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AdamH
Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Location: Bachman Turner Overdrive...Let's Rock!
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 Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:47 am Post subject: Would you give out your email address? |
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I'm considering giving out my email address to the students to encourage them to discuss any concerns, likes/dislikes etc with me one-to-one. My hope is that they will be able to write freely (in English, of course) away from peer pressure or classroom shyness, i.e. if they have not fully understood an idiom / grammar point.
Any areas that they feel need more in-depth explanation can then be brought up by me in the next class, with no need to name or single out just that one student.
Does this seem like a good idea to you guys? What kind of responses have you had after trying such a scheme, and did you find that offering some kind of incentive resulted in more forthcoming students?
Thanks! |
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casey's moon
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:15 am Post subject: |
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| When I was teaching I had an email address that was specifically for students to use to correspond with me. I don't like to give out my real address very much. It worked great for me. I also used it as a way for students to submit homework. The only problem is that hanmail often rejects email from hotmail and yahoo-- I'm not sure if that is still a problem or not, but if it is, you may have to ask your students to make hotmail or yahoo adresses. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:25 am Post subject: |
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As someone who majored in ethics and has addressed this in university studies as well as my own ESL teaching practice, I recommend you avoid all possible appearances of inpropriety by:
1) Open a special email account for that purpose only (takes 10 minutes to do so)
2) Give your director or employer the password to access it any time they want (even if they don't seem to care at all, do it).
All other advice I would give concerning content and basic rules of use are really beside the point.
Now, in terms of teaching tool, emails are great. It takes students a long time to construct a simple email, especially with the keyboard! But they get faster over time.
I always "reply" to an email, which puts the previous email's content below. I edit their email, but do so on the bottom, away and distinctly apart from my email reply. It's important that they feel no more self conscious when emailing than they they do while journaling.
One tip I've learned is to SEND LINKS to great English-language websites on subjects of interest to them. For example, a couple of my middle school girls love Avril Lavigne's music, so I sent links and they keep thanking me for it (they could surf or google there on their own, but they probably wouldn't. Links seem to be well received).
Good luck whatever. |
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ajuma
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
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| Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 9:02 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah...this is a "no-brainer". Set up an account just for students. You could also use that address when you have to give your address on some sites and don't want your "regular" account filling up with spam! |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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Just make sure that the account you set up is one of the FEW that Hanmail will let through, seeing as 90% of all students (and Koreans) seem to be using it. If not, you can't relpy to the messages...it will bounce back.
I can't get through with Hotmail or Yahoo, so I recently made my 5th account at a fairly obscure e-mail site. |
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Ryst Helmut
Joined: 26 Apr 2003
Location: In search of the elusive signature...
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| Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
As someone who majored in ethics and has addressed this in university studies as well as my own ESL teaching practice, I recommend you avoid all possible appearances of inpropriety by:
1) Open a special email account for that purpose only (takes 10 minutes to do so)
2) Give your director or employer the password to access it any time they want (even if they don't seem to care at all, do it). |
I firmly agree that teachers ought to have an account just for students, but to give an employer your password? What is next, a camera in my office? Recorder on my desk? A P.I. to follow me after class?
I can see your point, but I make it a point to save ANY and ALL conversations/correspondence (be it e-mail or MSN chat), just in case. By doing so, my boss could - if needed - see a message whenever he wanted. ... of course, after asking me to access the account, but it never happened.
!shoosh
Ryst |
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jazblanc77
Joined: 22 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Demophobe wrote: |
Just make sure that the account you set up is one of the FEW that Hanmail will let through, seeing as 90% of all students (and Koreans) seem to be using it. If not, you can't relpy to the messages...it will bounce back.
I can't get through with Hotmail or Yahoo, so I recently made my 5th account at a fairly obscure e-mail site. |
Demo, do you know if Gmail is getting through? |
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Ryst Helmut
Joined: 26 Apr 2003
Location: In search of the elusive signature...
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| Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| jazblanc77 wrote: |
| ...do you know if Gmail is getting through? |
I just sent a test message from my gmail account to my hanmail account. No problem, and I haven't put myself on my 'contact list' in hanmail....
!Shoosh
Ryst |
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jazblanc77
Joined: 22 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Ryst Helmut wrote: |
| jazblanc77 wrote: |
| ...do you know if Gmail is getting through? |
I just sent a test message from my gmail account to my hanmail account. No problem, and I haven't put myself on my 'contact list' in hanmail....
!Shoosh
Ryst |
Good to hear, I'll use that account on my next job search. I hate to think about how many applications were lost on my last time around due to the hanmail idiocy. |
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Falstaff
Joined: 14 Jan 2004
Location: Ansan
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| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
As someone who majored in ethics and has addressed this in university studies as well as my own ESL teaching practice, I recommend you avoid all possible appearances of inpropriety by:
1) Open a special email account for that purpose only (takes 10 minutes to do so)
2) Give your director or employer the password to access it any time they want (even if they don't seem to care at all, do it).
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This is excellent advice. Yes, I would give the employer the password. Will he ever check it? Doubtful. But be honest, what's in there to check? Remember this is an e-mail just for students. In case you are accused of something, you can always say, "Listen. Check the e-mail. You have the password. It's just a way to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
I had an account like this when I taught back home. It's the one I gave to parents and students to communicate with me. I made sure my principal had the password. Never had a problem with it. |
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Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 10:03 pm Post subject: |
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| I must provide my e-mail address to students, faculty, and staff. I was ordered to provide my e-mail address. My boss would not be happy if I did not provide my e-mail address to everyone associated with the university. |
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Kwangjuchicken
Joined: 01 Sep 2003
Location: I was abducted by aliens on my way to Korea and forced to be an EFL teacher on this crazy planet.
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| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Falstaff wrote: |
| VanIslander wrote: |
As someone who majored in ethics and has addressed this in university studies as well as my own ESL teaching practice, I recommend you avoid all possible appearances of inpropriety by:
1) Open a special email account for that purpose only (takes 10 minutes to do so)
2) Give your director or employer the password to access it any time they want (even if they don't seem to care at all, do it).
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This is excellent advice. Yes, I would give the employer the password. Will he ever check it? Doubtful. But be honest, what's in there to check? Remember this is an e-mail just for students. In case you are accused of something, you can always say, "Listen. Check the e-mail. You have the password. It's just a way to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
I had an account like this when I taught back home. It's the one I gave to parents and students to communicate with me. I made sure my principal had the password. Never had a problem with it. |
Just one problem. Or, should I say, MAJOR FLAW in this idea. If there is something "innapropriate" in your email account, what is to stop you from deleting it before someone else reads it? Actually, 2 major flaws. NEVER give your password to others, or they might be the ones who use your account in inappropriate ways.
I also have an account just for students. I too have had problems sending an receiving email with yahoo with Korean students, even if they have yahoo. You see, they often have their name in Korean, and then the address. So, English yahoo, and hotmail have a tendancy to go "mitchigetta" when it has to read a korean name, so often the message will not go thru. SO, tell your students to either delete their Korean name (if in Korean) and either send with no name, or better yet, use the name in english. The address is what gets a message thru, not the name.
One last good piece of advice. Often their email will go to the junk box. In order for you to know it is not junk mail, but from a student, tell you students to use a special heading for their message in the part that says "Subject". Then you will know it is from a student and that you can safely open it.
The chicken has spoken 
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Kwangjuchicken
Joined: 01 Sep 2003
Location: I was abducted by aliens on my way to Korea and forced to be an EFL teacher on this crazy planet.
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| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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Another reason it is a good idea to have the students put something in the Subject that will be like a code to tell you it is a student will help you to avoid a problem like I once had.
Several times I received email from an address that was sexygirl something. And the message just said hi. And, it was always in my junk box. So, I figured it was unsolicted porn  
Then, late in the semester I get this call from a student. She was in a work study program and was supposed to send me work by email. I told her I never got it. Then she told me her address, She was Sexygirl. 
And I kept deleting her homework. 
On a postive note, we talked for over an hour. Her English was outstanding. So, I gave her an "A+".
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 1:55 am Post subject: |
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| Kwangjuchicken wrote: |
| If there is something "innapropriate" in your email account, what is to stop you from deleting it before someone else reads it? Actually, 2 major flaws. NEVER give your password to others, or they might be the ones who use your account in inappropriate ways. |
Emailing with students is like a classroom, subject to supervision by cameras or sudden visit by management. Opening a special email account just for it and allowing the director to have access to it has neither of the "major flaws".
The account is for the teaching/learning correspondence with students. The email address could simply be closed after one finishes teaching at that school/institute, or the password could be changed afterwards.
Tell the students that the director has access as well. That will inhibit the students from talking about sex or other sensitive subjects (yes, some students do in class - not appropriate). If you get inappropriate email material from a student, then the student knows the director may have seen it, you know the director may have seen it, and you could email back to encourage discussion of other subjects instead, gently but clearly leading them away from the topic. But in over a year of use, I've never had a problem with the openly-accessed and exclusive-purpose email account.
If you don't want to do it then don't. But it avoids more potential problems than it creates and works well for me. It might for some others as well. |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 2:28 am Post subject: |
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I think the chicken has a point.
Just ask the director to open an account and give you the password. |
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