1) Unit Planning

Personal history of Unit Planning

In PSI, I had the opportunity to finish three full (smaller) units during my practicum. However, I was not required to make full

unit plans because it was briefly discussed in our classes. We did have the opportunity to create a mini-version of a Unit plan but

that only included two full lesson plans. Throughout my first practicum I found myself getting the grip of how a unit plan works

and the elements behind it. In math, I finished the whole unit of Symmetry in three weeks. In addition, my TA asked me to prepare

a full unit in gym class as we had to finish our lacrosse unit before the Christmas break. As I am languages specialist, I gladly took

this experience and knowledge to create these lessons. I started off with the introductions-how to hold a stick, terminology, skill

which in the end led to real games. When I started creating these lesson plans, I used the Backward Design process. I would start

with the program of study and list the outcomes, then base the content and instruction from this. After learning about the different

approaches, and a few years of experience I hope to start planning based from my student’s needs.

Front Matter

Unit rationale

Unit overview

Contextual information

Outcomes/Objectives

Content
Instructional strategies

Resources

Sequencing/scaffolding/timeline

Assessment/performance task

Objectives of a Unit Plan

The courses of our PSII semester have heavily focused on teaching us to create an in-depth Unit Plan. 

A Unit plan consists of:

 Contextual information

 Rationale

 General Learning Outcomes

 Specific Learning Outcomes 

 Prior Knowledge

 Materials

 Content

 Assessment

 Instructional strategies

 Cross Curricular Connections

 Criteria for Unit Plan Assessment

 Incorporation of four skills and four general outcomes

 Sequenced to promote scaffolding

 Plenty of communicative opportunities

 Develops intercultural communicative competence

 Diverse activities and resources

 Goals, instruction, and assessment are aligned

 Explicit instruction is strategic and contributes to communication

Forward Design Process

In this approach planning is a linear process starting with the content moving to process and then the outcomes. The teacher would

pick a theme for instruction, then find resources and techniques for the material, finally they would have the performance task or other

form of assessment. Personally, I like the idea of this process and would strive to use it in a language classroom. However, I am aware

that it is not the most popular within language classrooms.

An example of this approach is: Content-Based Instruction

Content and language needs are identified first. Next the teacher would select instructional materials and activities and finally come up

with an assessment.
I find through experience; I will work towards this approach to plan. As a language teacher, Communicative Language Teaching

(CLT) is something I would use as teaching a language can be very challenging. Through my PSI and II experience, I have noticed

that it helps breaking material into smaller units is an efficient way to teach. Then you can add on to your base knowledge that will

eventually lean towards the outcomes. An example of this was in our unit plan for FSL 7, where we had to integrate all four general

outcomes.
Central Design Process

This concept took a couple of times to understand how it worked, the way I look at it is the teachers initiates by selecting activities for

the class, then techniques, and methods first. After this the teacher would focus on the content and the outcomes. An example of this

approach is: Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT).

It is important to have students engaged in the language acquisition because as educators, we want these students to know the

language and how to speak it. Using and performing tasks is a great way to get students practicing content in an untraditional

way. TBLT is the most efficient way to get students involved in learning a new language. I will not start my teaching career by using

central design process but I would try it out after a few years have gone by. I would really have to know my students and their learning

techniques in order to determine what would work and eventually lead to the outcomes.
Backwards Design Process:

In this third approach of Unit Lesson Planning, the backward design process begins with an explanation of outcomes that need to be

addressed in the lesson and the instruction of the lesson for it to be successful so students do not forget instruction. Sometimes

outcomes are taken from a government-mandated document (for example, the Alberta Program of Study), while in other cases

outcomes are based on an analysis of students’ needs. After identifying outcomes, teachers would then proceed to identify relevant

content and learning opportunities that would become the basis for instruction in the language classroom.

I do believe different approaches could work depending on the subjects, especially between an

elementary classroom setting versus one in high school. I find when teaching a second language I

would aim towards a TBLT and CLT approach because it makes sense to me to get them involved in

the language in ways where they will enjoy speaking the language and be engaged. When teaching a

subject like math I would most likely use the backward design process to have a guideline of what is

happening as well as a high school science course where math is involved.

I believe that creating a Unit plan is helpful in planning as a teacher. I have found through my

experience with using a Unit plan in PSII and not in PSI, makes planning a lot easier and smoother.

All lessons for the next two weeks are done and you only must worry about tweaking them as time
goes on. although it is a lot more work, it cuts down the time of making lesson plans day by day. You will have ideas for each lesson,

just not in detail. When needing to put the lesson plan together you will be able to follow the idea from the unit plan. I am very hands

on but I do appreciate visuals, I like to move around and do fun activities that get the brain going but I also enjoy seeing the big

picture. Unit planning allows me to understand how my lessons will play out day by day as I tend to keep track of the unit plan to

make sure it matches the date of the lesson plans and time. Although a unit plan will not exactly play out how you expect, it is

something manageable to follow. Unit planning is also a great way to ensure you are hitting a variety of outcomes all the same time or

progressively as time goes on. Lastly, it has allowed me to prepare and find recourses in advance.

2.) Principles of Language Acquisition

This is a look into SLA and all the information I got out of learning. At first, I had no idea what everything meant and I found

it confusing to understand. After a few times of reviewing, I think I grasped the importance of SLA and the key points educators

including myself will need to know when teaching other languages. My first take in SLA is realizing my own experience as an ESL

student when I moved to Canada and learning French as an additional language starting from scratch at a university level.

I understand that students learn languages in different ways and places as well as they use different programs and techniques to

do so. On the other hand, there are individuals who start learning a language simply because of their taste in traveling and culture.

Students and people in general go through this process of learning another language on top of their own native one. This is what is
called second language acquisition. From the beginning of the semester, we slowly learned about SLA through individual

presentations in our preferred language. The first topic we touched on was on the optimal age to learn a language, this focuses heavily

on adults learning a language versus a toddler or someone remotely younger. I agree in the class discussion that there is a critical

period when young learners learn language very easily and completely, I see this through my little brother who was born when I was

17 years old. I watched him grow up for years and it is safe to say, it did not take him long to pick a language once he learned to talk.

No one taught him how to speak, he relied heavily on listening to people talk and listening to what he was told. He does not

necessarily speak Spanish as well as my parents do but he does understand everything my parents tell him. This brings me to when I

was an ESL student, my mom also did not speak a word of English, and it took her years (not months or days) to pick up basic

English. This brings it back to the point that adults do take longer to a language than children. This also fits in with the point that adult

learners must rely on general learning strategies because they want to be as good as they can to learn their additional language. This is

part of the critical period hypothesis. In addition, there is evidence supporting this, starting with Patkowski (1980) who “explained that

learners who started learning prior to the age of 15 all scored high, while those starting after 15 scored lower and with great

variability” (PowerPoint Slides – EDUC 3601). These children surpassed adults on most measures due to their age. This made me

think more about the work that Krashen made. He explains children’s affective filter is low. This is where they are in an emotionally

safe place lowering imaginary walls promoting more successful language acquisition. It results in increased self-confidence and a

desire to explore, learn and take risks. We also discussed that Krashen stated that after puberty students become more inhibited and

their affective filter increases.

 I found Krashen’s work a bit confusing at first, but then it took a few tries to realize his key points and what he calls

“ingredients”. The next points he talked about are the comprehensible input, affective filter, and intake. So, based on that, Krashen’s

input hypotheses is that humans learn languages by receiving an input that is comprehensible to them. He found that students were

able to develop higher levels of comprehension prior to learning a new language completely. What I got out of that was that a student

in an input (only) course, they achieved just as well as any other course. He believed that output serves one function in language

acquisition. This was not always the case as other researchers find it more instrumental than he did. In addition, it might differ to first

language acquisition. It was Roger Brown who found that learners of English got grammatical morphemes in a consistent order.

It is important to know the order in which individuals acquire grammatical morphemes:

1. Present Progressive

2. Prepositions

3. Plural

4. Past Irregular

5. Possessive

6. Articles

7. Past Regular

8. Third Person Singular

 9. Auxiliary “Be”

Several researchers have studied attempts to influence acquisition through instruction and according to a PowerPoint in our EDUC

3601 class, it states that “Findings demonstrate that learners not at the appropriate level were not influenced by instruction, whereas

learners at the appropriate developmental stage generally did progress” meaning instruction is not as efficient as other think. These

studies showed that second language learning can be and they mainly are systematic, largely independent of the first language of the

learner, but it still has similarities with first language acquisition.

Next, we learned about explicit knowledge and how it can transfer to implicit knowledge. To me, it was clear that Krashen

took a no transfer position, and believed that explicit knowledge strengthens the monitor but it does not necessarily mean it contributes

to language acquisition. Now, going back to the instruction piece, explicit knowledge that developed through instruction can

contribute to language acquisition. However, it is still able to become a part of their interlanguage system. Since I did the researching

on this presentation, I learned that the interlanguage system can assist in the “noticing” elements of input and the “noticing” of the gap

between input and current interlanguage. This is where the weak interface position facilitates noticing and the gap, and proposes an

often second language knowledge that begins as implicit knowledge. On the other hand, we also learned about Elli’s model. This

model focuses on demonstrating input as a way that it progresses through several stages before it even becomes implicit knowledge.

This was a bit different since we had just looked at how explicit knowledge through instruction was able to contribute to language

acquisition.

At this point, we learned that L2 (second language) is systematic, students mostly and largely depend on their first language to

get through the acquisition of their second language. The next topic we discussed was the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) that
is based on Behaviorist principles of language learning. The focus here is that L2 learners start off with habits based on L1 that

interfere with L2 acquisition as previously stated. Now, the similarities between L1 and L2 facilitate easy learning, while differences

impede the learning process, it only describes a portion of errors committed, and these L2 learners face similar cycles of errors to L1

learners regardless of their mother tongue. To top it off, these transfers of errors were found to be common between languages that are

similar. The transfer only occurs with non-beginners.

My Own Experience and Understanding with SLA

I believe that I have a few components in the SLA world due to my own experiences. I grew up in a Hispanic country, moved

to Canada when I was 10 years old, I was an ESL students until grade 9, now I consider myself more of a ELL student as I feel like I

still have to look up words in English to see what they mean. I grew up with Spanish and English but it was not until my second year

of university that I decided to start learning French. Unfortunately, I did not have that advantage of learning a second language when I

was young, when I learned English, it still took me almost a full year to comprehend basic English. Now starting to learn French at 20

years old was challenging. I believe that if I did not put it all the work, I did to learn the language, I would not be at the level I am

now, four years later. Confidence was something I had to learn to achieve in learning a new language at this age, I am currently trying

to pick up Portuguese but it is hard to do so when there are not many speakers around our area in South Alberta.

In French, I struggled to gain confidence until I lived in a city where 90% of population was Francophone which means that most of

the time, I always had no choice but to speak the second language. However, an approach such as negotiation was challenging at

times, especially if the pronunciation was not right or anywhere near close to the right way of saying it but this was the most effective

way to learn a new language. Throughout my many trips to Quebec, I have found it that it always helps improving the language but it
can be a hit or miss when I come back to Alberta since everyone prefers to speak English even if they can speak French themselves.

Many of this SLA in my experience reminded me of the articles I have read by Swain and Ellis. In my point of view, I found Swain

stipulates that for successful SLA, learners should be pushed to produce both written and spoken forms with an emphasis on linguistic

accuracy. She argues that production of pushed output by L2 learners can stretch their interlanguage and help them develop their

grammatical competence. She states that “pushed output” refers to the type of output that “reflects what learners can produce when

they are pushed to use target language accurately and concisely” (Ellis, 2003, p.349).The functions of pushed output, as put by Swain

(1985), are "to provide opportunities for contextualized , meaningful use, to test out hypothesis about the target language, and to move

the learner form a purely semantic analysis of the language to a syntactic analysis of it" (p.252). More specifically, pushed output can

lead to learner’s hypothesis forming and testing, noticing, automaticity/ fluency and metalinguistic awareness (Swain, 1985). This will

help in instruction as a teacher when it comes to accuracy, fluency and complexity.

In my experience there can be many positives and negatives when comparing another language to study a new one. Making

connections when there are similarities can be great because a student will better understand these rules. However, that will not be the

case all the time. There will be times when I am required to enhance a student to change or think differently from their L1, it is kind of

like Google, it is not always the exact direct translation, in some cases, not even close. In addition, I enjoyed learning about the

difference between what is explicit and implicit knowledge when learning a second language. From my point of view, explicit

knowledge is what I already know and what I have memorized and implicit knowledge is the information you might learn but not

necessarily realize it. I am eager to see how my students in my practicum will see this; I will look to see if this SLA information is

accurate as I am curious myself. However, I do agree that when learning a second language, this information is contributable, and the
explicit knowledge through instruction contributes to SLA. In addition to SLA, I have learned that comprehensible input involves the

language that learners are exposed to. I learned that language learners are exposed to understanding spoken and written language input

that is seen as the only mechanism that results in the increase of basic linguistic competence. In addition to that, Krashen claimed that

linguistic competence is only advanced when language is acquired, and that conscious learning cannot be used as a source of basic

language production. What I got out of it is that learning is seen to be heavily dependent on the mood of the learner, with learning

being impaired if the learner is under stress or does not want to learn the language which happens a lot in an FSL classroom.

As a future language teacher, I am hoping to teach in at a 7-12 level whether it is FSL, Spanish Bilingual or ESL. I find this

will be a challenge for me as students will be passed their optimal age and they have a high affective filter. However, there is the

possibility I could want change and teach lower grades. I learned that Krashen explained this filter could be raised due to the

environment. It might be due to anxiety or mental health. This is automatically a goal for me to have a classroom where I can lower

that affective filter and create safe learning environment. Saying so, I agree with Krashen in a sense that I have had some of those

theories happen in my own language courses. I am eager to find out if all these terms will apply to me in my first language setting

classroom.

I find Krashen's and Elli’s model research to what contributes to second language acquisition is essential to understand as a

language teacher. Negotiation is a key ingredient I will focus on as a teacher. When I learned French from scratch (French 1000) class

and when I was in Quebec City taking French courses, I had many classes where conversations with others included repetition,

confirmation, comprehension and clarification between myself and native speakers. As a future language educator, I will focus to

work with my students to influence these conversations with native speakers. In addition, throughout all my research in teaching
languages during this class and before, my experience has proven that learning a second language is systematic and heavily

independent of the first language of the learner. In my practicum coming up, I will strive to use and encourage vocabulary that are

almost the same in English and Spanish as beginning goal. However, the Spanish vocabulary, French and English can relate to each

other as well. Although this seems easy, there can be many differences as well. Differences between L1 and L2 can impede the

learning process. In Spanish (and French) we have words that can be masculine or feminine. Some syntax can be completely different

such as the placement of adjectives.

I have learned a lot from Krashen that I will apply as a future teacher. Mostly, negotiation which is the process by which two

or more interlocutors identify and then attempt to resolve a communication breakdown” (Ellis, 2003, p. 346). It is a repair-oriented

process that involves the intentional resort to a meaning-based as opposed to a grammar-based repair, distinct from generic negotiation

of meaning. As a student teacher going into his first language setting classroom, I will be looking to create a positive learning

environment for my students by integration the concept of negotiation. I will use certain tasks that have been found to promote

increased amounts of negotiation of meaning. According to Long and Picca, negotiation contributes to language acquisition by making

input more comprehensible and by providing opportunities to attend to form. Characteristics that I will use to integration negotiation

in the SLA component of my instruction will be both increased and decreased negotiation. These two forms of negotiation also

involve the TBLT components in a language classroom. Both TBLT and SLA go together to create a welcoming and structured

experience for the language learners. Increased and decreased negotiation are exactly the opposite. Increased negotiation involved

familiar participants, a two-way task and convergent components. While decreased negotiation involves unfamiliar tasks, a one-way

task and divergent components.

 I think this is important as you can have great strategies when teaching, but they will not work if a student is shut off in a high

affective filter. This is also a challenge since I would like to teach high school first. Rather than teaching a grammar, syntax and

structure course I will apply these rules into fun interactive tasks where the students can practice but also learn. Next, I would

encourage as much interaction with fluent speakers as possible. This could be a hit or miss but there are always ways to find how to do

something. In addition, I will facilitate my teaching by relating L2 to knowledge from L1 since this could be accurate since Spanish is

my first language. As I am teaching both a language I have learned in the past and my mother tongue, I can relate many of my

experiences to apply this. I will look to second language pedagogy and SLA to achieve goals in this practicum coming up.

3.) Program of Study Analysis

The comparison of the Alberta programs of study for ESL, French as a Second Language and Spanish Language and Culture. As an -
future educator, I am looking to focus on grades between 7-12 as I would like to specialize in secondary education.

ESL FSL Spanish Bilingual

General Outcomes Throughout five levels (which
I believe there should be
more) expected to demonstrate
four outcomes. They are
simple to follow:
o Gather, interpret and
General outcomes are the same from General outcomes are the same from
grade 4-12. grade 7-9.
Divided into the following 4: Divided into the following 4:
o Communication o Applications
o Language o Language competence
o Culture o Global citizenship
 communicate o Language learning strategies o Strategies
information
o Establish and maintain
relationships
o Make decisions, solve
problems, and plan and
carry out projects
o Explore, respond to and
extend ideas and
experiences.

Role of Grammar - There is a comparison Grammar does not specifically seem Language competence is the area
between levels and to be as big of a focus compared to focused on grammar. This is split into
grades. I do appreciate each Spanish section. I believe this is attend to form, applying knowledge
the levels over the how it is approached because FSL of context, discourse, structured and
grades, because if we courses are not every day and they are sequenced, and interpret and produce
get an immigrant only one course a day in that specific texts. There is a specific section page
student in grade 11, grade. 16, which focuses on the grammatical
that does not mean he elements.
would be in grade 11 There is a written production part that
ESL, it would mean identifies what level they should be at.
that students would
start at Level 1.
- It is clear in this POS
that grammar is not
heavily focused until
general outcome 4
- This POS is good for
developing
understanding of texts,
personal responses,
text structure, and
speaking the language
naturally.

Non-Linguistic Foci Overall, I found that the The French POS has a section called The global citizenship general
 majority of the ESL POS culture where the students contrast outcome in the POS focuses on other
focuses on the linguistic side their own culture with those of other elements such as Spanish culture. In
of language, this makes sense, francophone cultures. This is this students learn historical and
because educators are trying to something I will be doing in PSII as contemporary elements, diversity and
teach a language that these we will study “mets du monde” opportunities. This will be perfect if I
students need to learn to get examining other countries’ dishes end up doing Spanish Bilingual at a
by. compared to ours. higher level.
I believe it should also have a
focus on culture which is not Study the differences in names,
found in this POS. Culture is a accents, social situations, the way of
huge part of learning a new life…
language so I do believe that it
should eventually be added as
time goes on.
General outcome 2, discusses
relationships such as inquiring
information from others. This
still involves linguistic.
Content Prescribed There is no table of contents, The content prescribed in this POS is The specific outcomes give you
like the ones that other very informational. It gives a clear pretty detailed information on what
programs have. The specific understanding what is required to be needs to be taught or discussed. My
outcomes give detailed taught in this grade. EX) in oral favorite part is the grammar page
information on what is production of grade 8 it specifically where lexicon, orthography and
required to be taught, then asks and answer questions. Then as a phonology are specifically stated.
through the levels you can see teacher you know you will have to
it progress. These outcomes cover the types of questions and how
are extremely relevant to the to respond.
general outcome, and easy to
build a lesson off of. The
levels described are efficient
enough to help any educator
realize where their students are
at with learning English. As a
former ESL student, I believe
there are great opportunities
with this POS, however, I
 would like to eventually see
something similar for younger
grades.

POS Strengths and Weaknesses:

ESL

Strengths

I enjoy how the ESL portion is split into 5 levels. In each general outcome you can see how the specific skill is built through out each

of the levels as it grows. This is important, as a teacher it is evident what you need to teach, but also how/what is going to be built on

in the following year. As an educator, this five level POS could work for middle school and elementary students who are going

through ESL learning, I believe this POS has a huge advantage for ESL learners and it is intended in the right way for these students to

learn English.

Weakness

I think this POS needs to have some more connections or a specific section dedicated to culture because students who come from all

over the world should learn about each other’s culture, especially because they are going through the same process of learning English

and as classmates it helps build that chemistry and relationships with another. Even though communication skill is important, I find it

essential to learn about culture so they know how diverse our would is and how diverse ESL classrooms usually are. Students should

communicate with each other (if comfortable) to share their own home experiences with those here in Canada as they progress and
learn the English language. As a former ESL student, I remember I loved talking about my own culture and how different it was from

Canada and watching other classmates’ reactions.

French

Strengths

I appreciate the section on the outcomes which explains knowledge of vocabulary. It is important to have an understanding of the prior

knowledge. As a teacher, there is easy access to this which simplifies the ability to create a lesson. I also like the portion of learning

language strategies and culture, which is so important. It is very beneficial for a teacher to have this for each grade. I enjoy how much

they focus on culture with the French language and it makes me feel that it is very open ended in the sense that I can tie in other

cultures together with the Francophone culture.

Weakness

The lay out is completely different than others but I seem to understand why and I still appreciate how it is made. However, as a

language teacher, I would prefer the layout that states the outcome and then how it is achieved with each grade. It does not bother too

much, but it can get confusing at times. I find this would be easier as a teacher to follow and view what has happened in the previous

year, what is expected in the year you teach, and how it will progress the following year. In the French POS it is divided by grade,

although it is organized it is not the layout, I would choose for a common language spoken in Canada.
Culture in French POS vs Global Citizenship in Spanish POS

Although identified as separate components in the program of studies, for both Spanish and French, language and culture are always

connected. In order to develop cultural understanding and knowledge, students will explore various aspects of Francophone and

Spanish cultures at the local, provincial, national and international levels in both programs of studies. However, in the FSL POS, the

learning experience of culture for these students will vary compared to the experience that the Spanish students will have through

global citizenship. The Spanish POS and its global citizenship component focus more about the cultures around the world. The FOS

focuses more on the provincial cultures. International culture is involved, however, only France is included. In the Spanish culture

POS, there are plenty of countries and Spanish cultures mentioned internationally. In the Spanish POS, it is very specific how they

define culture and what they look for. The components are grouped under three cluster headings and there are several strands under

the headings that are identified. They demonstrate the developmental flow of learning from grade to grade. Each strand deals with

intercultural competence. It is not the same for the FSL POS which will make the learning experience different for both. For example,

under the cluster heading “historical and contemporary elements of the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world,” there are strands for

the processes and methods of acquiring knowledge about Spanish-speaking cultures, the cultural knowledge thus acquired,

applications of that knowledge to aid comprehension and to communicate in appropriate ways, positive attitudes toward Spanish-

speaking cultures, as well as knowledge of the diversity within those cultures.

The French POS focuses more on learning and acquiring knowledge about the ideas, behaviors, lifestyles, and language

components shared by Francophone people. They focused heavily in provincial and federal francophone culture more than

international cultures. There is a lot of history about Quebec which is the only francophone province in Canada. Through this POS,
students learn evolution and history about what it is like to be francophone in Canada. This cultural knowledge provides students with

an opportunity to reflect upon other cultures with a view to understanding other people and, therefore, themselves. In addition, both

programs of studies show and demonstrate a “central aspect of second language education that promotes the favorable development of

the student’s whole personality and a sense of identity in response to the enriching experience of “otherness” in language and culture”

(FSL POS, pg.6).

By doing so, the students in Spanish bilingual become aware of the Spanish language around the world and how many differences and

similarities it can vary between countries. On the other hand, students become more aware of the use of “Canada’s two official

languages in addition to recognizing that other languages may be spoken by students in the classroom or in their environment” (FSL

POS, pg.6). Overall, from what I learned in this class is that the development of intercultural skills and knowledge of language helps

all students become less “ethnocentric” and focus more on global citizenship and working on their own cultural identity

Spanish

Strengths

I appreciate the use of diagrams within this POS, it makes the information coherent and visually appealing to understand and use as a

guide. Similar to the French POS I also like the learning strategies section. I like that it is a nine-year program. The outcome is stated

and below is the grade level and its expectations so it makes sense to me.
Weakness

Even though I prefer the layout by outcomes, others may find this to be confusing. Each grade level is spread out throughout the

program which could come off unorganized as you would need to flip through to find each grade every outcome. I do not enjoy the

number of arrows used throughout the POS because it can make it confusing at first. Other than that, the POS is pretty straight forward

as it is focuses on language competence and global citizenship and the application and strategies involved with each other.

4.) Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)

The Problem starts with PPP (Present, Practice, Produce)

When it comes to learning and teaching languages, there might be some issues with PPP:

- Students might show that they are comfortable with the new language as they are doing a well job applying it in the classroom.

However, the consistency of doing that might drop sooner than expected, students could struggle producing the language

correctly and find themselves making many mistakes or they might not able to produce anything at all.

- The spoken language might sound unnatural

- Students could rely on internet resources to complete their tasks instead of practicing themselves.

Defining a task:
The work task is defined by Skenah as an activity where:
- Task completion has priority, but not every time
 - Real world activities are in place, and students make a relationship out of it
- Learners are not given other people’s language to regurgitate
- Meaning is primary
- There is some communication problem to solve
- Students are given clear instructions
Types of Tasks: (Willis)

1.) Listing: brainstorming, fact-finding, actions, places, words, qualities.

2.) Ordering and Sorting: set of information or data that has been organized according to a specific criteria. Ex: news reports and

texts.

3.) Comparing: identification of similarities and or differences (matching)

4.) Problem solving: solutions to the problem (puzzles, logic problems, poems, guessing games)

5.) Sharing Personal experiences: socially talking (describing a story or opinions, narrating a story, reactions)

6.) Creative Tasks: they are often known as projects or referred to.

A Task-Based Approach

This is an alternative for language teachers to use for their students to learn efficiently. This is also a different way of teaching as an

educator doesn’t determinate which language will be approached; the teacher gives a task and the lesson is based around the

completion of that task. The language involved in that task is approached by the student and he/she decides what happens to it.

Willis’ Framework (three phases) – Integrative Approach

Pre-Task
 - The teacher introduces and defines the topic

- The teacher gives students clear instructions on what they will have to do at the task stage.

- The teacher can prompt students to recall some language that may be useful for this task.

- The teacher can provide examples of how the task may be completed

Task Cycle Phase

This cycle involves three stages:

- The Task Stage

The students will complete their central task, the teacher walks around and makes sure the students are understanding while being

productive. Although, the teacher should not interfere unless he/she feels there is a need to. However, the focus of this stage is

communication.

- The Planning Stage

Students must prepare a short story or even a small written report that they must tell the class about what happened during the task.

The teacher should state the purpose of the report. In addition, the teacher must be available for all students in case they ask for advice

to clear up any language or any questions they may have.

- The Report Stage

Students then report back to the class with their report of choice. The teacher can choose the order but that is not mandatory. The

teacher should give some feedback on the content of the reports. This stage can also be used for motivation for the students to

complete their tasks with an accurate use of the language.

Language Focus Phase (Post-Task)

Students shift from meaning to form. Their attention should be directed towards the language forms and usage.

This is broken into two parts:

- Analysis

The teacher highlights relevant parts from the students reports for everyone to analyze.

- Practice

The teacher selects language areas that students should practice based upon the needs of all the students that came from the task. The

teacher gets the students to practice activities to increase their moral and confidence so students try using the language with intention.

Modular Approach

This approach focuses on meaning and form that are totally separated. Unfocused tasks are used in the communicative module, while

PPP and focused tasks are used in the code-based module. Through the TBLT syllabus design, there are ways that teachers can ensure

students are attending to accuracy, complexity and fluency when using the approach. The teacher will focus on the students needs and

its functions and forms, the teacher will know that in order for the students to attend to accuracy, complexity and fluency, the students

needs must be a priority so the teacher knows how to attend to those needs and help those students succeed. In addition, the teacher

will look for student’s interested on top of their needs, this is huge because as a teacher we would like to know all of our student’s

interests to make our lesson flow well and attend to those student’s needs as well. It is also ideal to always have that extra help and
direction from the Program of study, that way basing on students needs and interests, we can tie outcomes from the program of study

to the student’s needs and interests. Lastly, for each task given to the students, it is important to look at the task difficulty, each student

might thrive or struggle differently depending on the student since each one of them is different. In the task difficulty, it is important

to know the affective factors that helps students succeed in their tasks. That is comfort and relevance. Comfort can be simple

depending on how much confidence a student has, but it can be difficult if a student has anxiety about the task. Relevance, on the

other hand, can be simple if the student has a high motivation in completing the task but it would be difficult if that motivation is not

there, even if it is minimal. Through those 4 points, teachers can ensure that their students are attending to accuracy, complexity, and

fluency when using the approach.

Specific Task Dimensions

1.) Theoretical Dimension: Learning a language is an organic process and it is not directly influenced by instruction. According

to Krashen, there are significant amounts of comprehensible input as well as opportunities for output (Mitchell & Myles, 2004)

that are provided in this dimension. Lastly, negotiation and “comparing and noticing” are facilitated. (Ellis, 1997)

2.) Learning Dimension: Learners engage in the learning process using a variety of styles. This dimension also addresses

different learning styles and it encourages meaningful experience relevant to students.

3.) Ethical Dimension: Critical scholars (see Auerbach, 1995; Benesch, 2001) advocate that language education must address

issues of power and social inequality in addition to pragmatic elements. Another scholar named Paulo Freire claimed that
 inequalities were maintained in society through an education system that he labeled the “banking model” of education in which

it was claimed that PPP was related to this “banking model”. Overall, the ethical dimension stated that TBLT is a student-

centered approach that provides a voice to students (content, language usage) and its principles of democracy are more

reflective of a TBLT classroom.

From a teacher point of view, these dimensions can be used to support instruction because each one of them has valid points in

helping student’s needs in the classroom. On top, there are other task dimensions such as task difficulty (learner factors), task

conditions (interactional factors), and task complexity (cognitive factors) that help support teachers with instruction in their

lessons. In the task difficulty, we see affective factors that include comfort and relevance, they are divided between “simple” and

“difficult” stating that the comfort relies on confidence or anxiety, respectively. Relevance relies on high and low motivation and

examples given are aptitude and background knowledge. Secondly, for the task conditions we see factors influencing negation

which are: discourse mode, outcome agreement and participant familiarity. They are all divided between simple and difficult again

with discourse mode having a two-way (dialogic) vs a one way (monologic). The outcome agreement is divided between

convergent and divergent and lastly, the participant familiarity familiar and unfamiliar interlocutors. To finish off with the task

complexity, I believe this is one of the most important parts of these task dimensions because it shows especially what needs to be

done in order for students to succeed in the classroom. I appreciate the resource depleting factors because it explains why time

allowance, demands, and exposure to content is important. They are also divided between simple and difficult. Time allowance is

divided between planning time and immediate response while demands is divided between a single, dual or multiple task.

Exposure to content is divided between familiar and unfamiliar tasks that could include task repetition or just a single task. In
 addition, task complexity also includes structural factors which are possible outcomes, medium of communication, vocabulary and

information.

My understanding

In my opinion I like the shift PPP to TBLT. I am a hands-on learner and find when using tasks, it makes the lesson more

engaging and students are more on track and focused on the lesson. Teaching with tasks also encourages more communication practice

amongst students which I find is essential into learning a new language. This will be a model I will intend to use regularly in PSII. I

had no idea what TBLT was before coming into PSII but am I ever glad we have discussed and learned about it. I believe I will take it

and now apply it within majority of my lessons, especially heading into an FSL classroom for this practicum.

Task-based language teaching has been one of the most important things I will take from this class going into my practice. As

a student I always struggled when I had teachers who would teach in a traditional manner, simply because I did not like listening the

whole time without movement or any sort of activity. I did not do well with lectures, copying verbs and reading in front of the class.

Not even at the university level, I always enjoyed movement within the class. Some years this was what learning languages was like.

In other years some of my teachers focused heavily on tasks and activities to engage students in learning a second language.

Especially throughout my ESL experience, teachers were always making hands-on activities. In my French courses in university, not

always. I always wanted to leave early because class was not always fun or engaging. In my opinion, TBLT is a key element to

teaching students a language. TBLT makes me believe that it can make a language class fun, encouraging, and interactive as a great

way to motivate students "unintentionally." With this the practice within the tasks must be meaningful so as a teacher I know I have to

be careful in what I choose to do in the classroom.

 As a future teacher I want to find out the best and most fitting learning styles about my students right away. With this I will

apply these different strategies throughout different tasks in my classroom to benefit all types of learners. When needed I will include

differentiation for those students who need different strategies. TBLT encourages a variety of styles to teach and learn and this is why

I will integrate this teaching style into my future classrooms. In addition to this, this brings me back to our SLA studies when Krashen

explained that although syntax, structure and grammar are important to a second language it does not complete it. Principle #3 states

that TBLT encourages communication rather than relevant forms. I find communication is essential to practice within the classroom.

Students (if motivated) can watch TV shows, listen to music or practice grammar with worksheets and apps. Communication is very

difficult, and with limited time allotted to each class is essential. A great strategy you can include within a task is teach by modelling.

You can model a specific task in front of the class, then have them follow. I will strive to do this in PSII. It is so important to connect

the context and language within a class. The more French or Spanish (English for ESL) you can include within the classroom the more

beneficial it will be for the students.

By using Krashen’s research, tasks can create a fun engaging environment within the classroom. Student's affective filters will

be lower and the second language will be better understood. As I mentioned before, TBLT has been very inspiring to me as a teacher.

I find from experience, can create a very positive but also a fun environment for students to learn. These tasks can be created in a way

they both are teaching language rules, and applying them at the same time. As a teacher it is important to consider what makes a task,

and the different types to apply when. I will often refer to this page to help get ideas for activities to use within my classroom.

5.) Grammar Pedagogy

Grammar Teaching

Approaches Focus Options Awareness

- Inductive - Accuracy - Practice - Consciousness Raising

- Deductive - Fluency (Text Manipulation)

- Complexity (Text Creation)

It has been proved that traditional approach to grammar competence and explicit knowledge of language rules does not lead to

communication by the learners. When this occurs, learners (students) are not able to exchange information, express ideas and

thoughts, or even develop relationships in their second language.

This brings us to the two important terms we have learned:

- Deductive (Students learn grammar use, use the rule)

- Inductive (Use grammar rule, learn rule)

As a teacher I would teach grammar inductively (I feel like it would work since I hope to teach ESL). I will use this by initiating

my classes with the importance of meaningful communication, I would like my student’s learning to be independent, eventually to be

in their own hands. I want my students to learn how to problem solve and learn another language through inductive grammar use.

They are given a purpose and a context in what they would like to do. I believe this could also work in FSL and Spanish Bilingual

classrooms as students are responsible for how much they want to learn as both classroom setting can be limited to the students

learning potential. There is one key I really got out of this section of the course and that is, it is important to focus on meaning first
then follow along with form. Although, when I hear the word “grammar” writing come to mind right away, but that is not the case

here. I believe that grammar has a big purpose in communication because to able to write, students will have to know how speak and

listen if they want to learn the language efficiently.

So far, I have met some of my students that I will have the pleasure of teaching FSL too for PSII, going through the curriculum

and content, I think teaching inductively will allow me to promote students practicing by demonstrating their grammar patterns. I will

strive to explain things in French and if they do not understand, I will move back to English (this is something I observed my TA do).

Overall, I believe there is a difference between teaching Spanish Bilingual and FSL form, with Spanish, anyone could ask me why I

say certain things and I would not know the actual grammatical rules as to why I say it like that. This is because it is my native

language and I did not learn it from scratch by taking courses. I was never taught it; I just do it the way it is. If someone was to ask me

why I say or do something a certain way in French, I would be able to explain most likely why as I took all the French courses

required to learn grammar pedagogy. At first, I knew the rules more than anything, I couldn’t communicate but the more time went on

and the more fluent practice I got, I was able to communicate.

The term “grammar” was something I thought when it came to reading and writing, not necessarily communication and speaking.

This is something I have learned in this course and I am glad I am able to carry that with me to PSII. I learned that grammar is the

foundation of the ability to express ourselves. I am shocked that it never came to my mind this way but with grammar, I now know,

that we are more than likely able to communicate effectively if we learn it how it is supposed be taught.

The Relationships Between Accuracy, Fluency and Complexity

 When I was an ESL student trying to use a second language, I found that “accuracy” is the degree to which the usage follows

the correct structures. Often the measurement is taken to imply accurate grammatical use, its “correctness”. For example, I remember

sometimes I would say “me no speaking English” which would be considered grammatically inaccurate even though we could derive

intended meaning from that sentence that I was not able to speak English. Accuracy can also be applied to the use of vocabulary by

second language learners. For example, “I play karate” is inaccurate because of the learner’s decision to use the word ‘play’ as

opposed to ‘do’. In a classroom setting, this often relates to the correct usage of a structure introduced by the teacher, so the choices of

pronunciation used by the learner are evidence of inaccuracy. For example, second language learners often use “won’t” when they

mean “want” and vice versa. These inaccuracies in the use of grammar, choice of vocabulary and pronunciation make accuracy quite

easy for a teacher to measure a learner’s progress and as such are often used in various assessments. Fluency, on the other hand, is the

ability to process language speedily and easily. When we consider activities where spontaneous verbal responses are brought out by

the teacher. The teacher is looking for understanding and the ability to communicate effectively. This ability to be spontaneously

communicative is fluency. Fluency is essentially how fast a learner can access and use the language in a well-paced smooth manner

without awkward pauses. The last concept is complexity. Theorists suggest there are two types of complexity: Cognitive and

linguistic. Cognitive complexity is relative to and from the perspective of the individual learner (including for example their ability to

remember, their aptitude and their motivation for learning). Linguistic complexity refers to the structures and features of the particular

language. Overall, it is possible for a learner to be both fluent and accurate, but if the language they use consists of only simple

structures then we cannot really say their use is advanced.

 It has been argued (Ellis 1994) that if a learner develops more fluency, it may be at the expense of accuracy and complexity. In

my short PSII experience, I was able to confirm this with a few students I had in my French classes, especially those with bold and

outgoing personalities. They are not scared to try and they speak out, at the same time, I had did have some students who had

francophone backgrounds or French immersion experience. Furthermore, these students tend to learn to communicate but it’s at the

expense of the development of their grammar use. However, I feel that those kinds of students do increase the complexity of their

language use over time as they try to bring in new and more complex ideas. It is said though that how a student acquires knowledge is

a different mental process to how they use it, so perhaps these outgoing students may be stunted when it comes to receiving new or

complex information as opposed to using their existing knowledge. Meanwhile, I had plenty of students who were not willing to speak

at all. Their anxiety about learning the language, not wanting to be there or focus too much on accuracy may hold them back when it

comes to communication and fluency and indeed can block out their ability to take on new learning concepts. Looking back at our

PowerPoint on grammar in this class, I appreciated this message a lot: “Note: activities will rarely meet all the criteria listed for each

focus area and they will often include an overlap between focus areas…The inclusion of a range of activities should be promoted to

ensure that all areas of grammar development are addressed” because it really is a good point when it comes to the development of

grammar in a language classroom.

In our course we were introduced to the different types of grammar practice.

Type 1: Awareness

Learners are first introduced to the structure, after they are given opportunities and tasks to apply this form or meaning.
An activity based on this would be me explaining to my students what I did in my past Quebec trip, I would speak slowly and

accurate. I would tell students that they must write down words that I am using that are in the past tense, I would look to see if they got

all of them.

Type 2: Controlled drills

Students will produce examples of the structure which is predetermined by the teacher or textbook.

When learning ESL, I was given many controlled drills to complete from the textbook. This was also during my third year of ESL, not

at the beginning stages. Teachers would use visuals then I would have to answer a question based on the visual.

Jordan has __________.

a) spiky blonde hair

b) short grey hair

c) long black hair

Type 3: Meaningful drills

Similar to controlled drill but now learners make a limited choice.

Now we could create the sentence about a professional athlete of our choice.

(Tom Brady) ... has _______________.

a) blonde hair

b) short black hair

c) no hair

Type 4: Guided, meaningful practice

Students form sentences of their own based on a set pattern, but they choose their own vocabulary.

Example: this has happened already a couple times in many of my courses, but the “If I had a million dollars…” game works great

because it promotes thinking and creativity from the students, this is a game I have enjoyed as a student so I will look to integrate it in

my classroom as a teacher. Students will respond accordingly with what they will do with those million dollars.

Type 5: (Structure-based) free sentence composition

Students are provided with a visual or situational cue; they must compose their own responses using a structure.

In my French 2000 course, we were given a picture or a scenario. We were then asked to write sentences based on what you could see

in the picture, in the verb tense it suggested.

Type 6: (Structure-based) discourse composition

Learners create a discussion, or write a passage according to the given task. They must use dome examples of the given structure.

An example I would use in my FSL classroom would be “You have seen one of your teammates get injured, they are now out for the

season, what would you do?” Students are asked to write a small paragraph which includes the modals (might, should, can, could,

etc.) in their writing.

Type 7: Free discourse

Learners create a discussion, or write a passage according to the given task. It is related somewhat to type 6 as students are not given a

specific direction on how to use the instruction. Students could then write about whatever we want. I could give them the exact same

assignment as Type 6 but without the final product, I would not tell them to add the modals in their writing.

Practice paradigm vs Communicative paradigm

What I learned through this process is that grammar practice has been divided into drills and exercises.

 Drills – activities that are constructed in such a way as to allow only one correct answer

 Exercises – open-ended grammar activities

On the other hand, communicative grammar provides students with genuine opportunities to communicate using the language that is

known, as well as it differs from text creation activities in that the students are not restricted in the language that is used.

Type 1: in a sense, I believe awareness can be both used for practice and communicative paradigm, as a teacher you can make

students aware of what is being taught in either paradigm, they are different but the component of awareness is still there in both.

Type 2: Controlled drills is a practice paradigm, most of the activities or exercises will only have one answer.

Type 3: Meaningful drills is identical so I will have to say it is also practice paradigm, the answers are limited.

Type 4: Guided, meaningful practice seems open ended to me so I believe it can be more useful for communicative paradigm.

Type 5: This is a tough one because students come up with their own answers, in a way I see this free sentence composition going

either way, it could be argued too. However, since there is that open ended component in the students getting to express their own

answers, I believe it will fit in properly with the communicative paradigm.

Type 6: I believe it will fit in properly with the communicative paradigm.

Type 7: I believe it will fit in properly with the communicative paradigm.

In my future classroom, I would use these seven strategies to scaffold by teaching students all three concepts of accuracy,

complexity and fluency. From what I have learned so far about scaffolding techniques in a language classroom is that when they are

used strategically and correctly, in which they do take time, but it is well worth when the students understand what is going on.

Through scaffolding, English Language Learners or any bilingual learner in any language are given the opportunity and the necessary

support to acquire language while meeting accurate academic standards. In Type #1, the students learn awareness in what they are

learning, this is the start for students to experience a supportive learning environment, even for Type #2 and #3 which includes

meaningful drills and controlled drills, students feel free to ask questions, provide feedback, and support their peers. I believe that us

teachers facilitate the language intended for the student to learn. From type 4 to 7, I feel like students take a more active role in

learning and can take ownership of the learning and their classroom as a community of learners. Scaffolding these seven types assures

me as a teacher that they will learn the importance of accuracy, fluency and complexity that will involve into a successful classroom

of English Language Learners and/or bilingual learners. When planning to meet the needs of these students we might consider

incorporating different types of scaffold like verbal scaffolding and visual scaffolding. I believe that verbally present information

during instruction is key towards teaching grammar to students in general. I would scaffold these types of grammar practice by

slowing my speech, making’ think-a-loud” models, lots and lots of visuals, enhancing a lot repetition, reinforcing contextual

definitions, simplifying questions, think-pair-share, conversations between students and engaging in read-aloud in which

pronunciation could be assessed.

Corrective Feedback
Throughout my research, I have found that corrective feedback is information provided to an individual or group about how her or his

behavior, actions, style, strategies, etc. are perceived by and affecting themselves and others. It is meant to lead to positive change in

the classroom. However, corrective feedback must be delivered in such a way and by such a person that it will be attended to, rather

than simply arousing defensiveness, denial, or anger. That means that as a teacher providing feedback, we must and respect our

students and hope to convey the feedback sensitively as possible. There are many factors that I would use to determine when to

provide corrective feedback, I would differentiate between required feedback and needed feedback. Some situations which require

giving constructive feedback include performance discussion and pointers between students and teachers. This leads into giving

students corrective guidance in their learning and they use that feedback so they know where they can improve. In addition to that, I

also believe that corrective feedback can also be used when it comes to behavior, as a teacher, it is important to also address behavior

in the classroom, not only their learning performance in the classroom. However, I would avoid sounding judgmental. I would focus

on what I’ve noticed and explain the impact of their behavior. I would also specify the impact of the behavior and how it could be

affecting the classroom. I would finish by explaining what needs to be done differently and what to needs to change, in a sensitive

manner. Other factors are when corrective feedback is absolutely needed, not only required, this would be determined based on the

student’s performance. For example, when a student asks the teacher how they are doing in a class, that would usually raise an

eyebrow as teacher, perhaps they are worried they are not doing well, or they just want to know how they are doing, either way, it

could be misleading to the teacher to check. Other factors could be students having unresolved problems persist and errors keep

occurring again, their expectations might not be exceeding in the classroom and their work habits and ethic might not be up to the

teacher’s standards. These are some of factors that I would consider when it comes to giving corrective feedback.
 I believe that there are millions of ways that a teacher could give out corrective feedback. Some of the techniques I would use

would be proving feedback in a timely manner. I would not take too long to do it because if I wait longer, it will eventually become

less useful and the conversation would become more difficult. In addition to that, I would focus on giving a balance between positive

and negative feedback to the students, even though, the point is to give corrective feedback, a mixture of both would help the students

understands what is right and what is wrong, if I focus in only negative, that will not help anyone. Lastly, the last technique I would

use is to focus on description of the feedback, rather than judgement. I would be as careful as possible to describe what has happened

and what needs to happen, I would try to be as gentle and sensitive as possible. This will avoid having any student respond in a

defensively manner.

In my PSIII practicum, I will look to apply and practice some of these grammar types to my practice. Having a guideline with

examples made this very easy for me as I could work from these examples and demonstrations. I like the idea of all seven types as it

leaves some of my future lessons open ended as I have many options I can do with these students. With the right resources, I believe I

can strive in making the FSL courses a positive learning environment for all students. The grammar pedagogy I have learned in this

course really shocked me to see how fun it can be for students. I wish my classes were more like that. It has encouraged me to take

these less efficient experiences with grammar out and make it engaging for my students. One of my PSII goals will be to show my

students that grammar is not boring but a fun way that can be accomplished in order to enhance communication.

6. Strategies Instruction
Discourse Competence

The ability to produce and understand coherent spoken, written and visual texts.
 Socio-linguistic Competence (see Lesson #3 in Unit Plan)

The ability to use appropriate language based on social context

Strategic Competence

The ability to use strategies to solve communication problems

Grammatical Competence (See Lesson #3 in Unit Plan)

The knowledge we must use linguistic rules correctly

Refer to Unit plan for references to how I apply strategies instruction in the classroom.

Example) Lesson #1

The teacher will pronounce vocabulary words aloud for the class. Students will repeat vocabulary words after the teacher in order to

practice pronunciation. The teacher will explain to the class why they ask the students to repeat the vocabulary.

This is because mimicking is an effective way to learn pronunciation. Repetition of certain words and sounds help pronunciation and

avoid/prevent any "bad" habits.

This example uses Direct strategies- Applying sounds and practicing them, in some cases too if a mistake is made compensation

strategies may be applied to overcome limitations. Indirect strategies are demonstrated when the teacher asks the students why they

repeated the vocabulary. This done in the KWL chart in lesson #2. Students will be evaluating their learning. I have used a section in

strategies in seven out of the lessons in my unit plan. I have articulated strategic competence as much as I could where it is needed.

Throughout my lesson plans and this specific unit plan, I have learned that this competence is crucial to my instruction because

strategies to teach the language are for identifying whether a breakdown has occurred, that includes paying attention to body language,
pronunciation and frequently checking listener comprehension. I use these strategies so my students will be prepared to respond to

these situations. It is important for learners to be aware that communication breakdowns are not uncommon among competent users of

English or any new language being learned. A sound understanding of communication can prevent learners from feeling discouraged

when they encounter communication breakdowns. Strategic competence in my instructions is I can develop and teach language

patterns to help prevent and repair breakdowns. For example, students could paraphrase what the speaker has said and checking

questions is a very useful skill, and one that is very common among competent speakers. Although I did not include these examples in

my unit plan, I would draw my students to authentic communication by showing them recordings of TV interviews and talk shows.

This way, students can find strategies that interviewees and interviewers use to compensate communication problems. Below are the

direct strategies that also help with communication problem solving, the chart below is also something I would look to integrate in

instruction in my classroom.

Direct Strategies

Memory Strategies Cognitive Strategies Compensation Strategies

Creating mental linkages Practicing Guessing intelligently

Applying images and sounds Analyzing and reasoning (almost any Overcoming limitations in speaking and

Reviewing well (we did Jeopardy and it assignment based on grammar pedagogy) writing

exposed how much I didn’t know about Receiving and sending messages

SLA yet) Creating structure for input and output

Employing action

Indirect Strategies
 Meta-cognitive Strategies Affective Strategies Social Strategies

Centering your learning Lowering your anxiety (gym) Asking questions

Arranging and planning your learning Encouraging yourself (positive thoughts, Cooperating with others

Evaluating your learning (is there self-care) Empathizing with others

improvement in the language you’re Taking your emotional temperature

speaking?)
Strategies instruction is teaching students various skills that can facilitate learning. Saying so, the student will be taught to

choose a strategy best suited for the content taught. Every student learns differently but there are plenty of strategies that help facilitate

how an educator will teach. Students will be able to explore different areas to figure out which way they are able to learn the most

efficient. There are many different studies that state that students succeed when they understand the way they learn.

A prime example of this would be with me, I struggled with Math and Science courses throughout my educational career

before university, I was more complex and efficient with courses like ELA and Social. To this day, I still believe it was because I was

more interested in the content those two subjects had than the other two and I did not like the idea of working with so many numbers

and having a million things to remember for biology class. Based on that, some courses remained the same in university, there were

classes where the class itself was over a 100 people and all you did was listen to someone talk to you then you left. I hated and I

absolutely hated learning this way, as there was zero student engagement. I understood how my own brain worked and learned as the

years went on. I appreciated learning about Oxford’s Strategy for Language Learning because the results were accurate.

In my FSL grade 8 and 9 courses I will be teaching, I can see this test being a good idea after three or four weeks of teaching

these students. I will discover how they learn the best and help them do the best they can. If something does not work out, I now have
different strategies I can apply and see how students respond to those strategies. After learning more about strategies instruction, I

believe that a teacher should cater to all styles of learning because every student is so different. I agree with the fact that we should not

expect our students to learn the same we did, this to me, will be a challenge as a beginning educator. I will aim to try out different

strategies even if they are ones I didn’t like because it’s my students need, not my own. This gave me the drive to apply all type of

different strategies to facilitate students learning. In addition, since I have had experience with adaption and modification in PSI, I

hope to have more of that as well as differentiation for those students who cannot grasp the content. I am eager to learn more about the

strategies’ instruction in my PSII experience. Another goal is to have a classroom environment where students want to use strategies

to learn French, especially the grade 9 who are heading to Quebec in a month. I want to hear that they were successful carrying a

conversation in French with native speakers.

I believe the SILL for Teaching 7-12 could go like this:

Part A:

1. I think of relationships between what I already know and new things I learn in French

3. I connect the sound of a new French word and an image or picture of the word to help me remember the word.

5. I use rhymes to remember new French words.

7. I physically act out new French words.

Part B:

10. I say or write new French words several times

 11. I try to talk like native French speakers

12. I practice the sounds of French

14. I start conversations in French

19. I look for words in my own language that are like new words in French. -

Part C: 24-29 are all relevant.

Part D:

30. I try to find as many ways as I can to use my French

31. I notice my French mistakes and use that information to help me do better.

Part: E:

39: I try to relax whenever I feel afraid of using French

40. I encourage myself to speak French even when I am afraid of making a mistake

Part F:

45: If I do not understand something in French, I ask the other person to slow down or say it again

46. I ask French speakers to correct me when I talk.

49. I ask questions in English

* These are just some of the strategies I think are best suited for secondary levels, I will look to see if I was accurate

throughout my PSII practicum.

7.) Culture/ Intercultural Pedagogy

 Throughout my life, I have lived learning more and more about cultures, languages and the heritage between countries. I

struggle defining the word culture because it is complex and difficult to explain. I usually would use examples of cultural activities to

explain the culture of a country, like dusted carpets in the streets of Antigua Guatemala during Easter to the famous winter festival in

Quebec City. Culture is a complex concept to define. Tang created a 3P model of culture which defines: perspectives products, and

practices. On the other hand, there was also Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner whom believe an onion can represent culture

(worldview – what is real, values and beliefs – what is true, good and important, emotions – what we feel, and behavior & artifacts –

what we do and make). Lastly, Weaver created the metaphor that highlights objective elements of culture (Big ‘C’ culture) and

subjective elements of culture (little ‘c’ culture) that define how we think and behave.
 In the culture article that we read at the beginning of this section, I truly appreciated a statement made by Kramsch (1993)

where he “questioned the validity of the isomorphic position by arguing that alternative worldviews are not exclusively embodied in

languages but must be developed at the cognitive level. According to the author, culture-oriented pedagogy is necessary to ensure

cultural sensitivity through the adoption of alternative perspectives”. This gave me a lightbulb realization as to what culture is all

about. I will look to adapt more cultural exploration in my classrooms, for PSII, we are heavily influenced on Quebecois culture for

the grade 9 class, and the francophone cultures around the world for grade 8’s. I will look to expand the students culture specific and

culture general instruction by assessing how they think and act. There have been problems with teachers only emphasizing culture
specific instruction. In order to address this issue, incorporation of both culture specific and culture general instruction will be

advocated. The metaphors we have learned in class have been well explained in this handout sheet we got that says “The onion

metaphor portrays culture as a concept consisting of various layers of complexity with assumptions at the core followed by norms and

values, etc. (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1998). The iceberg metaphor highlights the difference between tangible, objective

elements of culture (Big ‘C’ Culture) that are apparent above the surface and abstract, subjective elements of culture (little ‘c’ culture)

that define how we think and behave but are not easily identified (Weaver, 1986).”, this gave me the understanding of two great

metaphors when it comes to culture instruction.

To integrate culture into the classroom, I would introduce it by using art work, videos/movies (made in the original country),

news casts, podcasts, radio, field trips, maps, songs, newspapers, photos, literature, stories, and authentic materials used by native

speakers. To use both culture specific and culture general instruction to teach in my classroom would be a challenge but a challenge

that is important to achieve as language teacher using instruction on how to teach culture. While most second language classrooms

focus on objective elements of culture, they also tend to emphasize exploration about specific cultures (for example, Quebecois

culture). Cultural knowledge is an important part of cultural competence. People often focus on culture specific information when they

interact, and while this knowledge is useful in a specific situation, it is not necessarily transferable to other cultures. Culture general

instruction provides a way of understanding differences that can be applied to any cultural group we encounter. This is important to

know as a teacher that both culture instructions are equally as important to integrate into the classroom. I would apply culture specific

knowledge in the classroom by referring to characteristics of the culture that belong especially to the member of the certain culture

(ex: Quebec). an example would, the way humans greet each other, in Quebec, it is different than Alberta, they follow with a kiss on
each cheek, where in Alberta you do not see that at all. If students understand, the appropriate way to greet someone from a different

cultural group, this is “culture specific” knowledge of that group.

While culture specific knowledge may help students understand a specific culture a little better, culture general instruction will

help them understand and relate more deeply to cultural differences when they encounter them. From my research, it is safe to say that

a teacher will not be able to succeed with only teaching culture specific as there are issues surrounding the instruction that comes with

it. To address this issue, intercultural educators advocate for the integration of both culture specific and culture general instruction. To

add more, culture general instruction involves exploring the influence of culture on how people think and act, without emphasizing

specific cultures. I would apply culture general instruction by teaching students that it is used to describe and compare all cultures. I

would teach this by explaining how different culture differ and are comparable by how they communicate, show emotion, or relate to

time. An example would be in some cultures, it is very important to follow schedules closely, but for others (like Latinos) it is quite

flexible and inaccurate to the sense that the schedule times are not important. The understanding that different cultures may relate to

time differently is culture general knowledge that leads into instruction in the classroom.
Here are some examples of the prominent conceptualizations about culture:
This is a powerful and useful Glossary:

Power Distance – relates to social status and its perceived importance in interactions

Identity – relates to the degree of autonomy provided in decision-making and the strength of associations

Competitive Disposition – relates to the level of competitive spirit and the degree of acceptance for different perspectives
 Tolerance for Uncertainty – relates to the degree of certainty (rules) required for comfort

Virtue – relates to the importance of living in the moment versus preparing for the future

Since there are not specific ourtcomes for culture in the ESL POS, I feel luck to see them within the FSL POS (4-12) culture makes up

the third portion out of four.

The culture portion in the FSL POS states: Students will use their knowledge of different Francophone cultures and their

own culture to be able to interact appropriately within these cultures.

The culture section in grade 9 ( that I will be teaching) states these outcomes for culture:

• identify some trades or professions for which knowledge of French is useful

or an asset

• identify Francophone communities at the local (e.g., Edmonton), provincial

(e.g., Saint-Paul, Legal), national (e.g., Saint-Boniface, Manitoba; Shédiac,

Nouveau-Brunswick) and international (e.g., la Louisiane; Saint-Pierre et

Miquelon) levels

• identify some Francophone festivals in Canada and the world in which one

could participate (e.g., le Festival du Homard, le Carnaval de Nice)

As a future educator, I will strive to follow the POS that I will be teaching to attend to the requirements of culture. Growing

up as an ESL student, and a French Language Learner in university, I had a variety of teachers from France and/or Quebec but ESL
teachers were always from around here. This makes me comfortable in knowing that I have my own experiences with learning

languages that I will use to motivate strudents in my classrooms in a sense that I know what they are going through just the same way

that I did when I was their age. Now that I have this plan I hope to use it in PSII. While creating my first unit plan for PSII practicum,

I have followed the program of study as a guideline for both grade 8 and 9. For strategic purposes, I have also ighlighted aspects from

both big ‘C’ culture and little ‘c’ culture in my unit plan although I will not discuss what that is with my students.

Before entering this course EDUC 3601, I had no idea what interculture meant whatsoever. I am happy to have learned to

important topic as it is such an integral compoment into teaching a language. Saying so, intercultural is the mixing of two or more

cultures. When teaching students a second language you (POS for FSL and Spanish) are expected to not only teach language but

different cultures of Spanish speaking countries. This is considered intercultural as students are learning about a different culture from

their own. An example of intercultural in my experience was when I moved to canada, I had never experienced snow or cold before

my arrival. I absolutely hated food here when I came, it was not as good as back home but as I grew up, I was forced to like it. One

more thing that bothered me was how EARLY they eat supper here, I thought people were odd. However, there were similar dishes

comparing to back home so it was not that bad. The term “intercultural” is very similar to the linguistic concept “interlanguage”

referring to the language produced by learners in the process of learning an additional language. Intercultural can also be

conceptualized as a developmental process.

Byram believes there are 5 components of intercultural communicative competence

 Attitudes (Savoir etre)

 Knowledge (saviors)
  Skills of interpreting and relating (savoir comprendre)

 Skills of discovery and interaction (savoir apprendre/faire)

 Critical cultural awareness/political education (savoir s’engager)

Classrooms are now extensively diverse as students all come

from different backgrounds and experiences, Alberta is well known for

this. Intercultural interaction within the class is very unique as every

learner is different and will have a different input. As a teacher it is

important to allow your students to explore similarities and differences

between the cultures to gain a better understanding. I will use these

differences and similarites when I teach my grade 9s about quebec and

what they can expect since I have many experiences in the quebecois

culture.

The significance of the two forms of culture for my work as a

language teacher is simple. I believe that studying a language automatically involves teaching culture. Before I explain my points

about both forms of culture as a future language teacher, I would like to demonstrate my knowledge in what those two forms are. Big

‘C” culture refers to culture that is visible and apparent. Forms of culture that include holidays, popular culture, fold, literature and art.

For students, when they start learning a new culture, the big C cultural elements would be discovered first. They would learn about

holidays, food, art, festivals about the culture of the specific language. On the other hand, little “c” culture is more like invisible type
of culture associated with a group of people and language. Some examples of little c culture include communication styles (different

slangs in different cities, countries), cultural norms (social interactions, how they are different), and verbal and non-verbal language

symbols, and most importatnly the behaviour that is appropiate in that culture. As a language teacher, there is a great signifance of the

two forms as it is important to teach both equally. For my future work as a language teacher, I will take into consideration that cuture

is an essiential part of the second language class that is important for students to learn. If culture is not taught or used in a language

classroom, the students will lack an important component in their learning process of a language. Culture is absolutely necessary in

order to fully understand a language, its implications and appropiate uses. Teaching culture as teacher will also help my work because

when I teach my students more about the culture and about the people they are talking to, the greater chance they will know what to

say at the right time. When I was in Quebec for the first time, this did not happen because I did not know much about the cluture.

Once I started learning more and more, I understood why they talk they way do, and I knew more appropiate to respond to local

people in an appropiate way in their culture. What I mean is, there were many times where I found myself creating the phrases in my

native language and then translating them in the new language. This stopped once I knew what Quebecois culture was all about. By

understanding culture, it allows students to give the right meaning to each word. They are able to think in the foreign language. Lastly,

aside from understanding the lingusistice side of language, culture is a crucial component that gives students the opportounity of great

education in the chosen language by providing a context for understanding one’s own clture. This is why I believe both forms of

culture are important into my teaching practice.

 Intercultural Competence

In the article Online Workplace Integration Language Resources: Facilitator Guide, I truly enjoyed learning more about

Intercultural competence. It is the ability to interact effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations; it is supported by specifc

attitudes and affective features, (inter)cultural knowledge, skills, and refection. Intercultural competence has three component

dimensions: A mindset, a heartset, and a skillset.

1. The mindset is intercultural awareness and refers to a person’s ability to understand similarities and differences of others’ cultures.

The dimension includes two components: self-awareness and cultural awareness.

2. The heartset is intercultural sensitivity and refers to the emotional desire of a person to acknowledge, appreciate, and accept cultural

differences. The dimension includes six components: self-esteem, self-monitoring, empathy, open-mindedness, nonjudgmental, and

social relaxation.

3. The skillset is intercultural adroitness and refers to an individual’s ability to reach communication goals while interacting with

people from other cultures. The dimension contains four components: message skills, appropriate self-disclosure, behavioural

fexibility, and interaction management.

It also involved paradigms of intercultural through the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) which includes many

examples that build the capacity in learners to move along the DMIS scale towards more complex responses responses for students to

work across cultural differences. The DMIS fve stages are denial, polarization, minimization, acceptance, and adaptation.

The reasons as to why it might impact instruction begins with the denial stage, it demonstrates the inability to make distinctions and/or

a general disinterest toward cultural differences. Students might not pay attention and act disinterested in the topic. Next, it is
polarization which implies an “us” and “them” position, often generating the notion that there is a right and a wrong way to “be” in the

world (world view). This could be an issue with students who have strong beliefs in their own culture to the point where they do not

believe in anything else but their own. Next, it is minimization which explains a person’s tendency to minimize perceivable

differences and highlight similarities (i.e., “people all over the world are generally just like me”). This could be compared to

polarization because it focuses heavily in what student believes in. This has a strong power to impact instruction because the teacher

knows not everyone believes in the same things. Next, it is acceptance, which is characterized by the recognition and appreciation of

the fact that one’s own culture is just one of a diverse number of valid cultural world views. The students becomes more aware that all

cultures do matter and might be different, but it is alright to be different and learn about other cultures around the world. Lastly,

Adaptation occurs when individuals are able to shift their behaviours and their thinking authentically in situations where

other norms and values are needed to achieve success.This part of the articles ends with “Moving to the end of this stage is

suggestive of an individual’s ability to identify and move with facility in multiple cultures (e.g., a bicultural person)”, which made me

appreacite how important the DMIS cycle is towards teaching culture in a language classroom.
 8) Four Skills

Station #1: Reading

Since I grew up as an ESL student wanting to eventually become an ESL teacher, I believe that in the four skills, reading is the

third step into learning a language after speaking, listening and teaching vocabylary but before writing. Reading is a receptive skill

where we use our eyes and brains to comprehend written language. (examples: by reading newspapers, books, and magazines).

Extensive reading is the focus on acheving a general understanding as it promotes an appreciation for reading and it helps from

overanalyzing a text. A few benefits are: the significat gain in reading ability, linguistic competence, vocabulary, and spelling.

Intensive reading involves learners reading in detail with specific learning aims and tasks. It can be compared with extensive reading,

which involves learners reading texts for enjoyment and to develop general reading skills. A great example is a student reading a short

text (poem) and puts events into chronological order. I would use poems to do integrate extensive reading as well as looking at main

ideas versus details, understanding what is implied versus stated and identifying words that connect one idea to another.

Bottom up Processing: Readers must recognize a multiplicity of linguistic elements (letter, morphemes, discourse markers).

Top-down Processing: Conceptuality driven process, readers draw on their background knowledge and experiences to

ascribe.

Principles for teaching reading:

1.) Reading is not a passive skill

 When students read they are actively engaged in the process and utilizing a variety of skills
  It is important to help students develop their reading skills and to provide activities that support the reading

experience

2.) Engage students in reading

 Activate prior knowledge:

- brainstorming

- concept mapping

- discussion

 Set a purpose for reading: predicting, guiding questions, K-W-L procedure

 Reading is most beneficial when students are interested and engaged in what they are reading

 Choose texts that are relevant for students and match their interests

 Provide opportunities for students to select what they read

 Utilize students’ writing to promote reading

3.) Select appropiate texts

The following criteria may be used when selecting texts:

a) suitability – content is interesting yet challenging

b) exploitability – achieves language and content goals; integrates with other tasks or other skill development activities

c) readability – text is at an appropriate level of lexical and structural difficulty

Material Adaptation: Modifying the text

  Use graphic depictions – visual displays such as charts, graphs, Venn diagrams, maps, timelines, etc. help to lessen

the linguistic burden in difficult texts

 Provide an outline for the text

 Use audiotapes to reduce the burden on reading skills

 Providing a glossary of difficult words

4.) Exploit reading phases

It is important to consider reading not as a simple, autonomous activity but rather as a task that involves multiple stages:

1.) Before reading: it provides opportunities to prepare for reading through a “warm up”, these warm ups may include

activating schemata, predicting, discussing a topic, skimming and scanning a text.

2.) While reading: Some reading will require that students’ attention is directed to certain elements of language or

content, it also provides a purpose for reading that will help to make the activity more meaningful.

3.) After reading: Reading passages are followed by comprehension questions. It would be ideal to try and exploit

other reading activities using different techniques like: vocabulary study, examining grammatical structures,

discussing arguments presented in the text or the purpose of the text, or providing a follow-up written task such as

re-writing the ending.

Station #2: Speaking

Types of Classroom Speech:

 Imitative

 Intensive

 Responsive

 Transactional

 Interpersonal

 Extensive

In a traditional classroom approach, the primary purpose of imitative speech is to practice the production of particular sounds and

intonation patterns, I believe it is important to have the teacher repeating and explaining particular sounds and intonation patterns, this

heavily impacts the student’s linguistic development. To add to that, responsive speech is also integrated in a traditonal classroom.

Responsive speech involves short responses to teacher or student-initiated questions or comments where the responses are usually

adequate to end the interaction. The students rely on interaction with the teacher so its becomes authentic and meaninful. In addition to

both of those, I also believe that extensive speech is heavily involved in the classroom. It impacts the student’s linguistic development

because it includes longer monologues undertaken in the form of reports, summaries or short speeches. Extensive speech is typically

more formal and deliberative in which the teacher needs to be there to adress instruction.

The most valuable part of learning a language is speaking a new language at an efficient level. You can study a language for

years but it will not take anywhere if you do no practice speaking it. Although, speaking a foreign language can be scary at times and

it is pretty nerve wracking if you are talking to someone who has it as their native language. In my personal ecxperience, it is always
worth the shot, I think speaking the language is the best way to practice and the most effective aspect you can do to improve. It is a

confidence booster as time goes on. People will not judge you but appreciate your intentions in trying the new language that you are

not familiar with as good as they are. As a future educator, it will be my goal to help students get over this fear and start speaking in

their target language from the day they start learning. Here are some aspects of speaking in the four skills:

Segmental: It describes aspects of speech concerned with individuals sounds. Second language learners with segmentals result in

errors with speech acts.

To adress segmentals in my classroom, I would use different strategies to integrate it:

1.) Minimal Pairs : they are a set of words that are different in prononciation based on one sound only and have different

meanings. (ex: their, they’re, there).

2.) Information gap-activities: they are used to practice differentiating sounds in a more communicative manner.

3.) Matching exercises: matching descriptions with pictures could be used to practice pronounciation.

4.) Games: Bingo can be used to reinforce difficult sounds.

Suprasegmental: it describes aspects of speech above the level of the individual sound: rhythm, stress, and intonation.

Three ways to engage learners: Word stress levels, sentence level stress and major sentence stress and meaning.

Here are some types of classroom speech: Imitative , intensive, responsive, interpersonal and extensive. I would use extensive the

most because it includes longer monologues and it understands the form of reports, summaries, and short speeches. Some strategies I

would use are: Use a variety of actvities, engage students in activities, provide appropiate feedback and allow for autonomous speech.

To adress suprasegmentals in my classroom, I would use a variety of different ways:

1) Shadowing

Shadowing is a technique that can be used in the classroom or at home. The technique requires learners to mimic the speech patterns

(rhythm and intonation) of natural language samples.

2) Locating Stress in Utterances

Students can analyze texts or a transcription of their own speech to identify what words would be stressed (in other words, identifying

the content words). In addition to identifying the rhythm of real sentences, students can also be guided through the exploration of the

English rhythm by identifying the stress in nonsense sentences.

3) Finding Content Words

To develop further understanding about content words versus function words, students can practice shortening sentences to as few

words as possible without losing the meaning. For example, students could be given sample newspaper headlines and asked to shorten

them as much as possible without losing the meaning by removing function words.

4) Games

Various games can be used to encourage students to practice appropriate intonation. For example, students could play 20 questions in

pairs.

5) Persuasion

Students could be given scenarios in which they must acquire information or persuade their peers. For example, students could assume

the role of a salesperson and try to convince their peers to do something using questions.
Station #3: Teaching Vocabulary

We can all agree that there can be plenty of challenges with teaching vocabulary, I have never done it myself but I know I will

once this practicum starts. From my prior knowledge and content in this class, teaching vocabulary seems to be a bit daunting and

difficult to do so. It can be challenging for students to learn if the teacher does not teach the appropiate way. Throughtout the four

skills I have learned many terms that discuss how to teach vocabulary. Some of them are:

Collocation: words that go together and make a difference

Brick Words: Highly visible discipline specific terms

Morter Words: general words and phrases used across disciplines.

Word Part Strategy: Filling word part tables to show the form of a word as a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb.

In order to know a word, a students must understand its various parts which are form, meaning, and use. There are four

vocabulary learning strategies that we need to know as educators that must be used to enhance appropiate and efficient pedagogy:

repetition, draw attention to the word, motivate learners to attend to the word, and providing acess to the meaning. This will help the

learners use context to guess, use a dictionary, or break the words into parts. It can be suitable for high or low frequency words that are

easy to guess as they have several meanings or contain useful parts.

Teaching vocabulary also does not have to be boring, it can be made to be engageful for all students while boosting vocabulary

acquisition. Some great examples are word maps that describe synonyms and antonyms, their own definition and how to use the word

in a sentence. In addition, music has always been great for memorization.

Station #4: Listening and Writing
Listening: first step in acquiring a language

This is a receptive skill where we use our ears and brains to comprehend.

How to accomplish listening: Comprehend natives when they speak, and watch and listen to media (movies, radio).

I would use useful acitivites when applying listening into my clasrrom such as: “Sorry, Im late” and the Word Quiz.

Strategies: listening to audio: podcasts and songs.

Writing: last step in acquiring a new language

This is a productive skill where as we are required to use our hands and brains to produce written symbols representing language.

How to accomplish these skills: Compose texts, emails, and letters and write articles, essays and books.

There were many useful activities to use when teaching writing like: corehence, “writing habit”, creative writing, the process wheel

and process and product.

Strategies: writing letters, blog