![]() As part of the TESOL program at the University of Toronto, students are required to complete a practicum, observation in an academic institution, and volunteer in an ESL program. Students need at least 30 hours of observation, and a minimum of 20 hours of supervised practice teaching. These hours are then counted towards our professional accreditation (OCELT- Ontario Certified English Language Teacher). I reached out to a local organization that offers LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) programs to immigrants and refugees within my community. Due to confidentiality reasons, I am unable to disclose the name of the organization. I loved: -The program works with other programs (within the organization) to assist newcomers with their transition to Canada. For instance, language teachers refer students to employment services to help them with resumes and job searches. I was surprised to see: - A child care centre for students who have young children - Close knit community of students and teachers I look forward too: - Assisting in all the classrooms and getting a feel for the different levels of English language learning - Meeting and working with staff and students for the next few months https://www.teslontario.org/accreditation/languageinstructor
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Today I attended my first TESOL related teaching conference – T4T (technology for teachers) held by TESL Toronto. This “mini conference” gives English teachers the opportunity to meet other professionals in the field, and explore how technology can be implemented into practice. There were different workshops offered throughout the day. I attended PBLA and TechKnow: Using online resources for skill building exercises. This workshop discussed how teachers can use learning games, such as Kahoot and Jeopardy, in the ESL context. I was intrigued to attend since I use Kahoot as a learning tool with children in a play-based learning program.
As part of the teaching requirements for my early childhood practice, educators are required to utilize technology as part of the curriculum based on children's interests to enhance learning. When we look at the ESL classroom, technology can also be a valuable tool in enhancing the learning of adults as well. Take away from the workshop?
At first it was nerve-racking meeting and mingling with professionals who had been in the field for years. Once we started talking, they had great advice and spoke about opportunities after graduation. I also bumped into some of my current and previous classmates which was a treat! I would definitely recommend professionals in the field and current students studying TESOL to attend this event. ![]() This week, I had to create a review activity for ESL learners around irregular verbs for my grammar class. The challenge presented to us - create a review that didn’t require your typical pencil paper technique. As an early childhood educator, I’m constantly creating play-based learning experiences for my students based on their interests and developing skills. Therefore, I took this opportunity to reflect on how I would do this in an early years’ setting and transfer that into a LINC program for adults. I borrowed an idea for a game that is played in many classrooms for children – “Memory Match”. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this game, there is a theme (for example, I’ve seen my students with a Hungry Caterpillar version) where there are doubles of each character. Cards are all faced down and students pick them up one at a time and find the matching character. If they don’t find the matching character, they flip them back down and continue. I decided to use this concept to create an irregular verb matching game. One of the ways I create learning activities for my school-age students, is by using recycled materials in the classroom. For this activity, I googled a list of irregular verbs in the different tenses and created headings for each tense: Infinitive – Past Perfect- Past Participle I then wrote down the different verbs in the different tenses on each card. For my cards, I used recycled glove-box tops. You can use q-cards, card stock, or construction paper. This game can be altered to meet the needs of students by:
Get students to work independently, in pairs, or small groups to find the matching irregular verb tenses. Objective (depending on the audience):
Review irregular verbs covered in class and increase student confidence in speaking, reading, and listening. My professor also suggested that this game is great for supply teachers to use as a filler activity. ![]()
For my first post, I decided to share a game that I use in my practice as an early childhood educator. Although TESOL instructors primarily work with adult learners in Canada, I thought that this activity could be useful in an adult English education classroom. For our first assignment, our professor asked us to create an "ice-breaker" activity that could be used in an ESL classroom (see attachment of PDF). Conversation cube is a game that is, ironically, similar to the game "beach ball toss". I love this game because the dice can be used for a variety of different uses in the classroom. For instance, it can be used to introduce new concepts, review concepts, or even getting to know classmates. This activity promotes opportunities for students to practice speaking and listening skills. You can even get students to write down answers or questions for their classmates to answer. This would depend on: - CLB Level (Canadian Language Benchmark) of your students - class size - goals/ objective of what you are teaching As both a future TESOL instructor and RECE, I will definitely be using this game as part of my curriculum in the future ! Reference: Boardmaker. (2020). Conversation Cubes. Retrieved from https://goboardmaker.com/products/conversation-cubes
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