2003-12-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

Strategy Sharing
Using Portfolios...especially in the SLL Class Room
Strategy:
As our SLL population is growing in numbers and diversity, we need to employ more strategies to evaluate and record achievement of our students. Formal language testing such as criterion reference tests or norm reference tests, must not be the sole criteria to measure student progress and achievement.
Portfolios, purposeful and carefully selected collections of student work, help document development. There are many ways to create and use portfolios, for my SLL class I plan to use portfolios as a method to demonstrate “progress over time.” This information is valuable to teachers, parents, colleges, and most importantly, the students themselves.
What types of work are included in portfolios? Portfolios allow for flexibility, incorporating a vast range of information and activities. Before beginning the portfolio process, students and teachers should discuss specific guidelines and criteria for assessing the chosen work. (Short, 1991) Thus, portfolios are a joint effort, providing students the autonomy to help select the included work. However, this is not a solitary learning experience, students also benefit from regular conferences and guidance with the teacher to discuss progress and needs.
Portfolios may contain student written or artistic work, self evaluations, performance checklists, audio cassettes, videos, and CDs. The products are not simply filed into a folder and dismissed. Creating portfolios takes time, effort, and thought, an evolving process that includes the teacher, parents, and students. While students are given the opportunity to examine their own strengths and challenges, portfolios also give teachers a chance to reflect on their teaching goals
and methods. Parents also benefit by viewing specific examples of academic progress over time.
Rationale:
Reasons why portfolios are especially helpful to second language learners:
*Richard-Amato stresses in Chapter 3, “Toward an Interactional Approach”, that direct error correction does not lead to greater accuracy in the target language. Portfolio conferences would provide an opportunity for teachers to explain and discuss student errors, rather than simply directly correcting errors.
*Examining portfolios also help teachers see if SLL interlanguage has fossilized and reached a plateau. (Mendes Figueiredo, 1991). Likewise, teachers could use portfolios to examine student errors more closely, and determine if the errors are systematic or random. Through the use of portfolios, teachers can reflect on student errors and examine the errors (through the written word and audiovisual aids) for repetition and patterns.
*Performance checklists can help assess reading and writing, and can include both self assessment and teacher assessment. (Richard-Amato and Hansen, 1995)
*By evaluating work in a collaborative and non threatening environment, this activity lowers the affective filter, and makes language relevant and interesting. (Krashen)
*Second language learners may have poor attitudes and lack motivation (Richard-Amato, page 25) and thus will benefit from discussing and reviewing specific examples of how their language is improving. Concentrating on the positive does wonders for motivation and desire to learn!
*Portfolios allow for individual teacher preference and take into account that needs are different in each classroom. Pierce and O”Malley(1992) state that there is not a single correct way to create or use portfolios, but instead many ways. Second language class rooms encompass a wide range of language abilities and backgrounds, and thus require a variety of ways and means to assess student progress.

Strategy Sharing “Clothes Make the Man.”

The purpose of this game is for students to work in groups and learn to speak in the target language and to identify articles of clothing. The idea originated from a book written by Dr. Hewitt, called Edutainment- How to teach Language with Fun and Games.

Needed Materials:
Two sets of similar clothing items (hat, shirt, belt, pants, socks, and shoes)
A "judge" for each team

Activity:
First, divide the class into teams. Each team lines up behind a pile of clothing.
The game starts as the first person in each team picks up a hat, puts the hat on, verbally identifies the hat, and takes off the hat and hands it to the next person in line. The next person in line follows the exact same procedure, and the activity continues through the line of team mates. Simultaneously, as the hat gets passed through the team mates, the first person in line picks up the next clothing item, the shirt, puts the shirt on, verbally identifies the shirt, takes the shirt off, and passes it to the following team member. The round ends when the very last person in line has put on all of the clothes, verbally identified the clothes, and placed all of the clothes back in the pile. The judges ensure that the game is played fairly.
If the the class contains many students, more teams may be necessary.
Depending on the level of language ability of the students, the teacher may require more complicated sentence structure, activities, and commands.

Rationale:

This activity lowers the affective filter, and makes language relevant and interesting. (Krashen)
The Interactional Approach is reinforced since communication is stressed, and the students learn by doing.
The Natural Approach bases a tremendous amount on communication and varying the ways concepts are taught. This game also includes a type of TPR, student rather than teacher led, advocated by Dr. James Asher.
This activity fosters connections and relationships between concepts so that the second language learners can form schemata.
As Dr. Bonnie Adair-Hauck stated in Chapter 7 of The Teacher’s Handbook, communication is at the heart of second language learning and a huge factor of language success is based on healthy social bonds and a supportive team building atmosphere. Her research also validates the use of this activity to encourage language acquisition.
Many SLA studies stress repetition, hands on activities, peer interaction, and attention to auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning styles. These methods are all included in this activity.

Strategy Three
“American Revolution Drama!”
Using Drama with Second Langauge Learners

Please note: I learned this techinque at a 1997 teacher workshop at The Kennedy Center, conducted by Rosalyn Flynn.
Drama means to agree to pretend! Today, we will create American Revolution friezes. A frieze is a frozen picture. You will work in a group and pick one of the topics associated with the American
Revolution. With the other actors in your group, you will create 3
friezes, recreating the historical event.

Possible Scenarios:
* The Stamp Act
* The Boston Tea Party
* The Intolerable Acts
* Paul Revere's ride
* Battles of Lexington and Concord
* The Battle of Bunker Hill
* Declaration of Independence

After you pick your event, you need to practice your three
friezes. During your frieze, you need to be very still. The audience
will hear the cue, "blackout", which will let them know to shut their
eyes while you get ready to present your frieze. When you are ready,
the director will say, "lights up", which will tell the audience to open
their eyes. At the end of your three friezes, you will take bows. The
audience will not guess what event you portrayed until the end.

Group Roles and Tips:
Actors:
The actors participate in each of the three friezes and take bows at the end.
When posing in your friezes, make sure you do not turn your back to the audience.
Practice leveling.... the human eye likes to look at different levels. So, one person could be sitting, one standing, one crouching, etc.
Feel free to use simple props.

The Director:
In rehearsal, the director helps the actors establish their three friezes. In the performance, responsibilities are outlined below.

Performance Part One:
The director says the cue “Blackout” when the audience needs to shut their eyes. So, in between scenes, while the actors are getting into their poses, the director keeps the audience from viewing the scene changes.
When the actors are ready and in poses, the director says the cue “lights up” so the audience views the scene.
After the third frieze, the actors line up for a bow. The director then calls on audience members to name the scenario depicted and elaborate on reasons why they knew which scene was created.

Extension of Performance Part I - Performance Part Two: (for students who are more proficient in the target language)
The actors recreate one of their friezes, the director taps characters on the shoulder one at a time. The chosen character then says to the audience what he or she is thinking. Make sure the characters speak specifically, so that their dialogue is unique and pertains directly to the situation at hand. Simply put, avoid general, non descript, vague language.

Teacher note: My best results have been when students rehearse one day, practice briefly the following day, and then participate in the performance.
The preparation of the scenes requires much dialogue as students must discuss important concepts and content and agree on methods to present the material. However, a student who knows little of the target language may still participate in the friezes, as part one does not require students to say anything.

Rationale:

* Vygotskian theory and views dialogue = constructing the resources for thinking
* Interaction is an enormous factor in SLL language development (Ellis 1994; Swain 1995; van Lier, 1996).
* Most important interactions involve SLL clarifying their intended meaning, rephrasing, rewording, elaborating on what they are trying to say. SLL need to have the chance to “produce extended stretches of language themselves.” (Pica 1994)
* Group works facilitates SLL language since learners hear more language, hear a greater variety of language, have more language directed towards them. So, the learner’s imput is increased. Learners also interact more so their output is increased. Language use is more meaningful (McGroarty 1993)

Strategies for Second Language Learners