https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9 Think about your own second language teaching/learning experiences. Think about the learners you've been watching in the T&S videos. What puzzles or curiosities, questions, problems, jump out at you? What specific curiousities do you have about what helps L2 use and development? What kinds of things give you pause and raise questions for you? Share these questions or puzzles you have a second language use and development. For example: (1) I wonder if peer interaction benefits the learners in my classroom. (2) I wonder the my students' writing develops over the course of the semester? (3) I wonder why the learners in T&S use have trouble narrating past tense stories (4) I wonder what my students do when they need to talk about something they don't have the words for in English. What strategies do they seem to use? (5) I wonder what my students do with my oral and written feedback. (6) In what ways does my students' academic language develop in one semester? (7) Why do my learners say X or make Y mistakes? en-us 2019-02-27 22:17:36 UTC 2020-02-07 02:54:27 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Lightdecrease.png https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/392927956 I have found academic language can be quite difficult for my middle school ELs. How can I help my students acquire academic language? How does acquiring academic language differ from acquiring casual language? Does output affect academic language acquisition? How does teacher input and variability affect academic language acquisition?  
Jumping to another topic- Classroom Environment. What role does the classroom environment play in SLA? What are the benefits/drawbacks of language immersion programs? ]]> 2019-10-03 11:14:42 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/392927956 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393089013 I recently started teaching English to adult as a second language. I wonder what differences do we have between teaching adults and K-12 students? Is it necessary to teach adults letter sounds to develop their phonemic awareness. 
The other question I have is that what strategies do we use to promote students' writing skills. I also wonder how we should give students feedback. ]]> 2019-10-03 15:28:41 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393089013 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393218013 When we were reading about Krashen’s natural order hypothesis, I found the order or sequence of grammatical morpheme acquisition interesting. It seems odd to me that the regular past -ed is one of the last morphemes acquired, when it seems to me to be an easier concept than understanding the irregular past tense verbs. We saw evidence of “natural order” in the videos, but my question is, why is this the typical order (progressive -ing first, copula, then auxiliary be, irregular past, then finally regular past -ed, third person singular -s, and possessive ‘s) (T&S p 17)? 


]]> 2019-10-03 18:26:17 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393218013 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393229918 Another aspect I am curious about is the effect of trauma on second language acquisition. What differences do we find in learners who have this kind of background? Do all the theories, hypotheses and observations still apply? Are there strategies we need to change in our instruction of L2 to these learners? 

]]> 2019-10-03 18:41:57 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393229918 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393327443 I wonder why it seems that grammar concepts are so difficult for my adult ESL students to learn and retain? The teacher I work with and I will teach a grammar concept one week. The next week we plan to review. Sometimes the students don't even remember learning the grammar concept at all! Some weeks they do remember and understand. Is this due to the way we are presenting the material? Students' proficiency levels? Other reasons?]]> 2019-10-03 23:35:58 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393327443 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393763486 I am interested in special techniques of vocabulary acquisition enhancemnt especially is case of EFL when students don`t have a daily exposure to a language and native speakers. If you know / tried anything apart from reading authentic books/magazines, listening to music, watching movies, social networks, flashcards, please let me know. I will appreciate it.]]> 2019-10-04 19:17:17 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393763486 rjohnson671 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393844938 Currently, I am teaching a small reading group (4 - 4th graders) of ESL students.  My goal is for the students to be able to comprehend what they are reading and understand the academic language that is involved with book discussions/comprehension work.  I would like to achieve this goal by having students work together through discussion and negotiation for meaning Each student in my group has a low reading level, but varying levels of English proficiency. First, I wonder if group discussion and scaffolding of questions will lead to a better understanding of the text and the academic language. Also, I'm wondering if the varying levels of English proficiency will affect their abilities to negotiate for meaning and scaffold each other during discussion.  ]]> 2019-10-05 02:43:37 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393844938 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393860768 Most of what we have read seems to come from L2 classrooms in the United States/North America/Western society. I am very interested in seeing how these theories and practices play out in different parts of the world, where there are different types of learners. I would like to know if things are the same everywhere, or if there are different ways to help scaffold and support students depending on the area English is being taught. More specifically, I am curious about what works best for students who take English as a compulsory foreign language subject in school. Of course, not all students are interested in learning English so there are a variety of attitudes in those classrooms. I would like to know how to best scaffold and help students engage in the language even if they are uninterested and have no desire to continue learning in their future. I know that is a hard task, but it is something that interests me. 
  ]]> 2019-10-05 06:32:34 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/393860768 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394008540 When I first looked at this prompt, I was at a bit of a loss. Nothing seemed to really jump out at me in terms of questions surrounding SLA. As such I tried to be really intentional as I spent my days at work, being extra attentive and aware of potential question areas. As hoped for, something did pop up. I was intrigued by one student in particular. According to testing, they had been placed in the advanced level class, however as I took the time to watch her interacting in the class, it quickly became clear that she was utterly lost in the class. Even with one on one help and different teachers doing their best to break down the content in smaller more manageable pieces, it still seemed clear that she was not even close to comprehending the content. (to be clear, this wasn't due to a lack of effort, she was very attentive, always took notes, etc,). This prompted a question for me. What causes there to be such a big discrepancy between tests and actual application of the skills?  I've known people to be poor test takers, and its often the opposite effect, where they clearly know the language and have the skills but just can't preform well on the test, but this seemingly opposite scenario had me wondering. What would cause someone to score high on a skills test, when their actual skills are lower? As such I'd be interested in learning more about the standards for testing and the scales behind which they score and write the tests.]]> 2019-10-05 21:43:49 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394008540 mdelorenzo01 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394072559 I've taught a lot of enthusiastic students who really want to work hard on their English. Unfortunately, while they can study and do something for a short time, they'll often forget about it because it has no place outside our EFL classroom. So my question is, how can we change the curriculum to help them retain things better over the long run? Either by making them more interested in practice or by just making classroom activities better, or something else.]]> 2019-10-06 09:04:18 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394072559 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394096567 I understand repetition and exposure to a language is important for learning.  In my WL  classroom, I tried to use as much as target language as possible to increase the exposure.  However, I noticed some students who can take this immersed style of learning and absorb what they are exposed to. However, some students just can't intake the inputs and process the language .  I also tried to make the activities as interactive, so they have to work with a partner with different proficiency, however, they seem to rely on the partner to provide the answer or use their native language to solve the problem.  I wonder what is the most effective strategy to help students internalize the input and make them into intake?]]> 2019-10-06 12:34:54 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394096567 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394160692 I wonder how people study and develop conclusion on language when development is not always linear and concrete?]]> 2019-10-06 19:01:31 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394160692 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394489667 I always found it interesting  when a teacher heard an ELL speaking and stated, "They speak English." There's a distinction between social language used in an everyday context versus academic language related to tier 2 language. Of course our students come with a multitude of levels and skills within reading, writing, speaking and listening. However, the challenge is developing their academic language. I recall at times when teachers would become frustrated when students wouldn't use  tier 2 language. However, the issue lay within the lack of input from the teacher in bridging and scaffolding everyday to academic language. I know of simple ways to scaffold language but because academic settings are so heavy with tier 2 language, I would like to learn research based strategies that appropriately scaffold everyday to academic language since this vocabulary is part of every classroom. Also, implementing strategies that bridge input to output is vital for students to develop their academic language and be successful in and out of the classroom. ]]> 2019-10-07 14:46:42 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394489667 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394730108 I wonder what strategies actually benefit Level 1 ESL students in GenEd/Mainstream classrooms...are sentence frames enough? Is lightening the load of their work enough to help them learn or acquire the language? I wonder how I can help my GedEd co-teachers see the benefit of scaffolded and differentiated resources...but I also wonder if my students actually benefit from those tools. These questions have been building up inside of me much of this semester in particular because I am worried that my students are not seeing the benefit, in terms of building and acquiring new language, of being in a 'non-ESL classroom'.

]]> 2019-10-07 21:13:46 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394730108 myang72 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394786170 I work at a charter school where the majority of the students are second language learners, whether or not they are officially identified as ELLs. I say this because most of their parents are immigrants or their parents are children of immigrants. What I've noticed in so many of our students is that they come to school knowing conversational English, but lack academic English, and their native language is not very well-developed. However, what happens is that teachers, who don't know whether or not students have a strong first language, assume that their students' conversational English is good enough so they don't provide the additional language support that is necessary for these students to succeed. Studies say that if a student has a strong foundation in their native language, they will have an "easier" time learning a second language. So I wonder, what about the kids whose first language is not that strong but speak conversational English well enough to fly just under the radar? How do we approach teaching these students too?]]> 2019-10-08 01:20:46 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/394786170 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/395330702 I have been in a co-teacher position at my school going on three years now. The role is specifically geared toward supporting ELL's in the mainstream classroom. I have had many questions regarding my students, who would be considered LTELL's. I wonder what we need to change instructionally to allow ELL students more opportunities to speak, either in pairs or small groups? I wonder how my students think about literacy tasks in English, especially when they do not have literacy skills in their home language?]]> 2019-10-08 22:08:11 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/395330702 mdelorenzo01 https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/397350510 I know that there is the natural order in which people acquire a language more effectively, I wonder what this is?  I'd like to be able to make things from scratch as I really don't like most textbooks, and over the years I've got a general idea on what that is, but maybe not so specifically. I don't think I should force a textbook to follow that order specifically, because language is more than just grammar, but it would be nice to at least have some ideas.
Another thing I wonder about is how to best impart pronunciation. I've not focused on pronunciation development ever, as I noticed most of my students just seemed to naturally acquire it, and it didn't seem that important. But recently I'm starting to believe that isnt' the case, and I'm trying to figure out how to help my students with it. I'm used to my students' pronunciation so I can easily decode any errors, but I realize a lot of other people aren't. (MBD)]]> 2019-10-14 10:56:02 UTC https://padlet.com/berg1207/5nl8oifcslp9/wish/397350510