Focus On The Learner

Gabby has approximately six years of formal education, where he learnt most of the English he uses to communicate with; and a further two weeks of lessons he received whilst at a BBC centre. Gabby currently has no formal work experience; however, he is knowledgeable in the field of electrical engineering and has had some informal experience in this sector. He is highly motivated to learn the English language and his primary goal for this is that so he may one day attend University; perhaps to further his appreciation and love for music or to continue and learn more in the field of electrical engineering.This goal motivates Gabby and is highly evident in the way he endeavourers to be an astute student. Learning Styles and Preferences Whilst observing Gabby in the classroom and through speaking to him one-on- one it is apparent that his preferred style of learning is more centered on visual/spatial and kinesthesia modes of receipt. His completion of the sensory styles quiz compounds th ese assumptions and show that Gabby is able to receive and process information more efficiently if it is visually presented to him either by flashcards, pictures or realize.During classroom observation it was evident that Gabby is highly interpersonal; during pair-work activities he discussed the task enthusiastically with his partner and also listened attentively to their views. When nominated to answer a question Gabby would usually answer correctly, this shows his understanding of and propensity for communicative language. Gabby excels in group based activities and prefers these to individual tasks where he must work alone. The survey also reflected Gabby more developed kinesthesia sensory style, in the classroom he would be observed taking part in physical activities very enthusiastically.He enjoys movement and exercise, and learns better in this way; he also mentioned his love for the game of football which he played regularly in the DRP. Linguistic Ability – Strengths G affs command of spoken English language is average, he often pauses to think of a word and his pronunciation and grammar are weak at times, however, given the time frame that Gabby has been actually speaking the language it is quite impressive. He is more than able to express his opinion or needs within the classroom environment.Gabby is quite able to read a graded ice of text, although he may take some time and get blocked on certain unfamiliar words, he has shown the ability to perform gist reading tasks quite capably. He also admitted his preference for reading romance novels which he uses to enhance his reading skills. The strength in Cabby's writing skill is shown in his remarkably accurate spelling. Although he makes some grammatical errors his writing is generally legible and comprehensible. His formation of written words is sensible and corresponds to their respective phonemic sounds.Although listening is not one of Cabby's strengths he is tie able to understand English spea kers or instructions that are given to him verbally, both the meaning and context Of what he is required to do are clear to him. Gabby performs well in gist listening based tasks. Gabby vocabulary is quite extended, he has the ability to learn new words rapidly and use them in the correct context. He often pauses when speaking, to think of a word, but he eventually remembers it and uses it correctly. His level of functional vocabulary will enable him to navigate most everyday situations with ease.At times Gabby does make some grammatical mistakes but he often endeavors to correct himself. He is aware of most basic grammatical rules, for example, ‘y' changing to ‘ices' for certain countable nouns. He can often be observed writing down new grammatical rules and examples during lessons, thus showing his keenness to improve in this area. Cabby's pronunciation of most words is clear and understandable, for new vocabulary he often responds well to drilling and repeats the word until he feels it is correct.He works very hard to improve his pronunciation and can be observed self- correcting at times. Linguistic Ability -? Weaknesses Completed table attached. Activities: Skill – Listening for specific information (â€Å"New Cutting Edge Elementary Students' Book† – pig. 10) This task requires the student to work on his own, as individual work is something Gabby struggles with, this activity will be challenging and requires him to work on his own and strengthen his ability to listen for specific information.The teacher Will hand out copies of the ‘General Knowledge Quiz' and ask the learner to look through the questions and answer as many as he can. This is a Test-Teach-Test based adaptation that will allow the student to error correct himself after listening o the audio. The teacher then plays the recording and asks the student to listen out for the various pieces of information that are required to answer the questions. After hea ring and answering the student can compare and correct his errors, thereby â€Å"learning from his mistakes†.Gabby is an Elementary level learner and this activity is graded as such. Although it does not tie in with his personal interest in music it is general knowledge and touches on various areas that Gabby may be interested in (brands, currency, Jennifer Lopez etc. ). Activities: System – Grammar – Present Simple (â€Å"New Cutting Edge Elementary Workbook – pig. 22/23). The various activities over the two pages deal with grammar related activities, specifically with the present simple.This is an area Gabby has some difficulty with, and he often confuses tenses which leads to grammatical errors. The activities consist of a mixture of gap fill and answering activities that will improve fluency in present simple. The teacher will hand out copies of the activities and ask the learner to work individually. A high level of monitoring and prompting with the aid of examples will be necessary as Gabby is an Elementary level learner. Focus on the Learner French student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the intermediate class. Sidekick was born in Albumin's. He got his Matrix in 2008 and attended university for 2 years before and he's learning English so that he can continue his studies in South Africa. â€Å"The reason I'm learning English is that I am a French speaker and I wand to study in a English country,† he writes. Learner style: Sidekick response positively towards practical sessions.During an interview with Sidekick, he also reinforced this statement by saying that he prefers doing something and/or seeing something rather than just listening. This would suggest that he is mostly kinetic and visual with an emphasis on kinetic. These examples can be seen when asked to physically apply what he's learned. Learners four skills: Observing Sidekick, I've noticed that he struggles a little in each form, but that his weakest area is reading. He also struggles with speaking and writing, but both are connected in the sense that he translates directly from French.In English this would change something that he series Into a thin, straight, hand-held stick. There's also certain problems that occur with tenses, as I will mention In language systems. Sidekick also makes use of a speaking rhythm that is unnatural in English. In English phonetics and phonology: a practical course By Peter Roach, Rough explains that there's a difference between the rhythm of English and French. French makes use of a syllable timed rhythm and that all syllables whether stressed or unstressed occur at regular intervals.Listening: Sidekick follows natural speech rather easily. Reading: The main concern I've found is that while Sidekick can continue with listening,writing and speaking with mistakes, he stops when encounters a word that he is unfamiliar with. Writing: Along with his speaking the problem is tense usage. Other problems are spelling mistakes. He'll write words exactly as they sound. Language systems: After view ing 3 letters that I received from Sidekick, I observed several common mistakes. Continuous and simple forms: † My hobbles are: Sports, go to the cinema, Ana listening music. He would use â€Å"go to' (Instead AT going to) Ana â€Å"listening sic† (instead of listening to music. ) It shows logic in the forms that he use, but that there's some confusion of when to use continuous and simple tenses. Pronunciation: As mentioned before, Sidekick often replaces the It/ sound with the [d/ sound. Areas where the student needs help: So far Sidekick's greatest problems stem from the use of future tenses and question tenses. For questions he will at times confuse the subject and verb e. G. Muff are Tom? † and â€Å"Are you Tom? The emphasis on his words imply different meanings as we've learned during class. The former acknowledging that the speaker is vaguely familiar with the person and the latter purely asking. After reviewing his letters, I've decided that it's not Jus t his future tense that is the problem, but that he still struggles with most tenses. The activities I've selected and why: For the skill I've focused on reading. Continuous reading will help Sidekick see how to language is used, and if he stops reading Just because of one word, then he'll never progress any further.At the same time, the activity I've chosen for his reading, also applies to the other language area he requires help in: Vocabulary. The activity isn't focused on his learning style, but what he needs help in. It's been downloaded from www. Insidious. Net and has several tasks which will help him to improve. The gap fill will allow him to look at the entire sentence and then get him the gist of words. There is also a task which will improve his spelling and use of parts of speech, another area that he struggles with. For the language area, I've chosen tenses in general.Sidekick has claimed that it's only the future tense that confuses him, but Judging by his written work , there's also other tenses that he needs help on. The activity is Snakes and Ladders – Tenses from Cutting Edge: Upper Intermediate students' book by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor. The questions were all changed to apply to his level and weaknesses. This game focuses on his kinetic and visual needs, helping him learn in a particle and fun setting. References: www. London-translations. Co. UK www. Insidious. Net Moor. English phonetics and phonology: a practical course By Peter Roach Class notes