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entity
Joined: 27 Aug 2009
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 Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 3:31 am Post subject: Conversation Text for Elementary School Students? |
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Could anybody recommend a conversation textbook for 5th-6th grade students? Are there texts that minimize languages points that get them to talk, while emphasizing fun?
The classes are small, maybe, five to ten students.
Thanks in advance. |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 4:25 am Post subject: |
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I'd take a check on my page about Personalizing teaching HERE
Buy Andrew Finch's Tell Me More, it is a good text for what you're looking for and he adds culturally specific content which is so powerful for getting students interested and speaking.....lots more ideas I'll share once the hundreds of others here chip in.
Cheers,
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com
http://setiteachers.ning.com |
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entity
Joined: 27 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks, DD. I like the book, but the latter chapters look too advanced for them. |
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YLWRocketMan
Joined: 14 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Did you find a text? I am in the same situation as you |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:48 am Post subject: Re: Conversation Text for Elementary School Students? |
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| entity wrote: |
Could anybody recommend a conversation textbook for 5th-6th grade students? Are there texts that minimize languages points that get them to talk, while emphasizing fun?
The classes are small, maybe, five to ten students.
Thanks in advance. |
I will always say if your goal is conversation then close the books and start talking. Get videos that they like and find out about their interests and voila they talk. We talk about 2NE1 a lot these days and that opens the door to other stuff. Like most people their interested in themselves and talk about what they like. Find me a textbook that can keep up with the times. Last year Wonder Girls was a good topic of conversationand this year it is not. Must be live and current to get good conversations going.
I also will say over and over that for some reason Bugs Bunny gets kids talking. Just be sure to stop the video every ten or so seconds and ask what they see and what is happening. |
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entity
Joined: 27 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:40 am Post subject: |
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I agree, but I'm not experienced enough (especially with kids) to pull that off without a prearranged structure. A text just does it best for me.
On recommendation, I'm going to choose from the following Oxford University Press textbooks as desk copies: English Time, Let's Go, and Get Together.
I generally like and trust the texts from the big three publishing houses of Oxford U Press, Cambridge U Press, and Pearson Longman.
If I had more time, I would have given a more careful look at the independent publications (like what DDeubel had recommended). The problem with independent publications is that many of them, aside from content, have a crude form and layout. That compounded with the fact that many are solely online publications makes the hard copies look worse. Students might not appreciate that (if they are conscious of the why and how of their preferences), and I feel I have to make them happy. But, if I look carefully, one of these days I might pull a diamond from the rough. |
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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:52 am Post subject: |
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| So you are basically stuck and ask for advice then protect your previous position. Good luck with that. If you want to become a good teacher you need to experiment and grow. Just like a good comedian you must be willing to try new material and flop sometimes. I guess you can stay with the safe stuff that doesn't really work. You can also be a follower in an industry with few true leaders. Can conversational English be taught with textbooks to a high level? Are all the parts of the brain that will be needed for proper conversations in the future stimulated enough by the books? |
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seonsengnimble
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
Location: taking a ride on the magic English bus
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 5:55 am Post subject: |
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| D.D. wrote: |
| So you are basically stuck and ask for advice then protect your previous position. Good luck with that. If you want to become a good teacher you need to experiment and grow. Just like a good comedian you must be willing to try new material and flop sometimes. I guess you can stay with the safe stuff that doesn't really work. You can also be a follower in an industry with few true leaders. Can conversational English be taught with textbooks to a high level? Are all the parts of the brain that will be needed for proper conversations in the future stimulated enough by the books? |
I couldn't disagree with this teaching philosophy more. Having conversation is vital to learning a second language, but a structure is as well. I've taken classes where all we did was have conversations, and I learned some new vocab and some phrases, but that was about it. With a text book, you have a set structure, a logical progression through different tenses and vocabulary sets, and by using a textbook, you make the students utilize multiple areas of their brains. They see the pictures, they read the words, they hear the words and they say the words.
Granted, one shouldn't just go through the book, make the kids read, listen and repeat. If you use the book as a starting point, teach the new vocabulary and sentence structures and then jump off from there, I find this to be one of the most effective ways to teach. In more advanced levels, sure, you can disregard a textbook and have discussions, but in beginning and intermediate levels, only listening and speaking limits a student's ability to learn. |
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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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| seonsengnimble wrote: |
| D.D. wrote: |
| So you are basically stuck and ask for advice then protect your previous position. Good luck with that. If you want to become a good teacher you need to experiment and grow. Just like a good comedian you must be willing to try new material and flop sometimes. I guess you can stay with the safe stuff that doesn't really work. You can also be a follower in an industry with few true leaders. Can conversational English be taught with textbooks to a high level? Are all the parts of the brain that will be needed for proper conversations in the future stimulated enough by the books? |
I couldn't disagree with this teaching philosophy more. Having conversation is vital to learning a second language, but a structure is as well. I've taken classes where all we did was have conversations, and I learned some new vocab and some phrases, but that was about it. With a text book, you have a set structure, a logical progression through different tenses and vocabulary sets, and by using a textbook, you make the students utilize multiple areas of their brains. They see the pictures, they read the words, they hear the words and they say the words.
Granted, one shouldn't just go through the book, make the kids read, listen and repeat. If you use the book as a starting point, teach the new vocabulary and sentence structures and then jump off from there, I find this to be one of the most effective ways to teach. In more advanced levels, sure, you can disregard a textbook and have discussions, but in beginning and intermediate levels, only listening and speaking limits a student's ability to learn. |
Why do you think no book equals no structure? Does your mind work in black and whites. I didn't say have no structure. You are left brained by your views on structure and you are teaching a left brained model. Speaking requires both hemisperes and that is why females are better at it usually.
You can have structured lessons with video and conversation as the basis. Stop making the classes about aquiring information and teach the students how to process information.
We just keep stuffing students with more and more information without teaching them how to think. They need to be able to make up their own sentences both in their head and on paper.
If you keep giving them the fish they won't be able to catch their own fish.
So find videos of subjects they like and ask them to make written sentences about the video and then move to them to talking in sentences about the video. |
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seonsengnimble
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
Location: taking a ride on the magic English bus
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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| D.D. wrote: |
Why do you think no book equals no structure? Does your mind work in black and whites. I didn't say have no structure. You are left brained by your views on structure and you are teaching a left brained model. Speaking requires both hemisperes and that is why females are better at it usually.
You can have structured lessons with video and conversation as the basis. Stop making the classes about aquiring information and teach the students how to process information.
We just keep stuffing students with more and more information without teaching them how to think. They need to be able to make up their own sentences both in their head and on paper.
If you keep giving them the fish they won't be able to catch their own fish.
So find videos of subjects they like and ask them to make written sentences about the video and then move to them to talking in sentences about the video. |
No book doesn't necessarily mean no structure. For a student to practice at home, however, it is much easier if they have a book. If they have a bunch of notes, handouts etc.... their information is spread out, and it makes it considerably harder to organize the information outside of class.
I couldn't agree more with the idea that students need to learn how to think, not just memorize sentences and vocabulary from the book. I find it much more beneficial, however to see how to make certain kinds of sentences and then apply these lessons to conversation. This is why, when practicing in class, I don't allow them to use their books. I use their books as a model of the sentence structures, and then have them use these structures to express their own ideas. If they know "like" and "listen" and just learned about gerunds, I use the book to show them things like "I like swimming" and get them to say things about themselves like "I like listening to WonderGirls" or I like "playing computer games."
The point is that when they have a book, they can see what the basic structure of sentences are and how to use these structures for their own thoughts and opinions. Without books, or at least handouts or some visual aid, questions like "what do you like doing" are answered with things like "I like watch movie" or "I like eat pizza." |
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