Job Discussion Forums

[JRJohn]

I recently started a university job in central China. There were long bureaucratic delays on the Chinese side, so I couldn't apply for my Z-visa for 2 months after signing the contract!
This is why I only got to start in November. Well, I've completed my first week. There is a textbook, but it's mainly oral English, I am doing. There was a limit to what I could bring from home. ESL activity books are also extremely expensive. So I wonder, could any of you people recommend me a good website that I can use to download FREE ideas for activities in class. Dave's ESL Cafe can help, but it sometimes focuses more on beginners and childrens classes.
Any ideas for good classes?

[Beyond1984]

"Any ideas for good [oral English] classes? -JRJohn

The students are unlikely to speak up and talk freely about the hot issues of the day, unless invited to do so. University students are currently interested in:

1. The war between the internet giants Tencent (qq) and 360.

2. Whether the genders are equal in China, given the retirement age of 55 for womena and 60 for men.

3. Is China becoming too westernized? Twenty Hollywood films are allowed into the country yearly; is this too many or too few?

4. Is study abroad worth the money?

5. Is the government doing enough to hold down housing costs?

6. The Diaoyu Island incident

7. The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize

8. Whether internet censorship "Green Dam," protects the people from dangerous ideas and pornography, or hinders access to information

9. Whether Chinese netizens are better off with Google out of the PRC

10. Should China increase the value of the RMB (and make the US happy by doing so)?

Also, you could present them some critical thinking problems:

1. If you had to betray your country or your best friend, which would you betray?

And, of course, the old favorites:

1. Have you read any good books lately?

2. Seen any good films lately? (For sure they have seen "Twilight").

If you have English language newspapers, it never hurts to bring in a few and pass them out to the eager students in the front row, telling them, "See if you can find something interesting to tell the class about ..."

Good luck!

-HDT

Another suggestion: get the students out of their seats and up to the board to explain things; get two students up there to begin a debate, circulate around the class actively, always check tee-shirts and clothes for slogans and statements that could be controversial and provoke discussion. Make sure all students bring a translator or dictionary and English notebook to class. Keep track of class participants on your roll sheet and emphasize its importance in figuring grades. Mark down check minuses if they have no English notebook, translator or dictionary. Don't tolerate any nonsense (heads down, texting, talking in Chinese ... Take attendance and, if any need English names, have them come to the board. Listen to their Chinese names and write a few English names with similiar sounds, and let them choose. It's fun...

[Miles Smiles]

Try this resource:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

[sharpe88]

Nice..... I wish this board had a thumbs-up system! My only comments would be not to be too controversial with politics, and dictionaries are not a "must" since students can get caught looking up every word rather than paying attention to the aims of the lesson.

[igorG]

I think that the internet is a great source of info itself, and so there's little need to direct uni students to some specific sites. Providing topics and having the sudents search for answers themselves is one fine way to teach independance. Many local students will probably lean towards Chinese sites to look for any answers, but our follow-up lessons with links to info contradicting our students may also open some minds up. Mainlanders really need to learn how to use the internet more appropriately and the local uni students especially. It's not only about a few links, the games or "harmful" information, is it?

[sui jin]

usingenglish.com; bbc learning english; onestopenglish.com; ask.com (lots of esl resources); usefulenglish.ru; ielanguages.com............and try to download the "New Interchange" series of spoken English textbooks.
Woodlands Junior School in Kent has some interesting and useful things on its British culture web pages.

[Miles Smiles]

Too many of the online resources are extremely limited in scope. Some are, at best, half-baked.

The Purdue University OWL is pretty comprehensive and growing in scope.

[wangdaning]

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/

Has some good stuff, use it at times to supplement/substitute the material in our textbooks.

[YankeeDoodleDandy]

Thanks to all of you for some additional sites Try www.eslplans.com

[flyingscotsman]

[Non Sequitur]

OP is encountering what we all do at our first China job and that is the necessity of finding our own resources (particularly oral) as the uni-supplied stuff doesn't measure up.
In my experience it took all of the first semester to assemble resources. But once you've been through the agony it makes the task much easier, particularly in that Sunday afternoon lesson planning hour.
My best resource cost about $40 US from memory but given that I have used it for 9 classes per semester over 6 semesters (to date) in China unis the cost per lesson is about 75 cents.
So my message is that if you intend to stick to ESL for a year or two a bit of investment isn't too onerous over the longer run.
The resource is on laminated cards so pretty well indestructible and every time I use them the cost averages down.

[Ariadne]

Non Sequitor, you mentioned your best source but you didn't identify it. Sounds as if it's been good for you... care to share?

I often use photos from magazines to get the students talking... to describe the photo, to make up a story about it, to identify objects, etc.

Chinese newspapers on line have stories that are sometimes of interest to the students. They at least understand the frame of reference, which can be a problem with strictly Western articles.

.

[randyj]

[Non Sequitur]

Ariadne
I'm away from school right now and can't recall where I bought the resource.
But my key message to OP is that we all (in the public college/uni area) experience that sinking feeling when we realise the large gap between what the school provides and what we need to effectively teach.
Another thing I have found as the semesters roll by, is that having good resources and the confidence that goes with that, I can observe my students a little better and encourage, cajole, etc those who inhabit that middle group who would like to be in the most active group, but who are in danger of joining the backsliders and work dodgers.

[Non Sequitur]

Can I ask OP what he/she feels is 'expensive' for a paid for resource?