Presented by Senior English Language Fellow Debra Burgess and English Teacher Lourdes Talavera. Please find the webinar recording of this presentation in this address http://youtu.be/6V5RkP7QiKU

1. Creating a Caring Classroom
that Fosters
Students’ English Language
Production
Lourdes Talavera
Debra A. Burgess
Centro Cultural Peruano Norteamericano
Arequipa, Peru

2. What are the teaching and learning
challenges in your classroom for
developing students´oral language
production?

3. Some Challenges
Hours
Classroom Size
Lack of resources
Interruptions in classes
Numbers of Students
Unmotivated Students

4. How to Recognize the Moods of an
Irish Setter

5. What Does a Motivated Language
Student Look Like?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=
ngRq82c8Baw

6. Forms of Motivation
• Extrinsic
• Intrinsic
Driven by factors outside
of the learner.
Free from the influence of
external influence like
punishment or rewards.
For example
Good grades, please the
teacher
Student reads or studies
because it interesting or
enjoyable

7. Motivating Students
How to be…..
• Competent
• Confident
• Communicative

8. Engaging All by Creating High School Learning Communities
What They Are Telling Us
The culture of their schools is impersonal,
giving few opportunities to work constructively
with peers and connect to teachers
Instruction is passive and boring rather
than active and related to real life
issues
The system is undemocratic and at
times seemingly unfair
©2009 CenterSource Systems, LLC – Engaging All by Creating High School Learning Communities
8

9. Engaging All by Creating High School Learning Communities
Inclusion – A Sense of Belonging
Presenting yourself
Stating your needs and expectations
Being acknowledged
©2009 CenterSource Systems, LLC – Engaging All by Creating High School Learning Communities
9

10. Why a student-centered classroom
important?
Lessons
more
interesting
Lessons
more
memorable
Students
held
accountable
for their
learning
Enables
more
informal
assessment
Caters to
different
learning
styles

11. “All Genuine Learning…
is active, not passive. It involves the use of the
mind, not just memory. It is the process of
discovery, in which the student is the main
agent.”
- Mortimer Adler

12. Student-Centered
vs. Teacher-Fronted
• Teacher-fronted classrooms:
– Teacher is the “Sage on the Stage”
• Student-Centered classrooms:
– Teacher is the “Guide on the Side”

13. Use interesting material
• If you are bored, the students will be too
• Use material relevant to the students’ lives
– Ex) Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, articles
about their country/city
• Don´t use the textbook exclusively
• Ridiculous websites?

14. Generation Y
• Gen Yers …
– are Digital Natives
– want to work smarter, not harder
– are kinesthetic and visual
– are feedback dependent
– love entertainment and games
– customize tasks
– seek a purpose and passion
(Reilly, Peter. "Understanding and teaching Generation Y." English Teaching Forum. 1 (2012): n. page. Web. 15 May. 2013.)

15. Give students resources to
practice outside of class
Share info they discover with the class

16. Community Member Talk
• Invite a friend or colleague to the class in
person or via skype to discuss a topic that is
important to the class (the environment,
public health, education, crime, etc.).
• Broadcast a Ted Talk.
• Use the talk as a springboard for discussion
and research in your classroom.
http://www.ted.com/
(Reilly, 2012)

17. Action-Packed Video Clip
• Show an action-packed video clip.
• Have students write and then share sentences
about them with partners and then as a class.
• Example: Mr. Bean
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U24g88G
NgMI
(Reilly, 2012)

18. Interactive Listening/Chatting Options
•
•
•
•
•
•
www.englishclub.com/esl-chat
www.eslcafe.com
Skype
Google Hangout
Facebook Chat or Video Chat
Global Schoolhouse
(Chinnery, George M. . "Speaking and Listening Online: A Survey of Internet Resources." English Teaching Forum. 43.3 (2005): n. page. Web. 15 May. 2013.)

19. Websites for Activities
Ready-to-Go
•
•
•
•
www.esl-lab.com
www.literacynet.org/cnnsf
www.americanenglish.state.gov
http://www.voanews.com/
Create-Your-Own
• http://www.npr.org/
• http://edition.cnn.com/
• http://tv.msnbc.com/
• http://video.nationalgeogra
phic.com/video/kids/
• http://www.timeforkids.co
m/photos-video

20. Personalize content
• Use students’ names/life experiences in
example sentences
– Sally took a bus to the conference.
vs.
– Diego took a Diablo Rojo to the TESOL
Congress.

21. Use student-generated materials
• If you want to have students describe a
picture, use a picture of your students
vs.

22. Involve the students in
grammar explanations
• The Question Hand:
• Great for teaching
question structure
• Have the students
trace their own hand
(Question Hand courtesy of Aaron Corbin)

23. References
• Krashen, Stephen. Should We Teach
Strategies. Electronic Journal of Foreign
Language Teaching, 2013,Vol 10, No. 1, pp. 3539
• Frank, Laurie S. Journey Toward the Caring
Classroom, Wood N Barnes Publishing and
Distribution, 2004.
• Gibbs, Jeanne. Tribes: A New Way of Learning
and Being Together, Center Source, 2001.