Building Proficiency: Meeting the Challenge

1. Building Proficiency: Meeting the Challenge Rosanne Zeppieri Supervisor of World Languages West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District Rosanne.zeppieri@ww-p.org

2. Class 101

3. Communication is…“Knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom.”

4. Competence vs. Ability to Communicate • Focus on what students can DO with the language: observable performance Traditional Approach Proficiency-oriented Approach

5. Pair/Small Group Activities Paired and Small Group Activities • Give everyone a chance to speak and practice the language • Are student-centered rather than teacher-centered • Result in learners using language in a more natural and authentic way than in teacher-led activities Pair Work 1, Watcyn-Jones & Howard-Williams (2002)

6. Pair Interview

7. Information Gap One student has information that other partner does not have and the partners have to share their information.

8. Find the Difference Students work in pairs and each couple is given similar but different pictures. Students discuss the similarities and/or differences in their pictures.

9. Reporting Before coming to class, ask students to read a newspaper or magazine and, in class, report to their friends what they found the most interesting news. Students can also talk about whether they have experienced anything worth telling their friends in their daily lives.

10. Pair/Small Group Activities Questions to consider: • Is everyone talking? • Are students listening to each other? • Are they asking questions of fellow group members? • Are they giving reasons for ideas and expressing different opinions?

11. Prelude to Conversation • Equipping students to be able to communicate with the vocabulary, structures, and communicative devices needed to begin, maintain, and bring conversations to a close.

12. Guided Conversation • Preparing students for interpersonal speaking • Building their vocabulary and communication strategies • Thanks to Laura Terrill

13. Brainstorming/Semantic Mapping • Resurfaces prior learning • Introduces new vocabulary/structures • Organizes thoughts • Builds background knowledge • Establishes a context for learning • Introduces themes/big ideas • Pre-assesses prior learning

14. Think/Pair/Share / Brainstorm

15. ¿Dónde jugarán los niños?

16. Prelude to Conversation

17. Prelude to Conversation • Functions • Structures implicated • Vocabulary that students tend to forget or misuse • Pertinent tools for elaboration • Follow-up task

18. Teacher Worksheet

19. Teacher Worksheet

20. Classroom Brainstorming Chantal_Thompson@byu.edu

21. Socratic Circle Discuss the following questions using information gleaned from class work: Do humans change the environment or does the environment change humans? How do the choices we make concerning the environment reflect our culture and lifestyle?

22. Record student speech samples Olympus http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/645955/Olympus-VN-4100-PC-Digital-Voice/ FLIP Video Camcorder http://www.theflip.com/products_flip_ultra.shtml

23. ADVANCED Narrate and describe in all major time frames Discuss topics concretely and abstractly Handle a linguistically unfamiliar situation INTERMEDIATE Create with language Ask & answer questions Handle a simple situation or transaction Sentence-level speech Control of present tense NOVICE Minimal communicative ability 15 to 20 Words Memorized phrases Lists Major Levels of the ACTFL Proficiency Scale

24. Characteristics of Novice-Mid speakers • Respond to simple questions on the most common features of daily life • Convey minimal meaning • Isolated words • Lists of words • Memorized phrases • Some personalized recombinations of words or phrases • Satisfy only a very limited number of immediate needs

25. Characteristics of Novice-High Speakers • Respond to simple, direct questions or requests for information; express personal ideas by relying heavily on learned phrases or recombination of these; provide short and sometimes incomplete sentences in the present tense and may be hesitant and inaccurate • Able to ask a few formulaic questions • May appear surprisingly fluent and accurate when using learned material • Handle simple survival tasks at the Intermediate level, can sometimes respond in sentences, but cannot sustain this level of discourse

26. Characteristics of Intermediate-Mid Speakers • Able to handle successfully a number of uncomplicated communicative tasks by creating with the language in straightforward social situations • Conversation is restricted to concrete and predictable exchanges that would be necessary for survival in the target language country

27. Characteristics of a Intermediate-Mid speakers • Topics for conversation may include the following: • Information about self and family • Daily activities and personal preferences • Ordering food • Seeking lodging • Getting transportation • Asking directions • Making simple purchases

28. Characteristics of a Intermediate-High speakers • Narrate and describe across a wide-range of topics at the paragraph level • Compare and contrast • Offer and support opinions • Persuade someone to change point of view • Make and change plans • Offer advice • Handle a situation with a complication

29. Record student speech samples LOGITECH + Download a free, cross-platform sound editor at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Use the record feature on your cell phone

30. Closure • Jot down three new ideas that piqued your interest today. • Name one aspect of teaching to the standards that you would like to explore further. • Discuss these two items with a partner.