Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id j53Hj2G10107; Fri, 3 Jun 2005 13:45:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 13:45:02 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <20050603174246.26518.qmail@web60918.mail.yahoo.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: PAUL ROGERS <pwaynerogers@yahoo.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:10911] pumarosa as ESL teacher's aide X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Status: O Content-Length: 4411 Lines: 130 My web site has been expanded to include many grammar lessons for intermediate students, especially verb tenses. Soon we will publish some text books. Below is an explanation and a letter of recommendation for those interested. Paul Rogers INTERNET ESL-FREE Introducing PUMAROSA.COM For ESL Multimedia Learning Centers PUMAROSA is a free, interactive, bilingual web site for beginning and intermediate adult Spanish-speaking ESL students. Because there is no registration, typing, or much navigating, PUMAROSA is extremely easy to use. Therefore, students with little or no computer skills are able to start learning English immediately – plus computer basics. Focusing on English pronunciation, PUMAROSA assists the students in their transition to English only classes. PUMAROSA therefore serves as an effective teacher’s aide. Textbooks and cassettes are also available at low cost. For more information, contact Paul Rogers: 805-403-9743 e-mail: paulwaynerogers@yahoo.com Letter of recommendation- Dear Colleagues, I have been in contact with Paul Rogers of Pumarosa because we have had such a positive reaction from our students using this site. A computer session is part of almost all of our ESL classes. We have recommended several internet sites in addition to the programs already installed on our computers. At times, nearly half the class is using Pumarosa. I asked the students what they liked about it they said that it was easy to understand and they liked that everything was explained in Spanish. They also liked hearing the sounds in English. From an instructor's point of view, I have several comments. First is that many of our students come to us completely computer illiterate. To see these students, within a few class sessions, using an Internet site is very exciting and speaks about the accessibility of the site. If you are not familiar with Pumarosa, it is an audio/visual English learning site for Spanish speakers. It starts with very basic concepts such as the alphabet and the pronunciation of each letter. It gives the Spanish translation and a phonetic spelling which a Spanish speaker can understand, "he (ji)" and of course the pronunciation in English, which is, may I add, very clear and well pronounced. It is very step-by-step, explaining, in Spanish, concepts like verb conjugation and pronouns and giving lots of examples, which are pronounced in English and translated to Spanish. This, however, brings us to an interesting point pedagogically. Although the pendulum has been swinging toward the use of L1 (first language) in ELL (English Language Learner)classes, it is still used with a precautionary tone. My experience both as a teacher and a student also direct me toward a more limited use of L1. HOWEVER the reactions of the students seem to be quite the opposite. The students appreciate it and continually speak of their frustrations in English immersion classes, where they were completely lost, didn't learn anything, and finally gave up. Thinking about this I have many theories. One is that TVCC is in an agricultural area and typically our students do not have strong literacy backgrounds in their native language. This type of learner, it seems to me, may need more support from L1, at least at the beginning. (I think not for the learning of English, but just the reassurance that somebody understands them, since they don't have academic backgrounds and aren't totally comfortable in a school setting to begin with.) HOWEVER, Pumarosa is very similar to a course that I helped develop while I was in Mexico, Ingles Total. My supervisors there, who were very well educated professionals, also insisted on a lot of translation. One thing courses like Pumarosa and Ingles Total do well is to address the specific problematic areas of a particular language group, in this case, Spanish. So I'm left wondering about the relative strengths and weaknesses of programs that rely on a lot of translation and those that don't, Rosetta Stone, for example. All comments welcome. Mona Curtis ESL Coordinator Treasure Valley Community College 650 College Blvd. Ontario, OR 97914 www.tvcc.cc 541-881-8822 x 316 fax 541-881-2747 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
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