ESL/ESOL Articles

The incorrect use of the words "there, their, or they're" is a special pet peeve of mine. This is a common error that can be easily addressed and, while proper usage doesn't garner any attention, improper use can make your writing incomprehensible. So - simple rules to follow:

Are we talking about ownership of an object? (house, dog, place, movie, etc.? ) Use THEIR
ex: That dog is their dog.

Are we indicating where an object is located? (on a table, in a corner, etc) Use THERE
ex: That dog is over there, in the corner.

Are we indicating what someone is doing? (going to the store, the museum, etc) Use THEY'RE which is a contraction of the words "They are".
ex: They're walking the dog in the morning.

A little memory trick - They're walking their dog over there.

Remember, just because words sound the same doesn't mean they have the same meaning. A few seconds to determine the proper spelling saves you a lot of grief in the long term.

There is a blog section on my website. This summer while teaching a beginning ESL class for adults, I saw many were working and couldn't come everyday. Since we were reviewing grammar points and conversation questions, I decided to make a blog section on my website (which doesn't appear on google search yet). I projected the website blog lesson with Smart Board technology onto the screen the first 10-15 minutes of class so that the students who had been absent could see what we learned and get the needed practice. This was also a review for the students who were there. Each page has a photo, which I took. I would make a lesson, for example: This, That, These, Those and refer to the photo using sentences and conversation questions. I think it is helpful for the students and I enjoy doing it. Now, I have to think of what to do with Intermediate and Advanced students. Most of the time, I look up materials on line as there are so many good sites to supplement lessons.

One of my favorite projects to work on with students is the Power Point presentation. Recently this year, I worked with a post-doctoral student from South Korea who was studying at the University of Oklahoma. He was preparing a Power Point presentation based on the research he completed for his doctoral degree. Although he had studied English for many years, he still felt nervous at the thought of speaking in front of his fellow professors and graduate students.

We worked together for three weeks, improving the grammar in his Power Point and clarifying his explanations, so that he could speak freely on the topic. He asked many questions about idiomatic English which he had heard while living in Oklahoma and tried to adopt new phrases which would make him sound more relaxed and casual during the presentation.

He was very happy with our one-on-one tutoring because he knew he could ask questions without feeling embarrassed or shy. His communication skills really improved because we focused specifically on his needs and goals. In the end, it was a satisfying experience for him because he felt that he learned exactly what he wanted at the pace that he set. I was glad to be able to help him succeed.

Yesterday I savored my last sweet bean ddeok (rice cake) for a while on Korean Airways. It was soft, chewy, mild in flavor, but oh, so delicious! Although I am now back in Seattle, the calm, sweet taste of Korean confections, green tea soymilk, and piquant pepper paste will linger in my memory for quite a while, I think, as will the deep impression I formed of the Korean work ethic and value on education.

In Korea, they have a saying to guide high school students as they study for college entrance exams: "Sleep 4 hours, pass. Sleep 5 hours, fail." It may sound like a joke to us, but it's largely true. Korean high school students stay in school until 9 or 10pm and then study longer at private institutes, with tutors, or at home. There is of course great debate on whether it is good or fair to ask students to study this hard, but the system does produce a 99.7% literacy rate and an amazing population of well-informed, capable workers. I guess what I want to take away from the experience is just the knowledge that even the average student can work incredibly hard if motivated to do so, and that most of us are probably not being our best selves academically because we were not pushed this hard. Of course, some people argue for more balance in life, and I would probably agree. But we should keep in mind that people around the world are putting in thousands of hours of study, and we can push our students to work just as intensely from time to time, to make sure they are realizing their potential.

I saw the most amazing final product from a wonderful piece of curriculum yesterday. A teacher here at Korea University showed me her students' final reports on a group survey project they had conducted as part of their Academic English (EFL) class as freshmen. These are students who had studied a lot of English, but had not really put it to use in real world situations very much. For this project, students worked in small groups to design a short survey about a topic of their choice, usually relating to foreigners' impressions of or experiences in Korea. They then went around town to areas known to be commonly visited by foreigners and had the foreigners complete their survey. They took pictures of each subject and pasted the pictures into their final report along with the completed surveys. They then wrote up the results of their survey, and each group member wrote a series of journal entries detailing their experience planning, conducting, and reflecting on this project. Students found the project very challenging at first, but by the end, they were very grateful for having been pushed to use their English, go out and talk to people, and also to think about what it means to be a global citizen who travels or lives abroad and interacts with others from around the world.

This project impressed me not only because of the depth of thought that was apparent in the reflection pieces, but also because it was obvious that students really spent a lot of time using their English for so many different but related purposes. These bound books of surveys, pictures, and writings are pieces that students can be extremely proud of, and which can inspire them to challenge themselves similarly in the future. The project can be considered an excellent example of the language experience approach, in which language or literacy students go out and have some real world experience with their tutor or classmates, and then write as a way of reporting and reflecting on it. Sometimes the class can write one piece all together on the board, or a private student can compose their reflection with intensive help from their tutor. But the idea is that everyone has a shared experience to draw on, and the writing is an authentic piece of reflection and summary. I look forward to having more field trips and language experiences with my ESL and foreign language students in the future. If you have tried this kind of approach with your tutees, feel free to post about it in the comments section below.

Happy field-tripping!