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Alien abductee
Joined: 08 Jun 2014
Posts: 527
Location: Kuala Lumpur
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 Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:35 am Post subject: |
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| water rat wrote: |
| Non Sequitur wrote: |
I would be very wary of anything that could show you are taking a prurient interest in your students' personal lives.
Rather than an interactive with the teacher, why not put together some cocktail party questions that include items like:
What makes a good boyfriend or girlfriend?
Would you marry a foreigner?
Would you marry someone who is 10 years older than you?
A mingle activity maximises the student talk time. |
But the teacher might make a good boyfriend/girlfriend, is a foreigner,and is likely ten years (or more) older than the students. So aren't your cocktail questions a bit transparently self-serving? |
This is what I discussed in the make-up classes just last weekend. The topic was "Mixed Marriage" and we talked about relationships between people of different cultures. I showed a few clips from Seeking Asian Female (which has been mentioned on this site a few times) and asked similar questions to the ones above. A few of my former students have actually married foreigners and a couple of them have emigrated so it's relevant. Yeah, these questions could be self-serving or they could form the basis for a discussion on something that's happening in this country right now. Or both. |
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Voyeur
Joined: 03 Jul 2012
Posts: 431
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| Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:37 am Post subject: |
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| One probably should be a bit careful of seeming prurient (though I am often careless here), but if students are enthusiastically participating in English about ANYTHING you are doing very well. |
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fpshangzhou
Joined: 13 Mar 2012
Posts: 280
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| Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:40 am Post subject: |
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As for "What do Americans do?'
Why they prop up cruel and corrupt dictatorships to serve their own military-industrial interests. They rig elections, and fund counter-insurgents and open up fast-food restaurants offering diets most unsuitable native populations. They hold suspects and detainees on semi-secret island prisons for years without a trial. They consider oil to be of greater value than the blood of their own young men and...
Why do people have to throw political whether liberal/conservative agendas in a forum that is completely irrelevant of the thread conversation?
Although I don't conform to either ideologies, I believe most traveler/expat teachers prefer or at least know to stay away from controversial gov't, religious and other controversial topics in the classroom, let alone in this EFL/ESL forum.
Back on topic, I would stick with whatever keeps the students talking and engaged. Like another poster mentioned, milk it for all it's worth.
Cheers,
Aaron |
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Bud Powell
Joined: 11 Jul 2013
Posts: 1736
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| Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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| asiannationmc wrote: |
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| asks "What do Americans do |
I am not sure I could answer this questions as diverse as the US is. |
There's something such as cultural norms and mainstream society. If asked if young people drive a car on a date or take a pedicab, I think it's a safe thing to say that those who can drive take a car on a date. (Sure, you can get a pedicab or a subway in NYC, NY, but you'd be hard pressed to find a either in Muncie, Indiana, Bunkie, Louisiana, or Indianapolis, Indiana).
If asked if most American have blue hair or multiple piercings or tattoos, it's a safe bet to say that no, they don't. I was asked if every American owns a gun. I don't own a gun, and polls show that less than half of American households own a gun: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx
When asked if most Americans are gay, I can say with confidence that they aren't. http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/census-lgbt-demographics-studies/how-many-people-are-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender/
There are those who want to believe that there are no norms. I respect their wishes, but one must be either incredibly naive or horribly ill-informed to believe it. |
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asiannationmc
Joined: 13 Aug 2014
Posts: 1342
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| Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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| I would say if your referring to the existence of norms using polls and surveys your not really answering a students question. Norms are beliefs, behaviors, rules both spoken and unspoken that we hold to be important in our culture. |
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Bud Powell
Joined: 11 Jul 2013
Posts: 1736
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| Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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The polls are for YOUR benefit!  |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Voyeur wrote: |
| One probably should be a bit careful of seeming prurient (though I am often careless here), but if students are enthusiastically participating in English about ANYTHING you are doing very well. |
Good point.
I still feel the teacher should just be there to call on the next speaker and not contributing from their own experience.
There's also the point that what you discuss (topic) and what you say are getting reported back to the school.
Can't believe a school would set a topic like Cross Cultural Marriage.
Age difference in a couple, is a non contentious angle as is family choice or agreement to a partner. As my original (2004) students hit 30 and are still unmarried, the idea of the 'left over girl' is an interesting one. |
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Alien abductee
Joined: 08 Jun 2014
Posts: 527
Location: Kuala Lumpur
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 1:10 am Post subject: |
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| Non Sequitur wrote: |
| Can't believe a school would set a topic like Cross Cultural Marriage. |
NS, the school didn't set the topic, I did. I briefly introduced the students to the long history of cross cultural marriage in China going back to the 9th century when Muslim traders on the Silk Road stayed behind and married into Han families. Their descendants eventually became the Hui people of the northwest. Today it's men from European and English speaking countries and a smaller number of African traders marrying Han women. Many of my questions and points weren't much different from the ones you listed above and the film clips gave students a dose of reality regarding marriage to a foreigner and life in the US. The main character in Seeking Asian Female is not a wealthy man (he's a parking lot attendant) and the dreams his Chinese wife had of America being the "land of plenty" were pretty much shattered within a few weeks of moving there.
I also used a very good Youtube video (one of the Off the Great Wall vids) where three Chinese girls need to find a BF before going home for Chinese New Year. At the beginning the girls are admonished for not being married yet, and the three of them plan to rent a boyfriend for the holiday. They find three handsome, educated and seemingly Chinese guys online and hire them. When they finally meet one of the guys is really short and gets booted out of the house. The second turns out to be a foreigner who speaks excellent Chinese but he too gets booted because the mom doesn't want her daughter marrying a non-Beijinger. The third guy is very rich (mom tells her daughter "we've hit the jackpot here") but he turns out to be Japanese. It's only five minutes or so but it's a great video and reflects reality.
Last week was the first time I used this idea in class and it went ok, but with a bit of refining I think it can be a lot better. |
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asiannationmc
Joined: 13 Aug 2014
Posts: 1342
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 1:57 am Post subject: |
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| The polls are for YOUR benefit |
wasted effort |
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jm21
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
Posts: 406
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 2:25 am Post subject: |
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| Non Sequitur wrote: |
Can't believe a school would set a topic like Cross Cultural Marriage.
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Mine did.
You guys are silly. There are only so many realistic options while dating. It's not like there's an infinite diversity. If a couple pays for dinner there are what, 4 realistic options? I don't immagine there are enough people who split the bill 64%/36% to really merit discussing them.
Polls are important because some Chinese people have strange Ideas about westerners and might not believe what you are saying without some sort of data to back you up. |
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asiannationmc
Joined: 13 Aug 2014
Posts: 1342
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 3:08 am Post subject: |
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| In the years I have been here I have yet to hear a student cite a poll. |
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wangdaning
Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3154
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 3:20 am Post subject: |
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| Polls can be misleading though, as there is no objective way to tell if those being polled are being honest. Also, the limit on sample size and other variables. Polls can give some ideas, but they are not really a proof of anything other than what a sample of people are willing to answer. |
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Voyeur
Joined: 03 Jul 2012
Posts: 431
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 9:51 am Post subject: |
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| Non Sequitur wrote: |
Good point.
I still feel the teacher should just be there to call on the next speaker and not contributing from their own experience.
There's also the point that what you discuss (topic) and what you say are getting reported back to the school.
Can't believe a school would set a topic like Cross Cultural Marriage.
Age difference in a couple, is a non contentious angle as is family choice or agreement to a partner. As my original (2004) students hit 30 and are still unmarried, the idea of the 'left over girl' is an interesting one. |
I don't usually care so much about what gets reported back to the school about my classes, but I am admittedly a bit reckless that way.
Ideally, a class would have enthusiastic participation with the teacher merely moderating, not adding his views. Not because I think it's wrong to add my views, but because I'd never want to take up talking time if students were ready to fill it themselves.
That being said, in practice I usually find that I need to talk a fair bit to stoke the flames, so to speak. Often, I could keep teacher talk time (TTT) down, but the class energy will also drop and I might start to have to force participation. But if I let teacher talk time rise higher than I'd ideally like, the students will participate more enthusiastically after I get them riled up. It is a balance, but I'll take a class with TTT of say 50% and enthusiastic participation over one where the TTT is at 20%, but student participation is less energetic. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| Voyeur wrote: |
| Non Sequitur wrote: |
Good point.
I still feel the teacher should just be there to call on the next speaker and not contributing from their own experience.
There's also the point that what you discuss (topic) and what you say are getting reported back to the school.
Can't believe a school would set a topic like Cross Cultural Marriage.
Age difference in a couple, is a non contentious angle as is family choice or agreement to a partner. As my original (2004) students hit 30 and are still unmarried, the idea of the 'left over girl' is an interesting one. |
I don't usually care so much about what gets reported back to the school about my classes, but I am admittedly a bit reckless that way.
Ideally, a class would have enthusiastic participation with the teacher merely moderating, not adding his views. Not because I think it's wrong to add my views, but because I'd never want to take up talking time if students were ready to fill it themselves.
That being said, in practice I usually find that I need to talk a fair bit to stoke the flames, so to speak. Often, I could keep teacher talk time (TTT) down, but the class energy will also drop and I might start to have to force participation. But if I let teacher talk time rise higher than I'd ideally like, the students will participate more enthusiastically after I get them riled up. It is a balance, but I'll take a class with TTT of say 50% and enthusiastic participation over one where the TTT is at 20%, but student participation is less energetic. |
Good points.
Have to say that my free speech classes have been electives. Accordingly the students presumably want to be there and to want to participate.
My usual students don't come to electives as they get quite enough of me in regular class. |
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