Adult C2 Discussion Advice Needed
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:56 am
Hey guys. I thought I'd pick your brains over a problem I have been having.
Here's the background information.
Husband and wife class.
The wife is an English teacher and university lecturer in Classical history. She is fluent in Latin, Ancient Greek and has a high ability in German and Spanish. Her English is C2 level.
The husband owns a successful company and I would put him at a low C1 level.
I have them for 3 hour lessons.
They have been coming to the school for about 6 years. Initially I was led to believe that they were studying to re-take their CPE exam, but I later found out that they had last taken the exam 7 years ago, so it's clear that they're in no real hurry to take it again.
First, I began working through one of the CPE books, but it became clear that they hated it. They have never once completed any homework (they're simply too busy) so I have given up setting them any.
I suspect that their writing could use some improvement, but since they wont do it in class and wont do it for homework, I have given up on the writing aspect of English.
They look dreadfully bored with any listening I give them, no matter how I set it up or what the topic is.
Basically, they seem to just want a speaking class. Fine. But without anything to work from, I'm finding it hard to formulate a good lesson.
I've been teaching ESL for 6 years and I've never hit such a problem.
Grammatically, they are pretty sound. In a whole lesson the wife will perhaps make 3 or 4 mistakes. Usually dropping an article or using present perfect when present simple would have been better.
The husband makes the most mistakes, but I can't really work on grammar with him without making the lesson dull for the wife. Again, setting him grammar homework is pointless because he wont do it.
So each lesson I pick a topic to talk about. It's been 6 months and I'm running out of topics.
Another issue is that the students are just too damn intelligent. I once gave them an original except of Beowulf, written in old English. The wife read it out loud perfectly and then found grammatical errors in the text. She was surprised that I struggled to read "Hwæt! Wé Gárdena in géardagum þéodcyninga þrym gefrúnon"
I really have no idea what to teach them? Even when I give them new vocabulary, they never write anything down or look as though they will try to learn it.
So here's the problem. How do I create a lesson structure for such a lesson? With no grammar/language aims or real point to the lesson other than 'get through 3 hours alive' I find it a real struggle to make a good plan.
Don't get me wrong, my lessons are OK and the students leave happy. But I hate myself because I want to give a lesson which is better than OK. I want to give a well structured, badass lesson.
How would you guys structure such a thing?
Despite teaching for so many years, I have never really had experience teaching speaking clubs or discussion classes. I've obviously checked online for help, but nothing of use comes up. So I come to you.
Here's the background information.
Husband and wife class.
The wife is an English teacher and university lecturer in Classical history. She is fluent in Latin, Ancient Greek and has a high ability in German and Spanish. Her English is C2 level.
The husband owns a successful company and I would put him at a low C1 level.
I have them for 3 hour lessons.
They have been coming to the school for about 6 years. Initially I was led to believe that they were studying to re-take their CPE exam, but I later found out that they had last taken the exam 7 years ago, so it's clear that they're in no real hurry to take it again.
First, I began working through one of the CPE books, but it became clear that they hated it. They have never once completed any homework (they're simply too busy) so I have given up setting them any.
I suspect that their writing could use some improvement, but since they wont do it in class and wont do it for homework, I have given up on the writing aspect of English.
They look dreadfully bored with any listening I give them, no matter how I set it up or what the topic is.
Basically, they seem to just want a speaking class. Fine. But without anything to work from, I'm finding it hard to formulate a good lesson.
I've been teaching ESL for 6 years and I've never hit such a problem.
Grammatically, they are pretty sound. In a whole lesson the wife will perhaps make 3 or 4 mistakes. Usually dropping an article or using present perfect when present simple would have been better.
The husband makes the most mistakes, but I can't really work on grammar with him without making the lesson dull for the wife. Again, setting him grammar homework is pointless because he wont do it.
So each lesson I pick a topic to talk about. It's been 6 months and I'm running out of topics.
Another issue is that the students are just too damn intelligent. I once gave them an original except of Beowulf, written in old English. The wife read it out loud perfectly and then found grammatical errors in the text. She was surprised that I struggled to read "Hwæt! Wé Gárdena in géardagum þéodcyninga þrym gefrúnon"
I really have no idea what to teach them? Even when I give them new vocabulary, they never write anything down or look as though they will try to learn it.
So here's the problem. How do I create a lesson structure for such a lesson? With no grammar/language aims or real point to the lesson other than 'get through 3 hours alive' I find it a real struggle to make a good plan.
Don't get me wrong, my lessons are OK and the students leave happy. But I hate myself because I want to give a lesson which is better than OK. I want to give a well structured, badass lesson.
How would you guys structure such a thing?
Despite teaching for so many years, I have never really had experience teaching speaking clubs or discussion classes. I've obviously checked online for help, but nothing of use comes up. So I come to you.