Clarifying ESL Pull- Out Instruction page 4

Repositioning the ESL and Content Teacher Relationship page 8

Plus book reviews and more...

Winter 2012 h p://ohiotesol.or g Vol. 4, No. 2 Ohio TESOL Board Executive Committee - Voting Members President First Vice President Second Vice President Beverly Good Jessica Burchett David Smith [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Interest Section Representatives K-12 Post Secondary/Higher Ed. Adult Education Research /Teacher Ed. / Betsy Wood Ilka Kostka Wendy Bucky Applied Linguistics [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Tim Micek Elizabeth McNally [email protected] [email protected] Advisory Board - Non-Voting Members Treasurer Recording Secretary Past President Membership Coordinator Marty Ropog Jill Kramer Christina Terrell Linda Berton [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Advisory Liaisons Advocacy OFLA Liason ODE Lau Resource Center Liaison Don Beck Lillian Acker Dan Fleck dbeck@ ndlay.edu [email protected] dan." [email protected] Brenda Custodio [email protected] Committees Awards and Grants 2012 Conference Chair Volunteer Coordinator Exhibitor Liason Susy Oldham Brenda Refaei Ilka Kostka Mary Benedetti [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Charlotte Putt [email protected] Communications Team Web Manager Journal Editors Listserv Manager Mike Dombroski Content: Brenda Refaei Bob Eckhart [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Layout: Chris Hill [email protected]

Ohio TESOL Journal is published three times a year by Ohio TESOL. The deadlines for the next three issues are March 15 (Spring issue), August 15 (Autumn issue), and December 15 (Winter issue). Ohio TESOL is not responsible for any opinions expressed by contributors to the Journal. Submissions accepted for publication may be edited and / or republished on our website and in other media.

Photo credits: Adam Bollenbacher (front cover), David Smith (pages 2, 3, 6, and 15), Liz Peterson (page 9), gadiri (back cover).

All of the links in the electronic version of Ohio TESOL Journal are live, even if they are neither blue nor underlined. Give them a try! You can also use the discussion forum at http://ohiotesol.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=224 to discuss articles in this issue with other members of Ohio TESOL. If you’re reading a paper copy, type the links into your browser.

2 Ohio TESOL Journal -- Volume 4, Number 2 From the President

While the 2011 TESOL confer- ence ended in November for most of you, for the TESOL Board, it came to a close with the payment of the last invoice just a few days ago. Phew! This is truly a labor of love for all the volunteers who are involved in the effort. It all begins with dis- cussions of the previous con- ference – what works and what needs improvement. Then the volunteers go to work to bring it all together. The volunteers have personal and professional responsibilities in addition to their TESOL duties. The point of all this is that I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to the TESOL Board and all the conference volunteers Union. Yes – you read that correctly – the new for making the 2011 conference another excellent Ohio Union! This is an amazing opportunity to experience for educators. Thank you all! showcase Ohio’s fl agship university. For the Buck- eye faithful who will join us in November, if you A second shout out goes to all the conference par- haven’t seen the new Ohio Union, you are in for a ticipants, presenters, and vendors. We know that treat. The Buckeye faithful, scarlet and gray décor dollars are very tight. Professional development is provide a lovely backdrop for this state-of-the-art often the fi rst cut when school districts are trying facility. Please mark the date on your calendar, to save every penny. To everyone who attended and plan to join us in 2012. the conference, thank you for choosing to spend your time in the pursuit of professional excel- In closing, may I suggest that as TESOL members lence. To the presenters, thank you for choosing you take advantage of some of the benefi ts of your to share your expertise with your colleagues. And professional organization, aside from the annual to the vendors, thank you for showing conference conference? I know that you are using best prac- participants the latest and greatest curriculum tices in your classrooms. Consider sharing your support on your own dime. expertise at the conference. Requests for propos- als will be available in the spring. Send your ideas I will fi nish my message of gratitude with one fi nal for what you would like to see, hear, and learn via shout out to our outgoing Ohio TESOL President, e mail or the list serve. If you aren’t receiving our Christina Terrell. Christina did a yeoman’s job of communications, please let us know. We are here leading the Board through 2011 and ensuring that for the TESOL profession in Ohio and beyond. the conference was of the highest quality within Please keep in touch. our budget. Thank you, Christina, for your leader- ship, insight, and support. Have a great 2012!

And with that, I will briefl y turn to the Ohio TES- Bev Good OL Conference, 2012. It will be held November 9 Ohio TESOL President and 10, 2012 at The Ohio State University, Ohio http://ohiotesol.org 3 Clarifying ESL Pull-Out Instruction

By Jennifer R. Fennema-Bloom

Recently one of my graduates phoned me in a panic. arts block) to provide English language services After she graduated with an MA endorsement in which support the development of strong commu- TESOL she was hired in an ESL K-6 pull-out pro- nicative and academic English language skills. It gram operating within Ohio. Initially I assumed is one of four common ESL service models found she was suffering anxiety and a feeling of being within the United States and can be used with or overwhelmed, which is common among fi rst-year without a bilingual education program. ESL teachers responsible for multiple levels and grades. As she told her story, I was reminded of What is ESL pull-out’s strength? prior conversations I’ve had with school adminis- trators and mainstream content-subject teachers Its strengths are that it provides the learners with who expressed frustrations and misunderstand- a safe learning environment to use and take risks ings regarding the role of the ESL teacher work- with language; and that instruction can be tailored ing within their schools. It quickly dawned on me to the learners’ level of English linguistic develop- that the real problem behind my former students ment and cultural “panic” was not just competency. new teacher anxi- ESL pull-out instruction pulls students ety; it was a result of the same frustration out of content subject-strands to Who is quali- and misunderstand- support the development of strong fi ed to teach ing regarding the communicative and academic English ESL pull-out? roles of ESL teach- language skills. ers, particularly – Pull-out teachers pull-out teachers. within the State of In this article I will Ohio must have an address the common questions that I frequently initial teaching license within one of Ohio’s ap- get asked by school administrators, faculty, par- proved licensing areas and an endorsement in ents and staff in the hopes of clarifying the role TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other and responsibilities of an ESL pull-out teachers Languages) or, in special cases, they are in the working with English language learners (ELLs) in process of earning an endorsement in TESOL. a K-12 setting. However, rural schools may not have the num- ber of ELLs to warrant hiring a full-time licensed What is ESL pull-out instruction? and endorsed TESOL teacher. In such cases, I encourage them to contact their county’s Educa- ESL pull-out instruction is an ESL service model tional Service Center to provide qualifi ed teaching for supporting English language development to assistance. non-native speakers. It pulls students out of con- tent subject-strands (preferably in the language 4 Ohio TESOL Journal -- Volume 4, Number 2 What is an ESL pull-out teacher’s modify instruction to make content comprehen- sible and accessible for all learners within his or job? her classroom and this would include ELLs within content-subject classes. An ESL pull-out teacher An ESL pull-out teacher has fi ve main compo- does not have enough contact hours with the stu- nents to his or her job. dents to waste their instructional time acting as a subject-tutor. However, in support of the main- 1. Assess a learner’s English ability and assign stream content-subject teacher, your ESL teacher them a course of study, including making accom- should provide a profi le of the ELL. This profi le modation and modifi cation suggestions for main- commonly referred to as an ILP (individual learn- stream content teachers to use with the learner. ing plan) would report the student’s English lev- el, diagnostic assessment scores and/or OTELA 2. Help ELL/LEP students to improve their Eng- scores (along with an explanation of the scores), lish language skills in reading, writing, speaking, types of instructional modifi cations that are sug- listening and comprehension for integration and gested for the student’s inclusion, and the types more full participation in mainstream content of modifi cations on assignments and assessments class work. that will allow the student to demonstrate knowl- edge of subject matter within his or her linguistic 3. Help students increase their learning outcomes capacity. and content profi ciency within mainstream cours- es by applying learning strategies and targeting language functions. What should an ESL pull-out teach- er be teaching? 4. Help students adjust to American culture and schooling. The major focus of pull-out instruction is to help ELLs develop their language functions, language 5. Communicate the learner’s level, ability and forms, and language skills, as well as help the stu- progress in English to mainstream content teach- dent develop learning strategies so they are more ers, parents and administrators. successful learners in mainstream content class- rooms. It is not subject-strand dependent rather Can an ESL pull-out teacher act as a it targets core elements across curriculum. There- fore a pull-out ESL teacher should be teaching tutor to our ESL students? language functions or rather the formal/informal purposes for which language is being used. Within A pull-out teacher is not a tutor. He or she is the targeted language function are language forms specifi cally trained to address language learning and language skills. A language form refers to the and issues of second language acquisition. Us- discrete linguistic structure present within Eng- ing a pull-out teacher as a content-subject tutor lish phonology, morphology, semantics and syn- is a waste of school resources. He or she is a high tax. A language skill refers to the comprehension quality professional on equal level with any main- and production/use of language through commu- stream content teacher and should not be used nication in speaking, listening, reading and writ- as a paraprofessional or other support staff (who ing. The chart below illustrates two examples of would better serve in both time and money as a language function and its corresponding language tutor). form; the language skill would then be how the language function is occurring, i.e. through read- Who is responsible for teaching ing, through writing, through listening or through subject content to English language speaking. learners?

No Child Left Behind requires that all teachers http://ohiotesol.org 5 Language Function Language Form Expressing needs, wants and likes • Indirect/direct objects and/or infi nitives verb forms • Subject/verb agreement • Pronouns Hypothesizing and speculation • Modals • Compound tense with modals • If, then clauses w/ compound sentences

How should an ESL pull-out teach- grade-level strands. The language functions are then scaffolded across curriculum and may at er arrange curriculum? times touch particular content areas, but only as a scaffold for reaching the desired linguistic goal of The ESL teacher, ESL curriculum specialist or achieving competence within the language func- ESL teaching teams working within a pull-out tion. model should strive for a congruent curriculum design. Congruent ESL curriculum design does not tutor or re-teach the mainstream content- Discuss this article online now: subject teachers’ content as in parallel or content http://ohiotesol.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=241 repetition curriculum design. It also does not use a thematic topic related to a specifi c content- subject thereby causing divergent curriculum de- Dr. Jennifer Fennema-Bloom is an Assistant Pro- sign where ELL’s in effect have two social studies fessor of TESOL/Bilingual Education at The Uni- classes – the mainstream class and the ESL class. versity of Findlay. She works closely with north- Congruent curriculum design identifi es core cur- western Ohio public schools to provide in-service riculum standards and the associated language training and support to schools struggling with functions and/or learning strategy necessary for new or expanding populations of English Lan- an ELL to know in order to achieve success across guage Learners.

Dr. Steven Thorne, the Ohio TESOL 2011 plenary speaker Jill Kramer, recipient of the George Hertrich Service Award at Ohio TESOL 2011

6 Ohio TESOL Journal -- Volume 4, Number 2 Book Review Teaching ESL Composition

By Allison Sigler

Written by two leading au- composition. Chapter fi ve thorities in the L2 writing discusses teacher response fi eld, Teaching ESL Com- to student writing with an position is the culmina- emphasis on oral and writ- tion of various teaching ten feedback and chapter and writing strategies to be six looks at building a com- used with the intended pur- munity of writers through pose of helping all levels of class peer response. After L2 English learners how to these chapters comes three write better in the target lan- more, covering improving guage. And if the thought of accuracy in student writing reading about various strat- (error correction), class- egies seemed too daunting room approaches to ESL to readers, the authors have writing assessment, and laid out the book in an easy- fi nally, technology in the to-use manner and design writing class. which can be described as extremely accessible for the It could be said that this novice L2 writing teacher. book would be an extreme- The target education level ly useful starting point for this book is assumed to for teachers in L2 writing be high school level or high- classes as it provides excel- er. lent foundational knowl- edge that any teacher could All aspects of L2 writing benefi t from. However, this are covered in this book. The authors begin with should not be the only book read in preparation a theoretical framework which lies in the back- for teaching in a L2 writing class. ground of the fi eld of L2 writing. From this frame- work, the authors work chapter by chapter, talk- ing in depth about specifi c problem areas in L2 Ferris, D.R. & Hedgcock, J. (2005). Teaching ESL composi- tion: Purpose, process, and practice (2nd ed.). Routledge, NJ: writing that novice teachers could have multiple Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. questions about. The second chapter details the correlation between ESL writing and L2 literacy development. The next chapter covers syllabus Allison Sigler is a PhD. Student at The Ohio State design and lesson planning in ESL composition University in the School of Teaching and Learn- instruction and is followed by text selection, ma- ing Department of Education and Human Ecol- terials development, and task construction in ESL ogy. http://ohiotesol.org 7 Repositioning the ESL and Content Teacher Relationship

By Jessie Braine

Content teachers embody a wealth of knowledge. subject matter to highlight for a general teacher It is often the ESL teacher’s job to help a sub- may seem obvious at a glance. However, despite ject matter teacher translate that expertise into many discussions of vocabulary, studies indicate student language. However, the relationship be- a lack of improvement in ESL test scores (John- tween ESL and content teacher is often contested. son, 2010; Crosnoe, 2009; Salazar, 2008; Kahn- Arkoudis (2005) noted the coordination between Horowitz, 2007). Many words have multiple ESL and content teacher is often marked by con- forms that baffl e ELLs but which fi eld experts may fl ict. While studying a science teacher and ESL not even differentiate. Salt dissolves in water. It is educator team, she noticed that the science teach- not enough for the teacher to demonstrate forma- er was unwilling to accept advice from a non-sub- tion of a solution. The student must explicitly be ject matter expert. In this given various forms of the study, Arkoudis called for word, including solubil- a new way of situating the It is often the ESL teacher’s ity. The student needs to relationship. job to help a subject matter connect the experience of watching salt disappear in Systemic Functional Lin- teacher translate expertise water with the words dis- guistics represents a rap- into student language. solve, solution and solu- port-building platform to bility in order to construct support the general edu- the concept internally and cation teacher, due to its perspective that learning be able to express understanding. An ESL in- is accomplished via the medium of language (Mo- structor saying to the science teacher, “How do han, 1986). In the quest to impart students with you want your students to express their newfound a specifi c brand of wisdom, it is easy for content knowledge?” and highlighting the multitude of teachers to bypass that the only way to deploy that new words associated with that profi ciency, may knowledge into someone else’s head is through facilitate acceptance of ELL expertise. specifi c language use. Mohan (1986) laid out a simple form inherent to information, that under- Another example of KF involves magnets. An ex- scores the importance of each word as it relates to periment where some magnets stick to one an- meaning, called Knowledge Framework (KF). By other and others push each other away (to use positioning science experiments (or social studies student lingo) is a beginning. The teacher must activities) as the core of concept creation and ESL then help the student scaffold from stick to attract understanding as assisting in student expression and attraction as well as from push away to repel of and concretization of that expertise (using the and repulsion (Mohan and Slater, 2005). A sci- following guidelines), content teacher reticence ence teacher may even subconsciously overlook may be broken down. questioning the student as to the meaning and relevance of ‘N’ and the ‘S’ on different sides of the The more readily accessible linguistic aspect of a magnet. By self-positioning as a word choice spe- 8 Ohio TESOL Journal -- Volume 4, Number 2 cialist, highlighting the linguistic connections la- Phylum Rhizopoda is composed of the proto- tent within content, a subject-area specialist may zoans called amoebas that use pseudopodia, entertain and value ESL specialist knowledge. extensions of their plasma membrane, to move and engulf prey. The second and more complex aspect of KF in- volves developing causal relationships (linguisti- Mohan and Beckett (2003) used teacher recasts cally) in the mind of the learner. More important of student speech to scaffold scientifi c semantic than developing taxonomies, growth of logical paraphrases. sequences of reasoning entails learning a think- ing process. This thinking process is developed Student: To stop the brain’s aging, we can use via word choice, is content-specifi c and only ex- our bodies and heads. ist in context (Fang and Schleppegrell, 2008). Teacher: [recast] So, we can prevent our brain Social studies teachers and math teachers can from getting weak by being mentally and inadvertently side-line this process as incidental physically active? common-ground. ESL teachers are in the unique (Mohan and Beckett, 2003, p. 423) position to demonstrate that these sequences of reasoning are semantically driven by a given sub- This excerpt represents a venue for ESL teach- ject. ers to support content teachers in building causal relations or logical sequences of reasoning in the The language of science allows scientists to build minds of students by relating specifi c word choic- a theory. However, these constructs are highly es. problematic for ELLs. http://ohiotesol.org 9 Mohan and Slater (2006) used teacher question- ing and recasts to connect theory to practice. References Demonstrating the following technique utilizing a Arkoudis, S. (2005). Fusing pedagogic horizons: Language topic from an on-site science teacher can facilitate and content teaching in the mainstream. Linguistics and linguistic support for ELLs. Education, 173-187. Crosnoe, R. (2009). Family-school connections and the tran- Teacher: What is the difference between lead sitions of low-income youths and English language learners from middle school to high school. Develoopmental Psy- and aluminum? chology, 1061-1076. Student: Lead is heavier. Johnson, C. (2011). The road to culturally relevant science: Teacher: Lead is heavier… Now if somebody Exploring how teachers navigate change in pedagogy. Jour- says that I go “oh yeah?” I fi nd a huge piece nal of Research in Science Teaching, 48 (2), 170-198. Mohan, B. (1986). Language and content. Reading, MA: Ad- of aluminum and a tiny lead thing and I’ll go dison-Wesley. okay lift them. I can make the aluminum so big and the lead so small that the aluminum is Mohan, B. & Beckett, G.H. (2003). A functional approach to research on content-based language learning: Recasts in actually heavier. Couldn’t I? Think about it. causal explanations. The Canadian Modern Language Re- Student: You have to compare equal volumes. view, 58 (1), 133-155. Teacher: Oh I’d have to compare equal vol- Mohan, B & Slater, T. (2006). Examining the theory/practice umes to be fair. In other words we’re compar- relation in a high school science register: A functional lin- guistic perspective. Journal of English for Academic Purpos- ing density. es, 302-316. (Mohan and Slater, 2006, p. 309) Mohan, B. & Slater, T. (2005) A functional perspective on the critical ‘theory/practice’ relation in teaching language and This teacher continued to ask questions about the science. Linguistics and Education, 16, 151-172. subject, highlighting science terms and includ- Salazar, M. (2008). English or nothing: The impact of rigid ing visual support. He cycled between theory and language policies on the inclusion of humanizing practices practice, between a specifi c case and the general. in a high school ESL program. Equity & Excellence in Educa- In so doing, he helped the student internally con- tion , 341-356. struct a causal relationship in this content area. This teacher worked hand in hand with an ESL teacher to ensure student expression and concret- ization of these causal relations.

Mohan’s KF breaks down subject areas and class- room activities linguistically to support learning. It positions language as a conduit through which learning happens. KF exposes the link between wording and meaning, simply. This framework of technical terms and causal relations represents a platform for ESL teachers to harmoniously sup- port content teachers.

Discuss this article online now: http://ohiotesol.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=241

Jessie Braine is a doctoral student at University of Cincinnati, where one of her areas of inter- est is ESL in content areas. She has taught ESL to elementary through adult learners in several countries for 20 years.

10 Ohio TESOL Journal -- Volume 4, Number 2 Book Review Q: Skills for Success – Reading and Writing 1

By Max Rhinehart

Oxford’s new six-level ESL series Q: Skills for Success aims to accommodate adult students at a range of profi ciency levels and teachers with a variety of cur- ricular goals. The series emphasizes its modernity, transparency, and focus on critical thinking. In these goals the se- ries appears successful, though it is not entirely without its drawbacks.

Aesthetically the book is fresh, attrac- tive, and not too busy. The language skills to be developed and the learning outcomes to be attained are provided at the beginning of each unit. Exercises culminate nicely in a fi nal activity that tests whether the unit’s learning out- come has been achieved. The exercises are not shockingly original, but they are appropriately selected, profession- ally presented, and evenly paced. How- ever, the judiciously distributed audio supplements show the book’s most con- spicuous weakness. The slow, artifi cial dialogues, all read by obvious native speakers, could benefi t from a dash of the modernity that otherwise charac- terizes this series.

Despite this lapse, the materials on the whole are cal thinking with interesting topics and piquant of a high standard, and the guiding theme of each questions. The content is polished, appealing and unit is thoughtfully selected. The accompanying attractively packaged. If this fi rst volume of the texts are interesting and provide a satisfying spark series is any indication, Q: Skills for Success is a of ostensible authenticity. Oxford’s Q: Skills for winner. Success clearly presents its content, develops the target language skills, focuses on the intended Lynn, S. (2010). Q: Skills for Success - Reading and writing 1. learning outcomes, and engages students’ criti- Oxford University Press

http://ohiotesol.org 11 Technology Report on Earobics

By Kristie Allen, Denise Congleton, and Gretchen Stranges

Earobics is a technology-based literacy program access is a necessity to use the program. The for educators, created for at-risk, general edu- game section, where students practice literacy cation, special education, and English language skill drills, runs best on up-to-date version of the learners (ELLs) in grades pre-K through third. Flash plugin (Earobics, 2007). Earobics runs on Earobics offers systematic instruction in early lit- both slower speed connections (Earobics, 2007). eracy skills such as phonics, phonemic awareness, To make this intervention program accessible to auditory processing, letter identifi cation, and many districts with varying technological situa- reading comprehension. This software provides a tions, Earobics is available in a Web-based ver- differentiated approach to literacy suited to each sion or even installed from a CD-ROM (Earobics, student’s individual needs (Earobics, 2007). Ev- 2007). Earobics runs on Macintosh and Windows ery level within Earo- operating systems. On bics helps the student Earobics is an early literacy a Windows computer, build critical literacy Windows 2000, Win- skills such as recog- intervention program that helps dows XP Professional nizing and blending English language learners. or better is necessary. sounds, rhyming, and Each computer must discriminating pho- have a microphone, nemes (Earobics, 2007). Within these levels, Ear- speakers/headphones, soundcard, keyboard and obics offers several activities and games to teach a mouse. Each student has a user name and pass- students to match sound to letter. Teachers and word; when s/he is logged onto the site, his/her administrators are able to view up-to-the-minute data is updated. Educators can use the data to student progress and teachers can provide adap- evaluate the progress and needs of students to de- tive instruction based on student performance. termine the appropriate pedagogical strategy for each student. General Information Resource mechanics Earobics can be used by students, teachers, par- ents, and school administrators. Teachers and After the teacher assigns the student a user name parents can subscribe as a group or purchase in- and password, the student can log on easily. dividually to Earobics for $59.00 per user or for a Teachers need to warn students to keep their user discount price for groups of 12 users for $299.00 name and password a secret from other students. (Intervention Earobics, 2009). If a school sub- If Student A logs in under Student B’s username, scribes to Earobics, a representative will come to then the data results will be compromised. Teach- explain to the teachers how to use the software. ers require accurate data not only so they know The Earobics representative will provide books what skills students need to practice but also be- that come with the software. cause U.S. schools are focused on data collection Earobics is Internet-based, therefore, Internet and assessment practices. 12 Ohio TESOL Journal -- Volume 4, Number 2 The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 re- a small group and then practice on Earobics what quires higher assessment standards for students they read in the group. Big Books and little books of various demographic groups. Earobics data are included in the Earobics program. Sight words collection supports data-driven education. For that students are introduced to can be practiced example, Earobics assists educators in using as- with the website games. Students also drill with sessment tools such as DIBELS (Dynamics Indica- sound regular words, such as b-u-g , on the web- tors of Basic Early Literacy Skills) to chart student site. Therefore, Gamegoo use supports the skills progress. Earobics enables educators to analyze and strategies that students have learned with the data by comparing student demographics such as teacher. gender, language, and ethnicity, Title I status, and special education status (Earobics, 2007). Gamegoo is appropriate for ELLs, because it gives directions in nine languages other than English. It There are thirteen games on the Earobics game site, also provides parent letters in English and Span- Gamegoo. You can fi nd Gamegoo at http:www. ish so teachers can improve the home-school con- earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html . The games nection. It supports teachers who need to cover address skills needed for early literacy and tech- intervention lessons in their classes, because nology. A benefi t to ELLs of using Earobics is the Gamegoo lessons directly address the needs of fact that they are using technology. Traditionally, struggling readers. From letter identifi cation to many ELLs do not have a lot of experience with beginning and ending sound practice, students technology. have practice with sight words and sound regu- lar words. Rhyming words and word families are Once students enter Gamegoo, they can use both stressed, so students see connections between visual icons and auditory feedback to fi nd the words. . correct game. Before students can start Game- goo games, teachers input their class list into the The Gamegoo site has three sections: Beginner, system. Teachers must input student informa- Intermediate, and Advanced. In the Beginner tion, such as language spoken at home and eth- section, early and non-readers can practice early nicity. Then students may play the games and reading skills. For non-readers who need letter have their scores tracked. Teachers can generate identifi cation work, “Kangaroo Confusion” is an reports between schools within the district, or be- appropriate game. A player must choose one of tween classrooms in the same building. They can four capital letters, and match it with the cor- even get a printout of what answers their students responding lower case letter. After fi ve chances, tried, so teachers can identify what is tricking the game switches. A player sees four lower case their students about reading. Once students play letters, and must match the one with the corre- the games, teachers can generate a report on each sponding capital letter. Many times the letters in student’s progress. the group of four are visually similar, so students must take a good look to compare. This game is Pedagogical Considerations purely a visual one, because if the letter names were pronounced, it would take away the stu- Earobics addresses many of the skills that early dent’s matching work. “Kangaroo Confusion” is readers need. For example, in the direct teaching in direct contrast to most other Gamegoo games, portion of Earobics, the instructor teaches whole which are aural skill based. class lessons with Big Books, and small group lessons with little books. The Earobics program For the intermediate early reader, Earobics package sends teachers Big Books that correlate Gamegoo has letter-sound connection practice. with some of the activities on Earobics. For exam- Students need to be studying a word’s onset (be- ple, if a teacher has a Big Book of Eric Carle’s The ginning sounds) and rime (ending sounds) dur- Very Hungry Caterpillar , s/he can teach one-to- ing direct teaching for these games. Students one word matching skills and demonstrate left to are aliens and they have to shoot lazers at letters. right reading directionality. Students can read in When the early reader hears a sound regular word, http://ohiotesol.org 13 s/he has to shoot the letters in the word. In “Let- Conclusion ter Bugs” the students zap letters in any order. For example, if the word is boy, students can hit the Earobics is an early literacy intervention program y-b-o letters. In “Space Trash,” if the word is boy , that helps English language learners, at-risk stu- they zap b then –oy . “Space Trash” is the more dents, special education students, and general challenging of the two games, because students education students. It addresses student’s skills must know the letters that work together to make in basic literacy and provides a fun method of in- the rime section of a word. These games provide tervention for those students who struggle. Stu- excellent challenges for an early reader, because dents are learning, but because their learning is in s/he is working on decoding parts of words. a game format, they may enjoy the format better than traditional textbook skill and drill exercises. Lastly, the advanced section requires keyboarding Teachers will enjoy the ease of data gathering and and sight word knowledge. Students hear a sight report generation; students will enjoy the fun word, and they must type in the letters, spelling games. Earobics is a good investment in a child’s the entire word in the correct order. There are literary success. no word banks to help them. The words are of- ten from word families, so once a student recog- nizes one known word from a word family, he can Discuss this article online now: try others. For example, if s/he knows the word http://ohiotesol.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=241 like , s/he can try hike or bike just by changing the single onset letter. Other games involve identify- ing synonyms and antonyms. Gamegoo promotes Kristie Allen is completing a Masters Degree at students’ language acquisition because it requires Ohio Dominican University in TESOL and has students to think about word meanings. experience tutoring ELLs as well as supporting ELLs in a mainstream classroom. Gamegoo games provide excellent independent practice for students. They are able to work in- Mrs. Denise Congleton is a Master’s Degree stu- dependently. However, the games would be bet- dent in TESOL at Ohio Dominican University. ter as learning tools if they added context clues in sentences. If a student is unable to hear the target Gretchen Stranges is completing her Masters word, s/he would not be able to complete the task. Degree in TESOL at Ohio Dominican University If there were a sentence to accompany the target and has extensive experience working with both word, a student may better understand how to immigrants and the developmentally disabled use that word. For some students, there may be population. too many visual stimuli. If students are not aural learners, they may struggle with the games. While Earobics games will help strengthen the skills of most early and non-readers, some students will still need more direct teaching to learn early lit- eracy skills.

Earobics can be used as an incentive because of the variety of games that are available on this site. References With these games, students interact with colorful and animated characters which are accompanied U.S. Department of Education. Intervention Earobics. Re- trieved July 8, 2011 from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/re- by fun sounds. Students want to play these games, ports/beginning_reading/earobics/index.asp. and so the game time works well as a reward and Earobics Corporation. (2007). Earobics website. Retrieved as a motivator. July 10, 2011 from http://www.earobics.com.

14 Ohio TESOL Journal -- Volume 4, Number 2 Post-Secondary/Higher Ed. IS meeting at Ohio TESOL

By Ilka Kostka

The Post-Secondary/Higher Education Interest We also talked about plagiarism, one of the big- Section met on Friday, November 11th at the Ohio gest challenges in higher education today. Attend- TESOL conference. Eleven members attended the ees shared their experiences with plagiarism and meeting. The fi rst topic discussed was English their institution’s policies towards it. We were language education for a growing number of im- fortunate to have visiting scholars from Indonesia migrants, refugees, and adult learners throughout at the meeting, who shared their perspectives on the state. Serious challenges are brought by this plagiarism in the Indonesian context. Members growth, including lack of funding for part-time expressed an interest in having a panel devoted to students, little institutional support for auditing this topic at next year’s conference to discuss this students, and accommodations for adults who issue further. have no credentials for academic study. We brain- stormed possible solutions including online edu- Thank you for attending! If there is any way I can cation, church and community college programs, better serve the interests of this section, please let and service learning programs and discussed how me know. post-secondary language educators can reach out to the community. Ilka Kostka Post-Secondary / Higher Education Interest Section Representative

A presentation at Ohio TESOL 2011. A poster session at Ohio TESOL 2011.

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