Feast or Famine

When every minute of every day is spoken for in some way, a sudden change in routine can be quite disorienting. With this in mind, I am trying to prepare myself for the coming summer months. The budget cuts in our state have affected us all, and I (and my students) are no exception. Instead of seeing the cut in the amount of hours I will be working as something devastating to my pocketbook, I will try to look at the sunny side. It will give me an opportunity to re-connect with my progeny, though they may get tired of too much of my full and undivided attention...I will try to tackle the mountains of clutter that have continued to grow since I began my studies in the Master's program...and to make use of what I have learned so far. Here's how I have begun to get this process going:

This weekend I created a blog on which I hope my students will find a forum to continue to learn and practice their English over the summer months. I know there will be bumps along the way. I took my class to the computer lab today in the hopes of getting a little blogging practice in. What I found was that students had neither email addresses (required, apparently for posting on the blog) nor the language skills to make the email address acquisition process a smooth one. Nevertheless, we persisted. The four students who stayed til the end are now the proud owners of email accounts. Next week when I take them to the lab again, maybe we can do a few practice postings.

You may think...how odd.  A row of ducks.  What does this have to do with ESL teaching?  The workshop I attended at CATESOL was taught by Susan Gaer (who was actually filling in for a presenter who was a "no show").  I knew Susan from a workshop she had conducted at the adult school where I teach, so I was very happy to see her.  Her enthusiasm for using technology in the classroom is infectious & I know she has experience using technology in teaching all levels of ESL--not just intermediate and above.  I need suggestions for activities I can use with beginning-level students. When she uses a blog in her classroom, she often posts a picture and poses a simple question.  So for this row of ducks she might ask, "What do you see?"  A picture that's deceptively simple can be rife with possibilities. (Have you ever tried to explain the term "reflection" to someone whose native language you don't speak?...)  Beginning level students could reply with single words, students with higher levels of English proficiency could write sentences.