This time I decide to challenge myself again. I also lead a discussion class at night that is geared to adults of various levels of proficiency.It ranges from novice low all the way to intermediate high. I work for a company that recruits individuals who are interested in travelling abroad primarily to Canada so that they can attend ESL classes and improve their skills. Once they sign up for this program they can attend a grammar class and my discussion class for free. I can have 2 students one night and 12 the next. It all depends on how many students and registered and their own willingness to come to class.
For the past 2 weeks I had four students that were coming to class regularly. After reading the activities in the book I was very interested in the cross-cultural trivia.I thought this would be a relevant discussion to have with students that are on their way abroad.
The main objective that I have for this class is to make students feel comfortable enough to share some their ideas with the class. I don't want to pressure them to talk or else they might not attend the class anymore. I don't spend all my time correcting their mistakes when they speak or else they might close up and stop sharing with the class.
I came prepared with four copies of the trivia for my usual students.I set up the activity for them and they seemed really interested by the topic. These four students have great comprehension skills even though their speaking skills are are about average. I handed out the quiz to them and they started circling true or false. I was glad to see that they were getting the gist of the statements. Then slowly but surely more and more students started to arrive. they were late and I was not very pleased. I didn't let it show because this is an informal class that is meant for pleasure. I took the time to introduce myself as they were new students. They sat down I reviewed what we were doing and gave them the quiz. After about 30 seconds I could see the confused look on their faces. I figure they couldn't understand the content. In my head I was thinking 'Ok now what do I do?' Well I couldn't continue the class the way it was going or else it would be a complete disaster. I decided that instead of them filling out the quiz sheet by themselves we would discuss as a group where I would take the lead on explaining each statement. At this point another student walks in late and I'm just like well here we go.....I'm screwed. Good plan Julie teacher.
I didn't let that scare me away from discussing these situations with my students. By now the class size has doubled and most of these new students were probably wondering what kind of discussion class had they come to. They saw the camera and just sat silently in their chairs. I started reading each sentence and making sure to use vocabulary that they could understand but I knew deep down inside that the new students wouldn't take part in the discussion. From a culture stand point I've dealt with situations like this many times before in this class. Korean students are very shy and they need to feel comfortable with their surroundings before they join in the discussion. The camera was definitely not making them feel comfortable but at this point I was running out of time to make this activity completely meaningful to all of the students.
By the end of the discussion I was pleased with the outcome of the discussion considering so many interruptions had occurred. The students understood that different cultures act and behave differently.As a teacher I felt like I had accomplished something meaningful by talking about these differences in culture. We had some good laughs when talking about frequent touching of the arm when talking with someone of the same sex. All the guys thought this meant that the person was 'gay' while all the girls viewed this as showing signs of affection.
If I had to use this quiz again, I would definitely change the vocabulary to make sure that the input is comprehensible on paper to ensure that the discussion is not completely teacher centered. I would also allow more pair work to ensure that everyone participates. I was so frazzled by all the interruptions and at the same time I didn't want to force any of the new students to interact by fear that they wouldn't return.
For the past 2 weeks I had four students that were coming to class regularly. After reading the activities in the book I was very interested in the cross-cultural trivia.I thought this would be a relevant discussion to have with students that are on their way abroad.
The main objective that I have for this class is to make students feel comfortable enough to share some their ideas with the class. I don't want to pressure them to talk or else they might not attend the class anymore. I don't spend all my time correcting their mistakes when they speak or else they might close up and stop sharing with the class.
I came prepared with four copies of the trivia for my usual students.I set up the activity for them and they seemed really interested by the topic. These four students have great comprehension skills even though their speaking skills are are about average. I handed out the quiz to them and they started circling true or false. I was glad to see that they were getting the gist of the statements. Then slowly but surely more and more students started to arrive. they were late and I was not very pleased. I didn't let it show because this is an informal class that is meant for pleasure. I took the time to introduce myself as they were new students. They sat down I reviewed what we were doing and gave them the quiz. After about 30 seconds I could see the confused look on their faces. I figure they couldn't understand the content. In my head I was thinking 'Ok now what do I do?' Well I couldn't continue the class the way it was going or else it would be a complete disaster. I decided that instead of them filling out the quiz sheet by themselves we would discuss as a group where I would take the lead on explaining each statement. At this point another student walks in late and I'm just like well here we go.....I'm screwed. Good plan Julie teacher.
I didn't let that scare me away from discussing these situations with my students. By now the class size has doubled and most of these new students were probably wondering what kind of discussion class had they come to. They saw the camera and just sat silently in their chairs. I started reading each sentence and making sure to use vocabulary that they could understand but I knew deep down inside that the new students wouldn't take part in the discussion. From a culture stand point I've dealt with situations like this many times before in this class. Korean students are very shy and they need to feel comfortable with their surroundings before they join in the discussion. The camera was definitely not making them feel comfortable but at this point I was running out of time to make this activity completely meaningful to all of the students.
By the end of the discussion I was pleased with the outcome of the discussion considering so many interruptions had occurred. The students understood that different cultures act and behave differently.As a teacher I felt like I had accomplished something meaningful by talking about these differences in culture. We had some good laughs when talking about frequent touching of the arm when talking with someone of the same sex. All the guys thought this meant that the person was 'gay' while all the girls viewed this as showing signs of affection.
I'm trying very to correct the issues with my video. Hopefully I can this rectified shortly.
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