A New Resolve for the New Term

Seeking a successful semester despite the economic downturn, 12 colleagues in the two PM General ESL Programs in San Marcos spent Saturday afternoon to learn about technology, discussed program-related issues, and set a personal goal for continuous improvement.

After being reminded of the need to base a decision to move a student to another level solely on a diagnostic assessment, the level 2 teachers in attendance voiced a concern that new students at this level seemed to be lower than before the advent of COMPASS ESL test. It was pointed out as a fact that a new student could possibly click and click with their eyes closed and get placed into level 2. Thus, it's necessary to re-assess such students in class and recommend moving the misplaced ones down, if necessary. Sharon expressed another view that perhaps we teachers need to adjust our idea of what constitutes level 2 now.

The teachers of credit students were reminded of the following key dates:

• 2/1: the last day to drop no-shows as well as the deadline date to add
  
• 2/2: credit census date, which is also the last day to qualify for a refund
• 3/13: deadline for the new "J. & J. ESL Educational Scholarship."

Angela gave a passionate talk on getting a peer mentor program going for the two PM programs. After hearing the many advantages of such a program, many colleagues appeared to want to give it a try. Angela will provide the necessary materials next.

Grace showed the colleagues how to use the software programs in the ESL lab, such as Pronunciation Power and SynchronEyes.

Lee showed how easy it is to record voice using Audacity.

Kevin talked about his technology-learning experience during the winter break. He succeeded in digitizing old audio and video files with the help of the good folks at Language Acquisition Resource Lab at SDSU. He shared his insight into being an effective teacher after experiencing frustration at a tech institute during the break. He also showed the audience the lab manual that he had put together years before, which is available online and can still be very useful.

Sharon demonstrated some differences between Word 03 and Word 07 and the way for us to put the functions that we have used frequently in old version to the Quick Access Tool Bar of the new version.

The participants then visited a webpage called "40 helpful hints & tips for making your ESL teaching easier and more fun!" Though geared more towards adult ed teachers, this material contains quite a few strategies for engaging our students. For example, Carole liked tip #39--"S" on a stick--a lot. Inspired by these tips and determined to be better teachers, all participants wrote down one concrete goal for this semester, put it in a sealed envelope, and turned it to the program coordinator to keep until the end of the semester. Just like last semester, when the envelopes are returned to their self-addressees, they will serve as a tangible measure to see if the personal goal has been achieved and the effectiveness of the teacher improved.

Demonstrating how easy it is to use Excel 07 to randomly draw a number from a given range, Lee presented a limited edition of Azar's Basic Grammar to the lucky winner, Katrina.

Three hours of this special PD activity went by quickly. At the end of the gathering, all felt good about themselves, confident that they will once again have a very fruitful semester.