What's in and what's out for adult ESL in 2014?

Submitted by Miriam Burt on Thu, 12/26/2013 - 16:23
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Hi, all.

Here in DC, our local newspaper, The Washington Post, publishes a year-end list of what is in for the new year and what is out. Most of the items deal with social or popular culture or (this is Washington, you know) politics.  As the years go by I find myself knowing fewer and fewer of the popular references, but I still enjoy reading it.

In the spirit of that annual feature, I am suggesting below my list of in and out for 2014. I welcome  your thoughts on my selection, and your suggestions as well.

In and out for ESL:

OUT                                                      IN

1. Grammar-based instruction             1. Content-based-instruction

2. Never any grammar instruction        2. Form-focused instruction as appropriate

3. Multilevel instruction                         3. Differentiated Instruction

4. Survival English                                4. Thrive (al) English

5. English first, then content                  5. Integrating language and content instruction

6. Throwing learners in the deep end   6. Scaffolding, scaffolding, scaffolding    

7. Teaching nonsense words                7. Teaching real vocabulary

8. Objectives                                          8. Objectives, inputs, outputs, and outcomes

9. Target language only                         9. Use of native language if appropriate

10. Guessing words from context        10. Getting meaning from word analysis strategies, building background, pre-teaching vocabulary, and context

Thoughts, anyone? What do you see as In for 2014, and what is out? Wha t does it mean for us as educators of adults learning English.

I'd love to hear from you on this thread.

Best,

Miriam

 

Comments

That’s a good question, Terry.

I think the short answer is that one of these terms – multilevel - labels the situation and describes what is quite common, if not the norm: the fact that most classes include students at all levels of proficiency in a language or knowledge of the content of the class.

The other – differentiated instruction – describes what the instructor needs to do in the multilevel class and how she needs to do so in order to enable each student to learn what he or she needs and wants to learn: finding out what each student needs to learn, meeting these learning needs through a variety of group, pair, and individual activities, assessing the outcomes, re-teaching as needed, assessing again, and so on. Here’s what the teaching excellence in adult literacy (TEAL) project says on the topic, in part: “Differentiated instruction can be looked at as an instructor’s response to learner differences by adapting curriculum and instruction on six dimensions, including how the instructor approaches the (1) content (the what of the lesson), (2) process (the how of the lesson), and (3) expected product (the learner-produced result), and takes into consideration the learner’s (4) interest, (5) profile (learning strengths, weaknesses, and gaps), and (6) readiness. These adaptations can be planned to happen simultaneously, in sequence, or as needed depending on the circumstance and goals of instruction. Teaching small groups of learners, grouped based on instructional approach and learner profile, is a cornerstone of differentiated instruction.” https://teal.ed.gov/tealGuide/diffinstruct

A brief from the Center for Applied Linguistics, written in 2006, describes how differentiated instruction might look in the multilevel adult ESL classroom, talking about lesson planning, grouping strategies and purposes, project based learning and thematic instruction, learning stations, and use of the students’ native languages as appropriate. (Promoting the Success of Multilevel ESL Classes: What Teachers and Administrators Can Do, http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/multilevel.html) How have some of you differentiated instruction in your classrooms? Any success stories? Challenges?

Miriam (SME Adult ELL CoP)

Miriam,

You state: "I think the short answer is that one of these terms – multilevel - labels the situation and describes what is quite common, if not the norm: the fact that most classes include students at all levels of proficiency in a language or knowledge of the content of the class."

One perplexing dilemma is that oftentimes, individual students have different levels of competency of the language skills, Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing.  The majority of the ESOL programs in Florida administer a standardized test in at least two areas to students, Listening and Reading, and report the test results to the state.  (They are encouraged to use informal assessments for the other two skill areas.) The majority of students have higher levels in reading than listening. The listening skills can be one or two levels lower than their reading skills.  With the importance of making sure that all of the "gaps" in students' skills are addressed, it is a challenge for teachers to prepare lessons for students with skills at different levels.

One of the ways this has been addressed is by setting up classroom "centers" for students to use individually or in groups, as described by Dr. Robin L. Schwarz.  Her descriptions of how classroom centers can be used effectively have been posted on LINCS in the ELL discussion group in particular. 

Does any one know of special techniques teachers use to help students catch up in weaker skills while at the same time not helping them to continue making progress in their stronger skills?

Phil Anderson

Florida Department of Education

Adult ESOL Program Specialist

Miriam,

I think you are spot-on with your out list however in that most of the adult learners I work with have had some form of English, usually Oxford, their thoughts lean toward grammar only.  They believe that by knowing the grammar, they will know the English language.   After comments like this, I will go straight into American [Southern slang]. Whew!  The total literal thinking really comes out doing a lesson like that.  So then they really think grammar is the only way to go.  Can you or other readers suggest some techniques to get around this thinking. 

ec from Harrisonburg

Ah yes, the student for whom nothing but grammar will do. With that kind of student, especially one who is at a more intermediate or advanced level I would try to always bring up the structure and vocabulary being used in every class activity. Ways of doing this might include

  1. Taking notes during discussions and then presenting errors – without attribution - to students to correct individually or in pairs or groups
  2. With speaking activities, for example, during discussions with students lined up and speaking to one another on a variety of topics, having one or two students be wanderers - sort of vocabulary or grammar police - have them listen in on conversations and notice use of specific targeted forms (that is, you tell them the forms to look for, forms or vocabulary your students need to be using) , or lack of use or misuse
  3. Providing the students with sentence stems or starters to use in class discussion and when solving problems or completing tasks with one another. Talk about the grammatical form needed after such starters as.
  • I agree/disagree with X because ___________________________.
  • If you ___________________, then _____________ will ______________.
  • The benefits of _______ include __________________.
  • What you say may be true, but have you considered that ________________________?
  1. Doing a language experience approach in the classroom in which you correct the grammar and vocabulary as appropriate to the students’ needs and discuss with the students why certain forms or vocabulary items are needed

There are many more suggestions on teaching grammar without a grammar-based curriculum in the brief: Teaching Grammar to Adult English Language Learners: Focus on Form. (Rodriguez, 2009, http://www.cal.org/adultesl/resources/briefs/teaching-grammar-to-adult-ell.php)

 

What are suggestions some of the rest of you have? What successes have you had teaching grammar? What challenges?

Miriam

SME, ELL CoP

Miriam,

There are two other items I would include that are based on more recent discussions on culture and on not-so-recent discussions on learning disabilities:

1.  Out - Limiting the exploration of culture to "on the surface" differences such as food, fashion and fun (music)

In - Expanding the exploration of culture to include "below the surface" differences regarding English language instruction

2.  Out - Describing as "probably learning disabled" those ESOL students who do not rapidly make learning gains on standardized tests or in classroom work.

In - Expanding the analysis of why ESOL students do not rapidly make learning gains on standardized tests or in classroom work to include examining the teaching methods used to teach ESOL students who have not been exposed to the U.S. adult education system.

These ideas are, of course not mine. I am glad to have had the opportunity to understand how important they are.  I learned  them from Dr. Robin L. Schwarz.  (In an effort to make a full disclosure, I have no financial or other interest in sharing what I have learned from Dr. Schwarz' work.  It is just that her writings have been helpful to me as I try to learn how to do the best job possible of teaching the adult ESOL population.)

These are exiting times to be involved in teaching adult ESOL students!  Given that not very much research has been done in this field, so many new ideas are being discovered and at such a rapid pace!  It seems to me that the communication lines between those who conduct research and those who teach every day are very open and unimpeded.  It also seems that most of those who are doing research are also teaching students at the same time.

Phil Anderson

Florida Department of Education

Adult ESOL Program Specialist

 

Sorry I am so late in respondind, Phil, but I am very grateful to you for reminding the list about not jumping to conclusions regarding learning disabilities in adult ESOL learners.   It dismays me every time the notion of learning disabilities is brought up in the context of adult ESOL.  This is because, as I have said on this list numerous times, learning challenges in adult ESOL learners can stem from such a wide variety of causes, but if teachers jump to LD as an explanation, these other causes are rarely explored.  Also, as I point out baldly to each group I address, what is the point of going down the LD path when that student will still be in your class and will still pose a major challenge to you, the teacher in terms of providing appropriate, meaningful, ACCESSIBLE,  instruction.    Thus the only realistic route is to work to achieve truly differentiated instruction, which helps not only those who are more challenged, but also those who are able to move faster or for whom certain aspects of English are harder than others.    "Special education" and special education techniques are no mystery.  They only mean that the teacher is working especially hard to figure out, as well as possible, what might be holding the student up and working WITH the student to determine what approach to learning will work.  In my mind and work, truly differentiated instruction does not mean that the teacher labors to create lessons designed specifically for one student or for each student who appears to be having difficulty, but rather providing a wide range of ways to learn something and ample opportunity for students to a) use language naturally and b) practice until THEY feel they have mastered something and are competent at it, and c) choose what and how they will they will engage in that language use and practice.   That, as Phil says, is what the learning centers are all about. 

Robin

Robin H. Lovrien, Ph.D.

Independent Consultant in Adult ESOL

Steuben, ME

 

Lea,

Thanks for your question, and for asking me to clarify. You asked: "Could you explain what cultural 'below the surface' teaching means to you, please?"

To me, "below the surface" refers to cultural differences that are not physically visible like the ones mentioned by Miriam: Food, Fashion, and Fun (music).

I hope I didn't imply I meant cultural 'below the surface' teaching.  What I was writing about are the "below the surface" differences in cultural beliefs that students and teachers have about the way English should be taught.  In the posts in this thread it was pointed out that at times there are students who expect English to be taught by methods that have students memorize information. In contrast, at times there are teachers who expect English to be taught by methods that have students learn by figuring things out.

Again, thank you for your question.  I would be happy to hear what your thoughts are on this too.

Phil Anderson

Florida Department of Education

 Adult ESOL Program Specialist

 

 

When I started to learn English, back then, the common way of teaching was 'memorizing'. Needless to say that I never learned much. Only once I lived in an English speaking country I was able to learn the language. Now, I teach ESL and try all methods but...

However, I came acroos many students who expect to memorize chunks of English at a time. I think this occurs to students who come from countries where, either education is not a priority (yes, that still exists!) or where education has not yet developed to our standards yet (meaning, pedagogy new methods of teaching). On the other hand, I am not sure how can a language (or whatever subject) be taught by letting the students 'figure it out'. Please enlighten me!

Cutlure must be taken in account, whereas below the surface or not. I think there is a place and time to use both or either, as long as we take the individual into account and not generalize the 'cultural' background. Nobody has only one story to tell!. Your thoughts?

 

Leah

Leah,

I agree with your statement that there is a place and time to use both or either.  This afternoon I was reviewing an online course called "Diversity and Culture in the ESOL Classroom."  One of the slides in the course talks about culture and the way it is like an iceberg, which is larger under the water than it is above the water. I thought it did a much better job than I could in explaining the things about culture that are visible and others that are not visible.

The content of the course was provided by Sharon McKay, an ESOL consultant with the Center for Applied Linguistics at the time.  It is narrated by Robert Brietbard, the director of the adult education program of the school district Collier County in Florida at the time.  To access the course, go to the Florida TechNet web site and open the link "Online PD Training - Moodle Courses." http://www.floridatechnet.org/moodle/

I think the expression "What's In and What's Out" might give the impression that by choosing one, the other is excluded completely.  I think I hear you saying that nothing is absolute, or black and white, when we are learning a new language.

The phrase I used in stating that some teachers let students "figure it out" on their own is not the phrase I should have used. What I meant is that in the adult ESOL classroom, some teachers might have students do activities that are task-based to help them practice a specific grammar structure or new vocabulary words. One that I can think of which would help students to practice the question form "Do you like to.." and the names of foods is to give students a list of questions such as "Do you like to eat rice?  Do you like to eat potatoes?  Do you like to eat cabbage? Do you like to eat lettuce?" Have them ask another student the questions, and when the class has collected all the answers, work with them create a graph that shows how many students like to eat which foods.  Some students who came from an educational system that uses memorization may not think this type of activity is as effective as memorization.

That said, I think that adult language learners do actually "figure out" many things on their own as they progress through learning a language.  Sometimes after hearing an expression for a number of years one way, they become aware that the way they have been saying it was not the same as the way people really say it.  I can think of the expression "One of the (plural noun) (singular verb) (adjective.)"  "One of the flowers is white."  Early in their learning, some students might use a singular noun because the sentence begins with "One of"  or they might use a plural verb because the noun is plural. But over time they figure out that people use a plural noun and they eventually change the way they say it.

Phil Anderson

Florida Department of Education

Adult ESOL Program Specialist

Thanks, Phil, for  your response to Leah that "nothing is absolute when we are learning a new language." Whereas I generally agree with that, I probably would not support excessive drills or grammatical explanations at the expense of those I have listed in the "in" column. And, focus on form does allow for grammatical explanations and practice in context and using content and vocabulary that is important to students. I also agree with Phil that it is not a guarantee that all students will accept this focus on context and content, at least not initially. So there is might be limited, specific place for the drill, I think.

I like the bar graph idea very much. Another  thing I like to do with those questions that are repeated, such as 'do you like?' is to ask follow up questions. "Why do you like to eat lettuce"? "Do you eat it at every meal?"  My strong feeling again is, that it has to be real. There has to be a purpose for the vocabulary and grammar used and the questions asked, and the students need to be in on that purpose! It's not a secret.

What do the rest of you think? Do you give students the reasons for learning specific info, vocab, or structures?

Miriam
 

 

 I'm also in agreement with Phil and Miriam regarding excessive drills without and purpose or foundation for scaffolding. I find surveys or questionnaires very useful in teaching students how to ask questions and to actually talk to fellow classmates.  Armed with a clipboard and chart, students ask and recod information. Basic questions could include, "What's your name" and "How do you spell it?" Others include asking for telephone numbers and birth months. 

I tell them the reason we do this activity is to help them with asking questions but also to hear themselves speaking English and listening for a response in English.

I come from an age when language teaching shifted from a "read and translate" approach to a hyperfocus on oral skills and communication, learned through endless drills and memorization of dialogues.  When I trained for the Peace Corps, we spent 7 hours a day, 5 days a week doing just that-- learning whole pages of dialogues, and doing endless, complex, mile-long drills as we learned French ( the 8th hour was spent in the lab,listening to more dialogues!). I can still recite quite a lot of all this-- and when Peace Corps colleagues who trained in French get together, we amuse ourselves by reciting things such as "j'aurais du descendre dans un hotel Amercain"  -- a key line in a dialogue about someone unhappy with his French hotel in Paris--and all that to prepare us to teach EFL in West Africa...(When I speak about this experience in relation to making learning relevant, I note that after hundreds of hours of French drills and a hard-won FSI 3 (intermediate level oral French), I still could not ask for a bar of soap when I got to Africa....) 

When I became an adult ESOL teacher, the lessons of that experience were vivid--- I knew it was useless to torture students with these drills and dialogues for the sole purpose of recitation; however,  what I recognized and had confirmed later as I learned about adult language acquisition, is that those drills and the dialogue learning served a VERY important purpose.  The adult brain has a much harder time (than do  young brains) processing new sounds and translating those sounds into speech acts-- how the lips, tongue and mouth must be formed to make the sounds.  We also know that like any other learning, language learning requires building up muscles and creating new neural pathways..  For adults, building up muscles and those pathways can take enormous amounts of repetition and practice.  Thus drills and repetition are intended for the purpose of training the speech equipment in how to produce the sounds more fluently and less consciously and for making the neural pathways in the brain bigger and more efficient.   The kinds of activities described by some here, such as questionnaires and surveys, provide great opportunities for repetition without actual drillling. These are one type of activity that I include under the umbrella of learning centers ( the fact that NOT the whole class has to do them and that there are several versions of them, and that the answers can be used in a variety of other activities is what makes them centers and not class activities).   Other center activities, such as Go Fish or a board game, provide very targeted repetition of key vocabulary, phrases, questions, etc. in an informal, non-threatening setting.  

Over the years I have resorted to memorization for a variety of reasons.  There is a certain satisfaction that can come for MOST ( not all) language students in producing extended speech in the new language well.  The memorizing helps with the training of the mouth, tongue and lips--and ears--and, as my own experience has shown,  it can help with complex structures that are not produced without some oral practice (e.g. the French phrase above, which gave me access to a past conditional structure that I would have learned the grammar of but NEVER produced had I not learned it through memorization).   Students using learning centers learn the content of a given activity to 100% accuracy and then asked to be tested on it.  This is, in effect, memorization, but achieved through interaction with a game or activity, not through direct memorizing.   For example, a student may focus on the past tense forms of irregular verbs.  He or she may choose to learn 20 of these from a much larger pack used as cues for a board game and other activities.  Through many activities using the past tense forms, the student learns them, then confirms his or her learning by asking the teacher to watch or listen or otherwise confirm that the student has learned those forms.  

A few years ago I taught a fairly high-level listening-speaking class for community college ESL students.  Listening to the students mispronounce so many words,  fail to grasp the rhythm of English, and struggle with stress and just plain fluency, I decided to have them memorize something as part of their final evaluation.   They could choose from famous speeches or passages--e.g. Martin Luther King's " I Have a Dream" speech, JFK's inaugural speech, The Gettysburg Address, the preamble to the constitution.   Students had a practice run at it and then had more time to master it before the final presentation.   It was absolutely remarkable to see and HEAR the transformation in oral production among these students, many of whom spoke reasonable "survival" English and had been in the country for several years.   ALL reported at the end that they had profited from the activity and several admitted they had been mightily resistant but in the end saw their classmates' improvement and decided to take it seriously.   In the process, we of course discussed those passages, listened to them or watched videos online, and learned about the context, language, speaker, etc.   That was only  a small part of the whole course, but it had a signficant impact, at least according to the students and to my observations.  I know many teachers who have students memorize poems or other beautiful passages, too, and students mostly love to do that, too.  One creative colleague cajoled resistant middle school ESL students into memorizing poems by creating movies of each student reciting ( in private, not in front of the class) by making a video on his iPad and them using iMovies, adding music, credits, art, etc.  The kids were ENTRANCED and of course having seen a couple of these, FOUGHT to get a chance to have their own movie. 

So I believe there is a BIG place in adult language learning for memorizing, as well as for extensive repetition, but in interesting-- even fun- contexts and settings.   The hard part for some students is accepting that they will not be able to ONLY memorize for grading purposes or that we do not consider that memorizing something means you have learned it (I think of the student at the university where I taught ESL for many years who was devasted to realize that his memorizing every period, caption, italicized words and sentence from a chapter in his Grammar 3 Azar Book was NOT sufficient to get a passing grade....) .  Failing to realize this is one of many factors I have noted as impeding progress for some students.  Students who experienced memorizing as their mode of learning in their home countries can feel very uncomfortable without it because memorizing is finite and absolute.  They know what to study and how it will be tested.   They sometimes cannot adjust to never having finite learning to do when we tell them "study this".   This desire needs to be acknowledged and students helped to adjust to the fact that we do not value memorizing in the way they are used to. 

Robin

Robin H. Lovrien, Ph. D.

Independent Consultant in Adult ESOL

Steuben, ME

Miriam,

I fully agree with you that there has to be a puropose for the vocabulary and grammar used and the questions asked. However, my experience with teaching content based instructions (which I do mostly) is that at one point or another, I have to repeat the grammar and at that point I find drills very helpful. My drills are not memorizing repetition chants, but consist on practice exercises (oral and written) which use whatever grammar point I am drilling, always in context with what we are leraning at that moment. 

Thank you for your suggestions of 'follow up' questions. I will implement that next time. I thought of continuing your method by following the 'Why do you like...?' by 'Is it common to eat this in you country?' or similar.

Lea. 

Thanks for your clarification.

Level 1 ESL students memorize numerals for counting money, days of the week for appointments, the alphabet for spelling,  etc.

"Figuring it out" is much harder for me as an  ESL teacher.  I see a pattern but many ESL beginners do not.  I am reviewing Explicit Instruction to determine how I can create the Eureka! moment.

I teach level 1 ESL and it is partially true that students at this level try memorizing numerals and alphabet. However, the use of lessons on currency and shopping, attendance hours with questionnaires and small math problems to solve, will help them use numerals. The same with alphabet, I try to make the students learn the alphabet by finding words that start with...the major problem I encounter are the vowels sound and pronunciation, and therefore spelling. 'a, e, i, o and u' are some of the most difficult learning points for a level1 ESL student.

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Lea. 

Phil

Thank you for your comments. I love the image of the iceberg and I will go to the Moodle Courses to look at that online course. It sounds very interesting.

Also, thank you for the 'Do you like to...?'. I often use What is your favorite food? to teach my students what questions. I think next time I''l try your model. Last semester, during one of my classes we found out that most of (including myself) like mangos and only one person didn't. Everyone was amused and it became a joke amongst us. One of my student's even brought a present for Christmas, a jar of mango jam...!

Lea.

Lea,

Here is the link to the course called "Cultural Diversity in the Classroom."  Yes, the website will ask you to log in, which you can do as a guest if you wish.  On the right side of the page to log in is a link to register with Florida TechNet.  It is free.  If nothing happens when you click on the link, you may need to copy and paste it into the web address box on your internet browser page.

  http://new.floridatechnet.org/moodle/course/view.php?id=91

To see all of the course offerings, this link, http://www.floridatechnet.org/moodle/ will take you to the page on Florida TechNet that offers all of the Moodle Courses.  Scroll down to where you find ESOL (the first one) in the list of courses.  Click on the word ESOL and it will open to all of the ESOL courses.

If you have technical difficulties, Debra Hargrove is the director of Florida TechNet.  Her email address is dhargrov@irsc.edu.

Phil Anderson

Adult ESOL Program

Florida Department of Education

 

 

 

Hello All

I want to expand on what Phil wrote about culture that is less visible, but first, I want to add my endorsement of Robin Schwarze.  I have attended a few of her workshoops and webinars, and find her work pioneering and her presentation extremely teacher-friendly.  Anyway, back to culture.

I see culture below the surface / less visible as being our philosophy towards the greater purposes of education, how we position students in a teaching and learning environment, and issues of control and power.  I think this aspect of culture  underpins our decisions and actions as educators.  It is part of who we are, it is ever-present in our work.  

Perhaps something else that is 'in' with adult ESL for 2014 is more awareness of everything in the classroom that we can't see - culture, beliefs, assumptions, emotions, etc. and how important they are to the language learning process.

Susan

 

Hi Miriam,

This is great! My focus is health literacy, and I am pleased to see that many of the features on your "in" list fit beautifully with teaching health literacy: 

  • Content-based-instruction
  • Thrive (al) English
  • Integrating language and content instruction
  • Teaching real vocabulary. 

When I do health literacy trainings with teachers, I always hear of pushback from administrators. They say that doing this content-based teaching may take away from fulfilling the required competencies. Hopefully, if the above instruction styles are more "in", then this will no longer be a problem.

What do you all think, is there more support these days for content-based instruction?

Julie

  The world of dance is "above the surface."  Some cultures use dance to express themselves and other cultures "frown" upon dance.  To go below the surface, I first observe, and then I may ask an individual "What are you thinking?"  Depending on the answer, it may become a class discussion, with a reminder about respectful free speech.

Rosemary, When you mentioned that the world of dance is "above the surface" and that some cultures frown upon it, I was brought right back to a time when the differing religious beliefs of some students from the same countries became apparent in my classroom.  Some students loved to dance, but others were reluctant to participate because their religious beliefs discouraged it.   Beyond dancing, holidays were viewed differently by these groups of students too.  Once I use plastic eggs after Easter (they were on sale at the store) to put clues in for a word game.  I had a bowl filled with them ans asked students to take one and find the pair to the word they picked.  Two students asked to be let go from the activity because the eggs were a symbol of Easter, which they did not wish to be affliliated with. As you said, it becomes an opportunity to practice respectful free speech.

Rosemary and Phil,

 

Dance is "above surface" only to certain cultures. There are many, cultures, that are firmly rooted on dance. We are in danger of generalizing cultures or, wanting to be absolute PC, have a general view of dance as part of culture. It might be that there are many people who will stay out of dance in public. However, even if for religious purposes they chose not to take part in public dancing, many dance among men only, or women only. I think, on the contrary, dance is an "iceberg", to quote Phil. More often than not, dance is an integrated part of most people's culture. It is one of the most ancient forms of expression.

 

Lea.

Lea-- as a user of the Iceberg of Culture in my training, I think I can clarify a bit more what the "above the surface" culture refers to, including dance.

All too often in the American education setting schools or classes hold "international Day" ( Or night or week, etc) and international students (and others) are encouraged to wear "costumes", bring food from their country, sing or present music and perform dances.   There is no question that these things are deeply rooted in the cultures which the students come from, but what usually happens is that there is a belief that everyone involved has learned something about the culture of the students and that is the end of that.  There IS no exploration of just what the cutlural elements of peanut stew are for West Africans or what kimonos mean and what the art of wearing and decorating them means to Japanese, or what a men's dance means culturally to Saudi Arabians.  We can SEE ( and taste and hear) but really do not know how these things represent culture for the persons from those cultures.  This is what makes them "superficial" in so many instances. We who came up in American schools were all taught the song "Frere Jaques", but did that mean we gained any insight into the language and culture it comes from??  

The other types of items are not so visible and we are not usually even aware of many behaviors, beliefs and culturally-shaped reactions, such as beliefs about how a teacher should react to a student's mistakes, or how the classroom should be arranged to be a "real" class, or whether students respond to direct questions or not, or whether they will ask you, the teacher, a question about something you just taught.   These are the "below the surface" types of cultural issues that are represented in the iceberg image (referring of course to the fact that the largest (and for those aware of The Titanic, the most dangerous) part of the iceberg --and the issue of culture-- is hidden below the surface).  

Thus the point is not to discuss what dance means here, but to examine ourselves how cultural beliefs are at work in ourselves and our students and what this means for working towards more effective instruction in our classrooms.  It is an unending learning process for me-- and always very surprising-- as I am sure it is for ALL of you teachers.     

Robin

Robin H. Lovrien, Ph.D.

Independent Consultant in Adult ESOL

Steuben, ME