Author: jeannypark

“Math text differs greatly from a novel, which differs from a science textbook chapter, which differs from a historical document” (p.163).

Throughout blogs, I have mentioned how language is not only a barrier in English class, but also in other classes. Chapter Seven points out various ways to help students with academic reading. One method I really liked was Partner Problem Solving. The textbook shows how the activity can be used to solve a math problem. I, however, believe that this activity can be used in any subject. For example, the problem solver and listener can reflect on Shakespeare play through this activity.

I think this would be a great activity for my economics or accounting classes. In economics or accounting classes, there is minimal interaction between students. Often, the classes involve lecture and independent problem solving. Through this activity, students can interact and think aloud their processes. This would also be a great exercise to help ELLs with their language development.

“Just as birdwatchers are always on the look out for important birds, [teachers] must be on the lookout for key terms and phrases in [their] texts, tasks, tests, and talk (p.99).”

I enjoyed looking at various branches of academic language used in the four main school disciplines. Even though I’m in Business Education discipline, it was helpful for me to take a look the language used in math discipline since much of Accounting and Economics involves mathematical skills. Like math, accounting mostly involves solving problems, working with others to solve problems, and working alone to solve problems. The conversation between the Student F and teacher, however, made me realize that solving problems require as much language skills as mathematical skills. If the student does not understand the brick terms in a given problem, student will not be able to solve the problem, no matter how good he or she may be in math.

The the quote above made me reflect on my previous view in teaching Business courses. I associated Marketing with language skills and Accounting and Economics with mathematical skills. I realize that, despite which course we teach, we must always be aware of key terms and phrases in our teaching.

Zwiers mentions that she now does not remember the facts she learned in school, but the thinking skills she has acquired in school still serves her in a variety of ways – in courses, jobs, and life challenges. When I begin teaching, I want to go beyond teaching facts and equations – I want to teach my students critical thinking skills that will help them overcome challenges in life.

“Accounting 11 is a prerequisite course to Accounting 12.  This course expands on the accounting concepts learned in Accounting 11 and introduces new accounting concepts like depreciation, payroll, inventory management, and taxation to name a key few.  This course is ideal for students who are planning to pursue a career in accounting, business management, commerce, or an entrepreneurship opportunity.”

I am in Business Education discipline and what you see above is a course description of Accounting 12. I’ve read above description many times, and never gave a second thought to it. To me, the description was simple and clear. However, after reading the article, “A Focus on Vocabulary,” I began to wonder if it was clear for high school students as well. How many of the words above would be unfamiliar to students?

I asked a Gr. 9 student I tutor to underline all the words she wasn’t confident with. Here is the list of words she underlined: prerequisite, concept, depreciation, inventory, pursue, commerce, and entrepreneurship.This particular student wasn’t born in Canada, but speaks perfect oral English. It was surprising to me that she does not know what “prerequisite” and “pursue” mean.

As teachers, we make assumption that the words familiar to us would also be familiar to students. Teachers must realize that students often use  vocabularies orally without full understanding of them; thus, the students aren’t familiar vocabularies when they see them on paper.

I came to realization that vocabulary deficiency not only affects learning English and Literature, but also other subjects. Teachers of all fields should help students build on vocabulary. I believe that the learning begins with the understanding of the course.

In the chapter, Zwiers points out that the academic language for most teachers is their every language. Because university has gotten me more comfortable speaking in academic language, I may not able to pick out those big abstract words. For instance, the word “economy” has become part of my everyday language, and is no longer an abstract word. Like Zwiers emphasizes, we, teachers, must work on two dimensions – our own language and communication behavior and those of our students.

Another important aspect of academic language is that it is much more than memorizing the big words. Handing out a long list of vocabularies for students memorize for weekly quizzes is not sufficient to teach them the academic language. Students need to understand those words.  Many students simply memorize the new vocabularies, without understanding what they mean, without the ability to use these words in sentences. It is the responsibility of teachers to make sure that students understand the bricks and are able to use those bricks to express their ideas.

Strategies for teaching ESL students – Video about teaching ESL students effectively

Teaching students “how to do school things in school ways” can be challenging, especially if they are ESL students. Every year, 250,000 immigrants come to Canada, with minimal English language skills. The teachers need to access the needs of these immigrant students, and help them learn the academic language to succeed. It is not just the responsibility of ESL teachers to help these students; it is the responsibility of all the teachers to make sure that every single student understands them and learns something new every day.

While reading this chapter, I had a moment to think back to my high school days and how diverse it was with students of hundreds of different backgrounds. Every student is unique and has different learning process. Some students learn fast with minimal help; some students are slow in learning and need much more effort from their teachers.

The conversation from sixth-grade language art class got me thinking a lot. During the summer, I had the opportunity to teach English in Korea. While I was teaching, I often corrected their oral English while they talked. I realized that this can discourage them from speaking and take away their confidence. I got to reflect on my teaching methods and look for ways to improve them.