Teaching Public Speaking to Literacy or ESL Students

November 5, 2010

I have the privilege of being both a teacher and a professional speaker. That means that I earn a portion of my living by facilitating workshops and giving keynotes on topics related to my field of expertise.

I have not found many materials that specifically target the topic of how to teach public speaking to literacy or ESL learners, so here are some resources for you:

The first place for adult learners to turn is to Toastmasters. This is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to teaching people the skill of public speaking. They also have a link to free resources on their website.

Other places to find information on public speaking:

Members of organizations such as CAPS and NSA are fully trained, and earn a significant portion of their livelihood through speaking. Most pro speakers have spent thousands of hours in non-formal settings such as professional development workshops offered through organizations such as Toastmasters before they ever stepped into the professional realm.

There’s a fellow by the name of Tom Sticht who does workshops on Oracy in Canada and the United States. He does not have a website, but his papers are archived on the National Adult Literacy Database. Many of his programs are suitable for school age children.

Here are some ideas on how to teach public speaking to literacy learners or ESL students:

Workshop with a professional speaker

Invite a professional speaker from your community in to do an interactive workshop. Many pro speakers will offer this type of workshop, even if they don’t advertise it. If you Google “professional speaker” + <your community or city>, you should get a list of the pros in your area. Be aware that a pro speaker may not give a workshop completely pro bono. (It is, after all, how they make their living.) Having said that, you are very likely to get excellent quality for the fee that you pay.

Workshop with an Aspiring Speaker

Invite in an aspiring speaker to do a workshop with your staff or students. By “aspiring” I mean someone who is likely in Toastmasters now or has gone through the program. He or she may be trying to become a professional speaker, but lacks the experience. When you extend the invitation, offer them a thank you letter for their professional portfolio. (He or she will need this when applying for membership in a pro organization later on). How do you find these people? A call to your local Toastmasters club explaining what
you’re looking for should do it.

Guest judges for student speeches

If you teach your own lessons on public speaking, challenge the students to prepare a brief speech of their own. Invite professional or aspiring speakers from your community to be “guest judges” for the student presentations or a small speech competition. The judges can offer feedback, advice and suggestions to help students improve further.

There are likely a great deal of resources available in your local community to teach your learners about public speaking!
Related post: Rubrics for Grading Student Presentations

___________
Share this post: Teaching Public Speaking to Literacy or ESL Students http://wp.me/pNAh3-mZ

Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

4 Comments | education, ESL, languages, second languages, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Are Language Textbooks a Scam for Students?

November 4, 2010

It used to be that university students taking language courses would buy a textbook and a workbook for a university course. The prices were high, but they could buy used copies. A student who wanted to sell his or her book later would be careful to do the workbook in pencil so it could be erased later.

Nowadays, textbooks companies have gone all high tech. They’re encouraging teachers to do away with “old fashioned paper workbooks” in favor of an online version. The teacher needs a course code. The students need a book code. Only the magical combination of both codes will allow students access to their high tech web student activity manual.

The scam? All of these codes have expiry dates. Students who bought a second-hand book have no access to the online activity manual, unless they cough up about $100 for their own personal book code. $100 for a code? Seriously? I have students who simply can not afford this and as a result, there is no way for them to access their homework activities.

To boot, the textbook takes a communicative approach, which is super for in class, but offers little in the way of activities to assign for homework. The homework is supposed to come from the web-based activity manual.

Not all students – even college age students – like the online versions. Anything but a high speed internet connection is insufficient to use the fancy web-based versions. Students complain about difficulties setting up their online accounts and some give up even before they get to do their first activity. Their frustration levels escalate.

The textbook rep comes in to do a demo. Everything works perfectly in his presentation and students are encouraged to try again.

Here it is the end of the semester and I still have students who haven’t done any online activities. When I ask them why, they sheepishly say they find the web versions cumbersome. Either that, or they simply can’t afford the $100 for a book code. A search for old, used workbooks has ensued so they can have paper versions to work from.

I’ve been giving them activities and materials I’ve developed myself over the years. These used to be “extra practice”, but for the students who have no other way to reinforce what we do in class, they have become their only option.

Some students are very tech-savvy, very into mobile learning. Some still like paper-and-pen activities. Others may like technology, but be cash poor. Our job as educators should be to make it easy for them to learn, not more cumbersome.

At least when we bought paper versions of books and workbooks, they were ours to keep for as long as we wanted, not until the textbook publisher decided that they expired and cut off our access to them. At best, they became outdated, but they didn’t disappear into thin air. I’m a huge fan of technology, but not when it becomes a barrier to my students’ learning.

________________________________

Share this post: Are Language Textbooks a Scam for Students? https://wp.me/pNAh3-n8

Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

5 Comments | education, language program administration, languages, second languages, teaching, technology, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Cool Apps for Language Learning

November 3, 2010

Are you teaching or learning a language? Want to do it the 21st century way though your Android, iPhone or Blackberry? There are literally dozens of apps out there to help you learn foreign languages!

Some of them are language specific, while others offer multilingual options. Here are some examples:

24/7 Tutor – Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and German

Katahira App – Japanese (Katahira)

Greek – flash cards

American Sign Language (ASL) – tutorial and reference app

Cherokee – iPhone app for this endangered indigenous language

Korean Essentials – a free app from the Apple Store by AccelaStudy

Spanish vocabulary – by Componica

Matt Silverman, in Mashable/Mobile, wrote about free apps for the Android phone, including one called Talk To Me. He writes:

“Talk To Me is an impressive app that can translate your input text or speech between over 40 different languages, and in most cases, speak the translations back to you. The interface is really dead-simple: An input for text, a drop-down list to choose your languages, and a big green button to activate the speech recognition.” Read the full article here.

Claire Bradin Siskin offers a superb overview of instructional and learning apps for languages for iPhone, Blackberry and other smart phones, including a list of places to get them.

Angel Brady at Princeton University did a great review of over 20 different apps for language learning.

Here’s an idea: Ask your students what apps they can find for their own mobile devices. Build your own links and resources for your students by engaging them in the process of figuring out what works for them, what doesn’t and why.

_________________________________

Related posts:

Share or Tweet this post: Cool Apps for Language Learning http://wp.me/pNAh3-mQ

Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

5 Comments | languages, second languages, teaching, technology, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Using Video for Non-Profit Marketing

November 1, 2010

If your literacy or other non-profit organization has a website, adding video is the 21st century way to promote your programs, demonstrate your successes and generate more awareness and interest in the work you do. Online videos:

  • demonstrate an awareness of 21st century marketing
  • have the potential to reach more people in more places
  • help you incorporate social media into your advocacy work

YouTube has a program for non-profits to help them promote their programs better.The service is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia. They say that they plan on adding more countries soon:

YouTube Non-profit program in the US

YouTube Non-profit program in Canada

YouTube Non-profit program in the UK

YouTube Non-profit program in Australia

The program includes a listing on the Nonprofit video channel, and the ability to post opportunities on the Volunteer Platform.

Even if you don’t live in one of those countries check out the website. They have links to globally available resources such as:

  • Nonprofit tip sheet
  • Adding a call to action in your videos
  • Tips on how to run video campaigns on YouTube
  • Ideas on how to use other Google tools (and YouTube is one of them) to promote your non-profit or charity

__________

Share or Tweet this post: Using Video for Non-Profit Marketing http://wp.me/pNAh3-mB

Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

Comments Off on Using Video for Non-Profit Marketing | marketing mix, non-profit, social sector | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Market to your clients, not at them

October 26, 2010

When I answered the phone the other day, the person on the other end was calling from a company I buy from. The conversation went something like this:

Telemarketer: “Dr. Eaton we have a very special offer for you!”

Me: “Oh?”

Telemarketer: (Insert scripted sales pitch here.)

Me: “That sounds pretty interesting. Can you send me some information in the mail?”

Telemarketer: “No, I’m sorry, we don’t send information in the mail. It will only take a few minutes to sign you up over the phone.”

In that precise moment, the sale was lost.

Me: “I prefer to take the time to read over the material first. I don’t sign up for things over the phone. Can you send me information that I can thoughtfully look over and consider in more detail, rather than having to make a snap decision right now?”

(I knew the answer, but I just wanted to clarify.)

Telemarketer: “Really, it will only take a moment to sign you up over the phone, and I can tell you everything about the offer.”

The point? Missed.

The call? Ended.

The sale? Lost.

The upshot? I was a sale, ready and waiting to happen, and they lost it.  I am already a customer. I was interested in the offer. I was very close to saying yes, but didn’t appreciate the “hard sales” pressure tactic, so I declined.

Realize what works with your target audience and what doesn’t. What a sales or marketing company may tell you will work, may not. Find out for yourself. Avoid tactics that are likely to lose you sales because you’ve ticked off your prospective buyer, client or student.

The moral of the story? Market to your clients, not at them.

__________________________

Share this post: Market to your clients, not at them https://wp.me/pNAh3-mw

Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

1 Comment | marketing, Uncategorized | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »