{"id":3720,"date":"2012-12-09T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T07:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eltweekly.com\/elt-newsletter\/?p=3720"},"modified":"2012-12-09T07:00:47","modified_gmt":"2012-12-09T07:00:47","slug":"vol-4-issue-50-eric-roths-esl-tip-videotaping-helps-esl-students-recognize-their-good-mistakes-and-learn-from-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/?p=3720","title":{"rendered":"Vol. 4 Issue 50 \u2013 Eric Roth's ESL Tip: Videotaping Helps ESL Students Recognize Their Good Mistakes \u2013 and Learn from Them!"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#50 | December 10, 2012 |\u00a0ISSN 0975-3036<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

How do you help your ESL students recognize their errors in speaking English? What techniques do you use to make their mistakes \u201cpsychologically real\u201d to them?<\/p>\n

One technique I\u2019ve found effective may seem rather counter-intuitive: encourage them!<\/p>\n

This unorthodox teaching idea has recently attracted some welcome attention..\u00a0Larry Ferlazzo<\/a>, the award-winning ESL blogger and author of\u00a0Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Approaches to Classroom Challenges<\/a>,\u00a0 wrote an illuminating\u00a0post<\/a>on how he is experimenting with \u201ccelebrating mistakes\u201d in his high school ESL class.<\/p>\n

While I have never consciously \u201ccelebrated\u201d mistakes, I do consistently encourage students to make \u201cgood mistakes\u201d, defined as natural errors that we can learn from, so we can continue to improve and new, different, and better mistakes. Creating a classroom atmosphere of tolerance, understanding, and constructive criticism remains a constant challenge.<\/p>\n

Yet modern technologies, such as video cameras and smart phones, make video recordings of\u00a0English language learners<\/a>\u00a0an accessible, affordable option. As 21st centuryEnglish teachers<\/a>, we can deploy some practical tools in our ESL and EFL classrooms. Videotaping English students certainly helps here since they can watch their own presentations or discussions. Sometimes having students transcribe their own speech yields surprises, but often you don\u2019t even need to resort to such rigorous examination. Students can often see where they have made verb tense errors, searched for vocabulary, or used the wrong word form on their own. Uploading videos to a class website encourages self-awareness and reflection. Seeing, in this case, is often believing.<\/p>\n

Further, videotaping student presentations makes our classrooms more democratic since our students can speak \u2013 and share their words with friends and relatives beyond the classroom if they choose. Sometimes\u00a0English language learners<\/a>, recognizing that they can share their work outside the classroom and reach core peer audiences, will practice more than usual. As ESL students step up their game and perform for the camera, they sometimes make fewer mistakes \u2013 and excel!<\/p>\n

And if students, as usual, do make mistakes? Let\u2019s call that a learning opportunity. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to make a mistake, \u201d advised legendary \u00a0Sony Chairman Akio Morita. \u201cBut make sure you don\u2019t make the same mistake twice.\u201d While learning English requires us to be more understanding and patient of \u201cgood mistakes\u201d, this quote emphasizes the value of making mistakes \u2013 outside and inside our English classrooms.<\/p>\n

How many good mistakes must English students make on the road to English fluency? I have no idea, but students will get to their linguistic destination sooner if they start more making good mistakes in our English classes today. Staying silent out of fear of making mistakes almost guarantees students will never become fluent English speakers.<\/p>\n

The videotape allows our students to see \u2013 and learn \u2013 from that bad mistake too.<\/p>\n

Ask more. Know more. Share more.
\nCreate Compelling Conversations \u2013 in English!
\nwww.CompellingConversations.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ESL teachers, especially working with oral skills and pronunciation, face a difficult task. Is there a single, correct form of English that should be taught? Should all English speakers sound like Americans or British? What if EFL students plan to study in Australia or Canada? The question is far more complicated than many English pronunciation instructors admit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","omw_enable_modal_window":"enable","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,39,45,210,331],"tags":[873,1142,1233],"class_list":["post-3720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elt-articles-and-research-papers","category-elt-newsletter","category-elt-research-articles","category-eltweekly-vol-4-issue-50","category-english-language-teaching-competitions","tag-elt-research-papers","tag-eric-roth","tag-globish-and-global-english","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}