December 14, 2015

Dear colleagues,

The last week of our Fall Cycle 2015: Friends and Family

NEWS SITES FOR ESL
Want to use current events and news in  your classroom? Consider using some of the sites mentioned on the TESOL Blog page: All the News That's Fit to Teach

And some more here, also from the TESOL Blog: 5 Sites for Using Mainstream News

ANOTHER WAY TO USE YouTube
Looking for different ways to use YouTube in your classroom? How about making a playlist collaboratively? This post by Practical Ed Tech teaches you how to Collaboratively Create Playlists

YOUTUBE
from Free Technology for Teachers
It's Not Just Cats & Khan Academy

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TEACHER SHARE

In Lower Manhattan , Ivana Ferguson's Seward Park class learned about the various political parties in the United States as part of their civics lesson.  The students then worked together in groups to come up with their own "alternative" parties and presented their ideas to the class.  These parties included: I hate the MTA Party,  Fancy Dress Party, Party Party Party, Animal Lovers Party, and the Best Party.

This was a great opportunity for students to work together, use technology, develop critical thinking skills, and practice public speaking.  Students listened to each presentation, took notes, and asked questions. After each group presented their ideas, the class voted for the political party that they wanted to join.

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Harlem and Muhlenberg teacher Katherine Perry and her students started a wonderful PEN PAL PROJECT:

The pen pal program started in early October and ended in mid-November.   The students wrote to each other about 5-6 times and I delivered the handwritten letters back and forth between my two intermediate classes.  I tried to pair the students by sex, different nationalities and languages, and similar writing levels.  It was challenging when one partner didn't appear in class, so I simply asked another student to respond to that letter.   Also, the Harlem students had 2 or 3 pen pals because the Muhlenberg class is almost triple in size.  The whole point is to practice writing, which certainly happened, and now they have some new pals.   Katherine Perry

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BREAK TIME:

We all want our students to keep up with their English during the break. Here are some resources for them:

WANY Conversation Classes at SASB- Our own Robin Poley is leading WANY conversation classes in the 42nd Street library, which is often called "sasby," for SASB, or the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. 

Ventures Arcade

Rosetta Stone

The website we mentioned in last week's blog: engvid.com

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Six Education Theorists That All Teachers Should Know

Read more about them here: 6 Educational Theorists

GOOGLE CALENDAR TIPS
Learn some tips for setting reminders in your Google Calendar from the Free Technology for Teachers website: Google Calendar Reminders

UPCOMING EVENTS

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Please see below for information about the APRIL 16, 2016 ADULT EDUCATION CONFERENCE

For more information and proposal guidelines, 

download the word document on our wikipage:

http://alc-teachers.wikispaces.com/conferences
PROPOSAL DEADLINE FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Dear Adult Education Program Leaders and Teachers,

The NYC 37th Adult Education Conference will be held on Saturday, April 16, 2016 in the High School of Fashion Industries. Thanks to your support, our 2015's conference was a big success. Now the No Child Left Behind law is discarded and the new Every Student Succeeds Act is just passed. While many changes are taking place in our nation and in the world, the higher quality of education to meet adult learners' needs is in demand more than ever. This year the theme of our conference is "Changing times in Adult Education: Collaborating to Meet the Challenge"  Please encourage your colleagues, the experienced and innovative teachers, to send proposals to us so that good teaching strategies, methods and ideas will be shared by our citywide colleagues.  Therefore, we can strengthen adult education programs and better serve our adult learners.

 For detailed information, please see the attachment below or go to our website---www.nycabeconsortium.weebly.com. All proposals, due by February 10, 2016, should be sent tonycabeconf@gmail.com. Registration to the conference will start on March 5, 2016.

Please forward this attachment to your colleagues. Thank you for supporting this citywide collaborative  professional development event!

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail us at nycabeconf@gmail.com or call us at 212-245-2768.

Our best regards,

Wendy Wen and Yolanda Rodriguez

Co-chairs of the NYC ABE Conference Committee

nycabeconf@gmail.com

212-245-2768

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and now...

... 10 QUESTIONS FOR LIANNE SMITH  Manhattan ESOL teacher Background Where are you from and what brought you to NYC?   I’m from Minnesota originally.  I came to New York in 1987 to play a couple of music gigs.  One of them was at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, and I met my future husband there through mutual friends.   We had a long distance romance for six months before I decided to move here permanently.   I felt very much at home in NY right away.  I loved the energy and the freedom.   When did you decide you wanted to be an ESOL/Adult Literacy teacher?  Why?             I started thinking about it in the 90s after having worked for 14 years as a computer instructor and database consultant for The Fund for the City of New York.   As our society got more computer savvy there wasn’t as much need for computer instruction so I was doing more consulting work.  I really missed teaching so I decided to look for other ways I could teach.  I’ve always worked for non-profit companies and I feel best at jobs where I’m serving the community.  Have you ever taught in another country?  How has that shaped you as a person and as a teacher? I’ve NEVER done this because I came to the ESOL field so late in my life.  If only I had known earlier how much I would like this profession!!   I feel like now I travel via my students’ stories. Teaching What is the biggest challenge and the most rewarding thing for you as an Educator?  I’ve run into a few classes that are driven more by passive rather than active learners.  I think it’s a real challenge to find ways to show how much faster (and more fun!) learning can be when students are able to let go of the idea that learning comes from a teacher pouring knowledge into their brains.   What’s rewarding?   I think in order to learn something new you have to open yourself up a bit, and so being in a room full of people who are open like that is kind of amazing in itself. There’s a certain kind of energy that you can’t experience elsewhere.   I also learn a lot from my students about how to approach learning and new situations in general.   My favorite students are the ones who are fearless, because I’m just the opposite, so I love having someone show me how it should be done! Do you have any special story you would like to share about a student or a class? One of the first classes I ever taught was a mixed level from 0 to 5.  I had a student from Peru who spoke no English and was also experiencing a huge amount of culture shock as well.  He wasn’t able to produce much language, but the other students tried to encourage him and he was able to at least come to class.    One morning I walked by his desk and out of the blue he pointed to a picture in his book and said  “Teacher,  she is a nurse.”     I nearly fell over with surprise.   I said “Yes, Jorge, she’s a nurse!!”   After that, he started speaking more.  That experience has stuck with me.   Sometimes it can take a long time before a student is ready.  Is there any specialized English class you would like to teach?   YES.  I would love to teach an ESL music class.   Classroom Tips How do you encourage students to practice English outside of class?   If we are studying a certain piece of grammar,  a lot of times I assign homework that has to do with reporting back with something they heard or saw.    We use it for discussion when the students come in, so that helps them actually do the work. What nobody knew... What do you like to do in your free time? Do you have a Black Belt in Karate? A secret recipe or amazing pet? Won an award?     I’m a musician.   I started playing guitar when I was thirteen.   I recorded a CD a few years ago and you can listen to it (and buy!) at https://liannesmith.bandcamp.com/       The CD is with me in a full band, but lately I’ve been playing solo.   When I was in my 20s I spent a year of my life traveling around in a van going from city to city playing in a rock-a-billy band called Safety Last.     I’m including some pics from gigs a few years ago:   the Bim Huis in Amsterdam  & Detroit Institute of Arts What is your favorite place / activity in NYC?   -- my favorite building is the Empire State Building.   Years ago I worked on lower Fifth Avenue and when crossing the street I would love the feeling of looking up at the building against a blue sky and think, “Hello Empire,  this is my city.”   My other favorite places are wherever my musician friends happen to have a gig that night.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS! ! !

with Neil Gaiman as Charles Dickens at NYPL, reading "A Christmas Carol"

Click HERE (Neil Gaiman/Tumblr)

Audio version HERE (NYPL)

Comments and suggestions for next cycle are much appreciated!
Please comment directly on the blog or email us.

See you for the winter cycle! (or before :)

Elizabeth
& Elke