Teacher Training at Bloomfield College
Greetings! My name is Jason R. Levine. I go by the nickname Jase. I'm also known as Fluency MC.
I've been teaching in the United States for the past twelve years. I’ve taught children, adults, immigrants, and international students from dozens of countries. We’ve met in public schools, lecture halls, living rooms, libraries, churches, offices, cafeterias, and college classrooms.
In 2002, I co-founded an English school for international students in New York City and created my own curriculum to teach TOEFL and oral communication skills. I've taught and trained teachers in GED and ESL at Head Start and the American Language Center in New Jersey, and I am currently Academic Director of CAMPUS Education, English language schools with six centers in the U.S. and two overseas (with more on the way). I create English language learning materials for Oxford University Press and work as an English Specialist for the U.S. State Department.
In my experience, too many students, across all ages and subject areas, are stuck on the “intermediate plateau” because...
...they don’t get enough exposure to the right materials (LOW INPUT)
...they’ve had uninspiring instructors and lessons (LOW MOTIVATION)
...they feel uncomfortable speaking and writing (LOW FLUENCY, HIGH STRESS)
I've been teaching in the United States for the past twelve years. I’ve taught children, adults, immigrants, and international students from dozens of countries. We’ve met in public schools, lecture halls, living rooms, libraries, churches, offices, cafeterias, and college classrooms.
In 2002, I co-founded an English school for international students in New York City and created my own curriculum to teach TOEFL and oral communication skills. I've taught and trained teachers in GED and ESL at Head Start and the American Language Center in New Jersey, and I am currently Academic Director of CAMPUS Education, English language schools with six centers in the U.S. and two overseas (with more on the way). I create English language learning materials for Oxford University Press and work as an English Specialist for the U.S. State Department.
In my experience, too many students, across all ages and subject areas, are stuck on the “intermediate plateau” because...
...they don’t get enough exposure to the right materials (LOW INPUT)
...they’ve had uninspiring instructors and lessons (LOW MOTIVATION)
...they feel uncomfortable speaking and writing (LOW FLUENCY, HIGH STRESS)
When I started as a teacher, I found I could quickly establish a close rapport with students.
ColloTunes CDs!
Using ideas I'd developed in graduate school, I began creating my own materials. My students were relaxed and engaged. Most of them were learning. But no matter how good my lessons were, I never provided students with enough input to make a significant difference in their proficiency.
Outside the classroom, few of my students read for pleasure. Some had limited exposure to standard English. Almost no one worked on math. Low input led to low comprehension, which led to low confidence and low motivation, which led back to low input. To break the cycle, I needed to increase input. But how? By ordering them to read at home? Forcing them to do extra math worksheets? This would have just made things worse.
Outside the classroom, few of my students read for pleasure. Some had limited exposure to standard English. Almost no one worked on math. Low input led to low comprehension, which led to low confidence and low motivation, which led back to low input. To break the cycle, I needed to increase input. But how? By ordering them to read at home? Forcing them to do extra math worksheets? This would have just made things worse.
Then, in 1999, I read about a view of second language learning called the Lexical Approach.
ColloCards with GED students
The Lexical Approach argues that the bulk of what we learn we take in and produce as unanalyzed wholes, or "chunks.” The most common chunks are called collocations. A collocation just sounds right to a person who has heard and seen it over and over again.
In English, get the phone is a verb-noun collocation, but in Spanish the collocation is take the phone. English speakers say take medicine, while Korean speakers say eat medicine. A child who says, I do a mistake will eventually say I make a mistake; she will say so much stuff instead of so many stuffs. We don’t need to correct her; we simply need to provide her with enough input so that make a mistake and much stuff sound right and do a mistake and many stuffs sound wrong.
In English, get the phone is a verb-noun collocation, but in Spanish the collocation is take the phone. English speakers say take medicine, while Korean speakers say eat medicine. A child who says, I do a mistake will eventually say I make a mistake; she will say so much stuff instead of so many stuffs. We don’t need to correct her; we simply need to provide her with enough input so that make a mistake and much stuff sound right and do a mistake and many stuffs sound wrong.
We can call any high-frequency chunk of information a collocation, or what I now call Collos.
ColloCards Relay Races!
Nairobi, Kenya, hydrochloric acid, and 9 x 7 = 63 are Collos; that is, if you’ve heard or seen them enough!
My classes got the concept right away. Together we found Collos in textbooks, readers, magazine articles, movies, sitcoms, and newspaper columns. To increase input, I created my own flashcards, dominoes, charts, and posters. But as hard as I tried, my students did not get the repeated exposure they needed to produce Collos automatically.
The reason was simple: The repetitive practice we were doing was dull and unnatural.
Then one day, in an ESL class, I said always and a student said Coca Cola. He had heard the “Always Coca Cola” slogan so many times that it had formed a Collo. He hadn't made any effort to learn it. This is how Collos stuck! When I said just my students didn’t say a minute or a little bit; they said Do It! When I said Kentucky, they said Fried Chicken.
My classes got the concept right away. Together we found Collos in textbooks, readers, magazine articles, movies, sitcoms, and newspaper columns. To increase input, I created my own flashcards, dominoes, charts, and posters. But as hard as I tried, my students did not get the repeated exposure they needed to produce Collos automatically.
The reason was simple: The repetitive practice we were doing was dull and unnatural.
Then one day, in an ESL class, I said always and a student said Coca Cola. He had heard the “Always Coca Cola” slogan so many times that it had formed a Collo. He hadn't made any effort to learn it. This is how Collos stuck! When I said just my students didn’t say a minute or a little bit; they said Do It! When I said Kentucky, they said Fried Chicken.
I needed to deliver intensive exposure to Collos.
ColloTunes with high school students
It had to be something fun, so students would want to do it often, and low stress, so they would acquire Collos subconsciously, as they were doing from advertisements.
I considered universally appealing activities, things students liked to do again and again. I decided on playing cards and listening to music. Nearly every student enjoyed card games; some were even “addicted" to them. And, as any fan of Sesame Street or Schoolhouse Rock knows, learning through music is a snap!
So I stopped making collocation flashcards and made collocation card decks instead. My classes played game after game of Memory, Uno, Rummy, Go Fish, and Solitaire. At last, they were getting the repetitive input they needed.
I considered universally appealing activities, things students liked to do again and again. I decided on playing cards and listening to music. Nearly every student enjoyed card games; some were even “addicted" to them. And, as any fan of Sesame Street or Schoolhouse Rock knows, learning through music is a snap!
So I stopped making collocation flashcards and made collocation card decks instead. My classes played game after game of Memory, Uno, Rummy, Go Fish, and Solitaire. At last, they were getting the repetitive input they needed.
To complement the cards, I wrote, recorded, and performed my own songs.
Fluency MC
No student wanted to listen to an educational CD multiple times; but everyone found it normal to repeat the same songs over and over. I used my skills as a drummer and hip hop DJ to make tunes with catchy beats, authentic stress, and high-frequency Collos that stuck in their heads!
Today, thanks to encouragement and feedback from colleagues and students (especially students!), ColloTunes and ColloCards are available for English language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and foreign languages. They have been used in schools in New York and New Jersey, including Head Start, Rennert Bilingual, Bloomfield College, and The Montclair Cooperative School. They have been featured at Booklink, Just Kidding Around, and the African Film Festival.
Today, thanks to encouragement and feedback from colleagues and students (especially students!), ColloTunes and ColloCards are available for English language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and foreign languages. They have been used in schools in New York and New Jersey, including Head Start, Rennert Bilingual, Bloomfield College, and The Montclair Cooperative School. They have been featured at Booklink, Just Kidding Around, and the African Film Festival.
Please check out the ColloLearn™ YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/collolearn
where you’ll find videos of Tunes, games, and lessons.
You can also follow Collo and Fluency MC on Facebook and Twitter.
For orders, training, performances, catalogs, and further information about ColloLearn,
please send me an email by clicking contact or calling 646-351-3239.
I hope to have the opportunity to work with you.
Sincerely yours,
JASE
Jason R. Levine
Teacher-Trainer-High Stress Drainer-Knowledge Entertainer
You can also follow Collo and Fluency MC on Facebook and Twitter.
For orders, training, performances, catalogs, and further information about ColloLearn,
please send me an email by clicking contact or calling 646-351-3239.
I hope to have the opportunity to work with you.
Sincerely yours,
JASE
Jason R. Levine
Teacher-Trainer-High Stress Drainer-Knowledge Entertainer
