Becoming Coco

  Regional CATESOL Conference This Saturday 10/10/15, I attended the CATESOL conference in San Diego at the Educational Cultural Complex (A San Diego Continuing Education Campus) and was able to explore the various exhibits as well as hear the Key note speaker Deborah Gordon present on Multi-word vocabulary. The lecture by Deborah was refreshingly practical and did not contain the usual lengthy intellectual theories explained with 5 syllable words, as other lectures I’ve attended have had. I enjoyed it when she gave a list of 8 myths of vocabulary teaching, which were borrowed from Keith False’s book “Vocabulary Myths: Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching.” I was happy to hear that several of the suggestions, based on the myths, were things I am already doing in my classroom. For example one myth was that you should avoid using the native language when teaching vocabulary and avoid vocabulary lists. Well in my class I often use lists which compare the E...

  A nd What it Taught me About Teaching and Learning Second Languages   Playing Fruit Ninja in China I am jealous of people who grew up bi-culturally or learned different languages at a young age. I secretly want to be them because in comparison my background is boring and as an adult it is hard to learn a new language. I feel like I am starting late in the game. I grew up in a typical “English” only American home. My parents are the typical mixture of various Anglo cultures and the most interesting thing I can scrounge up about my family’s background is that my grandmother on my father’s side was half Irish. Unfortunately she had schizophrenia and was never a part of my life, so other than the knowledge that I am a quarter Irish, I have no interesting heritage to speak of. In Elementary school I hated those assignments that said to talk about your family’s heritage because no one in our family can give me any specific answer. We are a little Norwegian, German, S...