Job Discussion Forums

[gaijinalways]

I do this in some of my classes now. For example, we have a current topics class that integrates some other skill areas with topics like;

Thai Coup

Koizumi retires from politics

Japanese national high school baseball tourney

Hypoallergenic cats

Saddam's trial

Horie's trial

Genocide in Sudan

[furiousmilksheikali]

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Agreed, furious.

It seems to me that those topics are good for a class dicussion, but there has to be some sort of structure there.

In my class, if we're doing a unit on, say, business ethics, then I show them a CNN video of unethical business practices, assign a paper on an aspect of business ethics (i.e. nepotism or insider trading), and make them go online to view a lecture (if available) from a business class and take notes.

It's been moderately successful (some students are very enthusiastic and others just see it as more work) so far. We're getting into a chapter on Literature next, so we'll see what transpires.

[Sherri]

That is pretty much what I have planned but our students are lower level, so our topics are closer to their own background knowledge, like education and health. We will have readings on the topic, a listening passage (I like using CNN too). You teach the same reading skills that you would, the same listening and note-taking skills it is just that you are not re-inventing the wheel every time you introduce new material. There will still be grammar, but it will be done in the context of the topic, there will still be vocab.

There is a program I know on Oahu where they use only 1 topic for the whole 16-week semester (like language acquisition) and it works for them. Choosing the right topic is key and I believe that lower levels are best off with very concrete topics while the higher levels can go more abstract. I have worked with more complex topics while in Japan while teaching advanced level learners.
S

[gaijinalways]

Of course they need background. And yes, they are university students. It is going to depend on their level as to how deep you'll go in. With most of these students, not too far, but that's okay.

Koizumi as an example

Brainstorm about the prime minister (general knowledge

Do an info gap exercise on fatcs about him

other activities

Thai coup

Thailand general facts, contrast with Japan T/F questions

Talk about leaders what are good quailities (you can provide a list of both good and bad, let students puzzle it out with some assistance)

other activities


I don't do a whole class on one topic except for my academic English class and sometimes my discussion class (they're both intermediate to upper intermediate)

[TheLongWayHome]

My approach is 50% lexical/immersive 50% correction. Unless students know the grammar of their own language there isn't that much point in teaching it... not to Mexicans anyway.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Oh, and FWIW, EAP is beginning to lean heavily toward a Content-Based Approach.

[sickbag]

[Cdaniels]

[MELEE]

Yes, some readers may be shocked to hear that nepotism is actually institutionalized here in Mexico. Public primary and secondary school teachers can inherit tenured positions from their parents. And at the CFE (electric company) you can hand pick one family member for a job during your career with them.

[Deconstructor]

Now we're in the age of anythinggoes. We've finally discovered that no method really works, so instead of giving up on the whole thing we'd rather believe that every method works. (We just don't know what the hell we're really doing in class, but who knows, we might be right based on the laws of probability.) This in turn means that anything you do in class must be accepted as one more way of doing things. This in turn means that anyone is a teacher, born a teacher, in fact. Before you're a human being, you're a TEFLer.

[Serious_Fun]

[Deconstructor]

[Jizzo T. Clown]

[Guy Courchesne]