#studentagency

[conceptualliteratureblog]

Language Profiles: student agency & multilingualism

This post is relevant either to language A/B teachers or to educators looking at whole school literacy implementation ideas.  

Thank you, Yi Shen (Sandy) for showing me the power of a language profile in our workshop in Hong Kong (Sha Tin College, September 2017)!  This is something any of you can try with your teaching staff or your classrooms to make language a truly dynamic part of the learning process at your school and help people become aware of the power and challenges that come with personal language knowledge.  

Some schools will already have a language profile for each student.  Often, this only lists the home language(s) and level of English (or language of instruction) of the student.  We can do more!  Also, sometimes the level of English listed is from an application filled out by parents trying to impress the school.  Find out where the information comes from to really understand what it means.  Essentially, there are many ways to get more information that can help gain knowledge for the student’s personalised learning strategies, but likely the best person to create this portfolio is the student, at least in secondary schools.

In order to understand how this works for students, try to do it yourself:

Think back to your infant development and schooling: what is your language story?  Where and when did you learn language(s)? What dialects do you speak?  What slang do you know?  Especially if you live away from where you grew up, this dynamic has probably changed over the years.  Even if you only speak English, you have probably had exposure to different kinds of English and use a certain type with friends, family, and students.  You probably also at one point learned a second language in school.  What was this experience of language learning like for you?  What excites you about (other) languages?  What scares you?  How does language give you power?  How does it make you powerless?

There will probably be a wide range of responses to these questions from colleagues and students alike.  Sharing your language story with a colleague or two can help you to express what language is for you and to have empathy for others who may find difficulty with language.

Try drawing a map of the language(s) you use today.  With whom and for what purposes do you speak different languages, dialects, or slang?  Maybe your register simply shifts; that is ok as well. Maybe you speak some languages for fun and others out of a need.  

I was raised an anglophone.  Hailing from Boston, I avoided the accent and local dialect due to the nature of the transplant and immigrant town of Lexington that I grew up in.  My parents came from Minnesota and Texas, and each had lived in Boston since just after their university years.  We had a blended American English at home.

My mom also studied French extensively at school, so when I started lessons at age 7 in our school system, the fit felt natural.  Half of my mom’s family is French and with Québec not that far away, schools in the area at that time all taught French to students as a ‘second’ language.  I took French all through grade school until the AP exam when I feel out of love with the language.  Suddenly, I had teachers who just cared about correctness and memorisation rather than taking us to see the Impressionist exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts or teaching us how to make crepes.  The joy was killed.

So at university, I took Spanish for a year.  It was fun, but I wasn’t quite in love with it the same way.  And then there were all those other courses on the syllabus and I wanted to double major…so…no language B study for a couple of years.  But then, Latin the last year.  I had wanted to take Latin as a first-year but my advisor said it was a dead language.  What was the point?  I found the grammatical structures a fun puzzle and our tiny class of five a fun classical oasis.  

After college, I went straight into my MAT to earn a teaching degree.  I hadn’t studied abroad like so many US students mostly because of sport with the plan to somehow do it later.  My MAT programme allowed you to do your student teaching abroad, but you had to find the school.  It was much of the reason I had chosen the program.  

I had decided I wanted to give French a go again.  After writing to many schools in Switzerland and France, I finally got a positive response from the Lycée International American Section director, just outside of Paris.  Paris!  What a dream.  They wouldn’t pay me, of course, but I could work with several of their teachers and live with one of the school’s families in exchange for some babysitting and tutoring.  

That year was bliss.  But I could digress for ages about my love affair with Paris…back to the language!  I had to take intensive French courses again as part of my visa.  It was also a great way to meet people from other places.  I had very good, slow, correct French, I was told time and again.  But it was slow.  Part of culture is how you speak, and the French, at least the Parisians, don’t like to speak slowly.  I was given the advice to just spit it out and not worry about my mistakes.  So I did that, time and again, until I felt comfortable in French.  I felt like a different part of my personality came out in French.  

Fast forward three years: I had moved back to the states and then to Italy.  My French proved very useful in learning Italian and the locals were even more encouraging about just trying the language out.  Within a few months, I was comfortably having conversations.  Sadly, a lot of that is lost now after more than a decade without much exposure, but I think I could reclaim it in a month or so if given the opportunity.  

Similarly, when I moved to Hong Kong, I took Mandarin Chinese lessons.  But though I loved it, I found it difficult to practice the language in a place that is mostly Cantonese and English.  Cantonese was trickier to learn and ‘not as useful’ once you move away.  I never knew how long I would stay…if I had known it would be eight years, I probably would have learned right away.  In any case, learning some Chinese helped me to at least understand what it’s about and is something I would go back to as well with a longer stay in the mainland or again in Hong Kong.  

I kept up the French, though, with long, frequent stays in France, lots of films, and a long-term French beau along the way.  Now, I have friends with whom I speak French in Vienna, I read in French when I can, and I have that dream of living there….

But most of my life is still lived in English.  I’ve learned some German living in Vienna.  I took a class and did some self study.  But there’s always that time factor, and I decided to have a baby and do some writing instead.  Maybe I’ll go back to it.  Let’s see how things shape up in a year or two.  The little I’ve learned is certainly helpful and shows a sort of respect in trying, I think.  When I travel I also like to learn a few phrases for this reason.  We who speak English are privileged to have the ‘international language’ at our fingertips.  But we are only denying ourselves if we limit the other languages we can learn.  

Now I also have a baby boy who is learning language every day.  We speak American and British English at home.  We try not to swear around him.  I sometimes speak with him in French.  He will attend a mostly German speaking nursery school soon.  It makes more me aware of how and why we learn these languages.

That’s my language story in brief.  I’m sure you can find links with geography, emotions, work, and more to understand even more where it all comes from.  I have students with much more dynamic backgrounds.  Some speak three languages at home with their parents, a different one at school (English), take a foreign language, and speak in some kind of multilingual slang with their friends. When students go through their language journeys, their stories, they find ways to use language for learning.  They acquire agency.  In asking teachers to also go through the process, they can connect with the student’s learning as they make reflections on their own journeys, connected also to emotion, place, people…the list goes on. These associations help us understand the way we use languages as well as our motivations or fears connected to language.  

One of my students studying three language A at school (English, German, Italian) for a trilingual diploma (wow!) conducted her Extended Essay research on the topic of multilingualism and cognition.  She narrowed it to bilingualism since little research has been done beyond this, even though, as she noted, many people speak more than two languages.  She always felt her languages were a hindrance, which really shocked me.  Most of the recent research I had read showed the cognitive power of having more than one language.  This is why so many people try to get their kids in immersion programs if there is only one language at home.  She was aware of this, but sometimes felt like words escaped her or she couldn’t understand something she read.  She realised that even though she reads a lot, the time is divided among these three languages. Her vocabulary development could be limited in that way.  Research supported this, but this was the only area she found to be a hindrance.  The way she uses language can be more creative and the development of her brain allows for code switching that goes beyond language and into experiences.

Are any of you doing research in this area?  I would be interested to hear about any current work with multilingual speakers and happy to post a link to your published work on my blog.  

[studentcenteredworld]

🙌🏼 . . Posted @withrepost • @the_pedagogy_project Thought for the day... Thank you @subversive.thread for challenging our thinking as teachers. #teacher #students #studentvoice #studentagency #teachingandlearning #studentcenteredlearning #inquiry #collectiveefficacy #collectiveresponsibility https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ysZj4h06h/?igshid=1pvmj5vjv4i2t

[superbeducationhighschoolfish]

College Multihexa is now open for the May 2022 intake! Learn about the ACS Programmer-Analyst (LEA.1A) Program here: https://multihexa.ca/international/ Send us an email to secure a slot today! 📧:international@multihexa.ca #CollegeMultihexa #CollegeMultihexaCanada #studyinCanada #Saguenay #studyinQuebec #internationalstudents #internationaleducation #ITSchoosinCanada #EnrollNow #May2022Intake #StudentRecruitment #StudentAgents #analystprogrammer https://www.instagram.com/otuapem.odame/p/CYs4-WvoZJ7/?utm_medium=tumblr

[mementokorie]

the girls* are fightinggggg**

*interdisciplinary PhD programs **for my hand in studentage

[carolmorgan]

Výběr agentury a proces přihlášení

Poté, co jsem se pevně rozhodla pro práci Au pair, mě čekal první závazný krok -> výběr a návštěva agentury. V merku jsem měla dvě agentury - CoolAgent a Student agency. Na obě jsem našla, jak kladné, tak i záporné recenze. Stejně tak to bylo i s partnerskými agenturami v USA (AuPairCare - APC, Cultural care - CC, InterExchange - IE). Nakonec jsem zvolila Student Agency, bylo to na doporučení a hlavně behěm měsíce června měli slevu 350$. Vzhledem k tomu, že bylo 11. června jsem neotálela a hned druhý den jsem šla do agentury (Pražská pobočka) zjistit co a jak. Paní byla velmi milá. Vše mi trpělivě vysvětlovala a ubezpečila mě, že si to můžu kdykoli rozmyslet. Ukázala mi obě jejich partnerské agentury (InterExchange a AuPairCare - tu jsem si zvolila). Ještě než jsem vyšla z Agentury, už jsem měla na emailu odkaz pro registraci. Po prvním přihlášení na webu jsem se pustila do vyplňování profilu. Je to dost zdlouhavé a mě tlačil čas, protože ta akce (-350$) trvala jen do 26.6..

V první části přihlášky vyplňujete cca. pět otázek o sobě. Proč jste se rozhodli být Au Pair, jaké jsou vaše zájmy, jaké aktivity byste chtěli s dětmi dělat atd…Tyto informace později doplníte o zkušenosti s řízením a dosaženým vzděláním. Další část je o zkušenostech s dětmi. U APC musíte doložit nejméně dvě reference, které souvisí s dětmi a jednu osobní. Reference si píšete vy sami - napíšete jaké děti jste hlídali, jaké aktivity jste s nimi dělali, jaké další činnosti jste v rámci hlídaní dělali atd. Mějte na paměti, že tyto reference nesmí být z rodiny, takže hlídání sourozenců se počítá jako refernce navíc. Referenti jsou poté kontaktováni agenturou přes email, ve kterém je pár kontrolních otázek. Rozhodně se připravte na to, že agentura si určitě aspoň jednu referenci obvolá a pak už záleží jen na slečně/pánovi jak moc se bude vyptávat. Jako další budete muset nahrát min. 10 fotografií, kde jste s dětmi a v neposlední řadě video o Vás - něco jako osobní medailonek. V tom se meze nekladou a je jen na Vás, jak to uchopíte. Vzhledem k tomu, že se tvorbě videa věnuji aktivně, byl to můj asi nejmenší problém a zvládla jsem ho natočit a sestříhat během jednoho dne. !!!Kdyby kdokoli potřeboval nějak poradit či pomoci s tvorbou vašeho videa, rozhodně se nebojte mě kontaktovat na do inboxu nebo na email - sedlackova.karolina@gmail.com - ráda s čímkoli pomůžu!!!

Po této písemné části, musíte obejít doktora, kvůli potvrzení a dále pak zajít na poštu pro výpis z rejstříku trestů. Až tohle všechno oběhnete, agentura si Vás pozve na interview. To celé probíhá v angličtině a cílem je zjistit jestli jste vhodný kandidát. Odpovídáte na celkem běžné otázky jako jak byste si představovala svoji ideální rodinku, jestli vám bude po někom smutno a dál se dostáváte k otázkám typu “Jak byste se zachovala v situaci, kdy jste s dětmi na hřišti a jedno spadne z houpačky?”. Celé to trvá cca. 30 minut. Cestou k východu se ještě musíte zastavit na recepci a zaplatit poplatek agentuře (SA - 2 500,-).

Pak už vás čeká poslední krok co se týče přihlášky a tím je psychologický online test. Je to soubor cca 50 otázek, které Vás mají za úkol charakterizovat. Nic složitého, spíše jsem v tomhle zaškrtávání nerozhodná :D. Když už tohle všechno máte za sebou, přihláška se uzavře a odešle se ke schválení americkou agenturou.

[bepotato1015]

［小樹人在布拉格］ 首先要同所有私訊小樹嘅朋友講聲唔好意思，因為我人在東歐旅行中，所以大家問我問題嘅時間正係呢度嘅深宵時份😬如果我未訓醒答你問題的話請多多包涵🙇🙇🙇 小樹前晚由維也納過境布拉格，由於奉行慳返多少嘅宗旨，選擇咗搭Student Agency 嘅通宵巴士💁‍♂️，貪可以book少一晩酒店同慳返時間可以一到埗就去玩😉結果雖然都成功做到慳錢慳時間，不過就辛苦少少咁囉😅 事源Student Agency 嘅車隊其實都係一般旅遊巴，有廁所去、有USB頭充電、有小食賣，但位置窄窄地，只能輕輕靠後，加上全程車有外國少女不停係我前面同司機搭訕，其實都幾嘈的（不過trust me，你會想有人keep住司機清醒嘅🙊）所以就唔係好啱訓覺嘅🤔不過小樹係四個半鐘車程都訓到一大半，感覺唔叫太差👌🏻 11.9歐元起有交易，比較起嚟，火車又貴好多又要轉車仲要車程長好多，所以俾我再揀我都會再選擇搭巴士💪🏻 傳送門： https://www.studentagency.eu/en/ #慳返多少去旅行 #維也納 #布拉格 #深宵巴士 #Studentagency #regiojet #vienna #prague #wien #praha #midnightbus （在 Autobusové nádraží Praha Florenc）

[susanetalks]

Your eyes set fire to my soul. Your hands set fire to my skin. Your words set fire to my mind. Every part of me is blushing and burning from you💋 The hardest thing was to let you go on board... Wish you luck my darling and cannot wait to see you again soon🔜 Love you💋 @jancincibus ____________ #love #mylove #curlyboy #nervous #brave #ginger #moments #couple #youandme #totenpes #hippiekids #moonkids #wildchild #prague #london #life #bestrong #missyou #soulmate #studentagency #seeya (v místě Autobusové nádraží Praha Florenc)

[minkyasarin]

#aesthetic #aestheticpost #aestheticphoto #trainstation #blue #regiojet #studentagency #olomouc

[conceptualliteratureblog]

Hodder Education Blog Post: Student choice, Agency, and Co-Design in Language A

Part of developing the voices of our students is in listening to the topics or texts they want to study.  Student choice on your syllabus will not only motivate your students to read but will also help the entire classroom, including yourself, hear new perspectives.  Even if students are choosing from a set of topics or texts you have pre-selected, the reasons they vote on particular items help us to understand the children better and allow us to see the matrix of our selections in a different way.  

You can build student choice into your course in a variety of ways.  This is something I address at several points in the IB DP Language A concept-based learning book.  In this recent post on Hodder’s blog, I discuss these aspects.  It is also something we can work on together in a workshop or through consultation.  This is just one of many ways to make the learning in your classroom more relevant, dynamic, and fun.  

[silkwithoutskin]

#studentag

[timlauer]

Favorite tweets

@JoriKrulder Meaningful learning. https://t.co/ANLYTns82z #edtech #edchat #edreform #edpolicy #edcolo #suptchat #edadmin #k12 #coronalearn #coronaedu #deeperlearning #futureready #studentagency #stuvoice #4shifts

— Scott McLeod (@mcleod) Jul 10, 2021

from http://twitter.com/mcleod via IFTTT

[superbeducationhighschoolfish]

College Multihexa welcomes you to the May 2022 intake! Enroll in any of our in demand programs now! -ACS Programmer-Analyst (LEA.1A) Program -ACS Network Manager (LEA.1B) Program Learn more about each program here: https://multihexa.ca/international/ #CollegeMultihexa #CollegeMultihexaCanada #studyinCanada #Saguenay #studyinQuebec #internationalstudents #internationaleducation #ITSchoolsinCanada #EnrollNow #May2022Intake #StudentRecruitment #StudentAgents #AnalystProgrammer #networkmanagers https://www.instagram.com/p/CYl-zv_It99/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rahul-tiwary]

The Karnataka government resumed online classes for students studying in classes 8, 9 and 10 in government schools from July 1st. But, what is appalling is that nearly 40% of students in classes 1 to 10, still don’t have access to the online classes due to the lack of a device, no internet and inaccessibility to a TV or radio. Karnataka has over one crore children who are enrolled in classes 1 to 10 as of this academic year. As per the Department of Public Instruction, there are a total of 93 lakh students who are registered to attend the online classes, but close to 38 lakh students are disadvantaged. Data accessed by Mirror Now shows that a whopping 31 lakh students don't have access to smartphones, while 8.6 lakh don't have access to a TV or radio. . . . Like ❤️ Save 🔐 Share ⬆️ and Comment 💌 . . . Do let me know what do you think in the comments below . Follow ➡️@techpix96 Follow ➡️@techpix96 Follow ➡️@techpix96 . . . #india #karnataka #bangalore #onlineclasses #onlineeducation #studentsinindia #internet #onlineeducationplatform #onlineeducationns #onlineplatforms #onlinestudies #studentslifematters #basiceducation #internetmeme #studentquote #studentwellbeing #studentempowerment #studentresults #studentteachstudent #studentyears #studentunity #studentinspiration #techpix #technews #studentneeds #studentpage #studentagency #studentshelpingstudents #studentday #studentgroup (at New Delhi, India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ-ZgN6j7A0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[revolutionradioaustralia]

Finché c'e' Visa c'è Speranza - Episodio 1

[secretfestivalstudentme-blog]

карловы вары маршруты прогулок Карловы Вары достопримечательности, маршруты прогулок, выезды в окрестности

Пока точно в Локет съездим (может и не один раз), прочитала что еще в Брно прямые автобусы из Вар едут, может туда. Карловы Вары: достопримечательности, маршруты прогулок, выезды в окрестности. Здравствуйте бывалые путешественники! Помогите пожалуйста спланировать отдых в Карловых Варах, еду с сестрой и пожилой мамой, основная задача - отдых и лечение, но хочется как-то более плодотворно время провести. Поэтому вопросы по окрестностям, которые стоит посетить. Экскурсий из КВ много, но как всегда, хочется узнать мнение бывалых, а то в рекламе все красиво. Также очень важно, насколько утомительна в физическом плане та или иная экскурсия. Обязательно поедем в Прагу, но без экскурсий, своим ходом. С экскурсиями были там 3 года назад. И самый главный вопрос - они едут с организованным туром и трансфером, я прилетаю к ним сама, без тура. Объясните пожалуйста (на пальцах, для человека с топографическим кретинизмом) как удобнее добраться из аэропорта Рузине в Праге до Карловых вар. Где в аэропорту поменять деньги и где искать автобусную остановку. Если есть знатоки Карловых вар, то как от остановки в Карловых варах добраться до отеля Венус-насколько это близко-далеко, можно ли дойти пешком, или надо расчитывать на такси. Объясните пожалуйста (на пальцах, для человека с топографическим кретинизмом) как удобнее добраться из аэропорта Рузине в Праге до Карловых вар. На автобусе studentagency 320 крон туда-обратно. Билет лучше бы купить заранее https://jizdenky.studentagency.cz/?1, от Praha, Letiště Václava Havla. Только билет лучше брать с запасом от времени прилёта. Так как если самолёт задержится и вы опоздаете на автобус, то на следующий вас посадят только при условии наличия свободных мест и покупки нового билета.... Посмотреть подробнее

[distinguishedblizzardtimema-blog]

карловы вары что посмотреть в окрестностях Карловы Вары достопримечательности, маршруты прогулок, выезды в окрестности

Сложные маршруты с пересадками точно не потянем, утомительно для мамы прежде всего. Карловы Вары: достопримечательности, маршруты прогулок, выезды в окрестности. Здравствуйте бывалые путешественники! Помогите пожалуйста спланировать отдых в Карловых Варах, еду с сестрой и пожилой мамой, основная задача - отдых и лечение, но хочется как-то более плодотворно время провести. Поэтому вопросы по окрестностям, которые стоит посетить. Экскурсий из КВ много, но как всегда, хочется узнать мнение бывалых, а то в рекламе все красиво. Также очень важно, насколько утомительна в физическом плане та или иная экскурсия. Обязательно поедем в Прагу, но без экскурсий, своим ходом. С экскурсиями были там 3 года назад. И самый главный вопрос - они едут с организованным туром и трансфером, я прилетаю к ним сама, без тура. Объясните пожалуйста (на пальцах, для человека с топографическим кретинизмом) как удобнее добраться из аэропорта Рузине в Праге до Карловых вар. Где в аэропорту поменять деньги и где искать автобусную остановку. Если есть знатоки Карловых вар, то как от остановки в Карловых варах добраться до отеля Венус-насколько это близко-далеко, можно ли дойти пешком, или надо расчитывать на такси. Объясните пожалуйста (на пальцах, для человека с топографическим кретинизмом) как удобнее добраться из аэропорта Рузине в Праге до Карловых вар. На автобусе studentagency 320 крон туда-обратно. Билет лучше бы купить заранее https://jizdenky.studentagency.cz/?1, от Praha, Letiště Václava Havla. Только билет лучше брать с запасом от времени прилёта. Так как если самолёт задержится и вы опоздаете на автобус, то на следующий вас посадят только при условии наличия свободных мест и покупки нового билета.... Посмотреть подробнее