Job Discussion Forums

[Mrs McClusky]

[gaijinalways]

Glad to see someone is up for challenges.

I felt it was similar when I decided to do projects with 320 students this term (half of them group ones, but not enough, lo!). I am hoping I can generate a lot of good material for future presentations and material on my blogs.

Do I get paid extra for it? No, of course not.

Would I be better off with the three step method and no homework up my sleeve? Well, I might be more popular (rated higher in student surveys, and have higher enrollment in my classes), but I would have students taking my courses for the easy grades rather than the language skills they can pick up.

One note, all the uni teachers in Japan that I know of generally write their own courses. That's a given, not anything new.

Unfortunately, we don't have a needs assessment built into our courses, though the students are supposedly screened for level placement. I say supposedly as the tests the unis use to screen them are not always appropriate. I suppose we could do needs assessments (I do it informally with my smaller classes), but we also do have general curriculum guidelines, but to be honest they are so general as to almost be useless.

Good luck with the medical students. Spiral78 has some very good suggestions for making job descriptions, which are not only a good project, but will also help you determine what language different students may need.

There are some ESP medical course descriptions online, but they may or not be appropriate for your uses.

[Mrs McClusky]

Thanks mate, good luck with your classes.

[Sashadroogie]

[Mrs McClusky]

[FrenchLieutenant'sWoman]

Hm your situation rings bells in my mind!

I too teach ESP, rocked up to no curriculum and the announcement that I'd have mixed age, trade and level classes. I laughed. They looked blankly at me because they didn't see the issue.

Remember that as far as they're concerned you're the expert on English teaching and if you say you need to screen them for levels then that's what you do. I gave my superior the choice of screening by job description or by level and he chose level (thankfully!) as they also need to do the TOEIC. For the job specific stuff I run short mixed level courses, which is a pain to organise and I know some people flounder but at least they have handouts to refer back to at a later date.

Re: curriculum content checks it's definitely a good idea to have either a native or very high level English speaking professional in that field check what you plan to teach. I also work in one of those areas where the wrong word could have very disastrous consequences.

I'm pinching spiral's brainstorming idea though. I find it frustrating when my students clearly know what they need to know in English and I just haven't had it communicated to me. Bad management quickly saps the strength....

[Mrs McClusky]

I am with you all the way brother. It's amazing people can't see the issue of multi levels and professions not to mention the life or death nature of medical issues and potential legal disasters if the worst should happen.

I simply am NOT allowed to screen for levels and I DO understand that it would turn the facility upside down.
I did a needs annalist type thing today as suggested and it provided me with some very useful stuff. Spiral is the man (or woman, seems like a bloke though)

Your last paragraph went straight to my Central Nervous System..... I know that one all too well.

MM

[spiral78]

So far as Dave's is concerned, I'm androgynous.

Rushing now, but later on if you are interested, I could give some insight on how some task types can make working across levels a bit more productive....

[Mrs McClusky]

[Sashadroogie]

[Mrs McClusky]

[naturegirl321]

I'm against it for several reasons.

First, I know that teachers have to adapt materials, but writing stuff up from scratch without meeting students, seeing level tests, etc, is ridiculous.

Second, I'm a teacher, not a coursebook writer.

Third, I feel that many schools doing this are too cheap to buy regular coursebooks and want the teachers to do the work for them.

[naturegirl321]

[Mrs McClusky]

[spiral78]

First, I know that teachers have to adapt materials, but writing stuff up from scratch without meeting students, seeing level tests, etc, is ridiculous.

I do it successfully all the time. It's officially called a negotiated syllabus and there are systems that support this.

Second, I'm a teacher, not a coursebook writer.

I have written courses, contributed to coursebooks, worked on development teams, and moonlight for Cambridge, so obviously my position is a bit different to yours. Fair enough for you (and me, too).

Third, I feel that many schools doing this are too cheap to buy regular coursebooks and want the teachers to do the work for them.

I'm more expensive than a coursebook:) Remember I get 3:1 for development, plus 1:1 to teach it. It's more effective, though. When someone publishes a coursebook specifically for Dutch native speakers of English at the C1 level working in a university HRM situation, for example, then we'll go for the coursebooks.

We do use coursebooks where they are applicable, obviously (Cambridge tests, for example). Further, we can often develop materials that can be used year after year on repeated courses, with minor updates. It's not so time-intensive as it sounds. Real development projects come around a couple of times per year for those few of us on our staff who are interested in development. It's an option, not an obligation, for us.


PM me a pic of you first lol

You mean you don't think she looks exactly like her avatar? I've always imagined that she does