Contextualizing Language - Building language awareness Modules 2 - 3

Shaping the way we teach EnglishProfessional development program

Manizales, 2K9

Imagine that…

You’re a construction worker digging a hole for a new subway system when you

suddenly come across a beautiful painted bowl. It is obviously very old and probably very valuable. You have never seen anything like it before! What would you think? What would you say? Would

you take it hyome for decoration? Would you tell the media? What’s a bowl doing

down there, anyway?

Here’s the task…

The city of Manizales has selected you to design a new subway station and

to include a museum where travelers can enjoy the long lost wonders of

our underground ancient city. Decide what artifacts, artworks and

architectural ruins you might include. Then draw a floor plan of the

subway, showing where you will place everything.

Younger Xpeditioners: Choose one of the artifacts, artworks, or ruins you've seen, and write a story that includes it as part of the action or background. You might write about the people who kept a beautiful vase in their home, or perhaps about the life of a rat in an ancient Greek sewer. Use your imagination!

Older Xpeditioners: Would you like to be an archaeologist? Imagine that you have the opportunity to dig up ancient Greek ruins. Describe the things you would be most excited about finding, and explain what those things reveal about daily life in ancient Greece. What questions do you have for further archaeological exploration?

Parents: Discuss with your kids some of the things that might be discovered if you were to dig under your city or house. Native American artifacts? Graves of 19th century settlers? The foundations for previous homes in your neighborhood? Sewer pipes and fiber-optic cables? If you're feeling ambitious, do some sleuthing in your city's government offices or archives to find out what's really down there.

CONTEXT

SCHEMATA

VOCABULARY

ASSUMPTIONS

PURPOSEPARTICIPANTS

EXPECTATIONS

TOOLSCHALLENGES

EVALUATION

Let’s recap

Contextualization is…

a.What each individual knows about the world as a result of his/her own experience.

b.The meaningful use of language for real communicative purposes.

c.Teaching approaches, methods, materials and techniques.

d.A strategy or group of strategies or procedures that the learner uses to perform academic tasks or to improve social skills.

Let’s recap

Language is constructed through a blend of…

- Games- Skills

- Social needs- Materials- Purpose

- Feedback- Motivation

- Tone- Situation

- Realia

And now…

Fuck

Some bibliographical references

JEFFRIES, Leslie. Meaning in English: an introduction to language study. McMillan, 1998. (BLA)

ANDREWS, Stephen. Teacher Language Awareness. Cambridge, 2007. (BLA)

HOLLIDAY, Adrian. Appropriate methodology and social context. Cambridge University Press, 1994. (CL)

RICHARDS, Jack C. & FARRELL, Thomas S. C. Professional development for language teachers: strategies for teacher learning. Cambridge Language Education series, 2005. (PD)

Some more bibliographical references

DÖRNYEI, Zoltán. Motivational strategies in the classroom. Cambridge Language Teaching library, 2001. (MLC)

DÖRNYEI, Zoltán & MURPHEY, Tiim. Group dynamics in the language classroom. Cambridge Language Teaching library, 2003. (MLC – G/PW)

Grammar safari

Students of English who limit their study of grammar to what they find in grammar books are like

naturalists who limit their study of nature to an encyclopedia.

Once you leave the safe confines of the grammar books, you begin to learn all kinds of interesting things

about the way English is used. It isn't easy; in fact, it's a jungle out there.

Grammar safari

1. Think of a word related to ____________.

2. Think of all the possible meanings and conjugations for that word.

3. Read a piece of the news and locate the word.

4. Compare the meanings of the word in the article and those you had given previously.

BUILDING LANGUAGE AWARENESS

Research has shown that selectively focusing on aspects of language

use within a given context can be an effective teaching and learning practice. Language awareness is more than a focus on form. It also

includes the use of that form in context, which is called the pragmatic use of language.

PRAGMATICS

Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning.

1.Linguistic knowledge2.Context of communication

Language awareness

The use of meta-language to talk about language.

The training of learners to become better, more conscious participants in their own learning.

A balance of inductive and deductive techniques to focus on specific aspects of language.

Language awareness

Focus on appropriateness of language used, both situational and cultural.

The use of comprehensible input in the form of materials from authentic sources.

The use of language that students are more likely to encounter and use.