EFS 689E - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Learning English on Your Own
EFS 689E - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Learning English on Your Own
Notes
EFS 689E: Learning English on Your Own
Week 5: Procedures and Planning
I. Some additional techniques
A. Using a media player (see also www.stanford.edu/~efs/callcourse/CALL7.htm)
1. Media player basics: Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, Quicktime, Flash, mp3 players: www.esl-lab.com
2. Using pause and the slider; expanding the player: other controls, like jump forward/back (shift + right or left arrow) in the VLC player http://www.videolan.org/vlc/; see also http://wiki.videolan.org/QtHotkeys
3. Speed control
4. Graphic equalizer (set to voice/speech): on Windows media player, also under enhancements
5. Multiple windows (e.g, for simultaneous video & transcript)
B. Recording monologues: pronunciation practice, question responses; oral journal; storytelling; presentations: use Windows Sound Recorder (note: pause briefly before 1-minute if you want to record longer) (in the All Programs menu under Accessories>Entertainment>) or Audacity. Keep a record of all you recordings by date.
II. Group discussion: your 1 month plan
A. Examples from last year
B. Discussion
III. Procedures: setting up your own English lessons, linked to objectives. Note the extensive study <-----> intensive study continuum.
A. Preparation
B. Focused practice
C. Followup; record keeping
D. Example procedure (lesson plan) ~80 minutes [note that your lesson plans don't need to be this detailed]
Lesson Objectives - note, these are not necessarily the same as your learning or performance objectives (in this case, they are all linked to intensive listening):
· practice general and detailed comprehension
· identify and review new vocabulary
· improve processing through dictation (especially reduced forms and grammar); note patterns of errors
Procedure
1. Go to preselected material: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2247. Prepare for listening: read the description and think about the topic (4 minutes)
2. Listen to the material once with the captions off, straight through and write a brief summary of what you heard (8)
3. Listen again straight through with the captions on and add to your summary. Note, at ecorner you can toggle the captions on and off with the down and up arrows (8)
4. Open a separate window with the transcript available; listen a third time, pausing when you don’t understand what seems to be an interesting point and then checking the transcript—note you don’t have to understand everything; write a new summary, without looking at the earlier one, that clearly identifies the main point and supporting information (15)
5. Copy the transcript to a Word document. Read through the transcript and highlight words or phrases you don’t understand. If you have Babylon, you can look up the meaning at this time. If you have AnswerTips in Firefox, you can go to any webpage that let's you paste in text (e.g., http://translate.google.com/#). Put the text in the translation box then use AnswerTips (alt-click). For phrases, put the phrase in quotes into a Google search. If you don’t find a definition put the phrase in followed by the word means in quotes into a Google search, e.g., “I’m outta here means” (15)
6. Go to www.lextutor.ca/vp/bnc/. Copy and paste the transcript into the text box and get the frequency profile. Review the words above the 2000 and below the 8000 level (adjust depending on your own level) and select any that you want to learn, focusing on high frequency or interesting ones. Look up the definitions of key words you want to remember. Copy the word or phrase along with its definition and the sentence it occurs in into your vocabulary list; review the list; put into a different form (e.g., flash cards) for later review (10)
7. Go back to the video (with subtitles off) and do a dictation. Listen to the first sentence or two and pause. Then begin the dictation, working with short chunks. Listen to about 30 seconds this way, then rewind and go over the same part again the same way. Then check your answers against the transcript. Do another 30 seconds if you have time and interest [note: you can download the video and listen using the VLC player so that you can control the speed and use hotkeys if desired] (10)
8. Listen to the whole talk one more time with the captions off, trying to understand as much as possible in a natural way. (5)
9. Think about the lesson overall: what did you learn about the topic that was interesting? What did you learn about English? Write a few notes in your learning journal (5)
10. Think about other uses of the material (e.g., for a blog entry, a recording in your oral journal, etc.); follow this up with another lesson where you listen to the rest of Hawkins’ clips more extensively, this time first with the captions on, then with the captions off (while taking notes), focusing on getting the meaning. Use pause where needed to allow time to think, and repeat interesting parts. (5)
IV. Making a plan
A. Goals and objectives
B. Setting times: Set a total weekly time and then plot out the actual practice time by time of day; make up missed times the next day or restructure your plan. Making a plan and then sticking to it day by day, week by week, is the single best way to maintain motivation!
C. Collecting/identifying materials: Find and bookmark materials in clusters; put related materials together.
D. Creating lessons: linking techniques and procedures coherently. Each session should be a "lesson", even if it is short and has only one or two lesson objectives
V. Not completely on your own: working with others and formal classes
A. Finding partners: sign up if you want to continue with other students in this class, or check http://www.speak-english-today.com/pages/view/language_exchange; http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/
B. English in Action (Stanford)--one hour/week conversation partner: https://ssl.perfora.net/ccisstanfordu.org/EIAclientSignup.shtml
C. EFS Classes: http://efs.stanford.edu
D. Stanford Continuing Studies: http://continuingstudies.stanford.edu. Look under Communication courses (COM 23, COM 32, COM 34, WSP 169)
E. List of online English courses, with ratings: http://www.eslcafe.com/search/Online_English_Courses/
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Homework
1) FOR THE INDIVIDUAL MEETING - Come prepared to discuss your individual project. You should have a draft ready and specific questions for me regarding both the presentation next week and other aspects of your future plans for English language learning. Unless you choose another time, the starting date for plans is August 16.
2) FOR THE NEXT CLASS - Come prepared to give the presentation of your course outline, focusing on the next month but including some information about the following six months. The assignment is repeated below. Be sure that you have practiced it so that you can stay within the 5-6 minute time range. Important: send your PowerPoint or other notes by email to me by Monday August 9 at 10:00 PM. We will save time if we can all present from my computer.
Note: you are encouraged, but not required, to continue work on your individual project this week in preparation for beginning your one-month course. There is no report due for Monday--spend your time preparing the course outline and presentation.
Personal Course Outline Assignment
Assignment
Prepare a 5-6 minute presentation including both parts below. Be sure you have a printed or electronic version of this to hand in. You should practice the presentation so that you can give it well.
Part I
Write a syllabus for a one-month independent English study program to begin Monday August 16 (or set another date if needed).
Objective(s): (for example, improve reading speed to 150 wpm, learn 500 new vocabulary items, be able to introduce myself to strangers and carry on an extended conversation…)
Time: Determine the time per week you will need to
devote to each objective. Be realistic! Include a proposed distribution of your
learning periods (e.g., 5 mornings/week for 30-45 minutes + 3 afternoons/week
for 30 minutes + 5 evenings/week for 90 minutes). Relate these to specific
objectives (e.g., mornings for listening, afternoons for vocabulary, evenings
for reading…).
Materials: Identify materials and sources you will
use in meeting specific objectives. Consider both computer and
non-computer-based, as well as any synchronous or asynchronous interaction you
might have with humans.
Procedures: Briefly describe 3 or more types of procedures you will use, e.g., dictation, oral summaries, etc.
Evaluation: Describe how you will evaluate your
progress (journal, word list, etc.).
Schedule: Summarize the time and materials portions in a table or calendar for your one month course.
One lesson
Part II.
Over the next half year, what are your language learning objectives? Specifically, what do you want to be able to do that you can't do well now, and what do you want to learn that you don't know now? About how much time per week are you willing to devote to meeting these objectives? What materials do you plan to use? Summarize the answers to these questions. Note that this does not require the detail of Part I.
Objective(s): processing practice, listening comprehension practice, learn new vocabulary.
Materials: EnglishBaby (e.g., Eavesdropping: http://www.englishbaby.com/lessons/5331/eavesdropping/win_someone_over)
Procedure:
1. Go to Eavesdropping. After previewing the material, listen to the dialog once with the captions and read along with it.
2. Start the recording again and pause immediately using the space bar. Then slide the window down to hide the captions
3. Hit the spacebar again and listen to a short chunk of the material (the amount varies with your level--it doesn't have to be a whole sentence). Pause by using the space bar
4. Try to dictate what you just heard as accurately as possible.
5. Try the same with the next chunk. Keep going this way for at least 20-30 seconds (or even the whole dialogue)
6. Check your answers against the transcript
7. Answer the comprehension questions (you can also do this after the first listening in (1))
8. Look at the underlined vocabulary items. Try to guess their meaning.
9. Check your answers with the glossary. Write down the ones you don't know.
10. Make a list of the new words/phrases that you think are worth remembering, along with their definitions, in whatever form you use for learning and reviewing.