Saturday, January 12, 2013

Framing students and sentence frames

Until recently most of my private students have been adults.  And almost all the young people I had for lessons were actually studying English for the pleasure, not because they were in difficulty.  One fourteen year old begged his mother for private lessons because "he was bored" at school. His English is already fluent, so doing grammar exercises and memorizing dialogs ......

In addition, I'm now giving lessons at a tutoring center. My new students are kids who are coming to me in hopes of improving their grades.  Several of them have been told by their teacher that their English is catstrophic, that they are two or three years behind.  I can't imagine talking to a student like that.  And after meeting the students, I can assure you that I've see far worse in my career.  Even if I thought a student was far below the expected level, I didn't tell him that.  After all, the purpose of grades is to tell students and parents and the school administration what the student's level is.  Why rub it in by making negative personal comments? I only made suggestions about what he could do to improve and I encouraged him whenever I saw progress.  

The problem with telling students that they are weak and not meeting your expectations is that they may believe you and become convinced that "they're not good at languages".  From then on, there's little you can do to help them progress because you have convinced them that they lack something essential and are beyond help. Of course, the teacher who denigrates her students has an easy out for their lack of improvement.  The students' total ignorance of the fundamentals are the problem and she can not be held responsible for their failure.  This is what I call "framing the students".  We paint a picture of them that is so gloomy that no one can expect us to teach them anything. When worried parents come to plead, you point them to grammar books and lists of irregular verbs, knowing full well that even heroic efforts will make no difference.  Of course, there are private lessons for those who have the means. 

Today I met a girl who told me that although she had decent grades last year, this year, her fifth year of English, she is failing.  Her teacher told her that she's at least two years behind the rest of the class. After talking to her a little, my impression is that her English is about average and she's very shy. Also very willing, since she came to me with two brand new grammar books with exercises that she had just bought at the book store.  I suggested that she could try to return them and get her money back.

I explained that we would be talking more than writing and once she could understand without thinking about what I'm saying and answer without thinking as well, she would have no problem with grammar. She plays volleyball, so I compared it with seeing the ball coming in your direction.  Do you think about how you're going to hit it, or do you just do it? Speaking a language should be the same way. She seemed to grasp what I was trying to say. 

She said her teacher spoke in English almost all the time, but that she didn't understand much of what she said.  I told her that I would be speaking in English, that was my job, but I would try to make it comprehensible.  And her job, her only job, was to let me know when she didn't understand, so I could backtrack, repeat, speak more slowly, reword and translate if necessary.  I explained that we would be talking more than writing and once she could understand without thinking about what I'm saying and answer without thinking as well, she would have no problem with grammar. 

With my new students that I am meeting for the first time I have been using sentence frames, as developed by Robert Harrell on Ben Slavic's PLC. I gave them the sentence frames which are intended for use after the Christmas break.
        I went to....
        I saw ....
        I got* ......
        I ate ...
        I played .....

So I asked my students where they went during the holiday.  Who did they see?  What did they see?  What did they get for Christmas?  What did they eat?  What did they play?   (All the girls played JustDance4 on their Play Station 3. All the boys played Call of Duty. )  I also told them where I had gone, what I had seen, what I had got, etc. Then I asked them to complete the above sentences in writing.  We circled them once more then I asked them to add details, which we also circled.  

The final step was to ask them to answer the questions again, but to lie this time. You should have seen their eyes light up at the idea that they could invent a holiday and use their imagination. I don't think I'm going to have any trouble getting them to buy into TPRS.  

Sentence frames seem a good way to ease students who are used to traditional language teaching into PQA with the questions about their holiday and then into a story as we start to invent things for the fun of it.  I wish I could have taken timed pictures of their faces as we gradually went from "stiff and prepared to suffer" to "puzzled" to "intrigued" to "really?" to "you must be joking!" to a wide grin and shining eyes. And we were speaking in English for more than 95% of the time. Is there any better formula for improvement than speaking in English and having fun?

*Robert used "I received" in German.  For my French students this is a no brainer because "receive" and recevoir are transparent.  I prefer to use "I got" because it's higher frequency in English, and an irregular verb and sounds more natural. 

Thursday, January 10, 2013

A High Honor

I know Michael Miller as a hearty fellow who handles a lot of the technical problems at National TPRS Conferences and is a jovial Master of Ceremonies during the Talent Night show.  He's also a very talented teacher who wrote his own books to teach German using TPRS. Yesterday he published this on the moretprs forum.  I think it shows that TPRS is not a cop out, just a way to keep the kids amused.  It's a method which allows students and teachers to attain excellence.

Liebe Listler,
Today my school received a high honor: We are designated as an AATG German Center of Excellence. This honor is given to 4 high schools but only one K-8 school per year. As a Jr. High School, one could conclude we have the best pre-high school German program in the country. As I look at the comments from the judges, what really stood out for them is the curriculum. They were very interested in cutting edge methodology and TPRS is it. Sabine und Michael was created for the needs of our school, but many other schools find this curriculum to meet their needs as well.
Bottom line: TPRS works. My 8th graders score at the 61st percentile on national exams for sophomores in German 2 (we are technically in German 1). Stick with TPRS. It gets better all the time. I'll copy the panel's comments below.

Michael Miller

Dear Mr. Miller,

It is my great pleasure to inform you that Cheyenne Mountain Junior High
School's German program has been designated a German Center of Excellence
by the American Association of Teachers of German. After carefully
reviewing the applications of numerous K-12 German programs, the jurors
found Cheyenne Mountain Junior High School's programming excellent in
every category. Your program is the only junior high school programs to
receive this high distinction this year. 

The jury was impressed in particular that the German program is so very
well established and growing. There is clear evidence that the program has
strong support from the administration, professional colleagues, alumni,
and students, and has strong ties to the wider campus and community.
Extracurricular activities and special events are clearly integral
elements of the program. 

Furthermore, the selection panel noted the highly qualified staff with
credentials appropriate to the teaching assignment and an appropriate
faculty-student ratio. The application provided clear evidence of
continuing faculty development at local, state, and national levels. The
opportunity to collaborate and evidence of self-evaluation and shared
program goals are to be commended.

Most impressive is the program's curriculum. There is a clear, articulated
sequence of instructional programming that is standards-based and reflects
current methodologies. Outcomes at each instructional level are clearly
articulated and diverse learning styles are respected through varied
instructional and assessment techniques. The materials used in the program
are culturally authentic and interdisciplinary connections have been
established. 

The German Program at Cheyenne Mountain Junior High School certainly
values its students. The jury noted that the teacher clearly values
student feedback and the application provided abundant evidence of the
good rapport you have with your students. This is truly a program that is
designed to meet the needs of students.
__________________________

Michael Miller
Sabine und Michael German TPRS materials
2418 Hagerman Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
Tel: 719-635-0017 FAX 719-785-5755
michael@sabineundmichael.com
http://www.sabineundmichael.com

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

TPRS Time

In the traditional textbooks there is always a chapter on telling time.  An explanation followed by examples and very often clock faces even though today's children are more likely to have digital watches.  How do we teach time with TPRS?

To begin, there is no chapter on telling time, just as there is no chapter on the weather, or clothes, or body parts or colors or sports or animals, etc.   Putting all the vocabulary concerning a specific theme in one chapter insures that it will be forgotten as soon as the chapter test is over. Those who use TPRS introduce the vocabulary as it is needed for stories, just as children learn the words for hands, feet, dog, cats, raining, mittens, etc. as the need appears.  A TPRS teacher will spread the vocabulary from one thematic chapter out over the entire year, teaching the more frequent words first and adding on the others as the opportunity comes.

It is very easy to teach time, even to young pupils.  We simply ask when something happens.  There is a boy.  Where does he live?  In Missouri, the students say.  The boy who lives in Missouri sees a girl with green hair.  When does he see the girl?  In the morning or in the afternoon?  In the morning.

Once the students have acquired morning and afternoon, we can introduce day and night.  These are quickly and easily acquired as long as the teacher thinks to ask the question "When?" as often as possible.  Then she can start asking for the time in hours.  In her stories it is always one o'clock or six o'clock or eight o'clock.  For the moment, the clocks in her stories have no minute hands.

Once her students are saying that the boy went to school at eight o'clock and the class finished at five o'clock without any hesitations, she can introduce half hours.  When did the dog jump out of the window?  At half past ten.  At ten thirty.  The two expressions can be presented at the same time as being equivalent.  Students will immediately grasp ten thirty and recognize half past ten as meaning the same thing, if they hear the teacher saying both expressions, one after the other.

I've noticed that my traditionally taught French students often confuse "half past" and "a quarter past", simply because the expressions were taught in the same lesson at the same time, along with "a quarter to".  So I can hear things like "half to five".  And neither I nor the student know whether he means four thirty or five thirty. By being sure that "half past" is acquired, which means being used spontaneously, without thinking, before we introduce "a quarter past", we can avoid that confusion.

And I also hold off on "a quarter to", for the same reason.  Let the concept of a quarter past the hour be solidly acquired before we introduce the idea of  "a quarter to" the hour. Our patience and restraint will be generously rewarded, because once they have grasped the meaning of "a quarter to" we can easily introduce minutes and the rest is all downhill. 

By introducing the expressions of time gradually, over the course of a year, we will insure that our students are able to tell the time accurately and will understand when they are told the time. In other words, when teaching expressions of time, it's necessary to take your time. 

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Can I teach myself German?

As I explained, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to listen to films in German and try to reactivate the German I learned in college fifty years ago.

Five days later, where am I at?  I've listened to the first scene of The Green Mile with the German sound track and German subtitles at least seven or eight times.  (I would prefer a film that was originally filmed in German, but not having one at hand, I've settled on what I had.)  

My first impression is quite positive as I realize that I can understand more than I thought I would.  Words that I would have been unable to translate if I had seen them listed out of context speak to me and I can understand what is being said.  The subtitles help a lot and I would say that at this point I'm reading more than I'm listening.  But I do hear the German words and I'm able to tell when the subtitles don't correspond to what is being spoken.

After about three sessions, I decided to write down the words I didn't understand and which seemed important.  There are about nine of them.  Then I realized that if they are high frequency, I'll come across them again.  So I chose not to look them up in the dictionary. I will look them up the next time I encounter them.

A friend in Germany is sending me three German films with German subtitles.  I'm to choose the one that I like best and we will occasionally talk on skype so that she can answer questions I may have. In the meantime, I'm going to continue with The Green Mile, but I've decided to watch the whole film without stopping and repeating every scene. 

It seems to me that I'm not really translating from German to English, but getting a feel of the global meaning. Wie immer means "like always" and Wie finden sie das? means "How do you like this?"  I'm not the least bit worried about knowing how to translate Wie, since I'm certain that I've understood what was being said.