Asking and Giving Directions in English

What's up, guys... 

In this blog I will share with you some useful information about the topics we are learning in class and some activities that will help you to develop the competences you need. 

Have you ever seen foreigners in Piedecuesta? What if they ask you for directions to go to a specific place in your town? What language do you think you need to understand them and help them? Can you give them these directions correctly? In this unit you are going to develop the following competence:

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Read the COMPETENCE and the competence indicators to know what you should be able to do at the end of this course. 
2. Log in the link to check the TIMELINE that contextualises the importance of this competence.
3. Watch the VIDEO #1 introducing the vocabulary needed. 
4. Read the CARTOON and understand the situation.
5. Do the EXPLORATORY ACTIVITY #1
6. Check the INFOGRAPHIC to clarify some important concepts.
7. Watch the VIDEO #2 to see the vocabulary learnt in a real context. 
8. Have fun and PLAY A GAME to practice following directions. 
9. Do the ASSIGNMENT #1 
10. Take the EVALUATION 
11. Write your doubts, questions, and suggestions in a comment. 

1. COMPETENCE:

• I can give and ask for directions in English to go to a specific place. 

There are two competence indicators that will lead you to this compentence and that will evidence your achievement at the end of the unit:

Competence Indicators:

1. To identify in oral texts the vocabulary related to places and common commercial establishments, as well as the prepositions of place and verbs needed to go to an specific direction in your town.
2. To use appropriately and with accurate pronunciation the vocabulary learnt in class to give directions to a specific place in your town.  

2. TIMELINE:

First of all, we are going to travel though time to understand the importance of English language learning and the necessity of knowing how to give and ask for directions in our town:

https://www.sutori.com/story/asking-and-giving-directions-in-ell

Let's Start!

3. VIDEO#1: VOCABULARY
Watch the following video and pay attention to the expressions to give directions:

Now, let's check if you get it. You are going to read the following comic trying to understand the directions given by the boy.

4. CARTOON

5. EXPLORATORY ACTIVITY #1

Did you understand the directions of the boy? If you did, look at the following map and find where the boy and the tourist are...

This activity will be discussed in the classroom. 

6. INFOGRAPHIC

Could you get the place? You are going to find a infographic below that will help you to learn some vocabulary you need to develop the competence proposed.

If you have some doubts or questions. Write them down in a comment below.

7. VIDEO #2: VOCABULARY IN REAL CONTEXTS

In the following video you will practice the vocabulary learnt and you will practice your listening skill as well. Try this out!

8. PLAY A GAME

Let's have fun and practice with the following game. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW:

• Click on the link.
• Click on the image to go to the game.
• In the game check "How to play" it
• When you understand the rules. Click on "Start"
• Choose a Character
• Choose one of the optional journeys.
• Click on "Next"
• Click on "Against the timer"
• PLAY IT!

GAME: Following Directions

9. ASSIGNMENT #1

1. Choose a place that is important in your classroom project.
2. Use the vocabulary and expressions shown in this Blog entry and in your Textbook to give directions from one place in your town (for example, the bus station) to the important place chosen.
3. Record a video in which you give directions in English and show the way to the important place (don't forget to put subtitles in English too).

Are we following bad examples?

This entry is based on Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. (4ed). Chapter 3: Designing Classroom Language Tests. pp 42-65. New York: Pearson ESL. 

In previous entries I have talked about alternatives in assessment and the importance of using activities different from a test to measure students’ performance. However, it does not mean that we should avoid using tests in our classroom assessment; the alternatives in assessment are necessary to triangulate results and obtain a more reliable measurement.

By reading this chapter I noticed some wrong things I have been doing while evaluating my students. For instance, my purpose when applying a test was just to assign a grade because I need to present reports for parents and coordinators of the institute. The objective was, of course, to enhance students’ learning but I forgot one of the most important tools of learning: feedback. I focused more on pointing out where the mistake was and I did not tell the student how to improve their proficiency from those mistakes.

Regarding the task chosen for the tests, I did not analyse the appropriateness of every single item; sometimes I realised that an item were not chosen correctly after the exam. Actually, the majority of the tasks I have used in my class are those that my professors used when I was learning English in the first semesters of my career –and I think most of my partners do the same–. Now, a question comes to my mind ¿Where those tasks and tests chosen appropriately for us?

I particularly remember in first semester that there were like four different courses and a different professor for each one. One professor was in charge of making a part of the test (writing, reading, grammar, and listening. Speaking was made by the professor of each group) taking into account that all the groups were following the same book. Nevertheless, professors teach in different ways and in one exam, the professor in charge of the writing part made a task different from the ones we did with our professor during the classes. The result was that students who took the course with the professor that made the writing part outperformed the other students. I want you to give me your opinions about the following questions that come to my mind:

¿The tests we had to take in the first semesters were appropriately chosen for us? Why? If not, ¿should we use the same kind of test task that our professors used with us? ¿how can a university train future professor by giving them bad examples of how to assess students?

Teachers and Students' Perception regarding Portfolio Assessment

The way students see portfolios is really important if we want to use this alternative in assessment in our classrooms. Students’ point of view towards the use of this tool is related to their performance on it. When a student thinks it is useful and meaningful for his/her learning process and thinks it is an enjoyable way to learn, the motivation will be a positive aspect that would enhance student’s achievement. In other words, if students think they are not learning by doing a portfolio, they will no feel motivated to do it; they will just do it for the grade and not for the learning itself.

Other important aspect that influences students’ perception and motivation towards the usage of portfolios is the content. That is the reason why students should take part in the selection of content (Soruç, 2011); choosing the content cooperatively the students will be enthusiastic about doing their assignments and the teacher will get more reliable outcomes from them.

The way teachers carry out the process of preparation and evaluation impacts on students’ perception as well. Teachers must plan clearly what will be the methodology, the purpose of carrying out this procedure, the objectives of every single assignment and, of course the way they are going to be evaluated. Creating a detail rubric for grading, for example, is a good way to make students feel comfortable when the teacher grade their performance; otherwise, they would feel that the teacher is being subjective in their perception. Having a detail rubric will help students to know which are the objectives their teacher want them to achieve –even, the student could self-evaluate their performance because they could know whether they achieve the objectives or not–.

Now, the way teachers perceive portfolios is decisive in the way they conduct it. In my opinion, if a teacher thinks it is useless for learning, it is better not to use it alternative in assessment because it will influence negatively students’ perception about portfolios and washback. As the research carried out by Soruç (2011) it was found that the majority of the students and teachers have positive opinions about the use of portfolios and that they offer many advantages for learners having a positive impact on students’ skills. However it could not be a meaningful experience if it is not well prepared and assessed. Remember teachers what is important is not the grade but the leaning, and it requires appropriate feedback, a lot of effort from our part, and responsibility, that is to say, vocation.   

Alternative in Assessment

Tests have been the most used way to assess students –and for some teachers the only one way–. The new teachers should look for another way to, not only measure students’ performance, but also to assess them and give the appropriate feedback. The alternatives in assessment proposed by Brown could be a good tool to implement in our classes. Portfolios, journals, interviews, conferences, self-assessment, and peer assessment could be sometimes difficult to use in Colombian classrooms, but if we are creative we can find the way to make them practical and reliable.

By using these alternatives in assessment the teacher could interact more with the students and know more about their thoughts, feelings, and could follow their learning process closer. Also, the teacher would have the opportunity to assess every single class and not only the day of the test. It will enhance students learning process because they are not going to study for the test but for life. It also makes it possible to give the appropriate feedback in the moment it is needed.

Taking into account the large groups that Colombian public schools have and the difficulty that applying these techniques bring, teachers should decide in advance the goals they want their students to achieve, and also give them a lot of input and instruction in the usage of them to make them more practical and interesting.

The following is a video in which the alternatives in assessment are described:

Assessing Writing

Writing is probably one of the most difficult skills to develop during the learning process. Sometimes we find it difficult to put in written word what we have in our mind. That is one more of our challenges as language teachers; whether we teach a mother tongue or a second language, improving students’ writing skills is a complex process that lasts several years. How can we, as teachers, help students to reach an appropriate level in writing skill?

To get a superior level in writing it is necessary to have the guidance of a teacher who knows the different micro and macro-skills to develop; having a clear idea about that, the teacher could create activities, materials, and tasks appropriate to achieve the goals of the course. Those micro and macro skills are well explained in Brown (2004) as well as the types of writing performance (imitative, intensive, extensive, and responsive writing) that every language teacher must take into account before planning their activities and tasks related to writing skill.

Many different tasks can be created according to the level of the students and the type of writing performance. However, to know whether the task is the appropriate one for our students we should assess our students constantly, not only to give them the corresponding feedback, but also to determine if the methodology used in our classes is the suitable one.

We must remember that assessing is not just to assign a grade to the students’ performance, but to enhance their learning process and our teaching effectiveness. Assessment is useless if it does not lead to make decisions about how to teach better and how to improve students understanding.

I would like to share with you and interesting video by Dr. Andrew Johnson, who talks about the importance of authentic assessment in assessing writing and the usage of rubrics for that purpose.

REFERENCES:

Brown. H. D. (2004). Language  Assessment. Principles and  Classroom Practices.

Pearson Longman. Chapter 9.

Integrating Listening and Speaking Skills in Classroom Assessment

Assessing skills is a complex issue especially when it has to do with the receptive skills. Performance of the receptive skills cannot be observed neither during the process, nor during the product unless you have a special device that scan student’s brain in order to show is using his/her receptive competences. For that reason, I think integrating them with a productive skill is necessary to create not only a communicative environment –the appropriate one for learning a foreign language–, but also a pertinent assessment method for measuring listening competence by observing speaking (or writing) actual performance.

Taking into account that it is difficult to assess competence because what you can observe is performance, and that performance does not give us a reliable measure of true competence, we must trust in the teacher’s criterion. Of course, it implies a subjective point of view from the teacher that should make that subjectivity as positive as possible in order to enhance students’ learning process.

To assess oral production, there are several kinds of tasks that can be created according to the type of speaking (imitative, intensive, responsive, interactive, and intensive). Maybe all of the tasks designed to assess those types of speaking are useful at different levels of English learning and that can be integrated with a receptive skill. Let’s talk about listening to complement the previous post. The test-taker listens to a spoken stimulus and has to understand it as much as possible to perform well in oral production.

It sounds interesting but there are many problems that can rise. How to be accurate when assessing listening and speaking if, for instance, a student understands what he/she heard but the shyness as high as to make him make many mistakes when speaking? On the other hand, how can you measure students speaking performance if they do not understand well the spoken stimulus? Probably some students are good at speaking but if they do not understood the spoken stimulus they will not participate because the lack of information about the topic.

Nevertheless, we, as teachers, must to create activities in which students have to use their receptive skills to understand some information provided by spoken (or reading) stimulus and then give their opinions about the topic. Giving them the opportunity to ask for repetition when they cannot understand fully the spoken input, and letting them to work in smalls groups to avoid shyness.

I think discussions are an appropriate activity for measuring students’ actual performance in listening and speaking. The teacher should guide the process, of course, but give students the opportunity of share their thoughts freely and choosing some advanced students as moderators of the discussions. Remember that it is important to triangulate students’ measurements to get a more reliable assessment. So, do not trust only in a final exam that can be affected by students-related reliability factors. It is important not to generate a grade from the activities, but a set of goals that can be related to the micro and macro skills established by Brown (2003).

Let’s have a look of the following video as guidance for creating discussion activities in a classroom. Changing the goals of the activitiy to assess listening and speaking competence, and making some modifications we can create a good exercise for intermediate and advance learners. 

Testing, Assessing, and Teaching

How are related the terms testing, assessing, and teaching? If we make a survey with Colombian teachers maybe the majority of them could say that testing is a way of assessing students, and that it is important in teaching to determine whether the student passes or fails the course. I´m just guessing the answer because that is what is commonly said by teachers and, actually, that was what I thought before starting reading the interesting book “Language Assessment – Principles and Classroom Practice” by Brown (2000).

As it was explained in the previous post, there are different kinds of assessment, but it depends primarily in the teachers to choose the appropriate one for enhance students learning. The easy way is not the suitable one when we talk about assessment. Teachers must be active, inquiring, and dynamic in order to create a better environment for learners. This means assessing them without them realising it. But, what is the purpose of this?

Testing is, without have a look of the statistics, the most used way of evaluating students in Colombian schools. A Test is defined by Brown (2000) as “a method of measuring a person’s ability, knowledge, or performance in a given domain”. Tests produce anxiety and fear from some students that only study for the exam and then forget everything because their objective is to pass it –maybe because we are got into the bad habit of compete for a grade and not to learn; which is the main purpose of going to an academic institution–.

When students think they are not being judged by the teacher, they do not care about making mistakes and do a better job. If teachers can create a way in which they assess students while they do not realise it, they will perform freely and the results could be more accurate when evaluating. Therefore, taking into account what was said in the previous post and this one, I would say that assessment should be formal and formative in order to collect information from different sources –not just by testing– and to provide reliable feedback. This will help you to make better decisions to improve your teaching and, at the same time, it will enhance your students’ learning process.

However, it does not mean that testing is bad at all. As Brown (2000) himself said, tests can bring out the best of students and it will be a good instrument to measure students ability in a particular domain. After using assessment to improve students learning you, probably, will want to measure whether your teaching methods were appropriate for them and have a look of students understanding. That is when tests are useful for teachers to evaluate not only their students, but themselves as well. Despite some students suffer from test-phobia, it is important to evaluate your teaching method in such a way in order to make decisions from the results obtained.

Now, the discussion will be about how to assess and evaluate students in terms of language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Should we assess and evaluate them separately? Or should we integrate all of them?