Minutes
Faculty
Meeting andd Workshop
Spanish-American Institute
August 7, 2004
Convened: The Faculty Meeting convened at 10:20 am.
Attendance: J. Arbai, F.A. Bush, A. Burarovskiy, E. Castillo, G.
Coronado, A.M. Diaz, D. V. Ferraro, J. Gaylan, L. Grajo, L. Hernandez, R.
Krishnamoorthy, E. Manliclic, D. Mumkaya, O. Piddubna, C. Prager, N.
Panganiban, E. Ramos, A. Tuldanes, A. Verbine
President’s
Report: Mr. Ferraro welcomed
everyone to the meeting.
Chair
and Other Faculty Reports: No specific reports.
Academic Dean's Report and Follow-up Discussion:
1.
Next Generation TOEFL: Dr. Prager
distributed information about how the new TOEFL
will
test integrated skills.
In
the Reading section, students will answer questions based on only three long
academic reading passages. In the
Listening section, they will answer questions about two conversations and four
lectures. In the Speaking section, they
will answer six questions. Some of the
questions will require them to listen to a passage and/or read a passage before
speaking. In the Writing section, they
will answer two questions. One requires
students to write in response to a situation they will hear described and then
read about.
Faculty
discussed how they can start preparing students now for the new TOEFL, since
new textbooks will not be available until some time next year. Suggestions included:
§
Structure—Don't do Structure exercises with the whole class. Grammar and strucutre is no longer tested
separately. It is evaluated through the
students' essays. Teachers should assign
specific structure exercises to individuals students who need them based on
their writing.
§
Writing—Students should write a timed 30 minute TOEFL type essay at least once
a week. Smaller writing assignments
should be made in between.
§
Listening—Focus on the longer listening passages.
Tell students that the TOEFL will no longer have short listening
passages.
1.
Integrate writing based on listening passages.
2.
Use the more advanced level NorthStar videos and Listening Achievement
Test CDs as supplemental listening and writing activities.
§
Video Viewing—Use videos in TOEFL classes only as a basis for listening and
writing work that class period (5-10
minute viewing only). Use the NorthStar
Video Activity Sheet model for any video work.
§
Encouraging Students—Students often dislike writing. Encourage students who don't want to
write by explaining to them that they will have to take a "Writing"
placement test at any college, even if they don't plan to take the national
TOEFL exam. They will be placed in
another ESL or remedial writing class unless they can write at the college
level. They will have still have pay
full tuition for the ESL or remedial courses but will not get credit for them
towards graduation. They will be wasting
time and money. Also, they will have a
limited number of semesters in which to show that they can now write at an
acceptable level or they will not be able to continue as college students.
3. TOEFL and College Success: All TOEFL students should be strongly encouraged to
take College Success. College Success
teaches skills similar to those tested by TOEFL. In College Success, students:
4. NorthStar Teacher's Manuals and Achievement Tests: The Spanish-American Institute now has Teacher's
Manuals and Listening Achievement Tests for each level of NorthStar. The Teacher's Manuals contain excellent
suggestions for extending NorthStar lessons.
The Listening Achievement Tests can be used at the end of each unit to
test students' comprehension.
5. SLEP Testing—The school is implementing a
new national placement exam, the SLEP (Secondary Level English Proficiency
test). The SLEP is used in many
postsecondary schools, including some two-year colleges. Dr. Prager will be visiting certain classes
the week of August 9th to tell them about the test. The test itself will be given to them in
class the following week on either August 16 or 17.
6. Student Activities—Out-of-classroom student
activities benefit students in several ways.
They help students:
§
practice English,
§
learn about American culture,
§
learn about each other, and
§
feel more part of the school.
Several
suggestions were made for increasing student activities including clubs, visits
to restaurants and museums, and a school newsletter. Based on faculty suggestions, the next school
activity will be going to a Broadway musical.
Mr. Ferraro will seek reduced
priced tickets. Dr. Prager will develop
a template for a monthly newspaper and share it with faculty and staff for
input.
Emergency
Preparedness: Mr. Ferraro addressed several issues
connected with emergency preparedness, including school emergency supplies and
individual creation of personal "go bags." Remember, in an emergency, people may not
have time to assemble what they need.
The "go bag" should be ready to go.
Each
person's "go bag" should include items like:
At
the end of the meeting, Mr. Ferraro also conducted emergency exit walk-throughs
using both school emergency exits.