Job Discussion Forums

[frigginhippie]

on the first day of school???

I'll be teaching at a university for the first time in September, and I'm expecting conversation classes of over 40 students. Any good ideas or successful lessons for the first day/week of class with this age group?

I try to think back to my foreign languages classes but they were all around 20 students and we just did introductions. The one conversation class I had failed miserably (the only day students spoke was in debate for marijuana legalization).

Sorry if this is in an old post question; I promise I searched

Thanks!

-fh

[carken]

Of course, you should inform the students of the course contents and your expectations. Beyond that, something to relax the students and something that's a little bit fun for them, as well as informative, is a 'teacher interview'.

Tell the students they will be interviewing you. Divide the students into groups of about four, and have them write down questions about you that they would like answered. After about 10 minutes, go from group to group and have each group choose the one question they'd like answered. Answer it and move on to the next group. To encourage the students to listen, you might announce in advance that there will be a 10 question oral T/F quiz at the end (not for a grade, of course). You pick and choose T/F questions to ask as the students are 'interviewing' you.

You can add a little drama by using a water bottle or something else for a microphone. Jazz it up!

This is just one introductory activity - there's lots of things to do.

Carole

[randyj]

You could also do something with names, those of students individually and in general the differences between western and Chinese names. For example, a good joke concerns the change in the name of a Chinese student going to the United States to study. After the surname moves to the rear, a name like 吴晓东 (Wu Xiaodong) becomes 晓东吴 (Xiao Dongwu), which sounds like 小动物 (little animal). Prepare for the lesson by assembling various western given names with their meanings, mostly ancient and forgotten. The students can explain their own names, the meanings, and who supplied them. A teacher can start to learn the students' names and, at the same time, introduce cultural elements. I personally do not encourage the students to adopt western names, but that subject can also provide good material. For example, to explain the danger inherent in transcultural naming, you might tell the story of a Chinese girl who moved with her family to a western country, where a teacher arbitrarily assigned her the name "Nellie", which sounds close to the Chinese 哪里 , meaning "where?" or "on the contrary".

[mike w]

How can you have a conversation with 40 students?

At my school, conversation classes are limited to a maximum of 15 - and even that can be a problem making sure all 15 join in the conversation.

[Roger]

Since you are new to China, you will need to take your bearings firrst of all. ANd that means you shouldn't expect too good results.
Do the simplest things. Don't rock their ship!Q! And, do teach them to act the way we would act.
For instance: have them talk in front of the class, or at least to all of them. Tha'ts new to them, and that will be a good lesson: If I talk, others ought to listen to me!

Have each of them introduce themselves. 40 pieces - that will easily fill 2 hours! That's the way you should think of lessons - the first one is already planned. Based on the outcome, I will do a different lesson next time.
Ask them to say a few private words about themselves. You can also ask them to invite their peers to ask them some questions.
The less you have to do, the better for this sort of class.
I did such lessons with adults and university students; don't aim too high!

[frigginhippie]

Thanks everybody for the help. You're right, Mike W, conversation with 40 or more is insane. But that's how it's gonna be. How do you all deal with that on a daily basis? Do you even learn your students' names?

Carken's teacher interview is a great idea, and gets everyone (theoretically) involved. I don't know much past 'ni hao ma' so I don't know if the Chinese names idea will work. What else ya got

Thanks again,
fh

[carken]

1. Another get-acquainted activity goes by several names. I call it "Truth or Lies".

Write 3 interesting facts on the board about yourself. (The key here is the word 'interesting'). Two will be true statements and one will be a lie. Tell the students that one is a lie and they should try to decide which it is. Have them vote by raised hand on the one they think is a lie, #1, #2, or #3. Don't make any comments, but record the votes alongside each statement. Then tell them which is the lie.

Then have each student do the same thing on a piece of paper, 2 true statements and one lie. In groups of four (again, theoretically they should be speaking English, but you'll have to walk around and monitor and remind them), they do the same thing, trying to guess the lie.

After this, each group decides on the best group of statements within their group, and presents to the class, with the class trying to decide which is the lie.

This is pretty repetitive, but it's done at three different levels, and they seem to enjoy and get a lot of English from it.

2. Another, simpler activity is to stand at the door with a roll of toilet paper in your hand and have each student take "as many pieces as they think they'll need". (You'll have to record names and numbers of pieces of paper taken for obvious reasons, as you read on.)

Then, each student gives as many pieces of information about himself/herself as pieces of paper taken. For example, the student who takes 8 pieces gives 8 facts. Give them a few minutes to prepare and get going . . . .

Good luck,
Carole