Student Profile

Word count: 1019

Fitria is a 22 year old female whose native language is Indonesian. She is learning English as her second language, and currently studying English at a local university. She really enjoys speaking and learning English, and hopes to become an English teacher. Her English comprehension is strongest through reading. Conversation, listening and writing are her weakest areas. She thinks English grammar is very difficult. She attributes this to be the reason that she feels uncomfortable writing in English. The student is at an elementary level. Besides university classes, she uses Skype, instant messengers, and facebook to practice English on a nightly bases. The student's opinion of an ideal English teacher is someone who is able to teach the language outside of the typical lessons involving grammar and writing that she finds so prevalent in Indonesian schools. She finds it exceptional when a teacher is able to include conversational practice and finds interesting activities to engage the learner in and keep the class interesting. I believe based on the learning style questionnaire at www.tdf-esl.com/.../Questionaire I have determined that the student is well rounded learner with a slight preference for kinesthetic and auditory styles.

Problem Area 1
a.) Connected speech- Native speakers use connected speech which makes it hard for the student to understand on the first try. b.) The teacher asked What day is it today? Student replied I get up at 5 am. Teacher rephrased the question with out connected speech and she gave the right answer. c.) I think this occurs for many reasons, the main one being that when they study English in the Indonesian public school system, they are not taught about connected speech. d.) One good way to heighten the student's listening comprehension of connected speech is to first do an activity that will raise the student's awareness of connected speech. First, photocopy and cut up these questions to use for the activity. What are you going to do tonight? What do you usually do at the weekend? What did you do yesterday? How is it going? What do you want to eat? What have you got there? How often do you come here? Write the questions on the board and choose a student to read it from the board. Correct the pronunciation and highlight how many of the words are connected i.e. there are six words in the original question and five when it said. Try to prompt them towards: the did and the you joining and becoming a /dj/ sound. Use your fingers and do choral drilling. Move on to each question using the same sequence. Now it's time for the practice activity. Give each student in the class a strip of paper with one of the questions on it.

Tell all of the students to get up and mingle asking and answering the questions. Teacher should monitor and correct. . (See appendix) http://eslsite.com/sd/Pronunciation/connected-speech.html (Amended) e.) My student's strongest learning style is auditory and this activity focuses on her strength as an auditory learner.

Problem Area 2
a.) Capitalization- The confusion of when to capitalize a noun. b.) The students writing, listed in the appendix, shows that she has successfully capitalized such words as Jakarta and Indonesian, but has also capitalized words like brother, sister, and rabbits. Therefore I believe she has difficulty determining when to capitalize nouns. c.)I think the problem has resulted from years of simple lack of correction in the Indonesian public school system. d.) To help this student learn the rules of capitalization I would first elicit what rules they are already familiar with. Then I would give them a hand out and activity on the the rules of capitalization. While the students complete the activity, the teacher would be monitoring for students that need additional help. Once the activity was completed, students would check there answers in pairs, then with the teacher. Teacher would then collect the activity and grade to find which students may need additional practice.. Teacher should follow up the next class with a simple writing assignment to check if the students capitalization has improved.(see rules and activity in the appendix.) e.) I chose this activity for the class because I believe the root of the problem is in the Indonesian public school system, therefore most students should have this problem not just my student. I chose the rule sheet and worksheet because capitalization can be corrected through simple memorization and practice of the rules.

Problem Area 3
a.) Pronunciation- Confusion between /s/ and /sh/ b.) The student a difficult time with her /sh/ sound. She can say 'sit', but has a hard time with 'sheep' and 'ship', she says 'seep' and 'sip'. c.) In Indonesian the /sh/ is a rare sound. The student therefore hears and produces the /s/ sound instead. d.) First, to raise the student's awareness of the difference between the two sounds, have them put their hand in front of their mouth and say the two sounds. Now the teacher should elicit from the students words that have those two sounds and have them write them on the board. In pairs have them write the words from the board to their papers

and correct any mistakes. Teacher can then correct as a class and drill the correct pronunciation. It should be noted that drilling is the key to this lesson. Give the students the /sh/ worksheet to complete individually. Once the worksheet is completed the teacher should then collect the worksheet to grade and find which students may need additional practice. (See worksheet in appendix) e.) The student is primarily a auditory and kinesthetic learner. Therefore the pronunciation drilling and the action of the hand in front of the mouth, are the keys to this activity being very affective for her.

References:
www.tdf-esl.com/.../Questionaire http://eslsite.com/sd/Pronunciation/connected-speech.html (Amended) www.myenglishteacher.net/captilizingletters.html Ship or Sheep pg.104 Ann Baker Cambridge University Press 1977, 1981