ELL-Designed Information

In my limited high school experience, the most important things in laying out a newspaper is space and marketability. You need to make sure the story fits, and you need to make sure it's understandable. Our instructor's advice was to write every article as if you were writing it to a child in about fifth grade. Usually, smaller words help save space, too!

Unfortunately, my more extensive experience in reading the newspaper is that most journalists don't follow this advice, especially now that the Internet provides limitless space for their articles. Many times, article-reading can turn out to be very similar to searching for a word in the encyclopedia or dictionary. Trying to understand one thing ends up trying to understand a chain of different things.

For learners of other languages, this can be an extremely frustrating experience. Luckily, there are several sites that shape the articles for ELLs, such as The Bangkok Post: Easy English News and the Simple English Wikipedia. Both simplify existing articles that can be compared to the original if you want, and the Bangkok post also has listening components.

The Bangkok post is designed for locals in Thailand. It has glosses of difficult words in English and Thai. The news is also more relevant to that region, but it can easily be expanded into a culture lesson or related to news relevant to your own students. For example, the article on smuggling could be related to the problems America had with Britain just before the Revolutionary War or to the more recent standoffs America has had with pirates.

Or for my own EFL setting, I could have students discuss their experiences with knock offs brought in from China, shoddy bootleg DVDs, or the Russian Mafia. I find it very difficult to watch V for Vendetta in Russian with the same guy dubbing all the male and female roles!

The Simple English Wikipedia, on the other hand, is designed to be readable by children and adults learning English. I figured the best way to test its usability would be to look up psychology:

Psychology is the study of human behavior, thought, and feeling. It deals with all actions and reactions of people. Because behavior is difficult to study as a whole, psychologists often only look at small parts of it at a time. Psychology overlaps with many other fields including Medicine, Biology, Computer Science and Linguistics.

Not bad! Even without reading the whole article, I think students will find these explanations more helpful than short dictionary entries. And if this version is even half as addictive as the full version of Wikipedia, your students will be reading junkies in a week! I also love that encyclopedias give students the opportunity to discover things in the target language that they didn't even know about in their L1. Just yesterday it helped a Portuguese student discover the walrus. After reading about it in English, he could click the Portuguese button on the left and read a similar entry in his native language-- after which he was certain he'd never heard of this majestic creature!

Stories in Steps

In reading, vocabulary is key, and in learning vocabulary, repetition and context are the keys! I think we all know that the door to SLA has a whole lot of locks on it!

I really like the reading activities available on the California Distance Learning Project web site and Forrest Lunn's ESL site because they provide a sort of reading skeleton key! (Okay, keys and locks are getting old, I know). Both these sites offer students the option to read a text in a natural version or an easier version.

While the natural version feel authentic in a journalistic sense, the easy versions used simplified grammar and vocabulary and also use a lot of repetition to keep students from becoming confused. The familiarity can also help them figure out other words in the sentence.

In the year 1986 there was a terrible explosion. The explosion was at a nuclear power plant in the another country called Ukraine. The radiation caused a lot of damage. It contaminated the soil and other things. People lived in the area when the explosion happened. Twenty years later those people are still suffering. Effects from the explosion will go on for a long time. -"Children From Russia Spend Summers in California"

Even if students find this version easy to read, it can help them figure out more difficult sections of the authentic text. Or, being a bit of a sadist, I wouldn't mind asking students to practice more complex grammar structures like clauses by rewriting the article without the repetition.

The effects of the April 26, 1986 explosion and meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet-controlled Ukraine persist 20 years later. Contaminated soil and the lingering fallout from the explosion's radioactive cloud continue to spawn serious health concerns across several western former Soviet states like Belarus, where experts estimate more than 60 percent of Chernobyl's nuclear fallout settled. -authentic article

Of course, it also helps that the sites provide vocabulary learning activities, such as matching games with listening components. For the articles, both sites also provide accompanying dictations, which are especially helpful with English's fun orthography. When students learn a new word from the context of the stories, it would make it stick if they can pronounce it and use it in conversation. Too frequently, I've settled on a lesser word even in my L1 because I'm not sure how to pronounce it. (Taciturn-- is it an s or a k? I can never remember!)



Both sites also provide numerous ways for teachers to test comprehension. There are vocabulary quizzes, content quizzes, and even spelling quizzes! On the California site, these exercises smack of rote learning to me, but the aspect of interaction can still make them useful.

Lunn's site provides much more thoughtful activities more appropriate for advanced students. First off, many of the stories are paired with similar ones, which makes them great for comparison discussions or exercises. And while the follow-up activities aren't electronic (aside from the quizzes), they are more integrative of the four skills. I also think his vocabulary exercises are more useful in setting up new words in students' schemata. One has them sort words according to whether they are negative, positive, or neutral.

Either of these sites would be great resources for integrating vocabulary-building with reading and listening.

Bad Designs for Consumers, Great for EFL!

I've already spent a ridiculous amount of time on the site Bad Human Factor Designs. It is both a celebration of human ingenuity... and stupidity in all the best ways.

Each entry discusses a design, usually for a simple, everyday item, which should be very simple but becomes overcomplicated by Man in his infinite wisdom. The entries also provide explanatory pictures that will help students through the text. And while there are some unexpected words, the author's sarcastic, journalistic approach to each topic makes it a very easy read.
Many entries also deal with problems that foreign language learners are likely to encounter.

Several center on travel, such as how to open the sealed toothpaste bottles that airlines give you, confusing bathroom and kitchen utility designs, and how to navigate the controls on cluttered gas pumps. I wish there had been a Russian equivalent, when I was trying to figure out the flusher in St. Petersburg...

The format of each entry is also helpful for students. Each explains the problem with the design and then offers suggestions for fixing it. Below that are reader comments. This makes for an easy discussion in class or a short writing assignment. What is the problem with the design? How does the author suggest fixing it? Are there other solutions you can think of? How does the design of this particular thing differ in Russia? Have you ever had a similar problem? These could also be prediction questions for before the reading. I definitely think it would be a fun warm up activity.

As a follow up assignment to warm up the next day, students could also write about design problems they have experienced in their own life. Keyboards, for example. The Russian Cyrillic alphabet has more letters than the Latin alphabet that English-speakers use. That means more keys, right?

Wrong. It means that for some keys, instead of a bracket you get a hard sign. Of course, you can easily program a little code to, for example, press Ctrl + R + U to change your computer between Russian keys and English keys, but that's a lot of work for one bracket. And what about remembering the keys when they are marked with English letters? One solution that I've seen the most for this is stickers that go over English keys to mark where the Russian letters are. As Russo-Centric as the country used to be, I would have figured that they had specifically designed Russian keyboards. What happened to them?

Luckily for our purposes, these are good things! Students in my particular age range (teens and young adults) will be eager to complain about anything! So while I get them honing their writing and reading skills, I can also let them blow off some steam on the petty annoyances of everyday life.

Book Jacket Predictions

Our teachers and parents always told us not to judge a book by its cover--usually before having us read a very boring book. While this idea is a good maxim to live by in general, my experience tends to be that publishers spend more on fancy covers for books they know are going to sell (the interesting ones).



That gave me an idea for a fun classroom activity. Bring up (or print out, depending on your resources or level. Print outs will be helpful for additional reads at home and for providing word glosses, but the online version may feel more interactive to students in class.) Amazon.com or your e-bookstore of choice. On Amazon, under each genre tab customers see the covers of six or so of the latest books. These new releases also frequently have the "look inside" feature that allows you to read the first few pages.

Together, teachers can use these features to have students predict what they think will happen in the book. First, show them the cover. For a larger class, I would prefer to have them work in groups and discuss the picture, so each group will come up with their own interpretation. There, they will have to discuss clues that cue them in on whether the book is fiction or nonfiction, and what sort of world they have to play with. Then they can write down their results. When the class is regathered, students can take turns reading from the excerpt provided. Testing their comprehension of it is the fun part!

Have the students write what they think will happen. The scholastic part, of course, will be a summary of their version with supporting clues from the text, but I think the fun part is asking them to include a climactic scene or a turning point in the story. With their own creativity at work in it, students will probably put more work into their summary, too!

The American Harry Potter covers would be great for this exercise because students would already be familiar with the characters and dimensions of the world. Unfortunately, these books have become so popular that they are probably also familiar with the plot! Similar series that are less popular, however, include Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Gregor the Overlander, and Artemis Fowl.

I think young adult fantasy and science fiction would probably yield the most varied results, the most interesting covers, and the most appropriate reading level. After all, what could be a better follow up activity than to read the book and compare the results?

Or in the case of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, students can make these predictions... make a few more based on the movie trailer... read the novel... compare it to traditional Greek myths... and then maybe even compare the book to the movie when it comes out! Or while you're getting into it, you could just take them on a vacation to Greece! (Can I join your class?)

Deviant ELLs

On the Internet today there are sites for every interest imaginable, from babies to skateboarding. These are nearly universal, and for English speakers, they are easily accessible online.

My own interests are in art and science fiction, and luckily Deviant Art has attracted artist from several nations, and the forum makes it easy to find them and strike up a conversation. Just today, there are call outs on the Deviant Meet Board to "Deviants" in London, Barcelona, Denton, Ekatarinburg, Venice, Sydney, New York City, India, the Philippines, and more! In my foreign language studies, I've actually run across several Russian and German speakers who just by chance joined the same interest groups as me on the site. This has really improved my writing ability, even if the subject is a drawing of a psychotic, one-eyed samurai who fights aliens.

But regardless of one's own artistic ability, it is easy to get started on this site even just as an observer and to search for art relating to one's interests. Photographers in particular tend to flood their sections with pictures of, say, their Chow. And Chow owners tend to be very enthusiastic about their dogs, so they will be glad to tell you all about them! Or for the more serious student, there is also a section in the forum for political discussion.

Wherever the conversation will be taking place on the site, it is guaranteed a quick response. On the forum, responses are immediate, while personal notes or comments to artists may require a two day wait or more. But a response of some sort is almost certain, and this, I think is the most important part of writing ability. Just like listening is important for speaking, reading is important for writing. To keep up with their new virtual pen pals, students will need to read their reply... and depending on the age and socioeconomic status of the artist, that could be difficult. And even if they happen to be Harvard graduates, recipients are unlikely to provide any correction.

To ensure this interaction (and the ability to monitor what sort of "deviant" input students are receiving), teachers can even create a section for themselves and post pictures or poems for students to comment on. Of course, it will have to be original material, so strap your creativity boots on!

A common strategy for clubs on the site is to allow members to submit their material for publication on the club page. (The administrator will simply save their picture or file and resubmit them there as an original production of the club members as a whole). This could provide a fun project for the class, where students could take turns posting pictures of their surroundings or interests, write a description of them, and wait to reply to comments provided by their peers. Teachers could even connect with other ESL classes this way and invite them to join in the fun! This is also a great way to have students expand on their vocabulary by drawing from their peers' differing interests.

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

I am in love with Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab. Randall's got listening exercises on topics ranging from UFO sightings to cancer treatment and all organized according to their difficulty. Even better? They play right off the site. You don't have to bother with downloading (but you can by clicking on the links below the clip)

If you don't love him enough already, each topic is also accompanied by pre-listening exercises great for schema activation in the classroom or at home. For example, on the section Car Accident, the student is asked what some common causes of car accidents are and how they can be managed.

The topics are accompanied by related idioms that could prove troublesome to learners. A crash course is not necessarily synonymous to a course you failed or a driving course that ended in disaster! They have quizzes to check comprehension, transcripts for visual learners, and several interactive vocabulary-building activities.

My favorite touch, though, is Randall's integration of the post-listening exercises with his blog, so students feel like their learning and opinions are meaningful and can discuss the exercises with Randall himself or with other ELLs:

Car accidents are often a part of life, and getting the right car insurance should be part of owning a vehicle. Choose a type of car in which you are interested. Then, select two in car insurance companies and compare insurance rates for each. Which company seems to provide the best coverage and the best price? Do the companies provide cheaper rates for good students? Do the rates go up for younger drivers?

Please write your opinions on a similar topic at Randall's ESL Blog HERE.

What a practical exercise! This would be a great one for American teens, not to mention a Russian buying a car. I don't know about Australia and New Zealand, but I know you can't get away with driving like a Russian in America or Britain unless you buy a radar detector, too!

All in all, I think Randall's site is one of those rare Internet gems. I'd like to use these in class as springboards for cultural discussions. Randall's particular expertise is in Japanese ELLs, so many culture clips are directed toward those students, but the activities open a door on American culture. The Car Wreck episode paints an interesting family dynamic-- an angry, expectant teen who blames her father's carelessness on what she ultimately decides will be the end of her social life.

Drawing from this and the mention of the father's golfing hobby, this could easily lead to a discussion of American child-rearing practices, particularly among the wealthy. Most adult Russians don't have the privilege of owning their own car, let alone teens, so I would be really interested to discuss this particular episode with students and ask how they feel about the daughter's behavior. As a follow-up activity, I would have them re-write the scene from the perspective of a poor family. What if this is the only car the family owns? What if it were the daughter's fault?

In a pinch, these short listening clips could easily blossom into a full hour-long lesson. The transcripts could be altered, so students could discuss what they believe will happen before listening to the full clip, or they can simply provide extra at-home practice to support themes covered in class.

Podcasts Galore (non SLA-centered)

Today's English in Today's Russia

You just spent $50+ dollars on a textbook... only to open it up to photos of the main characters to writers developed. It's 2005, and every page is polluted with plaid shirts and mullets. Apparently, your top of the line textbook is already out of date. If you took a foreign language in an American school, then you've had this experience. Luckily, the Internet has really helped solve this problem by giving students access to more contemporary material, and at the forefront is the podcast-- shows and mini-shows that can be heard live or downloaded onto a computer or iPod.

There are many good and bad sides to podcasts. In Russia, more often than not the problem is going to be access. Borat and his neighbor may have iPods in the Hollywood version of Kazakhstan, but the reality is that, in general, mp3 players are just too expensive for the average Russian and the average English teacher!

Luckily, podcasts can typically be downloaded and then burned to disc, allowing teachers to play them in class or students to listen to them on their own time with a basic CD player. So long as you have Internet access and a CD burner on your computer, the timeliness of the podcasts can still be captured with just a little more effort.



A Cast for the Whole Class

The moment I found
Silver Street: Daily Urban Soap on the BBC Podcast Directory, I knew it was a winner. Soap operas or character-centered series are popular in language classes. They're a great way to learn language and culture at the same time by listening to how people interact, but they often have the same "dated" issues as textbooks.

Silver Street, on the other hand, takes place in modern England with a flavorful blend of the issues and mixed ethnicities that now characterize it.

Gritty daily radio soap set in a vibrant urban community. Want something that really gets to grips with your issues? This soap brings different cultures and generations together and isn't afraid to tackle taboo stories rocking the foundations of relationships, family and religion. The cast reflect the cultural mix of Britain today strongly representing British Asian, Irish and Black characters in a cool non-stereotypical way.

Even better, each show is labeled with a title and summary that shine a light on the context and help student gear up their schemata, such as "Vinnie gets annoyed with Jodie: Vinnie wants to get Jodie off his back, and Sean feels guilty for wanting to leave." The episodes are also only five minutes a piece, so students won't become numbed or anxiety-ridden by an enormous amount of input.



I could definitely see burning a week or a month's worth of episodes and assigning one for listening homework each night with some guidance or consideration questions: "Why is Jodie upset with Vinnie? How do you know?" A second listen at the beginning of class will help warm students up for the day and lead into a discussion of the show to date. How did they feel about Jodie? Did she have a right to be upset with Vinnie? How do students feel about issues at play, and how are they dealt with differently in Russian culture?

The Downsides?

1) It's British English, so students may have trouble if they've had instructors with different accents. In fact, as an "urban" soap, it isn't even "standard" British English. If students have trouble, though, transcripts will help with assignments and broaden their dialectic comprehension in general.

2)There are a lot of characters, though, so teachers will definitely need to familiarize themselves with the series and give students some background information on them, who's in which episode, etc. until they can pick out the voices.

3)Because the textbook didn't script them, you might be hard pressed to integrate episodes into the unit in terms of grammar or content, and it's difficult to pick and choose, just as it's difficult to figure out what's going on when you jump into The Young and the Restless. Who slept with whose husband?



Peas in a Pod: A Podcast for Every Interest

In my opinion, the key to improving L2 output is to play to the students' interests. When it comes to global politics, I always start to nod off, but when the topic shifts to science-fiction, I suddenly become pretty talkative! Well, that's what I want from my students, and the wide variety of podcasts floating around the Web provide a great way to draw in different students.

The BBC Podcasts Directory is an amazing resource for shows of every interest, from business to gardening, and mostly in "standard" British English. A great class exercise would even be to have students get on the site (if such technology is available in the class) and choose a podcast to follow. They can present from time to time and offer the class helpful vocabulary that pertains to their subject. With technological constraints, teachers can just as easily download a few episodes on topics the students have said they like. This may be more helpful for students that are less advanced and need more guidance through the episodes.

Grammatical Sing-a-Long

When The Beatles said they were bigger than Jesus Christ, there was definitely some debate as to whether or not they were better. I won't go into that argument here, but at least in Russia the band is probably more universal. While scanning the mosaics in the Church of Spilled Blood, my Russian guide admitted that because of the anti-religious stance of the former Soviet Union, she didn't know the stories portrayed, but she did know the lyrics to "Yellow Submarine!"


Karaoke Videos

There are a wide variety of karaoke videos on YouTube, and they're not hard to find, as long as you search the song name with "lyrics." Many songs, especially by The Beatles, would make fantastic listening activities in a lesson on informal speech habits, such as the use of "ain't" or leaving out beginning words that can be implied: "(I) Love you every day, girl / (You are) Always on my mind." (Eight Days a Week, The Beatles)

"(You)Can't Buy Me Love" is also a good example of this, but would make an even better exercise in conditional sentences. "I'll buy you a diamond ring, my friend, if it makes you feel all right."


Work with Clauses

Songs are also a great resource for grammatical structures, though, because they tend to follow a repetitive pattern. The lyrics of "When I'm Sixty Four" contain examples of the subjunctive ("would you lock the door?") and multiple clauses in every other line! "Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty four?"



Notice that in this example the dependent clause follows the independent clause. I plan to use this in my class to show students how these clauses can be rearranged by having them rewrite the lyrics as "When I'm sixty four, will you still need me?"

This song also provides an opportunity to discuss the punctuation of clauses. While I prefer to mark a beginning dependent clause with a comma, the accepted position is that it is only really necessary if this clause is very long. For example, "When I suddenly discover that I've grown very old, disheveled, and generally bothersome, will you still feed me?" (Not by The Beatles)


Some Advice

Because YouTube and its "directors" have a habit of removing items, I also strongly recommend saving material you like. This can be done through ripping software or a ripping site. Just type in the video URL address and save as an .avi, .mp4, or .mov.

Why I Want to be Mugged on the Subway

Unlike a few of my unfortunate friends, I've never actually been mugged on the subway in Russia, but I did end up in a hospital. And if it means getting to teach there, I will gladly let my wonderful nurses Svetlana and Olga stick me again!

To be willing to undergo such torment, of course I could only have one career goal in mind: a teacher. I'm a graduate student at the University of Texas, and because there are no courses in teaching appreciation for science-fiction, I will be doing the next best thing-- teaching English in Russia!

This blog is primarily a place for me to organize activities I plan to incorporate in my English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom for teenagers and young adults in Russia. English First, Vladivostok, here I come! However, because I will be teaching late intermediate to advanced learners, I hope this blog will prove useful to other EFL and ESL teachers, teachers-in-the-making like myself, and advanced students of English.