2018 STARTALK Spring Conference

HOW TO FIND AUTHENTIC

MATERIALS AND MAKE THEM

ACCESSIBLE TO LEARNERS

Putting Standards Front and Center:

Iman Hashem, Brandon Zaslow

SESSION OUTCOMES

• I can analyze authentic materials and identify the language, culture and content available to teach in a wide variety of authentic materials from the Arabic-speaking world.

• I can describe strategies that can be used to make language, culture and content comprehensible to students.

• I can choose authentic texts and list strategies I can use to make them comprehensible to my students.

STARTALK-Endorsed Principles for Effective Teaching

• Implementing a Standards-Based and Thematically Organized Curriculum

• Facilitating a Learner-Centered Classroom

• Using the Target Language and Providing Comprehensible Input for Instruction

• Integrating Culture, Content, and Language in a World Language Classroom

• Adapting and Using Age-Appropriate Authentic Materials

• Conducting Performance-Based Assessment

• Integrating Culture, Content, and Language in a World Language Classroom

• Adapting and Using Age-Appropriate Authentic Materials

WHY THIS SESSION?

Unpacking the Can Do Statement &

Planning Scaffolding the Performance task

Can-Do Statement (Unit/Program Can-do)

I can ask and answer questions about a healthy diet that is suitable for different people according to their age and the types of activities.

Performance Task

The class divides into two groups, one will take the roles of nutritionist, and the other group of clients who are seeking advise on what they need to change in their eating habits to live a healthier life.

Lesson Can-Do Statements• I can identify foods eaten at a Syrian breakfast, their nutritional values, and reasons they are eaten. (Interpretive)• I can recognize the food categories and the nutritional value of each category (Interpretive) • I can name the foods I eat for breakfast each morning, with whom and why they are good for me. (Interpersonal)• I can identify the number of calories needed for various ages, gender, and type of sports. (Interpretive)• I can complete a graph or write about my daily food intake, activities I do, and calories I burn. (Presentational)• I can exchange information about my daily activity and types of sports I plya daily and/or weekly. (Interpersonal)

Planning Learning Experiences and Instruction

• Locating authentic texts

• Selecting authentic texts

• Making texts comprehensible to students:

– Identifying the language, culture and content I want to teach

– Text analysis: what strategies I can use to

• Prepare students to receive the text (pre- reading/viewing)

• Interact with the text in order to understand the language , culture and content available in the text (during)

• Provide evidence of students understanding the language, culture and content from the text ( post) and

• Use what I have learned in interpersonal and presentational activities

Turn and Talk

• What are authentic materials?

• Where can you find authentic materials?

• Why should we use authentic materials?

Authentic texts are print, audio or visual documents, created by native speakers of the target language for native speakers of the target language.

Authentic items are not created or edited expressly for language learners (Nunan and Miller, 1995).

What do we mean by authentic texts?

Authentic texts are a source of content, cultural products, practices and perspectives

They provide opportunities for students to use or develop higher level cognitive skills.

They provide opportunities for students to interact with one another and lead to the development of students’ communicative proficiency.

Why do we need to use authentic texts?

Application

• Locate two “electronic” authentic texts that you can to use in your classroom.

• Locate two pedagogically created texts.

• Write an entry describing how you know each one is authentic or teacher made.

• Post them on Google Drive or to a Delicious Account to share with colleagues.

WHAT ARE LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND CONTENT?

Use the following Wordle to guide your answer .

What can you teach from an authentic text?

Language: Vocabulary, phonology, grammar

Culture: Practices, products, perspectives

Content: Geography, health, art, science, etc.

Watch and Analyze

Watch the video clip and identify the language, culture and content available to teach with this videotext.

Choosing a Text

When choosing a text be sure to consider

• Student interest

• Student knowledge of the topic

• Organization of the text

• Complexity of the text

• Clarity of sound and print

Authentic Text Analysis

What is the quality of the text?

Is the print/sound clear? Is it in the standard dialect? Does it contain errors?

Is the text appropriate for interpretation?

Is there content knowledge reflected? Are there cultural products reflected? Are there cultural practices reflected? What are the cultural perspectives reflected in the products and practices?

For what level is the text most appropriate?

Are students heritage or non-native speakers? What are the students’ levels of proficiency? What are the students’ developmental levels?

Interpretive Communication

Learners understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.

Interpretive Communication

• Is culturally appropriate understanding of written, spoken or visual texts that are authentic.

• Does not allow for active negotiation of meaning between the receiver and producer of messages.

• Is not translation.

• Is dependent on the amount of linguistic and cultural knowledge that the listener, reader and viewer possesses.

• At lower levels, it focuses on the message and its purpose. At higher levels, it includes reading between the lines in order to understand the perspectives of the producers.

Interpretive Communication

▪ What helps when interpreting a text:⁻ knowledge of the target language

⁻ knowledge of culture

⁻ previous content knowledge and life experiences

⁻ knowledge of how discourse is organized

⁻ the ability to use a variety of strategies to help arrive at meaning

▪ The purpose of interpretation is to:⁻ discover new information or ideas

⁻ build on prior knowledge or thoughts

⁻ affirm or change ideas

⁻ imagine, enjoy, experience

Motivation: Relevant, Purposeful, Real-World

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Watch and Analyze

Making Language, Culture and ContentComprehensible to Students

As you watch, use your reflective journal and the following questions to guide your viewing.

• What strategies does the instructor use to make language, culture and content comprehensible to students?

• What is the language, culture and content taught?

The Phases of Interpretation

Points for reflection:

1. How does the instructor tap into students' previous knowledge?

2. How does the instructor check for comprehension?

What is the teacher is doing? What are the students are doing?

Before

During

After

View the video again, this time focusing on the phases of interpretation.

Compare your responses to the discussion in the video.

The number of calories needed for each day.

Shor article and Infographic & Video

Infographic about how many calories are burned for regular daily activities and sports

Calculating the calories I need according to age, gender, and type of activities

Article about types of exercises and calories it burns.

LESSONS LEARNED

• Locating suitable authentic texts is time consuming, thus, we need to use multiple strategies and techniques to find them.

• Choosing texts that are rich in language, culture and/or content.

• Using various texts to meet the need of different age, intelligences and level of proficiency.

CHALLENGESLocating authentic texts that are:

• rich in language cultures and content at the same time

• needed for input for all performance tasks

• suitable for my students age, level of proficiency, and interests.

Designing appropriate scaffolding activities and strategies needed to:

• prepare students to interact with the text

• give students multiple opportunities to interact with the text

• check for comprehension.

Turn and Share

• Name two concepts that you can implement in your program.

• Share one tip from your program.

Strategies and Techniques that

Facilitate Comprehensionhttp://sessions.ocwlpstartalk.org/PedagogySessions/Inter

pretingAuthenticMaterials/

www.ocwlp.org

ihashem@oxy.edubzaslow@oxy.edu

CONCLUSION