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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Related posts:

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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.

Sample Host Family Application

October 9, 2010

Choosing host families for your international education or language program takes significant time and effort. Matching prospective students with families willing to open their hearts and home to a foreign student who is studying English as a Second Language (or any other language or subject, for that matter) requires skill, patience, background checks and a fine balance between working with the people that you have in your pool of students and families and ensuring that some basic requirements are met.

The first step in setting up your host family selection process is to develop your host family application. The application needs to include more than just the name and address of the family. You also want to ask questions about lifestyle, such us: do they allow smoking in the home?

The local police service in many communities will perform security checks for a small fee. Adult members of the household should include a police security check, as you will want to know if anyone in the household has had criminal charges brought against them, or if there have been incidents of domestic violence in the home.

The more questions you ask up front, the better chance you’ll have of selecting excellent families to host your students.

Here’s a sample host or billet family application that you can download and adapt to your own needs. Remember to include a statement about privacy if your area requires you to do so when you collect personal information.

Related posts:

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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.

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Interview with Felix Wöhler: Leading by Example Series

October 4, 2010

This series is dedicated to highlighting the impact made by exemplary literacy and language professionals who lead by example. They share their inspirational tips and stories. In this article I’m pleased to showcase the work of Felix Wöhler, owner and manager of an English as a Second Language (ESL) school in Ontario, Canada.

What is your name, affiliation, and connection to language learning?

The school name is English Encounters (formerly Bronte Language Centre) and we have been in business since 1986.  We are fully accredited by Languages Canada for our ESL Program.

In your opinion, what’s the most important aspect of managing a language school?

The most important thing is to provide students with an enjoyable and useful language learning experience.

There are very few people who have bought a pre-existing language school. That makes you a pioneer of sorts. I think readers would be very interested to hear about your experience. What were the best and worst aspects of this experience for you?

The best part was not having to build everything from scratch.  I “inherited” an existing database of agents, students, and staff as well as an existing online and physical location.  This made the takeover relatively seamless in the sense that, in contrast to starting a school from zero, I was fully operational from day one.  On the other hand, the fact that all these aspects had already been established meant that there was a long period of adjustment – for both myself and staff, and to a lesser extent, for students – to each others’ way of doing things.

It took me a long time to truly “identify” with the school. At the beginning, it always felt like I was managing someone else’s business.  However, over the past year, I have worked closely together with my team and helped recreate and improve the school in a way I really feel I can identify with and am, in fact, very proud of.  This includes renaming the school, relocating to a brand new facility in a neighbouring city – a location we feel is far better-suited for student needs, decorating the new premises, redoing the website, getting accredited by Languages Canada, and creating new and improved programs and curricula.

What is it that you like best about owning your own language school?

The most rewarding aspect of owning my own language school is meeting students from all over the world and seeing their English improve as they enjoy their time in Canada with us.  Many of our students have become very close and it is wonderful to see how they keep in touch and refer their friends and family members.

What do you see for the future of language learning?

Language learning in the future will become increasing important as the world continues to globalize. To that end,  more and more people will need a second language, particularly English, which seems well-placed to become a global lingua franca. For language schools, the challenge is to provide language training that is both attainable and enjoyable.  At the same time, the high demand for English training means that large amounts of students can become concentrated in popular areas or language schools.  The problem with that, is the strong tendency for these students to break off into ethnic groups and revert to their 1st language in all out-of-class activities.  The strategy at English Encounters, therefore, is to provide a small, student-centred learning environment in a smaller city where the likelihood of finding many speakers of languages other than English is much lower.  This makes our school the ideal place for true immersion and language training.

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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.

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