ESL 502, Unit 12, Activity Topic 2

View Robin Scarcella's discussion related to academic vocabulary and the brief presentation on academic vocabulary from "What Works." A transcript of the presentation is provided as a resource. Respond to the prompt below.

Consider what types of support ELLs may need in developing literacy to be successful in the academic content areas. Consider the best practices discussed in topic 2 as well as phonology, grammar, semantics, syntax and pragmatics as it applies to content area reading and writing. Review texts or reading materials from one content area of your choice, and explain how you might help a content teacher create learning opportunities that would support literacy? Where are their opportunities to support language development from a linguistic perspective (studying word parts in science, use of past tense in social studies, etc.) and where are their opportunities to build background, foster interaction, build vocabulary and make content meaningful to increase comprehension? Post your response on your blog only.

ELLs need much support in developing literacy and success in their academic content areas.  If I were an ESL teacher working with a content teacher, I would meet with that teacher during staff development time and come up with a plan to support the instruction going on in the content classroom.  Coordination and communication are vital.  For example, if the subject of the content area were social studies, I would develop a plan to pre-teach the vocabulary for those students.  If the lesson was to be about the United States Civil War, I might introduce the students to the topic so they have foreknowledge of the subject before the lesson.  I would teach vocabulary that might be specific to this lesson and allow them to become familiar with using it.  I would also incorporate topics such as historical people and events so the students become comfortable with the subject matter before the content is presented in the mainstream classroom. 

As Dr. Scarcella stressed, it is not enough just to have the ELL students learn the definition of words, but to actually have them use them.  I may divide my students into leveled groups to practice using the new, specialized academic vocabulary that they will be learning in their content classroom.  It also might help to use cognitive strategies to slow down the study of the text in order to aid in comprehension.  I also would encourage and be willing to assist the mainstream teacher in using sheltering in the content classroom.

ESL 502, Unit 12, Activity Topic 1

Watch the following webcast featuring Diane August, Margarita Calderόn and Fred Genesee on best practices for teaching ELLs, and the two short videos on literacy development at home. Consider how the information shared in the webcast and videos relates to the best practices for instructing ELLs shared in Topic 2 and in the assigned readings. Your response will be posted on your blog.

The webcast covered many topics that summarized our course and expanded on some of the material from our lessons.  The discussion had much information and I have bookmarked it for future reference.  The issue is clear that ESL students are increasing across the country.  They are affected by the changes in the law with the No Child Left Behind Act.  Although the law is meant to address all students across the country, it is important to remember that ELL students are a very diverse group and that “one size does not fit all.” 

Dr. August repeated a recurring concept from the assigned readings and it is something I will not forget.  She emphasized that the students level of literacy in L1, including literacy skills, can be transferred to L2.  This means that there is much value in bilingual education for younger students and those who have not achieved many academic language skills in the native language.  Dr. August also stressed some recurring themes and mentioned practices that work.  Vocabulary development and activities that increase phonological awareness are very important.  Scaffolding was also given attention, and one practice she gave as an example is pre-teaching vocabulary before reading a text.  In this way, the students can be supported as they work to learn both content and academic language.  Also I found it noteworthy that Dr. August stressed that assessment is critical.  Teachers need to be constantly assessing and asking themselves “Does this work?  Why or why not?”  She suggests that teachers can gain skills to better support their students through professional development and having a theoretical background. She also said much research remains to be done in this area.

Dr. Genesee supports Dr. August’s ideas about professional development and stated that “teachers need repertoire for teaching ELL students” so they can tailor the response.  He also said that ELLs can come at any grade level and that teachers should be prepared for that.  There was some discussion about learning disabilities and Dr. Genesee said that it is very difficult to diagnose and should be done with care.  One of the primary ways to diagnose this is to test the student and see if the issue is also present in the L1 or only the L2.  Dr. Genesee reiterated that phonemic awareness, morphological awareness, vocabulary, and phonics are important.  This instruction should begin as early as kindergarten.  He emphasized that instruction should be explicit with a good degree of technical knowledge and correction of errors.  However, he did state that overcorrection can be discouraging to the students, so there is a fine line to be walked.

One thing Dr. Calderon said that struck me was that mainstream teachers should support the ESL efforts by techniques such as sheltered instruction.  I wonder how much training mainstream teachers receive across the country in supporting their ELL students and the ESL specialists who teach them. 

I appreciated the video clip of the kindergarten teacher in California.  His diverse ELL student population was assessed on an individual basis almost continually by their dedicated teacher.  I would like to think that this kind of individual attention and explicit instruction, as well as the assessment and adjustments made coming from this, is the model that can be implemented across the country.  Rather than treat students as one homogenous group, each student is given the personalized attention and assessment in order to make sure that “no child is left behind.”

ESL 502 Unit 11

Here is my Language Comparison Poster for unit 11.  I'm sorry it's late.  http://www.slideshare.net/tem209/language-comparison-presentation-12328285

Activity Topic 2

Activity 1: What would you do?

ABC News Video "What Would You Do?": http://abc.go.com/watch/what-would-you-do/SH5555951/VD5580302/what-would-you-do-813

I believe that the video was very enlightening about the vast difference of opinion in the US concerning immigration policies and current realities.  As an ESL teacher, I believe that I should advocate for my students in all areas where they may find difficulty in assimilating to life in the US.  As expected in the video, there were some people who agreed with the racist employee.  Not only did he refuse to serve them, but he insulted them.  It was good to see that of those who reacted, more people defended the immigrants than sided with the racist viewpoints.  However, I noticed that the majority of people did not react either way.  As someone who hopes to assist my ESL students in every way possible, I should remind myself that not speaking out against racist behavior in public should not be an option.  Those of us in the TESL profession know how difficult it is to learn a foreign language.  The attitudes expressed that people need to learn English in order to be in America most likely do not understand the reality of this.  These immigrants may be too busy trying to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table, and providing for their children, that they do not have the time or energy to learn English.  If I were brought into a debate or observed this kind of biased treatment, I would seek to educate the offending party by making this clear to them.

I saw a bumper sticker the other week in my neighborhood that said “Learn English or get the (expletive) out!”  This made me very sad that some people are so angry at those who are struggling to get by that I would like to use the insights I have gained through the study of linguistics and foreign languages to explain this to people.  I do not have personal experience interacting with administrators, students, and parents in the K-12 school system, but I feel from what I have read in our discussions that ESL instruction is frequently shortchanged in resources, budget, time, and accommodations.  I think that as an ESL teacher, there is no way to avoid struggling against these kinds of attitudes and policies.

Activity 2: Do you speak American?

Visit the PBS website to explore several topics in sociolinguistics. There you will find educational resources for both teachers and students. Briefly reflect (3-5 sentences) on how this information helps you as an educator.

Language and Society http://www.pbs.org/speak/words/sezwho/socialsetting/ 

Do you Speak American? Understanding African American English http://www.pbs.org/speak/education/curriculum/college/aae/#key 

Do you speak American? PBS overview of Sociolinguistics.http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/sociolinguistics/sociolinguistics/ 

African American English Vernacularhttp://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/AAVE/hooked/ 

Standard American English http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/standardamerican/ 

American Varieties of English http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/

Reading this reinforces the thought that everyone speaks with an accent.  There is no such thing as a language without accent.  The standard English in America is spoken with the Midwestern accent, frequently taught in schools and used among the educated, and most radio and television broadcast journalists and announcers.  However, I believe, as the articles point out, that people in everyday life use the non-standard forms that are used by the community to which they belong.  Therefore, as an educator, if I am teaching ESL in an area of the country that has a strong accent (compared to the standard or Midwestern accent), I should teach both pronunciations and dialects in order to best serve the students.

Activity Topic 1: Language Variation in the US

Visit the following websites related to accents of the US. As you explore, think about how these various accents differ and how they might be have been influenced in various regions. How might the IPA be used to capture these accents?

•  Click on the flags of the maps to hear the same statements read by people of various regions of the US. http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_maps/namerica.php

•  Here you can hear various samples of Accents from regions of the US.http://web.ku.edu/~idea/northamerica/usa/usa.htm

•  Can you guess where my accent is from? Play the game on the Language Trainers Website: http://www.languagetrainersgroup.com/accent-game.php

•  American Dialects http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/linguistics6e/pages/bcs-main.asp?v=chapter&s=09000&n=00010&i=99010.01&o=|00030|00060|00050|00010|&ns=0

According to O’Grady, accents refer only to pronunciation, unlike dialects, which are subsets of the same language (pp. 486-7).  Since English spelling is frequently not the guiding factor in pronunciation, people who are separated by geography, class, or other factors can diverge in the way they pronounce phonemes.  Playing the different accents on the Language Trainers game, I could tell that the speakers had different accents, and all the words were understandable, but I could not place the location in 80 percent of the samples.  Phonemes which are similar can shift regionally until that becomes the standard for that area, for example a long /o/ sound becomes a shorter /o/. 

When I try to determine accents, usually the first thing I concentrate on is the vowel pronunciation, because vowels seem to allow for the most variation within the pronunciation of the word.  I think that the IPA is very helpful when studying accents.  While audio recordings are also very useful, seeing the variation in print through the IPA helps the most when analyzing accents for patterns within a geographic area.  On the George Mason University website, I liked to compare the different accents by looking at the IPA while listening to the speaker.  It helped me notice the differences better.

Unit 9 Grammar: Topic 2

3.    Create a visual timeline to help ELLs understand the tense in a few sentences from the Fisherman story. Choose 2-3 sentences. Use a visual time line to SHOW where and how the tense occurs in time. The attached Verb Tense Chart will help you understand the 12 Verb Tenses of English. Post the sentence and timelines to the blog.  (see the attached Summary Verb Tense Chart)

4.    Watch the video of TESOL Grammar experts Betty Azar, Keith Folse, and Michael Swan. Consider whether you think grammar can be acquired through immersion or if you think it must be taught?

I was impressed by the video http://www.azargrammar.com/authorsCorner/2008Panel_Intro.html.  It reinforced what I believe, which stems from my experiences learning a second language, that Grammar must not be ignored.  It cannot be totally learned by adult L2 students who are receiving comprehensible input alone.  When I studied Korean, we had a new lesson every day and a half.  Each lesson had about 15-20 vocabulary words and one to three grammar patterns that we learned.  I think that if a student does not get a moderate amount of explicit grammar instruction, you get problems such as those shown in the video by Betty Azar of the student with fossilized grammar and syntax problems.  As she stated, the goal is not to “know a lot” but to create an interlanguage which is increasingly fluent and accurate.

Some other things from the video that I will remember:

From Betty Azar:  We need to use a hybrid of grammar teaching and communicative teaching.  Ultimately they have the same goal.

From Keith Folse:  “The purpose of teaching languages (grammar teaching) is to be able to do something with the language, it’s not to be able to recite the rules back.”

Learn something about the L1 of your students to see if the error is a random occurrence or something that is common to native speakers of that language.

From Michael Swan:  We need to prioritize the teaching of grammar.  Not everything can be taught explicitly.  We should teach what students need most.   Be realistic.

Unit 9 Grammar: Topic 1

Topic 1:

The original Fisherman story:

John is a fisherman. He hasn’t had much luck catching fish in the past few weeks. He is hoping to catch more fish tomorrow, but he doesn’t know if it will be any better. He has never been a very successful fisherman, even though it is the only job he’s ever had. If he is able to catch two nets full of fish, he will be able to pay off his debt; however, this hasn’t happened in the past four years.

John would have become a farmer if he could have, but he has never had the money to buy land.

His brother bought land last winter, but sold it to the neighbor when the economy crashed. John loves fishing, but longs to be more successful. When he was feeling down, he painted his boat, “Troubled Waters,” blue and shined it up. John asked his brother what he thought of the new look, but his brother just laughed and said, “You’re always fishing for compliments.”

If John had had more energy, he might have argued with his brother, but instead, he began making more nets, with the hopes of increasing his catch the next day.

1. The Fisherman story in Topic 1 had too many mixed verb tenses. The first part was re-written to use simple present and past. Rewrite the second part using only simple present and simple past and post it on the blog.

My edit:
His brother bought land last winter, but sold it to the neighbor when the economy became bad. John loves fishing, but wishes to be more successful. When he felt sad, he painted his boat. The boat is named “Troubled Waters,” and John polished it. John asked his brother what he thought of the boat’s new appearance, but his brother just laughed and said, “You always seek compliments.”

John almost argued with his brother but he did not have enough energy. Instead he made more nets, because he hoped to increase the amount of fish caught the next day.


2. Comment on what other parts of the story might be confusing to the students and might you address this?

There are many possibly confusing parts to this story, especially for those at the introductory and beginning levels of English study. It appears the most confusing is the use of advanced verb tenses. There were also a number of idioms and a play on words which would be lost on many ESL students.

In rewriting the story, I found it difficult to only use simple present and simple past without slightly changing the meaning. To make it easier to read, I also tried to remove idioms and other non-standard forms. For example, I changed “fishing for compliments” to the simple “seek,” although the play on words is lost. I would explain the idiom and the humor involved by saying that to a fisherman.

Conversation Analysis Assignment

Your homework: (Mr. Smith is Mohammed's Teacher)
Mr. Smith: Do you know what to do for homework?
Mohammed: Yes, I think so.
Mr. Smith: So you understand how to do it?
Mohammed: Yes, sir.
Mr. Smith: Ok, great, I look forward to seeing your answers tomorrow.
Mohammed: Yes, thank you.

1. Choose one dialog. Identify where the miscommunication occurs. Explain what each speaker might be thinking.
2. Explain what cultural factors may contribute to the miscommunication in the conversation. Post your answers on the blog; be sure to identify which conversation you are referring to.

In the dialog above, on the surface there is nothing wrong with the conversation. However, I am led to believe that Mr. Smith was seeking assurance that Mohammed did, in fact, understand his homework. Although he did not receive it, it may be that in his culture, Mohammed is being respectful of his teacher’s time by not drawing out the conversation. He also truly may not understand, but feels like it may be shameful to admit so, and that it is his fault he does not understand. He may plan to meet his classmates later to ask them to explain everything to him.

The pithiness of Mohammed’s answers seems to violate Grice’s Conversation Maxim of Quantity. Had Mohammed been aware of this maxim, he may have given more information to his teacher so that his teacher would be reassured that he in fact had understood the assignment.

Mohammed also may have violated Grice’s Conversation Maxim of Quality if he in fact did not tell the truth and did not understand the homework.

Grice's Conversational Maxims

Grice’s Conversational Maxims act as guidelines to ensure that conversational interactions satisfy the Cooperative Principle, which states that contributions to conversations are appropriate to the conversation. The four maxims are that of:

1. Relevance

2. Quality

3. Quantity

4. Manner

I will provide examples of times when someone may intentionally violate each of the maxims and why they might do so.

The maxim of relevance states that you stay relevant to the topic. One may intentionally violate this when one is asked a question that one does not wish to answer. It may serve as a somewhat polite way of sidestepping the question without explicitly saying “I do not wish to answer that question.” The one violating the maxim would hope that the other party would get the picture. An example might be if someone asked, “How do you like my painting?” and the answer would be, “I like turtles!”

The maxim of quality states that one makes their contribution to the conversation the truth. If one wishes to answer the question, “How do you like my painting?” without hurting the other’s feelings by saying it is not good, one might reply, “I really like it!” even if they believe it is horrid.

The maxim of quantity states that one makes their contribution not more or less informative than required. Some people may violate this by speaking excessively in one-word answers. On the other hand, we all seem to know someone who, when asked, “How do you like my painting?” answer beginning with the history of art from the ancient world to the present. To intentionally violate this maxim, one might want to avoid conversation or drive the other person away with excessive information.

The maxim of manner states that one would only use brief and less obscure descriptions, and should avoid ambiguous statements. If one wanted to be evasive in revealing their true feelings (especially if they are negative), they may intentionally make an ambiguous statement that can be taken either as a negative or a positive.

Reference:

O’Grady, W. & Archibald, J. (Eds.). (2010). Contemporary linguistics. An introduction. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Freeman & Freeman Applications p. 129, # 9

Investigating the Letter G sounds when at the beginning of a word.

These words have a "Hard G" /g/ sound:

gab

gap

gauge

guard

gain

gold

got

gulf

gull

"Soft G" /j/ sound (before e,i,y):

gem

gerbil

geography

giant

ginger

geometry

giraffe

gypsy

gym

Generally the letter G at the beginning of a word uses the /g/ sound (Hard G), except if the vowel following it is e, i, y. This holds for words of Romance origin, but words of non-Romance language origins may be exeptions (see list below).

girl - Germanic origin

geyser - Old Norse

get - Old Norse and Germanic

give - Old Swedish

gecko - Malay

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/phonetic/hard_g.shtml

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/phonetic/soft_g.shtml

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Freeman & Freeman Applications p. 128, # 3

1. brazen - O.E. bræsen "of brass," from bræs "brass" + see -en (2). The figurative sense of "hardened in effrontery" is 1570s (in brazen-face), perhaps suggesting a face unable to show shame (see brass). To brazen it out "face impudently" is from 1550s.

Origin of BRAZEN Middle English brasen, from Old English bræsen, from bræsbrass

First Known Use: before 12th century

2. furniture

1520s, "act of furnishing," from M.Fr. fourniture, from fournir "furnish" (see furnish). Sense of "chairs, tables, etc.; household stuff" (1570s) is unique to English; most other European languages derive their words for this from L. mobile "movable."

Origin of FURNITURE Middle French fourniture, from fournir

First Known Use: 1542

3. tobacco

1580s, from Sp. tabaco, in part from an Arawakan (probably Taino) language of the Caribbean, said to mean "a roll of tobacco leaves" (according to Las Casas, 1552) or "a kind of pipe for smoking tobacco" (according to Oviedo, 1535). Scholars of Caribbean languages lean toward Las Casas' explanation. But Sp. tabaco (also It. tabacco) was a name of medicinal herbs from early 15c., from Arabic tabbaq, attested since 9c. as the name of various herbs. So the word may be a European one transferred to an American plant. Cultivation in France began 1556 with an importation of seed by Andre Thevet; introduced in Spain 1558 by Francisco Fernandes.

Origin of TOBACCO Spanish tabaco, probably from Taino, roll of tobacco leaves

First Known Use: circa 1565

4. comfort c.1200, "feeling of relief" (as still in to take comfort in something); also "source of alleviation or relief;" from French (see comfort (v.)). Replaced O.E. frofor. Comforts (as opposed to necessities and luxuries) is from 1650s.

Origin of COMFORT Middle English, from Anglo-French cunforter, comforter,from Late Latin confortare to strengthen greatly, from Latincom- + fortis strong

First Known Use: 13th century

5. pulverize late 15c. (implied in pp. pulverizate), from L.L. pulverizare "reduce to powder or dust," from L. pulvis (gen. pulveris) "dust" (see pollen). Related: Pulverized; pulverizing.

Origin of PULVERIZE

Middle English, from Late Latin pulverizare, from Latinpulver-, pulvis dust, powder

First Known Use: 15th century

6. fashionista by 1996, from fashion + -ista (see -ist). In the same sense were fashionist (1610s, alive as late as 1850); fashion-monger (1590s); fashion-fly (1868).

Origin of FASHIONISTA

1fashion + -ista (as in Sandinista)

First Known Use: 1993

7. widget "gadget, small manufactured item," c.1920, Amer.Eng., probably an alteration of gadget, perhaps based on which it.

Origin of WIDGET

alteration of gadget

First Known Use: 1926

8. sleaze "condition of squalor," by 1967, back formation from sleazy. Meaning "person of low moral standards," and the adjective use, are attested from 1976. Sleazy - 1640s, "hairy, fuzzy," later "flimsy, unsubstantial" (1660s), of unknown origin; one theory traces it somehow to Silesian "of the eastern German province of Silesia" (Ger. Schlesien), where fine linen or cotton fabric was made (Silesia in ref. to cloth is attested in English from 1670s; and sleazy as an abbreviated form is attested from 1670), but OED is against this. Sense of "sordid" is from 1941.

Origin of SLEAZE

back-formation from sleazy

First Known Use: 1954

Origin of SLEAZY

origin unknown

First Known Use: circa 1645

9. perdition mid-14c., "fact of being lost or destroyed," from O.Fr. perdiciun (11c.), from L.L. perditionem (nom. perditio) "ruin, destruction," from L. perditus, pp. of perdere "do away with, destroy, lose, throw away," from per- "through" (here perhaps with intensive or completive force, "to destruction") + -dare "to put" (see date (1)). Special theological sense of "condition of damnation, spiritual ruin, state of souls in Hell" (late 14c.) has gradually extinguished the general use of the word.

Origin of PERDITION

Middle English perdicion, from Anglo-French perdiciun, Late Latin perdition-, perditio, from Latin perdere to destroy, from per- through + dare to give — more at PER-, DATE

First Known Use: 14th century

10. besmirch 1590s, from be- + smirch.

Our Gayness and our Gilt are all besmyrcht. ["Henry V," IV.iii.110]

First Known Use of BESMIRCH

1599

Origin:

1590–1600; be- + smirch

Sources

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

http://www.learn-english-today.com/New-words/new-words-in-english.html

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

http://www.pathguy.com/shakeswo.htm

Freeman & Freeman, page 128, Applications, # 4

Cummings three forces that shape the spelling system: Phonetic, Semantic, and Etymological demands.

Phonetic Demand:

hit

put

day

men

fed

Semantic Demand:

sign/signal

design/designate

column/columnist

resign/resignation

soft/soften

Etymological Demand:

mosquito

coyote

pizza

dachshund

tsunami

Applications from Freeman & Freeman

5. Concerning common allophones in English versus other languages, I discovered when I was learning Korean that there are similarities between some Korean alphabet characters and their counterparts in our Roman alphabet. For example, some consonants in Korean are unaspirated (unaccompanied by a puff of air) and they have an aspirated version. For example the Korean character of ㄷsounds most closely to the letter D in English. The aspirated version ㅌ sounds most like the letter T. In this way I realized that in English the letter T is similar (but not exactly) to the letter D accompanied by the puff of air. This helped me when trying to figure out Korean pronunciation, as I would mentally translate the Korean character to the corresponding letter in English. This is the mental list of Korean/English equivalents that I carried in my mind when first learning to read and speak the Korean alphabet:

Korean ㄱ English G

Korean ㅋ English K

Korean ㅂ English B

Korean ㅍ English P

Korean ㅈ English J

Korean ㅊ English CH

Korean ㅇEnglish (silent consonant)

Korean ㅎ English H

Korean ㄷ English D

Korean ㅌ English T

The consonants that did not have aspirated versions include the nasals ㄴ/ N and ㅁ / M. This is something I discovered while learning Korean, but reading our text I see that there are many more allophones than that. In Freeman, p. 88, it states that the phoneme /t/ has six variations in English.

Based on our readings, I believe that the rules for allophones can be different across languages.

6. I have lived in west Texas and there is definitely a different dialect there than in Pennsylvania. Some differences in pronunciation I remember include the word help, as in “May I help you?” A person with the west Texas dialect pronounced it as hep with the /l/ left out. Other differences in pronunciation were words like time is pronounced like tahm. Often the final –g sound at the end of –ing words would be omitted. However, I think this is common in many dialects of the United States.

Some words used in that dialect that are different than northeast Pennsylvania include “y’all” as a contraction for “you all.” This is usually associated with the American South in general. I believe that there is a bias against certain accents, or perhaps stereotyping based on dialect. It is generally considered that people from the South are slower, polite, and more laid back. People with a New York City dialect may be stereotyped as rude, in a hurry, and aggressive.

I appreciate the different dialects and prefer that people use them in everyday speech as long as it does not interfere with their ability to communicate. However, in light of the biases against dialects I would understand if people in certain occupations or situations took classes in dialect reduction.

MINIMAL PAIRING

In my adult classroom I often have ELL students whose native language is Spanish. Many are working parents who need to quickly assimilate into the English speaking culture. My first exercise for minimal pairs would stress the different vowel sounds in English as it is difficult for native speakers of Spanish. This is primarily because in Spanish the vowels are always and consistently pronounced the same way. As we know, this is far from the case with English!

I would have cards made up for the students so that each student could take a set home to practice outside school. For the classroom activity we shuffle the cards and pass them out among the students. For 5 to 10 minutes each student will look at the card and pick a classmate to pronounce the pairs out loud, then repeat by listening to the classmate. If I wanted to add an additional challenge, one classmate could read the minimal pairs and another student stand at the board and write what they hear. It might be interesting to see if they can understand each other.

The words in my first list might include the following minimal pairs:

and/end

bet/bait

bet/bat

bit/beet

bought/bet

cart/caught

cat/cart

cat/cut

caught/coat

caught/cot

coat/cot

hour/are

itch/etch

kettle/cattle

mat/met

set/sat

sheep/ship

sit/set

tail/tell

tail/tile

ten/teen

tile/toil

tin/ten

Following the exercise I could have a bottom-up method illustrated reading exercise incorporating the words to be read aloud in class.

One Year Later

I began this blog as a part of my participation in the ESL 502 class at Wilkes University. One year later I am adding another entry because I had to withdraw from the course in 2011 due to a broken ankle and surgery.

I look forward to continuing my studies in TESL and reading my classmates' blogs as well.