Pen Pals in Grade 11 and 12 Classes.

I have finished up the final arrangements for the last two blocks in my semester 2 Communications 12 classes. With Pen Pals in West Borneo, Senegal and now Poland, I am feeling quite proud of myself as certainty of success seeps.

I went out on a line and reached out to a teacher who put a Pen Pals add on Edmodo. I came across the idea in the past with other teachers but they either gave up before we started or wanted to keep it electric and unsupervised.

I have secured two colleagues whoa re serious and like minded in the Pen Pal activity that we have developed. The system is simple really, the first correspondence is written communication, a tangible letter. This is the part that people do not car for because of the time and effort it takes to get a package of letters put together and mailed out. I have sitting next to me at this time the package with letters. I will be adding some "Chinese Xiao Chi" to it as well (small very small sweets and other snacks that are loved here). The letters were sealed in envelopes I had been collecting from all the different places I have been to around China which I think may make it interesting for the students who are receiving the letters written by my students. It was interesting for my students at the time while they were comparing the different envelopes with each other as well.

From the first exchange, students are then going to continue writing by hand but will be giving it or scanning it themselves for the teacher. The students' letters will be electronically scanned/sent to the other classroom teacher and vice versa. This process is a bit of work for the teacher, but if the students are putting in the work that they should be, this is the least the teacher could do.

The long term goal of this played over in a few different ways in my mind. The number one most interesting way, would be to actually travel to the place that the class' pen pals are from (and/or vice versa). Exchanges between countries is expensive though. Realistically, it would just be really cool if we could have a skype call from class to class and then basically have the students do different projects with the students in the other class from a distance and present via skype together.

Ideas are continually flowing, right now I am just excited to get my student's letters out there though.

All the best!

M2: Part B-Behaviorism as a Theory in Language Development

Head's up, I don't quite understand the mechanics of the group/forum posting, BUT I'll give it a shot. I am talking about the Behaviourism as it pertains to the statements...

• Behaviorists theorize that language is learnt through imitation and habit. Babies often reproduce the sounds of the language they hear most often as language sounds are often learnt through imitation and repetition.

Statements and Discussion:

Statement 1:

"With repetition comes some understanding...That is why it is important to practice speaking and being immersed in the language to fully grasp and learn the language."

I found this interesting and clear summary of "Behavioral Theory. The behavioral perspective states that language is a set of verbal behaviors learned through operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a method of changing behavior so that a desired behavior is reinforced immediately after it occurs." (2019) I think it is important to recognize that true Canadian colloquial "Eh". This is a colloquialism that has seemingly served as a a multi-purpose part of speech. Growing up with it, without it-can a person understand it? There are phenomenons like this around the globe, here in China I live in the Northeastern Part of the country and instead of "eh", its "Er". For example, some, ONLY SOME of the words, usually nouns end with "Er", simply because "its the North". I find myself learning a language with a hint of Northern love (which is great), so much so that when I travel to places like Taiwan or Shanghai, the locals are asking me what I'm referring to exactly. They understand me but believe I had misspoken until they realize that I am traveling from the north. After telling them I live in Dalian-they say "A, Er-De DonBei Er". Which is "Ah Er, as in the Northeastern Er". The Chinese linguists follow up with "Dei Me?" (Correct?), but "Dei" a Dalian way to pronounce "Dui" (Correct). When I'm travelling, speaking Chinese how do I explain my unconventional annunciations? Behaviorism.

https://languageacquisitionpsyc220.weebly.com/theories-of-speech--language-development.html

Statement 2 

"People can learn new information and behaviours by watching other people. Also in order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that takes that attention away can hinder the learning process."

I am currently trying to teach myself French. I am also continuing my learning of the Mandarin Language. I recently became interested in learning Italian (again). My goal is to be fluent in Mandarin and have the ability to complete FSL pt.1 by the end of next year (at least). Will I be successful? What do I need to do to optimize or maximize my learning?

Statement 3

"There must be repeated opportunities for children to hear the language, and to imitate it until these sounds become a habit. This requires reinforcement, practice and rehearsal and is difficult."

My son said his first word at the ripe old age of 3 1/2 months-"Ma". I could have sworn I hear him say "I" as well (but that was around 2 months). If you record a child, and play it back, you can hear a lot. A Child is great at imitating, but they need to have something to imitate. I have been reading everything from "Alice in Wonderland" to "Spot goes to the Park" to my son, most chances I have. I am getting a bit exhausted now because he can actually get bored during reading-so novels are out. He loves Spot, and other picture books...I'm thinking about getting more, not so much for him, he can cycle through these books every week and still be happy to lay there looking at the pictures, but if I see spot running through the circus for another 4 months, "oh no" :p "Two other concepts that are important for understanding the behaviorist ideas of speech and language development are imitation and practice. A young child will try to imitate sounds and words he hears his parents say the best he can. When a child says a word that sounds close to what the parents say, they accept and reinforce it. In other words, they begin shaping the word until the child can eventually say the word as well as the parents do." (2019) The point is my wife and I think we can hear him speaking, is he though? Maybe, but it feels more like operant conditioning. 

Statement 4

"It becomes important for teachers to provide different opportunities to students where they can spend more time as a team, where they get the chance to share their ideas and feelings"

I feel that behaviourism as a perspective rather than just what it is referring to in regards to language, this is the epitome of it. Once we have one student buy into an idea, we can expect to see a systematic inclusion of all or most students. However delayed the participation may vary student to student, there are classrooms where it is seen as a true success just simply getting all students to participate.

Looking forward to the responses!

All the best!

Awesome Math Inquiry Ideas!

https://www.yummymath.com/2019/bowling-deals/

I came across a question about bowling specials after see an Ad for this website on Edmodo...inspiration :D

M2: Part D-Critical Literacy

How would you support critical literacy in the classroom? Provide examples on what this would look like and how you would ensure that students are actively engaged and developing the necessary skills. Please think about cross curricular approaches.

From my understanding, "critical literacy" is any type of stimulus that fosters critical thinking as well as grit. Texts, graphics, advertisements-anything that can make a student question or second guess an idea. To begin, I want to say that the "Reading Culture" course I took at Lakehead in my second or third year, was amazing for introducing critical literary (Monica Flegel's Class). It was all literature, but the way that it was structured "Reading Culture", I think speaks with great definition to what critical literacy is mean't to be.

In my class I am supporting Critical Literacy through many different faucets. My most recent was an experimental form of storytelling called "Lawyer Stories" in which students are not only participating in the activity as participants but also developing their own "Lawyer Story".

I have attached a link to the Lawyer Stories Wattpad edition that I had put together. If you like it and want a more indepth copy-I have the anthology available on TPT. I will be releasing a Creative Writing unit in which I am incorporating the basic deconstruction of a story as well as the construction of a "Lawyer Story" which scaffolds into a published writing piece by the student.

The reason I say the "Lawyer Stories" are pretty much the epitome of Critical Literacy is because they do not only require students to question the fundamental elements of a story, but because it requires student to deduce the connections between successful questions. Yes, I intentionally didn't explain the ideas of the Lawyer stories because I wrote about them in the forward of the wattpad edition. See the link below.

https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/38198766-lawyer-stories

In the past I have used resources that raise questions for students about the things they believe or are told. I have used "LGBTQ" as a topic to help get students critically thinking and communicating to investigate if it really is unacceptable to identify as such in China. Living and working in China, this has proven very useful and could be applied in Canada as well to communities that need outreach but are not willing to look at it introspectively yet.

Having the students look at a topic in society that may get scrutiny or is perceived as unwelcome by society as a whole is a huge step in developing critical thinking, making me believe that sometimes to identify critical literacy, it is as simple as choosing a topic that begins with a question raised.

If you like, you can download my bundled resource for Grade 11 English. Cross Curricular Unit of Social Justice and English Language Arts.

This unit is a comprehensive investigation of LGBTQ's growing acceptance in China that goes along with various writing skills and critical thinking activities in which students need to represent research in different ways.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Social-Justice-English-11-Cross-Curricular-Unit-3533812

M2 Part C: Myths

What are your thoughts on the myths? What can you do an educator to correct these myths?


My thoughts on the myths are that they are basic level thinking and although they may seem logical, expansive research done throughout history proves otherwise. After reading the article about the Myths, I feel that the French as a Second Language Program is in a similar situation to that of situations that we are talking about here in the course. For us here in this course, we are conducting discussions on students, English speaking abilities and ways to immerse ELL in community as well as culture because many languages are closely intertwined with culture.

Looking at it from that perspective I feel that maybe when I was taught French in school although it seemed professional to be learning all the part of the language in that language-learning it in English was the most effective way to teach it yo elementary students. I believe the same could at times be said for say-Chinese learning English.

One big concern I have for my newborn son is language, I am reading to him in English ever since he was born (just to get his ears familiarized with my voice as well as the language). My wife is Chinese and speaks more Chinese with him than I do, but I always worry about him struggling with one language over the other all time. I know the research and data-everything will be fine. But I have seen a couple other interracial couples who kids (3-4 years) talk like they have marbles in their mouth, we don't fully understand them all the time and even my coworker (the father says he feels maybe he should have practiced less Chinese around the house, but is surprised because he thought he spoke and practiced a lot of English with him). Sounds silly, but I am super nervous. I do want our son to speak an array of languages (another huge reason for us to move back to Canada)-he can learn French, Italian, etc. we are very lucky to have the education system we have in Canada I feel because of the opportunities for youth.

This article really helped me keep peace of mind though, I was happy to read it and will still continue with Spot, Goodnight Gorilla and what not cause he still loves time with Dad reading. However I feel a lot less pressure and panic now-kind of interesting to see my studies correlate to my real life worries.

I believe as a school administrator though it would be important then to hold events and maybe even language exchange classes for the school at breaks or after school as a welcoming activity in which the family or students are able to have other families or students come out to a small intimate gathering and share language, culture with each other. At the very least, the principal could be there building the bricks for the activity till it catches tread.

Module 2: Environments

How are teachers building their classrooms to be environmentally accepting for ELL and ESL learning? The module seems like it will be focusing on the aspects of the school environment as well as a teacher to teacher case.

The first part that I'll look at here is Part A: Promoting Diversity

How would you celebrate students into the school? How can you engage parents within the school community? Create a design of a classroom that supports all learners that embraces cultures and diversity.

Celebrating students into a school in my opinion would begin with a classroom introduction and then at the next school assembly (after the student has had time to adjust and get to know a few of the students), introduce them to the whole school. I think sometimes as staff we may think that just because the student comes from a different country or speaks mostly another language, that they will stick out or be singled out by others. In a way (never really having dealt with this yet), I would think it would be important to allow the student a week or so after arriving to just have time to adjust as a new student and make a point of seeing where they themselves fit before announcing to the entire student body who this student is and why they are here.

At the same time though, that initial introduction might be what makes or convinces classmates to put the extra effort into smiling and saying hello to the student. With that being said then I would personally want to welcome the family to the school personally first over a meal and then allow for a rough judgement or recommendation from the parents about how they feel their child best fits into new populations. If the parents don't speak English, I would really want to meet them then and find a way to make it work so that I would be able to also offer help to them as a community member (having lived through the experience myself-twice).

Classic number one class decal-international collection of flags around the classroom ceiling and wall seams. From decals it would go to posters-everything from "Hello" poster in different languages to the Top 10 most interesting books poster (listed with the countries they were written in). After posters I would personally like to have ant farms (maybe)-I mean, if you have different colonies mixing over time and building them up, its a bit of a metaphor-no? A fish tank would also suffice, lots of different types of fish, one tank.

From physical, the big thing for me is birthdays-as a Child my birthday was at a brutal time and growing up-I stopped really caring about my birthday, but its something I never hope others feel, just due to a series of unfortunate events, I just enjoy quiet by myself/with my family kinds of birthdays. I would like to celebrate birthdays as a class though and I feel that even if they happen at different times, it would still mean something to know that someone was watching it for/with you-it should be a special day (in my opinion), its something ALL people have, no matter of anything else, it was the first (and largest) step into becoming a human.

After all that, I would have a music from around the world listening center as well as art from around the world put up around the class. In English class I would be doing what I do now, using writing prompts and reading materials from all around the world.

Part E: Multilingual Contexts

There are many great tools that can be used to help create visuals and written dialogue for students when they are writing a story, sharing general ideas etc. Having ELLs use various types of websites to assist with brainstorming ideas and producing final products, allows them to show more interest, and engages them in their learning. Providing opportunity and options for students using their L1 is important, and whenever possible, providing websites to complete a task helps ease the stress of language barriers. Post 1 lesson on how you can support this initiative.

We must practice what we preach and model extensively for ELLs. Modeling advocacy is important!

Depict how you are a superhero advocating for all of the ELLs in the classroom. You must be creative and utilize the learning from the readings to support your statement, theme, and ideas. Please incorporate the diverse learners in your comic. (i.e. you may wish to incorporate FMNI students)

My students regardless of where they are from, always find it interesting that as an adult I still have an inherent love from comics and heroes. I was once able to really bring to life, superheroes for some of my students while others-were not as interested in the extra bit of work required to understand the text (I don't know if it is all cultures that use characters and/or Sanskrit), because the "all capitals" makes the students confused about the word ad sentence structure. Although the students can read it, there were difficulties for some. Most students were interested and reading along with the class while others were just following along.

The class got into discussions of where Superheroes like, Spider-Man and others came from. The inquiry turned into a unit that became focused on the "Myths and Legends". Students throughout the inquiry were interested in how and why some myths and legends lasted as long as we can remember while others were adapted into popular stories and "tales of ..." (Marvel reference).

Later, a semester after- I had a bit of a following in which a few students would approach me for .cbr files of their favourite stories that I used to tell them in class (in regards to comics). One student of the group in particular was a more shy student and not very outspoken but absolutely brilliant. The student has long since graduated made his life something of an adventure from what he tells me now. But he was telling me when the time came for him to graduate that he was sorry. I asked what he could have possibly been sorry for and he said, "I will not go to university and study literature." I told him that I honestly did not know. From what I had understood he was going to study psychology or computer science. He told me had to go with computer science because its what his parents wanted. I did email and speak to his parents about this, and their response was-along the lines of if he really does well with the elective literature courses he will take, then it can be the decision he makes in the future. My student was enthralled and still quite longing the satisfaction to be enrolled full time into literature studies. He is well now though and still loves messaging about the latest and greatest in Marvel's drawing boards.




I will post a lesson that I used but throughout the inquiry I had students preparing a myth or legend of their own. (This was a Grade 10 Academic Class at the time). I have attached a link to the wattpad story where we compiled the class work.