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That sounds like a fantastic modification to your activity! Incorporating an assignment that involves interviewing disadvantaged or marginalized individuals can provide valuable insights and foster empathy among your students. By engaging directly with people who have different life experiences, your students will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and realities faced by these groups.
Interviews can be a powerful tool for uncovering personal narratives and shedding light on social issues. This assignment will encourage your students to actively listen, empathize, and reflect on the stories they hear. It will also help them recognize the gaps between their own perspectives and the lived experiences of others.
Through this assignment, your students will have the opportunity to compare their initial assumptions and imagined experiences with the real-life stories shared by the interviewees. This exercise can be eye-opening and help students challenge preconceived notions or stereotypes they might hold. It encourages critical thinking and promotes a broader understanding of the diverse realities within society.
It’s important to approach this assignment with sensitivity and respect for the individuals being interviewed. Ensure that your students understand the importance of active listening, empathy, and confidentiality. Providing guidelines for conducting respectful interviews and fostering a safe space for open dialogue will enhance the overall experience and promote a positive impact.
Overall, your modification to include interviews with disadvantaged or marginalized individuals will deepen your students’ understanding of social issues and cultivate empathy, compassion, and a broader perspective. It’s a commendable addition to your activity!
Excellent job! By emphasizing respect, conducting role-plays, discussing real-world examples of bullying, and utilizing index cards for sharing beliefs, educators can actively work towards creating a classroom environment where kindness, empathy, and respect are fostered and valued. These efforts contribute to a positive learning atmosphere that benefits all students and cultivates lifelong skills of empathy and respectful communication.
Good Job Reem,
Thnak you for doing your work on time. Yes, I agree considering Time management while preparing lesson plans.
Sometimes I have extra activities if the class is small.
Good jobHala, Thank you for your feedback, Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) is a valuable tool to assess students’ language proficiency levels, especially in regards to their speaking skills. The OPI test is administered by trained and certified raters who have a high level of proficiency in the language being assessed, ensuring that the test is reliable and accurate.
The OPI is designed to capture these subtleties in language use, providing a comprehensive assessment of a student’s speaking ability.I completely agree with your statement. Proper training is essential for both teachers and administrators to effectively manage and utilize the assessment platform. Without the necessary knowledge and understanding of the assessment system and its standard language, it can be challenging for educators to accurately assess their students’ language proficiency levels.
Furthermore, providing training for teachers and administrators can help them improve their skills and become more proficient in the use of the AAPPL assessment tool. This will ultimately benefit students as well, as they will receive a more accurate and reliable assessment of their language abilities.
In conclusion, training for teachers and administrators is not a disadvantage, but rather an opportunity to enhance their assessment skills and improve their teaching practices.
Thank you Mohammad for sharing your recommendation to your organization, St. Louis University High School, to consider the AAPPL test to assess students’ proficiency in different languages. It is an excellent suggestion for several reasons.
Overall, your recommendation to use the AAPPL test is an excellent solution to assess students’ language proficiency levels comprehensively.Thank you for Nehal your response to the discussion and for responding to other teachers as well.
It’s great to see that you have carefully considered the needs of the different types of students at the Arabic Language Institute at the American University in Cairo and have provided two options for language proficiency assessment that can cater to their needs.It’s important to have an objective assessment method that can accurately evaluate the language proficiency of the students. The ILR clear scale used by LTI can provide a more objective and standardized evaluation of the student’s language proficiency.
It’s also important to recognize that different students may have different language learning goals and may need to focus on different skills. Providing a custom-based curriculum and gearing teachers towards the specific needs of each student can be productive and efficient in helping students achieve their language learning goals. (I assume that would take a lot of effort, especially with The Arabic language programs)
Lastly, providing orientation and support to language learners is essential for their language-learning process. Academic advisers should be available to offer guidance and support to students and help them chart their language learning journey.
Great job NehalIt sounds like you have done your research and have identified the ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages (AAPPL) as a potential assessment tool to evaluate your school’s Arabic language program. The AAPPL is a comprehensive test that assesses language proficiency in the areas of speaking, listening, writing, and reading, and provides a standardized way to measure progress and proficiency over time.
Overall, adopting a standardized assessment tool like the AAPPL can provide valuable insights into the progress and proficiency of language learners and help improve the quality of language instruction at your school.
I read Noha’s response to your and would love to explain: The difference between Language proficiency test and placement test:
While both language proficiency tests and placement tests are designed to assess a student’s language ability, they differ in their purpose and scope.A language proficiency Exam is used to measure a student’s overall proficiency level in a specific language, typically based on a standardized set of criteria. This type of test is typically used for language learners who have already been studying the language for some time and want to demonstrate their level of proficiency to potential employers, universities, or other institutions. Language proficiency tests are usually more comprehensive and cover a wider range of language skills, including speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
On the other hand, a placement exam is used to determine a student’s starting point in a language course or program. This type of test is typically used for language learners who are new to the language or who have limited knowledge of the language. Placement tests are usually shorter and focus on a narrower range of language skills, such as grammar and vocabulary, and are designed to place the student in the appropriate course level based on their current language proficiency.
In summary, while both language proficiency tests and placement tests assess language ability, language proficiency tests are more comprehensive and measure overall proficiency level, while placement tests focus on determining the appropriate starting level for a language course or program.
Alicia, It’s great to hear that your school district has found the AAPPL exam to be an appropriate assessment platform for evaluating students’ proficiency level. As you mentioned, the AAPPL is designed to evaluate language skills in a comprehensive and user-friendly way, and it assesses all four language skills – listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
I also appreciate that the AAPPL is being used to evaluate both heritage and non-heritage speakers, as it is important to provide an assessment tool that is inclusive and fair to all students. Additionally, the fact that the AAPPL assesses a wide range of languages beyond Arabic and Chinese, such as Spanish, French, Italian, and German, further expands its usefulness for evaluating language proficiency across different student populations.
Finally, the AAPPL’s three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretative, and presentational) provide a comprehensive evaluation of a student’s ability to use the language in various contexts, which can provide valuable insights into a student’s strengths and areas for improvement.
It’s also great to know that there is minimal training required for school administrators to administer the exam, making it a practical choice for schools and districts. Overall, it sounds like your school district has made an excellent choice in using the AAPPL exam for evaluating language proficiency, and I wish you all the best in your language learning and teaching endeavors.
You are right Sadhna, thank you for providing your feedback. I would like to mention that during breakout sessions, I sometimes designate someone to moderate the task to ensure that all students in the room are actively collaborating and participating. Additionally, I monitor the rooms by joining them one by one to observe their progress and occasionally send voice messages to provide further guidance if needed. My students generally enjoy the breakout sessions, as they feel more comfortable making mistakes and participating in smaller groups.
#Sadnah, You are right; those are great tools.
Voicethread is one of my favorite ones as well.
I used it a lot for teaching and assessment
I even used it for summative assessment.One of the tools that I use and I like is a tool that is not very well known
It is super easy to use and has a lot of options
https://learningapps.org/
Try it, and let me know what you think.
Thank you
Thana Jarjour
