Job Discussion Forums

[chryanvii]

I was preparing to teach a writing class, but found out as I got here that I would be teaching reading instead. That's okay with me.

But...the book they assigned me...the texts seem a little boring, in addition to the fact that I am not familiar with any of them.

My thinking is that I can change up the readings to reflect writings about more contemporary subjects, and passages from famous authors.

I realize that much of this style of class is for TEM/IELTS training...but...I want to bring something different to the table, aside from what the traditional chinese teachers teach.

Some of the authors I have thought about including may be Ray Bradbury, J.D. Salinger, George Orwell, etc. I could also throw in some writings about popular american culture...and then discuss them.

Let me know what you think. I am looking for some suggestions, and things that have worked in the past, etc. Do you have a website of choice?

thanks.

[Opiate]

It will depend on the level of your students. For my students, I skip novels (and excerpts) and most well known short stories completely.

I focus on reading comprehension with many lessons coming from www.esl-lab.com I toss in some fables, children's stories, and news articles once in a while as well.

Again, it all depends on level though. The authors you mentioned would be far beyond what my students are capable of. I have wanted to try 'The Old Man and the Sea' and '1984' for some time...just need a class capable of doing more than reading the words.

[askiptochina]

I am choosing things students can read and see a movie on. This way it will keep them interested. Also, I download a text file of the book and break it up into sections.

One book was broken up into 30-31 sections, 15 larger sections than the other 15. A shorter section would come after a larger section. The idea would be for the students to read the 15 shorter sections and still get the idea of the story in less time. At any point, they could continue reading from a shorter section and read into the next section which is longer or skip to the next shorter section.

I put questions at the end of each shorter section to test their comprehension and highlighted words they might not know. They could treat these as one word answers, 1-3 sentence answers, or spend more time on one and write an essay.

[LongShiKong]

Why not use Gene Yang's highly acclaimed graphic novel about ABC life? You could start by downloading/showing the following book trailer and interviewer with the author. It's a great way of introducing cross-cultural concepts in a highly accessible manner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwY0OGVE4Mw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYCZqt5WSOM

[Sashadroogie]

What book were you assigned? Are the students actually taking an official test at the end of the course?

[Beyond1984]

"I have wanted to try 'The Old Man and the Sea' and '1984' for some time..." -Opiate

I taught The Old Man... to middle school students at an international school, and it was rough going ... for students used to action films, this book is slooooowww...plot highlights include little birds that perch on the ol' man's fishing pole...

I felt lucky to find an edition containing both 1984 and Animal Farm at a Xinghai books store - 19.8 rmb! I think the latter is much more suitable for Chinese students (and it's much shorter:)

-HDT

[Mr. English]

www.readeasily.com has a good selection of books, many of which are likely to be appropriate for what you are doing. Everything on the site is free.