LLED 360

The short practicum has deepened my understanding of how to facilitate students’ progress of acquiring academic language. We should be aware of this goal at all times no matter which subject we will teach. Even for some of the less language oriented classes such as IT or PE, it is nonetheless important to remind students of correct usage and possible mistakes from time to time. For example, for one of the lessons I taught I used an image which contained “Red Cross”. At first I didn’t realize I forgot to use capital R and C, and my sponsor teacher pointed that out. He also talked about how students in the school, despite the fact they are already in grade 9 or 10, lack the ability to properly use capital letters when necessary. Thus the importance of promoting literacy among students can never be emphasized enough. During my class, when I introduced the image, I specifically mentioned to use capital R and C. Another example to enrich students’ learning would be a history class. The topic was the great depression and economic crisis in 2008. However, the teacher also provided materials about neo nazisism (partly because of the crisis) and occupy wall street. Students not only studied historical events from the textbook, they also divided into groups to engage in debate on different current issues. During this process, new vocabulary were introduced and students practiced to articulate their thoughts using correct, academic language. These are only two of the many examples I have seen in the school. The progress of building academic language actually happens in every classroom every day.

We also face another question: How do we assess students’ acquirement of academic language?  Assessment is definitely easier for English or social study classes since assignments and tests entail heavy usage of language, but what about other classes such as IT or Science? It’s often difficult to assess whether students have acquired academic language based on programmed applications, projects created through software or charts and diagrams. Based on my observation, I find that engaging in conversations with students is a simple yet effective way to assess and facilitate their progress of building academic language. During my IT classes, when students worked in groups and discussed about their projects, I would circle around and listen attentively to each group for some time. I would either encourage them to think deeper if they were on the right track, or steer them in the right direction if they were having difficulty. This process often involved reinforcing their memory of terminologies covered in class, promotion of higher thinking among them, correction of false understanding and sometimes introduction of new concepts and ideas. Thus it was a great way to help them be more academic in the classroom.