Showdown in Rats (Rafz) City

Sonnenaufgang in der öden Wüste von Rats County. Ein neuer Tag beginnt. Ein neuer Tag voller ungesühnter Gewalttaten und Gaunereien, denn die Justiz von Rats City hat die Kontrolle über das Gesindel und die allgegenwärtigen Desperados längst aufgegeben. Der Sheriff will eben eine neue Flasche Whisky aus dem Keller holen, um den Tag möglichst schmerzfrei anzutreten, da blitzt eine Idee durch sein ansonsten vernebeltes Gehirn. Statt in den Keller steigt er in den Estrich und schnappt sich die Kiste mit den verstaubten Sternen. Er geht damit von Haus zu Haus, schreckt jeden ihm bekannten rechtschaffenen Bürger, und ja sogar die rechtschaffenen Bürgerinnen aus dem Schlaf und steckt den Verduzten einen Stern ans Pyjama. „Ich ernenne dich hiermit zum Deputy von Rats County. Wach auf, zieh dich an und geh die Stadt säubern!“ Die folgenden Jahre brachten viel harte Arbeit. Die Koordination der Hilfssheriffe verlief nicht immer reibungslos, und viele Male musste der Sheriff in letzter Sekunde unbescholtene, aber unliebsame Selbstjustizopfer mit einem gezielten Schuss in den Galgenstrick vor unverdienter Strafe retten. Doch der Handel in Rats City blühte auf und Touristen aus allen Ländern kamen, um das wundervoll gesittete Juwell inmitten der Öde von Rats County zu besuchen.
Die Schweiz ist, zumindest gesellschaftlich, kein Land der Pioniere. Alles ist tief verwurzelt und undramatisch herangewachsen. Änderungen gehen durch viele Vernehmlassungen, bis sie wirklich niemanden mehr stören. Uns geht es gut, für alles ist gesorgt, es gibt für jedes Bedürfnis gut finanzierte Institutionen, wir brauchen keine Hilfssheriffe.
Und genauso denken wir auch über unsere Schule. Ein qualitativ hochstehendes System kompetenter, gut bezahlter Lehrkräfte sorgt dafür, dass die Ausbildung unserer Kinder in bewährter Manier reibungslos über die Bühne läuft. Es gibt keinen Grund, sie bei ihrer Arbeit zu stören, es sei denn, man müsse sie mal auf ein Problemchen aufmerksam machen, dass sie sodann dank ihrer reichen Erfahrung rasch lösen.
Doch so einfach ist es nicht und war es wahrscheinlich auch nie. Die Schule sieht sich einer Reihe neuer Herausforderungen gegenüber, und das zu einer Zeit, in der die Gelder eher zäh fliessen. Doch gerade in Krisenzeiten wäre es wichtig, die Schule zu stärken. Könnten das die Hilfssheriffe?
Beim Anpacken der meisten Schulprobleme sind die Eltern der entscheidende Schlüssel, da sie zwar nicht den einzigen, aber einen wichtigen Einfluss auf ihre Kinder haben. Somit sind alle Eltern jetzt schon Hilfssheriffe, und ein guter Hilfssheriff wirkt zuhause schulunterstützend, und zwar in einer natürlichen, ins Familienleben intergrierte Weise. Die Familie sollte so gut wie möglich Ziele und Werte der Schule teilen oder zumindest nicht in Opposition zur Schule stehen. Hilfssheriffe, bei denen zuhause ein solches schulfreundliches Klima herrscht, stärken die Schule am allerbesten.
Dazu ist jedoch erst einmal eine unverkrampfte Einstellung der Eltern zur Schule wichtig, und die ist sicher nicht immer gegeben: Teils haben Eltern selber schlechte Erinnerungen an ihre Schulzeit, teils ist ihnen die Schule, die ihre Kinder besuchen sollen, eine grosse Unbekannte und somit etwas Bedrohliches. Oft versuchen Eltern ihre Angst vor der Schule zu kompensieren, indem sie besonders starken Druck auf ihr Kind ausüben, um es möglichst optimal durch diese schwierige Phase in ihrem Leben zu schleusen. In jedem Fall bekommen die Kinder das ambivalente Verhältnis ihrer Eltern zur Schule zu spüren und tragen damit einen schweren Rucksack durch ihr Schulleben, den sie kaum aus eigener Kraft ablegen können.
Eltern mit einem solchen getrübten Schulbild brauchen einen neuen Bezug zur Schule. Und den erhalten sie nicht zwingend als Zuhörende am Elternabend oder als Zuschauende am Besuchstag, denn an beiden Veranstaltungen steht ein mehr oder weniger hoher Zaun zwischen den am Schulleben Beteiligten – den Lehrpersonen, der Schulleitung, manchmal den Kindern – und den unbeteiligten Eltern, denen die Schule vorgeführt wird.
Einen lebendigen, unverfälschten Bezug zur Schule erhalten Eltern als Mitwirkende mittendrin, an der Front, in der Klasse. Nicht als eigentliche Lehrperson natürlich, sondern als eine geschätzte Hilfskraft, die gemäss ihrer Befähigung und Verfügbarkeit Lehrpersonen entlastet und hilft, die Schule aufzubauen. Ein solcher Hilfssheriff, der nicht nur zuhause, sondern auch ab und zu in der Schule wirkt, kennt seine Schule, hat keine diffusen Ängste ihr gegenüber, sondern ist stolz auf sie und vertritt sie auch in dieser Weise gegenüber seinen Kindern.
So weit, so gut, aber sind Eltern in der Schule nicht einfach nur im Weg? Man kann von den Lehrkräften nicht verlangen, dass sie neben den Schülerinnen und Schülern auch noch ihre Eltern hüten. Zudem wollen ja die Kinder ihre Eltern gar nicht in der Schule sehen, das ist für sie desto peinlicher, je älter sie werden.
Diese Einwände sind nicht ganz unberechtigt. Während es in Rats County vor allem darum ging, ein zahlenmässig dem Gesindel überlegenes Heer an Deputies zu rekrutieren, ist die Aufgabe der Hilfssheriffe in der Schule subtiler. Als Hilfskraft müssen sie ihre Aufgabe und ihre Grenzen genau kennen, die Weisungen der Lehrperson befolgen und dürfen zum Beispiel die Gelegenheit nicht benutzen, um sich einzig ihrem Kind zu widmen oder der Lehrperson endlich mal beizubringen, wie man richtig unterrichtet – quasi das Pendant zur Lynchjustiz.
Bereiche, in denen Hilfssheriffe wirklich nützen können, gibt es einige. Oft werden Lehrpersonen von ein paar wenigen Kindern derart gefordert, dass es ihnen schwerfällt, der übrigen Klasse die nötige Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken. Eine zusätzliche Person kann da schon entlastend wirken. Dasselbe gilt in Situationen, die vom normalen Schulalltag abweichen und in denen die Kinder eher ausgelassener sind, etwa bei Exkursionen.
Über die reine Entlastung geforderter Lehrpersonen hinaus bieten Eltern auch einen reichen Pool an Wissen und Erfahrung, der den Unterricht spannender und praxisbezogener zu gestalten hilft. Für Kinder ist es enorm motivierend zu sehen, dass es eine feste Brücke gibt zwischen dem, was sie in der Schule lernen, und dem, was ihre Eltern im richtigen Leben tun.
Allerdings genügt es nicht, den willigen Eltern einen Stern ans Pyjama zu heften. Genauso wie ein Rats County Deputy nicht mit dem rauchenden Colt seine eigene Auffassung des Gesetzes durchsetzen sollte, darf ein Rafz School Deputy seinen Einsatz nicht dazu missbrauchen, seine eigenen Vorstellungen, wie der Laden geführt werden soll, zu realisieren. Die Lehrperson ist der Sheriff über ihre Klasse.
Wozu also die ganze Abhandlung? In enger Zusammenarbeit mit Lehrpersonen und Schulleitung versucht zurzeit die Elternmitwirkung, ihre Hilfe näher an den Kern der Schule zu bringen, also neben den bekannten Anlässen und Dienstleistungen vermehrt Hilfsangebote direkt für Lehrpersonen anzubieten. Erste Diskussionen haben ein grosses Interesse der Lehrpersonen gezeigt, derzeit erarbeitet eine Gruppe mit Vertretern der Eltern, der Lehrpersonen und der Schulleitung ein Konzept dazu.
Und bald werden wir Sie mit dem verstaubten Deputystern in der Hand aus dem Schlaf reissen! Nein, keine Angst, wir werden wie gewohnt sehr sanft vorgehen. Doch der Erfolg dieses Projekts hängt von Ihnen ab. Ihr Einsatz ist eher punktuell, er wird Ihren Zeitplan nicht völlig durcheinanderbringen, und einen schweren Colt brauchen Sie auch nicht rumszuschleppen. Sagen Sie uns, in welcher Rolle Sie bereit wären, ab und zu mal (oder auch nur einmalig) mitzuhelfen, sagen Sie uns auch, wo Ihre Stärken liegen (wohlgemerkt, um der längst bekannten Ausrede gleich zuvorzukommen: jede Person hat Stärken), und Sie sind dabei! Der Lohn? Ein besserer Bezug zu einer besseren Schule. Halten Sie sich bereit!

The Endless Loop

Today I taught a group of students at the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich). I corrected the following utterances:

• “What means ‘intelligible’?” (should be “What DOES ‘intelligible’ mean?”)


• “Last year I have gone there, it was great!” (should be: “Last year I WENT there…”)

[eye roll] How many times I have corrected these ‘miscues’ or ‘mistakes’? However, did these utterances hinder the students’ ability to communicate? No! Did the students know the rule? Yes! Were they able to correct themselves? Yes! Did they say it incorrectly again after being corrected, made to repeat the expression correctly and write it down to remember? Yes!!

What does this example show us? It shows that language is not learned in isolated moments of “learning the present perfect”. It shows us that noticing language takes place all the time, in different contexts. Some things, like the present perfect, are so different from German, that it is only in extended exposure, use in different situations as well as in explicit practice that they have a chance of being ‘learned properly’ and even learning them properly does not guarantee that they will come out of our mouths properly. Research on this is explicit (one example is Macaro 2001).

If you look at textbooks such as “Cambridge English for Schools” you will find a course syllabus that goes from one language point to the next – do children learning with this type of textbook come out of their obligatory education knowing English better than children who had a more ‘holistic’ exposure to the language? No. Furthermore, studies such as show that children hold more positive attitudes towards foreign language learning in more holistic, content challenging methods such as CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) (see Lasagabaster 2001) where it is a given that the language will progress cyclically. Do positive attitudes lead to learning? Yes!

If you take the example of the Explorers textbooks, you see a very clear cyclical progression of grammar and vocabulary. In a first encounter, the children are exposed to the item, such as the past simple. You see multiple exposures to the past simple in Explorers 1. As children go from Explorers 1 to Explorers 2, they are asked to use the past simple in isolated situations and with support (e.g. with the help of a ‘Workout’ or by using the Resource Book or seeing substitution table). By the time the children get to the 6th grade, to Explorers 3, they are then asked to use some verbs in the past tense actively, without any support. The language items defined by the curriculum are all in there in this manner so you need not worry about meeting the aims just because you don’t see the language presented explicitly and exclusively in grammar/vocabulary exercises.

Back in 1997, the Council of Europe wrote about the importance of ‘embedding’ language items into challenging thematic contexts and repeating them in different contexts (e.g. teaching “They have/don’t have” through the context of describing pets to comparing mammals and birds to comparing families in different cultures). This same progression you see in first choice. You see this progression in Explorers and you see this sort of progression in the new materials for the secondary school, Voices. In fact, you see this same sort of cyclical progression in newly-developed textbooks all over the world. Is this how I learned French? No! Does it mean that I have to teach French the same way I learned it? No.

Is there one way of learning and teaching a language? No. Is there a better way or a worse way? Maybe. Is there a perfect course book? No. Is a linear progression better than a cyclical progression and vice versa? No. If you have a cyclical progression of language items in your English course books does this mean the children won’t learn properly? No!

So enjoy teaching and rest assured through the processes of noticing language, making hypotheses about its use, practicing it explicitly and using it with varying degrees of support and in different contexts, all the major goals listed in the curriculum are covered.

Achermann, B. and Staufer, K. (2009). Sprachstrukturen in Explorers 1 bis 3. Retrieved online: http://www.explorers.ch/downloads/sprachstrukturen.pdf.

Doyé, P. and Hurrel, A. (Hrsg.). (1997). Foreign language learning in primary school (age 5/6 to 10/11). Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.

Gass, S. (2001).-Second Language Acquisition: An introductory course. 2nd edition, with L. Selinker. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Lasagabaster, D. and Serra, J. (2001). Language Attitudes in CLIL and
Traditional EFL Classes. International CLIL Research Journal. Vol. 1 (2).

Macaro, E. (2006). Does intensive explicit grammar instruction make all the difference? Language Teaching Research, Vol. 10, No. 3, 297-327

Motivating lessons at NILE

Here I am once again at NILE, in Norwich, England. It's been extremely productive - we'll revamp the stay in England a bit for the next set of students - and also inspiring! But let's just look at the inspiring language aspect and not the inspiring organizational aspect.

Today I got to sit in on Mr. Jamie Keddie (jamiekeddie.com) and got to focus on two main text-reconstructions activities that I summarize here below:
1) Watch a Youtube short video without sound (e.g. "Procrastination" Tales Of Mere Existence")
2) After watching the video, elicit vocabulary and recreate the story verbally with the learners
3) Teacher has prepared the text in advance. Do some sort of language work with it, such as a running dictation where the learners then have to write the text and put the sentences in the order shown in the video.
4) Learners compare what they wrote with what was provided and correct their answers.
5) Each sentence is written on a blank card. Each learner is given a sentence and has to draw a picture of it on the other side.
6) Show the pictures to the class and elicit the sentence. In chorus, repeat the sentences.
7) The picture/sentence cards can be used for a variety of other language activities.

Adaptions for the primary school level or with beginners.

• You might let them watch the Youtube video with the sound.
• Let them watch the video without sound, but have key words and chunks (with distractors) prepared.
• Simplify the language of the video as much as possible.
• With the running dictation, have it in the form of a gap text, where they run, read the sentence, run back, but then fill in the gap text with the word and not rewrite the whole text.

The second idea went as follows:

1) Explain to the learners that their task will be to draw what they hear, but first they have to listen.
2) Have the learners put their pens down. Read the text to draw out loud.
3) As the learners to recreate what they just heard. Start writing what they say on the board.
4) Now let the learners take over - pass the board marker to a student who has to continue. Adaptation: Let the student write a sentence or two but then pass it to another student (or put stars under their chairs in advance so those people have to write).
5) Once the text has been recreated, reread the original text and discuss any discussions held during the text reconstruction.
6) Have the students draw their pictures.
7) Discuss the pictures (in this case, activate prior knowledge about the T Rex).
8) This particular example included speech bubbles. Once the pictures were finished, learners were given an "A" or a "B". The As had to write two lines of a joke. The Bs had to write the other two lines of the joke.
9) The instructor explained that this joke was told to him by his father. The learners' homework was now to rewrite the joke in their own words.

Adaptions for the primary school level or with beginners.

• This would work just as is with a very simple picture description.
• With early writers, have the text written and cut up (with distractors). Have the children put the text together and copy it or have a gap fill on the board or first letters of words or have the teacher write the whole reconstruction and then the learners copy it.
• Give the children another joke for homework, provide them with a technique for memorizing it (look, say, cover, say, check) and have them tell their joke to a partner in class the following day.

Thanks, Jamie!!

Who said no more vocabulary tests?

Dear Parents,
Your teacher asked me to write to you because there seems to be a modern misconception that good principles of modern foreign language teaching encourage your child’s teacher to purposefully neglect to provide you with a list of vocabulary and grammar items that your child can study at home. Your teacher is often asked “which grammar should my child know, which vocabulary?”

Just because language aims are not spelled out in terms of structures and words does not mean that these structures and words are not there, otherwise volumes of respectable academic literature (Bablyonia 4/08) would not be dedicated to these topics! Moreover, the new curriculum does provide some suggestions for vocabulary and structures, but generally, how well you know a language is generally more and more defined by what you can DO in a language and this links more to reading, writing, speaking and listening. Grammar and vocabulary fall under the skills.

Let’s take a concrete but openly formulated example from the inter-cantonal curriculum and a corresponding descriptor from the European Language Portfolio II at Common European Framework Level of A1.2:
„Die Lernenden können über ihre Vorlieben Auskunft geben” or “Ich kann andere darüber informieren, was ich mag und was ich nicht mag (z.B. in Bezug auf Sport, Musik, Schule, Farben)”. It seems that whoever made these descriptors has hidden the vocabulary and grammar away – where are they? Let’s take a closer look!

Child A says: “I liking hockey, swimming and baseball” (first choice Seasons).
Child B says “My favorite animals are bears and dogs.” (first choice Animals)
Child C says “English is no fun”.
Child D says “Fish smell horrible.” (first choice Senses)
Child E says “I love Easter. I hate Halloween”. (first Choice, One World, Many People)

Without overanalyzing the above utterances, you will see that all five children have demonstrated possible achievement the level of A1.2 (you might need a bit more input to decide officially). Though not all grammatically correct, all utterances are comprehensible (a native speaker would understand or would only have to ask once for repetition).

However, what you see are four different contexts. Within these contexts, there are different words used (animals, adjectives, sports). The four different grammar structures could be used interchangeably in the four different contexts.

You see that Child A made a grammatical mistake. Teaching the structure does not ensure that a child will master the structure, especially the first time around. However, the descriptor is successfully demonstrated though within the descriptor you can also analyze the range of structures and words, the accuracy of the structures and words, the pronunciation and the task achievement. It could be that Child A has achieved the lower end of A1.2.

If your other child is in upper-primary and has started with Explorers, you will also see that vocabulary and grammar are assessed in speaking and writing. Obviously if a child didn’t understand something or understood incorrectly in the listening and reading tests, then vocabulary and grammar played a role.

The only thing the official curriculum can do is to SUGGEST structures and vocabulary but why should these be set in stone? Your child’s teacher needs you to trust in her that she can work flexibly in different topics to make contexts relevant to your child and the entire class. She needs you to see language not as a list of vocabulary and grammar items that are to be memorized and drilled, but that a good range of structures and words support your child’s ability to read, write, speak and listen to a language.

So let’s end with a bit of food for thought:
If this is the era of post-methodology, why can’t we cater to the needs of the learners within the contexts appropriate to a certain class? If a child learns to say “I love bananas. I hate apples” in the context of food, because that class enjoys food, and another child in another class learns to say “My favorite sport is hockey” because that class is an athletic class, then what’s the big deal? Your child will certainly learn the structure “My favorite… is …” because that will appear in another context at another point in the upcoming years. There ARE clear guidelines through the curriculum, through the descriptors, through the textbooks and through the various assessment means and vocabulary and grammar are a part of them.

Do we need to stop teachers from teaching “My most preferred source of entertainment happens to be spending my Sunday afternoons hiking in the lovely forests around Rafz”? No! Your teacher has some common sense and can set language goals based on the class’s needs, the descriptors in the official curriculum and based on what textbook she is working in.

There is so much to learn – why limit it to lists? There’s nothing wrong with defining language goals with vocabulary and grammar lists but this is a bit rigid and encourages drilling language (which has its role, too) and limits creativity. Moreover, it doesn’t guarantee a certain standard. Defining contexts first or defining what a learner should be able to DO in a language tends to take the needs of the learners a bit more into consideration, includes vocabulary and grammar, but does not place them in the forefront.

Why do things have to be spelled out clearly – language is not black and white? Would you like your child to be in a class where every child says “I like bears and dogs” because those are the language goals? Perhaps your child is afraid of dogs! Let language live lively and let language goals be flexible!

Laura Loder Büchel
References
(2005): Europäisches Sprachenportfolio für die 11-15-Jährigen (ESP II). Zugelassenes Lehrmittel. Bildungsratsbeschluss vom 11.7.2005. In: Schulblatt des Kantons Zürich, H. 9, S. 475–478.
Achermann, B. and Sprague, K. Explorers series. Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zürich, Switzerland.
Andrew Littlejohn and Helgrid Hammesfahr Schofield. First Choice series. Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zürich, Switzerland.
Brown, H.D. (2002). English language teaching in the post-method era: Toward better diagnosis, treatment, and assessment. In J. C. Richards and W. A. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (pp. 9-18). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Council of Europe. http://www.coe.int (EducationàLanguage Policy Division). March 26, 2009.
Schulverlag. European Language Portfolio. http://www.sprachenportfolio.ch. March 26, 2009.
Zürich (Hg.) (2006): Englisch Primarstufe. Ergänzung zum Lehrplan für die Volksschule. Zürich: Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zürich.

Die letschti Schwalbe

Ein wichtiges Element des friedlichen und erfüllten Lebens mit Kindern sind echte Kompromisse, die nicht bloss den Kindern gefallen, sondern mit denen auch die Eltern glücklich bleiben. Ein nicht zu unterschätzendes Gebiet für derartige echte Kompromisse ist die Musikauswahl in der Heimdisco. Wir hören zuhause gerne viel Musik und tanzen gelegentlich auch wild dazu. Allerdings findet man in unserer CD-Sammlung auch Werke, die den coolsten Daddy zum Ausrasten bringen.

Unsere absolute Folter-CD trug den bedrohlichen Titel "Toddler Rock" und wurde unserer Älteren von einer sadistischen Verwandten geschenkt. Das Cover zierte ein fettes Baby in Lederjacke und Sonnenbrille, die Verwandte hatte also mit voller Absicht gehandelt, die Lieder wurden ausnahmslos von krächzenden Kleinkindern vorgetragen, die allesamt an einem verfrühten Stimmbruch litten und jeden Ton mit Präzision knapp verfehlten.

Ich schreibe dies alles in der Vergangenheit, denn wir mussten die CD mit dem Bulldozer zermalmen, nicht weil es sich um eine illegale Kopie gehandelt hätte, sondern um unser Familienglück zu retten. Natürlich nicht ersatzlos, als Nachfolger kauften wir "Best of Pooh and Heffalumps", ganz klar kinderorientiert, aber doch auch nach 8 Wiederholungen im Tag aushaltbar. Und wir entdeckten die Freuden des Kinder-CD-Shopping. Die phantastische "Elephant of Surprise" von Clare de Lune, "Sternschnuppesuppe" von Linard Bardill, der Soundrack zu Shrek (oder "Shrink", wie ihn unsere Jüngste nennt), eine glückliche Zeit!

Und dann kam irgendwie dieser Andrew Bond reingeschneit, mit "Zimetschtärn hani gärn". Wir hatten schon von ihm gehört, er ist in diesem Land unter Eltern nicht unbekannt, und dann noch mit diesem Namen! Aber meine erste Anhörung fiel ernüchternd aus: trotz des Namens sang er keineswegs auf Englisch, einige Wiederholungen fingen gleich an zu nerven ("wär isch das Männli, säg wär kännts - das isch dänk de Grittibänz!", nach 4maliger Wiederholung weiss auch unsere Kleinste die Antwort), und vor allem lässt er Kinder ans Mikrofon, die sich zwar viel mehr bemühen als die Gören von "Toddler Rock", bei denen aber doch nicht jeder Pieps ein Treffer ist. Und so wurde unsere erste Bond-CD immer wieder diskret hinter anderen Entdeckungen (etwa Werken von Jim Gill, einer Art US-Bond) versteckt.


Und dann die Wiederentdeckung! Die CD handelt von der kälteren Jahreszeit, erst wird der Sommer verabschiedet, dann der Herbst begrüsst, schliesslich fällt Schnee, beginnt die Adventszeit, kommt Weihnachten. Ich bin ja erhrlich gesagt froh, dass Weihnachten endlich vorbei ist, ich bin eher ein Sommermensch. Und so kann ich dem zweiten Lied mit der letzten Schwalbe nicht voll zustimmen, wenn es sagt "dr Herbscht isch mini Lieblingsziit". Und doch ist es mein Lieblingslied auf dieser CD, weil ich fast heulen muss beim Zuhören, nicht wegen krächzenden Kinderstimmen, sondern weil es so wehmütig schön ist, wie der richtige Herbst halt. Meine Ältere kann sogar super mitsingen, weil sie's im Chindsgi gelernt hat. Seither ertönt Bond regelmässig fünf mal am Tag, vom Daddy aufgelegt, und noch ein paar mal mehr, wenn es den Kids noch nicht auf die Nerven geht. Es ist absolute Liebe auf den zweiten Blick! Was es doch für schöne Musik für Kinder gibt!

Wir haben allerdings schon noch ein klitzekleines Problem, eine hübsch bemalte CD mit dem "Fuchs Felox", ein Geschenk der Kantonspolizei. Geschenke der Kantonspolizei, habe ich gelernt, darf man nicht mit dem Bulldozer zertrümmern.

Der Platzfüller legt los

Liebe Diskussionsratten,

als Teil dieser Diskussionsseite wäre es schön, wenn ein paar Leute Lust hätten, einen Blog (eine Kolumne würde man bei einer Zeitung sagen) zu einem einigermassen elternmitwirkungsrelevanten und interessanten Thema (Erziehung, Schule, Kinder, Ernährung, Freizeit ...) zu führen.

Beiträge dürfen kurz sein und ziemlich unregelmässig erscheinen.

Blogs sollen die Diskussion (im Forum) anregen, die Bloggerin oder der Blogger darf also durchaus (im Rahmen des Legalen und Anständigen) eine kontroverse und provozierende Meinung vertreten.

Ich bin selber auch am Suchen von Blogwilligen. Bis es soweit ist, schreibt hier ab und zu ... der Platzfüller!

Why do young people nowadays insist on showing their underwear or lack thereof? I'm really not prude, really not, and part of me is jealous that my own butt crack isn't nice enough to show, but even if it were, I think I'd keep it neatly tucked in.

So I was thinking about what this means for school policies and dress code formulations. I call them the butt crack policies:

• Students and teachers alike are not to wear apparel which explicitly emphasizes the fact that they are wearing underwear or not.
• Intentional display of the butt crack is means for punishment.
• No wise cracks allowed in this school.
• All cracks must be properly attired.
• Garments which do not properly cover all parts of one's posterior are not permitted.

The reason I am blogging about this is because I thought it would make a fun language learning exercise about clothing for you students out there!! Have a nice day!!

Today's class: November 26, 2008

Hello students!
I am using my blog like a task card! The goal of today's lesson is to look into materials that can support testing and evaluation of children and to fill in the loose ends of some of the conversations on ILIAS. Therefore, I ask you to:

• Try out a test or two from one of the Explorers Assessment Packs.
• Go through the Lingualevel scavenger hunt.
• Add a comment to our module's ILIAS pages to summarize something you've learned or something you found interesting that might help the person who's initiated the comment.
• Go to the Explorers website and find the webquest and try out the CD ROM.
• Go to Laura's website and figure out how to UPLOAD materials onto the materials bank.
• Go to Laura's website and look at the links to webquests.
• Discuss how children use computers and where they encounter English. How can you support their English-language learning through the use of the Internet?
  

Just for fun!

Should there really be a unit in the Swiss textbooks about Halloween?? If other countries are going to do Halloween activities, shouldn't children learn the history of the celebration and not just about symbols that are meaningless until the history is known? It seems very strange to me that many Swiss embrace the symbols of Halloween and also spend goodness knows how much money on witches and spiderwebs without really knowing what it's about.
Here's a link to Unger's view on it!
Thanks for the picture, Kathleen! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6405989

Random thoughts

Importance of spontaneous feedback

I was just thinking about how important it is to get and give spontaneous feedback - on every level! When I say to my five year old daughter "Hey, Ally, you wrote that word so well this morning - that was great" and she then shines! On the other hand, when I say "Maybe you should try it like this" she doesn't always look happy, but she does and then she "gets over it" and our conversation resumes - no one was hurt and she learned something and I learn each time how to formulate feedback into something constructive but hopefully not too critical.

So what made me think of the role of feedback was last week - after one course a student said "Actually, I find the topic really interesting, but I wasn't sure of the timing". And throughout that entire course, I was thinking about whether the others found it interesting or not. So her feedback was constructive - I knew we could more or less go on how were were with the main concept but we'd have to watch our timing a bit. And the second feedback somebody said that she really had a very good day despite having to come in on a Saturday.

So it can't be that at the end of every course, you get feedback from every person, however, if we would more open our mouths and let people know how we feel, then a lot of time would be saved in futile endeavours and in misunderstandings. And this feedback on a social level, on an interpersonal level, is just as important, if not more, as feedback at the end of a project or a course! And people shouldn't be afraid to give feedback though it is always an exercise in being diplomatic!

Problem based learning

Last night I was wondering about two things: working interdisciplinarily and also problem based learning.
About interdisciplinarity: On a superficial level, most things are interdisciplinary. If you teach English, you are also teaching things related to culture, to "self" and to many other topics. If you teach M&U, you are also teaching language, you are also teaching math, etc. However, if the school system is based on specific subjects having 45 minute blocks and there is this concept of teachers having a profile (some do English, some do art, some do French - but not all), on a feasibility level, this interdisciplinarity remains on this superficial level unless teachers really make an effort to network. So on the level of strategies, how do you have a strategy-based approach with the children in one subject and then ensure that they are transferring the strategies that they "train" to other subjects? Of course it's possible, but it's more complex due to these profiles. So I ask myself if it wouldn't be better to really get into subject-specific strategies in more depth and leave interdisciplinarity because perhaps if we start to look into depth in one subject, this makes us have another way of looking at things which then transfers to other subjects.

About Problem Based Learning: On the level of tertiary education or more concretely, when working with teacher trainees, I only wonder here if the problem shouldn't be written by the students themselves. Perhaps it's better to say: PBL is a great method but the first two weeks of the semester should be spent observing classes or reflecting upon classes previous seen so that in the third week, smaller but more relevant problems should be written and researched. PBL is supposed to be authentic and real - and this is subjective. Therefore more students would be more interested IF they could themselves decide what problem they want to solve. This is the reason we wrote our "dialogue" - we wanted everyone to find something that they're interested in but I have the feeling that like in any module, some people are really interested and the others don't see the relevance and just want to get through. And then some things stay on this superficial level. If students could write their own problems, then they would be forced to make them relevant.

Zoo visit

Zoo visit
A lot of planning went into our zoo visit and I was really nervous about it but all in all, I think it went okay! Of course, there were certain things we could do better like giving you a short overview of what we were doing with the zoo tasks and why we chose to do them BEFORE we let you on your own to do it. We didn't because we wanted to "just do it", but next time I think it'll start off a bit better if you know what the module is about beforehand! Other things we could have done better would be changing the weather or getting a room, but we won't mention that!!

It's so important to start off on the right foot - it doesn't have to be perfect, but it should be positive at least!

As the students were sharing their observations about what would help the teacher/student be able to do the task better, I was thinking that these students have a pretty great understanding of the terms and the general concepts behind identifying strategies - we can all speak "strategy speak"! So our next step will be to define what these really mean. What does "Ask if you're not sure" mean? What does "activate prior knowledge" mean? How do we guide these things and how do we ensure that we are training strategies and not just teaching things kids things they have already figured out?

Looking Forward!

What's the difference between "forward-looking" and "looking forward"? An initial thought leads to time: are forward-looking things less probable because they take place in an undetermined point in the future? Are things you look forward to more concrete, in the shorter-term and thus more probable? Who knows - but it is sure fun to think about it!!



I am looking forward to this upcoming semester because:

• I get to teach a lot!
• My grandfather is coming from the US and we get to go to Lauffen am Neckar (http://www.lauffen.de/portal) and take a trip through time.
• I get to go to the mountains (http://www.nationalpark.ch/) with Ally, Zoe and Patrick.
• I get to go to the Leonard Cohen concert in Zurich (http://www.leonardcohen.com/) with Patrick!
• I get to go to the zoo with my students.

Somehow it seems a bit simplistic, but isn't it these simple things that keep us happy?

Experts?

Patrick and I had a very long discussion last night about terminology:

I got really annoyed that people use specific terms without knowing what they really are about, especially people who should know what they're about. If an expert in a certain subject, say English didactics, uses the term "CLIL", then shouldn't they be talking about something more in-depth than just topic-based teaching? And Patrick gave the example of the use of the word AJAX in computer science - most people use the term when they mean SJAX. Although we shouldn't expect generalists to use precise terms correctly, should we expect experts to? And why should we simplify the ideas behind these terms?

Instead of having a general overview of what a term is about and then filling in the gaps slowly with aspects of the correct and precise definition, wouldn't it be better to get an understanding of one comonent of what is meant at a time and build up? Imagine a set of building blocks - you can have them thrown on the ground, all over the place and slowly bring order to them. Or else you can put one block down at a time in the right place. Is how we do something culturally-bound? Are we allowed to change the way we do it according to the task at hand? Is one way better than the other? I dunno!

Amish country

Today we're off to the beautiful Hershey Gardens! They've got a really cute scavenger hunt for kids, so Alison is really excited about it.

Last night Patrick and I went out to eat. It was a 45 minute walk to the restaurant and it was nice to walk at normal pace instead of kiddie pace! On the way there, we saw a groundhog or woodchuck.

We also saw some bird of prey, some rabbits, and Patrick kept threatening that he smelled a black bear, which are known to be in the area!

On Tuesday we had a history tour with Grandpa in upstate Pennsylvania. We must have visited about seven different graveyards and traced most of the Bohlayer ancestors back to the original brothers who came over from Laufen am Nekar, Germany. We went up Armenia Mountain and had a wonderful view and saw the family picnic site and where they used to keep the sheep in the summer. We stopped at Bohlayer Orchards and chatted with David and Heather. On the way home, we stopped and saw Jim's cabin and mansion - that impressed Patrick the most! We got home at about midnight after about fourteen hours in the car!! I sure hope I'll retain all that history!

Pox

The big news in our family is that Zoe has the chicken pox! I've had to take off work, so life has been crazy this past week - what do you do when you have work to do, but not work where your presence is necessary? Then I suppose you have to make it up on the weekends, which is exactly what I'm doing!

I've updated the PHSH website and I've read through Reto's blog. I've tried to finish a lot of little pending things, too, but they never seem to end!!

The other big news is that Patrick had his last day of work - now he'll be home with the girls!

The third piece of big news is that Alison can finally ride her bike! Now she's in for a big one!

On Monday and Tuesday I was at the KPH in Graz - it was an amazing trip! I had Schlagobers! I was treated like a queen by the staff of the KPH and can highly recommend any exchange with them.





Just a few thoughts about my trip:

• English is an obligatory subject starting in the first grade in Austria. However, it is a low-pressure subject – writing is not required for the first two years and there is no assessment. This has the effect of secondary teachers starting their English teaching from the beginning. French and other foreign languages are not mandatory but are present in some schools.


• Students at the KGPH have a personal coach who is responsible for their “Biografiearbeit”. This is a fascinating subject. Not only do the students have mentors who help them on a planning level, but also “coaches” who are responsible for getting students (pre-service teachers) to analyse their own school careers and “ways of being” and get them to find ways to overcome fixed ideas. A practical example of this is a student who comes and says “The children just don’t listen to me”. The coach takes it on a “meta-level” (not just on a lesson-analysis level) and gets them to figure out if this is a general thing, something related to their pre-concept of teaching methodologies and to break it.

• It was amazing to be in a “Praxis Schule” – the kids were right there¨! And this school was a good school for more open types of learning. They have mixed-age classes (1st, 2nd and 3rd graders together), Montessori-style classes (Freiarbeit), and then more traditional classes (normal “Blockstunden”). It brings a lot to their institute to have these wonderful children and teachers at their fingertips!

• Teaching Austrian PH students is NO different than teaching Swiss students!

Using technology

I was asked by Sarah to come share some ideas with you for integrating technology into the classroom, so I thought I'd do it in Blog form. I will read this blog aloud to you as you read it on the computer screen. This will give you a short American English pronunciation lesson and allow you to work a bit at your own pace as well! I will organize this presentation in order from the easiest ideas to implement to the more complex. Here you can find a table of ideas if you would like my outline.

BLOGS - AUSBILDUNG and WEITERBILDUNG
Let's start with blogs! What are blogs? Who has used one before? Here are a few that I will now freely comment upon:

• http://phzh-zab.blogspot.com/
• http://cpeblog.blogspot.com/

Blogs are easy to develop because they don't take an incredible amount of knowledge to set up, you can use them simply or in more complex ways and they help to foster informal communication outside the classroom.

Keywords: developing writing skills / peer or instructor corrections / low-pressure / individualization / on or off topic

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COMMUNICATIVE SCAVENGER HUNTS - AUSBILDUNG and WEITERBILDUNG
Here's a mini-example for you. Work with the person next to you.

• Person A - go to http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/. How many types of puzzles can you make on this website?


• Person B - go to http://www.abcteach.com/. How many free printable pages can you access?

Give your partner the answer. This is simply a concept that can be used in a lesson or as homework. You can make it interactive by having everyone go to the same website and look for different information or you can make them find the same information, with nuances, from two different websites. A concrete example of this is from this example from our "Spezialwoche" in February.

In a less interactive way, but a way that lets each participant work at his or her own pace, you can give them a list of questions to find the answers to as in the Lingualevel search. This is a nice way of working with in-service teachers as there is a broader range of computer-literacy. The more computer-literate ones can be given a task of finding something relevant for their next lessons and the less computer-literate can focus on understanding the functionality.

One more concept is that if you only want participants to become familiar with a website or find resources, they should get lost a bit on the way. So if I resend you to http://www.abcteach.com/ and ask: "where can you find the word wall pictures and words for the autumn (or fall)" - you might find the answer to this question but a lot more along the way!

Keywords: interactive or individual work / skimming and scanning for information / filtering out unnecessary information

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LAURA'S PERSONAL SITE

You see on my website a "Materials Bank". The idea is simple - students can upload materials onto this database that are then accessible to everyone. This is also my rule for absences: If you know you are going to miss a third lesson, you must create an activity and upload it for everyone. Moreover, for certain teaching points (eg. teaching listening skills), groups must create an activity and upload it. I started it on October 2007 and so far, so good, though encouraging people to use it more is quite a challenge. At this point I would also like to make a few comments that I don't want documented on paper.

Keywords: sharing / transparency / materials development

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SCRATCHPAD WIKIS - AUSBILDUNG

Just a few words on wikis. At some point with pre-service teachers in Zürich, we had a scratchpad wiki going about language learning strategies. This acted as a means of peer-collaboration to develop language and concept together.

Another website I show (quickly in front of the class) is Simplewiki for language learners as well as how to look up a word in Wikipedia and find its equivelant in another language. Please keep in mind that a wiki is only as good as those people using it. So you have no right to use the information without being responsible for its correctness (language and content).

Keywords: developing writing skills / peer editing / consolidating knowledge

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ILIAS
For Instructors Only

Well, in ILIAS, there are always Dozierendengruppe. We have also set one up for the English department with a few rules:

• Old information be put in the archive section and not in the newest folders (folders by topic).
• When somebody requests something from someone, put it on dozigruppe for everyone

Unfortunately, this is not working because there are few ILIAS freaks amongst us!


We have also used it for various work groups - e.g. for the Wissensbasis (click on the picture to enlarge it). We were given the task of illustrating aspects of cooperative learning. We then put our ideas on ILIAS and perhaps, one day, they will be elaborated upon!

For Inservice and Preservice Teachers
The next thing we have in the English department is what we call our "Toolbox". This is a means of sharing information with inservice and preservice teachers.

In Inservice Training
Finally, the most complex thing that could be done is an entire module on ILIAS (SPP 030 Allgemeine Fremdsprachendidaktik). I say this is complex because in all honesty, working with ILIAS is not always that user-friendly when you know other programs like WebCT or Dreamweaver. The main problem is that it's difficult to format pages and make tests. Once you've got the hang of it though, it can be a powerful tool.

The main tip I've learned over the past three courses is one concerning the forum work. Somehow, this has not come naturally to the students - they don't see it as contributing to a discussion but rather "I have to do it, so I will". So my new strategy is to work with groups of students who have to discuss the same video (and not just each share something they saw because they only present and not interact like this). Moreover, you've got to assign roles (summarizer, leader, question asker, etc..). It sounds like "duh, Laura, you should have known that" but I thought students would be so enthusiastic about working on the computer, that it would take off. This was the case on the Navajo Reservation when people lived five hours apart but not in ZH and SH where we see each other every day! So, as it is at times in in-person, small groups, role assignments can help a lot! Moreover, making your goals clear, for example saying that an obligatory part of the course is one presentation of something and two comments to others can "force" participation and up the chances that someone will become a real fan.

Keywords: blended learning / cooperative learning / that's enough keywords for today *************************************************************************
So now you've got it - the quick and dirty of how I use technology in the classroom. Using technology in the classroom does not neglect the more tactile things in life, like taking a POWER-WALK BRAINSTORM. So if you have 5 minutes now (probably not), get up out of your seat and walk up the hill behind the building and back and ask each other "How can I integrate technology into my teaching" or "Do I really want to do more in this regards than I am?"! Thank you for your patience and I hope that this has not exceeded my 15 minutes.

Hello! I am now in England visiting the PHSH teachers. They seem to be having a very good time and learning a lot. They've had an outing or two and a tour of the town of Norwich. They've now been in two different classes. The only negative comment I heard was: English schools are rather traditional. So I'm wondering what this means and also if we can really say Swiss schools are different or more 'modern'!


Right now I'm sitting here in a great workshop about using the Web. The possibilities are endless!!