Who needs GRAMMMAR?!

Some English speakers use the grammar properly, but in fact don’t know the main reason behind such usages. This goes back to what is subconsciously found in one’s mental knowledge. 

According to the “Grammaticality Judgment Task”,  I’d question students based on a rule I’d like to introduce them to. Let’s say the lesson is about Compound Words, I’d wear a raincoat and sunglasses and ask students to relate between the words that parallel with my outfit parts. After I point out what Compound words are, students would observe real world data (according to the Observational Adequate Grammar) and then consciously notice the syntactic structure of how words are formed and therefore learn it. This would result in the Parameterization of the word order and structure. 

So let’s say I’m discussing what Nouns are for grade 5, specifically Concrete Nouns, I’d highlight that it’s basically a person, place or thing. 
       After that I’d support them with sentences that have nouns, and based on the findings, students will have to illustrate nouns. When I’m dealing with abstract nouns, I’d try to make the concept concrete as possible. So for example, if I’m introducing them to the word Justice, I’d have the class act out a scenario of a court where there would be a victim and a burglar. Based on my questions of examples and non-examples, I’d highlight that the abstract word is a noun.  When it comes to Verbs, the easiest way to instruct it is to have students perform different actions in class. Charade playing is a good way to model verbs, after the word is guessed I’d point out that it’s an action and therefore it’s a verb. When it’s time to get introduced to the Adjective word class, I’d choose a student and then the rest of the class has to describe what they see in this chosen student. Based on their answers, I’d point out that what has been said are Adjectives. For the Prepositional Phrases, I’d bring an empty box with a ball and based on the ball’s position students will have to construct sentences. In each sentence, a preposition will definitely be used and as a response to that I’d have to point out that we use such functional words to unite words and ideas together. For the Adverbs, I’d teach students how to formulate the 3 WH- Helping Question “When-Where-How questions” that are related to the main action in the sentence. With reinforcement activities, not only would pupils develop the skill of selecting the word class but also they would also understand the profound usage of each.

Highlighting the concept of Plurality is pivotal as it affects not only the affix usages but also the verb classification with its proper subject. Just like the other functional categories, the plurality of nouns must be directly instructed. I’d do that by getting pictures of singular characters or objects and other pictures with numerous characters/objects. For each picture, students would have to spell the word that fits the picture. For the plural pictures, the –s block is added to the end of the word.

All in all, performing game-like activities while practicing grammar permits students to process the syntactic rule they’re dealing with and therefore turn it as an Innate part of their language’s grammar. This is what Chomsky explains in his “Universal Grammar Perspective”. That’s why it’s necessary to point out to the grammar aspects I discussed earlier. After all, when the speaker learns and practices the correct use of syntax it’s more likely to have the sent message clearer and therefore carry a comprehensible intent.

A Glimpse of "The Death of Reading in the Middle Eastern Arabic Countries"

    Studies have shown that reading is actually of very high rates in the West whereas in the Middle East, the reverse results are really astonishing.The Arab thought foundation’s Fikr has proven that children raised in an Arab country read for a total of six minutes per year while a child brought up in a western country reads for 12000 minutes. 

    It’s the fact that the Middle East has very few readers because unfortunately reading isn’t given the needed attention. Sadly, academic achievements are described as grand successes, reading articles are observed as grand failures between students in the Middle East countries. According to AbirBallan(2011), the Arab culture does not promote reading. The heartbreaking truth is revealed as parents don’t see the importance of reading to their children unless they are learning the alphabet. Specifically, these parents do not see that books need to be read for gratifying the fun needed by their children (Granados,2003).

    This topic was a major issue of a long report I was part of 2 years ago. To make a long story short, we supported our findings with discussions and surveys until we came up with a few solutions I'll be highlighting in the following recommendations:

1-      Follow the 4 sub skills to improve your comprehension skills as well as your motivation towards reading.

2-      As a teacher or a parent you play an essential role when it comes to build interest for reading to your kids or students.

3-      As a successful teacher follow the guided reading approach along with other approaches such as shared reading, reading aloud and independent reading. They are all indispensable approaches in literacy education.

4-      Choose the right kind of book to attract the reader’s attention.

5-      Engage children in joyful activities that are contextualized in the story’s domain. Such as: illustrating the story or acting it.

6-      Encourage people to apply to reading clubs.  

Resources: 

·         TahiraYaqoob. (2011). Why are so few reading Arabic books? Retrieved from The National World: http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/why-are-so-few-reading-arabic-books

·         ED.Gov. (2003). Activities -- Helping Your Child Become a Reader. Retrieved from U.S. Department of Education: http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/reader/part5.html

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How do Children Perceive and Comprehend Language?

     Since the dawn of history, it has been believed that there exists a process by which children develop the capacity to perceive and comprehend language in order to enable communication. Different theories emerged to prove how children actually acquire their first language. The controversial issue has been studied by the Behaviorist, The Innatist, and the Interactionalist/Developmental Theories.  

       All of the three perspectives are logical and open closed doors to have better understandings of language acquisition. I personally advocate the Interactionalist/Developmental Perspective as I view it as an amalgam of the other two theories, where it focuses on the child’s innate learning ability through cognitive developmental stages and the environment in which the child develops. With the assistance of this valid hypothesis I was able to understand how my cousin “Malak” acquired her English language as her mother spoke to her Portuguese in contrast to her father who spoke Arabic.

        Just like Skinner states due to the supportive interactive environment, Malak was able to advance in to higher levels of knowledge and performance in three different languages (Portuguese –Arabic-English). Malak who started speaking Portuguese at the age of 18 months acquired language so quickly due to the deep interaction with her mother in the early stages.  It first began when she started imitating her mother at the age of 2; Malak would say “Comida!Comida”  which meant “Food! Food” whenever she was hungry. Then she started assembling words and forming sentences in Portuguese. At the same time her father was speaking Arabic to her. But she decided to stick to Portuguese at the age of 2 with the use of some Arabic words. This was mostly because she spent most of her time with her mother who spoke Portuguese and listened to Portuguese songs out loud. This parallels with the Interactionist/Developmental Theory that agrees with the Behaviorist Perspective of how the environment plays a role in learning the language. As she entered Kindergarten at the age of 3 she started acquiring the English skills. She learned the basics in the English Language from school and peer interaction. This also portrays the fundamentality of the environment as a source of learning.

      When Malak hit the age of 4, her aunts who only spoke Arabic moved to their city.  The frequent interaction with her aunts and cousins allowed her to start forming Arabic sentences. This allowed her to master translation of Portuguese sentences into Arabic. Like her mother would tell her in Portuguese “Go call your father to come and have lunch” she would literally go to her father and cite her mother’s words but in Arabic. This linguistic potential indicates that Malak had the linguistic creativity that the Innatist Theory discussed where she was able to use her internal ability to deliver her mom’s message.

     Just like Piaget states, Malak’s first language (Portuguese) was acquired faster than her older brother where she partially understood the abstract time frame in the Concrete Operational Developmental Stage. For example, she wanted to go to the playground so her mother said “wait 5 minutes” , so she counted to five and said okay let’s go. Her mother then explained that 1 minute means counting to 60. So you have to count to 60 five times and we’ll move. After she finished counting, she was still confused why counting so many times is different from counting to 5.  This supports the developmental aspect of this perspective which highlights that if the child doesn’t cognitively understand a certain issue, he/she isn’t able to construct meaning related to this aspect.

       As a general conclusion, Malak is currently at the age of six who lives in a bilingual atmosphere where she speaks and understands the basic linguistic requirements in Portuguese, Arabic, and English.  Not to mention her brother who was only a year older didn’t acquire the skills Malak did. This proves that children acquire language differently because there exists diverse aspects related to the society and biology of the child’s cognitive development.

The Tassle was Worth the Hassle!

  As I reflect on every meaningful moment of my life, I can't help but relive the day I graduated from university with a Bachelor's degree in the field that interests me most, Teaching English as a Foreign Language. I remember living every moment of the day, enjoying it to its extreme with people who shared this mutual hassle with me, a hassle characterized by hard work, dedication and perseverance with those who I admire the most, my dear friends. Seeing all my classmates in the graduation gown was a gratitude to all of us and the instructors too, because we had all reached the highest rank of the skyscraper after three years of tough work. During the ceremony, my friend looked at me with tears in her eyes and said “Noor! We’re done… I can’t believe it’s all over”.  I held her hand and said “it’s the beginning InshaAllah and I’m sure the best is yet to come to all of us my darling”. It was a day where we took thousands of pictures; pictures of us friends, of us and the instructors and even with the Dean of the school of Education “Dr. Anwar AlKawtharani”. 

The second best part of this day was seeing all my family members actually attend the ceremony, I got a knot in my throat to see my father standing in his suit though of his ill case at that time. I remember hugging him tight and thanking him and Mama for all the support they’ve provided me with. Post to this drama was the dinner and prom party we stayed for. My Canadian cousins were all here for a quick vacation and were part of the prom which was a crazy blast no one would ever forget! 

What are my Ambitions and Expectations in Education?

I look at myself today in the mirror as a hiker who’s about to reach the peak of the mountain he/she had always dreamed of. Four  years  of being instructed on how to become a skillful educator and here I am today one step away from being in front of my actual students. I have learned that there’s no correct way for teaching, it’s just a matter of using diverse interesting approaches based on the setting I’m in. My learnings and acquisition from the school of Education have permitted me to aim my shot at locations I’ll be summing up in three:     

·         Inspiring students

·         Improving students

·         Facilitating mastery of the educating field 

 My first aim as a future educator falls at being Inspirational.  The word Inspiration itself signifies the first building block of any role model. Inspiration doesn’t appear out of nowhere, it takes great effort to have students interested in the educator and his/her educating approach. That’s why I suppose my inspirational goal requires me entering my future classes with my “enthusiastic” hat since my energy is said to be contagious to students. The second part of being an inspirational role model would necessitate me to incorporate interactive game-like activities to the target lesson. Integrating students’ performances within my lesson plans surely helps their passion to stand out towards my educating approach and therefore the material itself. The last part of being inspirational requires showing students the meaning of motivation and the intrinsic reward of accomplishment they achieve in the end. 

In addition, I assume my second goal in educating students would be improving them. In other words, I don’t think it’s sufficient to enter the class cover the curriculum, grade students and leave. I believe it’s much more than the traditional teaching. Honestly, my purpose in education lies on making a difference in students. Having this impact on the learners would require me assisting struggling learners to perform better by giving them the extra attention of mine even when if it’s going to be in recess times.  The second part of improvement would be modeling students by teaching them the strategies of accomplishing long-term goals in both academic and personal contexts. After all, having students as magisterial members in the society stems from what has been instilled in them in the classrooms starting from grade one till they graduate high school.

Furthermore, I believe the last superordinate title of my educating purpose would be facilitating mastery of the education field. Smoothening the educating field would definitely stem from my years of experience with students. But I can ensure that adding to the body of “how to perfect educating” requires any novice and even experienced educators to take students’ backgrounds into consideration before looking at the target academic material. Knowing the students first in terms of their age, cognitive, emotional and linguistic abilities is pivotal enough to achieve 6o% of the educational success. The remaining 40% is ensured by altering the target subject-matter to suite learners’ interests.

As a general conclusion, I come to rise expectations about my future educating journey positively through having a first impression of “the best out of my students is yet to come”. Being optimistic about my students is key to make educating successful. In particular, I truly have faith that every learner in my classroom will benefit and grow in knowledge due to my effort. I do promise myself that I will be able to achieve my three teaching goals through hard-work and perseverance. My positive expectation will allow me to believe that each day I will get better in what I’m doing. Even when challenges pay me a visit, I should be strong enough to fight them back. My positive prospect will definitely have me interact with students via my gentle attitude no matter how slow the learners are. In the end, choosing my expectations to be positive eases not just my educating role, but also students’ victory in both academic and nonacademic contexts.