Job Discussion Forums

[eslteach]

I am still new to this whole thing and I have come to the point where I am basically confused about what I should be doing in each class. None of my classes have a text book and nobody told me anything about what is wanted for my classes.

I assume most people will say that this should be expected. Thats ok, I guess I am fine with that.

In class, this is what I do: Normally, I just have a list of discussion questions. I then tell everyone to choose one and everyone takes turns, stands up, says there answer and then as they are speaking I will ask them questions that help steer their responses.

Today, a student told me that the classes are not useful. But I really dont see what else I can do. These are oral english classes, so I am trying to give them practice answering questions with a native speaker. The classes are pretty big (35-45 students), so in each 90 minute class each student only get a small amount of time to speak and then spends the rest of the time listening to the others respond.

I am not saying this is the best method in the world, but I really dont see how else to change this. I was told by some students that their previous foreign teacher actually used no class interaction at all. He spoke and they listened. I am not sure what his content was. What do you guys normally do in class?

[therock]

I bet you if you brought in your guitar and starting singing songs, that same student would be telling you how great the class was.

[mat chen]

i TELL THEM HOW EVIL JAPAN IS

[nickpellatt]

[mat chen]

Tell them you hate Japanese and run the class around this topic. NO MORE JAP CRAP!

[xiaolongbaolaoxi]

(Long and winding response)

Okay, scanned nickpellatt's response, and while it is good, you should know that it requires independent learning skills that not all uni students in China have. [his discussion group rotation idea is sometimes called "jigsaw," and is very effective once the students are willing/able to make it happen.] You will need to model this like you wouldn't believe. The most extroverted class I ever had in China couldn't do this as was written, which was highly disappointing. So, a lot of modifications may be necessary. (I also felt that Chinese students are taught that it was better to be silent and sit there than actually try to do something that may result in a wrong answer, which took a lot of "doing to undo.")

Taking from his response and borrowing from another teacher, if you are going to do "jigsaw," have each group focus on one facet [and they won't know what it is ahead of time] do a short skit about it. So, all the students have rotated (and remember, physical movement in a Chinese university classroom can be hard to do) and are back with their original groups. They talk, share, etc. Now, you let each group know what part they are going to talk/"skit" about. Try to make the topics/facets different enough so one group can't copy the other. If you have the relationship to do it, get them to do it as comedy (the idea being they would be more willing to do things if they could do it in a fun way, as opposed to standing up in front of the class, rattling of a memorized thing, and sit back down.) Let them know all students have to participate, otherwise, two ringers in each group will do everything. If you can do it, find a rubric from a debate team and print it out (I did a google search once, found something and cut/pasted to what I wanted.) Let them know this is something you will use to evaluate their performance later in the course. You can use this to have students prepare for small group/jigsaw presentations later in the course... they use the rubrics in the small group and have to ask three clarifying questions/improvements while you listen in.... Eventually, they give the real presentation (presumably weeks down the road) and are graded accordingly. So, in one class, I presented a list of twelve topics (for six groups), each group picked two and figured out which one they would do best in. (Later, someone will want to change the topic, which was fine with me). After a lot of debate fine tuning (getting rid of "As is well known" at the beginning of every sentence, for example), the presentation happened. It is worth noting that all groups but one ended up giving very funny presentations instead of the serious ones I thought they would give. (A famous local statue was bummed out because of acid rain because she didn't want to look like her cousin Venus de Milo...)(This was something we probably spent 4-6 weeks on after we had already been together about ten months, it took me that long to get them to be that open as opposed to my unit plans of doing that our second month together).

When beginning in China, had a real problem getting students engaged, so I used idioms/phrases that they probably wouldn't know at the beginning of each class. Think numbers (one for the money, your two cent's worth, three's a crowd, colors were green with envy, turned beet-red, etc.) Glorified choral repetition of fill in the blank with those phrases, then pairs tried to come up with a conversation that would use those phrases (and by short, I mean no more than 20 seconds because the classes are so big). Small groups had to "sell me" on their idea, which started off as "what should I do this weekend," knowing that I would ask three questions when they were done. ("Why" is very difficult for most students I met.) This became (as well as more time for) best vacation spot in China (they can't use Beijing or Shanghai because you "want to learn about places I didn't hear of in my home country" and also prevented students asking me how much I knew about Tianamen [sp] which was the real reason), best place to shop/eat/live outside of China and your home country, why should they study English at your school (which will become an arms race in brownnosing, but very funny), etc. Somewhere in there was something about non-Chinese holidays, but you want to know the topics ahead of time because otherwise they will tell you that Labor Day is celebrated in America on 01 May, which it's not.

Because you are in a Chinese uni class, this will help... the worst cellphone defender gets to defend why their cellphone is better than yours (they are a cellphone clerk trying to sell you something). IN FRONT OF THE CLASS. NO WARNING. They will get the hint and at least cover it up better.

As for mingle activities, it worked very well for me outside of uni classes. In uni classes, they basically filled out a form and passed it around the class for everyone else to fill out. Points for problem-solving, not so much for a communicative activity. But it worked great with adult and teenager classes in "training centers." If you ever pass out papers in class, #1, it will take forever (we had to practice this forever, which was infuriating that American kindergarteners could do it faster, then I realized that most CTs give it to the monitor to copy and distribute before class because they didn't want to waste their time)#2, if it a manipulative/something you want back, you need to let them know before it is in their hand(s) otherwise it will be written on, crumpled, trashed, etc.

The fact that a student told you that you class was "not useful" kind of bothers me for the sheer fact that most students I met would never dare to say that to a teacher. Not that he was rude compared to teaching in the west, but in a Chinese context, he was. As in, perhaps CTs are already helping him in this assessment? You will know that you have made a breakthrough when your students in class are prepared for a lesson you just gave to another class=the grapevine is alive and students are asking each other about your class.

Find an ESL site that you like and steal from it shamelessly. I looked for third to fifth grade level (native English speaker) sites/curricula and built my activities around that content.

Chinese uni classes are the hardest for me but were the most rewarding as well. Good luck. By PM, feel free to ask other questions, and I will see what I can find and give some (much shorter) responses/ideas.

XLB

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I usually turn my tape recorder on and nod off.

Oh... you mean as a teacher?

My bad....

[Insubordination]

Must be tough with such a huge class. Here's another idea.

Choose a topic (maybe a functional one). Give them a list of vocab and drill for pron. Maybe play a listening exercise on the topic. Get them to write a dialogue in pairs on the same topic and ask them to perform it to another group/the class.

Make each class different. Otherwise, they will be boring and predictable. Does your Uni have resources? I'm sure you could find an 'oral English' textbook somewhere.

[CJD]

asking students to stand and speak one by one is a waste of time. it's better to have them talk with eachother in small groups. for this to work, you need to have interesting topics. one lesson that i like doing is one that i stole from some esl website. give them handout sheets with a list of complaints (i hate studying, can't find a girlfriend, etc..) and a list of useful phrases to offer advice (don't worry..., look at it this way...). one student complain, and their partner can give them advice.

my school tells me to get the students to talk as much as possible, but really, unless your students are english majors then it's hard to get everyone speaking english for more than 20-30 minutes.

it's also important to introduce a lot of new vocabulary in interesting ways, and teach them some interesting things about western culture

[HiddenTreasure]

[nickpellatt]

xiaolongbaolaoxi is absolutely right, and I should have said it, but you will need to persevere and model things a lot before the class gets it right. It can be frustrating as you will try something ... it will fail as students dont seem to know what to do or how to do it. Keep trying though, keep showing them and if the idea is a solid one (and pair work, jigsaws, groups,mingles are good) they will learn eventually. The one day, hopefully not to far away, your classes run like clockwork.

Students can be hard work, but you have to teach them how you teach, and how you want them to learn. Then it all becomes a lot easier.

[igorG]

I've done group discussions/jigsaw many times and they are the best to get all the class speaking. However, I had classes where the students' level of English fluctuated so much and the lower level students destroyed the lesson. To avoid that, I became more selective with topics as well as with the combinations of students in groups. I also teach a writing class and I expand on this exercise with a writing assignment too. Students have to email me their 500-1000 word feedback from the lesson. I know, I know it's a hell lot of cr*ppy reading, but I have only 30 students. And, 8-10 usually either don't email me or send only "a few words".

[johntpartee]

Couple of things to get started:

First, consider yourself lucky you don't have a textbook. Every textbook I've seen in China is laughable.

Pronunciation exercises for sounds that don't occur in Chinese; "th" and "v" are good to start. Ordinal numbers have these in abundance, fourth, seventh, eleventh, etc.

Have the students give a talk to the class about anything of their choosing; family, hometown, friends, movies...... This can be fun for the whole class because you'll usually get a couple of hams up there. Comedians, singers, mimes, actors.

Listen for syntax and pronunciation errors. Also, gender pronouns are usually a problem for Chinese speakers; spoken Chinese does not differentiate between "he" and "she", "him" and "her".

Let the students do the work, get them talking!

[7969]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Quick question there, OP.

Have you been to university? I mean, as a student? What did your professors do?