Criticisms of scaffolding and remembering of names in the Classroom

As an open minded teacher I leave the door wide open for criticisms of my teaching methods. I listen in and out of class to students and their opinions, and I make liberal use of course evaluations. In the last two weeks I have had two criticisms of my teaching, both from the same person. I have stewed on them since I heard them, wondering if they were legitimate concerns, if I should change my classes, and if so, how.

The student who made these criticisms is in one of my Community College classes. Her first suggestion was that I use less Japanese. (The tone of her suggestion was actually stronger than a suggestion.) She is new to the program, and in my class description I explain that this class is for people who want to learn English but are struggling. I have used both English and Japanese, hoping to employ just the right amount of scaffolding for the majority of students. Their levels vary, so I try to vary my level of scaffolding from student to student in individual interactions.

Conclusion:  I will not change my policy, as the people who have been enrolled in this class have attended faithfully for years now, and are making progress in their individual ways.

The second criticism was that I tend not to remember names. Her suggestion being that Japanese names were probably difficult for me to remember. I have met this person three times since April. She has attended around half of the classes so far, and in addition to the new names in this class, I have the names of around 150 new students, who attend far more regularly, from three different countries.

Conclusion: I am right on track with remembering names, and the nationality of the student is not an issue.

New Approach for Teaching Advanced EFL Learners

Over the last six-week session in my Advanced Topics class at the Yokkaichi University Community College, I used videos that I found online as a jumping off point for class discussions. I would ask learners to watch a speech that I had found that covered a topic that I thought would be interesting for my students, and then made a class activity around it.

They found that the videos were too difficult to understand, and took too much time outside of class to prepare, so I changed my approach this time. I asked them to give me some ideas for topics that they would like to discuss, and I would make build some activities around them. They chose Food and Health, Energy, Travel, Population: The future of Japan, and Superstitions and Folk Beliefs.

My approach for class is to take each one of these topics and make a list of questions around each one. Then at the beginning of class, I will ask them to choose one of the questions that interests them and ask three other class members, recording their answers on a 3X5 card. Then, when all of them have talked to three people, I will ask each of them to discuss the responses they got with the rest of the class.

My goal with this approach is to ensure that each person gets talking time and at the same time provide adequate time for discussion as a group.

A description of the results will come at the end of the session.

52 Weeks-- Getting to know you

52 Weeks-- Getting to know you                                                                                   

Goals
a. present language about getting to know people
b. present conversation pattern, GSTTF
c. conversation prompts so that students can exchange information
d. offer extra material available on the Internet

Pre-listening questions.

a. What do these two people do?
b. Where did they first see each other?
c. Did the conversation go well?

Atsuko: Hi. My  name's Atsuko. We're in the same English class.
Eri: Oh, yeah. You usually sit in the second row. My name's Eri. What do you think of the class?
Atsuko: It's pretty good. It's the only one that fit my schedule. What do you think?
Eri: Yeah, it's pretty good, but I took it for a core credit.
Atsuko: What's your major? I mean, why are you taking this class?
Eri: I'm a Nursing major, and I live about an hour away from here, so I don't want to take an early class. I have a part time job in the evening, so I don't want to take one that was too late, either. 
Atsuko: Where do you work?
Eri: At a grocery store. I'm a cashier. How about you?
Atsuko: I'm a Biology major, and I'm taking it as a core credit, too. I have another class today, so this time worked out for me.
Eri: What year are you?
Atsuko: I'm a Sophomore. How about you?
Eri: Me, too. Hey, I was just going to get some lunch. Did you eat yet?
Atsuko: No. Can I go with you? I'd like to hear more about your job.
Eri: Of course. Let's go?

What do you think...
This phrase is used for asking about someone's opinion on a specific topic?
Here are some possible answers. I love it. I like it. It's great. It's ok. I don't like it. I hate it.
Ask you partner about these topics:
the weather    today's classes    football    English    Math

Remember plurals are a little different!
What do you think about television games? I don't like them.

What's your major?
This is what you ask when you want to know what a college student is majoring in.
What's your major? I'm in _____________. or I'm a ___________ major.
Ask your partner about his/her major.

How about you?
This is called Answer +. You are asked a question, and you want to ask the same question to him/her. Instead of asking the whole thing again, you can add this after your answer.
Ask your partner questions about these themes, and then have him/her add Answer + to his/her answer.
Where you were born.
Where you live.
What kind of music you like.
What kind of food you like.
What kind of movie you like.

I'd like to...
This is a way to express what you want to do. It sounds a little more formal than "I want to..."
Ask your partner what he/she would like to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
(What would you like to eat for breakfast?)


Additional listening on the Internet
 Game in class    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLJAWjrG6N0 
Julie Andrews singing "Getting to Know You" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaBNZMsjEoI



 52 Weeks-- Getting to Know You

by Dan Kirk    Twitter: @yokkaichi1

Tuesday Night Beginners: Food Activity

Tonight's class, both the beginners and advanced is going to be about food. The beginners will be doing an activity that they actually started last week, that you can see by following this link. FOOD ACTIVITY

I am working on making one activity per week for 52 weeks of the year for this class. I'll post them all on here and then comment on how they worked when I try them out myself.

I started making these activities, because I was just tired of being with the same group of people every week (these are really dedicated students), and I had done enough textbook stuff with them.

High Beginner to Low Intermediate Activity: Home

Just made a new activity public for teachers of high beginner to low intermediate learners to learn about homes.

My objective is to encourage learners to talk about homes and to generate their own vocabulary and grammar based on their language needs. I expect each person's needs will be different, so they can generate language to explain their own home, and to listen to others about theirs. This activity also assumes learners will be in Japan, but a teacher can easily overlook that feature.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AWfQLUgmm2dyZGRqcndyNGdfMjM5NnBnOTZoaw&hl=en

experience knowledge imagination illust

This is a diagram that I came up with after a conversation with two different groups of people. The first group was my class of advanced English learners on Tuesday night. We were discussing how children are losing interest in science. One of the learners is also a high school science teacher, and he suggested that without knowledge, children cannot be imaginative. I suggested that without experience and knowledge, children cannot be imaginative.

The second group I spoke to was a group of people who were suggesting that I enroll my son in their private school. They were suggesting that public schools are inappropriate places for children to learn in. I replied that with the proper environment, with appropriate levels of experience and knowledge, children can be imaginative. The problem with formal education of late is that there is too great a focus on knowledge, because it's easy to quantify through testing. Bureaucracies like that, because then children can easily be slotted for easy management. Then they wonder why children lack imagination.

I do not rely on schools to educate my children. In fact, though schooling is mandatory, I am entirely responsible for my children's educational experience. School is just part of it. Their lives at home are far more important than their school life, and ensuring that they get plenty of experience, by playing with their friends, helping out on the farm, spending time abroad with their extended family, and expressing themselves in various media, I can make sure that their imaginations are healthy and active.

My students have the same needs, too, though I cannot ensure that they get what they need at home. Part of my task then is to make sure that part of their experience in my classes is experiential, so that their imaginations are stimulated.

Richard Dawkins on our "queer" universe, Advanced ESL Activity

This is a list of questions for an advanced ESL Activity linked with Richard Dawkins TED talk on "Our 'queer' universe." I'll use this tonight in class and report on the class afterward.

http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_dawkins_on_our_queer_universe.html

1. Did you like science at school?
2. Did you like this talk?
3. What is evolution?
4. What do you think culture has to do with evolution?
5. Think of an experience when you were a child. How is that person different than the person that sits in your chair?
6. What kind of science is interesting to you?
7. Why are children losing interest in science?
8. What can we do to make it more interesting?