Creative EFL Assessment for Young Learners

1. Creative EFL Assessment for Young Learners ABLA ELT- Cali, Colombia July 31, 2010

2. Playful Learning EFL program designed for children (5 -12 years ) at the Binational Center Instituto Cultural Dominico Americano Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Grisel Del Rosario, M, Ed Language School Director www.icda.edu.do gdelrosario@icda.edu.do

3. What is creative assessment? • Challenging? • Unexpected, different or unique? • Enjoyable ? • Success oriented? • Interactive? • New? • Motivating? • Informative ? • Input for decision making?

4. Playful Learning Program • EFL Program at a Bi National center in the Dominican Republic • Playful Learning program caters to children from the age of 5 to 12 years old. • The course is aligned with and complemented by the Junior program(12-18) and the Adult program. • The program is accessible on the main campus and in six other locations throughout the country, serving a population of over 16,000 students.

5. Mission • The Playful Learning Program was created by the ICDA with the objective of promoting English language acquisition for children within the ages of 5 and 12 years old, coherently with their developmental stages of learning. • Our mission is to promote a dynamic and interactive learning environment that takes into consideration the needs and diversity of our students, keeping in mind the most recent research in language acquisition methodologies.

6. What do we do? • Our program’s methodology finds its roots within the constructivist school for children to acquire knowledge through meaningful experiences that allow them to see that learning can be fun. • We model social, school and family daily life situations to make the learning experience natural, fun and most importantly relevant. • Ludic activities. • Projects, Arts and Crafts. • Songs, rhymes, poems and stories. • Artistic presentations and expositions. • Seasonal celebrations that add on to our teaching and learning experience.

10. General Program Features • Age and grade level grouping. • 3 hours per week. • September through June. • Academic Program based on the child’s academic skills and interest. • Evaluation based on objective accomplishments as informative tools for parents and teachers. No passing grades. • Use of teacher-and-student-made-materials. • Cultural and community values are reinforced in all activities .

11. Who are our teachers? • Young adults in their college years, with native- like English proficiency. • Instructors receive weekly training for lesson planning and program troubleshooting. • Skills and attitudes: • Able to interact with children. • Capacity to apply teaching skills through art, sports, and technology. • Highly motivated and identified with the playful style. • Lots of “School Spirit” in the learning environment. • PFL teachers take pride in having the opportunity to teach and learn, which provides an unique experience during their college years.

12. Academic Troubleshooting • Brainstorming and planning for • co curricula • activities • Weekly Lesson Planning Crew members

14. What’s the role of parents? • Parental involvement through orientation meeting and homework assignments needing parental support. • Parents attend and participate in seasonal activities: Christmas Show, Graduation, Mother’s day and others. • Midterm progress report is discussed in a PTC time with parents.

15. Midterm Evaluation Form • EVALUATION OF CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR (VS-S-NI) • 1. Participates adequately in class • 2. Regularly does and hands in the assigned homework • 3. Respects the established rules of behavior • 4. Comes to class with the necessary materials • 5. Shows that he/she continues studying at home • 6. Pays attention in class • 7. Shows a good attitude or motivation toward learning English • 8. Is careful and concentrates on his/her work

16. Midterm Evaluation Form EVALUATION OF THE SKILL AREAS (VS-S-NI) 1. Reading comprehension 2. Written expression 3. Grammar 4. Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expressions 5. Listening Comprehension 6. Oral Expression 7. Cultural and community values.

17. ParentTeacherConference

18. Information for parents

19. Information for parents

20. A beginning activity

21. Learning about traditions

22. Learning about traditions

23. Using verbal knowledge through art and craft

24. Proud of my creation!

25. A special gift for MOM

28. Getting positive reinforcement

29. Following verbal instructions

30. Taking care of the planet

31. Ecological awareness

32. Imitating nature’s sounds

33. Santa taught me new words

34. Christmas songs create the message

35. Christmas characters narrate their stories

37. Rehearsing

38. Performing: If I were…..

39. Expressing myself

40. Games are fun!

41. Graduation Day

43. Why is it creative assessment? • It is enjoyable. • It relates to life celebrations. • It does involve valuable information for parents. • It allows expressions of the child’s knowledge through corporal, artistic and other forms to support verbal knowledge. It relates to the concrete learning style of each age. • Textbooks (Faces, Brainstorm, Next Stop from MacMillan) are used to support activities, specially homework . • It is not testing time only.

44. We value… • The program has the highest rate of retention compared to the Junior and Adult programs. • This early exposure to the language throughout elementary years complemented by the Junior Program guarantees a native like quality of speaking. • Students show a high level of motivation to attend classes. • Parents without knowledge of English interpret their children`s accomplishment as a challenge for themselves. • Parental involvement is possible through homework and constant feedback. • Many teachers find a vocation through this job.