Teaching Portfolio

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"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." — Mark Van Doren

Teaching PortfolioMichael Williams

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Sample Lesson Plans

Curriculum Vitae

Activity Portfolio

Self-reflection Video

Professional Development Workshop & Reflection

About Me

Teaching Philosophy

Content

ABOUT ME

I am a language lover and a language teacher, who has studied Latin, French, Italian and German, but my big love is Spanish. I have lived and taught Spanish and English for over 15 years at universities in Italy, England, Argentina, Colombia, and the United States.Teaching allows me to share my passion, to develop students’ language abiities, and to open their eyes to the many advantages that knowing a second language can offer them.Being an instructor on the Spanish program at Arizona State University has given me the opportunity to grow and to develop as an instructor, enabling me to teach more effectively and provide students with the essential skills they need for effective communication in a second language.

Teaching Philosophy

The goal of most people who learn a language is to communicate with others in that language, whether that is chatting on Weibo in Chinese, a short conversation with a taxi driver in English, or an international online conference call in Spanish. Each interaction generally involves someone saying something or asking something with a purpose in mind, for which another person will most probably provide a meaningful reply. Therefore, when we consider the best way to teach and prepare learners to be able to communicate in another language, it makes a lot of sense to make real communication the focus of the language classroom. Having learned several languages and used them to communicate for many different reasons, I really appreciate the value of being able to communicate well in other languages, and so in my role as a Spanish Teacher, I believe my goal is to enable my students to do exactly that, to communicate effectively in the world’s second-largest language.This guiding goal is grounded in the communicative language teaching approach (CLT), the central aim of which is to make real communication the focus of language learning. In real terms, this means that I create classes in which students are actively involved in activities that provide them with genuinely useful and stimulating information that are the building blocks of their L2 that they develop through the second language acquisition (SLA) process. Experience has shown me that using CLT (combined with other complementary methodologies, including project-based learning) is an effective way to enable learners to achieve the end goal of being proficient in Spanish.

My second goal as a language teacher is to provide students with an enjoyable and stimulating learning experience that connects to their own lives and interests, as I believe that is the environment in which students thrive and learn best. To achieve that, I carefully select topics and subjects that are of genuine interest to them and that give them a good degree of learner autonomy, helping to make sure they stay motivated and engaged in class, enabling them to make those all-important “form-meaning” connections that are so critical for acquiring a second language.As an example of this, I recently prepared an SPA 201 class for my undergraduate students about art, a subject they were all keen on. After an initial interpretive activity about contemporary art, which introduced an artist, students then took part in an interpersonal communicative whole-class activity in which they pretended to be journalists and interviewed the artist (impersonated by a student who was given a short biography of the artist) about her life and work. Students took notes and recorded the information.Following the interview, students were asked to discuss the information they gathered from the interview in pairs and to select the most interesting points. The final activity was presentational, in which they individually wrote a brief report of the interview (50 words), which they then uploaded to their online news website. In these activities, students had clear reasons for interpreting the information they had been given and opportunities to express meaning through their notetaking, discussions, and reports. I then checked their comprehension and evaluated their learning by observing their discussions and writing.(Continued on next page)

Teaching Philosophy

I see my role in the language classroom as a guide, creating the right learning conditions for students and supporting them on their SLA journey. This support may be offering individual students encouragement if they are struggling or providing activities that are properly scaffolded. In a class about short stories, I created a sequence of activities that created step-by-step support for students as they read, compared, and carried out a simple narrative analysis of a microrelato (very short story). The scaffolding made the task manageable and provided key supporting information (explained new vocabulary) that enabled them to understand the story and carry out the activities successfully.I always try to give students as many opportunities as possible to interact, practice, and improve their fluency, and my classes typically include information gap activities such as jigsaw, task-completion, opinion-sharing, information-transfer, and role plays. I find role-play very effective as it recreates real-life situations such as buying a ticket or ordering a meal, in which students are engaged in meaningful interaction where they have to negotiate meaning, apply communication strategies, and correct mistakes. As well as providing opportunities for meaningful communication, these learning tasks help to make classes learner-centered, and create a community among learners in the classroom in which they can collaborate, share their ideas, and knowledge with their classmates.Another one of CLT’s guiding principles is to allow students to make mistakes as they learn and I completely agree that that is an important part of any learning process and I let students know that it is ok for them to get things wrong, that it is understandable, and that what really matters is their communicative practice and doing their best.

As a student, I really valued teachers who took a genuine interest in my learning and asked about my views or opinions. For that reason, I think it's important to create a good rapport with my own students that creates trust and respect. In addition to discussing my responsibilities and theirs and setting out class expectations, I will also take an interest in them as people and let them know that my role is to help and support them in whatever way I can. During the course, I will ask them for their thoughts and feelings about topics, I will include their requests where I can, and celebrate their language breakthroughs. I think feedback and correction are also an important element of rapport and are key to improving learner confidence, but I am also mindful that feedback needs to be appropriate and well-timed to avoid discouraging students or denting their often fragile confidence as lower-levels.I genuinely think that having a good understanding and working relationship with students is just as important as all the other vital elements that go into creating a successful second language classroom. And just like students, teachers must also continue learning as part of their professional development to update their skills and their approach to instruction. My training in the use of CLT has helped me to reassess my own teaching practice and to focus my attention and energy on second language acquisition with its emphasis on the role of learners, the creation of meaning, and the social nature of communication. As an approach, I believe it reflects reality more accurately and recognizes the desire and ambition of most language learners, which is to communicate effectively in the language they are learning, which is why my main goal as a teacher is to enable students to communicate effectively in Spanish whether they are a beginner, an intermediate level learner, or as an advanced learner.

Michael WilliamsTeaching AssistantCV

School of International Letters and Cultures, Arizona State University, Arizona, USAEmail: mwill386@asu.eduEducationM.A. Spanish (Literature and Culture), Arizona State University, 2024CELTA, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, 1998Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism, University of Westminster, London, England, 1992B.A. Philosophy, London Metropolitan University, London, England, 1991Professional ExperienceTeaching Arizona State University, Arizona, 2024 - PresentAssistant Spanish ProgramLecturer Pontifical Javeriana University, Cali, Colombia, 2017 - 2023 Instructor: Spanish as a Foreign Language Program (In-person and Online) Instructor: International Business Program (In-person and Online) Academic Translator for the Research Department (52 translated articles published in Q1 to Q3 academic journals)Lecturer Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, 2014 - 2017 Instructor: English Language Program(Continued on next page)

Michael WilliamsTeaching AssistantCV

Professional Associatons & LeadershipAssembly Member ASU Graduate Student Government (GSG), 2024Chair of Committee GSG Legislative & Political Action Committee, 2024Member Sigma Delta Pi Theta Epsilon Chapter (Spanish Society), 2024Volunteer & ServiceVolunteer ASU Spanish Academic Conference, 2024Professional DevelopmentWorkshop on Academic Publishing (ASU), 2024Masterclass in Online Teaching (ASU), 2024Language Teaching in Digital Environments, 2022Master class: Tutoring Online, 2021Courses TaughtSpanish 201 (In-person)Spanish for Foreigners: Elementary LevelSpanish for Foreigners: Intermediate LevelSpanish for Foreigners: Upper Intermediate LevelSpanish for Foreigners: Advanced LevelScholarships and FellowshipsGSG Leadership Scholarship (ASU), 2024

Activity Portfolio

Activity 1

AN INTERVIEW WITH AN AUTHOR (20 minutes)Level: SPA 201 class about fiction writingGroup work, whole class work, and individual workSkills: listening, reading, speaking, writingObjective 1: Students will find out information about an authorObjective 2: Students will use what they found out to write a short blog post about the author.Instructions: The teacher explains that students are going to pretend to be journalists and are going to interview an author. The teacher chooses a student to be the author and puts the rest of the students into groups of 3.The teacher gives the author information (see materials) about their life and career, which she reads and will use to answer questions. The teacher tells the groups of students to work together to write 3 questions for the author based on the topics shown on the slide (see materials).Activity: Students ask the author their questions and note down her answers.

Instructions: The Teacher tells students to chat about the information they have gathered, to choose the most important facts and then write a short report to be published as a blog post.Activity: Students write their short reports and also check each other's writing. They then upload and publish them.Materials (click here for slides and author’s bio)Rationale: I created this activity because it is relevant to the module my students were studying on fiction writing and because it is a communicative activity that combines all 3 modes: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational.Instructional goals are (1) for students to ask and find out information about an author and to then (2) use that information in a meaningful way to discuss it and write a brief blog post that reports key facts about the author. In this activity, the information being conveyed is the topics students are given on slide 2 to create their questions and the answers given by the author to those questions. Students are then given a clear purpose for that information, which is to discuss it, choose the most important facts and write a brief report about the interview.(Continued on next page)

Activity Portfolio

Activity 2

ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT FOOD AND DRINK (15 minutes)Level: SPA 102 class about daily habitsWhole class work/pair workSkills: listening, reading, speaking, writingObjective: Students will be able to ask questions about eating and drinking habitsInstructions: Teacher introduces topic of eating and drinking habits (slide 1) and then introduces food vocabulary (slide 2) and pronounces words and then gets students to repeat them in unison. Teacher then models “Yo como pizza”, then asks the class ¿Que comes tu? Teacher asks one student the question again and points to “Yo como…..” to indicate how to answer and then points to food items. The teacher repeats this with 5 students. Teacher then introduces drinks vocabulary (slide 3) and repeats the modeling process.Activity: Teacher explains students are going to ask each other about what they eat and drink. (Slide 4). Teacher demonstrates how to use handout with one student, then gives out handouts, then asks students to stand up and mingle and ask each other the questions. When students have asked all their classmates the questions Teacher asks them to sit down.

Instructions: The Teacher shows slide 5 and focuses on the 3rd person form of the verbs and models line number 3 clearly, then asks students to repeat. Teacher then models the question and the answer pointing to the 3rd person form of the verb, demonstrating to students how to pronounce it. Activity: Teacher then explains that students are going to ask their neighbour the question “¿Que come y bebe tu companero/a?” Teacher demonstrates activity with one student, then students begin activity by asking their neighbour and responding to their neighbour's questions. After students finish, teacher then asks 4 students (in a whole class activity) what their classmates eat and drink.Materials (click here for slides and handout)Rationale: I designed this activity as part of a SPA 102 class about daily habits to provide students with communicative practice talking about food and drink. The instructional goal is for students to be able to ask questions about eating and drinking habits. The first interpretive stage presents the vocabulary and language they need to talk about the topic, which is a popular subject for most people, which helps to ensure students process the language for meaning.The following interactive stage is an information gap activity that gives students plenty of opportunity to engage in interpersonal communication and to express meaning, which in this case is about their eating and drinking habits and those of their classmates. The final stage of the activity is an evaluation which enables the teacher to see how well students were able to carry out the final activity.

Sample Lesson Plan

Click here to see an example lesson plan

Self-Reflection Video

click here to see self-reflection video

Summary: DeAnna Soth and Marisa Ruiz led an online course for a group of educators at Arizona State University about how to teach online. The 12-hour course, which lasted 2 weeks, covered pedagogical strategies for online teaching and included 6 modules that covered online student success, effective interactions, course quality and alignment, course design and content development, and instructor presence and action plan. The course highlighted the use of virtual tools that facilitate interactive learning online and enable students to participate collaboratively in a digital environment.Take-away: This was a great course in so many ways The key takeaway was learning how to make online learning more engaging and stimulating for students. I really benefitted from hearing the experiences of other teachers working in other subject areas about how they have adapted online course methods and tools to fit their subject areas. That gave me lots of ideas about how to make language teaching more interesting and participative. I learned about some great new tools such as Yellowdig and Perusal that are very helpful in encouraging course conversations with students before and after class. The course also made me realize how important it is to be present for students online and to contribute to discussions and to let them know that I am available to help and offer advice. The instructors also explained ways we can use technology to avoid cheating and dishonesty online. A good technique for teaching Spanish to ask students to record videos instead of turning on written assignments, as videos reveal how well students are understanding their coursework.

Professional Development Workshop & Reflection

MASTER CLASS TEACHING ONLINE

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