Memory Diseases Tell your partner about this picture. What is happening? What is she thinking?

Memory Diseases Many older people suffer from dementia. Characteristics of dementia 1. Loss of short-term memory 2. Impaired judgment 3. Inability to make decisions 4. Confusion 5. Childlike behavior

Memory Diseases One type of dementia is call Alzheimer’s Disease. Brain damage may cause short or long term amnesia or memory loss.

Break Time Notes Restroom Snacks/Drinks Contracts (if applicable) Timing

Welcome to the Intensive English Language and Methodology Seminar for Teachers Approaches to Teaching and Learning Session 1 This lesson adapted from humbox.ac.uk/id/document/3703

Learning Goals for this Seminar The participants will… 1. Think critically about the process of teaching and learning. 2. Practice student centered language learning techniques. 3. Implement new interactive teaching methods in their classrooms and evaluate their effectiveness.

Learning Goals for this Seminar The participants will… 4. Design speaking activities for their classrooms with clear, focused instructions in English that engage all students. 5. Reflect on their own teaching and learning styles. 6. Complete an action research project in their own classrooms.

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down When given a speaking task, my students often refuse to participate or only use Mongolian. I have students in my class who cannot speak in English. I have students in my class who dominate the conversation and won’t let others speak. I have tried to use group speaking tasks in the past, but they weren’t very successful.

Reflection Time Please answer the following questions on the paper provided. In my teaching, the area where I feel the weakest is… I would like to improve my teaching by...

Syllabus Review

What is action research? Carried out by teacher(s) In his/her own class With his/her own students To improve some aspect of learning/teaching

Action Research What is Action Research? ‘It is done by systematically collecting data on your everyday practice and analysing it in order to come to some decisions about what your future practice should be.’ (Wallace, 1998:4)

Features of Action Research Contextualized, small-scale and local Evaluative and reflective Aims to bring about change Changes are based on the collection of data which provides motivation for change Continuing cycle (cyclical) (Adapted from Burns, 1999:30)

How to do Action Research Study your classroom to identify a problem Develop a plan to improve what is already happening Act to implement the plan Observe the effects (collecting data) Reflect on the effects as the basis for future planning. (adapted from Kemmis and McTaggart, 1988:10, cited in Burns, 1999:32)

Sequencing activity 1. At your table, take the slips of paper from the envelope and spread them on the table. 2. With your tablemates, put them in order to reflect the process of action research.

Processes of Doing Action Research 1. Exploring 2. Identifying 3. Planning 4. Collecting data 5. Analysing/reflecting 6. Hypothesising/speculating 7. Intervening 8. Observing 9. Reporting 10. Writing 11. Presenting

Action Research PAIR WORK 1. What do you understand by the term ‘Action Research’? 2. What stages can be involved in an Action Research project? 3. Why is Action Research often represented as cyclical?

Group assignment Get with teachers that teach similar levels/courses that you do. Brainstorm common problems that exist in your classroom. Make a list of possible topics for your action research project. Discuss some of the activities that we did in class today. How are they the same/different from what you do in your class?

Day 2 reflection Write for two minutes in your notebook. What is one activity that you’ve seen so far that you would like to try in your classroom? How would you modify it for your setting?.

Inner/outer circles Table one – 1. Stand up, hold hands, and make a circle. 2. Drop your hands. Turn around so that your back is to the other people. Table two – Make a circle around the students from table one. You should be face-to-face with someone from table one.

True/ False Action research is primarily done in the library. Action research is important to do one time in your classroom. There are many ways to gather data in your classroom. The purpose of action research is to solve a problem in your school.

An Action Research Project 1. ‘The students aren’t using enough English in class’. 2. Recording and observing several lessons. 3. Reading about TL use in books and journals. 4. I think I, the teacher, use too much L1 and this encourages students to use L1 too. 5. Decide to use TL at start of class, to organize activities and at the end of class for a week. 6. Record and observe the lessons. 7. Analyse the data. 8. Write up findings in an assignment.

Selecting & Narrowing your topic Think of a problem in your classroom. Choose something you can measure and change. Make sure you really know what is happening in your class (collect data). Use very specific language. Keep it focused on only 1 issue.

Ways to collect data Tests Reflections Interviews/surveys Observations Video or audio recordings Other ideas?

Case Study ‘The students aren’t using enough English in class’. Questions to consider: What is “enough”? When are they using English? When do you want them to use English? How could I collect data on this topic?

Group Task My students don’t seem to understand what I ask them to do in class. How can I improve this aspect of my practice? Help this person narrow her topic. What questions would you ask her? Rewrite her topic as an Action Research proposal.

Your homework Part 1 Select your topic for Action Research. Write your proposal in specific language. Come up with a plan to gather data about the problem in your classroom. Part 2 Design a speaking activity for your class to do this week that will involve every student.

Reference List Johnston, R “Addressing the age factor: some implications for language policy”. Council of Europe. Available at EN.pdf EN.pdf Robinson, P “State of the Art: SLA Research and Second Language Teaching”. The Language Teacher Online 21/7. Available at publications.org/tlt/files/97/jul/robinson.htmlhttp://jalt- publications.org/tlt/files/97/jul/robinson.html

Problems with doing Action Research ‘What disadvantages are there in being involved in an action research project? Time, time, time, time, time, time, time…What are the major problems in doing research and teaching? Time, time, time…’ (Burns A. 1999:47)