Think of a time that you tried to understand, or you were trying to explain, something to someone, and a mental model, background knowledge, or a video anchor would have been useful to you. Include: 1) the situation, 2) what was said or read, 3) what made it difficult to comprehend, and 4) what would have aided you with either your comprehension or explanation.
Please see others comments first and avoid duplication. You need to (1) reply to 1 of your classmates' comments and (2) make your own comment. Be creative!
When I was teaching at an international school, I had a student from Turkey with minute English speaking skills. One afternoon on the playground I was engaging her in conversation to try to gauge her speaking ability by asking about what Turkey was like and what the weather was like there. (ie Does it snow? Do you live in the mountains? Did you live in a city?) The poor little girl was struggling so much to communicate with me and vice versa. There were no Turkish students in the elementary program to interpret for us. What would have helped in that situation would have been to pull up photographs of snow, rain, and different climate zones for the student to have a frame of reference and for me to aid her vocabulary. Because she had not yet built up a foundation of English vocabulary, visual aids would have been more effective than just a conversation.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a really interesting experience! I think that visual aids and hands on materials allow for students to learn more.
DeleteI definitely agree that photographs would have helped you and the little girl communicate much better. Even if she wasn't able to understand your language, she could at least nod yes or no by looking at the pictures.
DeleteWhen I was in high school, I was a peer tutor in the special education class. One day my teacher was having a difficult time coming up with ways to explain linear algebra to her MSD students. Luckily for her I happened to be going over linear algebra in my math class. Because my teacher had not covered linear algebra in so long I got to help make the worksheets and help teach the lesson to her students. Graphing points on a coordinate plane was difficult for some of the students to comprehend because they thought of placing a point on a certain square did not amuse them. I however, found it helpful to make the points pictures of things that the students were interested in. I think that having had more resources to work with would have been helpful when helping teach the students how to solve a linear equation and graph the points.
ReplyDeleteIt is neat how you were able to tie their interests into the lesson...amazing how effective that is (no matter the subject area)! Very nice.
DeleteI do sport-specific training with youth athletes and often have children that I train who speak minimal English, posing some difficulties in explaining details. At first I found myself trying to do more talking and hand gestures, this method proved to be ineffective and frustrating for both involved. I have since adapted a style of less talk and more emphasis on demonstration. Using less words seems to be more beneficial for the child because they do not get as overwhelmed in me saying something that they do not understand (no matter how I word it), but are still able to link a few words to the activity. Likewise, focusing more on the demonstration and doing what is required, while performing the activity slowly with an emphasis on my body movements (so as to point out the most important details) has proven to be most helpful tool.
ReplyDeleteAltogether, giving the child a mental model/video anchor has proven to be the most valuable tool when encountering a teaching obstacle in my work.
I agree, that less talking and more demonstrating is a key when trying to explain something to someone who does not know what you are talking about!
DeleteI totally agree. I spend a lot of time with local athletes in my hometown. I found use of video anchors to be extremely helpful. I coach baseball and using videos of different things really helps me explain things more clearly. You might even be able to find instructional videos with the things you teach and have them provided in the student's primary language.
DeleteWhen I was in Africa I had a very difficult time communicating with the people. One particular situation I found my self in was a conversation with the chief of the village over hot sauce. We were eating dinner one night and the chief looked over and saw my bottle of hot sauce that I had brought from home. He was very confused as to what it was and it was very hard to explain to him because he spoke very little English. I tried to act out the effects of hot sauce, by waving my arms and searching for water, but he still had no clue. Because we are from different cultures we view things differently. In Africa there really is no such thing as sauce especially hot sauce. Spices are more commonly used, so I think it confused the chief a lot seeing something spicy in a bottle that was liquid. If I had some form of visual aid to show the chief different foods you put hot sauce on would have made describing to him what hot sauce was a lot easier. Also If I had some form of video to show the intensity of how hot this particular hot sauce was would have made it easier for the chief to understand, rather then me just acting it out.
ReplyDeleteI never have thought about how I would explain something like hot sauce to someone in another country. If I where in your shoes I think I would have done the same thing.
DeleteIt sounds like a very fun experience. You do not normally think of little things like that being hard to explain to people. I think you did a great idea of how to explain it.
DeleteMy younger sister has a difficult time thinking of and using the correct word when she has conversations with people. Particularly when she is trying to express what she wants. When this happens we try to throw ideas out there that may be accurate with what she is trying to say but she becomes vary frustrated with us, and shuts down. When she does this it makes it extremely difficult to reason with her and explain to her what the right word would be in the situation. Since she is younger she does not understand the definition of larger words but using smaller words meaning the same would benefit her more. When this occurs we simply need to allow her time to think of what she really is trying to say without throwing out a bunch of ideas. I also think using mood pictures would have helped in this situation.
ReplyDeleteThat is a really great way to help her develop her vocabulary and get her to understand new words.
DeleteMood pictures is a wonderful idea! A great way to introduce new words and to allow to feel like she is the one choosing the words instead of people helping her all the time, allows a since of control and independence!
Delete1. I help students at my job by tutoring them on their homework. I usually work with students that are in first to fifth grade students. The most difficult time I had explaining was math problems. One time I had to explain how to find an area of a complex figure. I had to help the students figure out the simplest way to divide the shapes so they will be able to find the area the shape. The student struggles on find the individual shapes and inserting the numbers in the formulas for the shape. I would have used a model to help the child to visualize the shapes as they are divided. The difficult part for the child was that the figure wasn’t divided and they couldn’t visualize the figure in separate shapes. I would have used a way for students to physically divide the shape so they can see it.
ReplyDeleteIn my practicum one day I assisted a group of students with their mastery test. Although this was a general education class, this group was extremely "low achieving" and require assistance reading and understanding the questions. We came to a question that asked if you had a garden, could you plant 20 vegetables in even rows. The question asked for the students to answer in words and to draw an array to support their answer. The students knew the answer but struggling figuring out what an array is. I explained that arrays are a series of dots that are used as a visual representation for multiplication or division. The students still had no idea what I was talking about. Due to it being a test, I was not able to draw an array for them. At the moment I wished I had some kind of an example drawing of an array in order to help me better explain what it was, I think it would have greatly helped.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working at a gym back home and had a father come up and ask for directions. He spoke little english and did not know any of the local streets. I had to think of a way to give him directions that he was able to understand. I started to give him directions based on land marks in the area because I was able to describe them to him. However, I think it would have been easier to draw a picture or have a map so he was able to see what I was talking about. I think he eventually understood what I was trying to tell him but it was still challenging and would have been helpful if I had something I could show him.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think a map would have helped the father find the location of his destination. I also think that the landmarks are a good idea too.
DeleteWhen I give directions I always use landmarks if i don't know the names of the streets. When i need directions it's always nice to have landmarks.
I agree also, having a map makes it much easier to find directions, especially if you are new to the area. Without a map, and just having verbal directions it is much more difficult to find your destination.
DeleteI run a crew for a landscaping company in Lexington. A Latino co-worker didn't know how to drive/cut grass with a stand up riding lawnmower. I tried to explain each button and switch that would help him operate the mower correctly. The more in depth I went with my directions, the lack of comprehension increased. The reason why he wasn't comprehending the information is because I wasn't taking my time explaining it; I rushed through it. I should have modeled how to operate it with him standing next to me or walking beside me. Also the mower was off, therefore he really didn't get to try each button or switch for himself. If the mower was running, he could have tried each switch or watched me operate the mower and learned. Also what could have helped was having a video of how to drive/operate a stand up mower.
ReplyDeleteI coach the Middle School Baseball team from Powell County and I do a lot of teaching of fundamentals of the game. I work closely with my former coach, and current coach of the high school team in Powell Co. about things that they need to know and understand in order to be successful at the next level. At that age, kids tend to let information go in one ear, and out the other. When I try to teach a player to hit and swing with good mechanics, I sometimes catch myself saying the same things over and over. In sports, video anchors are a great tool to use. I am working to open a baseball and softball instructional facility in which I will use video analysis to show my players what they are doing incorrectly and what they can do to improve their swings. Students can see themselves swinging and can see their flaws, as well as their good things. I find it really helpful to anchor what I am teaching them, with professional baseball player's swings. By showing them how major league player do it, they can see first hand and compare their swings with the swing of a major league hitter. With the video, I can talk along with it to help better explain what I am asking my players to do instead of them trying to provide an image within their mind, which may be totally different from what is needed.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty awesome. I've always found that viewing what I'm doing incorrectly as a really effective method to learning, especially in sports. Sometimes people aren't even aware of their bad mechanics or skill until you actually have them view themselves doing it incorrectly.
DeleteOne day my roommate asked where the art museum on campus was. I tried to describe how to get there from our house. I told her go by Memorial in the Singletary center and its over to the right side of the building if you’re looking at the building with Memorial Coliseum behind you. Despite my good directions, or so I thought, she was still confused and didn't understand exactly where it was located. So, I drew a map and tried to describe it using pictures on how to get there and where in the Singletary Center it was. Using my map and directions it made explaining how to get there much easier. Sometimes a visual along with a verbal aid is much more helpful then just one or the other. If I had just drawn a map to begin with, that would have decreased the confusion drastically.
ReplyDeleteAt the start of the year, the Starbucks that I work at brought in a new manager, the only problem was that she had never had Starbucks experience before. She had plenty of management experience but not Starbucks, so she needed to be trained in order to manage effectively. I got the job of training her. While that is normally a fairly simple task to complete, my new manager had such a thick Bulgarian accent, it was very difficult for me to comprehend any questions that she would have about processes around the store. It proved to be significantly more difficult than I thought it would be because I needed help understand her questions. If I had either somebody that could understand what she was saying through her thick accent or a better way to effectively communicate while working would be have been great, because writing all of her questions would have been too time consuming and that also did not ensure that I would be able to read her handwriting.
ReplyDeleteI was helping a student with her algebra homework. She was learning the distributive law. I tried explaining it by showing her that you just take the number outside the parentheses and multiply it by each number. I showed her that with a problem like this: 3(x+3) it also equals 3x+9 because you multiply it to each one. She didn't understand that at all. I then showed her how it worked with just numbers and no variables. She still didn't get the concept. I even looked up ways to teach it to her on Google and it didn't help. I feel like if I had a video or something that was interactive to include in learning about it that it would have been helpful. Because then she could try the numbers and see what worked and what didn't. It would have been much more beneficial for her, especially since she had a test the next day. She seemed like she didn't know about anything that she was being tested on.I hated not being able to help her.
ReplyDeleteWhat a frustrating situation for both of you! I agree that some kind of interactive manipulative or video could have brought the concept to light for the student.
DeleteI work at a summer camp where I teach campers the rules when driving a boat and how to trouble shoot the boat before asking for assistance. Often times I found it very difficult to explain to the campers about on which side to pass other boats head on and which side to be when entering channels and exiting channels. This is especially hard when you are teaching some campers who have never even road on a boat before. When we were in the classroom it was hard to explain these rules since we only had a board and a marker. It would have been a lot easier to first take the campers on a boat ride, so they could see first hand, then go back to the classroom and add terminology to what they have seen.
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