Teaching Artifacts

In July of 2012 I had the pleasure of teaching 13 Mexican high school students during the Jovenes en Accion program (sponsored by the State Department though the US Embassy in Mexico in cooperation with the Mexican Secretariat and Public Education) at World Learning in Brattleboro, VT, USA. During this language intensive I noticed my students having difficulty focusing on language due to the anxiety levels surrounding their current English levels and their upcoming stays with host families. Knowing this I decided to implement a lesson designed to support them in lowering their affective filter. The results were amazing. My students began coming to class earlier and found a new excitement in understanding language thanks to their experience being "the moreknowledgeable other." Vygotsky Lesson

January of 2012 allowed me to go to Costa Rica for my practicum phase in my MA TESOL program. In Costa Rica I worked with public school teachers, supporting them with their own English learning and guiding them through activities they could adapt for their classrooms. My students were mixed levels, ages and nationalities. The thread I chose to support my students with was Nonviolent Communication (NVC). It was my hope that the vocabulary and ideas we generated in class would serve them later on. NVC Portfolio A couple months after returning from Costa Rica I received an email from one of my students saying that she was using NVC ideas introduced in our class with her students and that they were enjoying it.

• • Morocco

  • Tibet

  • China

  • Brazil

  • Norway

  • Haiti

  • America

  • Uzbekistan

• • Process (Brainstorming, editing, revising, etc)

  • Content (Thesis Statement, Audience, examples, supporting points)

  • Structure (Flow, Organization, Transitions)

  • Syntax/Diction/Grammar

  • Documentation (Citation (APA) and bibliography)

Each year Oono Elementary school would write Christmas cards to their families. I thought it might be fun to have them write, not just one card, but two. One to their families and one to American celebrities. I decided to ask my students who they wanted to write to. We narrowed it down to the top four requests. They could choose to write to President Barack Obama, Chelsea Football League, the New York Yankees baseball team or the Boston Red Sox baseball team. They all enjoyed this project very much and even brought in phrases they researched at home to put in the cards. There was one group that even wrote back. The Boston Red Sox! Not only did the Boston Red Sox write back they included baseballs, stickers, signed baseball card (Daisuke Matsuzaka) and pitch from Fenway Park! It was a great success and the Board of Education from Moriya came up to me persoanly to congratulate me on my teaching. To be honest, though it was not me. My students were the ones who wanted to write to these people and they were the ones who created some amazing cards. I think we were all pretty happy and in the end the Boston Red Sox now have 152 little fans in Japan.

While working for the Japanese Defense Force I noticed many of my students were very formal with regards to their discourse. I tried to encourage them to practice informal English discourse, as many of the American troops they would meet tended to speak in an informal style. I took them on 'field trips' to restaurants and bars where Americans frequented and encouraged them to take note on the different ways they spoke to one and other. I also brought in 'American snacks' like s'mores and provided them with cultural lessons that focused on food, games, and greetings Americans were familiar with. One of my students really appreciated the lessons and even booked a vacation to go to California to try a hotdog at PINK's hotdog stand in Los Angeles.

Looking over the curriculum, designed by the teacher before me, I was shocked to realize that 'Halloween Cards' was part of the schools culture class. Having studied in the UK and being an American, I had never heard of 'Halloween Cards' and did not want my students to be misinformed about the Halloween culture. In the end I was able to negotiate with my school and change the curriculum so that the students could make 'Halloween Masks.' This turned out to be a huge success! Again I had to be creative when it came to displaying the masks, but I was able to find a way around that by hanging the masks by the windows. Many of the parents and teachers commented on how much more vocabulary the students generated during the creation of the masks. Before the masks were hung each student said "Trick-or-treat" and although no 'candy' could be given I was able to give each student a 'candy' scratch and sniff sticker.

My third grade class at Oono Elementary school had a lot more motivation when it came to learning English than my other grades. The supplies I had at the school were limited, but I wanted them to continue to explore English and wanted to keep up their motivation. While speaking to my family at home I told my mother that I really wanted to connect with a third grade teacher in America so that we could have a pen-pal, letter, exchange. My mother was able to put me in touch with a teacher at Horace Mann School and we created a Pen-Pal project. My third graders really enjoyed this activity and a few of my students still write to each other. They even taught some of the students in America the stroke order for Japanese Kanji.