Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

Exercises For Student-Generated Social And Political Issues In The Esl Classroom, William Michael Conley

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is based on a second internship which took place at the TASIS school in England during the summer of 1983. The paper includes three lessons entitled "Values Geography," "Problem in the City," and "The Changing City." These three exercises were used to create an environment in which students could develop a heightened awareness of social and political issues and their importance on a local and global level. These student-determined issues are also designed to increase cross-cultural awareness and improve students' communicative competence.

American Culture As Seen Through Magazine Advertisements, David Edward Cignoni

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is designed as a resource for teachers who wish to teach American culture, and the influence of advertising on this culture, through the use of magazine advertisements. The lessons which can be derived from the materials are planned for advanced students of English who possess a good conversational ability in the language and who wish to learn more about American culture.

Part I presents for the reader a general overview of American advertising, describing how it developed, how it works, and how it mirrors and influences our culture and behavior. Part II describes the various appeals which advertising …

An Experiment Language Training Program Under The Microscope, Shari Joy Berman

MA TESOL Collection

This study examines an adolescent language learning program that took place in Mexico in 1979. It includes a case study of a group of adolescents that traces their attitudes and development through an intensive Spanish course and subsequent home-stays. It offers suggestions as to location, pedagogy and scheduling based on participant feedback and personal observation. It also outlines specific areas for further research.

Language Acquisition Diaries: Developing An Awareness Of Personal Learning Strategies, Abby Asher

MA TESOL Collection

During the summer of 1982, I led a group of Outbound students to Switzerland on a language/homestay program. Before going abroad, students underwent an intensive French course at North Adams, Massachusetts for a period of ten days. Afterwards, they spent approximately one month living with families in the French region of Switzerland.

In the course of this paper, I will describe the implementation of a project developed for these students which involved the use of Language Acquisition Diaries. The purpose of this project was to create an awareness in students of their own language learning process. Through the use of …

A Retrospective-Introspective Look At Second Language Acquisition, Janet R. Zinner

MA TESOL Collection

This is a personal paper in which I discuss my family’s acquisition of French during a two year sabbatical stay in Brussels, Belgium from 1979 to 1981. I discuss the factors influencing our decision to learn French, our respective modes of acquisition, our rates and degrees of proficiency, and then how that second language fared upon our subsequent return to the United States. I also offer a comparison between child and adult second language acquisition based upon our experience as well as discuss certain relevant psycho/social intra-familial dynamics which came into play while there as a result of our individual …

From Haiti To The Esl Class: Working With Adult Haitian Esl Learners In The Us, Dona A. Vassall-Paquiot

MA TESOL Collection

This project provides the person unfamiliar with Haiti and its inhabitants with some background information on the country - politically, economically, socially. It also gives a perspective on why Haitians leave Haiti to come to the US, and the stages they must go through in order to do so. Teachers are given some insight into what to expect from their students in an ESL class, given their background and experiences. Finally, factual information is provided on Haiti - i.e. holidays, major cities, etc. - for the interest of the reader. It also serves to help the teacher make the ESL …

Two Paces East An Introspective View Of A Cross-Cultural Experience, Rebecca Ann Reagan

MA TESOL Collection

This is a cultural project, a personal journey through a five and a half year period of my life, a period when I lived in the East, primarily in Nepal and Japan. In this project I discuss the history and cultures of these two countries, particularly that of Nepal, including some of the customs and traditions, values and belief systems. I further discuss the influence that living in these cultures had on my life and my world view. To facilitate the organization of the paper, I have chosen to use a model proposed by Theodore Gochenour and Anne Janeway, "Seven …

American Humor As A Vehicle For Teaching Esl And Understanding American Culture, Marguerite Kruse

MA TESOL Collection

"American Humor as a Vehicle for Teaching ESL and Understanding American Culture" focuses on the use of different kinds of humor as entry points into an understanding of American culture and as examples of real language for ESL activities. It is a collection of self-contained activities designed for the advanced ESL student which develops both oral/aural and reading/writing skills, The topics of the activities are Norman Rockwell illustrations, psychiatrist and mother-in-law jokes, comedy routines of Bill Cosby and Lily Tomlin, and newspaper articles by Erma Bombeck and Mike Royko, Included are a rationale, analysis, and discussion.