Customizing Teaching by Developing Appropriate Materials

1. CustomizingTeachingbyDevelopingAppropriateMaterials Carlos Lizárraga

2. Whycustomize? • Customize: to modify or build according to individual or personal specifications or preference, e.g. to customize an automobile (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/customize)

3. Whycustomize? • Customize: to modify or build according to individual or personal specifications or preference, e.g. to customize an automobile (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/customize)

4. Whycustomize? • Customize: to modify or build according to individual or personal specifications or preference, e.g. to customize an automobile (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/customize)

5. Thelegacy of CLT • Meaningful communication • Fluency & accuracy • Innovation and variety • Integrated skills development • Scientific body of knowledge

6. DissatisfactionwithMethod • One-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach • Top-down processes • Emphasis on technical aspects of teaching • Teacher as a technician

7. PostmethodCondition • Bottom-up process • Reconfiguration of theorizer and practitioner • Practitioners generate location-specific, classroom-oriented innovative strategies

8. Anideologicalawakening • Critical pedagogy • Teachers as transformative intellectuals • Sociocultural relevance • Global consciousness

9. Availablematerials • Textbooks • Reflect “a social construction that may be imposed on teachers and students and that indirectly constructs their view of a culture.” (Cortazzi and Jin, 1999) • Spread globally = not grounded in local sociocultural milieu • Changing, but not quite there yet

10. Whatto do? • Teaching English as an International Language (TEIL) • An international language: one which is used by people of different nations to communicate with one another. Smith (1976) quoted by McKay (2002)

11. TEIL – Assumptions (McKay 2002) • English is used globally for international communication, and locally as a language of wider communication within multilingual societies. • The use of English is no longer connected to the culture of Inner Circle countries. • English becomes embedded in the culture of the country in which it is used. • As English is an international language in a global sense, one of its primary functions is to enable speakers to share with others their ideas and culture.

12. TEIL – Assumptions (McKay 2002) • English is used globally for international communication, and locally as a language of wider communication within multilingual societies. • The use of English is no longer connected to the culture of Inner Circle countries. • English becomes embedded in the culture of the country in which it is used. • As English is an international language in a global sense, one of its primary functions is to enable speakers to share with others their ideas and culture.

13. TransformativeIntellectuals • Situate the class in the words, concerns, and experience of the students. • Are sensitive to pluralism. • Are concerned with the affective dimension of human beings.

14. Cultural content • L2 culture • L1 culture • Global culture Cortazzi and Jin (1999) quoted by Kumaravadivelu (2003)

15. What’smissing? • L1 culture • L2 culture • Global culture Cortazzi and Jin (1999) quoted by Kumaravadivelu (2003)

16. L1 CultureMaterials • Which themes could we teach our students?

17. SampleThemes • Celebrations • Violence at school  • Crime and public welfare • Urban tragedies: accidents, kidnappings, insecurity • Urban tribes • Poverty and its consequences • Teenage Suicide • Rites of passage • Public transportation • New technologies • Cyber bullying • Regional endangered species • History of tango

18. Developingourown material • Finding a suitable text • Producing a text • Designing the lesson plan

19. Finding a suitabletext

20. http://www.buenosairesherald.com/ http://www.argentinaindependent.com/

21. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/argentina http://m24digital.com

22. Producing a text • Simplification • Adaptation • Producing the text from L1 sources

23. SIMPLIFICATION of authentic texts

24. Ragan’scriticismtosimplification Drawbacks Potential Benefits

25. Strategiestosimplify a text (Alex Ragan and D. Young) • Substitution of technical or infrequent vocabulary • Shortening sentences • Deletion or rephrasing of idiomatic expressions • Restructuring sentences to reduce complexity, i.e. using simpler syntax.

26. Characteristics of elementarytexts • Genre • Text structure • Language and literary features • Sentence complexity • Illustrations and graphics

28. Substitution of technicalorinfrequentvocabulary ORIGINAL: A new conditiondubbed "Facebook depression" mayaffectteenagerswhospend a significantamount of time onthe social-networkingsite, researcherswarned in thelatestissue of PediatricsJournal. SIMPLIFIED: Thereis a new conditioncalled "Facebook depression”, which can affectteenagerswhospend a longtime onthe social network, scientistssay.

29. TextAdaptation

31. Producing a text from L1 sources

35. Let’sdesignourLesson Plan!

36. From Omaggio, A. Phillips’ 5 stages for lesson planning 1) PRE-TEACHING / PREPARATION STAGE: Anticipation and prediction. • Activities: • Brainstorming • Lookingatvisuals, headline, titles, graphics, etc. • Predictingfromtitle or first lines

37. 2) SKIMMING / SCANNING STAGES: Getting the gist (skimming) and locatingspecific info. (scanning) • Activities: • Identifyingtopic sentence and main ideas • Multiple choice on best paraphrase • Matchingsubtitles and paragraphs • Filling in charts • Creating headlines for different sections • Making global judgements or reacting

38. 3) DECODING / INTENSIVE READING: Guessingmeaning of unknownwordsfromcontext. Harmeraddresses the ‘vocabulary question’

39. 4) COMPREHENSION STAGE: • Wh-questions • True/False questions • Multiple choice • Gap-fillingexercises • Tables/charts to complete • Sorting/grouping • Sequencing • Matching

40. Comprehension Questions • Types of comprehension questions: • Literal • Reorganization • Inference • Evaluation • Forms of questions: • Yes/No • Alternative • True or False • Wh- • Multiple choice

41. 5) TRANSFERABLE / INTEGRATING SKILLS: Exercises to go beyond the confines of the specific passage. Afterinteractingwith the text, Ss argue, reflect on content and givetheir point of view. • Summarizing • Discussing • Relatingtopics to own reality • Think-pair-share • Responsejournals • Extension activities of variouskinds

42. SampleLessonPlans

43. Suicide: Today’s World Epidemic • Patagonian Brothers’ Adventurous Jobs • The Coquena Legend • El Apóstol – The First Animated Film • The Family Dog – An Urban Myth • Of Trees and Men - South American Bonsais • Pato, Our National Sport

44. Usefultips • Collaborative work • Brainstorm to select theme, and types of text • Search for texts • Divide up the task • “There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.” –Lyndon Johnson