Wellcome to Getting to know Ecuador

After twenty years of ELT experience, this Ecuadorian educator has dared to produce an original material that combines meaningful English language learning with authentic language production. My proposal is a Social Studies of Ecuador textbook.

Through content-based readings, the textbook Getting to Know Ecuador empowers students with key language about the country’s geography, ecological resources, main historical events, oral tradition, and tourist potential. Reading complements are the inter-active sections of assessment, language practice, and projects. The book provides reference information of irregular verbs grouped in a phonological pattern, transitional words and phrases, a vocabulary glossary for each chapter, and a bibliography of main and secondary sources for the Social Studies and Language areas.

Getting to Know Ecuador has a great visual impact. Its full color edition traps the reader’s attention. Beyond attraction, the material transports the reader to an easy to follow narrative of the unit contents. I advise teachers to handle the Reading Section applying techniques such as skimming and scanning. Highlighting main ideas and key vocabulary allows students to return to the text for concrete reference in the inter-active sections that come later. The fact that the information is real, not foreign or fictitious generates interest and values such as respect and love for the country’s heritage.

The suggestive colorful design of the three interactive sections invites the class to reinforce and develop language command. The assessment part provides diagrams, maps, drawings, picture description, matching items, and sentence, paragraph and/or essay production. For language development, the proposed exercises go from low intermediate to advanced language command. The activities expand on completing maps, vocabulary definitions; solving puzzles; matching synonyms with antonyms; recognizing root words, prefixes and suffixes; visualizing correct spelling; classifying words by pronunciation patterns; describing pictures; correcting mistakes; completing diagrams and/or concept maps, inferring information from posters, and traditional activities like answering information questions, sentence building, and supporting arguments.

The third interactive section has the least colorful presentation but is, by far, most enjoyable. The theory of Learning Styles is the basis for the design of the Projects proposal. The learners are free to choose a project to show to their classmates what they have to say about that unit of the book. The author provides projects for every learning style. In other words, the bodily kinesthetic finds a perfect niche in activities like games or role-plays. The logical-mathematical may design charts explaining the structure of historical constructions or inventing mechanisms to prevent natural disasters. The visual-spatial creates videos or collages. The linguistic can produce poems or speeches. The musically inclined composes songs or gives expositions with background music. The interpersonal takes pleasure in preparing dramas and the enactment of historical events. The intrapersonal works out power-point expositions or writes electronic texts to civil rights or ecological movements. Finally, the naturalist may expose a legend connected with the geography or ecology of the country; or prepare a campaign to protect the country’s natural reserves.

Some 80 seniors studying at Pensionado Universitario, a high school located in Quito, Ecuador, are the proud performers of this meaningful approach to language learning. During the 2003-2004 school year, under the guidance of two different teachers, they produced works like: “Wanted” posters, clay models of historical ruins, audio cassettes with weather forecasts, puppets to retell legends, bingo cards matching provinces with typical food meals or folkloric events, role-plays of historical episodes, power-point expositions of territorial treaties, charts with the biography of great Ecuadorians, sight-seeing brochures, musical production of songs, video elaboration; and, just about any kind of artistic manifestation of the country’s rich geography, history, art, oral tradition and tourism. The students are registering some of these works as intellectual property that will shortly be available in the market. A practical way of promoting competitive students, wouldn’t you agree?

The use of Getting to Know Ecuador has fostered authenticity and purpose inside the English class. The project puts into practice the principles of meaningful learning, communicative teaching, cooperative learning, interdisciplinary syllabus, development of competences, among other pedagogic principles.

The six units of the book end with a list of 10 projects. The class reads them and the teacher verifies comprehension of each proposal. It is important to allow students to choose the project they identify with. There may be students asking for modifications and teachers must be flexible to understand the proposal and suggest needed adjustments.

From the beginning, teachers need to agree with the class on procedures such as research, material preparation, deadlines, and evaluation rubric. Then group designates a coordinator and a secretary. Once the students choose what to do and assign responsibilities, they make a list of sources of information. The Bibliography at the end of the book is a good reference. Teachers advise students on additional reference based on the notes from the textbook Guide. Publications, names of community scholars, institutions, and radio programs are the usual primary sources for this research phase.

After gathering the needed information, the students outline how they will deliver their exposition; that is, with a chart or a collage, a game, a poem, a song, a postcard contest,an audio-recording, a video clipping, a role-play, a power point exposition, or any of the other possibilities. The secretary writes a draft of what every student will do for teacher approval.

The next step is to bring in material to class. At this stage, coloring pencils, crayons, modeling clay, cardboard, recycling material like magazines, paper dolls, costumes, and such become frequent companions. There are several advantages to preparing material in class. The main one is that you verify that the material is authentic because the students are producing it. The other one is the excitement it fosters. An atmosphere of “healthy competition” prevails in the environment. Every group strives to do its best and everyone gets involved. In the preparation of the projects, all the students are busy preparing their investigation, translating the main information, practicing the correct pronunciation, verifying grammar accuracy of drafts, rehearsing how to act in front of an audience, creating visual material, and many more life-time experiences that ensure lasting language command.

While the groups prepare material, the students talk about how they will deliver their exposition. The person who assumes the role of secretary writes down the text of the presentation. Before submitting the exposition draft to the teacher, the group members review and make corrections. When the teacher returns the paper, the students correct mistakes and then the exposition preparation starts. Every one practices how to perform the role assigned. At this stage, peer correcting is most profitable and productive.

Most of the projects proposed aim at group work, but not all. The intrapersonal learner enjoys working alone. There are options for this kind of student. The rest of the class usually gets together with friends to form groups. I encourage my class to work in groups of three or four so that everyone becomes actively involved. However, if they choose to role-play a talk show or do a dramatization, a larger number of participants may be required.

It is advisable that the class agrees on the evaluation criteria applicable to this work. The rubric below has proven to be effective. It registers preparation details, which are not graded; allows for group grade on exposition material; and brings individual assessment for the exposition delivery.

PROJECTS PREPARATION AND EVALUATION RUBRIC
1. IDENTIFICATION DATA:
UNIT No.		PROJECT No
Project description:

Coordinator:		Secretary
Members:
2.RESEARCH:
bibliographic resources :

Personal references:

3. PREPARATION:
Draft deadline:		Description of exposition material :

4. EXPOSITION MATERIAL GRADE
5. EXPOSITION DELIVERY EVALUATION:

NAME QUESTION	CONTENT	FLUENCY	ACCURACY	TEAMWORK







OBSERVATIONS:

Once the material and the expositions are ready, the groups take turns to share their work with: classmates, teachers, school friends, authorities, and sometimes visitors like parents and outside friends. It is not always easy to agree on who goes first. Let’s face it, standing in front of a class and addressing an audience, in a non-native language, generates fear. Some groups experience less stage fright than others do. Teachers should recommend the most confident learners to go first. Another strategy that has proven worthwhile is to announce a second opportunity to the first turn.

While the expositions are underway, there is total interest from classmates. Values like empathy and respect encourage the expositors to go on. Sometimes the teacher asks questions or suggests to the auditorium to make questions about the content. The presentation ends with a positive comment about the students’ work in terms of content and overall performance.

The experience lived at Pensionado Universitario in Quito, Ecuador, reveals a community of learners with a renewed civic spirit and a strong cultural identity. The students have practiced how to speak about their country in the English language without the elements of fear or alienation. At the same time, they are now empowered to produce competent commercial proposals that boost their personal economy and thus become future productive Ecuadorians. In addition, the real experience of group organization has turned them into potential leaders that will be able to propose, in a not too distant future, alternatives to the countless social problems the country faces.

This approach turns students into the real protagonists of their learning. At last, it is possible to develop linguistic competence through meaningful, authentic material.

I strongly recommend teachers, all over the world, to consider the production of a similar proposal about their country and about their culture. It is a challenging task, but it is absolutely rewarding.