Job Discussion Forums

[gaijinalways]

I'm debating about shaking things up this semester at the unis that I work at in Japan. I have been intrigued listening to other teachers working with low level students and having them do presentations for example (I do this with higher level students that I have, but often find it is difficult or too time consuming to do with some of my classes). But I am starting to think to raise the bar and try and make things more interesting for my students (and me and make them do more work outside the classroom, especially if project work is involved).

I will still be using a text (required for the classes I teach, though I get to choose something either from a list of approved texts or one that is appoved by my manager), but am considering other activities that I might use. I was chagrinned to learn that one teacher I know teaches the same content for all his lower level classses, regardless of the title (or department requirements). I guess his thinking is he would rather do only what's comfortable (what works in his opinion and possibly keeps the class busy) or what he likes doing, based on past experience.

Anyway, any suggestions? I have done drama, role-plays, video exercises, etc.. But I'm looking for something different. These classes meet once a week or ninety minutes, and generally have around 20 students (I have a few that are exceptions, but perhaps there will only be 2 over that size).

Have many of you done debate or presentations with your lower level students? I don't want to any report writing, requires too much research for them and more advanced writing skills than they have, especially in a second language. I may consider doing graded readers again, though I probably need to have them read something easier (I did a story I thought was interesting, but it semed a little too difficult for my students). Usually in my classes I try to have a balance of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. For the majority of them, I am not in the language lab, so generally it would be better if the activities are not pc geared.

Please share and tell us;

What have you done? How did it work? Did you have many problems? Did the students enjoy doing it?

[spiral78]

We have a group of low-level Japanese students who visit us here in the Netherlands every year for a month (not the same students every year:))

One exercise that work fantastically well, but can't be repeated often, is to have them prepare and plan to give a short presentation - without notes. They find it stressful and very challenging, but the exhilaration when they find they can actually DO it is fantastic. I let them help each other to plan the presentations, and don't require that they use only English to communicate with each other as they make the plans. The focus is on producing the best possible English in the presentations.

By the way, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to use the same materials over and over with low-level students, provided you are looking at it from different angles/for different purposes. Research shows that 'recycling' texts (both written and recorded) can help students focus on specific elements of the text, without being distracted by the challenge of getting the meaning, after the first round with it.

For example, I have a writing workshop this week for some lower-level Saudi students, and we are working with one text, an essay, from several different angles. They read the document without its conclusion, and write a conclusion, then I take it away and they write an introduction to the same essay, and so on. Yes, they read the original intro, but they are encouraged to use their own ideas - and they do. Ultimately, they write the TASK that preceeded the paper. They find it interesting and we shall see if it helps boost their writing scores at all...

[gaijinalways]

Recycling does help, and I do try to do that throughout the semester with some laminated pair worksheets I have students use. I might have even my higher level students who debate use flash cards this year, as they have a tendancy to read too much (well, a few of them, anyway).

I often reuse questions and answers they have studied in their books in writing essays as well as quick response activities.

[spiral78]

gaijin - sorry - I didn't forget that you're a pro!

Have you had them rotate leading the class? Whatever predictable classroom functions you use always make useful language practice ... and it's recycled every class, too

[gaijinalways]

Hardly a pro (some of the teachers I work with have been doing it a lot longer than myself), but I often try to do different things just to make it interesting for me as well as just to see what might work to help students learn and acquire bigger chunks of language. Experimenting is one thing that makes this job more interesting .

I'm surprised we're not getting more responses, I'm sure there must be plenty of teachers with lower level students. Perhaps they are afraid to share their secrets ?

[spiral78]

One of the things I'm recommending for some low-level students in our program is a shift from focusing on production to more focus on analysis...are you doing this with yours?

For example, have students listen to a presentation and identify the main ideas and order (write an outline for it) in pairs or threes. Ditto, same presentation and list some target language (signal language, for example), also in pairs or small groups - can they catch all 12, or whatever? Again, same presentation for some other language aspect.

Finally, in pairs, listen again and plan to give a piece of the presentation as close as they can (emphasize that the ideas are more important than the exact words). Then the pairs can give the intro, conclusion, etc...

Ultimately, they could then write an introduction or other recognizable chunk of a presentation of their own using some of the language focused on in the analysis exercises...

Students seem to like working together to produce one task (two heads are better than one) and I find they are often teaching each other. Also, chunking the big task (presentation in this case) into smaller bits seems to give them more confidence with the process. I got lots of enthusiasm from our Saudi beginners yesterday, and we all shared a round of applause at the end of the lesson (spontaneous, rare for them)

[gaijinalways]

This sounds like what this other teacher was doing, though he had one of the higher level classses for a freshmen course that we both teach. I had the lowest level last year. I will have a high level class this semester. so it might be doable (I take similar steps in the public speaking and presentation classes that I teach).

[Jetgirly]

I used to give my students questions like, "What is the best restaurant in this city for a first date?" Then, I'd send them out with notepads and ask them to interview people around campus. I would watch each group from a distance and listen in on a few of their interviews, and just check items off a rubric. By making it region-specific and not giving them the topic in advance, I could ensure they weren't just looking info up on the internet.

[gaijinalways]

Sounds like a great way to get out of the classroom, but technically, we're not supposed to take the students outside of the classroom unless it's cleared first (insurance issues). I do it once a semester if I want students to do an outdoor activity, but otherwise the most I'll do is take some students into the hallway to set up something (they're usually chosen for as actors for some activity). Also since most of the campuses are urban ones, there are not usually many students nearby as they may be quite far away as in several floors away in another building.

You could still do the same activity within the classroom, though it wouldn't have the same sting. Appreciate the thought though .