COLT teachers guilde to teaching and testing language courses levels 1 41

• Teachers, who teach interpreting courses, complain of the students’ inability to listen to spoken texts, comprehend, retain, and then transfer content into English or Arabic.. • Teache

College of Languages & Translation

English Translation Division

COLT Teachers’ Guide

Table of Contents

A Teacher’s Guide to Language Courses for Levels 1-4 4

Translation Program Goals 4

Aim of language courses in levels 1-4 4

The need for efficient teaching and assessment of language skills in levels 1-4 4

The language teachers’ role in levels 1-4 5

What students should be able to do by the end of level 4 5

How the Interactions and Mosaic Textbooks Are Designed 6

Final Note: 6

General Assessment Guide 7

General 7

Test Paper Format 7

Constructing Tests 7

Scoring Tests 8

Vocabulary Courses 8

General: 8

Aims of vocabulary courses: 8

The course will highlight the following: 8

Teaching Technique 9

Vocabulary Study skills: 9

Study Tips for students: 9

Assessment: 10

Sample Vocabulary Questions 10

Listening Courses 11

General: 11

The Aims of listening Courses for levels 1-4: 11

Listening Skills: 11

Listening Assessment: 12

Number of Listening Test Items: 13

Speaking Courses 13

General: 13

The Aims of Speaking Courses for levels 1-4: 13

Speaking Assessment: 13

Reading Courses 14

General: 14

Aims of reading Courses for levels 1-4: 14

Reading Skills: 14

Reading Assessment: 15

Number of Reading Test Items: 16

Writing Courses 17

General: 17

The Aims of Writing Courses for Levels 1-4: 17

Writing Assessment: 17

Course Portfolio 18

Assessment Portfolio 20

A Teacher’s Guide to Language Courses for

Levels 1-4

Translation Program Goals

• Prepare translators

• Prepare interpreters

• We do not give intensive English language programs

Aims of language courses in levels 1-4

• Preparing students for the content courses (linguistics, semantics, text linguistics, stylistics) they take in level 5

• Preparing the students for the interpreting courses they take in levels 6-10

• Preparing students’ listening skills to an advanced level

• Developing students’ speaking skills to an advanced level

• Developing students reading skills to an advanced level

• Developing students’ writing skills to an advanced level

• Building students’ active general and specialized vocabulary (master about 8000 words)

• Using grammar correctly orally and in writing Identify grammatical structures in spoken and written discourse

The need for efficient teaching and assessment of language skills in levels 1-4

• Most of our graduates teach English to elementary, junior and senior high students

• Teachers who teach the content course in level 5 (linguistics, semantics, text

linguistics, stylistics) complain of students’ inability to read specialized texts in those subject areas and their inability to write a short paragraph in which they analyze, explain or interpret a particular point or issue

• Teachers, who teach interpreting courses, complain of the students’ inability to listen to spoken texts, comprehend, retain, and then transfer content into English or Arabic

• Teachers who teach translation courses complain of the students’ inability to write

a short paragraph using correct grammar and spelling when translating texts from Arabic into English

• Teachers who teach the above course complain of the students’ poor vocabulary knowledge

• In interpreting courses, students listen to the spoken text once and they are expected

to listen, comprehend, retain every detail and then convey every single word into English or Arabic They are not supposed to use the dictionary and they do not have time to do so

• In translation courses, the students translate texts from English into Arabic and Arabic into English without using the dictionary especially during in-terms and final exams

• Translation and interpreting are tough tasks In translation, a translator has to think

at the word level, sentence level, discourse level, and thinks of semantic, syntactic, morphological and stylistic features

The language teachers’ role in levels 1-4

• What a teacher teaches in a particular language course complements what other teachers teach in the other language courses taught at the same level

• What a teacher teaches in a particular language course serves as a

prerequisite/foundation for what other teachers who teach the same course for the other level do

• What language teachers teach serves as a foundation for the content, interpreting and translation courses in levels 5-10

What students should be able to do by the end of level 4

• Listen to a long, authentic, specialized lecture, comprehend the main ideas and important details in that lecture and take notes while listening

• Talk about a particular topic for at least 15 minutes without preparation, with fluency, correct pronunciation, stress, intonation, using correct grammar, correct choice of words and well-organized ideas

• Read and comprehend the main ideas and supporting details that are explicitly or implicitly stated in a printed text of at least 2000 words long, 12 grade difficulty level, in any subject area (medicine, computer science, politics, literary,

agricultural, education, media etc…), any text type (narrative, expository,

persuasive, informative, descriptive, biography, interview, newspaper article, report, recipe), of any organizational structure (enumeration, cause-effect,

comparison-contrast, chronology, process, analogy, classification, definition, whole-part etc…) They should also be able to infer the meaning of difficult words from context (without using a dictionary), break down words into prefixes suffixes and roots and identify its part of speech through inflectional endings, suffixes and word order, break down sentences into VP, NP and PP, identify the organizational clues, and outline the topics and sub-topics of the text

• Write a well-connected expository, narrative, descriptive, persuasive, informative paragraph that has a topic sentence and supporting details, using correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, indentation, cohesive ties between sentences and between paragraphs and using the clues showing a process, chronology,

compare-contrast, enumeration, cause-effect, analogy or definition organizational structure

• Have an active vocabulary of 8000 words

• Know at least 100 prefixes and suffixes and roots

• Know the parts of speech, noun, adjective, verb inflections, all 12 tenses, yes/no, negative and wh-questions, simple, compound, complex sentences, participial phrases, break sentences into their component parts (NP, VP and PP), all

prepositions, idioms and phrasal verbs, different functions of ‘is’, ‘that’, ‘how’, ‘it’ etc

How the Interactions and Mosaic Textbooks Are Designed

• Listening, speaking and reading and writing are looked at as complex skills each of which consists of several subskills

• Each skill is broken down into smallest skills Only small subskills are practiced in each chapter

• At each level, the listening, speaking, reading and writing complement each other Each chapter in each textbook has the same theme as the chapter with the same number in the other skills books Vocabulary items and grammatical structures related to this particular theme are practiced in listening, speaking, reading, and writing

• The textbook devoted to a particular skill serves as a prerequisite for the skills practiced in the textbook of the next level

Final Note:

• Teach with the assumption that if you do not teach a particular skill or task

efficiently, no one else would

• While teaching COLT students, remember to educate and prepare the kind of teachers you would to teach your children in the future

General Assessment Guide

General

• Give 2 in-terms (25 marks each) and a final exam (50 marks)

• The first in-term covers the material taught up to the first in-term date, 2nd

in-term covers material taught after the first in-term up to the second in-term date The final exam covers material aught from day one to the end of the semester

• Give the in-term1 in week 5 or 6, in-term 2 in week 10 or 11

• I need to look at the in-terms at least one week before you give the students the test

in order to have time to revise and photocopy

• Please give me at least one day to look at the test

• I need to look at all the final exams before the General Exams Week

• I need a copy of each in-term and the finals for the files

• Vocabulary tests can be 50 minutes long and can be given in the regular class

session

• Listening tests can be 50 minutes long and can be given in the regular class session

• If given in the language lab, speaking tests can be 50 minutes long and can be

given in the regular class session If given face to face, the instructor can schedule her own tests

• Reading tests should be between 1:30 and 2 hours Special test sessions can be

scheduled at the end of any week day

• Writing tests can be given in 2 class sessions The students can write an essay in

one class session and do writing tasks in another class session If one test session is used, then the students must write a paragraph or essay

Test Paper Format

• Top, bottom, left & right margins = 2 cms

• Font = Times New Roman size 12

• Instructions should be in bold but items like words should be in regular font

• Leave a blank line between before and after each question

• All test pages should be numbered in the footer

• Write teacher’s name, date, interm #, and course in the header Use Times New Roman size 10 bold for that

• Test paper should be as plain as possible Please do not use any decorative boxes, circles, flowers …etc

• All test pages should be full up to the bottom margin

Constructing Tests

• Instructions should be as brief, and as clear as possible They should specify what the student should do

• Tests should have as many productive questions (questions that require the student

to write an answer rather than tick, match, circle or underline, T/F) as possible

• Questions should cover all kinds of skills, tasks and exercises covered

• Questions should require students to perform tasks at the paragraph/discourse level rather than word or sentence level

• Questions should test student’s ability to think, apply, infer, connect, synthesize information, not mere recall from memory or direct copying from the text

• Do not use exact sentences and examples from the textbook on the test

• Tests should discriminate between students who are good, average and poor, those who attend and do not attend classes

Scoring Tests

• When you assign marks to test items, please do not use fractions Use whole

numbers You may grade an interm out of 50, 75, or even 100 points and then transfer the score to 25 by dividing student’s score by 2, 3 or 4

• Deduct points for spelling and grammatical mistakes out of each test item even if it

Vocabulary Courses

General:

• Check with me to mark the lesson to be taught

• At least 1500- 2000 words should be taught in Vocabulary I and 2000-25000 should be taught in vocabulary II

Aims of vocabulary courses:

• The courses aim at developing the students’ ability to pronounce, spell, part of speech, usage, know the English and Arabic meanings of 4000 core vocabulary items

The course will highlight the following:

• Pronunciation: silent letter, hidden consonants, double letters, spelling changes, words with the same vowel but different pronunciation and words with different vowels but same pronunciation, syllabication and stress

• Spelling changes and spelling variants

• Part of speech, count/non-count, singular & plural forms

• American vs British usage

• Word synonyms and antonyms

• English and Arabic meanings

• Word formation: prefixes, suffixes, derivatives and compounds

• Idioms and collocations

• Word families

Teaching Technique

• Book design and chapter design are explained

• One or two lesson can be covered per class session A total of 3-6 lessons can be covered per week

• I go through Each Lesson Section By Section Reading And Explaining And Giving

Extra Examples And Extra Information About Pronunciation: Silent Letter, Hidden

Consonants, Double Letters, Spelling Changes, Words With The Same Vowel But Different Pronunciation And Words With Different Vowels But Same

Pronunciation, Syllabication And Stress; Spelling Changes And Spelling Variants; Part Of Speech, Count/Non-Count, Singular & Plural Forms; American Vs British

Usage; Word Synonyms And Antonyms; English And Arabic Meanings; Word

Formation; Idioms And Collocations; Word Families

Vocabulary Study skills:

• Vocabulary textbook design and lesson format

• Using the dictionary

• Divide notebook into sections: words with silent letters, words with double letters, words hidden sounds, words with 2 spellings, word derivatives, word synonyms, word antonyms, prefixes, suffixes, compounds, American and British variants

…etc

• Preparing vocabulary cards

• How to practice, review, concept maps, word families

• Mnemonic devices

• Building a daily, weekly and monthly study schedule

Study Tips for students:

• When you take a lesson, study that lesson the same day

• For each new word, try to identify the following: Part of speech, whether the noun

is count or non-count, what the plural form is, does it contain silent letters, double letters, hidden sounds, is it a compound, what is its synonym or antonym, what does it mean in English and Arabic,

• Reorganize the new words according to the categories in your notebook

• Make vocabulary cards every time you take a new lesson

• Memorize the new words, and test yourself

• Review the new words using the vocabulary cards 3 times (3 days in a row)

• When you study idioms, read each idiom in the lesson and figure out the meaning from the example and context Figure out the meaning in Arabia Use each idiom 3

sentences of your own Make vocabulary cards with an idiom on one side and the English/Arabic meaning on the other Review idioms 3 days in a row

• At the end of the week, quickly review all the lessons that you have taken throughout the week

• Do the exercises in the book and check your answers in the answer key at the end

o Recognizing silent letter,

o Recognizing hidden consonants,

o Recognizing double letters,

o Recognizing words with the same vowel but different pronunciation and words with different vowels but same pronunciation, syllabication and stress

o Identifying the part of speech,

o count/non-count,

o Recognizing singular & plural forms

o American vs British usage

o Word synonyms and antonyms

o English and Arabic meanings

o Adding prefixes, suffixes,

o Recognizing derivatives and compounds

o Idioms and collocations

o Capitalization

o Giving the English definition

o Giving the Arabic meaning of some words

o The words covered on each in-term should consist of a random sample of

75-100 words

Sample Vocabulary Questions

• How are the underlined letters pronounced:

• Write the silent letters in each word on the lines

• Circle one word in which the underlined letters are pronounced differently:

• Write the part of speech of each word (use N, V, Adj, Adv)

• Circle the words in which -er is not a suffix:

• Circle the word in which -ed is pronounced [t]:

• Circle the word in which the plural -s or -es is pronounced [iz]:

• Circle the words that can only be used in the plural:

• Write a group noun for each word:

• Underline the words that have no singular form:

• Give the singular form of the following

• What is the opposite of each word (one word only):

• For each word give a synonym (one word only):

• Give the Past Tense of the following verbs: