Blog 2_SS2015

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Mansur on March 7, 2015 at 8:20am

As we hear time and time again, it is important that our instruction must be guided by "The 5 C's". It is essential in one way or another to  touch upon all aspects of "The 5 C's, ex. Communication, Culture, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. When touching upon all aspects, an L2/F2 learner will receive an all around full instruction in regards to his or her target language. In my lesson that was presented in class, some of these "5 C's" were touched upon, while others lacked in presence.

Communication was present where most of the lesson was taught in Italian. There were times where translation was necessary in order to clarify something, but majority of the lesson was taught in Italian. Connections were incorporated to the lesson by having my students describe his or herself using the verb ESSERE, which we learn means "to be" in Italian. Comparisons were in my opinion the biggest incorporation into the lesson, since we compared the verb ESSERE and its subject pronouns, and where we compared adjectives to its opposites, for example: alto/a and basso/o, which means tall or short. Communities was touched upon when looking into the noi form of ESSERE, and where a couple of students described the school or the class itself. 

The communities aspect could be expanded upon by having more students describe the school or the class using different adjectives, or have the students describe their own community that they live in or the community that they're from. I think this also will allow students to make a personal connection between class and outside of class. This could also be a part of the Culture aspect, where students can describe their own culture. Culture was minuscule in the lesson, that being said, I believe it is a challenge to try and incorporate all parts of "The 5 Cs" in less that ten minutes. If were being told that incorporating "The 5 Cs" is important, then this cannot be rushed and should really be equally distributed to all aspects of "The 5 Cs". Culture could be added on by describing the culture of Italy using photos, videos, or even music. A photo, video, or music could be incorporated into the lesson activity, and students can describe them.

I really enjoyed our second teaching slice, and I think that every group did an awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome job! I would definitely work on everything I summarized up top, and I hope everyone enjoyed the lesson I presented, and the other lessons as much as I have.

Ci vediamo pronto! (We will see each other soon)

Permalink Reply by Jose J. Diaz on March 7, 2015 at 8:28pm

I really believe that your lesson was great, engaging, interactive as well as challenging. It was a great idea to compare using pictures as well as using your hands to show differences between two objects. I agree that ten minutes are not enough, and my advice will be to change the pictures you had for tall and small with pictures of things or places that are common in Italy. On overall was great, may one last tip will be to use antonyms to learn two things at the same time as professor Salgado told us. 

Permalink Reply by Kimberly Romhin on March 7, 2015 at 11:41pm

Joseph to be honest with you I did not like it... I loved it. I like the way you teach and the way you create your lesson plan, how you apply the 5 Cs. communication was well incorporated because you made things clear by also explaining in English , connections took place when you made us participate by describing ourselves.

Permalink Reply by Eulalia Garcia on March 8, 2015 at 9:26pm

Joseph as you mentioned that the “5Cs”, is a challenge to be covered in a ten minutes presentation. For that reason what you had in class was essential.  Meaning the verbs you show in the class like the verb to be “ESSERE” in Italian was a Comparison of adjectives to it is opposites. You said Alto/a and basso/o, which means tall and short. Also you covered Communities, where two students had describe a school and  a class but did not connect or  differentiate their culture. I agree that it is an excellent idea to connect a country culture using pictures, photos, videos, or music. What I like most from your activity was that you are always happy  and you motives the classmates.

Permalink Reply by Sindy Caceres on March 8, 2015 at 10:16pm

Joseph I thought your lesson was very well taught. I clearly saw most of the 5Cs being implemented on your activity. What I thought was very helpful was the way you implemented comparison in your lesson. This was a good way to teach new vocabulary words without the use of translation. We had to look and connect the words to what we saw on those photos in order for us to understand the word. The way you would incorporate culture into your activity would be very helpful to the students. 

Permalink Reply by Janeth Puma on March 8, 2015 at 10:28pm

Hey Joseph first I want to say the lesson was great. I think you input well Communities and Connections by guiding L2 entrance into Italian culture using the notion of the product. The pictures encourage the L2 to apply what they know to the unknown. For example you input the vocabulary but with the pictures you put on I knew what you was saying and got connected to the language without translation to English. In the Community part by you using a real authentic activity the L2 got to use the language for enjoyment and enrichment. L2 were able to output what they learn and also express who they are, something that actually will help them in a real conversation. 

Permalink Reply by Nataly Herrera on March 9, 2015 at 10:33pm

Hi Joe! You did a great presentation, especially since  you were doing it alone compared to the rest of us. Most of your 5 c's were present. In my opinion, you did succeed with the cultural aspect being that you used many photos of celebrities that are hispanic (Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Lopez). They are part of the latin culture and you are introducing students to that.

Permalink Reply by Joel Peña on March 10, 2015 at 9:11am

hi Joseph, I thought that your presentation was great again. Very interactive and I felt as if I was taking Italian for the first time. I am a fan of using pictures two tell the differences between two objects and I really liked how you used the picture for the tall and short part of the lesson. I understood it as soon as the picture was shown which is why I think it's a great idea using images and so forth. Something else that I also mentioned in class, you had full control of the class and that's also very important in a classroom.

Permalink Reply by Eulalia Garcia on March 7, 2015 at 3:21pm

The audiovisual activity that my partner and I did in one way was excellent, because in our work we wanted to project this lesson to an upper level of student’s class. Students in this activity are supposed to comprehend   the foreign or the second language. Students must read, write as well as to talk fluently. Students were inspected to understand an audiovisual video where a communication, between people of different communities, language and culture interact.  Therefore, motivating students to learn is a great method in classroom.

 Our perspective after watching the video in the classroom was to students to understand and compare communication. For this reason we gave to our classmates some of the main words to read and to connect the dialogue. Our video passage showed how a foreign student face, different kinds of problems in order to get a job.  They all three were form different countries living in Spain. One of them the language was not a problem because in that moment she was not looking for a job.  The second person the culture was a problem for her, because she did not know the customs of the Spanish people. And the third women mentioned that the vocabulary or communication was a problem for her. She has a lawyer job and for that reason she needed not only to understand but to talk fluently in order o perform her job. For that reason, she wanted to study in Spanish in a lawyer school to learn the different terms of communication. She wanted to learn how the law in Spain implies the rights and responsibilities of it is citizen. For this reason to increase her language of communication, culture connections, and comparison to know the communities are important to her.

This activity could be better by adhering motivation to students and giving more emphasis to the “the 5 C’s”; Communication, Culture, Connection, Comparison and Communities, to our students and classmates. Given to students an input and output of their understanding and helping to learn the unknown is one method to excel their learning.  Motivating students to understanding and learn a language is to let them know that out there are communities with different cultures, customs from ours. By learning them we will be able to enjoy our differences and to enrich our knowledge of communication and connection. 

Permalink Reply by Jose J. Diaz on March 7, 2015 at 8:43pm

I am fan of using videos, pictures or any other interactive tool to teach language, since is a easy way to introduce culture and comparison too. I believe that if there is something that i feel could have helped your students is to write down what you wanted from your students. I felt that the instruction of "paying attention" was not too specific, and you challenge your students by telling them to write down at least one thing that called their attention. I felt that you should have asked the students if there were any words or phrase that  did not understood. In overall your lesson was great keep it up.

Permalink Reply by Sarai Herreros on March 10, 2015 at 8:42am

Hello Eulalia!

I thought that your group presentation was interesting. It was different as opposed to the other groups who had more vocal review throughout the lesson and a more interactive way of bringing across a point. However, I feel like presentation really showed the students that there are other alternatives to reach a point. The goal of your presentation was to have the students identify the purpose in which the women in the video were visiting Madrid, Spain. Your group basically wanted the students to listen carefully and since it wasn’t an introductory class, it meant that the students would’ve been capable of understanding the conversation to be able to answer and further questions. Another thing that I liked about the presentation is that you and Kimberly asked the class review questions on topics that were talked about the most so that you could check the students listening level of understanding. The fact that you told the class beforehand that questions were going to be asked definitely prepared them to be more aware to pay attention. A few of the 5 C’s were present, but like other groups, comparison wasn’t fully present. As opposed to other groups, I feel that you both incorporated culture by showing a video taking place in Madrid, Spain and a bit of communities because they spoke briefly of their surroundings.

Permalink Reply by Jose J. Diaz on March 7, 2015 at 7:54pm

I believe that as future teachers we must be able to create classes with a perfect balance between the “The 5 Cs”, which are Comparison, Communication, Culture, Communities and Connections. Incorporating this five areas is the most challenging part of being a foreign language teacher. In our activity we practiced how to make question, to learn basic vocabulary from places in the city, transportation modes, as well as to use the verb to go. We planned to introduce culture and comparison by using pictures of places that they are familiar with pictures of the same places in Latin American. We asked the students to ask a question, using the knowledge acquired during the lesson, to the their classmates in order for them to practice their communication. During the vocabulary review, we explained that some things or places are called different depending of the country or community in which they are.
Something I would have changed is the excessive use of translation, using verb or vocabulary lists because this interrupt the flow of the language as well as creates dependency on them. Even though the idea of telling the students that some things are called different by some community was great we did not emphasized that they should use the correct word in order to avoid fossilization of words that might not be recognized by other Spanish speakers. Something else I would have changed is the way we practiced how to make questions, I would have used the blackboard and called students to write on the board either a question or an answer, this way we could have practiced writing. I would have used the "repeat after me" to practice pronunciation. I felt that culture did not play that role we expected, and to fix this I would have showed the students a pictures of something that represents a country. For example: I would have asked ¿A dónde va Juana? then them show a pictures of two people dancing tango, or picture of a mariachi. This way students will practice how to make question, how to use the verb to go as well as to know a places that are common for Latin Americans.

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