Job Discussion Forums

[Denim-Maniac]

Can anyone make some simple suggestions for what things I could cover that might be engaging and fun?

Its a one hour, relaxed and laid back optional class covering 'culture'. The format is very simple ... when I have done it before I had a few photos in a slide show which we discussed in a relaxed manner.

Photos I used before included holiday camps and beach photos - Holidays are a big part of UK culture and such leisure activities havent quite the same value in China.

I also used a couple of photos which showed empty high streets and side streets in my UK town. People in China very much live life on the streets, so this is a huge cultural difference.

I also used a romantic photo that said 'I love you' and talked about when using such words might be acceptable in the UK and when in China (big difference there too).

The class isnt serious ... no real academic goals. Doesnt have to be too highbrow. So any ideas about new ideas for a photo slideshow?

Any ideas appreciated to be honest. I have asked the students for a few topics, but am also open to ideas from you guys too!

[Sashadroogie]

Anything with a pantomime! A truly British experience. Seems to be unknown even amongst near neighbours on the Continent.

I can see all your students now, screaming 'He's behind you!!!'


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY7wjrqqwh4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReTJFuTD5zs

[Denim-Maniac]

No You Tube here unfortunately ... I never get to see the You Tube links posted.

I use an app called WeChat and posted a request to my students ... I had a list of topics back and have plumped for 'my first kiss / hospitals / queues / dinner table manners / Doctors / Patriotism / Reserved Englishmen.

6 topics - 10 minutes each topic - Its a very relaxed environment with no real pressure. I have about 10 adults attending.

[kpjf]

Have you thought about including the theme of the new royal baby? Maybe Chinese people are interested in that? And then maybe you could bring it onto the topic of marriage/children? "Do you want to get married?" "Do you want to have children?" "How many?" etc...You could mention how crazy the media go about this kind of thing (eg Diana) and ask are the Chinese media similar?

Can you access a site called keepvid.com? Maybe you can try that, because with that site you can download youtube links onto your harddrive, but maybe it'll still be blocked.

[DebMer]

News article, debate topics (google to find these for ESL in abundance), student interviews (question lists also free found online).

Do you have anything like the True Stories readers (by Sandra Heyer) available? One short story from these books provides hours of conversation. If I allowed it to, it would easily occupy a 3 hour class period.

Board games like Monopoly and Guess Who.

Powerpoints on culture and history and interesting local places.

Proverbs and idioms.

I found a fun card game a while back. Each card in the deck has a corresponding question on a separate sheet of paper. You deal a few cards to each student and take turns answer the questions. Everybody's question is different, so no boring repetitiveness, and many questions lead to more conversation and questions. You could create question lists suitable for the level you're teaching. (What is your favorite ice cream flavor? v. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be, and why?)

[Denim-Maniac]

All useful suggestions ... this class was an optional elective class at my place of work. The majority of the students are already in my classes and I see them for 90 minutes each day ... all the ice-breaker conversation stuff is useful in many situations, but has already been done with my students.

The idea is a little 'break from the norm' with a relaxed and hopefully light hearted and engaging look at some aspects of life in England. The 'open house' nature of these classes we offer is that you never quite know who will turn up, and how competent all the students are. Plus its in addition to my structured and scheduled classes so a lighter approach is OK.

TTT was pretty high ... but for this relaxed format I was kinda OK with that. If I do it again Ill follow the same format and just have a series of photos that might give rise to talking points that are typical of modern UK culture.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

[teenoso]

You could do something on 'preconceptions' about the UK -
like , 'Englishmen are gentlemen' ; london has smog (60+ years out of date) ; British food is awful (this is partly true , of course); English people love the queen (sadly, true); British weather is awful (usually true); British people celebrate Thanksgiving ; all Brits are christian ....etc .
Also photos of the 'empty' countryside would be good - where are all the peasant-farmers?

[Denim-Maniac]

Wow ... I guess culture is quite an individual thing.

[Big Worm]

I bet they'd enjoy Benny Hill videos.

[JustinC]

If you want to be a bit more honest you could include busy food banks, long-term unemployed chavs, endemic drug/alcohol abuse, fat people, extortionate living expenses, single mums, tax-evading millionaires, Simon Cowell and Russell Brand.

[Sashadroogie]

Football hooligans...

[Denim-Maniac]

Last two posts are interesting and feature some quite typical topics that one could justify as being very 'British', but I wont be using them.

I had been teaching one group of students from quite a low level, and I have now been reunited with them in a higher level within the same school. For my higher levels I use a lot more realia, specifically materials lifted directly from UK newspapers without being modified linguisitically for class.

This group of students were great at the lower level, but Im recently finding its a struggle with them at this higher level and just couldnt figure out why. The format of the lesson is pretty much the same, I have standardised the layout and presentation of my materials ... and its quite carefully graded to their ability.

And one student confided in me yesterday to ask why the topics covered and the very nature of the material is negative, as many of the topics seem to cast a cloud over the atmosphere of every class. Unfortunately I have grown so accustomed to negativity from our daily news that I didnt notice. I use lots of stories that run with 'new research shows .....' and almost all are negative stories. Generation Rent, Rising Cost of Undergrad Studies, What Mothers Worry About, Decreasing Social Mobility, Fat and Drunk UK, etc etc.

Im not going to risk throwing football hooliganism into the melting pot!

[santi84]

Some (positive) topics that I might find interesting are:
- The channel tunnel (any engineering students?)
- Linguistic variation in the UK (the existence of Welsh, Irish)
- Folklore (Robin Hood and others)
- Cuisine (Yorkshire pudding, Cornish pasty, "tea" as a meal)
- French/England history and the influence of French on the English lexicon
- Music (Beatles, Queen, Elton John, Rolling Stones - you could use more current musicians I suppose, if your students care)

Those are just some topics that I find interesting, as a non-Brit.

[JustinC]

Yeah I think you'd do best to stick to Britain's 'glorious' history (leave out the Opium Wars) before it became a destitute, celebrity-obsessed, unprincipled, miserable excuse for a nation.

[Denim-Maniac]

The idea of a culture class has been and gone ... but the 'British-ness' in my classes at this level comes from exposure to genuine news stories ... but I didnt realise quite how negative such 'recent research' stories are.

It really sounds like a basic schoolboy error ... but in using these stories I have flattened the general mood of the class. I need to be more careful in the future methinks!