Flipping Out: How To Turn A Grammar Class On Its Head

This post is NOT about venting the many frustrations surrounding the teaching and learning of English grammar. Rather, the focus here is on how to flip your classroom. What is flipping the classroom? In many learning environments, the teacher lectures during class and students are sent home with homework. In a flipped learning environment, students watch online videos in preparation for class, and then engage in active learning opportunities during class time when the teacher can help guide them through particular challenges of applying their knowledge.

Flipping is catching on. There have been several articles about it in The New York Times. In addition, several websites are promoting and coordinating efforts toward the initiative, including flippedlearning.org, ed.ted.com, flippedclassroom.com/, and flippededucation.com. For further reading about the method, you can check out articles here and here. To me, one of the best academic articles out there, one that launched a renaissance in education, is Alison King's article From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side.

The dynamic works particularly well for English Language Learners studying grammar because it gives students opportunities to repeat the concepts of the target structure as necessary without exhausting class time on lengthy and repetitive explanations. Furthermore, it allows students to pinpoint specific questions that they might have. It also makes Q & A time  much more effective and efficient.

I experimented with this teaching dynamic in the Summer of 2013. My YouTube channel where I posted most of these videos can be found here. An example of a typical flipped lesson involved students watching a video about "whatever, wherever, whenever, however, whoever" at home. The next day, we did an interactive role play in which one student was a "Bratty Teenager," telling the other student who was roll playing an "Overprotective Mom" that she could do "whatever" she wanted. It was a smash!

I didn't always create my own videos. There are plenty of wonderful resources already out there. Two You Tube channels I frequently utilized in my class were AlexESLvid and JenniferESL.

How could you utilize this teaching format? I'd love to hear from people who have tired or are trying this method. The following are three videos that will help hurdle the initial technical and practical set up of this fun and engaging teaching style.

How to make an iMovie...

How to upload a video to You Tube...

How to create a New Screen Recording using Quicktime...

Create a Solution to the Crisis in American Education

 How would you solve America’s educational crisis? Work in a small group of five students to come up with an innovative and creative solution to the problem. It shouldn’t be similar to anything that’s been tried before. Use the articles and lectures provided in the unit as sources to support your ideas. Also, be sure to use sources that contradict your ideas and to refute their arguments. Mention each source at least one time. Use APA style when citing your sources. Your group should take each of the questions below into consideration. Your response will come in the form of a 5-paragraph paper and a 15 minute presentation. Each student in the group will be responsible for one component of your project. Each student will write one of the five paragraphs and present a two minute portion of the presentation based on his or her selected component.

 1. Do teachers’ unions help student achievement or hinder it?

2. How do you deal with the bureaucracy of school district's central offices?

3. Do you think charter schools are the answer? Why or why not?

 4. How will you deal with No Child Left Behind’s requirement for 100% proficiency in reading and math by 2014?

 5. How do you close the achievement gap?

 6. Is teacher tenure a problem? If you believe so, explain how you would deal with it.

7. How does income inequality influence education? How does your plan address this situation?

 8. Would you change how schools are funded? How?

 9. Does your proposal include standardized testing? Why? How?

10. Do bad neighborhoods cause bad schools or do bad schools cause bad neighborhoods?

11. Would you include merit pay in your plan? Why or why not?

 The basic structure of your paper/presentation should consist of the following components:

1. Introduction: Use a very specific starting point to hook the audience. Use an example that will clearly illustrate the value of your solution.

 2. Background: Briefly summarize the crisis of American Education. Slant your summary in favor of your idea.

 3. Confirmation: Describe how your idea will work in full detail.

 4. Refutation: Before the critics have a chance to object to your ideas/arguments, refute them!

5. Conclusion: Explain, in detail, the benefits that will occur if your idea is implemented. For more information on this structure go here:

 http://www.chicagonow.com/white-rhino/2012/05/if-you-teach-or-write-5-paragraph-essays-stop-it/

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Diane Ravitch
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Watch Diane Ravitch on PBS. See more from KLRU.

Online Articles:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201107/education-testing-in-schools-isnt-working

http://standardizedtests.procon.org/

http://www.troymedia.com/2011/10/21/standardized-testing-in-schools-is-a-good-thing/

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/what-superman-got-wrong-point.html

Integrated Skills Humor Unit

This is the humor unit that we have been studying in class. This is the first video that talks about humor as a translational tool. Charlie Chaplin is an example of slapstick humor. This is another video about humor:

Paraphrasing Relay Race

Learning how to paraphrase can be a real chore for both students and teachers. For students, it's hard to fight the temptation to just copy down language from other sources, change a few words, and try to pass it off as your own. It has become even more tempting to do so thanks to the convenience of researching via Wikipdia, Google, and smart phones. From the teacher's perspective, we want to instill paraphrasing skills in our students so that they don't fall victim to this temptation and fall farther down the slippery slope of plagiarism. Besides, learning how to paraphrase strengthens core language skills such as vocabulary and grammar in ways that few other activities can.

But how do you make it FUN?

I've come up with a pretty simple, yet highly entertaining solution: make a relay race activity out of it! (NOTE: It works best if the teacher has already done a presentation on how to paraphrase, illustrating to students how to use grammar and vocabulary to their advantage.)

Step One: On poster boards marked A, B, C, D... write down a number of sentences or paragraphs that you would like students to paraphrase. Tack these up on the wall outside your classroom before class starts.

Step Two: Divide your class into teams A, B, C, D... Tell students that their team numbers will match up with the poster boards outside. It works best if the teams are evenly matched in regards to both ability level and number of students.

Step Three: Inform students how the game will work. Explain that the first team member must go outside, read the first sentence on their team's board, try to remember it, and come back inside where they will tell their group the sentence. Now, the group must work together to write a paraphrased version of the original sentence. When they have successfully paraphrased the first sentence (and the teacher has "stamped" the paraphrase as correct with her stamp of approval), the next student goes out into the hall, reads the second sentence, and the process repeats itself.

Step Four: Let the students race! You can offer a prize for the winner if you like, but I think the real reward is engaging students in a fun and memorable activity that demonstrates that effective paraphrasing can not only help student improve overall language ability, but can also be fun!

NOTE: More competitive students may start to run and get a little physical, especially at the door. It's a good idea to set up some ground rules and make people who are boxing out, stalling, or otherwise getting too rowdy have a ten to twenty second time out in a penalty box of sorts. Enjoy!

Intensive English Program Survey

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The Living Bridge of Meghalaya

Meghalaya is a remote area in India. It has a high elevation, with many mountains and valleys. It is also one of the wettest places on Earth. During the summer months, monsoons, or strong storms, dump rain into the area. One year, the area was hit with 25 meters of rain. This huge amount of water comes flooding through the valleys at a very fast rate. This makes it very difficult to travel through the valleys. The people who live in this beautiful yet untamed land have devised a very interesting way of dealing with this problem.

               Harley is a villager who is working on solving this problem with his niece, Juliana. They are sitting by the side of a stream where a strangler fig is growing. Harley is teaching Juliana her how to coax its roots to grow across the stream. Once the roots reach the other side of the steam, they will take hold and dig into the soil. It will take the tree many years to grow across the stream—more years, in fact, than the man could hope to live. That is why he is teaching this skill to his niece—so that she will be able to complete his work. When the roots have finally grown all the way across the stream, the tree will form a bridge. It will be a bridge so strong that none of the summer monsoon’s raging waters could ever destroy it. Harley  tells Juliana that the bridge will last for over 500 years. Her children and her children’s children will use the bridge.

               Dozens of these living bridges span the network of valleys in the Meghalaya region. They have existed for countless generations and help to link the communities of the area together. They are a sustainable, living part of the environment—a living example of how nature and humans can coexist in harmony.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is a major problem for people who live in the Meghalaya region?
2. How do they solve this problem?
3. Can you think of other examples of how people use nature to solve a problem?

Watch the video to learn more:

Johnny Appleseed

If you ask any American elementary school student who Johnny Appleseed is, they will most likely begin describing a man who planted apple tress and used a pot as a hat. Children love to hear his tale. He is undoubtedly one of the most beloved characters in American history. While there is plenty of evidence to confirm that he really did exist, Johnny’s story has been told by so many over so many years that many of the details have become exaggerated. His story has evolved into what is known as a “tall tale.” While many details of his life have been thoroughly debated, a few things remain certain: he was a very kind man who was full of life and loved to travel through the countryside planting apple trees.

Let us start with some facts that we know for sure about his early life. Johnny Appleseed was the nickname of Jonathan Chapman. He was a pioneer—one of the first Europeans to come to the American Midwest. As he traveled, he planted apple trees in large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. These areas hadn’t had apples planted in them before. Therefore, he is considered the father of the apple tree in these areas. Born in 1774 in a town in Massachusetts, Johnny served in the Continental Army with General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. They were fighting for American independence against Great Britain. After the war was won, Johnny started moving west, planting apple seeds as he went.

Although popular stories depict Johnny planting seeds randomly as he walked, he actually maintained nurseries, or small farms of young apple trees that were carefully planned. Johnny would leave the nurseries in the care of neighboring farmers, and would return to check on his tree’s progress every few years. While he was away, he was busy starting more nurseries in other areas. It certainly was a busy lifestyle!

Johnny didn’t just care about his apple trees; he cared about all life very deeply, including animal life. There are many stories that demonstrate just how much Johnny cared for animals. According to one story, on a cold and snowy night, Johnny noticed that there were many mosquitoes, or little bugs, dying in the campfire that he had made. Despite the cold, he put out his campfire so that no more mosquitoes would have to die just to keep him warm. Another time, a man wanted to kill a horse that had grown old and useless. Johnny bought the horse and provided some open grassland for the horse. After a while, he gave the horse to someone in need, but only after they promised to be kind to the horse. It should come as no surprise that Johnny was a vegetarian during his lifetime.

 Perhaps because he was so busy taking care of his beloved nature, Johnny never had time to marry. There are many theories that attempt to explain why he never did. Some say that he had intended to marry a Miss Nancy Tannehill. Records show that he had certainly visited her hometown of Perrysville, Ohio several times. According to legend, on the day he arrived to propose, he discovered that he was too late. She had accepted another man’s proposal the previous day!

Having lived to a ripe old age, Johnny finally died. Most estimates put his age at around eighty years old. Since he lived outdoors most of the time, he was in excellent health and seemed to be much younger than he was. It came as somewhat of a shock to those around him when he died. However, there are disagreements about when and where he died, exactly. Perhaps he is still tramping through his beloved woods, tending to young apple trees and caring for old horses!