This course focuses on learning academic reading and writing skills at the novice-high level, with an emphasis on vocabulary, reading comprehension, and the writing process. Students will develop simple and compound sentence control and will practice writing paragraphs with a clear beginning, middle, and end. This course is part of the reading and writing sequence which prepares ESL students to take college courses leading to a certificate, degree, and/or transfer.
Folsom Lake College Program Chart: https://flc.losrios.edu/flc/main/doc/support-services/Assessment-Orientation/ESL-tree-sequence.pdf
Lessons Learned:
Students need to be penalized for using phones or translators during exams to cut down on "cheating".
The content on exams and quizzes and even reading(s) from the textbook should be scanned and any necessary or possibly confusing vocabulary, scenarios, or ideas should be pre-taught.
Students must be taught and trained on how to use Scantrons.
Some students may not find peer review sessions useful if they are at a much lower "level" than another student or vice-versa -- one student may not get enough or give enough feedback for or from someone else.
Peer Review Sessions must be thoroughly explained.
MLA Headings should be taught in the context of a reading and writing course for college-level readiness, even at a novice level.
Sometimes, the grammar that is needed for students to complete or write an activity from the textbook is NOT taught or explained in the same unit, and it must be supplemented.
In-class writing is important because it forces the student to produce the language that they know, rather than entering all or parts of their thoughts into a translator.
Some students have ideas of prepositions (or other concepts) wrong in their heads and may have a hard time un-learning them, i.e., "on Monday or "on September 18th".
Intermediate course for non-native speakers. Course topics for college, community, and career may include authentic academic lectures, videos and podcasts to develop oral language production and listening comprehension using level-appropriate vocabulary and grammar. (pass/no pass grading) (noncredit)
Sierra College Program Chart: https://www.sierracollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/esl-program-chart-f24.pdf
Lessons Learned:
Do not take for granted how long it might take an ELL to watch, listen to, and understand a 10-minute TedTalk video. It might take someone hours.
Students like and appreciate theme-based units.
It could be nice to incorporate a student-based unit into a course syllabus -- polling students what they might like to listen to, watch, and speak (Native American history, job interviews, politics, etc.)
I learned how to use and incorporate Padlet into a classroom. Students really enjoyed it as a way to get to know classmates and had told me that I should have used this earlier in the semester.
Students must know and learn each other's names as soon as possible. I went too long in the semester without ensuring this.
Students preferred on-paper note-taking and activities accompanied with listening and speaking activities.
Some students said "...sometimes, less is more." when it came to grammar and vocabulary explanation.
Students wanted to know more about U.S. culture and history rather than arbitrary or abstract ideas.
All students come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, so be cautious with what you might ask students to share with other students, even sharing an occupation could make another student uncomfortable.
Novice-high course for non-native speakers. Course topics for college, community, and career may include authentic academic lectures, videos and podcasts to develop oral language production and listening comprehension using level-appropriate vocabulary and grammar. (pass/no pass grading) (noncredit)
Sierra College Program Chart: https://www.sierracollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/esl-program-chart-f24.pdf
Lessons Learned:
Be careful with the textbooks that you use ... some examples, readings, scenarios, etc., do not apply to students' current contexts and might need a lot of pre-teaching. Is every unit, page, or activity relevant?
Vocabulary can be prioritized as an at-home activity, if more in-class time is needed.
Students appreciate the incorporation of morphology with vocabulary.
Students appreciate real-time, in-the-moment vocabulary explanations and advice.
Pronunciation is more nuanced and subtle than I thought. How much can students really hear or distinguish? (Example: Twenty or Twunny or Twenny, Relaxed = Relaxt or Relaxid, Patrick or Pachrick, Finds = Findz versus Camps)
Online learning platforms like Spark or MyELT are not perfect and can have wrong answers.
Basic grammar skills for non-native English speakers with focus on sentence-level usage. (not degree applicable)
Sierra College Program Chart: https://www.sierracollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/esl-program-chart-f24.pdf
Lessons Learned:
80-minutes (1 hour and 20) of class time to teach and practice grammar is not enough.
Students need clear explanations about Affirmative (do/does) and Negative Statements (don't/doesn't) in the Past (didn't) and Present with Do and Did.
Students need to practice There is / There are versus They are. Some students found this difficult.
When teaching WH-Questions, make a clear distinction between WH-Questions with BE verb and DO/DOES for students to recognize.
Students won't know that "Reiko" is a Japanese name, let alone a female name.
Pronouns (subject, object, possessive noun, possessive adjective) were much more difficult for students in this semester -- I need to come up with better ways to teach or quiz this.
Basic grammar skills for non-native English speakers with focus on sentence-level usage. (not degree applicable)
Sierra College Program Chart: https://www.sierracollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/esl-program-chart-f24.pdf
Lessons Learned:
Students want, need to, and should ask questions about English grammar to themselves and the teacher.
Students appreciated that I answered each and every question about English grammar.
Articles are/were the most difficult for students to grasp.
It is not enough to present grammar and practice grammar through grammatical judgement tests, but to also give students activities to use and produce the grammar themselves.
Be careful with using phrases like Iranian, Irani, Afghan, Afghani, Spanish or Spanish, etc., since some students or teachers might have different understanding of what these words mean.
Students benefit from being given Practice Quizzes and Studyguides before Exams.
Exam etiquette and rules must be taught and explained.
Novice level course of integrated listening, speaking, reading, vocabulary, grammar and writing skills to prepare students for novice-high, credit ESL courses. Emphasis on common situations and functions of college, vocation, and community. Activities include introduction to college resources and basic use of computers. Consistent attendance is required. (pass/no pass grading) (noncredit)
Sierra College Program Chart: https://www.sierracollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/esl-program-chart-f24.pdf
Lessons Learned:
Students clearly enjoyed activities that involved movement, i.e. interviewing classmates, role-play scenarios, jig-saw tasks, etc.
Role-play scenarios accompanied with scripts (with fill in the blanks), photos, and simple instructions were meaningful for students since they were tailored to their day-to-day lives.
Students appreciate their own names and lives incorporated into class material.
Give students silent time to study English Vocabulary before activities.
For 3-hour-long classes, find ways to break up the schedule by going outside, eating together, potluck, etc., if you have the resources. I was surprised to see how much the students enjoyed eating together.
It is easy for students to lose focus in a computer lab.
Help every student with their technology problems so that they do not lag behind or establish ground rules for students to help those sitting next to them.
One student said, "Is this an English class or a Russian class?" referring to how much L1 talk was present in the classroom -- it could be important to limit some L1 use.
Intensive, semester-long course to help students use reading, writing, discussion, and research for discovery, intellectual curiosity, and personal academic growth - students will work in collaborative groups to share, critique, and revise their reading and writing. Students will engage in reading and writing as communal and diverse processes; read and write effectively in and beyond the university; develop metacognitive understandings of their reading, writing, and thinking processes; and understand that everyone develops and uses multiple discourses.
CSU Sacramento Site: https://catalog.csus.edu/courses-a-z/engl/
Lessons Learned:
Confirmed the usefulness and benefit of repeated 1-1 conferences for student engagement and learning through troubleshooting and understanding students' perspectives
Confirmed the benefit of modeling expectations for small group discussions and participation
Planning 1-2 activities and executing them well is more beneficial than planning 3-4 activities and implementing them less than adequately
Students should have a say (choice) in assignments and projects to promote engagement, motivation, and a stronger "product"
Calling on or volunteering students may be more useful and practical than offering more wait time after asking a question
It is beneficial to poll students to learn their feedback preferences, written feedback versus audio feedback
Less is more when it comes to generating a reliable and good feedback system
Fronting each assignment rubric is incredibly important to ensure that all students and instructor are on the same page before assignment submissions, i.e. co-constructing rubric might take time but would be beneficial
Students deserve to know the "why" and relevance behind every assignment to their own life and how they navigate through the world
Students must be reminded of how far they have come and done throughout the semester
The EOP Summer Bridge Academy is a free six-week program designed for incoming First-year EOP students. The primary goal of Summer Bridge is to assist incoming students in making a smooth transition from high school to college life. The program serves historically underserved students who come from first-generation and low-income backgrounds.
CSU Sacramento Site: https://www.csus.edu/student-affairs/centers-programs/educational-opportunity-program/summer-transitional-programs.html#summer-bridge
Lessons Learned:
1-1 Conferences are immensely beneficial for student motivation and student learning, especially when repeated throughout the semester or course via small checkpoints
Breakout Rooms are tricky to monitor regarding whether students are engaging in the task or not, i.e. silently thinking or waiting for someone to start talking
Google Docs are a fantastic way to implement more real-time collaboration and community in an online environment
Students might be more open to showing up to Office Hours when given "booking" or "appointment" software versus expecting students to show up to Office Hours after merely reading the syllabus
Needs analysis, diagnostics, and surveying students are crucial in discovering what students already know when it comes to academic skills and strategies
Interacting with students while screens are off is challenging, however using a code of emojis and emoticons can be a great way to get students involved
Be more sensitive toward amount of material / assignments included in a syllabus
Intensive, semester-long course to help students use reading, writing, discussion, and research for discovery, intellectual curiosity, and personal academic growth - students will work in collaborative groups to share, critique, and revise their reading and writing. Students will engage in reading and writing as communal and diverse processes; read and write effectively in and beyond the university; develop metacognitive understandings of their reading, writing, and thinking processes; and understand that everyone develops and uses multiple discourses.
CSU Sacramento Site: https://catalog.csus.edu/courses-a-z/engl/
Lessons Learned:
Both Covid-19 and online education has had negative impacts on student interaction during small-group or peer discussion, so expectations must be set and modeled by the instructor
Mini-lessons on grammar are useful for students but must be scaffolded properly for students to learn
Students should be guided in how to view and implement instructor feedback
Students use a variety of devices like phones, tablets, and computers to access and view course content which all have their drawbacks and limitations
Learning burden is real and students are tired from their other classes / responsibilities
Not only do students need resources, but easily accessible ones to assist them with learning when you (the instructor) is not available.