Job Discussion Forums

[jotto]

I have had several students recently come to me with the same problem: they cannot understand what is being said during conference calls. They may catch a little here and there but they aren't able to keep up. Most of them have a reasonable level of English and face to face conversations are not a problem. These calls are often with people from several countries and don't always stay on topic/follow the agenda in order.

Here are some of the tips I have been giving them:
1. Eliminate any outside noises - computers, music, open windows, etc.
2. If possible, use a digital recorder to tape the conversation for further review and practice.
3. If it's a small number of people, tell a small lie and say the connection isn't great and can they either speak a little louder or slower.

I haven't found much else out there and was hoping someone could offer some more advice. Thanks.

[jotto]

Thanks for the tip. Anybody else out there with any good advice?

[TiaFix]

Have you thought of mocking up a conference call scenario with your students?

In Korea, we had to give phone tests to our students. They were prepped on the gammar subject or page number to reference ahead of time, then we rang them up and engaged in a conversation. They were scored appropriately and given notes on their performance to review the next time in class.

It was really interesting to find out how some of my students, who seemed perfectly fluent in class, could not reply or understand coherently over the phone. In class, their mind did a fantastic job of filling in the blanks in face to face interaction by observing non-verbal cues and other students. On the phone, it was much harder for the mind to fill in the blanks soley from a disembodied voice coming from a telephone receiver.

The phone test usually lasted only 5 to 7 minutes, but it was followed up and supplemented with in-class lessons - but a longer phone lesson, in fact, an entire lesson over the phone, is not unthinkable.

If calling each other on the phone seems a waste of cellular minutes - why not try an online service like Skype.com?

You could do it privately from each others homes, just set up a time to have a 'skype conference call' instead of a normal class. A standard mic headset is cheap, and skype is free - what's even better? You can 'text chat' with your student at the same time you're speaking with them on the conference call, so they can read notes or encouragement from you in real-time. If 'at home' isn't possible, a PC Room should function in the same way, and it would offer a lot more 'ambient noise' that the students seems to have a hard time filtering out - thus make it more challenging.

The other aspect is that the 'call quality' of a skype call isn't always 100% awesome - thus, the 'noise' aspect which makes conference calls so difficult to interpret in the first place will be re-created in some small way in your lesson. You can also have more than one person on a skype conference call I believe, so it could really mimick the experience your students are currently facing.

Oh! And you could teach in your pj's - so that'd be a plus.

Skype also offers a video web-cam feature - but that's not the point of the lesson, is it? Just a note. Make sure your cam is off if you're going to teach the lesson in your pajamas.

Good luck!

Sincerely,

>^,,^<...{tia fix}

[Kram]

That�s an outstanding idea, TiaFix! I�ll try and figure out a way to incorporate that into a communications lesson .

I�d also have to figure out a way to block QQ, WofW, CS and PP stream...

Turn the volume down so the speakers don�t distort...

[TiaFix]

Glad you think so.

What do you mean 'block' PP, CS stream.. etc? I think I picked up WoW (as in world of warcraft) - but not sure of the others. Why the need to block them to manage the lesson? Just curious. I'm interested in techy solutions to the teaching scenario.

>^,,^<...{t}

[Kram]

[TiaFix]

Ah! I see. Thanks for the clarification.

-goes off to play her Mr. T. NightElf Mohawk character...-

>^,,^<