As mentioned and discussed in the previous discourse pertinent to instructional planning and implementation, realia and visual aids such as the DOTS chart are fundamental in immersing the ESL students in English through practicum and demonstrations. In this accord, the selected artefact is the DOTS chart that illustrates the various festivals around the world. One of the methods that are materialistic in imparting and teaching the English language to the CLD students is through creating a serene and comfortable classroom environment that appreciates every student’s culture and diversity. This could be achieved through artwork such as paintings, communal activities, field trips to different cultural settings, as well as incorporating such techniques in the curricula, especially in subjects such as social studies and geography that teach about the different cultures and beliefs of the students and their communities. However, an additional way that the students can appreciate each other’s culture in the classroom is through developing and filling the DOTS chart.
The DOTS chart, in this case, represents not only different festivals but also cultures where the festivals originated from. As such, this diversity in culture portrayed by the festivals goes a long way in helping students identify with their cultures as well as those of other individuals, and as such, given the universality of the festivals, the students are well able to appreciate all cultures represented. In effect, the students gain confidence in expressing themselves in the classroom through interaction via the English language. Moreover, as an inductive teaching method, the DOTS charts have evidenced the fact that grammar is not the center of focus as opposed to pronunciation. For instance, from the artifact, incorrect spelling of certain words such as festival is evident. Nevertheless, as an instructor, I insist that the students get the pronunciation correct and in time the grammar will advance and mature to perfection.
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Despite the artifacts (DOTS charts) being individually developed and presented by the students, I had initially put them in groups where they had to read about the festivals together and to each other as a means of getting the pronunciation right. Ultimately, developing the DOTS chart was a way of testing their retention capacities as well as a way of improving their cognitive abilities pertinent to the English language. Furthermore, the festivals were a means of creating a connection between the CLD students’ background and the curricula which are salient in boosting their performance.
As part of my instructional planning in the previous discussions, graphical organizers were to be a salient feature of my teaching whereby students identify the inherent relationships between content and information. As such, the artifacts have achieved this essential phenomenon evidenced by the numerous lines linking the festivals to their descriptions. The saliency of this precept is that it shows the cognitive advancement of the students whereby they are able to relate information to content. The artifacts as well indicate the students’ encoding capabilities in the sense that what has been recorded in the DOTS chart is their understanding of the excerpt regarding the festivals.
In essence, my duty as an instructor is to create instructional activities that augment collaboration and cohesion in accomplishing specific tasks. To this end, reading about the various festivals around the world as well as filling in the DOTS chart were fundamental activities parallel to the Think-Pair-Share concept that bolsters joint learning and positive response to the English language. As previously discussed in the platform, this concept not only boosts confidence but also reduces anxiety subsequently bolstering self-esteem pertinent to pronunciation, behavior patterns, and consciousness of grammatical errors. To this end, even though there are noticeable grammatical errors in the DOTS chart, the groups have made an immense contribution to improving the students’ language and mechanics. This facet is particularly true because the students tend to learn best from each other or when they are the judges of their work. Ultimately, the artifacts are proof that the students’ understanding of the language has improved as opposed to before, evidenced in their log books.
