Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL October Chapter Meeting

Time:  Saturday, October 6, 2012, 1:30 p.m.
Place:  Chosun University (Gwangju), Main Building (본관), Room 5210.

Schedule
1:30 pm: Registration and Welcome

2:00 pm: PRESENTATION  1
                  Dynamic Listening Activities for Using Pop Songs in the Classroom
                  Nico Lorenzutti (Chonnam National University)

2:45 pm: Refreshment Break

3:00 pm: PRESENTATION  2
                  Building Speaking Confidence: Teaching from a Discourse Perspective
               to Encourage Longer Speaking Turns
                  Catherine Peck (Chonnam National University)

4:00 pm: Swap-Shop Session
                  Share your Teaching Ideas, Classroom Activities, and Language Games.
                  (Open to All Attendees. Handouts welcomed.)

4:30 pm: Announcements / Drawing for Prizes / Closing

                  (Admission is free.   We hope it leads Membership.)

                    Chapter Newsletter for October attached below.

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The Presentations and the Presenters

Beyond the Gap-Fill: Nine Dynamic Activities for Song in the EFL Classroom

Many teachers like to use music and song in the language classroom. Good motivational tools, they are fun, relaxing and provide a class with variety and a break from textbook study. For younger learners, song and chants are often used to help acquire new vocabulary in a non-threatening, naturalistic manner. Older students and more advanced learners can analyze lyrics and explore a songwriter’s language choice and message. Despite the rich potential of songs as authentic and stimulating texts, however, when it comes to designing a listening activity for a song  teachers tend to rely upon the ‘gap fill’; by far the most frequently employed song-related listening task.

Teachers undertaking in-service training programs often report that when they use a song as a warmer, a gap fill is the sole activity. Listen and fill in the blanks, listen again, check and move on to the next activity, is almost a mantra. Yet songs can be utilized in so many more variable and stimulating ways; songs can challenge students to learn and think about language, and provide opportunities for integrated skills practice as well as cultural and intercultural analysis. This presentation will demonstrate a collection of simple, effective techniques that can be easily applied to a range of songs. All techniques employed incorporate active learning elements such as movement, prediction, student-student interaction and competitive games – providing teachers with a bank of useful and engaging classroom activities. The activities are suitable for learners from young teens to adults, ranging from low intermediate to advanced levels.

This presentation was given at CAMTESOL in February, 2012, and at the KOTESOL National Conference in Pusan in May, 2012. Lindsay Herron wrote a review of the presentation for Uni Jobs Korea in June. You can read her review at: http://www.unijobskorea.com/2012/06/05/4-dynamic-esl-activities-for-pop-...

The Presenter
Nico Lorenzutti has taught and trained teachers in Japan, Canada, and South Korea for over 15 years. He teaches in the Intensive Teacher Training Program at Chonnam National University where he has worked since 2008. He holds a CELTA and is currently a candidate for an MA in Modern English Language at the University of Nottingham. His main research interests are the use of popular culture products in the language classroom. Email:zutti25@hotmail.com

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Building Speaking Confidence:
Teaching from a Discourse Perspective to Encourage Longer Speaking Turns

A: Did you go somewhere for your summer vacation?
B: …Yes, Japan. (big smile)
A: Oh great, how was it?
B: …It was … fantastic.
A: OK, tell me more.
B: …Japanese people … are very kind.
A: OK, and how about the food?
B: …Mmm, very delicious.

For many English teachers, this type of exchange will seem all too familiar. If A is a teacher, he or she may simply be pleased that B comprehends the questions and provides appropriate answers without needing too much time to think. In a real life situation, however, the reality is that no conversation partner will want to work as hard as A is to keep this conversation going. B will lose an opportunity to participate in a satisfying conversation or develop a closer relationship with A, and A will find a way to end this conversation and walk away as soon as possible. 

A common complaint about Korean EFL learners is that they tend to offer “minimal contributions” in conversation, responding with a word or a phrase when offered a conversational “turn,” but rarely using the chance to say more – even after they have achieved intermediate or advanced levels of ability. For learners, this hesitancy to “hold the floor” in conversation or maintain a longer turn eventually leads to frustration, lowered confidence, and experiencing English as a language in which their identity, experiences, or thoughts are never meaningfully expressed. In fact, many of our EFL classroom teaching materials and techniques position students as minimal contributors to conversation and offer few opportunities for them to develop confidence in “saying more” or taking the lead in conversation. Consequently, this workshop first identifies some basic discourse strategies for extending the length and complexity of learners’ spoken English, and then demonstrates simple classroom practice activities to apply these strategies at beginner, intermediate or advanced levels. Activities demonstrated build students’ confidence with extended speaking turns that include narrative, procedure, and description, and are easily incorporated into standard ELT classroom practices.

The Presenter
Catherine Peck is a TESOL trainer and Invited Professor in the Department of English Education at Chonnam National University, where she has worked since 2007. She studied, taught, and trained teachers in Ireland and Spain before moving to Korea, where she currently teaches ELT methodology and academic writing courses. She holds a TESOL certificate (RELSA Ireland), a Cambridge ESOL Diploma in teaching English to Adults (DELTA), a Master of Applied Linguistics/ TESOL (Macquarie) and is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Linguistics (Intercultural Communication) at Macquarie Unviersity, Australia. She has previously presented at regional KOTESOL and international KATE and CamTESOL conferences. Catherine has a particular interest in the socio-cultural aspects of language education and language policy, and is researching the potential for intercultural competence to be developed within South Korean EFL contexts.