Job Discussion Forums

[Lorean]

[jwbhomer]

Sheeba and Malu... I agree strongly with your point on electronic dictionaries/translators. Students using those would come up with words I never heard of, and I have a large vocabulary. Being Chinese, the students could never understand how their "electronic crutch" could possibly have words and meanings that were not understood by a native speaker.

I never succeeded in banning the electronic translators from my classroom entirely, but did prohibit their use during exams. I gave my students plenty of notice that I would be doing this, and it seemed to make them -- the better ones at least -- try a bit harder to get along without them.

[Adeem]

Don't want to de-rail anything (though this thread looks to be winding down a little), but do many of you manage to get your students to bring in their book-form dictionaries into class. I have instilled a little bit of vocabulary dsicipline in getting them to have their own mini vocabulary notebooks to carry to class (and everywhere else hopefully;-), and their electronic dictionaries are even useful at times when my students and I grapple with a term that has come up unexpectedly, and defies easy explanation.

However, I have found that the few who haul in their big dictionaries, and have a quick peek here and there as we are doing exercises in class give themselves the opportunity to use brand new vocabulary in situ, and also to have me correct their usage, thus stimulating further thought and easing assimilation. However, getting them to this point of interest (that I have now reached with my Chinese studies - thank the lord) is a little bit tricky.

How do you guys get them to use dictionaries in class, and do you ever do any work on effective usage, or do exercises to encourage them to dip in more?

[arioch36]

getting them to use new vocabulary is a problem. I don't like the electronice dictionaries overall because they stop talking in english, start thinking in Chinese. If I have a good oral english books that has a good list of vocabualry words in the back of each chapter (preferably without the Chinese definition, I stress using this list when they talk.
Non-english majors, I have them bring the english textbook, like the dreaded intensive reading textbook, and this has enough usable words for them to practice on

[SnoopBot]

[Meleefracas]

Oops: re-read, and edited. I'd still like to know what a spare rib is.

[eslstudies]

[GeminiTiger]

I have never used the word courgette, spare ribs or rickshaw.
I was born and raised in midwestern America.

On a side note, lettuce is hard or impossible to find here (in central China). It's no wonder that nobody knows the English name for it.

Yes, English majors here have low ability. But I think we should be careful to understand our own English (and slang) as well.

[vikuk]

For FT salad lovers - in its season lettuce is common - in both Chinese supermarkets and normal veggie markets. This I know from experience is also true in big cities in central China - in small towns you may have problems.
Lettuce is a recent intro - and although a few folk use it in trad western manner (in combo with that ever popular product mayo) - they also fry and boil it!!!! Over the last few years it really has picked up in popularity as is known as - shen cai!!
By the way making salads in china is dead easy, so much stuff to put in them - and you can make great dressings with camellia/sessame oil based mixes.

[arioch36]

vegetables are so much fresher here, and taste so much fresher. I try telling myself that those bottles the farmers have on their backs are full of water, that they spray tenderly on the vegetables to make them taste fresher. Yes that's the ticket. just warm water, not nasty pesticides. Not sure why they wear the mask when spraying the water. Guess they don't want to give their vegetables any germs, thoughtful guys
The vegetables are so much better here overall, except that nasty stuff the call corn

[vikuk]

Cooking in China can be a truly awesome experience - so many ingredients - and as arioch says the taste of much that is to buy here beats the general standards of produce back home by a million miles (Back home the veggie varieties are bred with appearance and shelf-life as the no1 concern - here we still have the old type stuff on sale - bred for taste. Plus much of the produce back home is force cultivated - under glass or plastic and saturated in fertilizer. Here glass, plastic and fertilizer baths are also the way of future farming trends - so enjoy the good stuff while you can. One of the big down sides to the Chinese farming method, and salad eating, is the use of Human number twos on the fields - but this is applied to the seed bed, since direct application onto the plant aint going to do it much good - but a good wash and possible peeling are wise measures.)
Cooking your own stuff - even in western style (but best fun is mixing Chinese and western cuisine) - by buying Chinese style and not from a western food market counter - is also very cheap when compared to eating out, especially if your cooking for more than one person (even though prices are always rising - and if you're a single person then being able to buy small quantities can be a hassle - and the money you save is so small anyways that it aint gonna make you a fortune)!!!!

A few cooking/food based lessons in your classes could be a good idea - certainly an interesting way of trying to improve their English standards!!!!

[bearcanada]

Lost in Asia, I'm sorry to butt in and help you to derail a good thread, but you are way off base here. There was nothing substantially wrong with the first post in this thread, in spite of your holy protestations. This may be a surprise to you, but sentences in any language often contain several thoughts (this one has as least two - can you find them?).

The OP made a post in all apparent sincerity, making comments and looking for information. Your aggressive (and irrelevant) response contributed nothing to the discussion. Your comments were unforgiveably rude and obnoxious. 90% of the posters on this board have English that is far worse; why not attack them instead?

How nice that you're an MD. Your mother must be very proud of you. Too bad she didn't teach you some manners. When I was young, I lived on a farm. When we had an animal with the personal qualities you display, we generally took it out behind the barn and shot it.

.

[colonel]

Regarding the use of electronic 'dictionaries' I use the following example to demonstrate their shortcomings.
I write the word lion on the board with links to words such as cub, jungle etc. and pride.
I then ask the students for an association between a lion and the various linking words.
100% will say that the association between a lion and pride is that the lion feels a sense of pride and satisfaction - the first electronic definition.
When asked how they elicit that a lion feels proud and satisfied we have a few giggles and a few more after I've invited them to read my tome and they, eventually, stumble upon the collective noun.
Proper dictionaries are in evidence henceforth.

[vikuk]

[colonel]

I never suggested that it was a lesson - merely a lighthearted look at the problem of reliance on an electronic dictionary.
Was it cold in the ground last night?