Job Discussion Forums

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

I want to know!

Depending on the size of my classes and the textbook used, I give vocabulary tests (easier if the textbook has a good new vocabulary list) I really liked the freshman reading book the freshman had, because it had 15 or 20 new, usable words in each unit. These students, by their fourth year, did quite wel on TEM 8.

I now give homework in oral english almost every week.

two or four students must speak in front of the class each week, graded

therock · Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 1266 Location: China

I don't bother, not because it's more work for me. I don't bother because the students wouldn't even do the homework. Sure you can be strict with them. But the bottom line is most students couldn't care less about Oral English.

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

I give HW weekly in the sense that I assign reading to be done as preparation for the next class, but since I can't mark whether they have read or not (I can certainly tell though), I don't think of that as an assignment. I give assignments 3 or 4 times a semester that I want handed in complete and those are graded. Typically I give 3 to 5 weeks to complete these, and if a student tries to copy another's paper in the 5 minutes before class, it shows. <IF??? Try WHEN, late4>

A lot of students complain that since mine is an Oral English class, they shouldn't have to write anything. The same ones who don't do any reading to prep, who hold back their groups and can't answer the simplest comprehension questions in class. Tough. I explain that since this is my class, I don't have to pass anyone who doesn't do some work. Most of them get that.

What a lot of them don't get is that gauging their semester's work on the final day with one performance (a 2 minute speech that the've prepared and rehersed) is just plain ludicrous. Teachers and students both require constant feedback if we're going to do our jobs well. No doubt I'm too lazy, I should be giving them more, but I'm also aware that their abilities are often overestimated, they simply can't handle the amount of work that even a pretend college like ours demands of them. I'm leary of giving them more than they can do, and I'm already challenging them more than they are used to. (This is one place where I'd love to have my classes observed and get some input from a more experienced teacher. This being China, I can dream on.)