Peer Dictation

Peer dictation is one of my favorite activities to do with English language learners (ELLs), who have some ability to write in English. After we've perfected students' writing through various means, e.g., teacher and peer feedback, learners dictate their writing to a peer. The writing selection should be fairly short, no more than a short paragraph or so. For lower level students, one or two sentences can be enough.

This is a great activity for ELLs since students get to write and revise a piece of writing, and then practice reading the piece aloud, which gives them good pronunciation practice. Partners must negotiate a lot during the dictation. After the dictation, partners check the work together and fix any mistakes.

There are countless variations to this activity. Sometimes I number student sentences, cut them apart, and place them around the wall in the room. Students work in pairs. One is the "messenger" and goes to the wall to read the sentence, then returns to his or her partner and dictates to the partner what to write. The "scribe" records the sentences on paper. Sometimes partners change roles half way through the task. The goal is to reproduce the piece of writing as perfectly as possible, including spelling and punctuation.

This week the advanced ELLs in my ABE class dictated a piece of writing they wrote using academic vocabulary they learned this week. With beginning students, I've provided the sentences to the scribe with only one or two words missing. The messenger, goes to the wall to read the missing word(s) and then dictates the word(s) to his or her partner. Students get a lot of practice orally spelling words during the dictation activity.

Students love peer dictation, especially when it's done with their own writing. The possible adaptations of this activity are almost endless!

Vocabulary Quiz Example

In vocabulary instruction in my ABE class, I try to give students a chance to use the vocabulary in useful ways and to make personal connections to the words as much as possible. Last week's words were taken from a story we read in class. We added an additional word each day drawn from the newspaper.

Here are some example questions from last week's quiz. Students write responses using the words in complete sentences.

1. Tell about someone you know who was a victim of either a crime or an accident.

2/3. If you stop working hard toward your mission, would this show persistence? Why or why not?

4. Who is someone you think is a good role model? What makes you think so?

5. Tell about one obstacle you have faced in your life.

6. When you have depleted the food in your home, what do you have to do?

7. Why might someone be evicted from a public park?

8. If the people in a workplace come from many different countries and speak a variety of languages, would this be an example of diversity? Why or why not?

Learning from others

I learn most from my conversations with other teachers. Yesterday, I gave my students, many of whom have transitioned to my ABE class from advanced ESL, a vocabulary quiz. To review the vocabulary for the week, one of the techniques I used the previous day was to have students work with a partner to talk about the words. For example, one of our words was mission. I told the students to turn to a partner and tell the partner about their most important mission. "My mission is . . . ." Next, they were to tell a partner what their objectives were for the weekend. Since the word was plural, they needed to tell at least two objectives.

Here's what I learned about reviewing vocabulary from my friend and colleague Liz. Liz writes each of the vocabulary words on a slip of paper and places them face down in the center of the table. In small groups, students take turns drawing one slip of paper. This individual needs to explain the vocabulary word and the other students in the group guess the word.

I thought this was a great idea, since it integrates speaking into vocabulary practice. I plan to try it out with next week's words. I won't need to create a complete set of vocabulary words for each small group since I can divide up the words and then have small groups exchange the set of words with the other small groups. If I use different colored paper for each set, that will make the rotation process a little easier.

first baby step

Hello fellow bloggers, I've taken my first baby step with blogging and it wasn't even that hard.

Just to practice, I uploaded this photo taken last week during my wonderful vacation in the mountains of western North Carolina. If you enjoy hiking, it's a remarkably beautiful area.

I don't have much time tonight since I need to go out for a walk now, but I'll check back later!