Job Discussion Forums

[chryanvii]

I have been researching the net a lot for ideas, however, most (if not all) of them are based directly on teaching the technical portions of English, or group-involved activities.

The challenge with my school is that our Social Clubs are more like lectures, where we are speaking passively to the students. During this class, they usually want to just sit back and listen to us speak about something.

I was wondering if anybody could point me to some Powerpoint presentations that might be interesting to teach, or any other materials that might be interesting to teach (pdf's, etc.). I think they might be interested in anything about American life, culture, entertainment, etc.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on what I could talk about while showing parts of movies (such as american comedies)?

thanks.

[peruisay]

I usually talk about:

- Education in America. What's middle school / high school / university like in America? Why are there so many sports? What extracurricular activities are students involved in? Is is true that students have no homework?

- Chinese food in America. My students are amazed by pictures of egg rolls and fried wonton. They usually have no idea what chop suey is. They have never seen fortune cookies and they aren't familiar with our take-out boxes.

- Western food in China. Why do I hate going to eat well-done steaks with black pepper sauce slathered on them? Why do I think its silly for adults to spend hundreds of RMB on a nice bottle of whiskey and mix it with ice tea?

- Cost of living. This has never failed to shock an audience. Electronics - especially computer equipment - are almost always cheaper and newer in the States than in China. I can go to a retail outlet like Ross and buy a pair of Puma sneakers for $20 in the U.S. - and they're real. I can buy a Seiko watch for $60 off of Amazon.com. Puma sneakers start at 500 RMB in my city in China and watches are never under one or two thousand RMB. I mention that food and services are much cheaper in China. I could never afford a maid in America.

If you want some images to talk off of, I would look here:

http://www.asianoffbeat.com/default.asp?display=942

It's a series of comparisons of German and Chinese culture by a Beijing-born graphic artist. Plenty of talking points for a speech or "social club."

[Laurence]

The newspapers that I read have daily photography galleries, typically about 15 photos on a particular theme (last night's sport; a day in the life of an artist; reader photos; etc.).

The subjects are very varied and might trigger interesting discussions and there is a huge archive and the technical and creative quality of photography is very high (so it's quite an easy thing to present if the discursive juices aren't flowing).

look -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/inpictures

That's a UK newspaper though,
perhaps an American newspaper website might have the equivalent of a 'galleries' section too.

[chengdu4me]

Your own life history would fill up many days of classes. Write a detailed autobiography of your own life. If you think about it, the schools you have been to, the places you have seen, the life you have lived, your upbringing, your first car, your first time away from parents, camping trips, etc, etc...

For example...have you ever been camping? OK..there is a lead-in to all the State and National Parks in America. That one subject alone could take up an entire year!

Your days in school..there is a lead-in to a students life in America.

Your first car...unheard of in China...driving at 16! Owning your own car at 16 or 17!

Many people think that their own life is boring and uneventful, but look at your life through their eyes and filters and the typical American life is way beyond anything they can imagine.

[xiaolongbaolaoxi]

Please PM me with with your email address. It will take me some time [computer issues] but I did a course on American culture for English majors here... cowboys/rodeos, space, American Civil War, electoral college, different versions of education from pre-K to tenure track, dating and movies, holidays, etc.

Let me know..

Enjoy. Or not.

XLB

[chryanvii]

bump

[Mister Al]

A few bottles of vodka and a bag of weed. Nothing more social than that.

[platinum peyote]

I would find topics from listverse.com, print them out, hand them out, get a different student to read a different number from the list, explain it, ask questions about it, etc. The more controversial or bizarre the topic, the better.

The English was also not too difficult, and the students generally enjoyed it. I think listverse is blocked in China now, so you will have to use a proxy.

[LongShiKong]

If it's a social club, then why not have them socialize in some way with party games?

Scruples: If they know each other, you might want to play this? Give them a couple of sample questions to get started then have teams come up with their own for other teams. (http://www.scruplesgame.com/main.html)

Alibi: 3 police detective (teams) interview 3 suspect (teams) in different rooms about a crime and then rotate so each detective asks the other 2 suspects the same questions they asked the first to find inconsistencies in their stories. The suspects claim they were together the entire time so aren't allowed to claim ignorance of any fact. You'll have to give the suspects time to fabricate their story in detail beforehand and the detectives a chance to decide the type of questioning each will ask so that they don't all ask the same sort of questions. For example, one might ask about positions of people and objects, the other might ask about colors of clothing and other things, and the third might ask quantitative questions (costs, sizes and numbers of things).

Mini Mysteries (or Mystery Theatre): Either hand out short 1 or 2 page mystery stories for someone to read, the others to listen and solve, or better yet, get teams to act out their mysteries in front of the group who then must solve them: http://www.squidoo.com/minutemysteries