Blog response- week 14
Sexual Identities in ESL: Queer Theory and Classroom Inquiry
At first I was kind of surprised that this controversial topic could be discussed in a book rather than in a closet. It’s an obscure subject in the Asian world but Cynthia Nelson points out that teachers should be aware if this issue in our classroom. As we know, more and more gays/lesbians are pretty outstanding in the society, such as Elton John and Ellen DeGeneres. And I admire these two artists. Nelson advocates that teachers should see their gay/lesbian students in an open-minded way.
This is a very interesting topic because it reminds me one of the most famous hosts in Taiwan and his name is Tsai Kang Yung. He came out while he was a junior in college and he knew very early that he loved male rather than female. Even though he came out to his closest friend, he still didn’t have the courage to tell his teacher because she was homophobic, and Tsai didn’t want to ruin the relationship with her. With year passing by, Tsai has become both fame and fortune host in Taiwan, and he came out to the public in the time when he was in the highest point of his life. Guess what, he didn’t lose his audience and that teacher in college even wrote an email to him as a support. A few months ago I saw this interview in the newspaper and I can’t stop thinking why did this teacher write at last? Maybe because Tsai has become a household name so that teacher was proud of teaching this student.
For myself, I have no difficulty to understand gays/lesbians. As the practice teacher in the junior high school few years ago I had seen girls kissing each other in the corner of the campus. There is one thing I still confused about, as a teacher, I haven't got one particle of sexual prejudice but how could I persuade other teachers who are homophobic or have deeply discriminated against homosexuals? I can’t see Cynthia Nelson addressed this issue in the book.
At last, I think that as a teacher, you won’t and shouldn’t judge your students by their orientation. Similarly, we should respect our students’ sexual orientation. Maybe next time you will cultivate a future star.
2009年11月29日 星期日
2009年11月15日 星期日
Blog response- week 11
Dialogue Around “Reexamining English Only in the ESL Classroom” by Elsa Auerbach
After reading this chapter, I had a lot of feelings about BARBARA MARIE JORDAN ‘s Response because I had the same experience in the “English Only in the ESL Classroom.”
In the language institution where I have taught in Taiwan, all the teachers have been trained to ”Never speak Chinese to your students.” All the teachers took turns teaching different age students, and none of us wanted to teach the elementary students. It is impossible to speak English to them all the time because the vocabulary they know is so limited. However, one day, the instructor informed me of teaching the elementary students for my next session class. It was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky because I had no idea how to deal with these kids without saying any Chinese. The rule ”Never speak Chinese to your students” is strictly enforced in the classroom. Fortunately, a senior teacher taught me some tips. First, write down the frequently asked questions on several pieces of paper and put them on the wall, such as “May I go to the bathroom?”, “I have a question”, “I forget to bring my books”, “I feel sick, can I make a phone call to my mom?”, and “What time it is ?”…etc. Second, use one minute to review them before each class, and encourage students to use these English phrases to express what they need. Third, only the students who asked me in English would get the permission or gain the response. At first time, several mischievous boys were trying to talk to me in Chinese, but they were totally ignored by me because I would point out the poster on the wall “Please speak English to your teacher.” When they had been ignored for many times but saw that the other students who asked me in English got the right response, they changed, especially when they desperately want to go to the bathroom during the class.
It worked. I didn’t have to use anything to bribe them to speak in English and they finally adapted to the“No Chinese” classroom. In the long run, I also passed the trial when the supervisor came to my class for the last day of this class.
After reading this chapter, I had a lot of feelings about BARBARA MARIE JORDAN ‘s Response because I had the same experience in the “English Only in the ESL Classroom.”
In the language institution where I have taught in Taiwan, all the teachers have been trained to ”Never speak Chinese to your students.” All the teachers took turns teaching different age students, and none of us wanted to teach the elementary students. It is impossible to speak English to them all the time because the vocabulary they know is so limited. However, one day, the instructor informed me of teaching the elementary students for my next session class. It was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky because I had no idea how to deal with these kids without saying any Chinese. The rule ”Never speak Chinese to your students” is strictly enforced in the classroom. Fortunately, a senior teacher taught me some tips. First, write down the frequently asked questions on several pieces of paper and put them on the wall, such as “May I go to the bathroom?”, “I have a question”, “I forget to bring my books”, “I feel sick, can I make a phone call to my mom?”, and “What time it is ?”…etc. Second, use one minute to review them before each class, and encourage students to use these English phrases to express what they need. Third, only the students who asked me in English would get the permission or gain the response. At first time, several mischievous boys were trying to talk to me in Chinese, but they were totally ignored by me because I would point out the poster on the wall “Please speak English to your teacher.” When they had been ignored for many times but saw that the other students who asked me in English got the right response, they changed, especially when they desperately want to go to the bathroom during the class.
It worked. I didn’t have to use anything to bribe them to speak in English and they finally adapted to the“No Chinese” classroom. In the long run, I also passed the trial when the supervisor came to my class for the last day of this class.
2009年11月8日 星期日
Blog response -week 10
Vivian Cook, "Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching"
A person is a native speaker of the language learnt first. Someone who didn’t learn a language in childhood can’t be a native speaker of English. However, it is still kind of blurry. Is there any exact component to describe a language user native?
The idea of multicompetent is ambiguous, too. These people grow up in a bilingual society/family and gaining two languages at the same time. As we read in the article “a distinctive process that multicompetent users engage in is code switching. When multicompetent users are talking to other people who know both languages, they may alternate between languages. My aunt and her husband has been living in Paris over thirty years and their children all grew up there. They spoke Chinese at home but they spoke French at school. One time my aunt share some stories about her oldest daughter Ann. Even though she was born in French, but whenever she came to the class and without saying a word in the classroom, the teacher and classmates were all look at her as an alien. Until she spoke in fluently French, they started to see her as a member of the class and. No matter what kind of class it is, she always treated no matter by teachers or classmates as l2 learner at the first time because she has an oriental face. Luckily, she had good performance at school and can speak fluently in French. She got a part time job in teaching students violin, and she had a variety of students who came from different countries. Ann treated them equally and patiently, she all viewed her students as sufficient for learning violin rather than deficient. She has two beliefs, first, she didn’t want these students had “shadow” as her before, and second , students were come to learn about violin and they seek of skill and teachers should pass the skill and give as much aid as possible.
A person is a native speaker of the language learnt first. Someone who didn’t learn a language in childhood can’t be a native speaker of English. However, it is still kind of blurry. Is there any exact component to describe a language user native?
The idea of multicompetent is ambiguous, too. These people grow up in a bilingual society/family and gaining two languages at the same time. As we read in the article “a distinctive process that multicompetent users engage in is code switching. When multicompetent users are talking to other people who know both languages, they may alternate between languages. My aunt and her husband has been living in Paris over thirty years and their children all grew up there. They spoke Chinese at home but they spoke French at school. One time my aunt share some stories about her oldest daughter Ann. Even though she was born in French, but whenever she came to the class and without saying a word in the classroom, the teacher and classmates were all look at her as an alien. Until she spoke in fluently French, they started to see her as a member of the class and. No matter what kind of class it is, she always treated no matter by teachers or classmates as l2 learner at the first time because she has an oriental face. Luckily, she had good performance at school and can speak fluently in French. She got a part time job in teaching students violin, and she had a variety of students who came from different countries. Ann treated them equally and patiently, she all viewed her students as sufficient for learning violin rather than deficient. She has two beliefs, first, she didn’t want these students had “shadow” as her before, and second , students were come to learn about violin and they seek of skill and teachers should pass the skill and give as much aid as possible.
2009年11月2日 星期一
Blog response -week 9
Blog response -week 9
This is not only an article about the Revisiting the Colonial in the Postcolonial: Critical Praxis for Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers is in a TESOL Program, but an article to provide “cardiotonic needle “ for those who are nonnative-English-speaking teachers. This is an article posed on native speakers and non-native speaker.
As I have presented on Mckay Chapter 2, Only non-Native English Speaker Teacher can serve as imitable models of the successful learner of English, Non-NESTS can teach learning strategies more effectively. Additionally, Seidlhofer has described the many strength of bilingual teachers of English. Bilingual ELT professionals teaching in their own country are in a sense “double agents” in that they know the language &culture of their students to be agents facilitating learning by mediating between the different languages & cultures through appropriate pedagogy. This makes Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers uniquely suited to be agents facilitating learning by mediating between the different languages & cultures through appropriate pedagogy. Indeed, I feel the same way while I was teaching students in the listening, speaking, reading and writing class. Nevertheless, I felt frustrated sometimes .I can’t exactly understand what my American friends are saying if they speak English too blurred to understand, or when they use slang into conversation.
After reading this article, I feel better and more self-reliant as an nonnative-English-speaking teachers. Like Carmen and Luisa Cristina write in identity construction in English, they think it “will lead teachers to reflect on who they are and where they come from."
This is not only an article about the Revisiting the Colonial in the Postcolonial: Critical Praxis for Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers is in a TESOL Program, but an article to provide “cardiotonic needle “ for those who are nonnative-English-speaking teachers. This is an article posed on native speakers and non-native speaker.
As I have presented on Mckay Chapter 2, Only non-Native English Speaker Teacher can serve as imitable models of the successful learner of English, Non-NESTS can teach learning strategies more effectively. Additionally, Seidlhofer has described the many strength of bilingual teachers of English. Bilingual ELT professionals teaching in their own country are in a sense “double agents” in that they know the language &culture of their students to be agents facilitating learning by mediating between the different languages & cultures through appropriate pedagogy. This makes Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers uniquely suited to be agents facilitating learning by mediating between the different languages & cultures through appropriate pedagogy. Indeed, I feel the same way while I was teaching students in the listening, speaking, reading and writing class. Nevertheless, I felt frustrated sometimes .I can’t exactly understand what my American friends are saying if they speak English too blurred to understand, or when they use slang into conversation.
After reading this article, I feel better and more self-reliant as an nonnative-English-speaking teachers. Like Carmen and Luisa Cristina write in identity construction in English, they think it “will lead teachers to reflect on who they are and where they come from."
2009年10月25日 星期日
Blog response -week 8
Blog response -week 8
"Teaching methods and English as an International Language”
After I read this article, especially the section titled “A culture of learning.” It mentioned that Chinese students view certain aspects of their own behavior in light of western teachers perceive them. Japan is also another country with many issues concerning the culture of learning. That all reminds me of my presentation about Kuma’s chapter. Indeed, Confucian and the national examination system all have a significant impact on Asian students. We respect the authority of the lecturer and the lecturer shouldn’t be questioned. There is also another obvious difference about Asian students. It seems that they all passive learners. The examination system no doubt makes us become passive learners. Students in Asian have to pass the national exam to be accepted into prestigious senior high schools. This will lead students to get higher grades in order to go to the well know universities. Asian students just need to try their best to memorize as much text book content as they can. The exam system not only make is become numb to the knowledge, but also makes us become passive learners. Asian students are encouraged to memorize instead of thinking critically. We must consider who is to blame for this current situation and how the system should be changed.
"Teaching methods and English as an International Language”
After I read this article, especially the section titled “A culture of learning.” It mentioned that Chinese students view certain aspects of their own behavior in light of western teachers perceive them. Japan is also another country with many issues concerning the culture of learning. That all reminds me of my presentation about Kuma’s chapter. Indeed, Confucian and the national examination system all have a significant impact on Asian students. We respect the authority of the lecturer and the lecturer shouldn’t be questioned. There is also another obvious difference about Asian students. It seems that they all passive learners. The examination system no doubt makes us become passive learners. Students in Asian have to pass the national exam to be accepted into prestigious senior high schools. This will lead students to get higher grades in order to go to the well know universities. Asian students just need to try their best to memorize as much text book content as they can. The exam system not only make is become numb to the knowledge, but also makes us become passive learners. Asian students are encouraged to memorize instead of thinking critically. We must consider who is to blame for this current situation and how the system should be changed.
2009年10月4日 星期日
Blog response -week 6
“Breaking Them Up, Taking Them away”, Kelleen Toohey
After reading this article, I can’t agree with more about “In school districts that provide school supplies for students”, “When children have to bring their own supplies, however, the issue of haves and have notes is brought into the classroom.” “When parents could not afford to buy supplies or students were looked at disapprovingly by their classmates for not having their own stuff.”
These quotes form the book reminds me of the time when I was just graduated form university and become a practice teacher in a public junior high school in Taiwan. In our country, students usually have to wear uniform. They had two kinds of uniforms for them to wear. Students wore sport uniform while they have physical classes, the other one they wore for normal days. Because of that, students all looked the same and no one can tell who came from rich family and who’s not. However, the school has a new policy which is called “casual Friday”, which means at the last Friday of the month, students can wear their favorite clothes to school. At the first time, I didn’t feel anything wrong until one time a student told me that a girl who always wore uniform to school on “casual Friday”. This girl attracted my attention immediately because I was also aware that she’s always fall asleep in the first class. One day after class, I asked her to stay and help me about deal with class chores. I finally got a chance to talk to her about the “casual Friday”. She told me that both of her parents worked in a factory. They often come home at the early morning with a extremely tired face and then they have to go back to work at night. Her parents usually leaved fifty new Taiwan dollars (1.6 USD) on the desk and that’s the only money she can use in one day. She had to use this fifty to buy the lunch so that’s the reason why she always sleep in the first class with an empty stomach. Furthermore, she felt embarrassed cause she had no extra clothes to wear and she even wore uniform on the weekend. Needless to say that her supplies were all very ragged and the classmate who sits next to her was laughing at her all the time. She even had no courage to take out her pencil box during the class. I feel severely misery of her and also blame myself didn’t help her at the beginning.
After reading this article, I can’t agree with more about “In school districts that provide school supplies for students”, “When children have to bring their own supplies, however, the issue of haves and have notes is brought into the classroom.” “When parents could not afford to buy supplies or students were looked at disapprovingly by their classmates for not having their own stuff.”
These quotes form the book reminds me of the time when I was just graduated form university and become a practice teacher in a public junior high school in Taiwan. In our country, students usually have to wear uniform. They had two kinds of uniforms for them to wear. Students wore sport uniform while they have physical classes, the other one they wore for normal days. Because of that, students all looked the same and no one can tell who came from rich family and who’s not. However, the school has a new policy which is called “casual Friday”, which means at the last Friday of the month, students can wear their favorite clothes to school. At the first time, I didn’t feel anything wrong until one time a student told me that a girl who always wore uniform to school on “casual Friday”. This girl attracted my attention immediately because I was also aware that she’s always fall asleep in the first class. One day after class, I asked her to stay and help me about deal with class chores. I finally got a chance to talk to her about the “casual Friday”. She told me that both of her parents worked in a factory. They often come home at the early morning with a extremely tired face and then they have to go back to work at night. Her parents usually leaved fifty new Taiwan dollars (1.6 USD) on the desk and that’s the only money she can use in one day. She had to use this fifty to buy the lunch so that’s the reason why she always sleep in the first class with an empty stomach. Furthermore, she felt embarrassed cause she had no extra clothes to wear and she even wore uniform on the weekend. Needless to say that her supplies were all very ragged and the classmate who sits next to her was laughing at her all the time. She even had no courage to take out her pencil box during the class. I feel severely misery of her and also blame myself didn’t help her at the beginning.
2009年9月20日 星期日
Blog response -week 4
“Social Identity Investment, and language learning”, Bonny Norton
When I read this article, I found myself can’t stop reading through the whole article. No matter the story of Ivan ,Wong, or Mary, each of them reminds me of teaching English in my home country, Taiwan. Wong’s story interests me the most. Wong never talked to people at work because he was afraid that he would make mistakes. I have taught English in an English learning institution for two years. Most of the kids were tried to talk as more as possible when they came to the English learning institution. However, a boy, Shawn, never looked happy and enjoyed in the class. He never said a word or answered my question. He even lies on the desk when other kids come to talk to him in English. Finally, I know the main reason behind Shawn after talking to his parents. Shawn’s father works in China, comes back- and-forth between Taiwan and China every three months, and stays in Taiwan for about two weeks. Shawn has a younger sister who is smarter than him, no matter in learning English or Math. His mom always compared him with his younger sister in the family or in front of her relatives. That’s not the only embarrassment of a eight- year-old child’s mind but also deprived his interests in learning English. On the one hand, I have tried very hard to communicate with his parents about Shawn’s situation; on the other hand, I let him be the leader of each game we played and build his confidence in speaking English. I put all my effort to encourage him, applauded him when he said a complete sentence in English.
Gradually, Shawn has become more and more involved in the classroom before I resigned the job in the English institution in order to earn a Master’s degree in USA.
When I read this article, I found myself can’t stop reading through the whole article. No matter the story of Ivan ,Wong, or Mary, each of them reminds me of teaching English in my home country, Taiwan. Wong’s story interests me the most. Wong never talked to people at work because he was afraid that he would make mistakes. I have taught English in an English learning institution for two years. Most of the kids were tried to talk as more as possible when they came to the English learning institution. However, a boy, Shawn, never looked happy and enjoyed in the class. He never said a word or answered my question. He even lies on the desk when other kids come to talk to him in English. Finally, I know the main reason behind Shawn after talking to his parents. Shawn’s father works in China, comes back- and-forth between Taiwan and China every three months, and stays in Taiwan for about two weeks. Shawn has a younger sister who is smarter than him, no matter in learning English or Math. His mom always compared him with his younger sister in the family or in front of her relatives. That’s not the only embarrassment of a eight- year-old child’s mind but also deprived his interests in learning English. On the one hand, I have tried very hard to communicate with his parents about Shawn’s situation; on the other hand, I let him be the leader of each game we played and build his confidence in speaking English. I put all my effort to encourage him, applauded him when he said a complete sentence in English.
Gradually, Shawn has become more and more involved in the classroom before I resigned the job in the English institution in order to earn a Master’s degree in USA.
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