Submitted by admin on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 16:26
In the Adult English Program, we have students ages 17 to 20 who are transitioning from high school to college. Many of these students who are in what is called the ‘gap year’ or in their first years of college are often viewed negatively by adults and teachers who describe them as demotivated, immature, disrespectful and inconsiderate.
Submitted by admin on Fri, 11/11/2011 - 18:28
Kolb’s cycle of learning explains the importance of having students learn through experiential learning. As seen in the graphic, it is our responsibility to expose students to concrete sensory experiences to be absorbed through their senses. In order to make sense of what they see, hear, and touch in class, they start a process of reflective observation. As thinking beings, they make hypothesis of what came through their senses using their reasoning skills. That process takes place in their frontal lobe.
Submitted by admin on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 19:29
Submitted by admin on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 17:07
I am the Academic Coordinator of the Adult English Program at Universidad EAFIT in Medellín, Colombia. Besides being an English language teacher, I have also taught at the graduate level at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín and Universidad de Caldas in Manizales. As an academic coordinator, I have been in charge of teacher training and syllabus and test design, among other administrative tasks. For over ten years, I have been part of the Language Center's research group doing research mainly on assessment and evaluation, and recently on student motivation.
Submitted by admin on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 17:05
Submitted by admin on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 16:51
At this stage, language teachers should strengthen the students’ ability to cooperate and work together. If their language proficiency is basic, the teacher can have a structured class in content but negotiate with students the type of activities, topics, genres, resources and materials and time spent on them. If their language proficiency level is high, they can participate in a wider variety of problem solving and case study activities in groups in such a way that they can develop appreciation for their peers’ support and ideas and their own work.
Submitted by admin on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 16:44
Emerging adulthood is the period that extends from 18 to 25 years of age identified as the period of identity explorations, feeling ‘in-between’, instability, self-focus and possibilities. Jeffrey Arnett (2004) suggests that "Emerging adulthood developed in part because young people enter adult roles of stable work, marriage, and parenthood later now than they did in the past, leading many older people to view them as ‘‘late’’ or selfish, and the new features of this new life stage are frequently misunderstood and misinterpreted."
