Job Discussion Forums

[rocketboy]

I'am looking for some new material to use in my weekly English Corner. Tomorrow will be the seventh or eighth one I've done with the same students. There's about 20 or so students who attend and their English speaking abilities are quite good. The problem is that I have hit a brick wall, I haven't any more ideas. Can someone suggest something I can do! Any help would be great.

[7969]

i just have them form into smallish groups, 6-10 students each, and ask them to engage in conversation. i visit each group for 5 - 10 minutes each or so, converse a bit, listen some, then move on. dont try and turn your english corner into another lesson. its just supposed to be an english free for all. have the students initiate the conversation instead of you. its starting to work for me now......

[JDYoung]

I did one on "Luck" that went over well as I included activities around lucky pennies, western astrology and lucky numbers. A game of Alibi also went over well. I also like to do some with a theme depending on any festivals in the time frame. One group loved "Robbie Burns Day."

pm me for details in word form if you like.

[Babala]

Give this website a try.

http://iteslj.org/questions/

Plenty of great stuff.

[rocketboy]

Thanks Guys for the info! 'Robbie Burns Day' sounds like fun!

[dajiang]

I've tried to collect some stuff on my own humble weblog:
http://eslmaniac.web-log.nl/

Of course, I need many more ideas, so I'm curious as to what people do at their EC's...

Dajiang

[woza17]

Babala I really like that website for questions in the class I have also used it in English corner to stimulate conversation.

Which age group are you teaching? I did an adult english corner and talked about mortgages and personal finance and that was a hit. The complaints i have heard back from our companies regular English corner were that it was targeted too low for conversation, too much of the Ft speaking.

A few years ago in Hubei, I used to go to this English corner just because I liked the people there and did a talk about suicide after becoming aware of the alarming rates of suicide in China. Armed with my stats on China my own personal stories and then played REM everbody hurts, gave the participants the lyrics, it was amazing after that the discussion that followed. Mind you, the level of English was fantastic.

[Babala]

I mostly teach adults with a few 16 and over students who will study abroad. I really like that website as I find it has more adult-appropriate questions.

[Voldermort]

During one of my high school English corners I took with me a pile of scrap A3 paper. (these were unused and otherwise useless classroom handouts. We all sat in a circle while the students watched me perform some quite naff origami (spelling?). Of course in China the students are quite good at this, but in this instance I showed them a new one.

I then gave them each a piece of paper and asked them to replicate mine. While doing this we were discussing the directions and the history. We also discussed some of the other art forms in China like paper cutting. After this little excercise I gave the students a chance to show me how to fold paper their way.

Not all of my group were interested in this activity and some walked away, but I did gain a lot of other students who had a keen in interest in what we were doing.

[Roger]

How can anyone give advice when the students' age or English level hasn't been divulged?
Personally, I hate English Corners/Salons/Saloons whatever. They are not for tyhe seriously-interested.
The only thing I found to be working is: games, gamesx, and then, some more games!
Within a short time, however, your visitors will find even those games to be too repetitive.

I once had the special "honour" of organising "adults only" English-speaking meetings in of all places a karaOK lounge! The name of the club to be formed was chosen by the owner of that karaOK lounge:
The Lonely Hearts English Corner!

[tofuman]

Smiling student: "What is the difference between China and the USA?"

Me: Chinese people usually lie and Americans usually tell the truth.
Student: "Why is that?"

Me: "The Chinese lack a Judaeo/Christian moral foundation which highly values truth." I then offer several examples of times that Chinese in various stations of life have lied to me. School administrators, store clerks, people who have purposely given me wrong directions. Things like that.

This kind of icebreaker can lead to some interesting and passionate discussions. Even if it is someone in a haze of darkness arguing against the existence of God, if you can stomach it, it gets people talking.

If you can't offer other than the usual blather, why be here?

[clarrie]

I don't do english corners unless I know they are organised with a clear purpose/topic. Too many free talk attacks!! The best ones I ever attended were those organised by students in a fifth-rate college in jiangsu. They organised everything topic-based - nice to have focussed language - and I simply attended to mingle with the crowds and answer topic-based questions and after that I spoke to the group on something related to the topic. Worked every time.

If you have a structure in mind and you have modelled that a couple of times, get them to organise the 'corners' themselves. Help out with a list of topics, but leave it at that. Let it become a total learning experience and they can gain reward for more than language production.

I am often asked why I don't organise english corners and my answer is always, 'because I know how to do it and I can do it - I don't need the practice.' I tell them I am happy to attend structured 'corners', but "free talk" is cheap, it doesn't necessarily achieve anything, and I don't want to answer same the questions again and again.

Show them what to do, give them a list of topics if they need them, act as an adviser when needed, but essentially leave it to them!