ED644 SYLLABUS AND CALENDAR OF EVENTS

ED644 Spring 2011 Theme Song - "It's Magic!" (Source: YouTube)

ED644 Spring 2011 Theme Song - "It's Magic!" (Source: YouTube)
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Island English

Today I chose to do a lesson that focused on Chuuk.  I took a Chuukese legend of why needlefish taste bitter from Dr. Tom Tinkham's Island English for Micronesia.  My boy hadn't heard it before, though Chuukese students in my class had.  I let him take it home so he could share it with his family.  Dr. Tinkham's book features Micronesian stories and facts while also teaching English grammar lessons.  After reading the story and working together to correct the mistakes, he again tried the storyboard sequence.  I want to prompt him next session to see whether he volunteers that using pictures and his notes together would be a good way to help him remember.  As well as he does with me leading him to use such tools, I want him to automatically fall back on these when he is in school.  We should be ready to branch out to different graphic organizers next week.  While my boy was a bit under the weather and actually stayed home sick from school today, he was a good sport and worked as well as usual.  We might not have gotten to do the other things that I had planned, but at least he has a better understanding of tenses, was able to practice his written and drawing retelling skills, and now has a legend from his culture to take home to share and discuss with his family.


"When you learn something from people, or from a culture, you accept it as a gift, and it is your lifelong commitment to preserve it and build on it."  --Yo-Yo Ma (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/y/yoyoma236445.html)


from http://www.pangaea.org/images/island_english_caribbean_cover_lg.jpg





4 comments:

  1. Interesting session. I have many students who are Chuukese and would probably enjoy hearing that story. I like to use that sometime to incorporate into my content for Social Studies.

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  2. Thanks for sharing! I love Dr. Tinkham I'm glad he wrote those culturally sensitive books so we could share with our students. Now if I can make my connection with my student and find his book of interest then I'll "be with the program"!

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  3. What I learned from doing research on teaching reading to ESL learners is that they learn better and at a faster rate if they can be taught in the native language, before transferring what they've learned to English. Unfortunately, this is rather difficult to do for various reasons; one being that most teachers do not speak any other language than English. But, I do applaud you for providing your student reading skills from a book that reflects his culture. Way to go, Chris!

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  4. Ooooo. Tinkham's book sounds cool. I'll have to have a look at that book for future reference. Way to utilize resources. Glad that your boy had the desire to work even when he was sick. That illustrates how much he wants to learn with you.

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