Dan, all,
I concur with Dan's brief notes (copied below) -- we found that reviewing
previous episodes brought lots of "a ha!" lightbulb moments, new questions,
new understandiings, much fun!  So, with the first 10 or so, we'd play
"Who's your favorite character?" / Episode 1 (name of episode): Describe a
scene from this episode with your two characters in it (students work
together to describe to class) -- then students "act" that scene, then
replay the segment from the DVD  that theyve just talked about and
re-enacted -- great review and confidence/competence builder.

I found the episodes (and the students' input) to be neverending prompts for
supplementary activities.  There's a neighborhood watch episode that has
brought many a real-life question/concern/story out -- high relevance story
lines.

Definitely _not_ a "watch it in class, talk about it, done" kind of thing.
Volunteers I've used have enjoyed watching the DVDs and have found family
literacy connections (for native English speakers too) worthwhile.
Volunteers I've used have enjoyed listening to students retell the story --
learners have found that highly beneficial -- especially when the volunteer
has _not_ seen the episode -- because then they can help each other
retell/remember, they _have_ to make their pronunciation clear enough to
bring understanding, they have the photostories to fall back upon if they
must (but oh, how happy they are when they don't have to look at them, when
they can retell without that crutch!!).

Crossroads Cafe, though not perfect, has much to offer, in many different
ways, to many different learning styles, to many different teaching styles.

Project Ideal has useful info to:  http://projectideal.org
Holly

On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 8:47 PM, Dan <dlwann at comcast.net> wrote:


> In evening classes where I used Crossroads that met for three hours twice a

> week, I would allow for two weeks per episode.  I used many of the

> activities in the teachers handbook as well as pre-teaching vocabulary and

> characters.  We had opening discussions about the situations and how we

> might react.  After watching an episode, we would practice vocabulary,

> language structures and have fallow-up discussion.  We would view short

> segments of the episode to work on listening comprehension. CC was the main

> activity of the evening but of course I had other mini lessons that were a

> part of the class.

>

> I have colleagues who have developed extensive lesson plans and activities.

>  One night is not enough to develop comprehension and to develop expressive

> language skills.  The episodes do a good job of repeating taught skills so

> that students are re-enforcing previously learned skills while learning new

> skills.  It also makes it easier for students who miss an episode. In

> Indiana, We have also used this series in a distance learning check out

> model.  The biggest mistake I have seen is when teachers and administrators

> think that you do an episode a night and then you are done when episode 26

> has been shown.

>

> Dan Wann

> Adult Education Consultant, Indiana

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