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litterascriptor
Joined: 17 Jan 2013
Posts: 360
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 Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 5:13 am Post subject: |
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I can go either way with it. For some classes I don't mind it, for some... no way. I certainly wouldn't think you'd be a prison guard for not allowing it.
Though, this comes to mind..
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/770/wk4.JPG |
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chryanvii
Joined: 19 Jul 2009
Posts: 125
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 8:06 am Post subject: |
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| zacharybilton wrote: |
(1) are you a licensed teacher to call yourself a teacher in the respect area?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this, but I have a CELTA which I got last Summer. Is this what you mean?
In fact, both of the instructors in our CELTA program always stopped students from texting and doing other things on their phone [one of the teachers even took one of the chinese "guinea pigs" phones away to set an example for us]. We had both chinese and foreign students in the class...the Chinese students were the only ones that the teachers had a problem with. Naturally, the Chinese students seemed very confused by this. The foreigners were not at all.
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(2) why shouldn't students use e-devices to check dictionaries?
Simply put...Chinese students...particularly those in non-majors...have a lot of trouble controlling their phone activity, and therefore lack serious focus! They are too reliant on them, and it is too easy for them to check messages if their phone is allowed to be turned on and right beside them. Checking messages looks exactly like they are checking their dictionary...and they do it a lot more often than you think, as they have learned to be quite sneaky about it.
Isn't it about time that someone tried to set an example for these students? Particularly if some of them are interested in studying abroad? Don't professors in America or Australia care about this behavior?
Additionally...during the reporting back phase [where students report what they were talking about back to the teacher], students have a tendency to not focus on what the other students are saying, and they think it is acceptable not to listen during this period of time. As long as they are permitted to use phones, you will lose at least 75% of the class during this time. In my opinion, I really don't want this. I want students to focus carefully so that they can participate and ask effective follow-up questions [using very simple English...who / what / when / where / why]
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(3) why should you determine how they choose to learn so long as they are not using the phone for entertainment purposes?
Have you ever turned around while you were listening to a student reporting back in the class and seen what kind of behavior is going on behind your back? The second you have a student stand up and speak about something related to the activity, none of the students will listen, and they all think it's acceptable to check their messages on their phones during this time!
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"Blanket policies are inappropriate and you're doing it, quite clearly, out of a domineering need. Just because you (presumably) and I didn't have electronic dictionaries when we were in high school and such doesn't mean a thing. Students have no desire to carry books when an electronic one does much more.
You're going about it the entirely wrong way. Students are there to learn, despite what you want to control. Even in speaking classes there are legitimate reasons for dictionaries, be it on a phone or not.
Besides this, your punishment is wrong. Taking the phone for a week or two is going to get your point across. So they don't get to use the phone for the class period, they can get past it."
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I don't know. I just take their phone away until the end of class. But it seems that you guys have the right idea...and maybe I am all wrong...maybe it all depends on character type and temperament.
It was just my hope that I could get all my students to focus on the activity at hand...particularly when listening to other students speaking.
Some students have agreed with me, and agreed that not enough students focus on their study. In fact, I think it was working well. The response rate in my class appeared to be much higher, and more students appeared to be focusing much more effectively.
One of my concerns would be their reliance on the dictionaries during warmers, such as listing words on the board related to a category [animals / places / food]. What's the point of them checking their dictionary for words for an activity where they're supposed to use their pre-existing knowledge?
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But in the end, I guess you're all right. That is why I wanted to check this board for insight in the first place, and I appreciate your suggestions.
Maybe it's true that I'm trying to be too controlling. I experience a lot of empathy during the reporting back phase of the class [no more than 5 minutes], and when I'm explaining an activity [no more than 5 minutes], because I'm worried about boring the class. I feel for the students, and I know in my heart when an activity is going on for too long.
I just don't think it's right for them to check their phones, as everything is explained in clear English on a .ppt [using as simple language as possible], and it's important for them to focus.
That person sitting in the back texting her boyfriend while you're trying to explain something - is that really appropriate?
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RiverMystic
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 1986
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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I'm amazed anything ever gets done in this country anymore. People are so fixated with - and addicted to - their phones, they can't seem to go two minutes without them. How is any kind of sustained quality of study or work possible? I have a personal policy of not turning on any mobile device or wi-fi for the first eight waking hours of the day. That way my mind is where it should be: here and now. I still study and do research. I reckon I am probably 2-3 times more efficient than today's students. Some of my students ask me how I can learn 30 Chinese characters a day. I tell them it's because I am here - and let them try to work that out.
I reckon any student or worker with even the slightest amount of self-discipline in this area is going to be miles ahead of the rest of their peers.
I sometimes count backward from ten to zero when a person sits down beside me anywhere in China, whether it be a coffee shop, restaurant or public transport. Sure enough, before I reach zero the person is fiddling with their gadget. Personally, that is my perfect expression of hell - disconnected from the world, people and the body. |
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Listerine
Joined: 15 Jun 2014
Posts: 340
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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| RiverMystic wrote: |
I'm amazed anything ever gets done in this country anymore. People are so fixated with - and addicted to - their phones, they can't seem to go two minutes without them. How is any kind of sustained quality of study or work possible? I have a personal policy of not turning on any mobile device or wi-fi for the first eight waking hours of the day. That way my mind is where it should be: here and now. I still study and do research. I reckon I am probably 2-3 times more efficient than today's students. Some of my students ask me how I can learn 30 Chinese characters a day. I tell them it's because I am here - and let them try to work that out.
I reckon any student or worker with even the slightest amount of self-discipline in this area is going to be miles ahead of the rest of their peers.
I sometimes count backward from ten to zero when a person sits down beside me anywhere in China, whether it be a coffee shop, restaurant or public transport. Sure enough, before I reach zero the person is fiddling with their gadget. Personally, that is my perfect expression of hell - disconnected from the world, people and the body. |
Disturbingly look into any of the classrooms during break time and the teachers are just as bad as the students. I keep my SIM card in an old crappy 2007 phone and tell the students on the first day if I can get through class without reading about the contents of Yu Ding Dong's bowels on wechat then surely you guys can too. Occasionally I will get a student come up and tell me they don't bring their phone to class as its too distracting which earns mad props from me. Usually these "rebels" come across as the best and brightest in more ways than one rather than the dozy bints perpetually super glued to their Samsung Galaxy who stagger around campus like zombies, falling down holes and stairwells and crashing their ebikes into unnoticed walls simply as a result of an inability to go more than 30 seconds without looking at some device. |
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RiverMystic
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 1986
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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To misquote Monty Python, "We are the students who go bing!" Death to the next person who sits near me and has a phone that keeps making absurd pinging or binging noises every three seconds at super loud volume!  I just can't understand how a person can be so unaware of others around him/herself that they can just pollute the environment with a phone that farts weird noises every second. So death it is. There is no other option. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| o misquote Monty Python, "We are the students who go bing!" Death to the next person who sits near me and has a phone that keeps making absurd pinging or binging noises every three seconds at super loud volume! Twisted Evil I just can't understand how a person can be so unaware of others around him/herself that they can just pollute the environment with a phone that farts weird noises every second. So death it is. There is no other option. |
Sounds like natural selection at its finest to me!
For those of you who are teaching students who aim to study abroad, ban the phones. Tell 'em they need to get used to it now. We aren't going to let them be so rude as to have an active phone in any Western classroom. It's cultural/social/academic adjustment. |
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wangdaning
Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3154
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| Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 8:43 am Post subject: |
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| spiral78 wrote: |
| Quote: |
| o misquote Monty Python, "We are the students who go bing!" Death to the next person who sits near me and has a phone that keeps making absurd pinging or binging noises every three seconds at super loud volume! Twisted Evil I just can't understand how a person can be so unaware of others around him/herself that they can just pollute the environment with a phone that farts weird noises every second. So death it is. There is no other option. |
Sounds like natural selection at its finest to me!
For those of you who are teaching students who aim to study abroad, ban the phones. Tell 'em they need to get used to it now. We aren't going to let them be so rude as to have an active phone in any Western classroom. It's cultural/social/academic adjustment. |
I don't know, I went to university pre-smart phone, but many students were busy using their laptops, either playing games or chatting on aim/icq and the like. No professor or instructor would dream of banning them, as the student union would come down on them. It is infringing on student rights.
Students want to play around, have fun failing. I do talk to them and tell them if they want to just not come and keep playing go for it. If they are playing I don't care, as long as it is not distracting others. If someone is showing others around them some crap on their phone I will walk over and ask what is so interesting. They will shreek and turn the screen off. I will then tell them to wait until the break or after class and to focus on the task. Has always worked for me. Again, this is if it is distracting others. If it is just the individual, have at it. I admit to looking at my phone screen often, but it is because I do not often wear a watch. My phone is for communication (text/calls) and development on the android operating system. I love tinkering, building firmwares, failing, and starting again. Call me crazy, but what is a computer on a phone if you don't break it and fix it. Sounds boring to constantly stare at wechat/facebook/whatsapp and never learn anything of value from a potentially educational tool. I use non of these applications, full of pointless sh t which you need to sift through to find a penny's worth of value. To further that, it is like sifting through 5 pounds of used cat litter to find a penny. |
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Brunouno
Joined: 18 Apr 2013
Posts: 129
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| Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 1:56 pm Post subject: |
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Technology shouldn't be seen as the enemy, but should instead be embraced. Why are most of the discussions about banning or not banning phones? We should be discussing how they can be used as a learning tool in the classroom when appropriate. I don't want to give the impression that I'm pro online bilingual dictionaries, because I'm not! One reason, among many others, why I don't allow the use of bilingual dictionaries is because it's too easy, and the students are much less likely to remember new lexis.
However, this belief doesn't mean that phones should be ruled out. They can be used in many different ways. Firstly, why not have a discussion with your students about the pros and cons of using bilingual dictionaries? Show and explain how the cons outweigh the pros and offer an alternative. For example, you could tell them that they can use a monolingual dictionary and then use google images to look up that same word to help create meaning. Explain or elicit to them why such methods are better, and I'm sure students would be much more accepting of different approaches.
The sky is the limit on how we can integrate technology into the classroom. It's a big part of all of our lives, which emphasizes even more how important it is to include it in classrooms to promote self-learning and autonomy.
The comments I made here are for young adults in a university setting. Some may argue that students will just play around with their phones if you allow them in class. If they want to do that, then stuff 'em. They're old enough to make their own decisions  |
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listerialysin
Joined: 14 May 2015
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Technology isn't the issue. The real issue is all these people calling themselves teaches and expecting and demanding the "respect" that goes along with it. Real teachers are trained, educated to deal with such behaviors and know how to integrate technology in appropriate ways. Schools in the US block WiFi in certain ways, block VPN's, do things about jailbroken phones, block MAC addresses and so on. Technology is inevitable. I suppose YOU still use an abacus? |
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Brunouno
Joined: 18 Apr 2013
Posts: 129
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| Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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| listerialysin wrote: |
| Technology isn't the issue. The real issue is all these people calling themselves teaches and expecting and demanding the "respect" that goes along with it. Real teachers are trained, educated to deal with such behaviors and know how to integrate technology in appropriate ways. Schools in the US block WiFi in certain ways, block VPN's, do things about jailbroken phones, block MAC addresses and so on. Technology is inevitable. I suppose YOU still use an abacus? |
Instead of belittling those who have the guts to go way outside of their comfort zones to enter a profession without relevant qualifications or experience, we can help and guide them in the right direction. You'll feel all warm and cuddly inside after doing it, I promise))) |
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3701 W.119th
Joined: 26 Feb 2014
Posts: 386
Location: Central China
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| Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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Bruno, my man, leave it be. Your posts have been interesting and thought provoking.
That there rails against everything that it itself is. That's it's thing.
Please, ignore it. After a few weeks, you see the first 3 or 4 words and learn to scroll down. |
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Son of Bud Powell
Joined: 04 Mar 2015
Posts: 179
Location: Since 2003
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| Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Brunouno wrote: |
Instead of belittling those who have the guts to go way outside of their comfort zones to enter a profession without relevant qualifications or experience, we can help and guide them in the right direction. You'll feel all warm and cuddly inside after doing it, I promise))) |
And you refer to whom? |
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Nano
Joined: 10 Jun 2014
Posts: 58
Location: Qinhuangdao, China
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| Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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Since, I'm in China, I prefer to play by their rules. I teach an international high school program for students wanting to study abroad at a western university. Half the students failed the entrance exam to even be in this program yet they are still allowed to be here. Students also don't care much about learning or getting high marks because this program just serves as a gate for them to be allowed to write the ACT test and as long as they pass they will be allowed to do so.
I don't have the time, desire, energy, sanity to constantly enforce rules in my classroom if they are unwilling to abide by them. I am a foreign teacher, not a correctional officer so I've simply learned to adapt. I constantly chat/joke around with them and only teach what is important for them to know. The students like me and the school is happy to renew my contract because I prepare students for assessments and I am likable to them. Another FT is more old school and tries to enforce a "no cell phones/laptops/chatting" policy and the students have expressed their disliking of him to the director and is facing criticism by them; not to mention the immense waste of time and energy trying to discipline them or do things the "right" way. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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Amen Nano!
Well put.
I've found these special entry kids very sociable. One or two realise it's last chance cafe, but the majority continue as they have always done. Dodging work. |
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hdeth
Joined: 20 Jan 2015
Posts: 583
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| Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 8:43 am Post subject: |
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| Nano wrote: |
Since, I'm in China, I prefer to play by their rules. I teach an international high school program for students wanting to study abroad at a western university. Half the students failed the entrance exam to even be in this program yet they are still allowed to be here. Students also don't care much about learning or getting high marks because this program just serves as a gate for them to be allowed to write the ACT test and as long as they pass they will be allowed to do so.
I don't have the time, desire, energy, sanity to constantly enforce rules in my classroom if they are unwilling to abide by them. I am a foreign teacher, not a correctional officer so I've simply learned to adapt. I constantly chat/joke around with them and only teach what is important for them to know. The students like me and the school is happy to renew my contract because I prepare students for assessments and I am likable to them. Another FT is more old school and tries to enforce a "no cell phones/laptops/chatting" policy and the students have expressed their disliking of him to the director and is facing criticism by them; not to mention the immense waste of time and energy trying to discipline them or do things the "right" way. |
Yes, if you enforce the rules too much they complain and you get a chat with your boss. Very frustrating. I think most people give up after a few months and just sort of roll with it. |
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