Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is an approach to organizing classroom activities into academic and social learning experiences. Students must work in groups to complete tasks collectively. Unlike individual learning, students learning cooperatively capitalize on one another’s resources and skills (asking one another for information, evaluating one another’s ideas, monitoring one another’s work, etc.). Furthermore, the teacher's role changes from giving information to facilitating students' learning.

Cooperative Learning Advantages
-academic achievement
-active participation
-high-level thinking
-group skills for life
-positive interdependence
-teaching of cooperative social skills


One of the three mayor problems in Education right now is cooperative learning and by using this approach we better those group skills for life.

Article #2 Summary

        Article #2, The Whats, Whys, Hows and Whos of Content-Based Instruction in Second/Foreign Language Education by María Dueñas has to do with Content Based Instruction in second language teaching. It is interesting to me that this based instruction is derived from Communicative Language Teaching.  According to María Dueñas using the language to communicate was seen as the best way to learn it. When both the target language and some meaningful content are integrated in the classroom is when learning a second language becomes easier and affective. In this summary I will briefly overview the questions about what, why, how and who are important to Content Based Instruction.

      The “what’s” important in Content Based Instruction or CBI is that there are four characteristics specified to this instruction. The four characteristic are: subject matter, use of authentic texts, learning of new information and the appropriateness to the specific needs of students.

       The” why” of CBI is that learners receive comprehensible input. By comprehensible input the author means that the student will not be forced to memorize vocabulary or manipulate language by means of grammar exercises. Also it means that the students have the opportunity of using the new language productively, both orally and in writing. An important instruction to the why of CBI is Cooperative Learning. Cooperative learning requires that small groups of students work together to learn information and perform different tasks, as a result promoting peer group support and peer instruction, which I think is very important considering that cooperative learning is one of the three mayor problems in the Department of Education today.

      The “how” we would go about CBI would be first of all by using immersion education, which is to emerge all subjects in the use of the second language. Second of all by using sheltered courses this means taking out native speakers and allowing the second language to be primary. Third of all, is to have adjunct classes, which are not implemented on their own but aim at assisting an existing regular subject-matter class. Last but not least, theme-based models being the most popular are focused on the central idea that organizes major curricular units selected for their appropriateness to student needs and interests, institutional expectations, program resources, and teachers’ abilities and interests (Dueñas 2004).

      To conclude, Content-Based language learning has many benefits because it allows the teacher to manipulate her classroom in the best interest of her second language learner. By allowing this the student will need to use the language at all times to be able to proceed in other subject areas within the language.

Article #1

Article #1 Analysis

Topic: COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AND COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Author: Atsuko Ohno

In this article Atsuko Ohno discusses several theoretical communicative concepts and their applications to language and methods of teaching language. First he defines communicative competence as shared knowledge and performance as applying knowledge to the actual language use, according to Chomsky. He claims that Hymes finds Chomsky’s definition of competence and performance too narrow to describe what language behavior as a whole really is. Hymes states that the rules of everyday language use are dominant over the rules of grammar. The movie that we just viewed in class, My Fair Lady, is a great example of this. Also, because what we say if we were to write it down it might not make any sense because communicative language also refers to gestures and tones that we only use when speaking. Secondly, he defines performance as actual use of language in a real life situation, not in an idealized or practiced speaker-listener situation as Chomsky stated.

Widdowson states that knowing a language is more than how to understand, speak, read, and write sentences, but instead how sentences are used to communicate in actuality. He mentions that the ability to communicate has to be developed at the same time as linguistics skills.

On the other hand Canale and Swain say that there are rules of language use that would be useless without rules of grammar. I believe that his point of view is closest to what I think is best for a language learner. Both rules to me are necessary for a second language learner to obtain the maximum grasp in learning a language. Also Canale and Swain state that communicative competence includes: grammatical, sociolinguistic, and strategic competence. In my view Canale and Swain are seeing language learning as a whole in all aspects where language is needed and this is why they mention three other competences inside the communicative competence.

Stern focuses on communicative competence in the classroom, he states that the aspect of language should be study and practice and that language teaching should be objective and analytical. In other words to live the language is the best way to learn it.

Rivers commented on what I think is the most practical definition of communicative competence, she said that in skill-getting and skill-using the student must learn to articulate acceptably and construct comprehensible language.

In conclusion, the author states that all of these theories are important in trying to design successful models for second language teaching. In my opinion language and all grammatical skills with all the competences, all have to be hand in hand to completely teach the language. Speaking a language is determined by the use the speaker gives it. Communication is the key to successfully speaking a language.

POEMS you can use in your CLL classroom!!!!!

Good Morning!

Good morning it's time to rise,
Stand up and wipe your sleepy eyes.
Reach and stretch for the sky,
Hold your hands way up high.
Bend your body and touch the ground,
Stand up straight, now turn around.
Point to your eyes, point to your nose,
Jump up and down and touch your toes.
Clap your hands, stomp your feet,
Let's start the day, now find your seat.

Good Morning Boogie

Hello Neighbor, what do you say?

It's going to be a happy day.

So greet your neighbor,

And boogie on down.

Give 'em a bump,

and turn around.

My School Promise

Each day I'll do my best

And I won't do any less.

My work will always please me,

And I won't accept a mess.

I'll color very carefully,

My writing will be neat.

And I will not be happy,

Till my papers are complete.

I'll always do my homework,

And try my best on every test.

I won't forget my promise,

To do my very best!

~*~Shape Poems~*~

I am Cindy Circle
Watch me turn
Round and round
And you will learn
I'm not straight and
I don't bend
My outside edges
Never end!
Sammy Square is my name
My four sides are just the same
Turn me around, I don't care
I'm always the same, I'm a square!
I am Danny Diamond
I am like a kite
But I'm really just a square
Whose corners are pulled tight
Ricky rectangle is my name
My four sides are not the same
Two are short and two are long
Count my sides, come along
1-2-3-4
Tommy Triangle is the name for me
Count my sides - there's 1-2-3
I am Ollie Oval
A football shape is mine
Some people think that I"m an egg
But I think I look fine!
OR
Opal Oval is my name.
The circle and I are not the same.
The circle is round, as round can be.
I am shaped like an egg as you can see

Harry Heart is my name
The shape I make is my fame
With a point on the bottom and two humps on top
When it comes to love I just can't stop!

Journal Entry #1

Journal #1

                When I looked up the word use the definition given was that to employ for a given purpose or put into action. In contrast the word usage is the way, the language is actually used. The words accuracy and fluency I decided to define in terms of teaching techniques in where accuracy is mostly used in teaching a new item so that students achieve accurate perception. Versus fluency which is used when something has already been taught and they already know about the topic in which students practice to develop fluency or ease in that area. Finally, functional syllabus is a variability of context sensitiveness within a language function. The functional syllabus stresses on the effects of the verbal action. Different to the structural syllabus which focuses on the verbal action of the participants because it is a variability of a language function within a language form.   

Brief Analysis on Article #3

Title: Benefits and Strategies of Communicative Language Learning

Written by: Paul Overland

                In my humble opinion I believe that Overland asserting that Communicative Language Learning is full of benefits is completely accurate. To reach the goal of manipulating the target language in private dialog his strategies such as: encouraging private dialog among students, establishing an immersion environment of instruction and audio retention by instructional songs are more than excellent for  reaching the ultimate objective. Overland mentions that by encouraging oral ability as well as literacy, the target language is learned at a deeper level. It clearly states that communicative competence does not mean that we forget all about grammar it just says that oral fluency helps engrave the language for deeper retention. When students are in need of speaking the target language it all of a sudden becomes more than just a task but a need to be understood and to be able to communicate. If this is done correctly in the classroom, students will not only have to speak the target language but will even more desire to because of the need to be understood when trying to communicate in a second language. In my opinion, Overland in explaining CLL is not only sharing the strategies with his audience but also implementing that Communicative Language Learning is a teaching device that can only help our students learn adequately the target language.

Wandallys Ramos