Final Project
Facultad de Filosofía, Letras y Ciencias
Escuela de Lenguas y Linguística
Class of 2012 - American Literature
1. WHO WE ARE
We always work together as a
team, all of us are very responsible people with a desire to get ahead in every
moment; so, for that reason we decided to join us because in our group there is
unity and friendship and we are able to realize an excellent project. We met at
the University at different stages of our career as a student, actually we became
friends when we were in third course since then we have been good friends and
we have had wonderful moments together. We hope to know better every day.
Hello everybody! Now we are going to introduce us.
We hope that you enjoy this work made by all of these wonderful women.
I’m Sandra Borja. I’m
25. I like listening to music and I like to have conversations in English,
that’s the reason why I’m studying it. Learn English as a second language and
get my title as English Teacher at the University is one of my goals as a
person and mother. After I finish my education, I want to put in practice
everything that I have learned in the classroom. I’m thankful with all of my
teachers because thanks to them I’m going to be a professional woman.
I’m Verónica Véliz.
I’m 26. I’m a very friendly person. My goal is to achieve one of my big dreams. Actually graduating at the University and obtain my degrees as an English
Teacher. My objective is to share my knowledge with many students because I
want to put in practice my profession and my plans for the future would to
travel to another country to excel me professionally.
2. My CITY. SIGHTSEEING PLACE.
Cuenca - The four river
city
http://www.exploringecuador.com/en_ar_cuenca_ecuador.htm
Ecuadorians consider it the
most beautiful city, a most peaceful and relaxing setting. One of the first
things you notice when entering the city is the magnificent skyline marked by
shining church domes. Cuenca’s cobblestone streets, winding rivers, graceful
ironwork balconies, and beautiful gardens are part of the pleasant atmosphere
of this historical city. Cuenca is tucked away in the southern valley of the
site of the once important settlement Tomebamba. It is also located along the
Inca highway that joined Cusco with Quito. The capital of the Azuay province,
Cuenca is the third largest city here in Ecuador. The colonial past from the
days of the Spanish Empire are ever present in the artistry of the churches,
convents and religious treasure. Many of the beautiful houses are found perched
along the banks of the four different rivers that run through and around the
city ( Tarqui, Yanucay, Tomebamba and Machángara). So, you can find everything
very interesting.
3. MY CLASSES
a. AMERICAN
LITERATURE (501 - FIFTH COURSE)
Objective:In this course we survey
selected American authors representing the major authors, literary
movements and fragments of the most significant works of literature produced in
the U.S. since its beginnings to the present date. It also helps future teachers
to improve their reading, communicative and critical thinking skills, letting
them express judgments and comments about some chapters and creating a
greater cultural awareness when exposed to essays, poetry, literary or film
adaptations of the fragments.
b. ACTIVITY DURING THE SEMESTER
Source:
Notebook Americ.Lit. MSc.g.Morales 2012
www.msu.edu/user/carterca/equiano.htm
This was his Autobiography
called “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” which was
published in 1789.
In our Open House some of my classmates made a sketch about the
interesting life of Olaudah Equiano and his journey through the triangle of
death.
Here we have our friend Teresa Medina who was the main character in that sketch. She was showing The Olaudah’s Autobiography to the people who came to watch our job.
Who’s this? As you can watch we
enjoyed that day. After we finished our presentations we took us some photos in
group to remember them, when we left the University.
In this funny picture are Gabriela Muñoz (left), Sandra Borja, our
friend Ernesto Ortíz “The Raven” and Verónica Véliz
The life of slaves took a
tragic change, because they were kidnapped and then the white people bounded
their hands. After that they were put in a ship to travel through the sea for
several months.
In the ship experimented many horrors and atrocities such as murder,
suicides and hunger.
THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY
IN AMERICA (part 1 of 3)
THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY
IN AMERICA (part 2 or 3)
THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY
IN AMERICA (part 3 or 3)
Bust of the liberation of the
slaves. Plaza de la Administración, Guayaquil.
∞
The slavery in America is related with Ecuador
because here in our country also it was abolished in that time.
c. REFLECTIVE LEARNING
Here
we have a good resource which demonstrate us that it is the best way to participate
in classes, have a good pronunciation, improve our English and make absolutely
interesting this subject .
Source: http://www.onestopenglish.com
Teaching materials: using
literature in the EFL/ ESL classroom
What is literature?
First of all, any method or approach towards using literature in the classroom
must take as a starting point the question: What is literature? The Macmillan
English Dictionary gives the following definition:
literature / noun
1. stories, poems, and plays, especially those that are considered to have
value as art and not just entertainment
(c) Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 2003
Why use literature?
There are many good reasons for using literature in the classroom. Here are a
few:
Different models of teaching literature in class
There have been different models suggested on the teaching of literature to
ESL/EFL students (Carter & Long, Lazar). How the teacher will use a
literary text depends on the model they choose.
Attached below are two lessons which draw on
a combination of the language approach and the personal growth approach. Both
are based on short texts: either extracts or poems.
Using literature over a
longer period of time – the set novel or reader
The above lesson plans are all based on short extracts or poems and can
therefore easily be used over one class period. However, there are very good
reasons for encouraging learners to read books. Extensive reading is an
excellent way of improving English, and it can be very motivating to finish an
entire book in another language. In addition, many international exams have
certain optional questions on them that pertain to set novels each year. One
option that is now available to language teachers is the wide range of
simplified and inexpensive versions of literary texts, called readers (see
Onestop Shop for a list of readers for different levels). Setting up a class
library of novels and readers, if you have the resources, is an excellent idea.
Tim Bowen and Jonathan Marks, in their book Inside Teaching, recommend
the following ideas for extensive reading of literature:
DIY literature lesson plan
In our first Methodology article on Using Literature, there were two sample
lesson plans based on an excerpt or a short story. Both followed a similar
lesson plan format, outlined below. This sort of lesson plan works well for extracts
from stories, poems or extracts from plays.
Stage one: warmer
There are two different possible
routes you can take for this stage:
Stage two: before
reading
This stage could be optional, or
it may be a part of the warmer. Preparing to read activities include:
Stage three:
understanding the text, general comprehension
Often with extracts or poems, I
like to read the whole thing to my students so that they can get more of a
“feel” for the text. With very evocative pieces of literature or poetry this
can be quite powerful. Then I let students read it to themselves. It is
important to let students approach a piece of literature the first time without
giving them any specific task other than to simply read it. One of the aims of
teaching literature is to evoke interest and pleasure from the language. If
students have to do a task at every stage of a literature lesson, the pleasure
can be lost.
Stage five: follow up activities
Once you have read and worked with your piece of literature it might naturally
lead on to one or more follow up activities. Here are some ideas:
Using extracts from
plays
Most of the ideas from stories
(above) could be applied here, but obviously, this medium gives plenty of
opportunity for students to do some drama in the classroom. Here are some
possibilities:
Potential problems
Problem 1: Where do I find material?
Of course you may have a novel or book of poetry that you have been dying
to use with your students for a long time. But where can you get more material?
Easy! The internet brings you instant access to many works of literature. Use a
search engine. Usually it is enough to key in the name of the author or the
book you are looking for. Older books and plays can sometimes be found entirely
on-line.
Problem 2: How do I
choose material?
Think about the following factors
when you choose a piece of literature to use with learners:
Problem 3: Is the text too difficult?
Obviously a teacher would not want to use a text that is completely beyond
their learners. This would ultimately be frustrating for everyone involved.
However, the immediate difficulty with vocabulary in a text might not be an
obstacle to its comprehension. Learners can be trained to infer meaning of
difficult words from context. The selection of a text must be given careful
thought, but also the treatment of the text by the teacher (this means think
about the tasks you set for a reading of a piece of literature, not just the
text).
An article discussing ways to use literature in the
EFL/ESL classroom.
Literature has been a subject of study in many
countries at a secondary or tertiary level, but until recently has not been
given much emphasis in the EFL/ESL classroom. It has only been since the 1980s
that this area has attracted more interest among EFL teachers. The purpose of
this article is to look at some of the issues and ways in which literature can
be exploited in the classroom. There are also links to classroom activities and
lessons with literature that you can download and use straight away.
Many authors, critics and linguists have puzzled over
what literature is. One broader explanation of literature says that literary
texts are products that reflect different aspects of society. They are cultural
documents which offer a deeper understanding of a country or countries (Basnet
& Mounfold 1993). Other linguists say that there is no inherent quality to
a literary text that makes a literary text, rather it is the interpretation
that the reader gives to the text (Eagleton 1983). This brings us back to the above
definition in the sense that literature is only literature if it is considered
as art.
Before doing any study of a literary text with your
learners, one idea would be to ask them what they think literature
is. Attached below is a short discussion lesson you can do with your
students on the subject “What is literature?”
·
Literature is authentic material. It is good to
expose learners to this source of unmodified language in the classroom because
they skills they acquire in dealing with difficult or unknown language can be
used outside the class.
·
Literature encourages interaction. Literary
texts are often rich is multiple layers of meaning, and can be effectively
mined for discussions and sharing feelings or opinions.
·
Literature expands language awareness. Asking
learners to examine sophisticated or non standard examples of language (which
can occur in literary texts) makes them more aware of the norms of language use
(Widdowson, 1975 quoted by Lazar 1993).
·
Literature educates the whole person. By
examining values in literary texts, teachers encourage learners to develop
attitudes towards them. These values and attitudes relate to the world outside
the classroom.
·
Literature is motivating. Literature holds high
status in many cultures and countries. For this reason, students can feel a
real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly respected
literature. Also, literature is often more interesting than the texts found in
course books.
The cultural model views a literary text as a
product. This means that it is treated as a source of information about the
target culture. It is the most traditional approach, often used in university
courses on literature. The cultural model will examine the social, political
and historical background to a text, literary movements and genres. There is no
specific language work done on a text. This approach tends to be quite
teacher-centred.
The language model aims to be more
learner-centred. As learners proceed through a text, they pay attention to the
way language is used. They come to grips with the meaning and increase their
general awareness of English. Within this model of studying literature, the
teacher can choose to focus on general grammar and vocabulary (in the same way
that these are presented in coursebooks for example) or use stylistic analysis.
Stylistic analysis involves the close study of the linguistic features of the
text to enable students to make meaningful interpretations of the text – it
aims to help learners read and study literature more competently.
The personal growth model is also a
process-based approach and tries to be more learner-centred. This model
encourages learners to draw on their own opinions, feelings and personal
experiences. It aims for interaction between the text and the reader in
English, helping make the language more memorable. Learners are encouraged to
“make the text their own”. This model recognises the immense power that
literature can have to move people and attempts to use that in the classroom.
·
Hold brief classroom discussions on what
learners have been reading (progress reports).
·
Ask learners to describe a book they like in
such a way to make others want to read it.
·
Select a short novel which has been recently
made into a film or TV series with which your learners are familiar.
In addition, there is a list of general
questions about novels or readers attached at the bottom of the page that could
be given for students to answer in written form (they are based on questions
from the Cambridge First Certificate Exam).
·
Devise a warmer that gets students thinking
about the topic of the extract or poem. This could take several forms: a short
discussion that students do in pairs, a whole class discussion, a guessing game
between you and the class or a brainstorming of vocabulary around that topic.
·
Devise a warmer that looks at the source of the
literature that will be studied. Find out what the students already know about
the author or the times he/she was writing in. Give the students some
background information to read (be careful not to make this too long or it will
detract from the rest of the lesson; avoid text overload!). Explain in what way
this piece of literature is well-known (maybe it is often quoted in modern
films or by politicians). This sort of warmer fits more into the cultural model
of teaching literature (see Literature in the Classroom 1)
·
Pre-teaching very difficult words (note:
pre-teaching vocabulary should be approached with caution. Often teachers
“kill” a text by spending too much time on the pre-teaching stage. Limit the
amount of words you cover in this stage. If you have to teach more than seven
or eight there is a good chance the text will be too difficult.)
·
Predicting. Give students some words from the
extract and ask them to predict what happens next. If it is a play, give them a
couple of lines of dialogue and ask them to make predictions about the play.
·
Giving students a “taste”. Read the first bit of
the extract (with their books closed, or papers turned over) at normal speed,
even quickly. Ask students to compare what they have understood in pairs. Then
ask them to report back to you. Repeat the first bit again. Then ask them to
open the book (or turn over the page) and read it for themselves.
Once students have read it once, you can set
comprehension questions or ask them to explain the significance of certain key
words of the text. Another way of checking comprehension is to ask students to
explain to each other (in pairs) what they have understood. This could be
followed up by more subjective questions (e.g.. Why do you think X said this?
How do you think the woman feels? What made him do this?)
Stage four:
understanding the language
At this stage get to grips with the more difficult
words in the text. See how many of the unfamiliar words students can get from
context. Give them clues.
You could also look at certain elements of style that
the author has used. Remember that there is some use in looking at non-standard
forms of language to understand the standard.
If appropriate to the text, look at the connotation of
words which the author has chosen. For example, if the text says “She had long
skinny arms,” what does that say about the author’s impression of the woman?
Would it be different if the author had written “She had long slender arms”?
Using poems
·
have students read each other the poem aloud at
the same time, checking for each other’s pronunciation and rhythm. Do a whole class choral reading at the end.
·
Ask students to rewrite the poem, changing the
meaning but not the structure.
·
Ask students to write or discuss the possible
story behind the poem. Who was it for? What led to the writing of this poem?
·
Have a discussion on issues the poem raised and
how they relate to the students’
lives.
Using extracts from stories or short stories
·
Ask students to write what they think will
happen next, or what they think happened just before.
·
Ask students to write a background character
description of one of the characters which explains why they are the way they
are.
·
Ask students to imagine they are working for a
big Hollywood studio who wants to make a movie from the book. They must decide
the location and casting of the movie.
·
Ask students to personalise the text by talking
about if anything similar has happened to them.
·
Ask students to improvise a role play between
two characters in the book.
·
Ask students to act out a part of the scene in
groups.
·
Ask students to make a radio play recording of
the scene. They must record this onto cassette. Listen to the different
recordings in the last five minutes of future classes. Who’s was the best?
·
Ask students to read out the dialogue but to
give the characters special accents (very “foreign” or very “American” or
“British”). This works on different aspects of pronunciation (individual sounds
and sentence rhythm).
·
Ask students to write stage directions,
including how to deliver lines (e.g. angrily, breathlessly etc) next to each
character’s line of dialogue. Then
they read it out loud.
·
Ask students to re-write the scene. They could
either modernise it (this has been often done with Shakespeare), or imagine
that it is set in a completely different location (in space for example). Then they read out the new version.
The following sites are excellent for book excerpts
and stories:
·
www.bookbrowse.com - a really great
site which allows you to read an excerpt from a multitude of recently published
books. You can search by author, book title or
genre!
·
www.readersread.com - brings you the
first chapter of many recently published books.
Literature doesn’t have to mean “books written by dead
white English or American men”. Look for literature from other English speaking
countries (there is lots and lots) to give your students a richer variety of
work written in the English language. Bookbrowse.com (above) for instance has a
whole section on Asian and Indian writers. You can also try the following link: www.blackliterature.com
Try the following two sites for poetry:
·
www.favoritepoem.org - a site collecting
America’s favourite poems. You can also read comments about why people like
them and hear them being read aloud.
·
www.emule.com/poetry - an archive of
classical poetry, easy to browse through by poet. Has a top ten list of
favourite poems (chosen by visitors to the site) which makes an interesting
starting point.
·
Do you understand enough about the text to feel
comfortable using it?
·
Is there enough time to work on the text in
class?
·
Does it fit with the rest of your syllabus?
·
Is it something that could be relevant to the
learners?
·
Will it be motivating for them?
·
How much cultural or literary background do the
learners need to be able to deal with the tasks?
·
Is the level of language in the text too
difficult (see below)
d.
CLASS PRESENTATION
Every Wednesday in group of
two or three person, we had oral presentations which were presented step by step
with a PowerPoint. We talked about every one of the poets and writers that
lived many years ago. Thanks to them we have an idea of what American
Literature is.
∞
So, we have a video about
an slave called Gustavus Vassa, but his real name was Olaudah Equiano.
OLAUDAH EQUIANO
Actual Information
The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool,
explores both the historical and contemporary aspects of slavery.
e. HOLIDAYS OR EVENTS
This
web page show us an event that is celebrated every year since the slavery was
abolished.
A girl recovers from her year-long captivity by the
Lord’s Resistance Army, Uganda. Photo: UNICEF
LINGUISTICS (500 – fifth course)
a.Objective:
The purpose of this class is to give students the
tools, tips and techniques to speak English clearly and accurately. The variety
of activities, authentic audios, students´ presentations make learning
innovative, fun and close to reality that they will handle in elementary and
high school settings in Ecuador. This year we are using Focus on Pronunciation
Nr. 3, from Pearson, Longman, as well as several interactive links.
b.
ACTIVITY DURING THE SEMESTER
This year during the
month of October our Teacher taught us how we have to pronounce correctly the
words, and the best way to do it was working with Tongue Twisters. Why Tongue
Twisters? Because, this is a funny and very useful strategy to learn about the
different phonetic sounds. So we had presentations in groups of two and our
classmates explained us how many Intelligence there are. Also
our teacher gave us a good resources to have an idea of what Tongue Twisters
are. We had time to enjoy and learn more about this topic.
We
used this link for our work, so you can enter it and know more about them!
Marisol Díaz and Yurys Bazurto
were the first who gave their presentation that day. They did to participate to
the students with their tongue twister.
Here we have a link to practice about this sound:
To enjoy!!
http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus/
c.
REFLECTIVE LEARNING
We learn all this
semester to work in group, to be responsible and we have share great and
valuable moments with our friends, classmates and teachers. We also have
learned more about English Language, how we can improve our pronunciation and
how we can teach to our future students with a funny strategy.
The
link below shows us that each theory has its support.
http://suite101.com/article/learning-styles-in-the-esl-classroom-a362377
Learning Styles in
the ESL Classroom
Different learning styles within ESL classrooms enable
students learning English to retain information more effectively. How can this
be facilitated?
When people learn English as a second language (ESL),
they do so in a variety of ways. There are three main learning styles: visual,
auditory, kinesthetic/tactile. By incorporating all learning styles in each
lesson within your ESL classroom, you can be sure to reach all learners.
Assess Your Learners
Give the students a learning style questionnaire, asking
what types of activities they prefer doing, such as board work, reading,
writing, puzzles, listening to recordings or hands-on activities. Put different
types of activities around the room as examples of the different learning
styles. Arrange worksheets, text books and flash cards in one area for visual
learners.
Place a tape recorder with headphones in another area for
auditory learners. Organize a matching exercise with real objects and word
cards for kinesthetic and tactile learners. Ask the students to go around the
room with a sheet and ask them to tick a box with 'like' or 'don't like' when
they look at the activities.
Auditory ESL Learning Style
This is for people who prefer to receive and retain
information from listening. Games or activities that involve repetition,
dictation, and music. Karaoke is a great way to get students to pick up new
phrases. Poems that rhyme can also be very effective. Give the students tasks
involving audio recordings and group activities in which they have to listen to
other students. Read out loud and give verbal instructions. Try a jigsaw
listening activity. Split the students into two groups. One half hears one part
of the story and the other half listens to the other part. Join the two groups
back together and see if they can reconstruct the full story.
Visual ESL Learning Style
This is for students that have the ability to absorb
information best through looking at the board, worksheets and other traditional
teaching materials. Use a white board, Flash cards, pictures, videos and
various colorful visual aids during lessons to convey subject areas. Give
visual learners information they can see.
Well known board games are fantastic for ESL students
such as, Monopoly, Life, Guess Who, and memory matching cards. You could make
your own versions to tailor it to your particular class level. Treasure hunts
are excellent for younger students.
Tactile and Kinesthetic ESL Learning Styles
This group learns faster when physically doing activities
by touching or moving around. Give the students activities that involve whole class
movement. Facilitate role playing and have students come up to the board to
write answers for practice.
Most hands-on activities are ideal for these students.
Games for these types are great for the whole class, especially as ice
breakers. There have been studies that prove that a majority of ESL students
show a marked preference for this style of teaching. Use as many real life
objects, puzzles, games, crafts and other touchable items in the lessons to aid
tactile learning. . Using colored rods to show grammar structures is also
effective.
In the classroom play the touch game. Use a
non-transparent bag and put different objects inside. Get students to feel the
objects and describe what they feel or guess what the object is.
Play 'Charades' or ‘Give us a clue’ these are good
examples of games that use the whole body. Have cards prepared with easy titles
such as popular films or TV shows, and get everyone involved! Students could
also think of titles themselves.
Vary your lessons to include all the different styles but
use your initial assessment to dictate the teaching methods that will work best
with most of your students. When doing your initial assessment, also find out
whether students prefer individual, pair or group activities.
References
Group # 4,
5°A2
Karla Beltrán
Sandra Borja
Angélica Flores
Verónica Véliz
Class of 2012 - American Literature
1. WHO WE ARE
We always work together as a
team, all of us are very responsible people with a desire to get ahead in every
moment; so, for that reason we decided to join us because in our group there is
unity and friendship and we are able to realize an excellent project. We met at
the University at different stages of our career as a student, actually we became
friends when we were in third course since then we have been good friends and
we have had wonderful moments together. We hope to know better every day.
Hello everybody! Now we are going to introduce us.
We hope that you enjoy this work made by all of these wonderful women.
I’m Sandra Borja. I’m
25. I like listening to music and I like to have conversations in English,
that’s the reason why I’m studying it. Learn English as a second language and
get my title as English Teacher at the University is one of my goals as a
person and mother. After I finish my education, I want to put in practice
everything that I have learned in the classroom. I’m thankful with all of my
teachers because thanks to them I’m going to be a professional woman.
I’m Verónica Véliz.
I’m 26. I’m a very friendly person. My goal is to achieve one of my big dreams. Actually graduating at the University and obtain my degrees as an English
Teacher. My objective is to share my knowledge with many students because I
want to put in practice my profession and my plans for the future would to
travel to another country to excel me professionally.
2. My CITY. SIGHTSEEING PLACE.
Cuenca - The four river
city
http://www.exploringecuador.com/en_ar_cuenca_ecuador.htm
Ecuadorians consider it the
most beautiful city, a most peaceful and relaxing setting. One of the first
things you notice when entering the city is the magnificent skyline marked by
shining church domes. Cuenca’s cobblestone streets, winding rivers, graceful
ironwork balconies, and beautiful gardens are part of the pleasant atmosphere
of this historical city. Cuenca is tucked away in the southern valley of the
site of the once important settlement Tomebamba. It is also located along the
Inca highway that joined Cusco with Quito. The capital of the Azuay province,
Cuenca is the third largest city here in Ecuador. The colonial past from the
days of the Spanish Empire are ever present in the artistry of the churches,
convents and religious treasure. Many of the beautiful houses are found perched
along the banks of the four different rivers that run through and around the
city ( Tarqui, Yanucay, Tomebamba and Machángara). So, you can find everything
very interesting.
3. MY CLASSES
a. AMERICAN
LITERATURE (501 - FIFTH COURSE)
Objective:In this course we survey
selected American authors representing the major authors, literary
movements and fragments of the most significant works of literature produced in
the U.S. since its beginnings to the present date. It also helps future teachers
to improve their reading, communicative and critical thinking skills, letting
them express judgments and comments about some chapters and creating a
greater cultural awareness when exposed to essays, poetry, literary or film
adaptations of the fragments.
b. ACTIVITY DURING THE SEMESTER
Source:
Notebook Americ.Lit. MSc.g.Morales 2012
www.msu.edu/user/carterca/equiano.htm
This was his Autobiography
called “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” which was
published in 1789.
|
In our Open House some of my classmates made a sketch about the
interesting life of Olaudah Equiano and his journey through the triangle of
death. |
Here we have our friend Teresa Medina who was the main character in that sketch. She was showing The Olaudah’s Autobiography to the people who came to watch our job. |
Who’s this? As you can watch we
enjoyed that day. After we finished our presentations we took us some photos in
group to remember them, when we left the University.
|
In this funny picture are Gabriela Muñoz (left), Sandra Borja, our friend Ernesto Ortíz “The Raven” and Verónica Véliz |
The life of slaves took a
tragic change, because they were kidnapped and then the white people bounded
their hands. After that they were put in a ship to travel through the sea for
several months.
|
In the ship experimented many horrors and atrocities such as murder,
suicides and hunger. THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN AMERICA (part 1 of 3) |
THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY
IN AMERICA (part 2 or 3)
THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY
IN AMERICA (part 3 or 3)
Bust of the liberation of the slaves. Plaza de la Administración, Guayaquil. |
∞
The slavery in America is related with Ecuador
because here in our country also it was abolished in that time.
|
c. REFLECTIVE LEARNING
Here
we have a good resource which demonstrate us that it is the best way to participate
in classes, have a good pronunciation, improve our English and make absolutely
interesting this subject .
Source: http://www.onestopenglish.com
Teaching materials: using
literature in the EFL/ ESL classroom
What is literature?
First of all, any method or approach towards using literature in the classroom
must take as a starting point the question: What is literature? The Macmillan
English Dictionary gives the following definition:
literature / noun
1. stories, poems, and plays, especially those that are considered to have
value as art and not just entertainment
(c) Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 2003
Why use literature?
There are many good reasons for using literature in the classroom. Here are a
few:
Different models of teaching literature in class
There have been different models suggested on the teaching of literature to
ESL/EFL students (Carter & Long, Lazar). How the teacher will use a
literary text depends on the model they choose.
Attached below are two lessons which draw on
a combination of the language approach and the personal growth approach. Both
are based on short texts: either extracts or poems.
Using literature over a
longer period of time – the set novel or reader
The above lesson plans are all based on short extracts or poems and can
therefore easily be used over one class period. However, there are very good
reasons for encouraging learners to read books. Extensive reading is an
excellent way of improving English, and it can be very motivating to finish an
entire book in another language. In addition, many international exams have
certain optional questions on them that pertain to set novels each year. One
option that is now available to language teachers is the wide range of
simplified and inexpensive versions of literary texts, called readers (see
Onestop Shop for a list of readers for different levels). Setting up a class
library of novels and readers, if you have the resources, is an excellent idea.
Tim Bowen and Jonathan Marks, in their book Inside Teaching, recommend
the following ideas for extensive reading of literature:
DIY literature lesson plan
In our first Methodology article on Using Literature, there were two sample
lesson plans based on an excerpt or a short story. Both followed a similar
lesson plan format, outlined below. This sort of lesson plan works well for extracts
from stories, poems or extracts from plays.
Stage one: warmer
There are two different possible
routes you can take for this stage:
Stage two: before
reading
This stage could be optional, or
it may be a part of the warmer. Preparing to read activities include:
Stage three:
understanding the text, general comprehension
Often with extracts or poems, I
like to read the whole thing to my students so that they can get more of a
“feel” for the text. With very evocative pieces of literature or poetry this
can be quite powerful. Then I let students read it to themselves. It is
important to let students approach a piece of literature the first time without
giving them any specific task other than to simply read it. One of the aims of
teaching literature is to evoke interest and pleasure from the language. If
students have to do a task at every stage of a literature lesson, the pleasure
can be lost.
Stage five: follow up activities
Once you have read and worked with your piece of literature it might naturally
lead on to one or more follow up activities. Here are some ideas:
Using extracts from
plays
Most of the ideas from stories
(above) could be applied here, but obviously, this medium gives plenty of
opportunity for students to do some drama in the classroom. Here are some
possibilities:
Potential problems
Problem 1: Where do I find material?
Of course you may have a novel or book of poetry that you have been dying
to use with your students for a long time. But where can you get more material?
Easy! The internet brings you instant access to many works of literature. Use a
search engine. Usually it is enough to key in the name of the author or the
book you are looking for. Older books and plays can sometimes be found entirely
on-line.
Problem 2: How do I
choose material?
Think about the following factors
when you choose a piece of literature to use with learners:
Problem 3: Is the text too difficult?
Obviously a teacher would not want to use a text that is completely beyond
their learners. This would ultimately be frustrating for everyone involved.
However, the immediate difficulty with vocabulary in a text might not be an
obstacle to its comprehension. Learners can be trained to infer meaning of
difficult words from context. The selection of a text must be given careful
thought, but also the treatment of the text by the teacher (this means think
about the tasks you set for a reading of a piece of literature, not just the
text).
An article discussing ways to use literature in the
EFL/ESL classroom.
Literature has been a subject of study in many
countries at a secondary or tertiary level, but until recently has not been
given much emphasis in the EFL/ESL classroom. It has only been since the 1980s
that this area has attracted more interest among EFL teachers. The purpose of
this article is to look at some of the issues and ways in which literature can
be exploited in the classroom. There are also links to classroom activities and
lessons with literature that you can download and use straight away.
Many authors, critics and linguists have puzzled over
what literature is. One broader explanation of literature says that literary
texts are products that reflect different aspects of society. They are cultural
documents which offer a deeper understanding of a country or countries (Basnet
& Mounfold 1993). Other linguists say that there is no inherent quality to
a literary text that makes a literary text, rather it is the interpretation
that the reader gives to the text (Eagleton 1983). This brings us back to the above
definition in the sense that literature is only literature if it is considered
as art.
Before doing any study of a literary text with your
learners, one idea would be to ask them what they think literature
is. Attached below is a short discussion lesson you can do with your
students on the subject “What is literature?”
·
Literature is authentic material. It is good to
expose learners to this source of unmodified language in the classroom because
they skills they acquire in dealing with difficult or unknown language can be
used outside the class.
·
Literature encourages interaction. Literary
texts are often rich is multiple layers of meaning, and can be effectively
mined for discussions and sharing feelings or opinions.
·
Literature expands language awareness. Asking
learners to examine sophisticated or non standard examples of language (which
can occur in literary texts) makes them more aware of the norms of language use
(Widdowson, 1975 quoted by Lazar 1993).
·
Literature educates the whole person. By
examining values in literary texts, teachers encourage learners to develop
attitudes towards them. These values and attitudes relate to the world outside
the classroom.
·
Literature is motivating. Literature holds high
status in many cultures and countries. For this reason, students can feel a
real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly respected
literature. Also, literature is often more interesting than the texts found in
course books.
The cultural model views a literary text as a
product. This means that it is treated as a source of information about the
target culture. It is the most traditional approach, often used in university
courses on literature. The cultural model will examine the social, political
and historical background to a text, literary movements and genres. There is no
specific language work done on a text. This approach tends to be quite
teacher-centred.
The language model aims to be more
learner-centred. As learners proceed through a text, they pay attention to the
way language is used. They come to grips with the meaning and increase their
general awareness of English. Within this model of studying literature, the
teacher can choose to focus on general grammar and vocabulary (in the same way
that these are presented in coursebooks for example) or use stylistic analysis.
Stylistic analysis involves the close study of the linguistic features of the
text to enable students to make meaningful interpretations of the text – it
aims to help learners read and study literature more competently.
The personal growth model is also a
process-based approach and tries to be more learner-centred. This model
encourages learners to draw on their own opinions, feelings and personal
experiences. It aims for interaction between the text and the reader in
English, helping make the language more memorable. Learners are encouraged to
“make the text their own”. This model recognises the immense power that
literature can have to move people and attempts to use that in the classroom.
·
Hold brief classroom discussions on what
learners have been reading (progress reports).
·
Ask learners to describe a book they like in
such a way to make others want to read it.
·
Select a short novel which has been recently
made into a film or TV series with which your learners are familiar.
In addition, there is a list of general
questions about novels or readers attached at the bottom of the page that could
be given for students to answer in written form (they are based on questions
from the Cambridge First Certificate Exam).
·
Devise a warmer that gets students thinking
about the topic of the extract or poem. This could take several forms: a short
discussion that students do in pairs, a whole class discussion, a guessing game
between you and the class or a brainstorming of vocabulary around that topic.
·
Devise a warmer that looks at the source of the
literature that will be studied. Find out what the students already know about
the author or the times he/she was writing in. Give the students some
background information to read (be careful not to make this too long or it will
detract from the rest of the lesson; avoid text overload!). Explain in what way
this piece of literature is well-known (maybe it is often quoted in modern
films or by politicians). This sort of warmer fits more into the cultural model
of teaching literature (see Literature in the Classroom 1)
·
Pre-teaching very difficult words (note:
pre-teaching vocabulary should be approached with caution. Often teachers
“kill” a text by spending too much time on the pre-teaching stage. Limit the
amount of words you cover in this stage. If you have to teach more than seven
or eight there is a good chance the text will be too difficult.)
·
Predicting. Give students some words from the
extract and ask them to predict what happens next. If it is a play, give them a
couple of lines of dialogue and ask them to make predictions about the play.
·
Giving students a “taste”. Read the first bit of
the extract (with their books closed, or papers turned over) at normal speed,
even quickly. Ask students to compare what they have understood in pairs. Then
ask them to report back to you. Repeat the first bit again. Then ask them to
open the book (or turn over the page) and read it for themselves.
Once students have read it once, you can set
comprehension questions or ask them to explain the significance of certain key
words of the text. Another way of checking comprehension is to ask students to
explain to each other (in pairs) what they have understood. This could be
followed up by more subjective questions (e.g.. Why do you think X said this?
How do you think the woman feels? What made him do this?)
Stage four:
understanding the language
At this stage get to grips with the more difficult
words in the text. See how many of the unfamiliar words students can get from
context. Give them clues.
You could also look at certain elements of style that
the author has used. Remember that there is some use in looking at non-standard
forms of language to understand the standard.
If appropriate to the text, look at the connotation of
words which the author has chosen. For example, if the text says “She had long
skinny arms,” what does that say about the author’s impression of the woman?
Would it be different if the author had written “She had long slender arms”?
Using poems
·
have students read each other the poem aloud at
the same time, checking for each other’s pronunciation and rhythm. Do a whole class choral reading at the end.
·
Ask students to rewrite the poem, changing the
meaning but not the structure.
·
Ask students to write or discuss the possible
story behind the poem. Who was it for? What led to the writing of this poem?
·
Have a discussion on issues the poem raised and
how they relate to the students’
lives.
Using extracts from stories or short stories
·
Ask students to write what they think will
happen next, or what they think happened just before.
·
Ask students to write a background character
description of one of the characters which explains why they are the way they
are.
·
Ask students to imagine they are working for a
big Hollywood studio who wants to make a movie from the book. They must decide
the location and casting of the movie.
·
Ask students to personalise the text by talking
about if anything similar has happened to them.
·
Ask students to improvise a role play between
two characters in the book.
·
Ask students to act out a part of the scene in
groups.
·
Ask students to make a radio play recording of
the scene. They must record this onto cassette. Listen to the different
recordings in the last five minutes of future classes. Who’s was the best?
·
Ask students to read out the dialogue but to
give the characters special accents (very “foreign” or very “American” or
“British”). This works on different aspects of pronunciation (individual sounds
and sentence rhythm).
·
Ask students to write stage directions,
including how to deliver lines (e.g. angrily, breathlessly etc) next to each
character’s line of dialogue. Then
they read it out loud.
·
Ask students to re-write the scene. They could
either modernise it (this has been often done with Shakespeare), or imagine
that it is set in a completely different location (in space for example). Then they read out the new version.
The following sites are excellent for book excerpts
and stories:
·
www.bookbrowse.com - a really great
site which allows you to read an excerpt from a multitude of recently published
books. You can search by author, book title or
genre!
·
www.readersread.com - brings you the
first chapter of many recently published books.
Literature doesn’t have to mean “books written by dead
white English or American men”. Look for literature from other English speaking
countries (there is lots and lots) to give your students a richer variety of
work written in the English language. Bookbrowse.com (above) for instance has a
whole section on Asian and Indian writers. You can also try the following link: www.blackliterature.com
Try the following two sites for poetry:
·
www.favoritepoem.org - a site collecting
America’s favourite poems. You can also read comments about why people like
them and hear them being read aloud.
·
www.emule.com/poetry - an archive of
classical poetry, easy to browse through by poet. Has a top ten list of
favourite poems (chosen by visitors to the site) which makes an interesting
starting point.
·
Do you understand enough about the text to feel
comfortable using it?
·
Is there enough time to work on the text in
class?
·
Does it fit with the rest of your syllabus?
·
Is it something that could be relevant to the
learners?
·
Will it be motivating for them?
·
How much cultural or literary background do the
learners need to be able to deal with the tasks?
·
Is the level of language in the text too
difficult (see below)
d.
CLASS PRESENTATION
Every Wednesday in group of
two or three person, we had oral presentations which were presented step by step
with a PowerPoint. We talked about every one of the poets and writers that
lived many years ago. Thanks to them we have an idea of what American
Literature is.
∞
So, we have a video about
an slave called Gustavus Vassa, but his real name was Olaudah Equiano.
OLAUDAH EQUIANO
Actual Information
The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool,
explores both the historical and contemporary aspects of slavery.
e. HOLIDAYS OR EVENTS
This
web page show us an event that is celebrated every year since the slavery was
abolished.
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A girl recovers from her year-long captivity by the
Lord’s Resistance Army, Uganda. Photo: UNICEF
LINGUISTICS (500 – fifth course)
a.Objective:
The purpose of this class is to give students the
tools, tips and techniques to speak English clearly and accurately. The variety
of activities, authentic audios, students´ presentations make learning
innovative, fun and close to reality that they will handle in elementary and
high school settings in Ecuador. This year we are using Focus on Pronunciation
Nr. 3, from Pearson, Longman, as well as several interactive links.
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b.
ACTIVITY DURING THE SEMESTER
This year during the
month of October our Teacher taught us how we have to pronounce correctly the
words, and the best way to do it was working with Tongue Twisters. Why Tongue
Twisters? Because, this is a funny and very useful strategy to learn about the
different phonetic sounds. So we had presentations in groups of two and our
classmates explained us how many Intelligence there are. Also
our teacher gave us a good resources to have an idea of what Tongue Twisters
are. We had time to enjoy and learn more about this topic.
We
used this link for our work, so you can enter it and know more about them!
Marisol Díaz and Yurys Bazurto
were the first who gave their presentation that day. They did to participate to
the students with their tongue twister.
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Here we have a link to practice about this sound:
To enjoy!!http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus/ |
c. REFLECTIVE LEARNING
We learn all this semester to work in group, to be responsible and we have share great and valuable moments with our friends, classmates and teachers. We also have learned more about English Language, how we can improve our pronunciation and how we can teach to our future students with a funny strategy.
The
link below shows us that each theory has its support.
Learning Styles in
the ESL Classroom
Different learning styles within ESL classrooms enable
students learning English to retain information more effectively. How can this
be facilitated?
When people learn English as a second language (ESL),
they do so in a variety of ways. There are three main learning styles: visual,
auditory, kinesthetic/tactile. By incorporating all learning styles in each
lesson within your ESL classroom, you can be sure to reach all learners.
Assess Your Learners
Give the students a learning style questionnaire, asking
what types of activities they prefer doing, such as board work, reading,
writing, puzzles, listening to recordings or hands-on activities. Put different
types of activities around the room as examples of the different learning
styles. Arrange worksheets, text books and flash cards in one area for visual
learners.
Place a tape recorder with headphones in another area for
auditory learners. Organize a matching exercise with real objects and word
cards for kinesthetic and tactile learners. Ask the students to go around the
room with a sheet and ask them to tick a box with 'like' or 'don't like' when
they look at the activities.
Auditory ESL Learning Style
This is for people who prefer to receive and retain
information from listening. Games or activities that involve repetition,
dictation, and music. Karaoke is a great way to get students to pick up new
phrases. Poems that rhyme can also be very effective. Give the students tasks
involving audio recordings and group activities in which they have to listen to
other students. Read out loud and give verbal instructions. Try a jigsaw
listening activity. Split the students into two groups. One half hears one part
of the story and the other half listens to the other part. Join the two groups
back together and see if they can reconstruct the full story.
Visual ESL Learning Style
This is for students that have the ability to absorb
information best through looking at the board, worksheets and other traditional
teaching materials. Use a white board, Flash cards, pictures, videos and
various colorful visual aids during lessons to convey subject areas. Give
visual learners information they can see.
Well known board games are fantastic for ESL students
such as, Monopoly, Life, Guess Who, and memory matching cards. You could make
your own versions to tailor it to your particular class level. Treasure hunts
are excellent for younger students.
Tactile and Kinesthetic ESL Learning Styles
This group learns faster when physically doing activities
by touching or moving around. Give the students activities that involve whole class
movement. Facilitate role playing and have students come up to the board to
write answers for practice.
Most hands-on activities are ideal for these students.
Games for these types are great for the whole class, especially as ice
breakers. There have been studies that prove that a majority of ESL students
show a marked preference for this style of teaching. Use as many real life
objects, puzzles, games, crafts and other touchable items in the lessons to aid
tactile learning. . Using colored rods to show grammar structures is also
effective.
In the classroom play the touch game. Use a
non-transparent bag and put different objects inside. Get students to feel the
objects and describe what they feel or guess what the object is.
Play 'Charades' or ‘Give us a clue’ these are good
examples of games that use the whole body. Have cards prepared with easy titles
such as popular films or TV shows, and get everyone involved! Students could
also think of titles themselves.
Vary your lessons to include all the different styles but
use your initial assessment to dictate the teaching methods that will work best
with most of your students. When doing your initial assessment, also find out
whether students prefer individual, pair or group activities.
References
Group # 4,
5°A2
Karla Beltrán
Sandra Borja
Angélica Flores
Verónica Véliz
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