EFL BRIDGES

Join Rafael Murillo and I (Jose Rodriguez) as we discuss strategies for teaching the EFL student.  We are also joined by Alice Mercer.  Look for our regular shows the 1st Saturday of Each Month on http://eflbridges.net/chat  Our next show will be on Saturday October 6th at 16:00 GMT.

Chat Log Below

00:00:50  JoseR -> : http://.net/listen

 00:01:22  JoseR -> : Hi Alice

 00:01:27  AliceMercer -> : Howdy

 00:01:27  rafael75 -> : Hello

 00:01:32  AliceMercer -> : Where do you want to be?

 00:01:53  JoseR -> :  A for stream

 00:02:23  AliceMercer -> : I'm in EFL Bridges

 00:02:24  JoseR -> : this room

 00:02:27  JoseR -> : cool

 00:02:34  JoseR -> : together

 00:02:40  AliceMercer -> : Hey, I don't know where I'm supposed to be!

 00:02:50  AliceMercer -> : I'm here, and I'm on 30 sec dely guys

 00:02:53  JoseR -> : this is good

 00:03:02  AliceMercer -> : remember that. I hear you talking much later.

 00:03:06  AliceMercer -> : Howdy folks!

 00:03:10  JoseR -> : you'll check the stream for us

 00:03:17  AliceMercer -> : Please!

 00:03:21  AliceMercer -> : brb

 00:03:23  JoseR -> : please

 00:03:26  AliceMercer -> : Oh, I'm there.

 00:03:28  AliceMercer -> : you're fine

 00:03:31  AliceMercer -> : on A

 00:03:43  AliceMercer -> : Want a check on B?

 00:03:47  AliceMercer -> : Lost Rafael

 00:03:48  JoseR -> : no

 00:04:14  AliceMercer -> : I'm NOT leaving. I'm here.

 00:04:29  AliceMercer -> : Is this ESL/ELLs or EFL?

 00:04:46  JoseR -> : ESl

 00:04:59  AliceMercer -> : Kewl, Cause I know you switch hit.

 00:05:18  AliceMercer -> : Yeah, no one was on air, so I had Lisa stream me.

 00:05:58  AliceMercer -> : Hey, is there a "home brew" tradition in Mexico beside agave/tequila?

 00:06:17  AliceMercer -> : My dh's parents were from Texas and made "peach brandy"

 00:06:29  JoseR -> : yes

 00:06:32  AliceMercer -> : and lots of italians in us used to make wine in teh basement.

 00:06:44  JoseR -> : tequila and agave

 00:07:00  AliceMercer -> : I prefer peach brandy, lol

 00:07:42  AliceMercer -> : Rafael Did you say you teach elementary or adults?

 00:08:30  JoseR -> : We are both Elemenatary School teachers during the day

 00:09:04  AliceMercer -> : Oh, you have crazy lifes. La Vida Loca de los maestros

 00:09:09  JoseR -> : yep

 00:09:11  AliceMercer -> : Gotta make that L.A. house payment.

 00:09:23  AliceMercer -> : You are both nuts!

 00:09:28  rafael75 -> : both

 00:09:52  rafael75 -> : I work for Montebello so

 00:10:11  AliceMercer -> : Sorry, I'll stay on topic. I'm bad for that.

 00:10:11  rafael75 -> : I am OK in the house payments

 00:10:53  AliceMercer -> : Lucky you Rafael. Most folks I know doing night school on top of day teaching need the extra cash. I mean they like it, but they have to.

 00:12:11  AliceMercer -> : Do you have students who are EFL BUT not Spanish speakers?

 00:12:18  JoseR -> : I need the  cash

 00:12:25  AliceMercer -> : Lots of Hmong up here.

 00:12:29  JoseR -> : and I do feel we make a difference

 00:13:04  AliceMercer -> : Oh yeah, they all love students, but it's work. EFL students can be great. Never heard a complaint. They're voluntary.

 00:13:31  AliceMercer -> : Hmm, spanish phonics would have been easier to start with. Much more straightforward.

 00:13:59  AliceMercer -> : So most students are Spanish speaking that you all have?

 00:14:10  rafael75 -> : Yes, spanish

 00:14:51  AliceMercer -> : Some things are always the same, but the transition to English for literate Spanish is decent, whereas Hmong is tonal.

 00:14:59  AliceMercer -> : and not really a literate language.

 00:15:17  rafael75 -> : Wow!

 00:15:18  AliceMercer -> : It's a heck of a lot of work though.

 00:15:43  AliceMercer -> : I don't mean to be mean, I mean literally, it is recently created as a written language.

 00:16:22  AliceMercer -> : Sounded like I was dogging them, didn't mean it that way, sorry.

 00:17:00  rafael75 -> : Strong skills in Native Language lead to a smoother acquisition of English

 00:17:07  AliceMercer -> : Yep, ain't it true?

 00:17:36  AliceMercer -> : They have very strong language skills, cause tonal languages are hard, BUT that is a different skill than you need in English?

 00:17:50  AliceMercer -> : Please....

 00:18:50  JoseR -> : What are your experiences with EL learners; Alice?

 00:18:54  AliceMercer -> : Jose, you hit on it penumbrally (around the edges), but folks out of California do NOT always understand the English immersion approach to teaching.

 00:19:14  AliceMercer -> : Like in other states, they are still taught bi-lingually in Spanish or whatever.

 00:19:23  JoseR -> : Sink and Swim?

 00:19:28  JoseR -> : or 

 00:19:32  AliceMercer -> : Yep that was from 214 right?

 00:19:40  JoseR -> : 217

 00:19:51  AliceMercer -> : And so parents have to OPT in to bilingual ed, but in other states they would need to opt out?

 00:20:17  AliceMercer -> : Blending works I think with Spanish, but you can't get over dependent.

 00:20:49  AliceMercer -> : Spanish is VERY phonetic, so you have to make sure they KNOW the vocab, not just decode? My 2 cents.

 00:21:09  rafael75 -> : I agree

 00:21:23  AliceMercer -> : I wouldn't knock it Rafael, I'm SURE you do more than decode with them.

 00:22:16  AliceMercer -> : So Jose when you talk to people out of Cali, they don't understand the seperate credentialing for English immersion.

 00:22:33  AliceMercer -> : How does the vocab change betwn your day job and night class?

 00:23:09  rafael75 -> : I teach ESL 1A so My vocab is very basic

 00:23:35  AliceMercer -> : but what does it center on? Family? Job? Community (shopping)?

 00:23:47  AliceMercer -> : vs. the vocab in elementary which is classroom based.

 00:24:10  JoseR -> : We are teaching units in EL Civics that teach Vocabulary in context.

 00:24:22  AliceMercer -> : I HATE flash cards. I remember those taking Spanish.

 00:24:31  AliceMercer -> : Which context though?

 00:24:51  AliceMercer -> : I know they're good, but man, I had an index card phobia after that.

 00:25:11  JoseR -> : I tend to stay away from flash cards

 00:25:12  AliceMercer -> : nag, nag, nag...

 00:26:03  AliceMercer -> : Are they English speakers at home? Do their parents speak English to them?

 00:27:05  AliceMercer -> : Ahhhh curriculum

 00:27:08  JoseR -> : http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/JapanProj//FLClipart/default.html

 00:27:17  JoseR -> : Clip art for ESL

 00:27:39  AliceMercer -> : nice!

 00:27:59  AliceMercer -> : That's what I HATE about Open Court. It's so culturally loaded.

 00:28:55  JoseR -> : Native English Speakers also have language needs

 00:29:07  AliceMercer -> : No crud!

 00:29:50  AliceMercer -> : How about speaking practice?

 00:30:01  AliceMercer -> : Writing practice? Listening practice?

 00:30:36  JoseR -> : Convesation starters and Conversation guides

 00:30:47  JoseR -> : Patterns

 00:30:53  AliceMercer -> : Yep...

 00:31:06  AliceMercer -> : I remember it all now from taking Spanish and French.

 00:31:10  AliceMercer -> : sigh....

 00:32:01  JoseR -> : Thinking Maps

 00:32:03  AliceMercer -> : Hey all I'm using Diigo Webslides to scaffold links for students.

 00:32:13  AliceMercer -> : Oh yeah! Gotta love Mind Maps.

 00:32:14  JoseR -> : Webslides?

 00:32:30  AliceMercer -> : Picky?

 00:32:54  AliceMercer -> : http://slides.diigo.com/list/mizmercer/sixth-grade

 00:33:34  AliceMercer -> : And I'm going to add narration.

 00:33:56  JoseR -> : looks great!

 00:34:15  rafael75 -> : Connection???

 00:34:29  AliceMercer -> : I'm thinking this could be good for SPED ESL Etc.

 00:34:58  AliceMercer -> : Skype demons.

 00:35:04  AliceMercer -> : LOOK AT IT LATER!

 00:35:08  AliceMercer -> : Sorry.

 00:35:46  AliceMercer -> : So a list of ESL resources? Maybe the Diigo would be an idea?

 00:35:50  AliceMercer -> : Just a suggestion

 00:36:20  AliceMercer -> : I've done it with adults.

 00:36:43  AliceMercer -> : This is good, it helps me organize myself, reflect.

 00:37:06  rafael75 -> : http://www.imateacher.com/Lesson_Plans.cfm?pt=2&vid=1190522180_2X02X233134537&rpt=1&kt=4&kp=1

 00:38:00  JoseR -> : I've bookmarked sites on Delicious but Diggo is great

 00:38:19  AliceMercer -> : Well, we could look at making slideshows with them for students?

 00:38:23  AliceMercer -> : And annotate?

 00:38:32  AliceMercer -> : Just a thought. May not be worth it.

 00:38:50  AliceMercer -> : Repetition are tricky.

 00:39:01  AliceMercer -> : I'm thinking you have to repeat but not the same way every time?

 00:39:48  AliceMercer -> : Nice having some drill, but YES.

 00:39:52  AliceMercer -> : Create?

 00:40:06  AliceMercer -> : Sorry, this must be confusing for you cause I'm 30 minutes behind.

 00:40:17  JoseR -> : secs

 00:40:25  AliceMercer -> : seems like 30 mintues, lol

 00:40:57  AliceMercer -> : I think that the online worksheets are nice for the repeats, but not for the whole enchilada?

 00:41:19  AliceMercer -> : They need repetition, but they also need to create, and improvise?

 00:41:30  AliceMercer -> : Especially when they are getting into intermediate level?

 00:41:39  AliceMercer -> : VoiceThready stuff?

 00:42:30  AliceMercer -> : give them a picture prompt, some words, linked to a thesaurus (a picture one would be nice), then have them describe?

 00:42:38  AliceMercer -> : Look up p*rn?

 00:42:59  AliceMercer -> : Do your adult students have internet at home or library nearby?

 00:43:00  rafael75 -> : ?????

 00:43:06  AliceMercer -> : On the computers.

 00:43:30  JoseR -> : Alice would to joins to wrap up the show

 00:43:36  AliceMercer -> : sure.

 00:43:50  AliceMercer -> : I'm off the stream, so call me.

 00:44:47  rafael75 -> : Jose R U there?

 01:01:05  JoseR -> : http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org