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From: "Dottie Shattuck" <dottie@shattuck.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8727] Re: "comprehension"- "production" - pronunciation
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I teach beginning adults ("Intro" at my community college) -- sometimes 20-45
people. They need pronunciation NOW! They have jobs, families, medical
appointments, etc. They must communicate NOW. They usually don't have the luxury
of a silent period. I teach survival English, starting with the alphabet & the
pronunciation of the English names of the letters so that they can more easily
spell their names for a doctor's office, etc.
Yes, we do some TPR -- commands for the classroom or the workplace -- but reading
for comprehension comes after the basics, which include numerous questions/answers
that they encounter in daily life. Reading for comprehension is a part of the
course, including some simple stories ("Very Easy True Stories" for example), but
the focus is on reading in their daily life -- job applications, health forms,
etc.
Dottie Shattuck
Central Piedmont CC
Charlotte, NC
dottie@shattuck.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Russell" <richtiger@cableone.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 9:18 PM
Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8726] Re: "comprehension"- "production" - pronunciation
|
| > 1. A beginning ESL class usually consists of 15 to 45
| > people who know no or very little English.
| > So - what does "work on comprehension" mean in
| > this context?
|
| In response to Paul Rogers' question above, "work on comprehension" means
| demonstrating by actions--or rather, by reactions--that the student
| understands Total Physical Response Commands.
|
| As students build their TPR English vocabulary, which is the basis of simple
| stories, they listen to these stories and can--with the help of pictures
| (transparencies?) as well as teacher translations if appropriate--understand
| the stories well enough to say "true" or "false" as the teacher gives them
| true-false statements in English about the story.
|
| They may also indicate comprehension by drawing pictures on a white board
| and writing simple one-word ( or even 2 or 3 word) English answers to
| questions after they have silently followed the teacher's reading and
| telling of the story. They may even write or speak single English words as
| answers to questions such as
|
| Who looked for the book?
| Alice
| Where did Alice go?
| school
| Who was Alice's friend?
| Mary
|
| If the teacher knows the FL, the students can answer more complicated
| English questions in the FL.
|
| When English-language videos are used, students indicate comprehension with
| true-false answers, checklists, or fill in the blank with the missing
| word--which, of course, indicates aural comprehension and usually indicates
| meaning comprehension as well. (It's hard to do cloze exercises with an
| English video if you don't "more or less" understand the meaning of the
| video.)
|
| Of course, even I begin working on pronunciation after 3 or 4 weeks. I'm
| just arguing that we shouldn't make it the focus of an ESL course right off
| the bat.
|
| By the way, I've never really had to teach 45 students at a time. In
| Colombia, South America, in various community college adult classes, and now
| in 3rd and 4th grade ESL elementary school classes, I've usually had 6 to 10
| students at a time. Just good luck, I guess.
|
| Richard Russell
| richtiger@cableone.net
|
|
|
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