Curriculum
Our school intends to elaborate an effective, integrated and customized language course design for travelers in Cusco, Peru. This course design will encompass an insightful needs analysis, pertinent goals and outcomes as well as an efficient assessment plan among other elements. This intensive course will run for a few weeks. As travelers do not stay for a long period of time in Cusco, they generally take many hours of classes per day. Therefore, this intensive course covers four hours of daily classes from Monday to Friday, eighty hours total for the 4-week program. However, there will be an option for students to attend only the first two weeks of class if desired.
Foreseeing the context where the language will be used can greatly enhance our teaching and learning process. Teaching languages not only allows students to learn about other societies and cultures but prepares them to immerse themselves in the context where they will direct their purposes of learning. The social context where this course will be taught is a constellation of rich historical heritage, social events such as festivals and friendly opportunities for the students to practice Spanish. Cusco is a unique city. Almost everyone who comes to the city is captivated by its history, its cobblestone streets that were originally constructed by the Incas and the brightly colorful local markets among other attractions. This setting allows the students to practice the new-found knowledge of Spanish they learn in class. According to the Council of Europe (2001), within each context of social life there are generally four different domains classified for language learning and teaching purposes: public domain, personal domain, educational domain and occupational domain (p. 10). It would be valuable to recognize these domains in order to allocate and direct the focus of the purpose when teaching or learning a language. In addition, domains are not juxtaposed, but might overlap and function as an organic mechanism within a sociocultural environment. As travelers, our students will be using the target language mostly in a public domain.
Moreover, within this context, this 4-week course will be supported by incorporating extra-curricular activities. During the course the students will be immersed in the vivid culture of Cusco. After the daily hours of class in the morning, students would use their afternoon to participate in cultural activities. Iglesias (2016) suggested that extra-curricular activities could be a strong ingredient to complement the Study Abroad program. Activities such as sports, visiting tourist attractions, excursions as well as volunteer work that are embedded in the project-based course program could encompass and reinforce the learning acquisition (p. 247). Some of the activities organized in the afternoon would include a Pisco Sour tasting afternoon, Peruvian cuisine lessons once a week, Bachata dancing lessons and visiting the local areas in the outskirts of the city.
The teaching approach of our courses is Communicative Language Learning, which fosters active participation of students in class, autonomy and strategy involvement as well as focus on real context (Brown & Lee, 2015, pp 88-95). Learning and teaching is a constantly developing activity. Moreover, teaching languages provides a more unique, amazing and interesting perplexity to the learning process by involving human aspects. Throughout her textbook Ortega (2009) addresses important fields to take into consideration such as age, cognition, motivation, environment, linguistic transfer and affection. Learning through a variety of engaging activities and techniques creates a positive impact on the process of learning a second language.
As some students might come for a short period of time, such as a week, and would like to refresh what they have already learned, a way to compromise among all the students would be a combination of backward and central design (Richards, 2013, p. 13-20). While in the backward design the teacher will have goals based on what the students will achieve, when new students jump in the class and there is no time for Needs Analysis, the teacher will improvise different activities, techniques and methods in class and from there, reshape the curriculum design (central design).
All in all, language learning entails different components to take into consideration such as context, willingness of the learner, a clear purpose to achieve and the right assessment, among other elements. Our course design aims to support and enhance all the components for the success of the student when learning a language while traveling.
Foreseeing the context where the language will be used can greatly enhance our teaching and learning process. Teaching languages not only allows students to learn about other societies and cultures but prepares them to immerse themselves in the context where they will direct their purposes of learning. The social context where this course will be taught is a constellation of rich historical heritage, social events such as festivals and friendly opportunities for the students to practice Spanish. Cusco is a unique city. Almost everyone who comes to the city is captivated by its history, its cobblestone streets that were originally constructed by the Incas and the brightly colorful local markets among other attractions. This setting allows the students to practice the new-found knowledge of Spanish they learn in class. According to the Council of Europe (2001), within each context of social life there are generally four different domains classified for language learning and teaching purposes: public domain, personal domain, educational domain and occupational domain (p. 10). It would be valuable to recognize these domains in order to allocate and direct the focus of the purpose when teaching or learning a language. In addition, domains are not juxtaposed, but might overlap and function as an organic mechanism within a sociocultural environment. As travelers, our students will be using the target language mostly in a public domain.
Needs Analysis
This Needs Analysis (NA) section consists of assessing the student’s expectations and needs to be able to elaborate a consistent and pertinent course. Here we must consider that coming into a new culture may not only bring excitement, but could also bring doubts about the new environment, the school, the location and some inaccurate preconceived ideas. Addressing these points prior to their arrival will bring clarification to the student’s concerns and preconceptions about Peruvian culture. Collecting information about the students’ backgrounds in Spanish will be essential to start drafting relevant documents such as Goals, Student Learning Outcomes, defining content of the course and the Scope and Sequence. As Graves (2000) states, gathering this information in the pre-stage of the course may help inform decisions about the scope and content of the course, as well as the goals and activities in class. In this way, it will be feasible to recognize areas of strength and weaknesses in the current students’ knowledge. By gathering this information, teachers will be able to address the students’ needs and be responsive from the first day of class (p. 110). The NA consists of questionnaires prior to arrival. These questionnaires play an important role in establishing the previous experience of the students as well as their future goals. It will give us a visual scenario so we can then suggest specific activities to promote the students’ self-learning and agency (Brown & Lee, 2015). Some students explicitly request to learn certain grammar topics which differ from other students. To have a consensus, we will send a grammar quiz to those students who requested to find grammar points in common that are necessary for the teacher to address in class for those students. In this way, the teacher will be able to gather relevant information prior to the first day of class. Gathering relevant information will help make the content effective for the class and enhance the building of trust between the students and the teacher (Graves, 2000, p. 106). We will conduct a group interview on the first day of class in English and Spanish. This will be an open door to establish a personal relationship between the teacher and the students. During the interview, the teacher will also observe the students’ motivation as well as informally assess their proficiency level when they talk in Spanish.
The teacher will assess the students in three major stages:
A. Prior to starting the course
B. First day of class
C. During the course
This NA document will only cover assessments A and B. Part C will be included in the Assessment Plan section, as this area needs further elaboration and different components.
Goals and Student Learning Outcomes
In our course, it is of great importance that the SLOs are grounded in communication between the traveler and the locals, especially if the students are participating in a home-stay program (e.g., students may need to send a text if they are arriving home late, if they won’t be on time for dinner, or if there is a delay in their arrival after a weekend journey). Adding to this, travelers always need to fill out forms of basic information on customs, clinics and police stations when accidents emerge. The SLOs might also refer to topics such as the weather, family, studies, jobs and hobbies. Although students with limited fluency might have some small errors while speaking, they will still be understood by native speakers who have experience speaking with foreigners. The SLOs might also have the students convey short messages related to important travel topics, such as booking a hotel with specific needs, ordering food in restaurants and having specific dietary needs and health issues, and changing a flight date on the phone. Students will also be immersed in the culture of the target language. For example, understanding the newspapers or magazines through visual input would be an integrative way to connect with locals and help them be aware of their social environment. Understanding the signs in public areas (restrooms, museums, restaurants, bus terminals among others) would help them avoid trouble and embarrassing moments. SLOs might also review the use of idioms and the understanding of phrases that imply different meanings in the speech of locals. If students are not familiar with this topic, the experience could bring different misunderstandings in the specific nuances of cultural expression, such as idioms and expressions.
Each student is different in age, native linguistic background, language learning experience as well as in motivation, among other traits. Therefore, after collecting information through our Needs Analysis process, we will design a specific curriculum with a specific goal and student learning outcomes (SLOs). As Graves (2000) states, establishing a goal before class helps to elaborate a path and have a clear vision and focus to what we want to achieve in this course and its length of period. This goal might present a general statement but it does not mean it is vague, on the contrary this goal will address what is needed for the students. The class will be explicitly devoted to that goal. In parallel, the SLOs are specific statements that will lead us to reach a goal in class (pp. 75,76). As a metaphor, a goal for a marathon would be to finish a 42 km race in four hours. Consequently, the outcomes (“SLOs’) would be to train for sixteen weeks in which every Sunday long runs must be taking place and progressively increasing, ten sessions of intervals in high speed in the last two sessions, eating healthy and hydrating during the training. These outcomes will lead us to reach the goal. To guarantee the success of the goal in our course, the SLOs must be assessed.
After collecting information through our Needs Analysis process, we will design a specific curriculum with a specific goal and student learning outcomes
Scope Sequence Chart
According to Graves (2000), the sequence is the order in which the units will be taught and is subject to change according to what the context might allow (p. 135). Generally, our courses are designed with four units of twenty hours each. One unit lasts one week. The first unit is meant to introduce the students in class to each other and to their new context. In this unit, the topics are related to work, short-term plans and long-term plans. This week will be the transitionary week for students. As for the second unit, students will start getting used to their surroundings and be introduced to topics related to the city, weather, routine and places. Some cultural components will also be added, such as food and archeological sites. In the course design, a blog will be integrated in the last two units. In the third unit, there will be a strong component related to festivals in Latin America, especially in Cusco where every month there are at least four events related to festivals in or around the city. As for the fourth unit, there is a small portion of main events in the city as well as traditions of Peru related to history, art and Cusco’s people’s activities on the weekends. As students will be making new friends and establishing relationships, we consider it important to add a topic that is related to social activities.
The following table shows us a sample of a Scope and Sequence chart we customized for our students.
Scope and sequence for Sally (each unit encompasses 30 hours)
Assignments to promote self-learning
Creating an environment with sufficient exposure to language in class will prepare learners for real situations. Therefore, engaging assignments are conducted with the principle of promoting self-learning as well as being immersed in the culture of Cusco. This will activate the affective and cognitive section in each learner who is in Cusco.
Materials & Books
During class, games and materials have an Intentional Content trait after the teacher determined what materials students should explore as well as what proficiency skills students learn and apply in class. Through these games and materials, teachers will be able to use alternate methods and strategies for different proficiency skills and target specific scales in Blooms’ Taxonomy. These games and materials can also be used in a lower level class with the support of the L1 (first language).
“…anything that can be used to facilitate the learning of a language, including course books, videos, graded readers, flash cards, games, websites and mobile phone interactions, though, inevitably, much of the literature focuses on printed materials” (Tomlinson, 2012)
Taken from: https://www.guiainfantil.com/blog/educacion/valores/los-valores-que-mafalda-ensena-a-los-ninos/
Using Authentic materials:
Galloway (1998) defines authentic texts as “those written and oral communications produced by the members of a language and culture group for member of the same language and culture group” as cited in Shrum & Glisan (2010, p. 85).
Many empirical studies have confirmed positive results increased by listeners and readers who are given opportunities to interact with authentic oral or written text. For instance, students who often listen to authentic oral sections in radio broadcast, television, or other medias, demonstrate significantly better listening comprehension than do students who do not interact or use authentic materials’ segments (Bacon, 1992b; Herron and Seay, 1991 as cited in Shrum & Glisan 2010). Adding to this, using literature in a content-based class will enable students to find a natural way to acquire a second language. During class students will feel encouraged by using literature because literature as an authentic material which will promote in students the reflection of their own personal experience, opinions and feelings, as well as keep them actively involved (Lazar, 1993).
In regards to using music in class, we believe that any song denotes a cultural feature as well as an individual display of emotion. Having said this, using song lyrics may allow learners to approach the culture in a very kind manner. Through the lyrics of one song it is possible to offer inductive grammar tasks as well as syntactic forms.
Moreover, several studies have shown that students who were exposed to authentic materials have been successfully improved in learning languages (Maxim, 2002 as cited in Shrum & Glisan, 2010). Therefore the benefits of using, reusing, exploring, reading, and listening to authentic materials can also help learners to understand pragmatics, idioms, and is an open door to immersion in the culture of the target language.
Therefore, for lesson plans, materials, and activities,our course design is based around authentic materials as suggested byMaley & Tomlinson (2017). These materials are related to typical travelers’social activities. Iglesias (2016) mentioned that specific situations content when traveling plays an important role when teaching languages to travelers.
Therefore, the materials in class will promote a great deal of active and communicative participation to prepare students for interaction with locals. For example, using authentic videos will introduce students to how those events are in the real socio-activity of Cusco. In our classes we use newspapers as a visual material to promote learning patterns of grammar.
Adapting some textbook exercises is very important for our classes as textbooks are often the starting point for creating personalized materials. All the materials we have selected encourage authentic participation from the students using posters, flyers and video commercials. This allows us to engage the students in activities that will create a path for them to access the culture of the target language. Some of the activities, such as taboo games or icebreaker activities, are meant to not only promote interaction but also have fun in class. That being said, we consider using not only authentic materials but also incorporating authentic tasks, authentic learning and authentic teaching (Maley & Tomlinson, 2017). Within an authentic task in class, we propose a role-playing activity, which is meant to give the students real tasks using the target language, such as requesting information from travel agencies or using a blog (Task Based Learning). This will invite students to be a part of the environment inside and outside the class. As Guerretaz and Johnson (2013) state, it is important to perceive the relationships between the materials, the activities, the teacher and the actual students. We must therefore acknowledge that all of these elements create a symbiotic relationship which not only develops the ability of individual students but also amplifies the class as a whole. Additionally, each of these elements illuminate each other, forming a classroom ecology (p. 782).
Is a language book useful for the learner and the teacher?
Books
‘Is a language book useful for the learner and the teacher?
There are many current scholars who are critical and skeptical of using books as the basis of a language class. In an interview by Dr Hitomi Matsuhara (2018), Brian Tomlinson, founder of Material Development Association and very well-respected scholar in the language teaching community around the world, declares that the biggest and unresolved issue in materials development for teaching languages is the course book. There are some arguments that favor the course book for standardization purposes, since it saves time for the teacher and learner and brings security for the period of the class, as well as helps monitor the course. On the other hand, a course book might as well disempower students and teachers by taking the autonomy in class from the teacher. Moreover, a book might present situations in class that are far from the reality of the learners as well as from their needs. Furthermore, a global course book for languages (and its publisher) tries to cover a large market with the intention to please everybody. However, in the end, it does not please anybody (TESOLacademic 2018).
Nevertheless, through empirical evidence and investigation we are aware that some books can (partially) be adapted to one class in certain activities when it is required. Graves (2000) advocated that a course book can be used as a course tool depending on the level of the class, the goals and objective of the course (P. 175-177)
We work with a series of course books for teaching languages, however, our books adapt to the classroom in every situation where it might be necessary.