Job Discussion Forums

[dog backwards]

I usually have a lot of latitude in my oral class content. I use role playing in which I create a few dozen situations involving 2-4 students. The students are allowed to form their own groups.

Each situation varies in difficulty. I assign each group a situation in which the group is required to solve a particular problem. In the beginning, they are given the situation to take home and practice.

The easiest situation might be something as simple as ordering a meal in a restaurant. Two students discuss the things on an imaginary menu. The third student is the waiter/waitress who answers questions which the customers have about the food. The customers place the order for their meal.

Another situation might be more challenging: the food arrives, but the customers find a fly or a hair in the food and request that the meal be prepared again. The waiter must try to convince the customers to accept the food because there's no fly or hair in the food.

Advanced groups might be given more complex situations. For example: three girls find out that one boy has been dating/flirting with all of them. The girls must confront the boy. The boy must defend himself and mollify the girls. This one is always a favorite.

Generally, I strive for sufficiency, pronunciation, grammar, and volume.

Once the students become accustomed to performing in front of the class, I have to say almost nothing.

I create a small form in which I grade them on: Grammar, volume, sufficiency, vocabulary and creativity. Each category allows me to simply check one of the following: a). Good b). Improved C). Needs improvement.

Then there's a line at the bottom for comments. I can usually create four forms in Word, then cut them apart so that each student has his own response from me.

Each student is given the form before he performs and writes his name at the top and then hands it to me right before the performance. I've been doing this for awhile, so I have a lot of situations from which to choose. Some work well for some groups while others just have no appeal. The students are allowed to trade the assigned situation which is typed up and given to them before the next class.

Students who are not performing are given slips of paper upon which they make comments about their classmates performance. The "audience" is encouraged to be honest (but encouraging) in their responses. At the end of each performance someone collects the class's responses and gives them to the performers.

When all goes well, all I do is come to class, pass out the forms, and then each group performs. Most performances are not graded. My talk time is minimal.

There are times when I must assign vocabulary. If it is a subject-specific class such as business English, I must explain terms, give examples of how they are to be used, etc.. This is necessary and unavoidable.

I emphasize creativity and self-confidence.

This works for me. It may not work for others.

[Non Sequitur]

One of the problems in getting TTT down is the teacher feeling that awkward silences have to be filled. So, they start talking again, repeat the question or whatever.
Those gaps are for the student to fill NOT the teacher.
Sure the student should not be left to struggle to the point of humiliation* but if the teacher takes over, the time is taken from the student.
* I experienced too much of that in my school days to want to inflict it on my students.

[dog backwards]

Put the responsibility for speaking upon the shoulders of the students. That's why I like assigning role-playing. They talk, the class listens.

[dog8food]

I appreciate you explaining your role playing exercises. It's really helpful.

I too am venturing into my first university teaching venture, and while there is plenty of helpful info on these boards and elsewhere, it helps me best for teachers to walk me through their typical day/teaching method. I've actually been trying to look for videos of teachers in action, but have difficulty finding them.

Would anyone else mind illustrating their average day teaching uni students and/or methods used?

[Non Sequitur]

I have taught mainly oral English.
With nine classes pw = 18 teaching hour contract I really deliver the same lesson in each class. Of course given 10 or more difference in students/class they get out of kilter but over 2 or 3 weeks they average out.
I'm very keen on songs as it gives even the most shy kid the opp to mumble along under the radar. We sing a song at the start and at the end so that we end on a positive note.
I also have a greeting routine to wake them up and at 8am classes there is no restriction on eating up to the break.
From after the song until break we work from the book of dialogues - it's dire stuff but it IS the book we have. Like another poster I have progress slips and I draw these at random to determine who is going to speak and with whom.
I mark on a 10 point scale on the progress slip as I listen.
If the dialogue is particularly stupid or we complete everyone, I might have a word race game just before break.
After break it is a game which gets the students out of their seats.
About 5mins before end of class we go to the song and the students exit.
Can we very rewarding for some quiet student to exit the classroom singing 'I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello'.
I have a CD player for the song as some classrooms have no computer. Paper song sheets as no data projector often.

[Non Sequitur]

The same Masters student I referred to above also found that small group discussions were less than satisfactory.
The groups will discuss the topic in their native language (Japanese I think it was in the classes being researched) and the best English-speaker will do the report back. The good get better and the others don't get anything.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[dog backwards]

[cormac]

I have 8 classes a week each with anything from 12 to 30 students per class. Each class is 90 minutes with a 5 min break in the middle. I'm teaching Oral english, so there's very little preparation so far although I do spend some time on writing up discussion/debate ideas pre class since I've found that if I just let it flow, it dies rather quickly. I also have a modern textbook which is quite good in parts, so I'm happy to use it (although tbh I was told I must use it by my administration - only problem is that there is more reading involved with the textbook than actual language practice)

Re talking time I initially spent most of the time doing the talking with gradual requests for input, mainly with the aim of relaxing the students and getting them used to speaking in front of the class. I make a big deal out of showing respect for their classmates and also to me. Its just starting to pay off, and the classes are, for the most part, responding favorably. It probably helps that the previous native english teacher just showed them movies, so they're dying to learn to speak with me. Naturally there are some extremely shy students, but I've allocated some of my free time to helping them. Word has gotten around that I'm ok to talk to, and so most of my students are improving.

I just wish the university itself was more helpful. Oral english is mostly an after-thought. The english subjects taught by the Chinese teachers are more respected, and thus get more attention/support. Still, my classes are far easier to teach than I thought they might be before starting.

I do find it interesting (and a bit funny) that many of the Chinese teachers avoid me since they're so uncomfortable about the level of their english. Its easy to see that they only use their english with the students, and thus their level has dropped considerably. Still, i've found most of them to have a reasonable command of the language, although there are often some awful pronounciation errors being passed on.

If you're doing Oral english, acknowledge from the beginning that you'll be rather low on the pole of importance in the university. Oh, you'll be sought after by teachers and students alike, for pactice or just plain curiousity, but sometimes its frustrating what you have to fight for.