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[mondrian]

Once more I am in the middle of end-of-semester Oral English examinations for my 700 odd students, all non-English major freshmen.
Last semester I was told that I had failed too many students who did not perform. In that exam I gave them 11 topics that they could talk about for 1 minute and then I would round off with a question or two. They had a week to prepare and then chose the particular topic on the exam day by rolling a pair of dice. Result: exam too difficult.
This time I have done the same thing except that I have paired them off and rolled the dice with them on the week before the test. They know what their topic is and can encourage each other to speak for one minute.
The same students who failed last time are still fazed by the complexity of test and fail to utter more than a few mumbled words. I despair.
But this time I have had the additional problem of mobile phones ringing during the student testing. I have told the students concerned that their fluency is diminished and so is their score.
But today's star performance was given by a 22 year old girl, who is a bit of an extrovert - an attention seeker. She flounced into the test room screaming down her cell phone in Chinese and continued to do so for a minute while her partner stood by her side silent. When I waved at her (to stop) she merely waved back and carried on shouting into her phone. Eventually she stopped, put the phone down, smiled at her partner and asked me if she could begin. I told her that her partner could begin, but she had just failed, so no need to say anything more. Then came the histrionics worthy of a TV soap. She got down on her knees, started wailing at me (in Chinese) and wringing her hands. I told her partner to remove her and return. Eventually both left the room; neither returned.
My problem is her partner (the innocent party). She is one of my best students, but was not tested. There is no back-up date for an alternative test. I will grade her on her course work and hope that the system does not catch up with me!

[klaus]

why bother?

[Shan-Shan]

Unlike last semester's first year non-English major Oral English students who were required to take a final exam, this semester's third year students were blessed with the subtraction of a great source of stress.

However, seeing that this godsend for them only caused absenteeism (something I never had with last semester's first year students), I decided at mid-semester to add a final exam.

Low and behold, the numbers, and interest in learning, or so it at least seemed, increased. Yet unbenounced to these deceived students, their final grades will never be. The shell of "The Final Exam" contained a much less odious yolk.


This week, in one of those 80 plus Oral English classes, I decided to be a little unorthodox, and chose to test students (actually have students test students) on both process and product.

The exam consisted of first choosing a topic (all topics listed were topics covered in the course of the semester). Next, students in groups of two to three had to decide on a grammar and/vocabulary issue that leant itself well with the topic (the smart students just chose the linguistic features associated with the topic that I had chosen during the course). After the selection was made, these same students together had to devise a short lesson (ten to fiften minutes at least) to introduce the topic, teach the grammar/vocabulary, and have their "students" (another group of two to three students) take part in a short, controlled activity associated with the topic which required the implementation of the grammar/vocabulary they were just taught.

Students, in their "student" roles, were asked to evaluate their peers in the "teacher" roles. They marked on the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of their "teacher", how well the "teachers" were able to explain the topic and grammar/vocabulary, and how organized and useful the activity was that the students, as "teachers", prepared for the students as "students".

I wanted to break away from the exclusive "testing for linguistic competence" type exams that haunt these kids from the inception of their English education. This was what I came up with.

The only downside, though, would be if that little nugget of a letter or digit, "the grade", was to mean anything. Most of the students gave one another As. It didn't bother me so long as the process leading up to the "A" involved students working together to devise a short lesson in English that encouraged them to review, present, and have others practice and critique under conditions involving much negotiation and little stress.

I hope that this grade-less English experience will be a memorable one, and make English just a little more palatable for the students.

[william wallace]

nil

[Yu]

UGH... I still need to write my exam.

[Girl Scout]

I'm done and grades have been turned in.

I used a picture from the newspaper. The students had to describe the picture and then use it as a topic for discussion. They had 4 minutes to complete the task. If they were having trouble or running out of things to say, I would ask a question. Otherwise I said nothing. They were graded on their ability to describe something and then there use of the language.

[tw]

Well, the truth is upon my 170 students as they get their final exam today and tomorrow (the first one is at 10am). For most of them, this is the day they know they have to speak English infront of me whether they like it and whether they want to or not. Today and tomorrow are also the days when classroom heroes, i.e. those who like mocking me in Mongolian or mouthing off at me in class become exam-hour zeroes. I am expecting quite a few sad puppy eyes, nervous did-I-pass questions, and desperate attempts to make me feel sorry for them ("Oh teacher let me pass. After all, this is your final term here so let me remember you with fondness.") I already have students telling me that they won't be doing the final exam. That's fine by me, less grading.

As unfair and as unprofessional as this may sound, I have already made up my mind to fail certain students. Of course, if they do miraculously do a wonderful job performing their two dialoigues, I MAY pass them. That's the wonderful thing about having only the students being tested in the classroom: no other stduents can say their dialogues were better or worse. Like most of you, I have come to realize that Chinese education is nothing more than a sham. Also, my wife has told me that exams in China are nothing more than a formality. At worst, a student who fails would only lose 300 RMB of scholarship and 40 RMB of bursary money. So, consider this a bit of a punishment for their laziness, their disrespectfulness, and their constant whining and b1tching. I will go in and test the students, then just tell the school the students failed because they haven't been studying hard. Those who'd been trying hard will pass, those who'd been lazy will most likely fail.

My students had to memorize ten and do three very simple and short dialogues last year. The dialogues were all based on what they'd learned from their textbook. This term, they have to memorize four dialogues that are more complicated but again are all based on what they'd practiced in classand. There is no time limit. Rather, the dialogues must meet the criterias I have specified. Dialogue number 4 is mandatory, and a dice will be rolled to determine whether they'd be doing dialogue 1, 2, or 3 as their second dialogue.

Giving the exam is the easy part, having to make "adjustments" so more students would pass is the tough part. But I do have a 30% limit to fail students.