THURSDAY
8-8:45am
Service-Learning in ESL at GA Tech: Exploring language and values, Changing Lives
- What is service learning? A definition… (Int'l Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership)
- Set up challenges
- community placement - take time to find a good match (will learning goals be met? will community agency's goals be met?)
- Criteria - location, schedule, activities
- try to set up an activity where language skills will be used
- resistance of students - anxiety of being around different people in a different place and dealing with unknowns
- "why should I pay to volunteer?"
- 30% of class actually doing community service
- Set up opportunities
- unite language learning and community service
- service learning is HOT!
- outcome-based
- many university strategic plans address civic engagement
- S-L can accomplish language learning objectives (e.g. cross-cultural understanding - DeRolf, International TESOL Journal 1996)
- Goals
- 1. use English - -accuracy, + fluency
- 2. educate ss on social issues
- 3. connect social issues in course and connect with issues in own country
- 4. think critically about beliefs they have about social issues and question"evidence" for those belief
- 5. synthesize classroom/volunteer experience
- Grading guidelines - P/F - "alternative track course"
- 50% volunteer service
- 50% assignments
- 1.5 hours a week for 7 weeks
- first 2 visits w/ group
- following visit individually, but pairs encouraged
- right now, there are 17 students in the class, but generally between 10-15
- Assignments
- blogs
- summary/response
- final group presentation
- Themes
- volunteerism in U.S.
- poverty and education
- homelessness and children
- hunger and children
- race relations in U.S.
- ELECTRONIC HANDOUT AVAILABLE
- questions for homework, discussion in class next day
- reading
- note taking sheet
- blog prompt - write about topic from reading
- Gorski - reference
- Boys and Girls Club - play games with kids, help students with homework during "power hour", hold a "culture fair" (stations from each country, "passport" where students collect stickers from each country)
- in addition to class, they held a talent show for/with the kids
- first two cycles were co-taught because of materials development required
- SACM will pay for a course like this
No comments:
Post a Comment