A couple of weeks ago, one student told me that for the first time he felt comfortable speaking in an ESL class. I was pleased. This was a conversation class and of course one big part of such a class is to facilitate communication and empower the students to speak freely. But I also noticed that other students felt shortchanged because they were not able to see tangible, measurable results. And I think that is one of the inherent scenarios of a conversation/speech class as opposed to a conventional grammar class: the student has more difficulty measuring how much he or she has advanced. I understand there are strategies we can put in place to counterbalance this, but I just wanted to bring this up because sometimes we try too hard to look for ways to make the students feel they have learned something, and in so doing we might not implement strategies which would bring better results only in the long term. We want the students to leave our class with a sense of accomplishment, and that is quite alright. But we have to make sure we also give them other strengths they might not become aware of for quite some time.

It was encouraging to read in this course the line "Instructors should also connect lessons to students' backgrounds and develop activities in which students can use their native languages." For too long it has been one of the sacred commandments in ESL classrooms not to allow the students to use their native language at any time and under any circumstance in our well intentioned efforts to replicate at all costs a natural learning environment. So ingrained is this view that students have come to demand this practice and thus complain every time the instructor allows it or even makes some explanation in the students' native tongue. While using English is the whole point of having such a class, many times the student feels intimidated, helpless and incompetent by being forced to understand a concept or a structure in English, while seeing that a brief explanation in his native language would suffice, either by the instructor or a classmate. The course makes due emphasis on the level of comfort we should provide the students with, and allowing the students to engage in activities in which they could interact in their native languages will make them feel more at ease, more free to ask, more comfortable with their not understanding, and certainly will reassure them that their own background and culture can be in themselves useful tools to learn about other backgrounds and cultures.

I strongly believe that there is a big gap between people/students who were born in 1980s and those born in the 1990s. Although both of these groups are dubbed Generation Y, I believe, based on my own classroom observations that many of the students who were born in the late 90s do not really share too much in common with those born in the 80s. It may be my perception or personal age biases, but today's "youth" doesn't seem to want to do anything for themselves and lack respect for elders and authority figures. Maybe it is time to come up with "Generation Z".

It was somewhat of an epiphany for me to see that, with access to all of the internet, these younger students need to understand the relevance of what they're learning. How do I communicate the relevance of something when what we're discussing is very basic/foundational and the explanation involves concepts and techniques that they won't even understand yet?

Bit confused by some of the descriptions of boomers growing up distrusting authorities and being instructed to distrust banks and other institutions yet the is generation is also considered more optimistic.

As an Instructor there is something that I struggle with whenever I have a student with an accommodation. Lets use private testing as an example. If I am administering a test and then send a student out of the room. Am I not pointing out that this student is in some way different to the rest of the class? This has yet to be an actual problem but it is something that makes me uncomfortable. I feel as though I am outing that student.

How or what would be the best possible way of contributing to a student's success when encountering dyscalculia? Also, what could be offered to help students outside the classroom better understand what they learned in class?

I have been the ADA/504 coordinator on my campus for a little over a year now. In this time, I have seen many studnets overcome their challenges in life and be successful in their field of choice. On the other side of that, I have seen students who, in all reality, will have a difficult road at best in finding work and being successful in their career choice. We do all that we can to help them succeed in their programs, but at what point are we setting them up for failure when they get out into the workforce? We all want nothing more than to see them be happy and fullfilled in their careers. It's just difficult when know the struggles that they will encounter.

According to corporate policies, instructors are not supposed to be using social networking sites with students as suggested in this class' materials. Further this class should have reminded instructors that when using videos etc, they may be opening themselves up to copyright violations that must be considered.

Personally, given the demographic makeup of the classes that I am seeing today, I think CareerEd ignores generational theory completely by mandating that textbooks be used. In my class, the required text (required by CareerEd not chosen by me) is a waste of time and money and my students do not read the assignments. As discussed in this class, Millenials/Gen Yers, especially those in career-based institutions, want to see connections with real life experiences; they like to use technology; and have shorter attention spans requiring shorter pieces to read like articles or websites versus chapters in a textbook. Older students also like reading the articles. I think it is a shame that our students are required to purchase a book they will never use and that instructors are required to assign homework from those books.

how would you engage students from gen yin a clinical setting?

I think it's good idea, now a days it easy to access medical web site to look up medications.

I'm a gen x person but i can see myself as being some what gen y because technology has been important in my schooling.

very interesting topic. i was not fully aware of what everyone meant when they would say that we were gen x. now i sort of do.

I have found that using tools like polleverywhere and survey monkey have increased student participation in the classroom. I am interested to know more abotu what others are using to increase engagement through the use of technology.

We all understand that technology has had a huge impact on Gen Y's learning style. What are the other factors that lead to some of the more difficult generational differences and what are the sources? I believe understanding Gen Y's development is key to teaching them effectively.

It is helpful to have students work in pairs and in small groups to lower the affective filter and create a more comfortable environment for learning.

To put ELL students at ease, or at least more comfortable in the classroom, I have them work with a partner. This allows them to get explanations from a classmate if needed without having to draw attention to themselves while asking a question in front of the class. It also gives them an opportunity to have discussions about what is being taught.

By Understanding and/or reviewing over the generational cohort, it has helped me understand some behaviors and I will implement more learning techniques.

By knowing the characteristics of the different generations of learners represented in you class you can more accurately target your instruction to meet their needs based upon their life expectations.