first time teaching a uni

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latentappliancefetishist
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first time teaching a uni

Post by latentappliancefetishist » Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:44 am

Hi everyone, this is my first time teaching a university in China. Last year, I taught elementary. This experience involved a slight learning curve, but I felt it was a success at the end.
So, I am asking for any advise, suggestions, etc... I will be teaching Oral English. My classes are divided into two 45 minute periods. I am curious, what has (or hasn't) worked well in the past for everyone? Thanks for your help.

woodcutter
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Post by woodcutter » Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:16 pm

It's about the easiest job in the universe.

If anything you want to do doesn't go down well, please let us know!

ajhoge
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Oral English... University

Post by ajhoge » Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:46 am

How about focusing on using movies and audiobooks.

A great way to do this would be to first read a section of the movies script (or English subtitles... pausing to slow it down. Then play the corresponding scene(s) several times. Again, you could pause at times to explain what's happening, ask questions, note slang or new vocab, etc....

Audiobooks would also be great. In fact, you could combine reading, audiobooks, and movies. For example, require students to read Harry Potter as homework (give them an assignment to read a Chapter a week or so). You can ask them to keep a notebook of new vocab they learn from each chapter... check it at the beginning of each class.

Then play a CD (audiobook) recording of that chapter in class. Afterwards, you could lead a discussion of the chapter.

Towards the end of the course... after the book had been read and the audiobook was finished.. you could show the entire movie from start to finish.

surrealia
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Post by surrealia » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:29 pm

I taught "Oral English" at universities in Taiwan for many years. Here are a few tips that I picked up:

- Try to involve the students as much as possible. Ask them questions, have them write things up on the board, get them to use the language in your book to make new questions and statements.

- Put a lot of variety and surprises into your classes. Try to think of as many ways as possible to alter the class week by week. Activities using music, kinaesthetic activities (where they move around, instead of sitting in their desks), and games all go over well.

- Give them a review session every 2 or 3 weeks. This reinforces the words, phrases, and sentences they have been using in class.

- Learn as many short fillers as you can, and use them to keep the energy level up. Here are a few of my favorites:

*1* Announce that you have an interesting way to solve problems. Ask them first to tell you some of their problems. Write these up on the board. Then grab a dictionary. Call on someone to come up and find a word in the dictionary without looking (close their eyes and point). Tell the student to call out the word and its definition. Now get everybody to brainstorm a solution for the problem that this word brings to mind. Encourage them to be creative, and try to get several answers. Repeat the process for the other problems on the board.

*2* Put students in small groups (4 or 5 students). Give them 10 minutes to think of things they all have in common and write them down (for example, We all have cell phones or We all have noisy neighbors). When time's up, have each group read out their list. Tell the other students to listen carefully, and applaud when they hear another group say something that's on their list.

*3* Bring a small gift to class. Tell the students that they will win the gift if they can sit in the chair for one minute without laughing. Ask for volunteers, or you can just choose someone. Now, do everything you can to make them laugh: make crazy faces, farting sounds, silly dances, etc. Variation: you can have them try to make you laugh.

*4* Tell your students that you are going to tell them the story of your day up until you came to class. Their job is to interrupt you as much as they can with questions, so you don't get to school. Begin your story with waking up. If they don't join in right away, give them some suggestions for questions - "How long did it take you to brush your teeth?" "Why did you decide to put on that shirt?"

*5* Write up 6 categories on the board (some examples are household objects, cities, countries, animals, foods, beverages, parts of the body, girls names, boys names, rock bands, movie titles...). Now put the students in groups of 3 or 4 and tell them that in a minute, you are going to give them a letter. They have to find words for each category that start with the letter. When they get the answer, they have to shout at the top of their lungs "STOP THE BUS!!!!". Then you check over their answers to make sure there are no mistakes. If they got it all right, they get a point. Play it again several times with different letters and different categories. Note: You might want to check in advance that there are answers in all categories for the letters you plan to use...

For more ideas, take a look at this page for links to FREE games and activities:

http://www.geocities.com/allhou/lessgames.htm

I hope everything goes great for you at your university job!

Smoothie
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Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:03 am

Post by Smoothie » Tue Oct 11, 2005 3:41 am

I'm in the same boat as the original poster and would love to see what is posted in the above link, but I'm in China and geocities, it seems, blocks Asian or perhaps just Chinese IP's from accessing their site.

Are there any other sites with that?

Thanks.

Sally Olsen
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Location: Canada,France, Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, Greenland, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia next

Post by Sally Olsen » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:58 pm

101 Bright Ideas by Claire Maria Ford
101 Word Games for Students of English as a Second or Foreign Language by George P. McCallum

201 Ready-To-Use Word Games for the English Classroom by Jack Umstatter

Action Plans : 80 Student-Centered Language Activities by Marion MacDonald

Activity Box : A Resource Book for Teacher's of Young Students by Jean Greenwood

Alternatives by Richard Baudians

Beginners by Peter Grundy

Beginning to Write by Arthur Brookes and Peter Grundy

The Book of Days - Teacher's Book by Adrian Wallwork

The Book of Days - Cassette by Adrian Wallwork

Business Roles by John Crowther-Alwyn

Business Roles 2 by John Crowther-Alwyn

The Busy Classroom : A Preschool Teacher's Monthly Book of Creative Activities by Patty Claycomb, Linda Greigg (Illustrator)

Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Class by Gertude Moskowitz

Children in Action by Carmen Argondizzo

Classroom Dynamics by Jill Hadfield

Classroom Teacher's ESL Survival Kit #1 by Elizabeth Claire, Judie Haynes, John Chapman (Editor)

Classroom Teacher's ESL Survival Kit #2 by Elizabeth Claire, Judie Haynes

Communication Starters and Other Activities for the Esl Classroom by Judy E. Olsen (Editor)

Complete Esl/Efl Resource Book Strategies Activities and Units for Classroom by Jean MacUlaitun-Cooke, Mona Scheraga

Conversation by Rob Nolasco and Lois Arthur

Conversation and Dialogues in Action by Zoltan Dornyei and Sarah Thurrell

Creating a Climate for Power Learning: 37 Mind-Stretching Activities by Carolyn C. Clark, L. Tobin

Cultural Awareness by Barry Tomalin and Susan Stempleski

Decisionmaker by David Evans

Dictation: New Methods, New Possibilities by Paul Davis and Mario Rinvolucri

Discussion Starters : Speaking Fluency Activities for Advanced Esl/Efl Students by Keith S. Folse

Discussions A-Z Intermediate by Adrian Wallwork, with cassette

Discussions A-Z Advanced by Adrian Wallwork, with cassette

Discussions That Work by Penny Ur

Drama by Charlyn Wessels

Drama Techniques in Language Teaching by Alan Maley and Alan Duff

Easy & Engaging Esl Activities and Mini-Books for Every Classroom: Terrific Teaching Tips, Games, Mini-Books & More to Help New Students from Every Classroom by Kama Eihorn

EFL Teacher's Activities Kit by Elizabeth Claire

Elementary Vocabulary Games by Jill Hadfield

Esl Content-Based Language Games, Puzzles, & Inventive Exercises by Imogene Forte, Mary Ann Pangle, Marta Drayton (Illustrator)

Esl Reading and Spelling: Games, Puzzles, and Inventive Exercises by Imogene Forte, Mary Ann Pangle, Marta Drayton (Illustrator)

Esl Vocabulary and Word Usage: Games, Puzzles, and Inventive Exercises by Imogene Forte, Mary Ann Pangle, Gayle Harvey (Illustrator)

ESP Ideas: Recipes for Teaching Professional and Academic English by Randall Holmes

Experiential Language Teaching Techniques by Michael Jerald, Raymond C. Clark

Families : Ten Card Games for Language Learners by Marjorie S. Fuchs, Jane Critchley, Thomas Pyle

Five-Minute Activities by Penny Ur and Andrew Wright

Foreign Language Teacher's Guide to Active Learning by Deborah Blaz

Fun with Grammar: Communicative Activities for Azar Grammar Series, Teacher's Resource Book by Suzanne W. Woodward

Games and Puzzles for English as a Second Language by Victoria Fremont and Brenda Flores

Games for All Reasons : Interacting in the Language Classroom by Matthew Schultz, Alan Fisher

Games for Language Learning by Andrew Wright, David Betteridge, Michael Buckby

The Giant Encyclopedia of Circle Time and Group Activities for Children 3 to 6 : Over 600 Favorite Circle Time Activities Created by Teachers for Teachers by Kathy Charner (Editor), Rebecca Jones (Illustrator)

Grammar Chants: More Jazz Chants by Carolyn Graham

Grammar Chants: More Jazz Chants (cassette) by Carolyn Graham

Grammar Dictation by Ruth Wajnryb

Grammar Games by Mario Rinvolucri

The Grammar Handbook, Part 1 : Communicative Classroom Activities by Nancy Clair

The Grammar Handbook, Part 2 : Communicative Classroom Activities by Nancy Clair

Grammar In Action, Again: Awareness Activities for Language Learning by Christine Frank, Mario Rinvolucri

Grammar Practice Activities by Penny Ur

Headstarts: One Hundred Original Pre-Text Activities by Natalie Hess

Homework by Lesley Painter

Imaginative Projects : A Resource Book of Project Work for Younger Students by Matt Wicks

Interactive Techniques for the Esl Classroom by Connie L. Shoemaker, F. Floyd Shoemaker

Intermediate Communication Games by Jill Hadfield

Jazz Chant Fairy Tales by Carolyn Graham

Jazz Chant Fairy Tales (cassette) by Carolyn Graham

Jazz Chants by Carolyn Graham

Jazz Chants (cassette) by Carolyn Graham

Jazz Chants for Children by Carolyn Graham

Jazz Chants: Old and New by Carolyn Graham

Keep Talking by Friederike Klippel

Language Activities for Teenagers by Seth Lindstromberg

Language Teaching Games and Contests by William Rowland Lee

Laughing Matters: Humor in the Language Classroom by Peter Medgyes

Lessons from Nothing : Activities for Language Teaching With Limited Time and Resources by Bruce Marsland

Listening by Goodith White

Listening in Action by Michael Rost

Literature by Alan Duff and Alan Maley

The Mind's Eye by Alan Maley

More Discussion Starters: Activities for Building Speaking Fluency by Keith S. Folse, Jeanine Ivone

More Grammar Games by Mario Rinvolucri

More Recipes for Tired Teachers by Christopher Sion

Mother Goose Jazz Chants by Carolyn Graham

Motivating High Level Learners: Activities for Upper Intermediate and Advanced Learners by David Cranmer

Musical Openings: Using Music in the Language Classroom by David Cranmer and Clement Laroy

Music and Song by Tim Murphey

Newspapers by Peter Grundy

Operations in English : 55 Natural and Logical Sequences for Lanuage Acquistion by Gayle Nelson

Personalizing Language Learning by Griff Griffiths, Kathy Keohane

Pictures for Language Learning by Andrew Wright

Pictures in Action by Gunter Gerngross, Herbert Puchta

Planning from Lesson to Lesson by Seth Lindstromberg

Play 'N Talk : Communicative Games for Elementary and Middle School Esl/Efl by Gordana Petricic

Project Work by Diana Fried-Booth

The Pronunciation Book by Tim Bowen and Jonathan Marks

Pronunciation Games by Mark Hancock

The Recipe Book by Seth Lindstromberg

Recipes for Tired Teachers by Christopher Sion

Role Play by Gillian Porter Ladousse

Shenanigames : Grammar-Focused Interactive Esl/Efl Activities and Games by James Kealey

Singing Grammar: Teaching Grammar Through Songs by Mark Hancock

Small Talk: More Jazz Chants by Carolyn Graham

Small Talk: More Jazz Chants (cassette) by Carolyn Graham

Songs in Action by Dale T. Griffee

Sounds Intriguing by Alan Maley and Alan Duff

Speaking Personally by Gillian Porter Ladousse

Speak Out! by Ellen Measday

The Standby Book by Seth Lindstromberg

Stepping Out : A Teacher's Book of Real-Life Situations by Christine Bunn, Sharon Seymour

Stories : Narrative Activities for the Language Classroom by Ruth Wajnryb

Storytelling with Children by Andrew Wright

Talk-A-Tivities by Richard Yorkey

Targeting Listening and Speaking: Strategies and Activities for Esl/Efl Students by Keith S. Folse, Darren P. Bologna

Teaching Adult Second Language Learners by Heather McKay, Abigail Tom

Teaching Large Multilevel Classes by Natalie Hess

Teaching Teenagers by Herbert Puchta and Michael Schratz

Transition Time : Let's Do Something Different! by Jean Feldman, Rebecca Jones (Illustrator)

Using the Board in the Language Classroom by Jeannine Dobbs

Using Folktales by Eric K. Taylor

Very Young Learners by Vanessa Reilly and Sheila M. Ward

Video In Action by Susan Stempleski and Barry Tomalin

Vocabulary by John Morgan

Vocabulary in Action by Linda Taylor

Ways of Doing by Paul Davis, Maria Garside and Mario Rinvolucri

Young Learners by Sarah Philips

Zero Prep by Laurel Pollard, Natalie Hess

surrealia
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Location: Taiwan
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Post by surrealia » Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:05 pm

That's quite a list of books. My favorite resource books are Humanising Your Coursebook, Five Minute Activities, and Creative Questions.

Smoothie, here are some of the links from the geocities page:

http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/c/games.html

http://www.eslflow.com

http://www.onestopenglish.com

http://www.cortland.edu/flteach/FAQ/FAQ-Activities.html

http://www.tefl-magic.com/noframes/home/welcome.htm

Smoothie
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Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:03 am

Post by Smoothie » Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:05 am

Thanks, Surrealia. Got 'em! ;)

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