I am working out ideas on how to present lessons online when there is no teacher
involved, and no classroom. Tough one. I have not really reached listening
yet. In terms of reading and learning, it seems, the beginner level is the
hardest challenge. I tried scoopit the other day. This would be a good one for
some of your tech oriented students. Simply, it's a viewer made newspaper. The
other item I am using is a wordpress blog. That swerves as a storage facility,
but, like scoop it, the information is waiting for a reader, not interactive. I
also have toyed with sound cloud, which I think you might like. It's fairly
simple, you can start and stop, then save or redo. It could be used for
informal journaling, and students can actually send sound cloud messages to
designated users.

My longterm goal is to create media for learning that can be sent to mobile
phones, where it can be taken home to non internet ready homes and villages. I
have also been looking at LSAT question types and passages. I did not realize
how LSAT study could be an important to treasure to higher level learners.
Since law deals with logic, my eyes and ears are tuning in to how to teach
logic, words associated with arguments, and how students will learn to respond
to mc passages quickly.

So, I do feel, we must teach beyond a book, beyond ordinary. a few of our
student wil be poking or thee open doorways, such as what a good score on an
LSAT could provide. granted, there will be other test, long before this one,
but they too will involve pulling out details from a passage, inference,
guessing, and logic.

The test question I worked on recently is the first in a series from 2007 test
prep guide, http://www.lsac.org/jd/pdfs/SamplePTJune.pdf
http://www.lsattestquestions.com/lsat-logical-reasoning.html
http://www.lsattestquestions.com/

To me, dogme gets at places a book cannot, particularly when the book fails to
address the skills really needed to succeed in larger more complicated testing.
this kind of questioning also reveals to me the spread of learner differences,
since one like me, will spend all time answering one question, never fully
grasping the logic, while another, well versed in reasoning, and even with poor
language skills, will grasp all the answers immediately. This math oriented
question leads towards other logical questions.

If all else failed me, I would at least be pleased to have a class talking about
famous philosophers and the ideas they have about them.

Well, thank you and cheers, to all you do.

Thank you,

Jeffrey

On Feb 10, 2012, at 10:55 AM, Jeff <jeffreytaos@...> wrote:

> Good story and summary, thanks Mat.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Jeffrey
>
> On Feb 10, 2012, at 8:45 AM, "Mat" <mattymatmatsimp@...> wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi Rob,
> >
> > The story lesson sounds great. It's still amazing to me how often students
only associate listening with a C.D. and a gap fill.
> > My Italian student told us a story yesterday about how his dog was poisoned
by a crazy neighbour when he was a child. Very engaging listening text for
everyone. Me included.
> >
> > Mat
> > --- In dogme@yahoogroups.com, Robert Haines <hainesrm@...> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi, remember the ELT Dogme group? :-)
> > >
> > > First, let me say there's a point to be made about Dogme at the end of
> > > this long post if you'd like to skip to that. Second, the story I'm
> > > about to tell relates to the class description that follows. Please
> > > read on...
> > >
> > > You know how some thoughts are conscious while others just pop into
> > > your head seemingly out of nowhere? Well, yesterday I drove off to
> > > work in a heavy downpour, and a few blocks from my house I had one of
> > > those thoughts out of the blue. I suddenly imagined a dog wandering
> > > aimlessly across the road and how I would have to brake at the last
> > > minute to avoid hitting it. The thought came and went quickly, leaving
> > > me wondering why such things came to me at all.
> > >
> > > Fifteen minutes later I was on the two-lane highway that runs between
> > > the airport and the river when suddenly I saw a dog, a large puppy,
> > > galloping along the side of the road. It ran into the lane of oncoming
> > > traffic, where a big black pick-up trick was only slightly slowing
> > > down. The animal tried to dodge the truck at the last minute but the
> > > vehicle caught its hind quarters and sent it flying into the air.
> > > Miraculously, the dog landed upright and continued running along the
> > > side of the road before another truck much like the first barely
> > > managed to stop in time.
> > >
> > > I stopped completely and watched the dog stand in front of my car and
> > > give me a glance before it ran down the hill towards the airport. I
> > > pulled off the narrow highway and put on my hazard lights. I could see
> > > the dog down by the fence surrounding the airport parking lot. I
> > > dialed 9-1-1 - someone had already called and help was on the way.
> > > Should I try to catch it since the animal shelter was on my way to
> > > work? I couldn't see it now... a loud horn sounded behind me just as
> > > an enormous eighteen-wheeler flew by, spraying the windows of my tiny
> > > Toyota so that I couldn't see much of anything anymore. No, I couldn't
> > > park here, it was too dangerous. I wished the dog well and drove to
> > > class.
> > >
> > > In class, dry and warm, the students and I sat chatting while we
> > > waited for everyone to arrive. All except two were there, and I told
> > > the story of my "premonition". A couple of students said that would
> > > never happen in their country; instead, if you called the police,
> > > someone would come to kill the dog or just laugh at you. I explained
> > > that it probably isn't a fair comparison given the socio-economic
> > > differences, and that there would also be differences within regions
> > > of the US.
> > >
> > > When the two missing students came in, we were talking about
> > > listening. The group had indicated at the end of last term how they
> > > wanted to do more in-class listening. I asked if they had done any
> > > lately in class and they said no. Then I replied, So what did you just
> > > do?, and they all laughed in recognition. Of course, I knew they meant
> > > listening to a podcast as we'd done for the final exam. I suspect they
> > > want to do more because the exercise, and it really was more exercise
> > > than exam, they liked the story we listened to but they didn't catch
> > > all the details, and most students, in my experience, want to get the
> > > details of what they read and listen to if the content is interesting
> > > and not too challenging. Fortunately, the group has time together
> > > outside of the classroom for listening activities like this.
> > > Meanwhile, I explained, we could do live listening since I was there
> > > to help with English while everyone talks.
> > >
> > > I asked the group to split up and each side of the room tell the story
> > > I'd shared to one of the latecomers, which they did. Then I asked the
> > > two latecomers to swap stories while we all listened, the aim being
> > > for them to make sure they'd heard the same story, and for us to make
> > > sure they had it right.
> > >
> > > After that, a student asked the two who just recounted the story if
> > > they wanted to hear the original. There was some chatter about
> > > something else, and then I said to the student who's spoken up, Go
> > > ahead, give us the original version. He laughed and did his best with
> > > the help of the others.
> > >
> > > Just before we left, I asked everyone to record themselves telling the
> > > story with either http://audioboo.fm/ or http://mailvu.com/ and then
> > > send it to all of us, so we can listen to the different versions and
> > > talk about them tomorrow.
> > >
> > > **************** Break between classes *******************
> > >
> > > The next group said, last term, they want to have debates in class.
> > > Yesterday, the word 'against' came up in class, and I had named a few
> > > issues that everyone might be either for or against: taxes, peace,
> > > war, etc. When I jokingly said love, about half the group was against
> > > and the other for. I clarified, and sure enough, we had some against
> > > love. So that would be the topic of today's debate: Are you for or
> > > against love, and why.
> > >
> > > The two sides took some time to prepare, then we started the debate.
> > >
> > > The group against made it clear they are only against romantic love,
> > > and everyone agreed the debate would be about romantic love although
> > > there were comparisons between familial love and romantic love. The
> > > arguments were quite convincing and sophisticated. For example, one
> > > person asked the other group how they could justify marrying someone
> > > since that would blur the lines between the familial love they were
> > > for, and felt for their new husband or wife, and the romantic love
> > > they were against. There was talk of how destructive love can be, how
> > > often people mistake passion or physical attraction for love. The
> > > nature of love itself was brought for the fore, and one student even
> > > got quite remorse recalling his break-up with a girl back home. The
> > > was at times heated but always civil, with me jumping in to clarify,
> > > question, and provide feedback.
> > >
> > > After the break, the two groups agreed to switch sides and only the
> > > previously against group was able to turn the other group's arguments
> > > from the first debate against them. This made the second round of
> > > debate less euitable and much more in the formerly against-now for
> > > group's favor.
> > >
> > > To round it off we each shared what we'd learned and felt during the
> > > debates.
> > >
> > > ********* Point about Dogme ******************
> > >
> > > The debates, especially, reminded how stimulating conversation in this
> > > format:
> > >
> > > *creates room for repetition and repeated exposure to lexis and
> > > grammar around the topic;
> > >
> > > *increases learners' language production through the desire to express
> > > themselves;
> > >
> > > *increases learners' attention to language through their desire to
> > > understand;
> > >
> > > *lowers learner's 'affective filters' as they focus more on content
> > > than their errors, slips, and mistakes;
> > >
> > > *stretches learner's interlanguage as they move from 'safe' and
> > > familiar language patterns to more sophisticated ones in the heat of
> > > the moment, ie when they 'forget to learn' and concentrate solely on
> > > making meaning;
> > >
> > > *makes language more memorable because the language is not just in
> > > their heads but also their hearts, which is in no small measure due to
> > > the fact that the learners have a personal stake in the topic.
> > >
> > > Must dash now. Glad you're still reading posts to this list.
> > >
> > > Rob
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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