Videos and DVDs

[serendipity]

I've been using the PBS-series "Building Big" in my classroom, and it went down extremely well with my engineering students. They just loved it, irrespective of their individual level of competence, because David Macauley managed to stimulate their interest in a pretty unique way.

Has anybody got any access to similar material? DVDs issued by construction companies, for example, or training manuals for construction workers?

Nova offers some stuff which is good, too. and which they ship overseas, and Velux offers some reasonably good videos on windows and their installation, but nowhere near as good as the PBS-series.

Any experience with these sort of things?

[serendipity]

I recently watched the World Trade Center memorial edition by the History Channel with a class. It had been recorded prior to the events of September 11, 2001.

There was a fairly unsettling scene in it where a technician explained how the building would be safe and sound even if a jetliner crashed into it, smiling and confident, completely unaware of what was bound to happen later on. He was among those who've been missing ever since the events. It was eerie, even to the students.

I got a DVD of Bowling for Columbine today, and I'm thinking of showing it, and discussing it in class. Not really sure though, if it might not fan Anti-American sentiments that are already there - I suppose I'll have to watch it first, and think of a way to get it through to them that Michael Moore is using exaggeration and sarcasm as a stylistic device. I'm not sure if they are *that* sophisticated, though.

[Maltezer]

Hi!

I have just looked at the Building Big site and it looks brilliant. I used to teach engineers in China and still keep an eye open for good sites on this subject in case I need them again.

Have you seen http://membres.lycos.fr/jcviel/frame.htm which is EFL Tech France? There might be some ideas for you on there. I used to use it a lot. The site owner has retired but is keeping the site running. The pages of English Sounds and Noises for Engineers are good fun.

[serendipity]

Thanks, Maltezer, that site is awesome!

[serendipity]

Thanks, Maltezer, I took a look at that site, and added it to my favorites.

Plenty of material there - the sounds and noises will go down well with mine, I'm sure.

What kind of engineering are your Chinese students involved in?

One site that my students actually pointed out to me as they apparently use it in their technical subjects is http://www.efunda.com/home.cfm

[Maltezer]

Hi

I just looked briefly at the site you mentioned - I wish I'd known about it 3 years ago!

The engineers were at a Chinese-French power plant so they were involved in various aspects of engineering, and I also ran classes for the admin and warehouse staff. Actually they knew the vocabulary for their work pretty well but what they really needed was general English to give them confidence to talk to the directors and experts who were their 'bosses'. We did some work on presenting in English as they often had to give verbal reports at meetings. At first, having to talk about figures in English was daunting but, again, the general English boosted their confidence.

I enjoyed teaching them. The ages varied from 20's to 50's and they had a lot of life experience which made discussions interesting.

What about you?

[serendipity]

Well, I teach at an Austrian engineering school which takes in students as young as 14. We also offer evening courses to people working in industry, and they're generally in between twenty and sixty.

Our youngest students are children. They enjoy learning terms for different parts of excavators, for example, and labelling drawings that I take from childrens' books, and finding the most fabulous excavator on the web and giving a presentation on it. They don't worry too much about making mistakes, and structures come easily to them.

I tend to get to teach them for the full five years that they're here, so I get to witness them growing up. Teaching them is a long-term endeavour, where I've got to plan ahead, and the relationships goes through all the stages, too. There is a time when their English seriously lags behind what they want to express, and when no progress seems to be made, and this correlates with the time when cars and bars and girlfriends become important to them. If they make it past that hurdle, though, things become pleasant again.

For the evening classes, the setting is different. They vary widely in ability, and even though they're motivated allright, these gaps are never really closed, and the same problems prevail - again, their thoughts and experiences are too complex for the English available to them.

I enjoy teaching, too, even though I sometimes think that I'd like to interact with people whose ethnic/cultural background differed from mine.

One of my students, by the way, he's about to teach English in China, too, instead of doing military service.... so I'm really interested in what he's got to expect and of course, in how he'll get on there.

Were there any communication problems between the Chinese and the French that could be traced back to cultural differences that they told you about?

[Maltezer]

Hi

Sounds like an interesting school and you must need a lot of material to keep yourself sane - nevermind the students! Do you know about the Oxford Book of Engineering (there is a cassette, too)? Can't remember the title properly but it is by someone called Glenndinning (not sure of spelling and this is the surname). The chapters are a bit formulaic but the listening exercises are similar to some university lectures - good for some students.

The Chinese staff at the power plant did have communication problems with the French directors. Part of this was in my opinion due to the similarities in culture in some areas, ie both societies are very hierarchical. I did a series of lessons where the engineers listened to their appropriate director give some background on his career (they didn't all want to do this) and then the staff asked questions. The questions were pertinent to the work at the plant and I believe it helped to bridge some gaps as it was an informal classroom setting with only about 8 students.

[serendipity]

Yes, the Oxford Book of Engineering rings a bell, and so does the name Glendinning.

Listening exercises are actually the type of lessons that I find most difficult to come by. I've got one *excellent* book on construction sites, it's called "English for the Construction Industry", by Graham and Celia Waterhouse, and it's full of little dialogues where technical problems are being solved. The students love it, because it's stuff that they themselves have encountered.

Only 8 students is good - especially when they're as motivated as yours. Is your background in Engineering, too?

Do you find the more intricate matters of power-generation difficult to get into? Or is it something you enjoy, you know, sort of expanding your scope?

That's how I feel about what the students are doing. Mostly, that is. I'm less than enthusiastic about Portland cement than I once was....

[Maltezer]

Hi, again.

I haven't taught at the power plant for 3 years. I moved from Guangxi Province to Yunnan Province in China and worked for 2 years at one of the universities in Kunming. This year I've just been travelling in the province but in the summer I'll teach at a university in the UK.

I don't have an engineering background at all. I was in insurance for years before doing a TEFL cert, then diploma, then an MA. I learnt a lot about electricity during my time at the plant but I think I've forgotten it all now!

One of the most enjoyable games played with the 'beginners' was bingo using pictures of tools and equipment that were used or had to be ordered at the warehouse. I got hold of a catalogue and did lots of photocoping and reducing the size to make everything small enough to use. It helped them to remember the vocab. We spent about 10-15 minutes every few lessons on this. They also made their own posters of their most important equipment. All very simple but sometimes that's best.

[serendipity]

Yes, I found that playful revision of vocabulary usually went down well with the students here, too. They seem to find it reassuring to be familiar with the terms, and when there's a competitive element to something, they click into gear....

They love "toolbox" games where you've got to say "In my toolbox there's a hammer, a saw and a screwdriver, and I'd like to add a spanner" and then the next person repeats all that, and adds a tool of his own to the collection.

So you'll be teaching at a university in Britain next year? EFL? English? Whereabouts?

To me, it feels as if all this vocational stuff has just about stifled any aspirations to lofty academic heights. I think I wouldn't be able to come up with something profound on Shakespeare or Donne or Coleridge these days. It seems so remote from the stuff I'm doing.

[Maltezer]

Hi

Have sent you a private message.

[serendipity]

Thanks!