UNIVERSITY OF PANGASINAN

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY

SUMMER 2016

FULBRIGHT SPECIALIST WORKSHOP

ULIGAN, ROSE

ANGELA MISLANG
Introduction: As a future English Teacher, I am aware that my soon to be students

are unique individuals and there are important factors to be considered in constructing

their second language Because Language are a primary resource for English teachers

so they must be selected wisely, teach wisely and use wisely.

Reflections of My Literacy Experiences

Who I am and my philosophy of teaching

A flower beyond all flowers and an Angel sent from above, the basis of which my

name came from; Rose Angela. I would describe myself as a very ambitious,

hardworking and sincere girl. I am enthusiastic about taking up new challenges in life.

Friendly and joyful is what my friends would describe me as, so I spend most of the day

reading, watching television and writing... At my free time, I like solely walks, eating Ice

cream, and listening to Music.

This particular crisis hasn’t been that strong for me, but other major crises in my

life lead to my own vision of my “self”.

I was going through solecism, where a lot of things that I had believed in just shattered,

my view of myself being one of those things. My mind just sort of cracked and I allowed

it to. What I felt was just peace and deep understanding. “I” no longer existed in that

moment, and I just felt like this being full of love. When I thought about things, I didn’t

respond to the thoughts as I usually would have, but just with love and understanding. I

wouldn’t say that I felt connected to everything, but after that experience, I did often

think about other people and how they would have a similar structure. That what I see in

them, who they seem, to be, is not the totality of who they are, and what is underneath
is more similar than different. After those experiences I conclude that everyone makes

mistakes in short I am the person who I am today because I make mistakes and I

learned from it. A teachable spirit and a humbleness to admit your ignorance or your

mistake will save you a lot of pain. However, if you're a person who knows it all, then

you've got a lot of heavy-hearted experiences coming your way.

My early literacy experiences

I develop and extend my literacy skills when I have opportunities to:

 communicate, collaborate and build relationships

 engage with and create a wide range of texts

 extend and enrich my vocabulary through listening, talking, watching and

reading.

For as long as I can remember, reading is one of my strength second is writing

and third is speaking, for some reason, reading and writing always came easier than

speaking. Speaking in front for example, was one of my major struggles growing up. I

could read a page in a book, but when asked in front what it was about, or to point out

the significance, I couldn’t. As I got older and wiser I learned reading techniques that

made helped me comprehend what I was reading. I now look for context clues, guiding

words, and learned to skim. However, the lack of confidence, unfortunately has still

stuck with me. I have been confident in my reading ability; writing on the other hand,

comes secondly to me. As I go on My own experience with language learning are fun,

difficult, challenging and long because the foreign language have many conceptualized

words and cultures.

 My Approach to Teaching Language Learners

My Belief of the nature of language

The nature of language is the nature of human thought and human action, for language

is neither more nor less than the tool of both of these aspects of human nature which I

believe that teaching language to learners should generally aim to examine their

knowledge about the new language and provides a state-of-the-art survey of the core

concepts and key terms in language & linguistics. It helps students gain expertise and

analytical skills in various branches of the discipline, offering numerous valuable

didactic tools like study questions, chapter summaries, a comprehensive glossary as

well as a useful bibliography. Language itself is not included separately in the list;

however, we should consider it as a point which is equally important to our

understanding of teachers' approaches to EFL teaching. The way we view the target

language also affects strongly all the types of beliefs suggested. From birth to death, I

believe all our activities are regulated by language. The human knowledge and culture

is stored and transmitted in language. Thinking is only possible through language. In our

dreams, we make use of language. Language dominates every aspect of human life. In

fact, it is a yardstick to separate us from other beings. Language is a mean of

communication. With the help of language, we can express our thoughts and feelings to

others. Without language, society would be impossible.

A language is defined as "a systematic means of communicating ideas or

feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds gestures or marks having

understood meanings." and "is a tool for communication". In most common use of
language, these signs are the words which we employ in such a way that they may

communicate ideas or feelings. Communication, that is, the conveyance of an idea or

emotion from one to another, relies largely upon language, and rightly so, as it is a

powerful tool when employed correctly. However, misunderstandings in communication

occur when two people have a different understanding of their language, or they use

language in such a way that it results in communication which is unclear or vague.

Theories of language learning

Whole language is a perspective on education, a philosophy of education, a

belief system about education. It is an educational theory grounded in research and

practice, and practice grounded in theory and research. This perspective or educational

theory derives from several kinds of research: research demonstrating the

psycholinguistic and social nature of the reading process, research demonstrating how

children acquire language and how learning to read and write is similar to learning the

basic structures of the language as children learn to talk; and research on how humans

learn concepts and ideas. In fact, one way of characterizing whole language is to say

that it is a "constructivist" view of learning, with particular emphasis on the development

of literacy. Derived from research in cognitive psychology, constructivism asserts that

human beings develop concepts through their own intellectual interactions with and

actions upon their world. Learners and learning are not passive, but active. Forming

concepts about language-oral or written-is easier when learners are presented with

whole, natural language, not unnatural language patterns like "Nan can fan Dan," not

the vastly simplified language of some primers in basal reading programs, and not the
bits and pieces of language found in many workbook exercises and skills programs.

Hence the term "whole language."

My theory of language learning is based on the idea that development is defined both

by what a child can do independently and by what the child can do when assisted by an

adult or more competent peer. This theory does not mean that anything can be taught to

any child. Only instruction and activities that fall within the zone promote development.

For example, if a child cannot identify the sounds in a word even after many prompts,

the child may not benefit immediately from instruction in this skill. Practice of previously

known skills and introduction of concepts that are too difficult and complex have little

positive impact. Teachers can use in organizing classroom activities in the following

ways: (1) Instruction can be planned to provide practice for individual children, (2)

Cooperative learning activities can be planned with groups of children at different levels

who can help each other learn. (3) Scaffolding is a tactic for helping the child in his or

her ability in which the adult provides hints and prompts at different levels.

For example, a child might be shown pennies to represent each sound in a word

(e.g., three pennies for the three sounds in “man”). To master this word, the child might

be asked to place a penny on the table to show each sound in a word, and finally the

child might identify the sounds without the pennies. When the adult provides the child

with pennies, the adult provides a scaffold to help the child move from assisted to

unassisted success at the task. In a high school laboratory science class, a teacher

might provide scaffolding by first giving students detailed guides to carrying out

experiments, then giving them brief outlines that they might use to structure

experiments, and finally asking them to set up experiments entirely on their own.
 Lesson Design

Lesson Plan

Subject Matter: English

Topic: Introducing new or unfamiliar words

Grade Level: Grade 10

Materials:

a) Radio

b) CD’s

c) Manila papers

d) Pentel Pen

Objectives:

This instructional material is created with the following objectives:

1. To create enjoyable activity through playing pairs or independently during centers,

listening songs with unfamiliar words:

2. To Motivates students to use acquired target language skills to listen, speak, read,

and write is key to foreign language instruction: and

3. To present unfamiliar words by using audio visual materials:

4. To distinguish the characteristics of new unfamiliar words.

Procedures:

I will create an energized atmosphere conducive to language acquisition and

retention and the activity is named as music mania. The activity begins when the song

is played twice for the students. After the second time, the words are placed on the
overhead and each student receives a copy of the words. Now the students hear the

song and follow along by reading the words. In certain classes the students may be

encouraged to sing along as well (more typical of younger classes). Finally, the

students are asked to underline unfamiliar words. This leads to a discussion involving

the use of contextual clues to assign meaning to unfamiliar words. As an option, fairly

advanced classes may be asked to identify verbs in tenses currently being studied

(conditional, past, future, etc.) or other grammar related topics. With these goals in

mind, it is helpful to apply everyday activities within the classroom setting to inspire and

instruct students, utilizing the tools of creativity, humor, friendly competition, and tie-in to

familiar knowledge of everyday items.

Evaluation:

The more students learn high utility words the better they will be able to

comprehend text that contains those words or similar ones. This lesson focuses on

prediction skills and vocabulary development. Students predict what is in the song from

the words they are given. In order to determine the unfamiliar words in the song,

vocabulary must be deciphered through listening and knowing the meaning. The activity

idea Motivates students to use acquired target language skills to listen, speak, read,

and write is key to foreign language instruction.

Assignment:

Select five words you are unfamiliar with or unsure of. For each word, you will

create 5 sentences in each word that you selected.

 Rationale

A new word is one of the basic building blocks in your students' learning.

Learning long laundry lists of words can be very tedious for students. On the other

hand, introducing words in students' native language and then translating them into

English or vice versa is not very effective, either. You have to start training them to think

in English right from the start. Needless to say, the language you are teaching should

be spoken at all times, even if students are absolute beginners. In this activity the

students will work on their listening and reading skills. In some cases, singing is also

involved. Word knowledge is more than just reading a word! As we have discussed in

this section, knowing words is multidimensional and the process occurs over time.

Therefore, effective instruction and assessment in vocabulary will take into account the

students’ development in reading words correctly, knowing the meaning of a word within

several different contexts, using words in reading as well as writing, using word-learning

strategies, and being word conscious. The rubric provides a multidimensional approach

to assess word learning that teachers may use to monitor students’ vocabulary

development in reading and writing. As teachers apply the rubric for evaluating

students’ performances, they will see patterns emerge in each of these areas that need

improvement and may use the results for selecting a Response to Intervention strategy.

For example, one teacher of students with special needs analyzed the assessment

results and found that four students were not “word conscious.” The students had little

or no awareness of new and exciting words, and their lack of a positive disposition for

words hindered their vocabulary development. The teacher used these results for

selecting a Response to Intervention strategy. She chose and implemented the

Vocabulary Self-Collection strategy and found there was an overall difference in her

students’ stance toward learning new words.

This activity lasts approximately 10-15 minutes and is quite relaxing to the

students. I will select a song tailored to the age and level of the students. Naturally, the

song is in the target language. For example, use the song Happy Birthday for little ones

or a more contemporary song for older students. The song should contain ideas,

words, themes, or concepts currently being studied in class because according to our

lesson in all the module, we make sure that language learning is there through the

strategies that were given in our seminar which are the (1) teaching reading/thinking

strategies with subject area knowledge and application (2) Using effective strategies for

teaching writing, speaking, listening and thinking (3) demands of subject matter should

be the same (4) high background knowledge and lastly (5) students interest in the

language learning. As students continue to explore and think about words, they can be

encouraged to keep vocabulary notebooks in which they jot down interesting words they

come across in their reading as they become comfortable with this technique, they can

add information to each word as appropriate—recording the sentence in which it

occurred so they gain a sense of the context in which it is used, its word parts and their

meaning, and the appropriate dictionary definition.

It does seem hard to overstate the importance of language—not only for us

students’ success but also for general social success. The early years of my child’s life

have a profound influence on my child’s language and vocabulary development, which

in turn greatly influences school success. Children who live in poverty in their early

years have much less verbal interaction with their parents and consequently begin
school with far less vocabulary development than their more privileged peers. While the

language gap doesn’t widen once children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds

enter the stimulating environment of school, that gap does not narrow. Research

suggests that it may not narrow because the vocabulary instruction offered is not

sufficiently intense or effective. Language learning is clear regarding implications for

instruction that will ensure the development of large, useful vocabularies: wide reading

plays a critical role in developing knowledge, and teachers facilitate this process by

teaching strategies for learning words independently, including terms of language which

the use of theories and other principles of language, and exploring the link between

spellings and learning words. Teachers should also directly teach important specific

words, and they should develop and sustain students’ interest in and curiosity about

their second language.

 Conclusion

To wrap it up, learning language is very important because it will help us to

communicate with others especially to those people who use unfamiliar words and it will

also help us to track specific goals and objectives within an integrated language

framework. Through my Reflections of My Literacy Experiences to the Rationale, We

will see the different kinds of explanation about the language, on how I learn to read and

to write. As I go on, my own experience with language learning are fun, difficult,

challenging and long because the whole language is a perspective on education, a

philosophy of education, a belief system about education. It is an educational theory

grounded in research and practice, and practice grounded in theory and research. This

perspective or educational theory derives from several kinds of research: research

demonstrating the psycholinguistic and social nature of the reading process, research

demonstrating how children acquire language and how learning to read and write is

similar to learning the basic structures of the language as children learn to talk; and

research on how humans learns the concepts and ideas.