June 15, Thursday

Good stories about your parents' early life!

Remember, "When" is not just a question, but an indication of time:

• When I was a boy, ...
• When the movies finishes, I will...

Tomorrow (Friday )
LAST DAY! I'll bring some cheapie pizzas (Pizza Bingo) and Mr Go will arrange for someone to bring three big bottles (1.5 liter) of drinks, plus 10 cups.

Wednesday June 14

Surprise! Only two men here today!

Today
Lots of little side-topics today
Be creative when talking about possible futures (the year 2050).

Answering a question that came up -- the cost of tuition & required fees at university in USA (not including housing, books, food, health insurance, etc)

1. Here at Keimyung U -- about 9,000,000 won per year

2. At UCLA (a state school)

- for California residents -- 14,200,000 won per year *

- for US Citizens from other states, or foreigners -- 41,700,000 won per year

3. At California Polytechnic University Pomona (a state school)

- for California residents -- 5,400,000 won per year *

- for US Citizens from other states, or foreigners -- 18,600,000 won per year

4. At USC (Southern California, a private school) -- 48,000,000 won per year

5. At University of Redlands (a private school) -- 38,100,000 won per year

• (fees for California residents have gone up ALOT in the past three years because of a budget crisis)

Tomorrow

• My father's life (his childhood, his stories, etc)
• Seasons (talking about time of year, what you do or think and...)

June 13 (Tuesday)

We need to be "ready" in class, you shouldn't be surprised when I ask you the same question others are answering! It's all related to the topic.

Today
Good job talking about comparing schools. I'm surprised you don't know more about other schools, though. Less good talking about movies.

Tomorrow (Wednesday)

• Homework (does it help you learn, who gives alot, etc)
• 2050 -- let's talk about life in the future, yours, and the society

June 12, Monday

We can't continue to have so many students coming so late. Starting tomorrow, I will take attendance at 15 minutes past 1, and not here is "absent."

Today
Folks had a hard time talking about "worst general studies class." Music seemed less difficult.

Remember, think about the topic first (in Korean?) then worry about how to say it. This two-step process is your homework. Sometimes we might change what we want to talk about (content) if it is too hard to say in English. But when you are preparing for class (doing homework) you have time, so think about the best (genuine) things you hope to say, before worrying about how to say it.

Words to remember

• Best / Worst
• Most / Least

Tomorrow (Tuesday)

• Recent Movies
• Comparing Keimyung U to other schools (my friends say...)

June 12, Monday

June 9 2010 (Friday)

Sorry I'm late to post this. Busy day yesterday (make-up class, then working in office til midnight, then working Saturday until noon -- research!)

Today (Friday)
Nice job today. The Pub was fun for the make-up class.

Tomorrow (Monday)

• Music
• Best and Worst Required Classes (교양필수)

Combining Language and Ideas

Combining Language and Ideas, Challenges for Language Learners


Thinking or learning new ideas ("cognition") is hard enough for anyone, but then we add the problem of a difficult language and it makes things much harder. Your mental "computer" is "multi-tasking," working harder. The "cognitive demand" is increasing.

When language teachers add "thinking" or "learning new ideas" as part of the language class, we call this "content-based instruction" (CBI) or "content and language integrated learning" (CLIL).

Language teaching experts have divided the kinds of English skills people have into two classes, BICS (basic interpersonal communicative skills, ordinary talk between people), and CALP (cognitive academic language processing, the kind of language you need when you are learning or talking about school materials or difficult subjects (Cummins, 1979). CALP requires both higher content demand (thinking about content) and higher language demand (harder vocabulary, more advanced forms of grammar).

This description of language is true whether we are reading, listening, writing, or speaking.

As you can see in the second image, because your mental computer can only do so much (we have "cognitive limits"), as the content becomes more difficult, or we think harder about the ideas (cognitive demand), then we need to reduce how much we do with language. And the reverse is also true. If we concentrate on language (being perfectly accurate, or using vocabulary or grammar that we don't know very well), then to do our best learning, we need to decrease the other. This is the "Ideal Cognitive Load" for languge study. It's true for native-speakers as well.

If we try to concentrate (learn or use) language and content that is above our comfort zone, we feel "grief" or frustration (and get tired) and make more mistakes with the language. When learning (practicing) languge, if the language and ideas are too easy, we get bored. (These ideas are based on Csikszentmihalyi, 1997.)

Of course, if we are stressed (anxiety) or tired or have cross-cultural issues that we have to think about or get stressed about, then everything gets even harder!

R. Dickey, July 2010.