Job Discussion Forums

[schminken]

I was just wondering if you all ever have the chance to take your students on a class excursion? Maybe to English cinema or theatre? I will take a group of my students to London on Friday and I am hoping it will be a positive experience!

[Capergirl]

Yep. Last Friday night, we took the students to the theatre. There were 5 instructors, 23 students, and the program co-ordinator. The students selected five different movies so we divided up into different groups. My group saw The Butterfly Effect - it was excellent!

We also take the students on what we call "ESL field trips". This would be things like skiing at the local ski hill, bowling, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, visiting museums, etc. These trips don't happen all the time, maybe once a month, but they give the students something to look forward to besides homework and tests. It also gives them a chance to use their English in different situations and learn some related vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.

[Gordon]

When I taught in Vancouver. We used to take students every month to a sports event. I went to a number of Canuck and Grizzlies games. The Grizzlies games were painful to watch.

[Roger]

The Chi8nese seem to view excurions in a different light. In kindies outings are frequently organised; we went to a museum of science, and the kids had to, - fasten your seatbelts! - take notes of what they were seeing there! Some drew pictures of exhibitsm, others penned some object names into their notepads!
And every class I taught was entitled to an outing to a McDonald's!
Sadly, though, when I was teaching at a normal school my request for a whole-day trip to a factory was granted but this permission was immediately rendered useless when they told me I could not borrow the school bus for this excursion.

[foster]

In some schools it was encouraged but I am thinking in HK is needs to be VERY organized and there must be a high educational content. That said, for Picnic day, we went to Ocean Park.

I like taking kids out. They relax and sometimes they are nicer afterwards. They see that the teachers are human and this helps in student teacher relations.

I would like to take my kids to an English movie, but I know they would be reading the subtitles....

[ChadwickKent]

I always take my marketing classes to the local zoo. It is the best example of a poorly run and marketed government business. My students study the product and the current marketing efforts. Then they write a new marketing plan which includes suggested improvements to the product. Sometimes we must visit the zoo two or three times before we fully understand the product. Depends on the city and the size of the zoo. In Shanghai we can spend four or five days studying the product.

The final exam may be an oral defense of their marketing plan for the zoo.

[CarpeDiem]

In many Asian cultures especially in the Chinese context, the emphasis is on practicality. There must be a value to every thing. Hence, whatever you do, it must translate into a gain.

Go on a field trip? Okay, no problem....but you have to make sure the students learn something...and how do you make sure of that? Make the students do worksheets, write reports etc etc..... some teachers may feel this kills the joy of learning.....well, depends on how you look at it....