Spanish-American Institute

Faculty and Staff Meeting and Workshop Minutes

December 3, 2011

Schedule: The Faculty and Staff Meeting began at 10:00 am. The Workshop convened at 12:00 noon and ended at 1:30 pm. Mr. Ferraro invited faculty and staff to lunch at Lattanzi Ristorante afterwards.

Attendance: R. Abd El Rasol, J. Arbai, Z. Batchaeva, T. Bobrysheva, O. Brazhnikova,
F. A. Bush, M. Chalek, D. Compaore, A. Diaz, G. Diaz, I. Dimitrova, L. Eco,
D. Engulatova, D.V. FerraroL. Grajo, e. Guevara, L. Klavtsen, K. Ko, M. Machado,
E. Manliclic, M. Marcus, S. Mere-Mere, K. Pleskach, A. Pliner, E. Ramos,
E.K. Rodriques, P. Schiffman, T.S. Schwenke, S. Sergeeva, S. Shcheglova, B. Tagnan,
A.U. Tuldanes, S. Vedernikova, B. Zouhairi

President’s Report: Mr. Ferraro welcomed everyone. He …

• Asked the faculty and staff to introduce themselves
• Discussed the status of the accreditation preparation process for ACICS and CEA,
• Provided an update on new location of the school.

Chair and Other Faculty Reports

• Drissa Compaore reviewed a new process the faculty can use to request exam copies. The advantages to using this process include:
• The exams are stored in an online database.
• They can be quickly retrieved and printed, and
• They are available for review by all faculty members.
• Tom Schwenke facilitated a group exercise on the 2011 Student Survey. The faculty:
• Broke up into small groups to review selected parts of the student survey,
• Analyzed the designated sections, answered questions and discussed what they observed within their small group,
• Returned to the large group where a spokesperson recapped what each small group observed,
• Determined five things we can do to improve the educational environment of the Institute. The outcomes or recommendations are:

1. Improve internet speed: The school recently installed a SonicWall Network Security Appliance to improve our firewall. This affords better protection unauthorized use of our broadband,
2. Alternative ways to purchase books: Use book exchange list available in Bookstore and/or on StudentClub in Facebook; or provide students with text’s ISBN to purchase online,
3. Overall cleanliness of facility: Faculty and staff agreed to work with students to help maintain a cleaner environment; and the administration agreed to have building maintenance clean the desks during the year-end break,
4. Availability of healthier snacks: All agreed to make specific requests on healthier products that can be sold in the Bookstore, and
5. Specific suggestions on teaching techniques: The In-Service portion of today’s Faculty Meeting focuses on ESL teaching techniques while using the NorthStar series of Listening & Speaking and Reading & Writing.

Workshop
NorthStar: Four Skills Integration and Burning Questions

Presenter: Caryn Davis, Masters in TESOL:
Caryn Davis started her adult education teaching career in Harlem working with recovering heroin addicts in a Basic Education class. Since she has primarily seen herself as a "teacher," she discovered other critical issues to address with her students. So, for five years, she focused on teen pregnancy prevention with Planned Parenthood of NYC in the late 1990s. 
Shortly after 9/11, she decided to invest in the immigrant community, as a teacher and learner in the ESOL communities. Since 2007, she has been a full-time instructor for the City University of New York's Language Immersion Program at the College of Staten Island. During this time she was awarded a Masters in TESOL from the New School last year, and was recognized by the New York Times as one of the honorees for the 2010 ESOL Teacher of the Year, as well as receiving the Literacy Assistance Center's 2010 Recognition Award for Adult Education. 
Caryn's chapter, "Loud, Clear and Visible: Immigrant Women Make Altered Books in NYC", was recently published in an anthology of women and literacy.

Agenda:

• Use Level 2 and Connect Through Grammar
• Use Level 5 and Connect Through Theme
• “Burning” Questions and Answers

Important to add your own activities to personalize the units and create a bridge between skills.

• Creativity adds value
• Ownership
• Deeper connection

Grammar Using NorthStar 2: Link teaching the Simple Present and Past Tenses found in L&S Unit 4 with the Simple Past Tense found in R&W Unit 2.

Begin with Listening & Speaking:
Teacher asks questions “Who” questions using simple past tense and vocabulary from L&S. Then break into partners and work together to use a dictionary to find different past tense words related to Unit 4. Each student writes two questions to ask other students.

Students prepare for an Interview using the Simple Present and Past Tense. This is a Bridge Activity to Reading and Writing Focuses on Grammar. This can also expand into a Role Play.

Bridge to Reading & Writing:
Use the chart on page 24 to practice WH question and simple past tense answers.

Importance of Assessments (Self and Teacher):
Throughout the learning process both the teacher and the student should assess progress based on specific criteria. Ms. Davis shared several assessment tools that she has used. She explained the tools they can be employed at beginning, middle or end of a teaching unit to help identify what to anticipate from students, how they are progressing or what the students’ have learned.

Themes Using NorthStar 5: L&S and R&W – Unit 2 (Lying)
Connect the four skills through a uniform Theme.

Questions & Answers: Participants provided Ms. Davis with some questions. They helped generate good discussion on how to teach ESL. They included:

· Skills – the importance of grammar and reading aloud.

· Motivation – the teacher’s attitude plays an important part in motivation.

· Diversity – the teacher must be aware that a unit’s topic might raise different opinions from students from different cultures.