Inside the Curriculum I Use to Teach High Level English Language Learners
People often wonder and speculate about my approach to teaching English. Oftentimes, students are confused until they are not. Unable to define the structure until they start to feel, sense, and become aware of their improvements in fluency. I'll never forget when a current student of mine said to me, "You've unlocked my English brain!" with sheer excitement and joy written all over their face.
So I wanted to share an inside look into a recent activity I conducted. This particular activity comes from the Business & Entrepreneurship Curriculum, which currently stands at a whopping 106-page document of all original speaking activities designed to enhance professionals of all industries but especially those in tech, entrepreneurs, and global business leaders. This particular student's goal was to achieve greater ease and comfort when speaking about technical complexities at work. To be specific, they wanted to command English at work - during meetings and presentations - in a similar fashion as their native tongue.
If you glance at the instructions and notes of this activity, you'll notice how the focus and direction of it directly target the student's goal. You see, I usually use a premeditated curriculum when working with most students. I have 3 completed courses ranging from 70 - 200 pages pertaining to Conversation & Corrections, Grammar, and Business as well as others in development. However, I do not follow any of these in sequential order. On the contrary, I prescribe, like a doctor would, bits and parts of each curriculum based on the student's level, interests, and communicative goals. I'm sharing this in hopes you'll gain insight into how I set the stage for learning. And see why I think it’s one of the best approaches to not only learning English but becoming a better overall communicator. One who eventually feels genuine speaking confidence and mastery because of numerous on-target language acquisition activities, practice, and learning opportunities.
And for all of my former educators, social workers, and colleagues I hope this opens the door for more opportunities to share ideas, resources, and feedback around learning and engagement. I also want to give a huge shoutout to SaBeen who has always been and continues to be an immense source of inspiration and support!
Mass IT Terms - Definition & Work-Related Significance
Instructions: Prescan the link and list of IT terms to select a few items that are most relevant for the student and their professional capacity.
Share the term with the student and ask them to define what it is. If, or even if not, necessary, ask follow-up questions to get a greater sense of their understanding and ability to clearly define the term. If the student is unfamiliar with the IT term, share your screen and have them read the definition.
After explaining the term, ask the student how this IT term impacts their role, responsibility, and overall industry significance.
Note: Be sure to offer both hard and soft English error corrections where appropriate and according to the student's level, goals, and confidence. The teachers role is to ensure the clarity of definition and meaning making as well as accuracy with English.
A sample set of terms:
Fields: If you build it, they will come: The most basic building blocks for data collection. These are the storage units that your website visitors use to enter their names, email addresses, notes, etc. If you’re asking for first name, last name, email address, city, and zip code across five different entry boxes, that’s five fields.
Firewall: System to protect a secure network from an unsecure network (i.e., the rest of the Internet).
FTP: “File Transfer Protocol.” Method of exchanging files from one computer to another. This is also how websites are uploaded to the Internet.
OOTB": “Out of the Box.” Also known as “Off the Shelf.” These are the ready-made, plug-and-play options for features and functions that you can download and install without the need to customize or configure. Instead of making the brownies from scratch, you’re using the mix (either way, it’s still tasty).
SAAS Platforms": “Software As A Service.” The most basic of cloud platforms; allows users to share files and collaborate on projects through their browser. Some SAAS platforms include Google Drive and Dropbox. Other cloud options are Platform as a Service (PAAS; Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS; Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure).
(Source: Whole Whale Tips Developers Terms Glossary )
