Job Discussion Forums

[Harbin]

I tried to use the search function to see other people's opinions about English Corner, but that didn't work.

What is the point of English Corners? I currently work for a language training company and am required to do these as part of my job duties, but I can't see the point. I'm CELTA trained and have previous experience teaching English, but nothing has prepared me for mixed level classes of anywhere from 5 to 35 with no way of knowing how many students will attend. How on earth can you do something useful for a group of everything from absolute starters through C1 students?

I've observed my co-workers' English Corners and mostly see "teachers" talking about their personal life for one hour. Valid topics seem to include anything from how drunk they were last night to their relationship problems and imminent plans to flee China because of their nagging Chinese girlfriend. Does the goal of English Corners really match up with the author's hypothesis in A Critical Ethnography of �Westerners� Teaching English in China:
Shanghaied in Shanghai? That book basically says that ELT in China boils down to two things: reinforcing the idea of Chinese superiority and defining the idea of Chinese identity as not being the foreign "other."

I've tried everything from class discussions to debates to well established communicative activities. In general, the students are reluctant to talk about anything unless I give them a topic that is far removed from their daily life. For example, well designed lesson plans which involve journalist and subject interviews about alien abductions or celebrity affairs work very well, but good luck getting the students to discuss anything else. I really don't have time in my schedule to create proper and creative lesson plans for each of these English Corners.

What exactly is the purpose of English Corners? Most students don't want to actually speak English and prefer to remain in the passive learning mode. Is the purpose to gawk and laugh at the personal problems and moral failings of foreigners, as the book I linked to suggests? The students seem to prefer this to anything else, but well planned (read: time intensive) lesson plans do work well. However, this leaves us with a fundamental problem: how is an English Corner significantly different than a proper English class? It seems that conducting English Corner as a proper lesson is the only way to do anything productive with the hour.

[china505]

The point:

Its basically a free class for students that are enrolled in "real" classes at your school (at least this is at my school), by knowing they can get a free class each week, the parents are more likely to sign their kid up. Same deal as "help sessions", most students that show up for these dont need them, its just a free class to get parents to pay $$$....


How to conduct the class:

I dont have any that have the spread of the one you described but I can get anything from 7 to 12 year olds, I figure out what level they are and just play games for an hour, I base the questions for each student upon the level they are at but everybody plays the same game.

IT takes energy and it sucks, but thats how I approach it.

[Javelin of Radiance]

Looks like a popular topic.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=69604&highlight=corner
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=93602&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=corner&start=0
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=97784&highlight=corner
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=64921&highlight=corner
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=41023&highlight=corner
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=35557&highlight=corner
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=6368&highlight=corner

[johntpartee]

[rioux]

How many times per month and for what length of time does a teacher have to attend English Corner?
Where I am at it's weekly for two hours.

[maxand]

[Non Sequitur]

The widely varying attendance numbers are a big issue when trying to plan for an English Corner.
In semester 1 freshmen attend in big numbers, as it's a novelty. This rapidly falls off as winter approaches and there are other better things to do.
However, I hate any time I spend with students to be unproductive and have two activities ready - small group and large.
While I advise noobs not to get into the 'talk while an adoring group of females ask the usual inane questions' mode, when I observe these sessions, inevitably that is what happens.
Another issue fits with the dancing monkey approach and we are asked to hold ECs in the park area in front of the admin building. No doubt this is to allow the top brass to point us out from their windows to any visitors.
In winter we are asked to go to the main foyer of the library building - again to be on show as much as possible.
Students joining and leaving the group at random is also a problem and I find my cocktail party question game is ideal as it is almost totally expandable and contractible within say the 20 to 60 student range of attendees.
Depending on the number of FTs on staff the ECs should be rotated and it generally shouldn't be necessary to do an EC more than 3 times per semester.
Refusing to do these, just puts extra workload on your colleagues.
ECs don't go away because it is beneath your dignity to attend.
I may be a cr*p teacher in a cr*p system but it's not my students' fault.