ESL Spokane Regional Conference - 20th anniversary

1. ESL Spokane Regional 2010
th
Happy 20 Anniversary!
Elena Smith, Ph.D.
Intensive American Language Center
Washington State University, Pullman, WA
E-mail: essmith@wsu.edu

2. Challenges and Triumphs
in the ESL Profession

3. Quiz: Choose the right answer
1. English is a number __?__ native
language spoken in the world.
a.One
b.Two
c.Three
d.Four
e.Five

4. Answer

5. Quiz: Choose the right answer
2. Which one of the languages listed below is
number 3 in terms of the number of its native
speakers in the world?
a.Mandarin
b.Arabic
c.Hindu/Urdu
d.Spanish
e.Russian

6. Answer

7. Quiz: Choose the right answer
3. What is the percentage of the GDP (gross
domestic product) for the world’s economy
of the countries where English is the first
language?
a.35.5%
b. 28.2%
c. 22.8%
d. 20.2%
e. 10.9%

8. Answer

9. The percentage of the global economy
(GDP) accounted for by world languages
22.8%
CHINESE
#2
2.9%
Italian
#8
5.6%
Japanes
e
#3
28.2%
ENGLISH
3.4%
#1
Portugues
e
5.4%
Spanish
#4
#7
4.2
French
#6
4.9%
German
#5

10. ESL Speakers
• 583,000,000
ESL speakers
in the world
• 36,000,000
ESL speakers
in the U.S.A.
.

11. According to the
British council over
1,000,000,000
people are currently learning
English world wide.

12. •5,500,000
ESL students in the USA today
• ESL students are US fastest-growing
population and are expected to make up
one out of every four
students by 2025.

14. Challenges

15. Three Major Challenges
1. ESL Instructors Work
Conditions
2. The English Language Teaching
Problems
3. The Role of Technology in ESL
Instruction

16. ESL Instructors Work Conditions
Elena’s Illusion

17. ESL Instructors Work Conditions
Challenges
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Job Security
Salary Equity
12-hour/week work load
Paid 60-day annual vacation
Release time to design
in-house materials
5. Professional development
funding

18. The English Language Teaching
Challenges
1. Which English Language to Teach?
2. Which Professional Terminology to Use?
3. Which Grammar to Teach? Or Not?

19. Which English Language to
Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect
but Becoming a Norm?
Between you and I.

20. Which English Language to Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect but Becoming a Norm?
I seen that.

21. Which English Language to Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect but Becoming a Norm?
I’ve drove there.
I’ve boughten it.

22. Which English Language to Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect but Becoming a Norm?
Irregardless

23. Which English Language to Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect but Becoming a Norm?
A large amount of students.

24. Which English Language to Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect but Becoming a Norm?
There’s six new students.

25. Which English Language to Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect but Becoming a Norm?
Ten items or less

26. Which English Language to Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect but Becoming a Norm?
This room is bigger then that one.

27. Which English Language to Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect but Becoming a Norm?
I borrowed you ten dollars
yesterday.

28. Which English Language to Teach?
Grammatically Incorrect but Becoming a Norm?
An agreement was reached
between several countries.

29. Which English Language to Teach?
• Lack of education?
• Pop culture?
• Regional differences between
oral and written English?
• Dialect intermingle?
• Foreign language interference?
• Electronic language invasion (“Internet
English”)?

30. Which English Language to Teach?
ESL instructors usually tell their students:
• You’ll hear it a lot, but please don’t say it.
• People use it incorrectly, but you must use it
correctly.
• This is how it is
in real WORLD,
but this is how
you should use it
in your TOEFL exam.

31. The English Language Challenges
• Terminology
in textbooks
among instructors
on the Internet

32. Terminology
affirmative sentences vs. positive sentences

33. Terminology
subject verb agreement vs. subject verb concord

34. Terminology
bare infinitive vs. “base” form of the verb

35. Terminology
determiners vs. possessive adjectives

36. Terminology
hanging participle vs. dangling participle

37. Which Grammar to Teach? Or Not?
• To teach grammar
or not? If not - how?
• If yes-how much
& how?
Keith False, “Focus on
only critically vital
grammar points.”

38. The English Language Challenges
Grammar Instruction Is Vital

40. Which Grammar to Teach?
• Orient curricula to only vital grammar
points?
• Create grammar books oriented at
students with different language
backgrounds?
(Ex: “articles” for Spanish speakers and
Russian speakers)?
• Standardize ESL grammar terminology?

41. The English Language Challenges
What Our Students Write:

42. What Our Students Write
“I love the movie Gone with
the Win. If you win, you not
lose.”

43. What Our Students Write
“Americans very busy and
never have intercourse.”

44. What Our Students Write
“Some men are love eating as
same as anything.”

45. What Our Students Write
“I want to go New York to
see the woman of freedom
with a torture.”

46. The Use of Technology

47. The Use of Technology
FOR
AGAINST
1. technology is “stuff”
2. technology is motivating
and educationally effective
3. technology-based teaching is
superior to traditional
teaching
4. learning through technology
is fun
1. technology is 5% “stuff”
and 95% “what to do with
stuff?”
2. technology is expensive,
fragile and stupid
3. the principles of effective
teaching are timeless
regardless of the medium
4. learning is hard work
Keith Hopper, 1999

48. Internet Learning Is Fun???
Astrophysicist Clifford Stoll,
"Most learning isn't fun. Learning takes:
Work , Discipline and Responsibility
I’d rather see a student learn how
Shakespeare processed words than how
Microsoft does."
(The Great Technology Mania, 1999.)

49. The Use of Technology
• Since teachers often lack the technology use
knowledge needed, students may get stuck
doing meaningless exercises. Apparently,
these machines can become a waste of time, if
not in the hands of the right user.
(Jessy Norman, Negative Effects of
Computers in Classrooms, 2000)

50. 3D Virtual Avatar Classroom?

51. Ancient Greek Philosophy
“If we disregard due proportion by giving
anything what is too much for it; too
much canvas to a boat, too much
nutriment to a body, too much authority
to a soul, the consequence is always
shipwreck.”
Plato

52. Today’s Triumphs at Workplaces
•
•
•
•
•
Master’s in TESL is required
Full-time jobs
Benefits
Higher salaries
Non-native English speakers
- instructors
• Technology improvement

53. Our Biggest Triumph Is
Our Students
•
•
•
•
Survive
Overcome
Excel
Achieve

54. Two Pieces of Advice
Bill Bowerman, Legendary University of Oregon Track
Coach and a co-founder of Nike rightfully stated,
“A teacher is never too smart to learn
from his pupils.”
I’d like to add:
“A teacher is never too smart to
learn from his/her peers.”

55. Celebration
Happy 20th Birthday ESL Spokane
Regional!!!

56. References
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hughes, Anthony Online English Grammar
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/grammar_topics.
Bowerman, William J High-performance training for track and field. Champaign, Ill.: Leisure Press
(1991).
Cahill, Thomas & Nan A. Talese Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, Why the Greeks Matter, An Imprint of
Doubleday, NY, 2003.
False, Keith Great Writing: Less Grading, Smarter Grammar, More Vocabulary, WAESOL 2009, Des
Moines, WA
Hamilton, Edith The Greek Way, W. W. Norton & Co., NY, 1993.
Hopper, Keith Mastering the Invisible Technologies in Education: Who are the Real Technology Prodigies
Among College Teachers? Educational Technology Magazine, January-February 1999, p. 50
Norman, Jessy Negative Effects of Computers in Classrooms
http://courses.wcupa.edu/fletcher/.htm
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/terms.htm
http://www.englishlab.net/teflblog/category/statistics/eslstatistics/http://esl.about.com/od/englishlearningresources/f/f_eslmarket.htm
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-english-next.pdf
http://www.ivstatic.com/files/et/imagecache/636/files/blog_articles/avatar-for-women-LIST_0.jpg

57. Thank You