I'd like to buy a vowel!

Students of English often struggle with the English vowel system. Not only are the sounds confusing, but our writing system doesn't really help. Today, I'd like to introduce you to the 10 most basic of vowel sounds in English. For you linguists out there, you may realize that some of these vowel sounds are actually diphthongs, but we're not going to worry about that now. Plus, many phonics systems, such as Reading Horizons [1], focus on these 10 sounds as the core vowel sounds.

Written Letter	Short Sound	Long Sound
Aa	ă	ā
Ee	ĕ	ē
Ii	ĭ	ī
Oo	ŏ	ō
Uu	ŭ	ū

There they are. The video below demonstrates the short and long sounds of each of these vowels.

So now what? Well, know what the sounds are is only part of it. Knowing when to use them is another story. We won't go into all of the rules right now but here's a quick and easy rule.

In single syllable words that begin with a consonant and end with one, use the short form of the vowel. The video had a few examples: băt, bĕt, bĭt, pŏt, and pŭtt [2]. I'm sure you can think of a bunch more.

I know this isn't groundbreaking, but hopefully it might be helpful for teachers and learners. And, as always, stay tuned for more!


[1] For a detailed post on vowels, check out some of Heidi Hyte's blog posts. Heidi works for Reading Horizons and is a phonics guru.
[2] Put is irregular.

Brain Break: Jabberwocky Junk Bag

I signed up for Pinterest last night. My wife was at work and I guess I missed her, so I did. One thing led to another and I ended up at this article about brain breaks*.

The author talked about how when students are presented with new or complicated materials  they need to be focused and calm. It recommended the use of brain breaks to stimulate 'increased activity in the prefrontal cortex where problem solving and emotional regulation occur'.

Who needs students that are ready to problem solve and emotionally regulated more than an ESL teacher? No one. So I read on.

The author suggested several potential brain break activities. I've taken the liberties of ESLifying one of them here and we'll add a few others to our growing list of things to post about in the future. The first on her list was called the 'Junk Bag"

Here's her description of the activity:

"I always carry a bag of household objects containing markers, scrap paper, and anything that one would find in a junk drawer** -- for example, a can opener or a pair of shoelaces. Pick any object out of the junk bag and ask students to come up with two ways this object could be reinvented for other uses. They can write or draw their responses. Once students have drawn or written about an invention, they can walk the room for one minute sharing and comparing."

Now there were a few of the things that I wanted to change about the task. First off, I don't always carry a bag of junk and when I'm headed to class I usually have more to carry than I have arms; so for now*** this needs to be more portable. Solution: a printable.

Second, reinventing the object seemed perhaps overly cognitive and underly communicative. Solution: instead of repurposing the household item how about renaming it and then trying to explain what it does while using its new name. Still could be too cognitive so to lessen the cognitive load let's randomly assign the object a name and script out the exchange.  See second printable.

So the activity works like this: students stand up in pairs facing each other. Each pair is given a square with an object and a square with a nonsense word(verb). Like many of the objects pictured, the new nonsense name for the item is the "--er" form of the verb.
The tallest person in the pair is the salesman of this new object while the shorter person is the customer.

Each pair follows either the more advanced script or the less advanced script [see below] which is written or projected on the board substituting the nonsense syllable for the blank in the script.

For example, a pair receives the picture of the blender and the nonsense syllable "wub"

Customer: What is that?
Salesman: It’s a wubber.
Customer: A wubber?
Salesman: Yes, a  wubber. It wubs things. Do you want it?
Customer: Yes please. I have many things I need to wub. Thank you!
Salesman: You’re welcome. I hope it helps with your wubbing!

The salesman hands the customer the picture of the item and the syllable card. The customer becomes a salesman, all the former salesmen become customers and find a new partner/salesman. The activity is repeated three or four times.  The teacher collects the cards and could follow up by 'quizzing' the class as to what a particular item is and what it does.

Is your prefrontal cortex stimulated, yet? My guess it is.

I don't see why this activity couldn't be repeated throughout the semester anytime a brain break was needed. It would be appropriately the same (saving time) yet different (maintaining novelty) each time.

Level up by giving it a go sometime this week. Bonus lives if you send us pictures or comment on how it succeeds or if it falls short. Also if you think this is a good idea and you connect with other ESL professionals on social media give us some share wub. We would really wub it if you did.

*Spoiler Alert: A brain break is not watching puppy videos on YouTube.
**Oh so you mean a purse.
**Maybe I'll someday I'll  work at a ritzy school that hires Sherpa for its teachers.

Basic Script:
 
Advanced Script: 

Collages made at picmonkey.com
Pictures from: flickr.com
Non-sense syllables sourced: https://sites.google.com/a/saintelizabeth.us/learningspecialist/home/nonsense-words---printable-lists

Tip: The Waterfall Approach to Lesson Planning

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to sit on a panel of experienced teachers [1].  Being on panels like this where novice teachers [2] ask questions about teaching is always an enlightening experience. It makes me reflect a lot on my past teaching experiences.

I'm also occasionally lucky enough to have a brilliant description of a rather obvious process leave my mouth. One of the teachers asked the panel about lesson planning. I thought of my approach to lesson planning and opened my mouth. In that moment, I named my process the Waterfall Approach. It's a process I've used for a long time but never named.

Waterfalls are beautiful sites. The fluid mechanics involved and the mark they leave on the terrain are incredible. A few years ago, I went to Calf Creek Falls. You can't get to the falls by car—you take about a three mile hike to get to the bottom or last of the falls.

I've never been to the top, but there is a small pool. When it is full, the overflowing [3] water creates a waterfall. This is the approach I like to take when lesson planning.

Life as a teacher is easiest for me when I first do all of the lesson planning possible at the beginning of the semester—actually before the semester begins if possible. The semester pool is very shallow, but I try to do as much planning and prep as possible. Whatever I can't get done goes into the weekly pool. I try to set aside a time each week to plan for the next week. At this point, you might be thinking if there is anything that spills over into the daily pool. At this point, I've put so much effort into my classes that I can use the daily pool to customize the lesson based on the needs of the class. I've found that moving as much planning as possible to the beginning of a semester cuts down on stress and burnout and increased the quality of my teaching.

My image below probably needs some tweaking, but hopefully it represents my approach. The sand or dirt represents the time I spend lesson planning. If I spend a bunch of time at the beginning then my weekly and daily lesson planning time decreases.

It might now work for everyone, but it's an approach that helps me.


[1] As much as I would like to talk about what makes a teacher "experienced," I'll save that for a later post.
[2] We'll have to define "novice" sometime in the future, too.
[3] It's always overflowing—all year long—you can create your own symbolism for that.

Eye Opening

My eyes were closed, they’re open now.

-Damien Rice-The Connoissuer of Great Excuse

If you were to dip into the pensieve[1] of your career is there a moment your eyes previously blind to the reality of or need for ESL education first opened and saw the vastness, immediacy, and urgency of those learning English around the world?

For me, I was descending the perilous stairs of Songnae[2] station with two years worth of belongings in two suitcases. My first foray into English education was as a missionary for my church[3] in South Korea.  As I was traveling from our mission headquarters to the first area that I had been assigned to, my new companion was describing our day to day: our schedule consisted of individual and family English study appointments, English classes at the local church, service English courses at the local city office and 등등등. I even prepped someone to become a flight attendant.[4]

Mid point in our descent, needing to catch my breath, I interrupted him and asked:

Why in the world are all of these people learning English?” Previous to my time in Korea, I guess at some level I conceptually understood that just like students in my high school would study German, French, or Spanish that students in other countries would add English to their list of elective language courses. But that it would be a point of such investment for people of all situations and stages was surprising to say the least.

Storm’s[5] response was simple. “It matters to them.”

Because it mattered to them is why it mattered to us and why it continues to matter to me. My contact with people through the exchange of interactions centered on English language learning has honestly been life-altering.  Even though I now get paid more for my contributions to people’s education,[6] what I have received in intangibles has always been the best part of the job.

Korea showed me the good that could come from English education both for the student and for the teacher; it also helped me see that I was good at it and that has been a pretty hard combination to quit.

What about you? When were your ESL eyes opened? We’d love to hear your side of this story.

---

[1] 5 points for Gryffindor if you know what a pensieve is

[2] Where Seoul meets Incheon.

[3] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS church.

[4] Turned out he wasn’t pretty enough.

[5] Was really his given name and by given I mean by the press chronicling his highschool football stardom. It stuck. I think even his mother called him Storm. 

[6] Which doesn’t say much as I didn’t get paid as a missionary; actually I was paying for the pleasure of giving free English classes. An exchange which was perfectly equitable in retrospect.

This is The ESL Place

In 1847, a group of settlers or pioneers moved across the United States looking for a place to build a new community. The account relates that as the lead portion of this group came down the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains into the Salt Lake Valley in what is now the state of Utah the group's leader declared that 'This is the place.'

The phrase 'This is the Place' for that group represented the conclusion of a difficult journey where what they learned informed the journey of those that would follow. However, as the modern city that has been built on the foundation of those early settlers’ labors indicates, 'This is the Place' marked a beginning more than it declared an end.

Similarly as we declare that this is The ESL Place, we acknowledge a culmination of effort and experience that has marked our journey this far but we also initiate new challenges of exploration, discovery and community building.

The ESL Place will be an online space where all who are connected to the challenges of language learning and teaching generally and more specifically those of learning and teaching English as a second (or third or fourth) language can meet similarly tasked professionals and volunteers, share insights and encouragement, and take away tips, tricks and tools that they can employ in their efforts around the world.

What we have in common will be enhanced by what makes us unique. What is new to some will be innate to others and what is challenging to many will be an opportunity for a few to lend and lead. Please join us.

Thank you for your visit today. We look forward to your contribution tomorrow. We are excited by the potential of this The ESL Place.