Blogs & Wikis for Class?

Last week I was handed an intensive 3-week writing course that will begin in December. Forty students meeting three times a week adds up to a lot of writing to review. In search of an online alternative, I spent the afternoon searching for a way that students can post their homework to a blog or wiki, revise it as the course proceeds, and view and comment on their classmates' work.

wikispaces.com may be a solution but I'm a bit concerned that it involves too much tech and tech English for my students. I don't want to have to spend a week training them how to navigate a site just to be able to turn in their homework -- especially since we don't have computers in the classroom. Of course, emailing it is one solution and we've used it successfully in the past, but I like the idea of them being able to see their progress, work together with their classmates and show off their work to others by sending them a link.

Any suggestions? Anyone know of any sites out there that might work? And students -- do you think this would work or is it too complicated? Would you like to do assignments online?

Typing IPA symbols in Word 2007

fə'netɪks

Since switching from Word 2003 to 2007, I've been trying to find a simpler way to type IPA symbols than Alt-N-U-M and then searching through all the symbols. Uniqoder worked fine in 2003, but I couldn't figure out how to get it to work in 2007. There's an online editor where you can type and then copy & paste, but I was looking for something to use offline.

After a bit of searching, I found several options in this document on the website of Professor John Wells at University College London. I've opted for the AutoCorrect method. It took a while to set up, but I think it will be the easiest to use. I set up some easy-to-remember shortcuts for common IPA symbols (\sw\ for ə, \ch\ for ʧ and \sh\ for ʃ -- not exact, I know, but easy for me to remember). For the more esoteric symbols, like ʊə, I used example words (\tour\). It may take a while to get them down, but at least I'll always have an example word ready when I need one in class.

Since the CELTA course I've become more comfortable using IPA and this should help me get them into my printed lesson plans.

I Love Fan Mail

Here's something, lightly edited, from my inbox today:

Hi Mr. David,
im one of ur student keen on every single post on Facebook as well blogspot. as u know, [it's helpful that you] spend time on blog or give useful english techniques to students, u r the respected teacher i have known

 One of my past professors, Dr. Wendell Price, said he used to keep a file of encouraging letters he received and read them after a bad day. Maybe I should start collecting them.

John Howard

I'd be surprised if he's still alive - he'd be in his 90's. Though it's not unusual for someone to live that long, the "old Sea Daddy," as he sometimes called himself, was a former Marine who was among the first to enter radioactive Hiroshima at the end of WW II. He was also my high school science teacher.

Specifically, Mr. Howard taught me chemistry when I was in 11th grade and physics in 12th. Somehow knew how to get the most out of his students and, after nearly failing me in chemistry with a D in the first quarter, my marks gradually rose to a C, a B, and then a 92 on the final exam and an A for the last quarter.

Then came physics and another rough start. Once we got beyond vectors, it began to make sense. One of the most helpful things Mr. Howard did was to teach us one basic formula and then show us the steps to get from there to the other formulas we would need. With a few simple steps, we could get from an easy-to-remember formula to a more complicated one. It was so much easier, and made much more sense, than simply memorizing a one formula after another.

I thought about Mr. Howard when I was lesson planning for my reading class this morning. The units we teach are incredibly difficult for second-language learners - next week is a 2007 article from The Economist about the West's unfavorable response to the Hamas-Fatah coalition government in Palestine. My students frequently come across words and expressions that they may never see again, like "poster child" and "self-defeating machismo." Still more important from their point of view, is that they will likely be handed a final exam with words and concepts they never saw in class.

So, instead of just teaching them concepts and vocabulary from each unit, I've been trying to teach them how to look at a brand-new article and work, step-by-step, toward an accurate understanding of the most important parts. My goal has been to help them apply simple steps to reach a complicated goal.

The translation of this blog's header is "like teacher, like student." The old Sea Daddy apparently rubbed off on me. I don't know if he knew the concept of "teach others so they can teach others also" but I'm reminded again of how important it is in so many ways.

VTF is back!

Most of you know that Nancy and I were team leaders for ELIC's Vietnam Teaching Fellowship (VTF) from July 2007 till we had to go back to the USA for Nancy's cancer treatment. Last year there was no VTF team but the program is back in business for the 2010-2011 school year. This year's team of 3 teachers is led by a China Teaching Fellowship alum and the four of them will be teaching a few km west of here at Lomonoxop High School where our VTF team was supposed to be placed back in 2007.

VTF is a great program for those who have recently graduated college and are thinking about serving overseas. It gives them a chance to get their feet wet and see whether it's a long-term calling. In the three short years of the VTF program, sixteen teachers have participated. Of those, four are back teaching with ELIC in Vietnam, one has left ELIC but is beginning her fifth year in Vietnam, and one has been teaching in Laos since she left VTF. Six out of sixteen is a pretty good ratio!

We're pretty happy that the program is back. Our role this year is to be "on call" for the new leader as she breaks into her first year as a team leader. I guess we're still in the mentoring business and that's a good thing.

Fall Schedule

As the sun sinks slowly into the western sky, a second week of teaching comes to a close. I've been given two reading classes and two listening classes, all 4th year students. Half of the students have had me before so I'm hoping that will lead to some good connections. I'm trying to get all their names memorized and that's a pretty big task when you have a class with four people named Ha, three named Trang, two named Mai and two with exactly the same name (first, middle and last). Fewer names to memorize, I guess, but then you have to learn who's who. Fortunately, like people the world over, they tend to choose one place to sit and sit there every class.

The classes have been enjoyable and they seem to be tracking with the material so far - even the minority students who have had much less English and really struggle with the advanced coursebook.

That's the quick version of the teaching update.

Hello USA!

This afternoon I was one of four judges for the "Hello USA" competition at school. Three teams, representing the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, the Center for American Studies at Hanoi University and the University of Social Science and Humanities, competed in games that tested their knowledge of American history and culture. Hanoi University won. They were quite impressive. We were a distant second. The photo below is some of the students setting up the rehearsal (Both photos were taken from one of my student's Facebook album - the guy sitting at the computer.).

Christmas 2009

For the first time, Christmas in Vietnam seemed as hectic as Christmas in the United States. Many people in Hanoi have begun to celebrate Christmas as a time to have a party. Unfortunately, most don't seem to "get it" any more than I understand the reason for having a party on St. Patrick's Day.

Two "Vietnam: Christmas traditions have developed for Nancy and me. One is making Christmas cookies with students. It's incredible how artistic they can be.

The other, which dates back to the 2007 VTF team, is helping to wrap and deliver presents for the preschools sponsored by CAMA Services. (The kids memorize lines from the Christmas story and put on a little play.) It wouldn't feel like Christmas in Vietnam without it.

 

(L to R) Innkeeper, Mary, Joseph

Shepherds and Angels

Magi

Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor

Part of the curriculum for my reading classes is the US Declaration of Independence. The document ends with the signers fully committing themselves to the cause. Last week I told the students to write an essay explaining what they are committed to. I thought I'd share with you one of the more articulate answers I received.

If you read the Declaration carefully, you will not forget the last sentence, "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." In this occasion of 1776, 56 signers of the Declaration committed to devote their lives, their fortunes and their honor to fight for their country's independence. At this time, if asked to give my life, my fortune and my sacred honor, I would give them to my family - the closest and meaningful thing to me. If there were no family, I would not be in the world. In addition, my family has given me everything, from materials to spirit. It is always my support when happy or sad. As regard with 56 signers of the Declaration, fighting for their country, emancipation it from the oppression of Britain is getting freedom for their family and themselves. I was born when our country was independent, as for me, at this time, my family is the most important and most sacred thing in my life. What I give to my family is to repay what my family has been giving for me. When I contribute my life, my fortune and my honor to build my family, I make contribution of my life, my fortune and my honor to my country as well, because the prosperity of each country is built by one of each family. It is also the way I seek to my own independence and happiness. Because, when you know what you would give your life, fortune and honor to and know about give and take, you are really grow up and it is time you achieve your own independence.

Routine at Last?

Life seems to have settled into a rhythm, but change may be in the air. It's possible that my two "English Enhancement" classes will be switched out for regular undergraduate classes. Most of the Enhancement students have excellent English already and are earning their livings as interpreters. They graduated years ago and are taking this course to improve their interpreting skills. The Enhancement class is a small component of it. Unfortunately, because they have good language skills already, there's not much to teach them and they often are unwilling to do any of the exercises in class. A few are downright argumentative. (Please don't try to tell me "gauge" can also be pronounced "gawge.") If my schedule gets changed, I will not be sorry to see them go.

On the positive side are my 4th year reading classes. While some of the students are new to me, I've taught most of them in one or two other courses over the last two years. It's nice for them because they know what to expect from me and for me because I know what I can expect from them.

The Supper Club is back in business and each Tuesday night Nancy and I have dinner with five students we've known for a while. Dinner's usually followed by Jenga, Uno or Taboo. It's our turn to cook next week - an expensive proposition when you're making western food for seven people, but worth it for the friendships.

Nancy still tires easily, but is able to do more than she could a month ago. She's started tutoring one student from last year, a friend, and a woman who's trying to pass the exam to get into the DAV faculty. This morning she went out to Ciputra where a friend, Peggy, invited a group of women to officially celebrate Nancy's return to VN and to hear her story firsthand. (It's 5 PM and she's still gone, so she must be having a good time -- of course, Kirsten's in town too.)

I know I should put some photos on this blog, but picture taking hasn't become part of my routine yet.

First Class of the Fall Semester

A couple people clapped when I walked into the room, which I took as a good sign. Most of the thirty-five students in this morning's reading class are from the 33B class I taught last fall. Two are from 33G, the minority class I taught last year, and a couple others are from 33I, who had me for writing a couple years ago. I told them I wasn't sure whether they would be happy or sad to see me back. (Assuring them they will have less homework this time probably helped a little.) We got started with an article from the Japan Times and got further with it than I expected.

During the first class of the day, I observed a new ELI teacher who is practice teaching at the DAV as part of her training. She's an elementary teacher from Tennessee and did a great job transferring her skills to EFL. She and her husband leave Sunday to teach in Pakse, Laos. In fact, most of the new teachers this year (7 of 11) are headed to Laos. Only three will stay in Vietnam. We could use more - the DAV, where I teach, is down from five ELI teachers two years ago to three.

On the home front, I just got back from taking Nancy to the doctor. She's been having flu-like symptoms since Friday and we wanted to rule out H1N1. It's been ruled out. This early reminder that her immune system is not what it used to be turned out to be a bacterial infection. They gave her antibiotics and she should be back to normal soon.

Unpacking

I'm a step ahead of my nephew - he's moving into a new house in SC, while I only have to move back into our home in Hanoi. We arrived late Sunday night (VN time) on the 9th and have pretty much finished unpacking what we brought. Now we just need to remember where we stored the things we left! It's been a nice homecoming, with neighbors, friends and colleagues all happy to see us back. My Vietnamese is rusty, but could be worse (I need to slow down and pay more attention to my pronunciation).

Since Monday, I've been to two meetings at the school, received the schedule for one of my classes, transcribed two audio texts for a colleague, turned down a request to help with an exam for interpreters, met our new teammates, and done a load of laundry. I still need to buy some garlic and fish sauce so we can cook at home. It's hot, but nice to be back.

Teaching-wise, it looks like I'll have three classes with the English department and two with the interpreter training section. Things are changing a lot at the school this year, so there are still a lot of things up in the air. The tutoring at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to have faded away during the spring, so I don't think I'll be doing that any more. My classes start Monday and it looks like they may need me to be a mentor teacher for the new teachers' practicum, but I won't know that till the end of the week.

I'd try finishing this post off more stylishly, but it's 3:30 PM and jet lag's starting to kick in.

The Next Step

Yesterday I booked our tickets to return to Hanoi on August 8. For $2100, we received two one-way tickets and a mixed bag of emotions. You would think that lots of goodbyes would be offset by lots of hellos, but it's always a tough transition. Side by side with the excitement of seeing old friends, returning to work, and getting back in time for the fall semester (just like so many of us have prayed), is the realization that we've been spoiled by so much time with friends and family in this country. It will be hard to say, "See you next time."

And then, there's the 32-hour trip itself, the nagging thought that something might go wrong to complicate things or delay us again, and the knowledge that we'll have a lot of readjusting to do after being away for six months. But, all in all, we're very glad to have a date set to return to what we've been called to.

Nancy will finish her radiation therapy around July 23. We'll have a couple of weeks to rest up, pack up, and hang out with the kids and grandkids before arriving in Hanoi a couple weeks before our first official responsibilities. That will give us time to get over jet lag and meet new teammates. I might even be able to get my teaching schedule early! It will be good to be back.

Radiation Therapy Begins

Florida Hospital Altamonte

Well, we've made it. On June 6, we arrived in Orlando just in time for movie night at Hannah & Phillip's house with the New Wave group. Three days later we had one of the best doctor visits we've had since January. Not only did the conversation not begin with bad news or a complication, Nancy was able to be scheduled for "mapping" on the next day and her six weeks of radiation therapy is scheduled to begin on Thursday, June 11.

Our target date for starting radiation was June 15, so this puts us a few days ahead. That, and the fact that Nancy will have six weeks of treatment rather than six and a half or seven, means she will have two and a half weeks of rest after the treatment before we start traveling back to Vietnam.

Many people have been praying that we will be able to be back in Hanoi in time for the fall semester. It looks like that's going to be possible now!

McCain at DAV

While I've been back in the US, my students have been hobnobbing with senators. Here's a picture of John McCain arriving at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and greeting the Director General of the Academy. The stop at DAV was part of the recent Asia tour taken by Senators McCain (R-AZ), Klobuchar (D-MN) and Graham (R-SC).

A Cool Password Program

Since I don't have much teaching news to post these days, I thought I'd let you know about a password vault program I've found. It's called KeePass. It keeps all your passwords in a secure file so you don't have to try to remember all of them - or have just one password you keep using over and over again. It has some nice features. From what I've seen in reviews, it's quite secure.

On the cancer front, Nancy had her first of four doses on chemo. It's been really rough on her but they say she should start getting her strength back in a few days. You probably already know about her Caring Bridge blog, but I'll add the link here anyway.

It looks like I may do a little tutoring this spring after all. We've attended a Vietnamese Alliance Church a couple of times here in Greenville. They have been great and have prayed regularly for Nancy. We've made a friend there who wants to work on his English and I've got to give him a call this week to set something up. He wants to help me with my Vietnamese, but he's from Dalat and uses a different accent than I'm used to. It's been a lot of work to try to understand, but I'm grateful for the chance to practice.

End of the Semester

My third year classes ended last week. Now I'm busier than ever! Some of it is end-of-the-semester work, like reading through the students' evaluations of the VTF teachers, but the main part of my workload these days is a special short-term class.

In October, the school asked for a foreign teacher to conduct a 4-week phonetics/pronunciation class in December. It eventually was trimmed down to 3 weeks. The seven students are in their mid-to-late 20's. Three are teachers; two have very good English, five have excellent English (including the one who earned her masters in Phonology in Australia). It's somewhat intimidating teaching students who could probably teach the course themselves. They've been chosen to attend the European Union's interpreter training program in Brussels, Belgium. My job is to help them brush up on their skills before they leave.

We meet 3 hours each morning, five days a week. That means I finish class and head straight home to get my VTF work done and then prep for the next day's class. I've not been able to prep too far in advance yet because I'm trying to tailor the content to their specific needs. That's meant a lot of careful listening this week.

A typical class for the first week:

• Breaking into their Vietnamese conversation about the woes of applying for visas and asking them to switch to English. Once they do, I let them continue for about 15 minutes while I listen and jot down problem words and sounds. Then we work on them. (Anyone got any advice on how to explain how to get the middle /r/ sound in "world" and "word"?)
• Catch Phrase! (Thanks, Jim & Nancy K.!) It helps them work on their vocabulary, synonyms, and think under pressure. They love it. The teachers want to know where they can get one for their classes. (Taboo is next week. Thanks, Bob & Judy!)
• Recording. One of the benefits of a small class is that I've been able to bring my computer and record them as they translate each others presentations. They've been able to listen to themselves and begin to compile their own list of specific problem words.
• The book. We have a book and cassette tapes that cover intonation (from a British point of view). It's not that helpful, but I try to use it a little every day or two because the boss gave it to me.

Today we also did a Jazz Chant. (Not "Pete Eats Meat." This time it was "Banker's Wife's Blues.") They seemed to like it and, weird as it seems, it really does help refine their speaking.

This afternoon has been my time to relax since I don't have any VTF responsibilities and I'm off till Monday. Tomorrow I'll start working on that. It's been a busy week, but I love small classes and I like teaching adults. It's been good.

In an hour, five of them are coming to the house to help Nancy make Christmas cookies. Time to finish getting things ready.

Apples

After the break today, the class monitor asked me if she could have 5 minutes. I wasn't sure for what, but I said OK and sat down. She seemed nervous.

Going back to her desk, she pulled out a big bag of apples and walked to the front of the class. "Today is a very special day for me," she announced.

It was her birthday. "I am 20 years old. I have already seen many people die from diseases so I'm very happy I've reached this day and I want to share it with you. In English they say, 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away,' so I want to give each of you an apple and wish you good health forever."

All Things Work Together For Good...

The end of the week turned out nothing like we thought at the beginning. Instead of typing this in Hanoi, I should be with the rest of the VTF team about 350 km south of here. They're visiting a group of long-term teachers to see what their lives are like and whether they might feel called to sticking around longer themselves.

Just after noon on Thursday, we arrived at the Hanoi train station, climbed aboard and settled into our seats. And I felt this sharp pain in my chest. And then again. Nancy was looking panicky. I wasn't sure what to do myself. But heart disease has been around my family so we decided that I needed to get off the train and see a doctor. Nancy would have to stay and accompany the VTF teachers.

Off I went to the doctor just to get an EKG which came back normal. It was one of those feel-stupid-if-you-do-go-to-the-doctor (because it was nothing) or feel-stupid-if-you-don't (and end up dying on a train cruising through the rice paddies of Thanh Hoa). But I was/am fine.

Turns out it was good that I stayed behind for another reason. The English club had a big event Saturday morning (which I found out about Thursday afternoon when I should have been on the train). Since I was in Hanoi, I was able to be there to represent our teachers.

Plus, I discovered that there was a major miscommunication about our junior reading classes. We weren't told that we're supposed to be teaching them reading and summary writing for their final exam five weeks from now. I spent part of the afternoon getting a skeletal lesson plan together for the VTF teachers so they don't have to start from scratch when they get back Sunday night.

So, as Shakespeare would say, "All's well that ends well." As King James would say, "All things work together for good..."

New Relationships & New Schedules

Tonight I met with a young man and his friend who want me to help them with their English. The guy's dad is the guard who works near our house. A while back he asked if I'd be willing to tutor them and we were finally able to meet tonight. The plan is to begin this weekend and trade one hour of English for one hour of Vietnamese. Maybe this is the start of some new friendships.

Until this afternoon, my boss at the Diplomatic Academy thought I was still in the US. I've been doing some work for the department via email over the summer so it's not that I've been hiding out these last ten days - the subject just never came up. But the new textbook for the juniors needs a few finishing touches before it goes to the printer, so tomorrow I'll head over to the campus to see if I can help with that. The fall teaching schedules are ready too.

It's been nice to be back early enough this year to get some things in place before training ends.