CASTLETON CLASSES

WELCOME TO OAKLAND TECH HIGH SCHOOL'S ELD DEPARTMENT

HELLO STUDENTS, PARENTS, AND TEACHERS                                

This is the official website for Highpoint ELD C and English 5 classes at Oakland Tech High School, in Oakland, California. 

      AT THIS SITE YOU WILL FIND:

• course syllabi (for HighPoint ELD C and English 5)
• information about learning a second language
• homework for class
• assignments to read
• forms to print and fill out
• topics for your journal
• topics for research
• links to interesting sites

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO LEARN ENGLISH?

This is a question that many students ask me and that parents ask as well.  While there is no perfect answer, I generally tell my students that learning a new language to a high level of speaking, reading, and writing proficiency requires around 25,000 hours of effort.  If you figure this in terms of days and years, it works out to between 5 and 6 years of 12 hours per day of effort.  A very good article supporting this figure is available for reading at: How long for English?

HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY ENGLISH?

One of my favorite sites to suggest to students is sponsored by the British Counsel.  Visit it yourself and see what it has to offer.

http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/faqs/faqs01.html#question1

HOW STUDENTS BECOME GOOD LANGUAGE LEARNERS:

Students always wonder,  "How will I learn English?".  Well, the truth is that real language learning is an experience more than a lesson.  Many researchers have studied how the best learners learn a new language.  The answers to the question, "How will I learn English?" include:

1.  "The natural way to learn a foreign language is, first, to learn how to turn off the native language speech center, and secondly, how to form a new language speech center in the brain." Zilberman, A. (1999) Brain bridges for adult language learners. American Language Review, Nov/Dec, 1999, Vol. 3, No. 6.

2.  Learn new vocabulary without translating, because "translations into the native language are fruitless [since] while conversing in a foreign language there is no time for conscious construction of sentences in a foreign language and retrieval of memorized words from memory." (Ibid) For more information on this subject, visit: http://www.language-bridge.com/newsp1.php?lang=eng

3.  " Good language learners find their own way and take charge of their learning.  They determine the methods that are best for them as individual learners.  They learn form others and experiment with different methods.

4.   Good language learners organize their study of the language, and they organize information about the language they study.  

5.  Good language learners are creative.  They understand that language is creative.  They experiment with the language and play with grammar, words, and sounds.   

6.    Good language learners make their own opportunities for practicing the language inside and outside of the classroom. 

7.  Good language learners learn to live with uncertainty by focusing on the meaning of what they can understand, by not getting flustered, and by continuing to talk or listen without necessarily understanding every word. 

8.   Good language learners use mnemonics and other memory strategies to recall what they are learning. 

9.   Good language learners make errors work for them and not against them.   

10.  Good language learners use linguistic knowledge including knowledge of their first language, in learning a second language.   

11. Good language learners use contextual clues to aid their comprehension of the language.  They maximize use of all potential contexts around the language attended to for enhancing comprehension.  

12.   Good language learners learn to make intelligent guesses  

13.   Good language learners learn chunks of language as wholes and formalized routines to help them perform beyond their competence.  For example, they may learn idioms, proverbs, or other phrases knowing what the whole phrase means without necessarily understanding each individual part.   

14.  Good language learners learn certain tricks that keep conversations going

15.  Good language learners learn certain production techniques that also fill in the gaps in their own competence. 

16.  Good language learners learn different styles of speech or writing to learn to vary their language according to the formality of the situation."  (Rubin and Thompson, 1982)