Week 8: Last Week of
Civics
(and a Friends &
Family preview - Thanksgiving)
A lot of us worry about the future after the election. We want to share a letter from Tony Marx here, reminding us that we work at a place where everyone is welcome.
Dear colleagues,
I write to share some reflections in the wake of this week's election. Regardless of one's political affiliation, there is no doubt that the mission of our work is more vital, and more urgent, than ever.
The Library represents the best of our democratic traditions and practices. We are the place where all are welcome and where all come together—regardless of where they are from or how they identify, what race or religion or sexual orientation—in the pursuit of knowledge, to learn, and to find new opportunities as individuals and as communities. We stand for the power of the word, ideas, and open dialogue, for equality, and for the belief that progress is achieved through a greater understanding of our past and of one other. Our inclusion and respect across all differences, including political, is not only the hallmark of the Library but the founding and continued source of vitality for New York and the country.
More than ever, our city and our nation needs its libraries. To welcome all regardless of circumstance. To provide free books, materials, programs, and classes to enable individuals and communities to grow stronger. And to offer a venue for people to gather—children and grandparents, longtime residents and new immigrants, students and scholars, anyone who wants to discuss, to debate, and to help address the divisions that our election have laid bare.
I am humbled and proud to be part of an institution that continues to strive to build a better, more inclusive world.
Yours, Tony
Anthony W. Marx | The New York Public Library
President |
TEACHER RESOURCES
| CIVICS Theme-based readers with an instructors guide on this Canadian site. Many different topics, three levels. esl-literacy.com/readers Considering the outcome of this election, students may be confused about the Electoral Vote vs. the Popular vote. * Here's a good overview article with a video about the Electoral College from Diffen.com. * We prepared a handout with some resources from another article. (Download the word doc/PDF doc on the civics-wiki): 
Above is a sample snapshot from the video. It was produced during this election and has examples from the Clinton-Trump and Gore-Bush outcomes. The video is part of a New York Post Article about the Electoral Vote "The one scenario that could still get Hillary in the White House" (in the article, scroll down to the video).
TEACHER RECOMMENDATION
Recommed by teacher Grace-Ann Fogah:
* American History: http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/teachers.html?close=true
* EL Civics Online: This series of online courses will assist teachers in creating interesting, effective ESL lessons in these areas.
Some parts of these lesson plans can be integrated nicely into our curriculum.
 |
THANKSGIVING FT4T: Thanksgiving for the Whole Family The Free Technology for Teachers site presents Storycorps’ “Great Thanksgiving Listen” initiative – interviewing older family members on Thanksgiving. NPR’s Steve Inskeep gives 5 useful interviewing tips in a video with lots of visuals - good to watch with students if you have a projector set up:  A list of different things available on the Busy Teacher website: Busy Teacher Thanksgiving Larry Ferlazzo's Thanksgiving list is here: Best Sites to Teach and Learn About Thanksgiving The trusty website ELCivics.com has resources here: ELCivics - Thanksgiving |
TECHNOLOGY TIP
If you’re not on cooking duty, maybe you have some time over Thanksgiving...
… to accept the DIY challenge.
Teachers can only recommend apps they’re familiar with it. Why not find an app you’re not familiar with and practice? Maybe one of these? Just download and play around.
Duolingo – Learn another language yourself. Set up an account, practice 5-15 minutes every day, then share your experience with your students.
Whatsapp – Practice using Whatsapp. Oxford University Press has a great site with
25 tips how to use Whatsapp for English learning.
A lot of the activities are for outside of class learning where the teacher is not directly involved.
Find a “Word-a-day” app or dictionary in a language you want to learn, play around with it or get more serious.
Or find and work with any other app in another language and tell your students about it, it might be inspiring that the teacher practices, too.
* Read Russian in 3 hours (Elke is in lesson 5, so far, so good... It helps with learning to read Russian signs. For the actual language learning you'd need another app after that)
* Let's Talk Arabic (Has phonics and alphabet overview, plus simple lessons).
* Penyo Pal (French simple vocabulary game for beginners)
* If you know a good app, please share :)
It's good to be reminded how much effort it takes to learn a language.
Are you game?
:)
If you have questions about downloading or using the apps, email Elke: elkestappert@nypl.org
CLASSROOM PHOTOS
Your colleague Angela Thompson sent us some pictures from her classes to share with you.
Students from
Muhlenberg working together - All Students in Election Mode!
|
Hamilton Fish
Students in Election Mode!
   |
Tompkins Square
campaigning for Class President
     |
 November 4-5, 2016 Syracuse, New York
 Look who we found! "Mr. Ventures" - Tom Dare from Cambridge University Press (with Elke)
Here's a few notes from Elizabeth. (Elke will share next week.)
I gave my
first presentation. I have done poster presentations before, where I
literally stand next to a poster and talk about my topic, but I have never
had a lecture before. My topic was "Teaching Verbs to Level 1
Adults."
I had
handouts and my slides ready. I had a nice, engaged, but small group. (By
2:25 on the second day of the conference, everyone is ready to leave!)
 
By giving
the presentation I learned what I would do (and wouldn't do) next time. I
will definitely apply to present this at other conferences.
If anyone would like to see my slides, please email me: elizabethschade@nypl.org |
English
Language Teaching Global Blog
Our approach to adult
learners needs to be quite different from teaching younger learners, and even
teenagers. The term ‘andragogy’, popularised by Malcolm Knowles in the early
70s, provides a contrast to ‘pedagogy’, which comes from the Greek words ‘paed’,
meaning ‘child’ (as in paediatrics), and ‘agogus’ meaning ‘leader of’. According
to Knowles, one of the key ways in which andragogy should be different from
pedagogy is that it should take account of the greater life experience of
adults.
Read the entire blog post
here: Motivating Adults with Truly
Adult Content
|
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
 "Tech in Ten" : A NYS TESOL NYC Region Workshop
Sponsored by NYS TESOL NYC Region, in collaboration with Baruch
College's Tools for Clear Speech
Wednesday Nov 16, 2016, 6-8 PM
Baruch College, CUNY 55 Lexington Avenue
Register online now: http://tinyurl.com/NYS-TESOL-Tech-In-Ten-Nov2016
Learn novel ideas for incorporating technology into your classes in this fast-paced and dynamic event! Each presenter has ten minutes to demonstrate a tech tool for ESL education, followed by a short Q&A.
Learn, share and network at the reception after the presentations.
Advance registration due to space limitations
NYS TESOL Members: $10
Non-Members: $15
For more information, please contact nyc@nystesol.org
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NEXT FRIDAY WE'LL HAVE A TEACHER INTERVIEW FOR YOU...
SHOW
US THE LOVE!
One
of the only ways we can know if you like what we are doing is if you make a
comment on our blog page. Like our
blog? Are there topics you would like us to add? Please comment!
Would you like to contribute something? A link, teaching tip, other? Any time!
Thank
you, we really appreciate your feedback!
Have a great
week!!!
Elizabeth & Elke
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