syllabus design rationale

Upload: aarikapinkfloyd

Post on 06-Apr-2018

215 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 8/2/2019 Syllabus Design Rationale

    1/8

    Syllabus Design: The Chilean Context8th Grade Level: 3rd Quarter

    Textbook: Travelers 8

    Unit 3: Different Lives

    Vanessa Armand & Aarika Floyd

    March 27, 2012

  • 8/2/2019 Syllabus Design Rationale

    2/8

    In keeping with our research of the Chilean EFL context and our knowledge of the

    Chilean Ministry of Education guidelines for all schools nationwide, this syllabus follows the

    mandated curriculum framework for the 8th grade level. This framework focuses on the

    language skills that students need in preparation for their English language studies at the 1

    Medio level (1st year high school). Goals for the 8th grade are a combination of learning

    abilities and the expected outcome for students at this level. These goals are in line with the

    Ministry guidelines, and as expressed in the nationally implemented textbook, Travelers 8. We

    created the following diagram for our selected unit with these overarching goals in mind to

    create our syllabus design.

  • 8/2/2019 Syllabus Design Rationale

    3/8

    The learning activities for our unit syllabus were selected based on Unit 3 of Travelers

    8, and were constructed in three ways: (1) as they appear in the textbook, (2) as adapted from

    the textbook, and (3) as created/adapted from realia collected to fit the theme of the lesson.

    This syllabus design aligns with the third quarter of the Chilean scholastic calendar (July

    30-October 5). We chose this quarter as the focus for our syllabus design because this quarter

    explicitly introduces students to foreign perspectives on universal issues and to the use of

    English as a tool for international communication. The quarter is ten weeks long, and includes

    one week for the national holiday celebration of the Fiestas Patrias including Da de las Glorias

    del Ejrcito (the Chilean government independence celebration and Armed Forces Day). For the

    purposes of this assignment, we integrated the fact that this current academic year also coincides

    as an Olympic year for the Summer Games. We believe this syllabus could be easily adapted to

    fit a non-Olympic season context, as the activities used are more largely focused on English

    language use in the study and presentation of student-chosen target countries.

    The unit for this quarter, as dictated in Travelers 8, is theme-based and comprised of five

    lessons: Experiences in a Foreign Country, International English, Jokes & Humor, Festivals

    around the World, and Study Habits. The nationwide curriculum framework utilizes this text and

    during the creation of this syllabus, we did not allow it specifically to dictate all the content we

    featured during this unit. The textbook was also needed to correlate with the cooperating

    Chilean schools content so the pen-pal activity email discussions focused on the same content

    and language focuses between schools, as well as being a needs assessment strategy for students.

    Supporting our decision for textbook utilization with our own modification is this statement by

    Kathleen Graves (2000) stating, when you teach with [a textbook], you can make changes in

  • 8/2/2019 Syllabus Design Rationale

    4/8

    how you use it. The changes stem from your beliefs and understandings, your goals and

    objectives, your students needs, and the requirements of your context (p. 173).

    We decided to spread these lessons equally over the 10-week quarter, amounting to

    roughly two weeks per lesson. There is a slight shortening and overlapping of lessons four and

    five due to the weeklong school hiatus for Fiestas Patrias and for the final week of school, which

    functions as time for review, final assessment, and student feedback. Meeting only for an hour

    three days a week, we tried to create cohesion with the weekly design by having each day

    contain activities correlating with the day of the week. We have Manic Mondays that

    comprise of review the previous week material to refresh the students memories or introducing

    new grammar and language points. Many times these days utilize the textbook more than

    Wednesdays or Fridays. A majority of the Wednesdays throughout the unit take place in a

    computer lab. With this planned, students are able to meet the Ministry of Educations guideline

    of technology use for this content area. For Fridays, we planned seemingly fun activities for

    Fun Fridays so that students are able to practice and review content in a fun way or learning

    with other means than with the textbook or on a computer. These days allow the teachers to

    create their own applicable activities for a change of pace to student learning. The layout of this

    syllabus is by no means definitive, and we acknowledge that the pacing of lessons needs to be

    largely contingent on learner needs and grasp of the presented unit material.

    The attitudes featured in our goal diagram reflect the overarching attitudes by the

    Ministry and attitudes specifically for Unit 3. These attitudes are for learners to (1) learn about

    and respect life in other countries, and (2) learn about and reflect on the importance of English

    around the world and in their own lives. The overarching goals of the nationwide curriculum,

    and thus of this syllabus, are most easily identified in the Attitudes section of each unit in

  • 8/2/2019 Syllabus Design Rationale

    5/8

    Travelers 8 teacher manual. These attitudes encourage the learners to (1) appreciate the

    importance and value of different cultures, and (2) appreciate the importance of English as an

    effective means of communication (Teaching Guide, Jantus, p. 106). In addition to these

    maxims, the textbook also spells out precise learning objectives for the four skills, placing

    primary focus on the receptive skills, reading and listening. This is in keeping with the notion

    that input is paramount in the early stages of language acquisition, and the general belief in Chile

    that strong receptive skills will be of more use to students throughout their scholastic career than

    productive skills (Jantus, 2009). It is our belief, however, that productive language skills are just

    as, if not more so, important for communication in the international spherea major goal of the

    curriculum reformand thus, we have focused our supplemental materials primarily on writing

    and speaking.

    These supplemental materials highlight certain aspects present in the reform that we felt

    will be most relevant and applicable to students lives and continued use of English as an

    International Language. As previously stated, these aspects are knowledge of and sensitivity

    toward other cultures and the skills needed in order to communicate internationally. We have

    highlighted oral and written communication in discussing cultural differences, written expression

    of personal reflection and cultural sensitivity, and written and oral problem solving of

    communication breakdowns. We attempt to both implicitly and explicitly introduce learners to

    the types of experiences that students will encounter in using English as an international

    language. By weaving into the unit certain content and activity strands that we feel reflect these

    aspects, we aim to continuously recycle content in an entertaining manner, and provide just

    enough structure to help learners move towards autonomy and ownership of their English

    language learning. Ideally, this approach will aid students in the improvement of their

  • 8/2/2019 Syllabus Design Rationale

    6/8

    communicative competencies but also help them gain a multifaceted knowledge of various

    cultures (both inside and outside of Chile). These content and activity strands include various

    group projects focusing on a student-chosen country of interest, an online pen-pal activity, and a

    blog-style journal reflection that joins pen-pal communication, country-of-interest activities, and

    thematic and grammatical in-class work.

    For this units theme, Different Lives, we decided to implement with our usual student

    groupings called pods the idea of the classroom as a League of Nations. The pods are merely

    groups of four students who comprise their own nation. Each pod will choose from a provided

    list the English-speaking country of their choice. The countries on the list are not homogenously

    English, but countries in which English is spoken generally as well as a countrys native

    language, for example, Germany. Throughout the unit, students work with other members of

    their pod countries to complete projects and assignments together as a means for interaction and

    negotiation of meaning.

    The structure of the syllabus can be viewed as a combination of cycle and matrix

    organizational methods. Graves (2000) categorizes this blend as the following:

    Within a unit, there is predictable sequence of learning activities (i.e. begin each

    unit with same activity and end with second same activity, obviously addressing

    different content with each unit, but with matrix activities (or individual activitiesthat are chosen to fit specific content) in the middle (p.141).

    Each day, classes begin with an oral introduction of daily activities; they end with time allotted

    to a listening/speaking activity that focuses on student feedback, and with question & answer

    time, (not added into syllabus grid since it is utilized in every class). This organizational

    syllabus includes specific language skills that are the target for the lesson or activity. Although

    different skills are targeted for each task, more than one language skill is actually used per task.

  • 8/2/2019 Syllabus Design Rationale

    7/8

    For example, the primary focus of one task may be speaking for students, but listening is also a

    language skill used in the same task.

    Creating the syllabus design for this unit was a challenging task taking into account the

    nationally mandated textbook that is needed in order for nationwide assessment strategies in

    English to be properly useful to all English language learners throughout the country,

    (standardization of language proficiency content for all learners and levels). After researching

    our educational context, creating needs assessment tools for the learners in this context, and

    finally creating a syllabus for the 8th

    grade level, we feel properly aware and educated of the

    process in which to carry out our own curriculum design in the future if necessary. This syllabus

    design is unique to our specifically chosen context; however, the learned process in which to

    create a curriculum in any given context is definitely internalized for these two curriculum

    designers.

  • 8/2/2019 Syllabus Design Rationale

    8/8

    References

    Graves, Kathleen. (2000). Designing Language Courses. Heinle & Heinle.

    Jantus, L. (2009). Gua Didctica para el ProfesorTravelers: 8 . [Teaching Guide for the

    Teacher Travelers: 8 Basic] Santiago, Chile: Eds. Cal y Canto.

    Jantus, L. (2009). Travelers: 8 . Santiago, Chile: Eds. Cal y Canto.

    Appendix

    Attached Syllabus Design grid for 3rd Quarter 2012: English as a Foreign Language in Chile -

    Unit 3: Different Lives