, pushing for and demanding the very best? It can be useful to think of the teacher role as composed of these dif- ferent personae that serve useful functions in the various processes of learn- ing, including enabling you to reach students of different backgrounds, needs, and learning styles.

Even if you are not like that, your alter ego, “Pro- fessor Picky”, can be. Although you are more lenient, “Scholar Strict” can be called upon as necessary to whip an underachieving class into shape. Being a teacher is a public role that requires daily public speaking; why not train for it and find useful tools and approaches that may aid in maintaining your interest, creating a positive learning environment, and aiding in efficient classroom management?

If you think some training might help you focus your body as instru- ment and help you channel energy more efficiently and effectively in the classroom, here are some suggestions to get you started: Take an acting class. Learn how to use body language, breath, and voice to create energy and atmosphere.

Take a public speaking class.

Learn relaxation techniques, visualization techniques, and tips for effectively conveying a message.

Join a group such as Toastmasters International, where you’ll learn tips for public speaking.

Listen to and read poetry aloud.

Learn about cadence, rhythm, and

volume to use your voice more effectively—and to save it from too many of those hoarse, raggedy, “I’ve-spoken-too-much” days!

Similarly, take a vocal or voice training class. Learn specific breathing exercises to strengthen your voice and to become expert in effectively and efficiently using and saving your voice.

Here is a website to get you think- ing about your own parallels between acting and teaching: http://www/ jbactors.com/actingphilosophy/ actingquotations.html.

References

Godwin, G. (1974). The Odd Woman. New

York: Ballantine Books.

http://www/jbactors.com/actingphi- losophy/actingquotations.html

Elizabeth Fonseca is an avid traveler who has taught ESL/EFL in such coun- tries as Italy,

Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Her work has been published in the Arabia Review and

the Traveler’s Tales series, among others. Her interest in acting stems from high school and

community theater days, as well as more recent

poetry readings. She currently teaches at Nassau Com- munity College in New York. <Elizabeth. fonseca@ncc.edu>

Come to the

Annual Conference October 28-29, 2011

New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

41st Annual Conference

“Enhancing English Learn-

ing: Connecting Communi-

ties Through Collaboration” Marriott Hotel Melville, NY For further information,

go to www.nystesol.org

and check your e-mail on the NYS TESOL Listserv If you are interested in

volunteering or have questions, contact Conference Chair Christy Baralis at vp2@nystesol.org

12

Resources for Implementing the Common Core for ELLs

by Diane Garafalo The Common Core Learning Stan- dards (CCLS) have been adopted by dozens of states. The NYS Board of Regents adopted the new P-12 CCLS for ELA, Literacy, and Mathematics in January 2011; it will be phased in over the next year.

Beginning in school year 201213, NYS assessments for English Language Arts and Mathematics will measure student achievement of the P-12 CCLS. Find New York Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s complete CCLS timeline at www. usny. nysed.gov/rttt/docs/ccsstimeline.pdf.

The initiative began in the spring of 2009 and was coordinated by the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Of- ficers (CCSO). The advisory group for the initiative comprises Achieve, Inc., ACT, the College Board, the National Association of State Boards of Educa- tion (NASBE), and the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEO).

The Common Core State Standards Initiative released a draft of the math and language arts content standards for public comment in September 2009, and the individual K-12 grade-level content standards in these subjects were released for public comment in March 2010.

Both sets of content stan- dards were finalized in 2010.

Criteria for Development

This process differed from past standards initiatives because it was state led and had the support of edu- cators across the country as well as prominent education, business and state leadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; organizations.

The standards were developed by the following criteria: Aligned with expectations for col- lege and career success; Clear, so that educators and par- ents know what they need to do to help students learn; Consistent across all states, so that students are not taught to a lower standard just because of where they live; Inclusive of both content and the application of knowledge through high-order skills; Built upon strengths and lessons of current state standards and stan- dards of top-performing nations; Realistic, for effective use in the classroom; Informed by other top-performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; Evidence and research based (Quay, 2010); Application of the Standards for English Language Learners.

org/assets/application-for- english-learners.pdf.

One segment of the Application of ELA Core Standards recommends that to help ELLs meet high academic standards in language arts it is essen- tial that they have access to:

Teachers and personnel at the school and district levels who are well prepared and qualified to support ELLs while taking advantage of the many strengths and skills they bring to the classroom; Literacy-rich school environments where students are immersed in a variety of language experiences; Instruction that develops foundational skills in English and enables ELLs to participate fully in gradelevel coursework; Coursework that prepares ELLs for post secondary education or the workplace, yet is made comprehensible for students learning content in a second language (through specific peda- gogical techniques and additional resources); Opportunities for classroom discourse and interaction that are Common standards can potentially provide designed to enable ELLs to develop a greater opportunity for states to share communicative strengths in lanexperiences and best practices within and guage arts; across states that could lead to an improved Ongoing assessment and feedability to serve ELLs. The K-12 English-lanback to guide learning; guage arts and mathematics standards do Speakers of English who know include information on the Application of the language well enough to provide the Standards for English Language LearnELLs with models and support; ers, located at http://www.cores- tandards.

Idiom

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

13

Need for English Language Proficiency Standards.

The Common Core did not spell out how the standards applied to spe- cific levels of English proficiency. It was left up to states to create English Language Proficiency Standards that align with the Core Standards or to explain how specific standards can best be taught to students depending on their level of English proficiency. In her July 12 blog at Education Week, “Learning the Language,” Mary Ann Zehr recognized this need by report- ing that Stanford University has received a $1 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to create English Language Proficiency Standards for the states’ Common Core Academic Standards. Dr. Kenji Hakuta, a professor of education at Stanford University, a member of the Common Core Validation Committee, and a long-time expert on ELLs; and Maria Santos, the former director of programs for ELLs for the New York City school system, are co-chairs of this national effort to write standards for ELLs to parallel the Language Arts and Mathematics Standards of the Common Core, as well as the Science Standards that are expected to be developed. This grant award fi lls the gap in the process of implementing the Common Core for ELLs (Zehr, 2011).

The grant, which lasts for two years, is called “Building on Common-Core Standards to Improve Learning for English-Language

Learners.”

The effort is to think about the content areas in the common core that offer strategically fertile areas around which language instruction can take place,” Dr. Hakuta explained. “The standards will elaborate on what ELLs should know and be able to do in the content areas at different Englishprofi ciency levels,” he added. (Zehr, 2011).Preparing ELLs for the Common Core—A Webinar On May 5, 2011, Dr. Hakuta presented a webinar at www.teachscape.com called “Research to Practice: Preparing ELLs for the Common Core.”

He offered his thoughts and ideas during the webinar under the topic of planning for the Common Core, including: Recognize that language is necessary to teach, learn, and demonstrate understanding in school Engage in the idea that excellence in instruction and assessment around content revolves around the idea of rich language use; Build the professional development around the idea that language instruction is the domain of all teachers, not just English Language Arts and ESL teachers; Identify your objectives, assessments, and best practices in classrooms and ensure that you’re making progress toward those objectives; Use the Common Core to recognize and amplify the opportunity for rich language development for ELLs and for all students (Hakuta, 2011).

According to Dr. Hakuta, there are some key elements for ELLs regarding the Common Core, including:

The Common Core provides a strong incentive to examine the role of language in content instruction and in assessment; there is a role for leadership to take advantage of this opportunity; Even though the Common Core says nothing about the English Language profi ciency expectations of ELLs, there is a requirement that English language profi ciency be aligned to the Common Core; There will be more commonality across states in the identifi cation of students because there will be more common profi ciency tests; The Common Core has the potential to move ELL performance/ profi ciency both across schools and across the country (Hakuta, 2011).

Criteria for Writing Common Core Curriculum Materials Last summer, the Last summer, the nonprofit group ciriculum maps.

The maps are designed to give an understandable sequence of thematic curriculum units that con- nect the skills provided in the ELA

14

Build the professional development around the idea that language instruction is the domain of all teachers, not just English Language Arts and ESL teachers; Identify your objectives, assessments, and best practices in classrooms and ensure that you’re making progress toward those objectives; Use the Common Core to recognize and amplify the opportunity for rich language development for ELLs and for all students (Hakuta, 2011).

According to Dr. Hakuta, there are some key elements for ELLs regarding the Common Core, including: The Common Core provides a strong incentive to examine the role of language in content instruction and in assessment; there is a role for leadership to take advantage of this opportunity; Even though the Common Core says nothing about the English Language profi ciency expectations of ELLs, there is a requirement that English language profi ciency be aligned to the Common Core; There will be more commonality across states in the identifi cation of students because there will be more common profi ciency tests; The Common Core has the potential to move ELL performance/ profi ciency both across schools and across the country (Hakuta, 2011).

Criteria for Writing Common Core Curriculum Materials Last summer, the

Idiom

nonprofi t group Common Core issued a set of free curriculum maps. The maps are designed to give an understandable sequence of thematic curriculum units that connect the skills provided in the ELA .

Resources for Implementing... (continued from page 7) standards with recommended student objectives, texts, and activities.Examples of these thematic curriculum units include: Grade 1: The Amazing Animal World; Grade 3: The People, the Preamble, and the Presi- dents; Grade 6: Folklore: A Blast from the Past; Grade 9: Literary Elements of a Short Story; and Grade 12: European Literature: Renaissance and Reforma- tion. Common Core is working with schools and districts in different states to implement the maps. Arizona and North Carolina are using them state- wide to help districts put the standards in place (Gewitz & Robelen, 2011).Two writers have recently crafted documents outlining Common Core curriculum criteria. Working under a contract with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a strong supporter of the standards, David Coleman and Susan Pimentel, co-authors of the Common Core Standards for ELA/Literacy, wrote two documents highlighting the key ideas of the standards and de- scribing the qualities of instructional materials they consider an accurate reflection of them (Gewertz, 2011).

Common Core Assessments and PARCC According to the National Gover- nor’s Association/CCSSO, the Com- mon Core State Standards will also ultimately be the basis for a system of high-quality assessments.

New York State is a governing member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), which was awarded Race to the Top Assess-

ment funds in 2010.

The PARCC Web site can be viewed at http://parcconline.org/.

Over the next few years, New York and 25 other states will develop a set of English Language Arts and Mathematics as- sessments, which will be finalized in 2014-15 (NYSED, 2011). Common Core Standards Assessment Resources are located at http://education northwest.org/ resource/1331.

Idiom will work to keep readers aware of all the upcoming changes.

References

August, D., Cortese, A., La Fonde,

S., Leos, K. (2010). Making Common Core Standards work for ELLs: The

importance of linking English Language Proficiency Standards to the Common

Core Standards. October 21, 2010. AFT Educa-DelliCarpini, M. (2009, May).

Dia- logues across disciplines: Preparing English-as-a-second-language

teachers for interdisciplinary collab-

oration. Current Issues in Education

(Online), 11(2). Re- trieved from http:// cie.ed.asu.edu/ volume11/number2/ Honigsfeld, A., & Dove, M. (2010).

Collaboration and co-teaching: Strategies for English learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NAC- TAF). (2009).

Learning teams: Creating what’s next.

Retrieved from http://www.nctaf.org/

docu- ments/NCTAFLearningTeams-

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

15

408REG2–09_000.pdf

Gewertz, C., & Robelen, E. (2011). Curriculum

menting_common.html

ra- tion as key to keeping teachers.

2011. http://blogs.edweek.org/ edweek/curricu-

creation of ELL standards for “Common

NEA (2009). NEA reiterates collaboRetrieved from http://www.nea. org/ home/31477.htm

Pawan, F., & Ortloff, J. H. (2011). Sus-

taining collaboration: English-as- a-sec-

ond-language and content-ar- ea teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 463-471.

Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld is associate

dean and professor in the Division of

Education at Molloy College, Rock- ville Centre. She is the co-author with Maria

Dove of a recently published book, Collaboration and Co-Teaching: Strategies for English Learners (Cor- win Press, 2010).

<ahonigsfeld@gmail.com>

*Sections of this manuscript have grown out of the author’s collaborative con-

versations with Dr. Maria Dove and are

featured in their coauthored book, cited above.

Resources for Implementing...

(continued from page 17) tional Policy

Forum. http://www. colorincolorado.org/

maps aim to bring ELA Standards to life. July 25, lum/2011/07/the_ nonprofit_group_common _cor. html

Hakuta, K. (2011). Webinar: Research to practice: Preparing ELLs for the Common Core, Teachs-

cape, May 5, 2011. http://marketing. teachscape. com/K12Kenji ELLMay2011WebinarAccess.html Lopez, E. (2010). ELA Standards: Shifting the

focus to the Common Core comments, standards and curriculum, NYS TESOL, October 2010.

http://www.nystesol.org/ curriculum-standards/ standards. html

Nagel, D. (2010). Feds award $330 million to

fund alternatives to high-stake bubble tests. The Jour- nal, September 2, 2010. http:// thejournal. com/arti- cles/2010/09/02/feds-award-330- million-to-find-alternatives-to- high-stakes-bubbletests.aspx?sc_ lang-en

NYSED (2011). FAQs—Common Core learning standards. http:// www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/common_core_standards/faq.html

NYSUT (2011). Educational Resourc- es for English Language Learners. http://www.nysut.org/ cps/rde/ xchg/nysut/hs.xsl/k12_13765.htm Quay, L. (2010). Higher standards for all:

powerpoint/ ELL-ELPStandardsPPT%20 Implications of the Common Core for equity in Slide. pdf

education. Civil Rights Research Roundtable on

Standards and English Lan- guage

law.berkeley. edu/files/Education_Roundable_

Colorin Colorado (2011). Common Core Learners. Reading Rockets. WETA

Learning Media. http:// www.colorincolorado.org/ educators/common_core/ Gewertz, C. (2011). Common Core Writers Craft curriculum criteria,

July 22, 2011. Education Weekly. http://www.edweek.org/ew/article

s/2011/07/21/37curriculum.h30.ht ml?t-

Education, Berkeley Law, April 2010. http://www.

Standards_Brief_ 4_10.pdf

Washington State School Board (2010). Common Core Stan- dards—Process FAQs. http:// www.

sbe.wa.gov/documents/ FAQ%20Common%20 Core%Standards%20Process.pdf

Zehr, M. A. (2011). Conference: Implementing Common Core Standards for ELLs, Learning

the Language Blog, August 11, 2010. Education

kn=UPSFLpcFv4ebJmsg2qZx 2C7B8rK- Weekly. http://blogs. edweek.org/edweek/learnm7AL%2FiacG&cmp=c lp-sb-ascd

ing-the- language/2010/08/conference_ imple-

Zehr, M. A. (2011). Stanford to lead

Core” Learning the Language Blog,

July 12, 2011, Education Weekly. http://

blogs. edweek.org/edweek/learning-thelanguage/2011/07/stanford_to_ lead_ creation_of_e.html

Diane Garafalo is a former ESL teach-

er at Oswego City School District. She

was also a secondary English teacher, with a total of fifteen years of public

school teaching experience. Diane’s

previous positions include working as an adjunct professor of written com-

munications for ITT Technical Institute and a human resources and training

manager for a variety of Fortune 500

companies. Currently, Diane is an HR and workforce literacy consultant for

DRG Associates. <dgarafalo@earthlink. net>

16

CALL FOR AWARDS Exceptional Professionals To honor contributions made within our field, NYS TESOL presents several awards annually, including: James A. Lydon Distinguished Service Award Outstanding Teacher Award Recognition Award Lifetime Achievement Award James E. Weaver Memorial Award Special Award Year Award 2010 Recognition Award

Outstanding Teacher 2009

Lifetime Achievement Award Recognition Award Outstanding Teacher

2008

James E. Weaver Memorial Award Recognition Award Outstanding Teacher

2007

James A. Lydon Distinguished Service Recognition Award Outstanding Teacher

2006

James A. Lydon Distinguished Service Outstanding Teacher

2005

James A. Lydon Distinguished Service

Honoree Dr. Anita Batisti Dr. Maria Dove Estee Lopez Dr. Walter Sullivan & Saul Cohen Barbara Suter Alison Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neil Sam Hoyt Donna Bove George Morris Maria Neira Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld & Caryn Bachar Dr. Frank Tang Patricia C. La Rose Diana Segovia Praus

2011 Award Winners will be presented at the 41st Annual Conference October 28th & 29th, 2011 Please review our available awards and criteria for submission at www.nystesol.org. Submit all nominations and supporting documentation as attachments via e-mail to: Meredith Van Schuyler, awards@nystesol.org All submissions due September 23, 2011.

Idiom

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

17

Promising Practices

This is an ongoing column, featuring advice for effective teaching. Please send article submissions to the column editor, Ann C. Wintergerst (contact information on page 22 of this issue).

Piece of cake! Idiom activities and the importance of proper intonation

by Andrew Edison Schneider Idioms pop up everywhere in Eng- lish media, often met with confused looks by our students.

Even more ad- vanced students have difficulty using them with any degree of competence, especially if the idioms are culturally different from their own (Irujo, 1986). Given their importance, more attention should be paid to teaching idioms in ESL settings (Cooper, 1998). It is up to teachers to help students not only learn idioms, but also to encourage their usage in an intelligible manner. How can we incorporate idioms into classroom settings in a relaxed, com- municative, and student-centered way?

More important, how can we teach the intonation of idioms to achieve stu- dents’ maximum intelligibility?

I have found the following three

activities to be helpful for my students.

BYOI—Bring Your Own Idiom Each student chooses one idiom to “teach” the class. They may choose from any source, and learn it well enough to be able to explain it in front of their classmates. This is a great warm-up; it’s student-centered and exciting, since they have chosen these idioms themselves based on their own interests. Don’t be surprised if a number of idioms come from Gossip Girl or Glee, American television pro- grams centering around high-school students, so idioms relating to dating and shopping tend to surface quite often (i.e., It’s on me; She’s into him; Those shoes are totally you). During the students’ explanations, I stay off to the side and will assist only if the situation calls for it; I have even done this activity remotely via Skype when I was home sick in bed. Having the students in charge of this activity made it quite manageable. It can also act as a springboard for all kinds of culture- related discussions.

Where Is the CHAnge?

A major obstacle facing our stu- dents is intelligibility, especially when using idioms.

While pronun- ciation may be a factor, an equally important factor is proper intonation.

As the pitch in our voices rises and falls, these changes in intonation are processed by the listener (Crutten- den, 1986). If you have ever studied Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese, you may be familiar with the inextricable link between the proper tone and com- munication. In English as well, when language is given the correct intona- tion, communication can be greatly enhanced.

To emphasize this point with my students, I imitate the “wa wa” teacher from Charlie

Brown. I walk around the class, lock eyes with a student, raise my hand, and slowly say “Wa, wa wa Wa?” What I am actually saying is “Hi, how are You?” Students inevitably guess correctly and are quite surprised that they can understand what I am saying. Once they have caught on, we can then cre- ate contextual situations and apply the proper intonation. A mini-dialogue I might have with a student in front of the class, in which my role would be B, is as follows: A: What are you doing this weekend? B: This weekend? Nothing special.

I’ll probably just hang OUt. A: OK. Give me a call. B: Alright.

After the classmates have heard the dialogue, I will ask them, “Where is the change?” Hopefully, they will hear “OUt” on the first try. I will then mark it on the board. The rise in pitch at the beginning of “OUt” rather than on the word “hang” is essential to the intelligibility of the idiom as well as to the rest of the dialogue. Teachers play a vital role here. Once an idiom is presented, either the students or the teacher should provide/elicit the prop- er intonation and then mark it. This marking system is especially important for non-native-English-speaking teachers who may be unfamiliar with the proper intonation of idioms.

The good news regarding idiom- atic phrases is that there are general intonation patterns. In an emphasized two-syllable word,

18

such as “brainer” in the expression “no-brainer,” the word tends to receive a higher tone or pitch on the first syllable. It’s a no- BRAIner.

In the case of a one-syllable word, such as “cake” in the expres- sion “piece of cake,” there is a higher tone on the first half of the word: It’s a piece of CAke. In either case, the rising intonation at the beginning is then followed by a falling intonation.

Saying the idiom in front of your students in slow motion can really help to clarify this, and it is also good for a laugh. When students know the proper intonation, communication can be achieved even with lessthan-perfect pronunciation. This is good news for our students, as it is generally much easier to change the pitch of a word than to pronounce the word properly.

Mini Dialogues The mini dialogues written by the students, followed by an in-class role play, are not only a lot of fun but practical and effective exercises for ESL students (Nunan, 2003; Scott & Ytreberg, 2000). They could be done as homework or in class individually, in pairs, or in groups. These dialogues supply the context necessary to achieve natural usage and effective communication (Nippold & Martin, 1989). The task is to write mini dialogues, where each dialogue contains at least one idiom from class, either from our text or from one of the students’ BYOI. There should be just enough context (4-6 lines) for the exchange to be mean-

Idiom

ingful (Nippold & Martin, 1989).

Make sure the students understand that even though these dialogues are being written down, they should be striving for spoken and not written English. I also ask them to consider the roles of the speakers as in the fol- lowing student dialogue (the professor is putting on her coat as her student enters the office): A: Excuse me. Professor? Are you busy?

B: I’m running LAte, actually. I’ll be here tomorrow.

A: Ok, thank you. B: Alright.

This exchange meets the criteria in that it is a spoken dialogue, the roles are defined, at least one idiom is used, and the idiom is marked with the prop- er intonation. Once their dialogues are done, I collect, correct, and return them. Afterward, I circulate, taking student questions on my corrections.

Then, I have each pair practice and perform at least one of their dialogues in front of the class. Eye contact, body language (students must sit facing each other), and voice management should be emphasized during practice time. Be sure to circulate, as some students will simply read the dialogue together. I walk around with a blank sheet of 81⁄2 x 11 paper, which I use to cover up the dialogue they are working on. This forces them to look up and, hopefully, at each other. The students then perform at the front of the class. I act as the director, yelling “Action!” and opening/closing my cell phone like a director’s slate. The class listens for the idiom used in the dialogue. This is always fun, as students enjoy watch- ing their

classmates perform. I like to supply props/wigs to spice it up. Be prepared for the cameras to come out! I also quiz them on the idiom and the intonation right after each dialogue.

Conclusion English continues to be a global language. Proper knowledge and us- age of idioms are powerful tools for anyone requiring English in daily com- munication. By focusing on the proper intonation for our students to achieve maximum intelligibility, we are better equipping them for the English-speak- ing world. It is important for us as teachers to go the extra mile.

References

Cooper, T. C. (1998). Teaching idioms. Foreign Language Annals, 31(2), 255-266.

Cruttenden, M. (1986). Intonation.

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Irujo, S. (1986). Don’t put your leg in your mouth: Transfer in the acquisition of idioms in a second language.

TESOL Quarterly, 20, 287-304.

Nippold, M. A., & Martin, S. T. (1989). Idiom interpretation in isolation versus context: A developmental study with adolescents. Journal Speech & Hearing Research, 32, 59-66.

Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English teaching. New York: McGraw Hill.

Scott, W. A., & Ytreberg, L. H. (2000). Teaching English to children. New York: Longman.

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

19

20

Book Review Reviewed by Kathryn North This is an ongoing column, featuring reviews of books and other materials for ESOL teachers and students. Please send article submissions to the column editor, Nanette Dougherty (contact information is on page 22).C More Grammar Games: Cognitive, Affective and Movement Activities for EFL Students. By Mario Rinvolucri and Paul Davis. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. UK. (2010).

176 pp. ISBN: 978-0-521-46630-1 Reviewed by Kathryn North Mario Rinvolucri and Paul Davis’ More Grammar Games: Cognitive, Affective and Movement Activities for EFL Students provides a revamping of their earlier work Grammar Games, which was originally published in 1984. The authors designed the text to provide EFL/ESL teachers with a framework for games that can be modified to be appropriate for dif- ferent age groups and varied English proficiency levels. Therefore, while the usefulness of the book as a supple- mental text in the adult ESL classroom is the main purpose of this review, its utility can be applied to various teach- ing scenarios.

The text is divided into nine sec- tions including “Competitive Games,” “Cognitive Games,” “Feelings and Grammar,” “Listening to People,” “Movement and Grammar,” “Meaning and Translation,” “Problem Solving,” “Correction” and

Idiom

“Presentation,” for a total of 81 games, or mini-lessons. As the titles suggest, many lessons are rooted in the principles of wellknown English language learning methodolo- gies including the Silent Way, as well as Counseling-Learning/Community Language Learning (CLL). The book begins with a table of contents noting the games and page numbers. This is followed by a detailed map of the book with the game titles, grammar topics covered, and levels and time needed. The introduction also includes commentary from the authors on how the book can be used and their ratio- nale for the methodologies utilized by section.

Each game begins with the title of the game and a box restating the details from the map of the book. If the game can be adapted for other structures and levels, a sub-box states this. To start the main portion of the mini-lesson, the authors note any preparation required before class. This is followed by a breakdown of the in-class procedures of the game. The authors also include examples, varia- tions, a rationale overview, and notes or acknowledgements when necessary.

Lastly, any required handouts are pro- vided.

On a minor note, the examples and handouts are written using Brit- ish English vocabulary. In the case of classes in the United States, instructors will need to rewrite these in Standard American English.

The first section includes com- petitive games, which are designed to increase motivation by fostering col- laboration within groups while creat- ing a safe, spirited environment. Many of the games in this section focus on the correction of material provided by the teacher. This, of course, means that the instructor must devote time to the prepa-

ration of the game. For some this could be less than ideal.

The cognitive games in section two are unique in their structure as, accord- ing to the authors, the exercises are mostly open-ended ones: this differs from many grammar exercises that require one correct response. The flex- ibility of the activities allows students to discover various aspects of the language without the direct influence of the instructor. While these types of activities can be very creative and have their place in certain contexts, giving students unlimited control over the types of sentences produced can cause the direction of the lesson to be diverted. For this reason, although this section follows the Silent Way method in its purest form (Larsen-Freeman, 2000), the lack of final language des- tination does not follow the integrated and pragmatic way that the Silent Way is often practiced in the classroom.

Sections three and four, which deal with feelings and listening to others, respectively, are arguably the strongest chapters. Here, games are designed to promote healthy interpersonal discus- sions, which require speakers to make use of a specific grammar structure. Many teachers can attest to the posi- tive influence that mutual understand- ing, respect and personal investment in the classroom can have on produc- tivity (e.g., Counseling Learning and Community Language Learning— see Larsen-Freeman, 2000).

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

21

2011 NYS TESOL Student Essay Contest Section five is made up of games that incorporate grammar and move- ment. While there is a modicum of Desuggestopedia inherent in games throughout the text, this section explic- itly focuses on the usage of movement to instill language concepts. The ratio- nale seems to be that students are more open to language learning when the preconceived mental and emotional barriers to learning are “desuggested” through lighthearted activity (Larsen- Freeman, 2000).

In the meaning and translation games found in section six, the minilessons focus on having students develop a deeper grasp of the nuances and root meaning of language by link- ing English with their mother tongue. While the debate over the use of trans- lation in the ESL classroom continues, using native languages as a resource in the foreign/second language classroom can help to build linguistic abilities in both languages, bridge existing knowledge to the acquisition of the

by Laura Van Tassell NYS TESOL SIG Coordinator In coordination with the 2011 NYS TESOL annual conference, “Enhanc- ing English Learning: Connecting Communities through Collaboration,” the topic for this year’s student essay contest, “How has your community helped you learn English?,” revolved around communities and the role that living, working, and interacting in them plays in the English language learners’ (ELLs) acquisition of English.

The essay contest was held for students who are current or former ELLs within three categories: students in grades four through eight; students in grades nine through twelve; and students enrolled in a university or an adult education program, including students enrolled in Intensive Eng- lish programs, community colleges, degree-based programs, and ESOL programs.

The student essay contest was very successful, with 113 essays received from throughout New York State. A winner and an honorary mention were chosen from each of the three categories. The names of the winners and honorary mentions will be announced during the Friday luncheon at the annual conference and their es- says will be printed in the conference booklet. The winning essays will also be included in the winter edition of Idiom as well as be posted on the NYS TESOL Special Interest Group (SIG) Student Essay Contest page.

Please join me in thanking all of the students who submitted essays to the sixth annual student essay contest! Watch for news about the 2012 contest in an upcoming issue of Idiom, as well as on our website.

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Right: Sonia Portugal, Peru, performs Floating Words, a dance she choreographed to portray the spirit of English language learning.

Above: Everyone listens as Ufualè Afola Amey talks about learning English from her teacher Dave, a Peace Corps volunteer.

Below: Ahmed El-Habashi, Egypt; Tomoko Kihira, Japan; Ufualè Afola Amey, Togo; Osiris Romero, Dominican Republic and Elena Lyumanova, Russia, come together in anticipation of their panel presentation.

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Check out the new Members Only website!

We’re very excited to announce the launch of the new Members Only website for NYS TESOL. We are just gearing up, but hope this will become a major resource and networking site for our members.

Current members were sent an email alert in early September containing their username and password. Of course, your email system may have filtered our message into a spam folder — if you are a current member and did not receive a notice with your login information, please contact us at businessmanager@ nystesol.org.

With annual conference registration already under way, please act quickly to login and verify your profile data and networking preferences.

What’s There

What’s Next?

Coming Soon

Discounted Membership Update

Your profile page Membership renewal Discounted event registration Members Only online publication, Dialogue Discussionboards

Networkingoptions SIG/RegionE-lists Job Coach/Career Mentoring

We’d like you to tell us! Please look around the site, update your profile, join a discussion board, and send us ideas for additions and improvements.

NYS TESOL is committed to providing members with the most upto-date resources, news and educaYour PRIVACY tional tools. To enable access by all Service opportunities and awards members of our field, NYS TESOL This site is viewable only by active memoffers discounted memberships. bers. And, because this is new, we have Recently, we revised the documenalso blocked your contact information from tation policy for discounts to align members. So, unlike Facebook, where you with other non-profit organizations decide what to set as ‘private,’ we’ve already as well as to create greater condone this. The only information visible to sistency and transparency. Please other members is: your Name, Member check the new requirements when Type, Region and SIG preferences. You can you prepare to renew. For quesprivatize these, too, if you wish, by updating tions regarding membership status your profile. and discounts, please contact us at However, for those of you who want to membership@nystesol.org. network with other members, there are 2 optional fields – an “email to share” and a “website/blog address” both set up as viewable by all mem- bers. And you can upload a photo. You control the privacy settings for these fields and can edit them at any time.

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Editorial Notes Idiom is a quarterly publication for members of NYS TESOL. The editors welcome articles as well as reactions to articles. All copy (maximum 1000 words, typed, double-spaced, with word count provided ) should follow APA guidelines and be submitted via e-mail (MS Word). Please include your name and address (including telephone number and e-mail address), as well as a brief (3-4 sentences) biographical statement. Please visit idiom. nystesol.org for links regarding APA guidelines and to view a sample article.

Idiom’s editorial goals are to be ac- curate, to maintain the writer’s message, content, and style, and to fit the work in the space allotted.

Idiom reserves the right to edit all manuscripts for clarity, brevity, and style; the editors will consult with con- tributors on substantive revisions. Ar- ticles from Idiom may be reprinted with proper acknowledgment of the source.

Upcoming Idiom Themes Column Editors:

Book Review Nanette Dougherty Email: idiom@nystesol. org Culture Notes Elisabeth Gareis 257 Crest Drive Tarrytown, NY 10591 Tel.: (914) 524-7915 E-mail: egareis@baruch.cuny.edu

Annual Conference

Please submit articles based on presentations at the NYS TESOL conference (Oct. 28-29, 2011) “Enhancing English Learning: Connecting Communities Through Collaboration” at Melville Marriott

Submission Deadline: December 1

Promising Practices Ann C. Wintergerst Dept. of Languages and TBD Literatures St. John’s University Queens, NY Deadlines and themes for 2012 will 11439 E-mail: winterga@stjohns.edu be published in the Winter 2011 issue of Idiom.

Calendar and Announcements October 28-29, 2011

NYS TESOL 41st Annual Conference “Enhancing English Learning: Connecting Communities Through Collaboration” Melville Marriott in Melville, Long Island. See http://www.nystesol.org

Editor:

February 11, 2012

33rd Annual Applied Linguistics Winter Conference “Connections: TESOL and Applied Linguistics in a Global Context” We’ll continue to keep you posted! Questions? Contact us at: appliedlinguistics@nystesol.org

Editorial Consultant:

March 28-31, 2012

TESOL International Convention and English Language Expo “A Declaration of Excellance” Philadelphia For more information: www.tesol.org/s_ tesol/convention2012/index.html

Cara Tuzzolino Werben LINCC-Nassau Community College One Education Dr. Garden City, NY 11530 (516) 573-0165 E-mail: idiom@ nystesol.org

Ceil Goldman

Printing and Mailing: The Coughlin Printing Group, Watertown

Idiom

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Membership Form (effective 9/1/2011)

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Region (check one) “2” next to your top choices. ____Buffalo ____New York City _____ A ESL in Adult Education ____Capital District ____Rochester/ _____ B ESL in Bilingual Education ____Hudson Valley Syracuse ____Long Island _____ E ESL in Elementary Education _____ S ESL in Secondary Education _____ H ESL in Higher Education _____ SE ESL in Special Education _____ TE ESL Teacher Education _____ L

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Conversation Table

by Sarah Elia

A single conversation across the table with a wise person is worth a month’s study of books.

—Chinese proverb Once a month, the Haggerty English Language Program at SUNY New Paltz hosts an informal learning lun- cheon known as Conversation Table to encourage casual conversation on a range of topics in an inviting environ- ment. The program was established to help promote interaction and dialogue between international students (particularly ESL), faculty, and staff and American students interested in inter- national studies. Occasionally, com- munity volunteers attend as well.

Conversation Table is held at the Center for International Programs on a different weekday each month to en- sure that students have the opportunity to attend at least once a semester. At the catered lunch, 20-25 guests meet for 45 minutes.

Attendees are seated at a large rectangular table conducive to interaction. Faculty, staff, and volunteers may lead discussions with stu- dents on topics such as food, cultural similarities and differences, religion and government. If a student seems lonely, the faculty is there to make introductions and initiate dialogue.

The program promotes Conver- sation Table in a variety of ways. At the beginning of each semester, all new students receive an event handout.

ESL teachers review it in class,

Idiom

answer questions, and promote attendance.

One week prior to the luncheon, fliers are posted and e-mails sent out. Students can RSVP and com- ment on the event’s Facebook page. The day before the event, we remind students to attend. On the day of the luncheon, the event coordinator arrives early at the venue to set up and greet guests. At the end of the meal, students are asked to help with cleanup.

After the gathering, photographs of the event are uploaded onto the ESL department Facebook page. Students post photos and comments. A student survey on Facebook following the lun- cheon helps with preparation for future events. A student journalist writes an article about Conversation Table for the ESL department newsletter, which is distributed to all ESL students as well as other departments on campus.

Conversation Table has become increasingly popular because of the opportunity it offers for socialization and discussion. Attendees leave having shared dialogue, laughter, smiles, and good food. ESL students also have a valuable language experience and new connections with native speakers.

Sarah Elia is a lecturer in ESL at the Haggerty English Language Program at SUNY New Paltz. As the program’s event coordinator, she works to ac- tively promote positive interactions between international students and American students. Elia has a B.A. from Bard College and an M.A. in TESOL from SUNY New Paltz. <elias@newpaltz.edu>

Timed Conversations

By Phillipa Arthur

Introduction During Timed Conversations,

learners primarily practice listening/ speaking skills and a host of other conversational skills, including but not limited to: turn taking; the language of encouragement and praise; the lan- guage of expressing unfamiliarity with topics; comprehension checking; and agreeing and disagreeing. Although generally referred to as Timed Con- versations, some specify the time limit in the title, for example: Four Minute Conversations. Timed Conversations are typically fluency-based and oppor- tunities for learners to personalize and converse about a topic, for a specified period of time.

For the instructor, Timed Conversations can function as: a warm-up activity to activate learners’ schemata, to focus learners on the lesson topic or to connect the previous and current lessons; a follow-up activity to allow learners to expand on and personalize lesson content; a filler activity to pur- posefully utilize ‘extra time’ at the end of a lesson; a stress-reliever activity to infuse a sense of fun into a lesson; a review activity for content courses; and a speech-sampling activity to gauge learners’ conversational skills.

Materials In order to conduct Timed Conversations you essentially need two things- a timer and topic cards.

Con- veniently, wrist watches, cell phones, iPads, computers, stop-watches, kitchen timers and classroom clocks can all function as

Vol. 41, No. 3 (Fall 2011)

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timers.

Ideally, the topics reflected on the cards should complement your lesson topic. For example, if you were plan- ning a lesson on ‘classic baked goods,’ each topic card could reflect the name of a classic baked good. Format topic cards on a computer, print in color and laminate them (if these are resources available to you and if you will add this activity to your repertoire). Of course, you can also prepare a slide show of ‘topic cards’ to display on a computer or iPad. Topic cards can be word-based (pie, quiche, tart); ques- tion-based (“How would you prepare icing?”); statement-based (“Tell me about your favorite baked childhood dessert.”); and picture-based (image of a six-tiered wedding cake 1.

Consider how much time you want to allot to the activity.

Multiply the number of topic cards by the duration of each conversation- 10 topic cards X 2 minutes per conversation = 20 minutes total.

2.

Decide which version of the activity you are going to do. You can choose to keep: a.

Conversation pairs static and have learners switch topic cards. With static pairs, learners get to ‘bond’ with one conversational partner over various topics while focusing on sharing their ideas and personalizing the topic. b.

Topic cards static and have learn- ers switch partners. With

dynamic pairs, learners get to interact with diverse speakers while refining their ideas about one topic and polishing their delivery. c.

Both topic cards and conversation pairs static while reducing the duration of the conversations in set increments. This version lends itself to learners who are prepar- ing for timed oral presentations and assessments, by allowing learners to refine their ideas about one topic and polish their timed delivery. d.

Decide how you will pair off your learners and if pairs are go- ing to sit in two rows or stand in two concentric circles facing their partners.

instructions and to con- firm your learners’ comprehension of your instructions.

1.

Deliver global instructions to your learners which include: the activity title, sequencing/format, purpose and duration, and, if necessary, responsi- bility of odd-numbered learner or use of ‘rest’ chair.

3.

Decide what an odd-numbered learner would be responsible for- time keeper or ‘English only’ enforcer. If you choose to have all learners partici- pate (and have them change partners instead of topic cards), an extra chair can allow the odd-numbered learner to ‘rest’ for one turn.

Of course, you can always choose to participate in the activity with your learners.

3.

Model activity for class and demon- strate how: a. you will start the activity by say- ing “begin” b. pairs will take turns to converse about the topic indicated on the topic card for X minutes c. pairs will converse only in English d. every X minutes, a time keeper will say “switch” indicating that pairs need to switch topic cards by passing them to the pair to the right (or to the left) e. you will end activity by saying “the end.”

4.

Plan to model activity and deliver clear instructions specific to the ver- sion of Timed Conversations you are going to do.

5.

Plan what you will observe while monitoring learners during the activ- ity. This will consequently direct the feedback you will give learners.

2.

Pair off learners and ar range pairs so that they are either seated in two rows or standing in two concentric circles facing their partners.

4.

Model that learners can remind their partner to stay on-task 6.

Plan the questions you will use to by simply pointing to the topic card elicit feedback from learners after the activity 5.

Model some of the conabout their performance dur- ing activity. versational language you expect Procedure learners to use- the language of Use teacher talk appropriate to the profiurging and praise; of agreeing and ciency level of your learners to deliver clear disagreeing and so on.

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6.

Begin activity and cycle through the number of topics you have planned. Circulate and monitor learners throughout activity.

Follow-up Elicit feedback from learners about their performance. Give learners feed- back based on how successfully they completed the activity.

Remember, this is a fluency-based activity. However, if you modify it to include specific ver- bal strategies or a focus on form, you could document the inaccuracies of your learners’ English as you circulate, and do a whole-class correction on the whiteboard following the activity.

language d. how efficiently they followed instructions 3.

Promise to do variations of activity throughout the semester.

These fluency-based activities may generate future conversations in your classroom, providing rich opportuni- ties for students to interact and prac- tice English-speaking skills.

Phillipa Arthur has taught ESL/EFL in the United States, China and Korea. She is currently a Language Lecturer at Yeungnam University in South Korea. <Parthur31@ hotmail.com>

1.

Elicit specific feedback from learners about how they felt about having to: a. sustain a conversation in English for X minutes at a time b. switch topics every X minutes c. include conversational language d. have a classmate time them or sit in the ‘rest’ chair e.

Stand or sit during activity; pass along topic cards; change partners 2.

Give learners specific feedback about: a. how well they sustained theirconversations in English for X minutes at a time b. how well they stayed on task c. their use of conversational

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