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High School English Teachers Chatboard

Importance of Being Earnest

by Anna Lyse

Sep 13, 2011

Do you teach THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST? Do you use a recording of the play? Do you have students read aloud? I'm working on a grant for LA Theatre Works (NPR affiliate). They sell audio recordings of the plays and want to develop an app to help teachers bring the play to classrooms. I would like to know what you are trying to teach with the p...See More

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Novel I'd like access to a script-bound copy of it, either audio or audiovisual. I am sick of having to explain to students that the director has made cuts or changes for some reason.

Sep 28, 2011

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Novel (nfm) On 9/28/11, Novel wrote: > > I'd like access to a script-bound copy of it, either audio or > audiovisual. I am sick of having to explain to students that the > director has made cuts or changes for some reason.

Nov 24, 2011

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How do you teach Oscar Wilde?

by LA Theatre Works

Sep 14, 2011

lease answer any of these questions that you can!

Do you teach the play IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST?

If so, what specific things (vocab, history, language, style, period, etc.) are you trying to teach with the play?

Currently, what are your methods of teaching those things? Please be as specific as possible. See follow...See More

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Non-depressing novels

by LM807

Sep 14, 2011

So I'm tired of teaching depressing novels. This year in one of my classes I'm slated to teach "The Pearl" and "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas". So apparently I'm to have my students read about two children and a baby being murdered. Great.

I was wondering if you have any suggestions for less depressing novels! I'm looking for a grade 9 o...See More

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Jenn I guess that's why I love teaching The Old Man and the Sea--he never gives up, stays positive and strong, and inspires his protege, Manolin.

However, it's also important to remember that pain causes growth and that it would be boring and unproductive to read stories about people who don't experience trials, pain, loss, or grief. I guess t...See More

Oct 6, 2011

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skylark2868 I've used Cole Sassy Tree and The Bean Trees. They are not depressing. There's also Little Women. On 10/06/11, Jenn wrote: > I guess that's why I love teaching The Old Man and the Sea--he > never gives up, stays positive and strong, and inspires his > protege, Manolin. > > However, it's also important to remember that pain causes >...See More

Oct 8, 2011

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Shy teens

by Marina

Sep 15, 2011

Hi everyone, I was wondering if you could help me by providing some advice on dealing with shy teens in class. One 13-year- old boy in my class does not seem to be bold enough to show his actual knowledge but he prefers to stay quiet :( Thx

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Sara On 9/15/11, Marina wrote: > Hi everyone, I was wondering if you could help me by > providing some advice on dealing with shy teens in class. > One 13-year- old boy in my class does not seem to be bold > enough to show his actual knowledge but he prefers to stay > quiet :( Thx

This isn't 'cured' in a day or even the length of...See More

Sep 15, 2011

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Marina Thanks a million for the great ideas, I believe we are going to watch the movie as soon as I get it. PS. I'm sure this kid has a lot to say but just isn't a chatter box nor does he like to speak in front of an audience, just like me, and look at me, that's basically what I do. I will try to get through to him and encourage him so that he does his a...See More

Sep 15, 2011

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English use of an and a

by Thomas

Sep 16, 2011

I am creating a headline for something that reads "Dunk An NBA player."....I thought it would be "A"because of the consonant rule but my boss says its "AN"..please clear this up..

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Jenna On 9/16/11, Thomas wrote: > I am creating a headline for something that reads "Dunk An > NBA player."....I thought it would be "A"because of the > consonant rule but my boss says its "AN"..please clear this > up..

Since the "N" on "NBA" is pronounced "en," it's a vowel sound, which is why you use "an" instead of "a." It's the s...See More

Sep 17, 2011

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curiositycat Ditto what Jenna said!

On 9/17/11, Jenna wrote: > On 9/16/11, Thomas wrote: >> I am creating a headline for something that reads "Dunk An >> NBA player."....I thought it would be "A"because of the >> consonant rule but my boss says its "AN"..please clear this >> up.. > > Since the "N" on "NBA" is pronounce...See More

Sep 17, 2011

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Grammar Question

by LCB

Sep 18, 2011

Is is the following a run-on sentence? "Try it, you'll like it."

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Ken On 9/18/11, LCB wrote: > Is is the following a run-on sentence? "Try it, you'll like > it." >

It's a comma splice. Drop the comma; use a semicolon. (I don't like the Dash.

Sep 20, 2011

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Mark On 9/19/11, LCB wrote: > I agree, it's a comma splice. However, would you consider a comma > splice a part of a run-on sentence? (i.e., even though it is > called a comma splice, could it be considered a run-on?) > > You're all helping me immensely -- Thanks! (I love the dash!)

The dash is a good way to fix this issue. A co...See More

Sep 22, 2011

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Non-depressing novels

by skylark2868

Sep 25, 2011

How about "Cold Sassy Tree" or "The Bean Trees"?

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curiositycat I've never taught it, but a private middle school in our town does--The Power of One. Now that's a novel with a triumphant ending!

On 9/25/11, skylark2868 wrote: > How about "Cold Sassy Tree" or "The Bean Trees"?

Sep 25, 2011

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Measuring vocabulary size

by myq

Oct 2, 2011

Dear Teachers,

Vocabulary size has been considered a good predictor of overall language ability as well as more specialised skills such as reading. Some researchers even suggest that differences in vocabulary size represent the biggest challenge to literacy education in America.

To help facilitate accurate measurements of vocabula...See More

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Sara On 10/19/11, myq wrote:

Your post and responses are interesting but 'the bottom line' - right out of the Dictionary for Cultural Literacy - is that vocabulary is best instructed by reading. While the debate continues among the less enlightened, there's a wealth of research to demonstrate that the way we learn new words and improve our voc...See MoreOn 10/19/11, myq wrote:

Your post and responses are interesting but 'the bottom line' - right out of the Dictionary for Cultural Literacy - is that vocabulary is best instructed by reading. While the debate continues among the less enlightened, there's a wealth of research to demonstrate that the way we learn new words and improve our vocabularies is by ... reading.

So to stop other avenues of reading instruction and focus on 'vocabulary enrichment' in an effort to improve reading skills - well, that ultimately makes No sense. So the goal of this test is, kindly, a flawed goal.

Many tests - not just this one - give us information we can't use in any meaningful way. The U.S. is in part bankrupted by the constant, endless medical tests that we administer that in no way change the course of treatment. Don't get me wrong, we love expensive and useless tests here.

And yes, we give yearly government-mandated tests here now and we've recently passed a law that says the results of these tests are not to be held in very serious regard. We will of course continue to administer the tests...

But the real bottom line is - would you charge for these tests? This is a product you're hoping to sell?

To that end I'd ask - how can you design a single test on vocabulary to be used by 'all ability levels'?? That makes no sense.

And answers that are 'more correct' rather than 'absolutely correct' makes little sense too. Testing is never a perfect process and standardized tests often read 'Choose the most correct answer' but the fact remains - the definitions on this test don't work for American English. They're simply not correct. We'd define a drawer as a compartment in a piece of furniture. It is NOT by any means a 'sliding box'. A box is something separate from furniture. A box is a discrete unit of its own. These answers were not written by a native speaker and as another poster told you as well as myself, they don't work.

And how would this test be better if the American people were bilingual??? Then we wouldn't know that a drawer isn't a sliding box? We'd somehow know English less well if we also spoke Spanish?

Which increasingly more and more of us do but your point there makes no sense either. Beware blindly defending something on its merits when it may not have any.

But if there's any place where you could sell yet another useless diagnostic computerized test, it's certainly in the U.S. but I'd caution you - we've written some very bad checks here lately and there's no end in sight. Get the money up front and not in U.S. dollars... Warm wishes-

> > On 10/13/11, Sara wrote: > > The way the answers are written > > strongly suggests that the test was intended for English > > language learners and that it was written by a non-native > > speaker. > > This is a common reaction which I believe is an unfortunate by > product of one of the creator's design goals. The idea was to > create a single test which could be used for all ability levels. > That means a very young child or beginning learner could take the > same test as an adult or advanced learner. For that goal to be > met, the words used in the options need to be quite high frequency > to ensure that understanding the options does not become a barrier > to selecting the correct option. > > From the feedback and results collected so far, this may have > been an over ambitious goal. One of the reasons for > 'computerising' the test is to make it easier to address some of > the issues that have come up. The next stage of development will > likely focus on taking the subject's age and L1 as input and > selecting from a pool of items that most likely match what would > be expected given those two variables. Further items would depend > on subject's performance on the items from the initial estimate. > > > Native English speakers do not conceive of a 'drawer' > > as a 'sliding box'... but I get what was meant. Further, 'Saw' > > and 'looked at' are not really the same thing in American > > English - to 'look at' something implies that you were doing so > > for a reason. To 'see' something or to have seen something is a > > more passive thing than to have 'looked at' it. > > This is also a common misunderstanding of the test's goals. I > can't fault people for misunderstanding because the test > documentation hasn't been put up on the website yet. But > basically, the options are not designed to be complete definitions > because a) that would require longer, more detailed options which > increases the length of the test and b) the level of word > knowledge tested is somewhere beyond the recognition level but not > to the depth that an extremely accurate definition would be > required. Also, in terms of test design, most MCQ tests are > designed to have one option which is 'more correct' than the > others, but not necessarily 'Absolutely Correct' in all possible > scenarios. > > The option for drawer could be 'a box-like device which is > designed to slide in and out of an enclosure', but the increase in > reading time would not really improve the performance of the > existing option 'sliding box' especially when compared with the > other options. > > > Perhaps I used the site wrong or took the wrong test but the > > test I took would not be the right one for native American > > English speakers. > > You took the right test. The challenge is measuring English > using English. The other versions, where the options have been > translated into other languages, is a much, much easier way to > test English vocabulary size. 'See' can be translated directly > into à¸”à¸¹ for Thai, and drawer can be translated as à¸¥à¸´à¹‰à¸™à¸Šà¸±à¸. It would be > easier if Americans were bilingual, but most aren't. So somehow a > test would need to use English to test English, while also being > fairly quick to complete, easy to administer, and accurate. It's a > challenge. > > > That said I'd also say - testing students' vocabularies with > > such a tool - what would the point be?? When their vocabularies > > are found wanting by virtue of such a test, students would then > > have their vocabularies enriched? > > I believe that the primary motivation for making this test was > actually based on that claim by teachers in English classes in New > Zealand. When reading problems are identified, one of the most > common claims is that the reader must have a deficient vocabulary. > Testing these students has shown that for many of the poorly > performing readers, their vocabulary size was actually within the > normal range for their peer group, so focusing on teaching them > more vocabulary as opposed to other reading-related skills is > probably a waste of time. > > The test is not designed to be a formative test. It's designed > to be a diagnostic to help identify those who may benefit from > additional focus on vocabulary and those who would not (which is > usually the majority). It's also designed to track development > over time just as most standardised tests do. > > > We already work constantly to enrich our students' vocabularies > > - for better or worse. Students in the U.S. now must take > > yearly government mandated tests - why do they need to take > > your test in addition to all the government tests?? > > Wow, it seems like things have changed a lot since I was > there. When I was in high school, I remember learning 15 or 20 > idioms per week from the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, but > standardised tests were only given every 3 or 4 (or maybe even 5) > years. > > But I guess I would answer your question by saying that the > tests on VocabularySize.com are not designed to be achievement > tests, nor standards test. They are diagnostic tests to help > identify those who may or may not benefit from additional > vocabulary instruction. Norms are being compiled at the moment and > will hopefully go up, along with other documentation for teachers, > in the near future. > > Thanks again for your time and comments. They are appreciated. > > Cheers, > > Myq >

Oct 20, 2011

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myq Hi Sara,

Thank you again for your ideas and comments. I'd just like to point out a few things that you may have misunderstood in my response.

On 10/20/11, Sara wrote: > On 10/19/11, myq wrote: > > Your post and responses are interesting but 'the bottom line' - right > out of the Dictionary for Cultural Literacy - is th...See More

Oct 21, 2011

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Grammar Question

by Teach123

Oct 2, 2011

Which sentence is correct?

a. "But, dad," Ellen exclaimed, "There are parks in every city in the country.

b. "But Dad," Ellen exclaimed, "There are parks in every city in the country.

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choice C On 10/02/11, Jo wrote: > On 10/02/11, Teach123 wrote: >> Which sentence is correct? >> >> a. "But, dad," Ellen exclaimed, "There are parks in every >> city in the country. >> >> b. "But Dad," Ellen exclaimed, "There are parks in every >> city in the country. > Neither.

"But, Dad," Ellen excla...See More

Oct 3, 2011

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Sara On 10/03/11, choice C wrote: > On 10/02/11, Jo wrote: >> On 10/02/11, Teach123 wrote: >>> Which sentence is correct? >>> >>> a. "But, dad," Ellen exclaimed, "There are parks in every >>> city in the country. >>> >>> b. "But Dad," Ellen exclaimed, "There are parks in every >>> c...See More

Oct 5, 2011

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LF Read Aloud Novel for gr. 7

by Terri

Oct 3, 2011

I am trying to find new novels to read aloud to my grade 7s, ones that are not vampire-ish, sad, or childish. Great vocab/imagery is preferred. Humour welcome! (I read Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen, and change some of the language. Highly recommend.)

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