ELT Cafe

Why can't we make up our minds?

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:52:00 PST

This post was contributed by Christina Judy Fernandez.

It all started at a meeting to moderate how we mark our midterm essays. Eight benchmark essays were sent to us the day before and I was the only one who knew the scores awarded to each essay. My team of six members got through the first three essays without any hangups or major differences in scores we gave for each. The FOURTH one left us confused and divided. The confusion – partly because everyone in the team agreed that the essay deserved a non failing grade as indicated by the senior tutors. The student writer showed some understanding of how to organize ideas in paragraphs and connect ideas to the topic.

The essay, however, did not have explicitly written thesis statement and topic sentences. Clara, one of the teachers pointed out that the student writer’s lack of “thesis statement” was actually made up by a group of key phrases and sentences in the introduction that he or she explains later on in the essay. Clara added that she thought that this was a very creative student writer. But Walter, another teacher argued, “Isn’t that against what we’ve been teaching our students here – to have a sentence at the end of the introduction and a sentence to indicate controlling idea in each body paragraph? Alicia, another teacher interjected and said that she had not heard of thesis statement and topic sentences until she started teaching with us. One other member in the team agreed with Alicia. That comment threw me as I thought anyone having taught EAP would know the importance teaching these elements especially to novice writers.

Hours later …

I was in the midst of marking my stack of essays when I came across an essay that generally read well but had similar problems with benchmark essay # 4. What seemed to be a thesis statement was spread over two sentences in the middle of the introduction paragraph and the paragraphs had implied main ideas in them. With everyone else out administering an exam of sort, I had to approach Alicia for a second marker’s opinion.

As we were discussing our scores for this essay, we couldn’t help but refer back to our discussion earlier this morning. Alicia felt that teaching students thesis statement and topic sentences would only stifle their creativity as writers because she found it too prescriptive. She further added that topic sentence are not always present in all paragraphs written in academic journals so our students should not be expected to do it. My counter argument to that was teaching these elements would help give students a good base for organizing their ideas in an essay. Right at that time, another teacher, Joanna walked into the office. She shared Alicia’s opinion and added that she had learned to write academic essays through “osmosis” – analyzing and following how other writers write. In other words, professors did not prescribe what student essays should have even though they were in their first or second semester at the university. My question to the both of them was “Can this “osmosis” or non prescriptive method of teaching essay writing work for ESL/EFL students?”

Joanna said, “Well experts in the ELT field are in two camps on that one, so how can we ever know?” I was also struck by another thought - while we have always been focussing on training non-native students the skills of academic writing in EAP, how do native speaker students pick up the skills?

Am I suffering from Identity Confusion?

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:47:00 PDT

Everything's feeling strange this week, mainly because I've just arrived at a new environment, and I know that's supposed to be normal. But more seriously, I think I'm also suffering from IDENTITY CONFUSION.

Obviously, at this point of time I'm not a teacher anymore. I'm now back to university as a full-time student. For years, I've always been working and looking at things from the perspectives of a teacher, which have strangely become none of my business now. But the mindset is not easy to change.

In the university's Freshers' Week, English Language assessments were given to the large population of new international students. Interestingly, for some time in the past, I had been the one conducting the assessments, but I was a test-taker this time. Rather than thinking about how to answer the questions, I was more interested in knowing how it was conducted in such a large scale for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The writing assessment was held in 4 different sessions, so did they come up with four different sets of questions or more? Were they not worried if the questions would leak out? Also, how did they cope with the marking?

Next, we were also made to do some grammar and vocabulary tests using the computers in the PC lab. The tutors didn't have to do the markings for this, but there were so many of them there to invigilate. And this time they needed to split up into15-20 sessions for all the international students! I remember how I used to dislike conducting assessments like these, especially when we were understaffed and had to mark piles of the students' writing scripts.

Another funny feeling I had was about the talk on Plagiarism - I was the one telling and teaching students about it in the past, but now I was put in the position of being told.

This is perhaps the time for me to take the opportunity to experience things from the different point of view of a student. I could probably appreciate this experience more now as a 'matured' student myself.

Cell phones are their lives

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:57:00 PDT

(Source: http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=38437)

This post was contributed by Christina Judy Fernandez.

The-re rum the-re rum the-re rum dum dum ...

"There goes the infamous Nokia tune again,” I thought to myself while trying to complete my once a year Peer Teaching Observation required by the English department. Lisa, known as such an approachable teacher to the rest of us, just paused for a good 4 to 5 minutes and grinned at all her students while asking them politely to turn off their cell phones. “Now, where was I, class?” she asked. “What was the last thing I said, Wilson?” she prompted. Dead silence for about one minute. “I think you were explaining how to identify …” he responded. “You see that’s why I hate interruptions especially from cell phones. Now I completely am not sure what exactly I was going to tell you. Well, blame it on the cell phone rings,” explained Lisa before she continued on with the lesson.

My heart really went out for dear Lisa, not a nice thing to have an observer and unexpected interruptions to her teaching. Personally, I thought she handled it very well. Letting the students know how much time such interruption wastes and also how they can miss out on crucial information was a good move on her part. But on the other hand, I can also see how students may not always understand that their actions can affect others negatively.

A few days later, at the pantry, I asked her how her classes were going. “A few more phones had gone off. It’s a wonder I can even finish my objectives for each lesson!!” she said frustratingly. Another colleague who heard this said that he used to have similar problems until he actually answered the phone call meant for a student during class. “Don’t you think that’s an imposition?” I asked him. “The students are in my classroom and any or all calls in the room should be mine,” he replied.

As for Lisa and I, we continued our discussion with other colleagues over the next few weeks and came up with a list of how other teachers handled the use of cell phones in their classes:

1) Get students to leave their cell phones in a basket at the beginning of each lesson. The phones must be turned off.

2) If a student’s phone rings in class, teacher will collect and lock it up in the computer cabinet in front of the class. At the end of class, the owner will need to apologize and ask for the phone politely in front of his or her classmates.

3) If a student phone rings within the first hour of class, the teacher will keep the phone until the end of class. However, if it rings in the second hour of class, the student can only collect it at the end of that working day.

I know of a subject lecturer who frequently goes around collecting cell phones that ring in his classes of 100 over students. Once taken away, the students can only get them back at the end of the day. He said those kids that come to him at the end of the day look really miserable. "It does stop them generally," he said, "Cause it's a matter of life and death to them - who would want their 'lives' to be taken away, even for one second?"

Attitudes and moods

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:53:00 PDT

Dear diary,

When the Business Communication class ended today, I ran off quickly, ditching my friends behind, as I was so embarrassed.

This is such a busy week - I have three assignments due this week. I don't understand why the lecturers have to set us the assignments all at the same time. I stayed up till 3am this morning doing my Economics report and I had five damn hours of classes today.

In the Business Communication class this afternoon, I was so tired. As usual, Amy, Cindy and I were sitting together in a group. They started chatting about some handbags that they saw in the mall last weekend but I wasn't interested. Then the teacher called out our names loudly, 'Jane, Amy and Cindy, stop talking!' I suddenly got so mad - I didn't talk! Without thinking, I turned around and burst out, 'I didn't talk! Why do you always say I talk!' Uh-oh, the next moment felt like the time had stopped. The whole class turned to look at me. I could feel my face turning very red, so I quickly turned away and bent my head down ...

*****

Dear diary,

This is a really busy week. I've been working late every evening this week and this is all so tiring. I have to finish checking the students' assignment drafts and return to them by the end of this week. And I still haven't started writing the Mid-term paper which is due next week.

In my Buss. Comm. class this afternoon, I started feeling not so well and had a headache. As always, I was annoyed by the three girls chatting again at the back while I was teaching. So I said, 'Jane, Amy and Cindy, stop talking!' But to my surprise this time, Jane, one of the girls who always sits back facing me, turned around and raised her voice, 'I didn't talk! Why do you always say I talk!' The next moment felt like the time had stopped. The whole class turned to look at her.

I quickly realised that I could've been wrong - the girl didn't talk and it was only her friends this time. What should I do? I couldn't let this affect the other students and I had to continue the class.

So I said, 'Oh, you didn't. I'm very sorry and I apologise to you now. It was Amy and Cindy who needed to stop talking.' She didn't reply but I had done what I could and continued teaching after that ...

*****

Dear diary,

A week has passed since the incident in class. I wondered if the girl was still angry with me. But I was surprised that she greeted me cheerfully when she came to class today. The three girls still sat in a group, but Jane chose to sit across from Amy and Cindy and facing the front of the class this time. The whole time in class today she didn't chat with her two friends but listened to me and did all her work seriously. What a pleasant surprise it was, with that change of attitudes!

Growing for myself

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:19:00 PDT

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

"I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey,"But I just haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull, "They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a week, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bull crap might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

(Source: http://www.funnies.com/bullcrap.htm)

When I decided to leave my last full-time job, I was really exhausted. I wasn't tired of teaching - I love teaching, but I was tired of the school management and some self-centred characters around me.

'Not many teachers are as talented and responsible as you are. I'm sure you can continue to grow professionally here,' said the Programme Director, trying to persuade me to stay on.

How nicely sugarcoated that was when what she actually needed was only people to do work for her. Would I not 'grow professionally' if I left? She could be right if I wanted to climb up the corporate ladder and stay on top of others, as it would be perfect timing for me to make my demands now.

But I said, 'I'm sure it all comes with training and people can all be trained.'

Finally, after realising all her 'tricks of persuasion' had failed on me, she said, 'Come on, I'm sure there must be a win-win situation here.'

Win-win situation? I don't think so! Never! There would only be another trap for me to step in if I signed another year's contract with them.

'Thanks for your kind offer, but I've already decided.' I stayed firm with my decision and ended the discussion quickly.

Since then, my lifestyle has completely changed. I can now sit at the desk, holding a book and starting to daydream for the whole morning. I can surf the Internet as much as I want for no purpose and then take a long long afternoon nap. I can also travel to the places that I've longed to visit. After these years that I have worked and devoted my time to fulfil others' agendas, I realise there is so much time now that I can spend on myself!

It is finally the time to work for MYSELF. I told myself that I wouldn't want to look back at my teaching career one day and wonder what I'd actually accomplished for myself. I wouldn't want to regret one day to realise that I'd spent my whole life only doing work for some undeserving money-making organisations and people.

I'm happy with just a part-time teaching job now. I don't need to waste time being involved in any sort of nonsense and workplace politics. I don't need to be made to do all sort of bull crap work and sacrifice my personal time to reflect on and learn about teaching.

I can now use all the time I want to read language teaching books, journals and articles and relate them to my work. I can now read about what other teachers around the world say online and participate in their discussions and forums. I can also set up a weblog of my own and write about what I've learnt about teaching over the years and share them with others. Also, I will be going back to university as a student again soon! So who says I'm not growing without them?

A storm in the English teachers' teacup

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:53:00 PDT

This is NOT a real news report, but is nevertheless a very juicy story within an ELT staff room.

Carol Tan, an English lecturer of a private university claimed that she has had a mental breakdown because of an e-mail sent to her by a colleague, accusing her of being loud and noisy in the staff room. This matter has quickly caught attention and become a hot topic of discussion not only among students and lecturers in the university, but also in other colleges and schools nearby.

'I've always known that this person has been holding a grudge against me, which I don't understand why, but I didn't think she would attack me in such a direct way,' said the 38-year-old lecturer in tears.

The e-mail claimed that Carol has been creating a lot of noise in the staff room with her constant loud laughter and by constantly talking to others at the top of her voice. It also said that Carol should be more respectful and considerate and learn to behave properly from the other colleagues at work.

'I wasn't attacking her and this is not personal. It was meant as a reminder and constructive criticism,' said the e-mail sender, Jessica Wing, 'If she could have a mental breakdown just because of an e-mail, what about us, who have been exposed to her noise all the time?'

After Carol had received the e-mail, she reported the matter immediately to the Director of the School, bypassing her direct supervisor.

'She came to me with a printed copy of the e-mail, saying how unfair it was to her and how devastated she was,' said Ivy Hunt, the School Director.

Ivy also said that it was not the first time someone has complaint about Carol's noise level in the staff room. A year ago when somebody made a similar complaint, some glass dividers were put up around the lounge area as the solution.

Meanwhile, according to James Hodge, the Head of the English Department and both Carol and Jessica's direct boss, 'Jessica has actually come to talk to me about the problem. We were discussing the matter when I received a call from Ivy, saying that Carol had reported directly to her about the e-mail.'

'Honestly, if you ask me, I don't think it's right for Jessica to do what she's done. I can see the e-mail has had a very disruptive influence on Carol's personality,' said James.

Jessica said that she was asked to talk to Ivy later. Ivy advised that she should either apologise to Carol or leave the matter as it was but may not be able to talk to Carol ever again.

But Jessica said, 'Why should I apologise? I'm not the one at fault here.'

What did other people in the same staff room think of this matter?

'She's indeed very loud sometimes. I can even hear her laugh at where I sit - at the far end of this big room. It's very distracting especially when you need to concentrate on work,' said a lecturer who would prefer to be anonymous.

'I don't believe that such an e-mail could cause a mental breakdown. This is just somebody who always wants attention and is now trying to seek for it again,' said another lecturer.

The motivation to learn - needs or expectations?

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:39:00 PDT

This post was contributed by Christina Judy Fernandez.

Thirty minutes into the class hour and suddenly tears started rolling down Amy’s face. Some of her classmates also noticed this and so I asked her if she was alright and continued teaching. Amy sat at her usual place in the second row from the white board and continued crying till the end of class. When the other students had left the room, she remained there crying.

At this point, I was compelled to talk to her but was concerned about how to counsel and console her in my very limited Mandarin. Much to my surprise, Amy insisted on confiding in me. She started explaining about her romantic relationship with a man from Shenzhen and how her divorced parents from Beijing had both disapproved of this relationship. I reminded her throughout the whole time that I would arrange for her to speak with one of my Chinese colleagues about her problem. She said she was alright talking to me in English and continued to share with me more emotional difficulties she’d been having since her parents got divorced.

Our conversation lasted for about one and a half hours. Towards the end, I told Amy how proud I was of her ability to express her deepest emotions and feelings in English and was pleased to hear her speak as she had always been a very quiet student in class. As I headed back to my office, many questions were floating in my mind: where did all that good language come from? Where was Amy hiding all those expressions? Did she rehearse what she was going to tell me? Was it out of needs that she was able to learn the language and convey her message?

Just a few weeks ago over lunch, I related this story to my two colleagues from another university. Sybil, the middle-aged American colleague said that Amy’s story was a great motivation for other language learners. Our lunch conversation gradually evolved to what motivates people to learn languages other than some BA programs requiring their students to do so. Teachers learning or having learned a language can empathize better with students’ process of learning a new language. Jane, the other American colleague, however, said that she had met learners who had learned a foreign language with unreasonable expectations from their teachers. I was wondering if these “unreasonable expectations” could motivate learners.

Truth be told, I am unsure what motivates people to learn and keep improving. Are we motivated to learn by needs or expectations made by others ? How do we bring this to our classes? Or do we?

Christina holds an MA in TESL and is an experienced EAP teacher. She has taught English in the US, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.

Teach the chain of business texts

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:00:00 PDT

What would make an authentic writing task for business students?

In Part Two of the BEC Higher Writing sample paper from the Cambridge ESOL Examinations: BEC, candidates are required to choose one question to write about from the three given. Each task is generally set up by providing a brief context and purpose of writing, followed by the type of writing expected (letter, report, proposal etc.) and the specific contents that must be included.

An example of the three tasks:

Your manager is keen to introduce new practices into your company.(Context) He has asked you to write a report which includes details of two practices from another company which you would suggest adopting in your own company.(Purpose)

Write the report (Type) for your manager, including the following information:
   • what you admire about the other company
   • which two of its practices you would adopt
   • why your company would benefit from them.(Contents)

This is a common way of setting up writing tasks in exams. The instructions are concise and clear enough - candidates should have no problems knowing what to write about.

But, when we think about what happens in the real workplace - does the task really reflect the reality of writing in the workplace? How often do we (or do we ever) get such 'He has asked you ...' instruction at work?

The whole writing task would probably look more authentic if the background context and instructions were adapted into the form of an e-mail or memo sent by the manager to the candidate, asking for a report to written. This would resemble more of the writing tasks the candidate usually encounters and has to perform at work.

Stephen Bremner in Intertextuality and business communication textbooks: Why students need more textual support (English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008) 306–321) talks about the importance of highlighting intertextuality (how texts are inter-related) in workplace writing when teaching business writing, as this reflects and better prepare our students for the reality of workplace communication. He says,

'In pointing out these intertextual links to the learner, we can make clearer the key point that writing is an ongoing, dialogic process, and that this dialogue will have an impact on the way that they construct texts: they should not be writing in a vacuum, but producing texts as responses to previous and current situations.' (p.310)

Texts, can also be inter-related in oral and writing. I demonstrate this to my Business Communication students through a series of course project assignments which are all inter-related. As the starting point, I present my task via an RFP (Request for Proposal) in the form of an Internal Memo (written). In groups, the students are required to plan for a team meeting which leads to a Meeting Agenda (written). Then they conduct the meeting (oral) in class and produce a Minutes of Meeting (written) later. Based on the contents and decisions they have made in their meeting, they subsequently plan and give an oral presentation (oral) and submit a proposal (written) in the end.

In this 'chain of written and oral assignments', they not only get to see and experience how texts are inter-related and influence one another in the workplace, but also learn how to present some of these overlapping ideas and contents for different purposes in different ways and genres, which is a crucial skill in workplace communication beyond the ability to only compose texts.

Spice up scanning and skimming

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:27:00 PDT

‘Now let’s move on to the next type of question … The strategy for this type of question is …’

‘Okay, skim the paragraph for the main idea ... Next, scan the paragraph for these keywords ...’

Teaching reading can be monotonous. Training reading for exams like the IELTS can be worse. Moving from one type of question to another; scanning and skimming one reading passage after another - I can’t help but wonder, ‘When do these poor kids get to have some fun?’

So I thought of kicking off the lessons with some fun and dynamic and using simple ways to demonstrate scanning and skimming before turning to the books.

Scanning

First, I hand out some board markers of different colours to the students. Each student gets a different colour and writes any one word in any place they like on the board. Then they pass the markers on to their classmates to do the same until the whiteboard is filled up with words of different colours.

Next, the class is divided into groups. I’m going to ask some questions about the words on the board. In 10 seconds, they have to scan the words on the board very quickly and shout out their answers. Each correct answer is rewarded one point. I don’t always know the answers before I ask the questions – we check the answers together after the time is up. The questions are, for example:

How many words are in BLACK / RED / BLUE etc.?
How many adjectives / nouns / verbs etc. are there?
What colour is the word ****?
How many words have 3 / 4 letters?
etc.

To add a bit more fun and excitement, I also ask questions which the answer is ‘0’ or ‘none’. The students will start laughing and booing at me when they realise it is a trick question. After the game, I tell them this is also how we SCAN a passage in reading to find the answers to the questions in the exam. It's important that we learn how to do it quickly.

Skimming

First, I get the students to work in pairs or threes. I hand out cards with topic words on them, eg. features of a mobile phone, functions of a mobile phone, advantages of a computer, travelling by train, air travel, no clear topic etc. The students spread the cards out in front of them and spend a few minutes looking at the words on the cards. They ask me or check by themselves the meanings of words they don’t understand.

When the students are ready, I start the game by reading out 4 or 5 keywords about a topic. The students compete with one another to look for the correct topic card and take it away quickly. My keywords are, for example:

luggage, tickets, departure time, waiting, airport (Answer: air travel)
games, mp3 songs, text messages, small and light (Answer: features of a mobile phone)
reading books, teachers, falling sick, mankind (Answer: no clear topic)

At the end, the student holding the most number of cards in the group is the winner. After the game, I tell them this is also how we SKIM in reading to figure out the topic of a passage or paragraph from the keywords.

At one time, the students were having a lot of fun and became a bit too noisy. We attracted some curious attention from other classes because I forgot to close the door of the classroom ...

Pile them up!

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:06:00 PDT

Staring at the folders that pile up like a mountain before me, I'm thinking of what to do with them. They are what I've accumulated over the years of teaching. I can't possibly dump, burn or bury them away, yet I don't have a single place big enough to store all of them together. I can't leave them on the floor or on the desks - the rats and cockroaches are surely going to build nests in them. So I can only find space in the drawers, wardrobes, cupboards, boxes and bags around the house and stuff them in at different places.

They are my most precious possessions - the worksheets, flashcards, cuttings from magazines and newspapers, laminated cards, CDs and objects that I've spent too much time typing, creating, collecting and putting together. Going through them gives me a great sense of self-satisfaction and they mark my life and pride as a teacher.

My heart broke when I lost all the soft copies in the computer once, when I had to reformat the stupid machine. I thought I had them backed up safe and sound in a CD, but who would have thought the CD could be wonky too?! For a long time, I couldn't get over the fact that I had lost everything.

So as I started to build up my resources again, I made sure that I constantly backed up the files at different places: the computer at work, my personal computer and a thumb drive. But I soon realised the thumb drive was unreliable too and I couldn't be having my stuff in the office computer permanently as I would be changing jobs.

Only till recently have I discovered Window Live SkyDrive where you can upload and save your files up to 25 GB for free! Absolutely awesome for teachers, especially those who are always on the move! You can also choose to share your files with others or keep them to yourself. So I've decided to give it a shot and have been working on uploading my files. Hope they will be perfectly safe and secure this time.

But about my piles - I'm still clueless. It would take me mighty years to scan them all into the computer. How I wish there was a way I could do that with one click and feed them straight to SkyDrive at once!

It's those stubborn butterflies again

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:10:00 PDT

This post was contributed by Christina Judy Fernandez.

August/September 1992

Arizona, USA – As a Teaching Assistant in graduate school, I was assigned to teach two classes of Freshman Composition 1. This was a mandatory English course for all university students. I remember vividly staying awake till the wee hours of the morning everyday before my first class. What kept me awake? Well, to begin with I was perfecting draft after draft of the course structure so I would not be thought of as “less of a teacher or a professional” by the students on the very first day of class. Then, there were thoughts of how I would be received by the students (whom I knew would all be Americans) whose native language was English. Face it! I didn’t look American and certainly didn’t sound like one! At some point they would learn that I'm Malaysian not a native speaker of the English language. And then there was the ultimate question, ‘What do I know about teaching them how to write academic papers in English?’ I didn’t have an MA (not yet, at least) let alone a PHD.

Was it worth all those sleepless nights? Well, I still walked into my first class meeting with butterflies in my tummy. They did gradually go away as I got to know the students: their names, background and interests. And so, somehow I made it through my first semester of teaching or should I say learning to learn with and from my students as I taught.

August/September 2009

In a week, it will be September 14, 2009 and I’ll start teaching again after a very long summer break. My fourth academic year in China and I’ve been working and reworking on the course structure with a team of teachers for the past two weeks. I wouldn’t say I’m nervous but rather anxious about my students and how they will receive me. Most of these Chinese students will be expecting a teacher of Chinese or Anglo descent but I’m neither. The very thought is already making my tummy feel uneasy. Perhaps it’s the butterflies again ...

Once again, I’m reminded of my Humanities professor who said that no matter how much you prepare or how long you’ve been teaching, there’ll always be those butterflies in your tummy when you walk into your first class every semester. After 17 years, I have to be finally convinced that, how very true his words are!

Christina holds an MA in TESL and is an experienced EAP teacher. She has taught English in the US, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.

Weaving content and language together

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:36:00 PDT

I share the same feeling with a comment from an experienced senior EAP teacher:

'I attended a symposium on Content-based Instruction which had several presentations on CLIL. It was not altogether clear to me exactly what CLIL is and how it is different from other types of content-based instruction and I'm not really certain that I was any clearer after the symposium ...'

Steve Darn, at British Council BBC Teaching English website explains,

'Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has become the umbrella term describing both learning another (content) subject such as physics or geography through the medium of a foreign language and learning a foreign language by studying a content-based subject.'

Does it include university subject courses taught in English for EFL students? I thought about a course I've taught - I know it's beyond EFL and EAP teaching, but is it CLIL?

It was Business Communication - a core course for Business Administration majors at a university in China. In principle, English is the medium of instruction at this university. Though I'm an EFL teacher, I was asked to teach this subject to the third-year BA students.

I soon realised the course was a lot more challenging than other Business English courses for EFL students. We not only used a textbook written for Canadian university students with English as their first language, but also had a content-heavy syllabus to follow. In just 15 or 16 weeks (3 hours per week), students were required to learn various types of oral and written business correspondence, ranging from e-mails, letters, reports, proposals, meeting agenda and minutes writing to telephoning, conducting meetings and oral presentations!

I therefore realised the teaching approach ought to be different from a 'typical' EFL class. Under the pressure of time, I had to deliver a lot of contents and information via lectures with Powerpoint slides, no matter how much I disliked it.

However, my biggest challenge was that many of these students had limited language proficiency to cope with the course contents (there was no way I could send them back to GE or EAP classes) - which meant part of the class time had to be spent on dealing with language issues (vocabulary and sentence structures). For example, before teaching them how to write 'persuasive messages', I had to pre-teach what persuade/persuasive/persuasion mean. I also had to employ second language teaching techniques: simplifying the language, checking understanding frequently, allowing time for dictionary use etc. as I went on.

Fortunately, the students' responses were ok, mainly because the classes weren't too big and I tried to be interactive, avoiding 'one-way talk' lectures as much as I could. However, I noticed the students' performances depended a lot on their English proficiency.

If this is CLIL, it seems to me that the approach is somewhere in between teaching English as a first and second / foreign language; between teaching English as a subject and using English to teach a subject. It is still all, so vague - I know.

Listen to me in English, please

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:42:00 PDT

'The students want me to speak L1 in class. They say they can't understand English. I know I shouldn't, but do I have a choice?'

I've heard the same comment over and over again from mostly local teachers of English at different places - in China, Japan, Malaysia and I believe in other countries as well. Using translation in class can be a quick and time-saving solution to students’ comprehension problems, but my biggest worry is its overuse in class may result in students not wanting to use English ever!

I'm also curious - those students the teachers are talking about are not complete beginners, but who have studied English in schools for at least five or six years. So how can they 'not understand English' at all? In fact, I've also taught some of the students myself in China. And my impression – yes, it's true that they are very weak but to say 'they can't understand English' is an exaggeration to me.

Many of us have heard about Stephen Krashen's Input hypothesis, the learner improves and progresses when he/she receives second language 'input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a stage 'i', then acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to 'Comprehensible Input' that belongs to level 'i+1'. So ideally, the teacher should only speak at the students’ ‘i+1’ level!

In practice, however, it is not possible to tell what exactly the ‘i+1’ level is for our students, but it is nonetheless still crucial that the teacher knows how to 'grade' his/her own language in class to adapt to the level of the learners. This DOES NOT ONLY mean speaking more slowly than you normally do, but you should also:

enunciate your words. Do not drop the ‘t’ and ‘d’ or ‘k’ and ‘g’ when you’re not supposed to. Otherwise, you will be perceived for having a bad accent by the students.

break up your sentences into shorter chunks and avoid complex structures connected with ‘which', ‘who’ etc.

avoid using words that are much above your learners’ level.

avoid monotonous but speak with clear and direct tone and appropriate volume.

Note that a skilful teacher DOES NOT speak to his/her students the same way he/she does to his/her colleagues.

In addition, the teacher can ‘illustrate meanings’ in different ways without using translation in class. All it takes is just a bit of time, creativity and practice to make things work:

1. Anticipate your students' problematic vocabulary. Get ready flashcards and pictures before class. If your classroom has access to a computer and the Internet, a quick Google image search will solve the problem.

2. Do spontaneous drawings on the board. Don’t worry even if Arts was your worst subject in school like me – just be confident, you’d be surprised at how much the students can understand you and have fun.

3. Don’t feel inhibited of making use of your body to mime and act. Body gestures can add a great deal of meaning to spoken communication. To explain the meaning of ‘perfume’, for example, I mimed ‘spraying’ and then ‘smelling good’ – they got it at once!

(Learners will usually shout out the word in L1 – that’s when you know if they have understood it correctly.)

4. Use contexts and examples that your students can relate to. To illustrate what ‘ambitious’ means, I said, ‘Joe (one of the students) is a student now but he wants to be a big boss and very rich one day. So Joe is ambitious.’

5. Avoid lengthy explanations and simplify things for your students. Don't explain grammar in great detail.

6. Constantly check your students’ understanding by asking them to repeat what you’ve just said or asking them questions, eg. ‘Is wealthy rich or poor?’ (rich); ‘Who are your siblings?’ (brothers and sisters) etc.

7. If you really have to resort to translation, get your stronger students to do the job for the others. You don’t always have to do it yourself.

8. Always aim not to TALK much, but SHOW more. The more you talk, the more confusing it is for them. Let the students talk and discover by themselves, not you.

It is our duty to build up our students' confidence in listening to us and English. Using L1 is like painkillers that may help to relieve pains momentarily, but overdoses may lead to death in the long run!

You may also be interested to read:
To speak or not to speak English to your students
15 ways of simplifying your classroom language by Alex Case
15 more ways of simplifying your classroom language by Alex Case

Why should I, teacher?

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:58:00 PDT

This post was contributed by Christina Judy Fernandez.

Five weeks, four journal articles and two essays later, Marie, one of my top students asked me “Why should we have a thesis statement, topic sentences and a concluding statement in our essays?” I’ve heard this very question many many times over the years in my freshman composition and EAP courses in Malaysia, Thailand and now China! As in the past, I briefly explained that this is how academic essays are written and that these elements exist in an essay to guide the reader.

“But, Judy, academic essays in Chinese are not written this way,” Marie spoke out. Marie continued by saying that they were not taught to write a thesis statement and topic sentences in both their English and Chinese language courses. Janice, another classmate, added that they were told to mention the purpose of writing an essay only at the end. Marie then asked two questions back to back that blew me away. “So why should we write essays this way? Why can’t we just mention the purpose at the end like we’ve been doing in high school?” As I listened to these students’ comments and experiences, I realized that my explanation earlier would not suffice.

At the back of my mind, I could only think of the words “rhetorical patterns” but how do I explain this concept without taking up at the least the rest of my class period? So, I drew a large “I” on the left side of the white board and I asked them what they saw. “An ‘I’”, they shouted in unison. Marie asked impatiently, “How does this answer my question?”. “I’m getting there.” I answered while erasing the top and bottom portions of the vertical line of the “I” (That’s rather ironic in retrospect!!). Now the students saw two horizontal lines at the top and bottom of a the vertical line. So asked them, “What part of the essay fits in the two horizontal lines? After a long silence, Mark sheepishly said “Thesis statement and concluding sentence?” “Right on!!” I praised him for guessing.

“Judy, what about the topic sentences? Where do they fit?” said another student from the back. I erased bits of the vertical line, splitting it into three parts to look like a dotted line. On the right side of the board, I quickly drew a spiral with an arrow tip. I then asked them what they saw from both figures and allowed them to discuss their explanation for one to two minutes. Three out of four groups in the class said they thought the “I” looked like the essay outline I had them working on at the beginning of their first essay. I was pleased with their response but I was far from giving them the explanation of why they should learn it. As for the spiral figure, two of the four groups gave somewhat relevant answers: the arrow point is the statement of purpose and the spiral is a representation of all ideas mentioned in an essay.

With only six minutes or so remaining, I hadn’t answered poor Marie’s question. A tad bit panicky, I suddenly heard a student say “The spiral figure is how the Chinese write”. “You’re right, Daniel!” I added that it also shows us how the Chinese think and that this pattern of thinking and writing is common among Asians. “So the ‘I’? Does that represent how the Westerners write?” asked Jackie. “Some studies suggest that.” I responded.

I ended the class by telling them briefly that learning both styles or patterns of thinking will be advantageous for them in today’s world.

Christina holds an MA in TESL and is an experienced EAP teacher. She has taught English in the US, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.

I'm black, you're white and she's fat!

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:52:00 PDT

Having to teach how to describe people's appearances for the nth time reminded me of some interesting experiences.

In some Chinese travel TV show that I watched, the host had travelled to Finland. He was going to try the traditional Finnish sauna with his Finnish friends. As they were getting ready and had taken their clothes off, the Chinese host pointed to his dark skin and said to his Finnish friend in English, 'I'm so black and you're so white.'

The friend laughed and responded with a sense of humour, 'Yes, I'm white but you're not black - your hair is black!'

In Chinese, there is probably no problem describing someone's skin colour as black or white, but in English, you could be considered racist.

In another occasion, I happened to be at the reception area outside the staff room. A student rushed to me suddenly and while trying to catch her breath, she said hastily, 'Teacher, I want to see the fat teacher from Australia.' She obviously didn't know or couldn't recall her teacher's name.

While vocabulary teaching and learning is a rather complicated issue, as teachers, we might need to question our practice of simply providing students with lists of words to study and remember. Is it good enough to help students understand and use the words correctly and appropriately?

An important aspect of lexis is connotation. Connotation refers to meaning that is ‘additional’, which associate people’s attitudes and emotions with a word or phrase. Two or more words may be synonyms (of similar meaning), but each may evoke quite different associations, which can be positive, neutral or negative. While slim, lean, skinny and thin are all synonyms, the first and second are associated with good look (slim - feminine, lean - masculine), the third is associated with small or weak and the fourth can be a more neutral word. So while you should never call a lady fat, blonde may sound sexy or sexist!

Talking of blonde, connotation is also 'subjective cultural'. When describing someone as middle-aged, it might mean differently for learners from different cultures. For Chinese speakers, ‘middle-age’ generally means between 30 - 50 years old, whereas for Japanese speakers, it can mean around 40 years old, while it can mean older in English.

So the next question is, what can we do to raise the students' awareness of word connotations? I'm not completely sure but have noticed a lot of problems arising from the use of electronic bilingual translator dictionaries. I try to encourage my students to use a learner's English-English dictionary, like the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, which I've had for years. Learners can find useful notes explaining and comparing different uses and connotations of words of similar meanings. For example, to compare fat, plump, chubby, overweight etc., clear explanations are given: 'In English, it is not polite to say to somebody that they are fat'; 'Overweight is the most neutral term' etc. (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary New Edition, 1996, p.438).

If I were a carpenter and not Superman

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:36:00 PDT

If I woke up naked in the street... If my boyfriend or girlfriend were a robot... If I could see the future... If I were Superman...

The students were having a lot of fun. These were the topics for the freer speaking practice towards the end of the lesson. In groups, they took turn to pick up a topic card and the group members talked about it together using the second conditional structure they had just learnt.

Within about 20 minutes, everything was done - the speaking, the laughter, the cards and me highlighting their errors, but there were still about 10 minutes left. I rarely had a class that could do so well and fast, so I let them off early for lunch.

In the past many Pre-Intermediate students found the second conditional structure difficult, but this group neither seemed to have problems in understanding the meanings and use nor forming the correct sentence structure. These kids were great - I knew they wouldn't have problems with their quiz at the end of the week and I should be happy. Yet I still felt there was something missing.

The text and exercises I had used were all from the coursebook. The topics for the freer speaking practice were made-up, and the students already knew they were supposed to use the target structure of the day. But would they be able to apply what they had learnt in class, should they came across the particular language in the 'real world'?

The next morning I walked into class with If I were a carpenter by Johnny Cash (or Bobby Darin). I handed out a pre-listening task to pre-teach some key vocabulary in the song. I made sure at this stage that students understood people with jobs like a carpenter, tinker and miller do not earn much money.
Next, students listened to the song while filling in the gaps to complete the lyrics. I later drew their attention to all the second conditional structures in the lyrics. I checked if the students remembered what we use the second conditional for.

Then came the main focus of the lesson - I wanted the students to apply what they knew about the use of second conditional to discuss the meaning of the song and intention of the singer. In groups, they were given 8-10 minutes to discuss the three questions listed on the worksheet after the lyrics:

1. Does the man hold any of these jobs? How do you know?
2. What kind of man do you think he is?
3. The man asks a lot of questions about occupations, but what does he really want to know from his girlfriend? Write a conditional sentence to express what he wants.

I told them there were no right or wrong answers, but the group with the most satisfactory answers would get a prize. The questions really made them scratch their heads and challenged their analytical skills. It went beyond just wasting time making silly meaningless If I were... I'd .... sentences. Whenever they noticed I frowned after taking a peek at their answers, some groups started debating and arguing with one another in English! I was so pleased this time, 'Yes, this is the lesson I've longed for!'

(Click here for the answer key to the worksheets above)

Through the looking glass

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:42:00 PDT

(This post was contributed by Christina Judy Fernandez. Christina holds an MA in TESL and is an experienced EAP teacher. She has taught English in the US, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.)

“What do I do next?” I thought to myself after recording all my 20 students’ group presentations.

There were still 25 minutes left of the class hour and I didn’t think it was a good idea to let them off early. My initial plan was to show them the videos only in the next lesson and give them thorough feedback then. Something came over me at that moment and I thought why not get the students to view their own videos. So, I spent the next few minutes explaining to them the task and that they should email me the comments about their individual presentations by the end of the following week. Their comments must fall into three headings: areas they did well in their presentations; areas that need work and how they are going to work on it or how this public speaking course can help them. I chose a group leader or any one member who had a USB drive to come up and copy his or her group’s presentation. Group members were responsible to get a copy of the recording from the group leader.

In the next few days, I received loads of my students’ self-evaluation messages. Some students suggested watching the excerpts of common problems apparent in all their presentations. Others said they would like to have their following presentations recorded so they could see their progress. All these ideas and more got me thinking even more about how I could include them in the upcoming lessons. The next oral presentation area to be covered in this course was vocal skills: pronunciation, intonation, stress and pace. I thought I would have to spend the next 2 days viewing and examining all the 20 recordings so I could work them into my lessons. “But how am I going to fit them into the teaching of vocal skills? I have no clue!!!” Then, it darned on me, why not use them as audio recordings?

In order to make learning meaningful, I randomly chose 4 students’ individual presentations for each of the different vocal skills. Students had to write notes on a worksheet. Because each vocal skill was taught on a different day, students were only required to listen and write notes on one column per day. Instructions on the type of notes changed with the different vocal skills. For instance, students could use IPA symbols when their classmates had trouble producing a certain sound. I also instructed students to copy actual phrases or sentences they heard where intonation and stresses were correctly / incorrectly used. These phrases and sentences in which there were problems were then used for self-correction and in-class practice exercises.

Two weeks later, we went into the topic of non-verbal gestures in presentations. Once again, my students watched 4 individual student presentations (of their own classmates) and took notes on specific area (hand gestures, facial gestures) taught on a given day.

Due to time and logistical constraints, I did not record their second presentations. I did, however, manage to record their third and final presentations. I asked them to identify what areas they had mostly improved on but they were not expected to send me an email or do any write ups about it. Much to my surprise, some students did actually email me a write up of their improvements. A girl wrote interestingly:

“…I felt like looking at myself in a mirror. I realised how ugly I looked in the eyes of others. Like a mirror, I could see where my hair and dress went wrong, so I could fix them before it was too late…

They don't mean what they say

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:33:00 PDT

"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.
"I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know."
"Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "You might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!" ...
(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 7)

'We cordially invite lecturers to attend the college's graduation ceremony this coming Saturday morning at ..... Lecturers can collect their robes today from ....'

It was an e-mail I found in my Inbox one morning at work. My first reaction was, Saturday morning?! No joke?! But I soon forgot about it until the next day.

The next morning I received a rather unfriendly phone call, 'Why didn't you come to collect your robe yesterday?'

'I'm not attending the ceremony,' I replied.

'Then you need to write the Dean an e-mail asking for permission to be excused,' the voice said coldly.

'You said 'invite' in your e-mail yesterday - it means people can choose not to go,' I protested.

'No, unless there's a special permission from the Dean.' And she hung up.

I read with interest a research article written by Vijay K. Bhatia, an expert and researcher in the area of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) recently. In his article, Genre analysis, ESP and professional practice (ESP Vol. 27-2, 2008), he talks about the importance of interpreting language use in professional contexts beyond the lexico-grammatical meaning, taking textual-external factors into consideration.

What he means by textual-external factors include the practices and cultures of the specific professional communities. He therefore proposes using a 'multiperspective and multidimensional approach' to analyse these professional genres in order to achieve a better understanding of 'why do these professionals use the language the way they do?'

So the e-mail above was not meant as an invitation at all, but was in fact a top-down instruction from the management. The words 'cordially invite' was only intended to soften the tone of the message, in anticipation of the unfavourable reaction from the staff for taking away their personal time on a Saturday. Nevertheless, the staff were expected to understand the underlying intention of the apparently positive and friendly message from the management based on the usual practice of the college in previous years.

This is probably just a trivial case, as compared to how worrying sometimes the management deals with complaints from students, which could possibly jeopardise a teacher's career prospects. It happened that a lecturer had complaints from students that his classes were 'boring'. In response, the school management took action by giving the lecturer a 'mild warning', telling him to make his classes 'fun'. This was the result of a completely textual interpretation of what the students had say. The poor lecturer thus tried to change his style of teaching by frequently telling jokes and acting funny in class. But the situation hardly improved.

'I feel more like a fool now and I don't get any respect from the students at all,' he said in despair.

Based on Bhatia's text-external factors in the professional contexts, how do we interpret the message 'boring' conveyed by the students? The matter should be viewed professionally in terms of the effectiveness in the process of teaching and learning. A short class visit could reveal the problems and provide remedies immediately - the lecturer should avoid only one-way lecturing in class; he should interact more with the students and involve them in short tasks and group activities. Occasionally, he could change the routine of the lesson and throw in some 'surprises' by getting students to do special activities such as mini projects etc. Also, he should not have the Powerpoint slides cramped with small fonts and too many words, but could include some pictures to build up the students' interest. In short, he should exploit various ways to effectively engage the students to learn in class.

The word 'boring' could mean differently in different contexts, which we could only interpret correctly with professional knowledge - and 'fun' isn't always the opposite.

You may also be interested to read another article by Vijay K. Bhatia of the similar topic: Interdiscursitivity in critical genre analysis.

Luka - the lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:57:00 PDT

It has come to my attention that a number of people were searching for a lesson plan for Suzanne Vega’s Luka and they were directed to my blog, which unfortunately didn’t have what they wanted. Luka is no doubt a great song with meaningful lyrics to be explored with students in class. So I've decided to publish here the lesson with the worksheets that I’ve used a couple of times. This lesson focuses on listening and understanding the content of the song.

Level: Intermediate and above
Aim: To listen for gist and specific details in order to understand the content of the song, Luka by Suzanne Vega.

1. Lead-in: T tells a personal experience with his neighbour(s) or ss tell their peers about their neighbours, eg. Who are their neighbours? When and how often do they see and talk to them? What are they like? etc.

2. Pre-listening (gist): T hands out Worksheet 1. Ss read the two lines from the lyrics and predict what the song is about. Ss choose an answer from the four options given.

3. Listening for gist: T plays the song for ss to check their predictions. After listening, ss check their answers with peers before checking with T.

4. Pre-listening (specifics): T hands out Worksheet 2. Ss read the questions and predict the answers before listening to the song again.

5. Listening for specifics: T plays the song twice for ss to check their answers. Ss then check answers with peers.

6. T hands out the lyrics for ss to find their answers. T answers any questions that ss have about the lyrics.

7. Post-listening: Ss discuss the issues of child abuse in groups.

As a tip, use a quality CD player or speakers to enhance the listening experience. I’ve had some great time using the song in my classes – hope you will too!

Class observation is not a ghost

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:01:00 PDT

A fun part of our CELTA course was the new discoveries about teaching that we had one after another throughout the course.

For instance, in an input session on error correction, our tutor demonstrated 'finger highlighting' as one of the techniques we could use to prompt students for self-correction, by showing them visually that a word or words in a sentence is / are missing. Say, when a student says: I reading a book, the teacher puts up his five fingers showing all the five words that the present continuous sentence should have, then points to the index finger to hint that a word is missing. Being so new to teaching at that time, this was fascinating, though I was a bit suspicious that it could really work in the classroom.

Until later in a video we watched - a group of Elementary level learners were practising present continuous sentences orally, guided by the teacher. ‘Finger highlighting’ was what the teacher used to prompt her learners to self-correct. Our tutor pointed out that by using this technique, she didn’t need to write the words on the board to show the learners what was missing, which could cause a distraction in oral practice.

Similarly, we learnt about PPP (Present, Practise and Produce), a common method to teach grammar in our input session. But we could only have a very vague idea of how it was done until we observed an experienced teacher in action. It was exciting to be able to associate what the teacher did for each 'P' in the lesson. The same could be said to other techniques, methods and aspects of classroom practices - we learnt about them in the input sessions and then watched how they were executed or vice versa.

Just watching is not enough - we wanted to try them out ourselves. I later experimented with 'finger highlighting' in my own TP (teaching practice) lessons and was thrilled to see it actually worked! Well, there were new things that we tried but didn't work out well in our lessons, but our tutor and coursemates who had observed us could give feedback and suggestions for improvement. In short, CELTA has taught me to learn to teach by watching others and being watched by others.

My experience is a positive one, but unfortunately many teachers dread observation - they view being observed as being judged. While this feeling is not unfounded as class observation is sometimes being abused or not carried out professionally, but let's also not forget that it is a professional development tool too useful and handy to be wasted, as we continue to explore the skills of teaching. After all, it does not cost an extra penny and extra resources to make observation work.

For tips on peer observation, please refer here.

A slap in the face

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:17:00 PDT

Lynn Lin is really happy with her new job. Though the pay is not as much, she gets to be back in her hometown with her family. She has better students and most importantly, no one judges her.

Almost a year and a half ago, she was weeping quietly in the staff room when everybody had left work in the evening. She was so upset at what had happened. In fact, it was only her second month in the school.

The Academic Support Team (AST) had been on a short visit at the branch campus. Earlier that morning she had been scheduled for a class observation. Lynn was very nervous as she was not used to class observation.

‘Don’t worry. Just be your usual self,’ said her boss, Katherine before class.

‘We only want to know if things are okay and find out what support we could provide for especially new teachers like yourself,’ she added kindly.

Lynn felt a bit relaxed after hearing this. She was glad to have an understanding and supportive boss. So she walked into her class feeling much more confident and started her lesson. Three people were at the back observing her teaching – a member from the AST, Katherine and her programme coordinator, Wendy. The students were quieter than usual, but Lynn thought it was normal because there were outsiders. But she was a bit surprised when the visitors left before her class ended.

********

Lynn didn’t mind being left alone in the staff room. She started tapping the computer keys to type out her resignation letter. She had never been made to feel such a failure in her life. Though she knew the lesson was not perfect, she had done her very best. At least more than half of the class had listened to her this time. They were doing so much better in the exercise she later gave them after the visitors had left. Two students even came to ask her questions after class. She felt these people could have been fairer to her, taking into consideration the students’ low level, low motivation and a class size of over 30.

As she was typing the words, the tears rolled down her cheeks. Katherine’s harsh words after the observation were still ringing in her ears.

‘You shouldn't use too much Chinese in class – you should speak more English slowly and use simpler words for your students to understand you.’ Her tone was cold - the kindness earlier had disappeared completely.

Before Lynn could say anything, Katherine continued, ‘It was very clear from where we sat, some students were playing with their mobile phones and some were dozing off. You should know how to manage your class better.’

‘Maybe I was focussing on explaining the new vocabulary …’ Lynn cut in, trying to explain.

Katherine didn’t listen. She went on impatiently, ‘Also, you talked too much and didn’t have enough practice for the students. Not only that, you even spelt a few words wrongly on the board…’

In the end she said, ‘I suggest you observe other teachers’ classes. You could arrange this with Wendy.’

********

Lynn, however decided not to resign. She thought she should not give up easily as she didn't have much teaching experience yet. But since then, she felt she had been treated with prejudice and suspicion by Wendy and her team members. Her work was always underrated, double and triple checked by them. She was sent to observe a few colleagues’ classes, but she found herself learning only a few tricks she could use in her own classes.

At the beginning of the following semester, her request to teach a different course was rejected; instead, she was assigned to teach the same course again. When her contract was finally coming to an end, the school was in a state of desperation for more English teachers to teach in the coming new academic year.

'You've been working very hard and very dedicated to your students, so we've decided to offer you a new contract,' said Katherine in her office in her usual gentle manner.

Lynn took a quick look at the contract - as she had expected, no increment but had to be bound by more teaching hours.

'No, thanks. I've decided to leave,' she said, so disgusted at that fake tone. As she was walking out of the room, she was proud to have given back that superficial look a hard slap in the face.

The price of prestige

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:03:00 PDT

Since March this year, the UK immigration has tightened up its visa application rules and procedures, including the applications for student visas. Unlike in the past when you could send in your application as soon as you had received an offer letter, you now have to wait for a visa letter from your university. You are only allowed to apply as early as three months before your course starts.

In addition, your visa is totally dependent and attached to only the university that provides you with the visa letter. In other words, you are not allowed to change schools as you like after the visa has been issued. Besides, you must also be able to provide concrete financial evidence under your name to prove your ability to finance your studies and living expenses for up to a year in the UK.

Faced by the economic downturn, the Brits are obviously taking more drastic measures now to stop illegal immigrants and workers, but however strict, they are no fools to turn down sources of big fat cash from international students. According to BBC News in February 2006, international students are estimated to bring in about £4bn a year to British universities and some £10bn to the economy as a whole. Besides charging international students over 3 times more than the home and EU students for tuition fees, British universities have also in the past two years jacked up the prices by more than 30% - a strategy to make up for the depreciation of the pound at the expense of others.

There are more to the Brits' money sucking strategies - the Tier 4 General Student visa application fee jumped from about USD224 (RM783) in June to about USD243 (RM849) in July this year. On the other hand, I was shocked to find out that the British Council in Malaysia charges almost USD3 (RM10) for each copy of the document you get them to certify. Not to mention the fee for taking the IELTS tests, which is required as a proof of a candidate's the level of English, can cost as much as about USD143 each round.

While some countries like Japan, are so generous to offer hundreds of full scholarships to international students each year to study in their countries, the Brits are slick businessmen - scholarships only serve as baits and are limited to mostly research students in only certain disciplines in science and technology.

Though the UK education is seriously no charity, British universities certainly have their prestige around the world. Having said that, according to a report in Times Online in June 2008, their academic standards are obviously in decline. Cheating is rampant, plagiarism is not penalised and students are allowed to pass easily in many British universities. Non-EU students, in particular, are viewed as 'a lucrative source of cash', thus failing and expelling them can have serious implications, the report says.

In short, this is another disgraceful reality of education again ...

Just give us a shout

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:17:00 PDT

'I'm not sure of my teaching. I don't know if the students understand me - they're very quiet in class. I don't know if what I'm doing in class is right or wrong,' says a newly qualified teacher gloomily.

The teacher teaches intensive English programme in a language school. She has just graduated with a BA TESL from a local university, which she did part-time while working as a secretary.

New teachers usually get to observe other teachers' classes on their first day at work - did she not?

'No. Our programme needed teachers so badly. I was asked to teach from day one.'

She can approach and talk to her colleagues on the same programme - why doesn't she?

'I don't know about that. There's no one so new like me - the others are all very senior and experienced teachers,' she adds.

Well, isn't she lucky? She can get lots of good advice and tips from these people.

'Advice and tips? I don't think so. Most of these people are part-timers. They always look so busy and seem to be carrying a sign with them saying: Don't bother me. Leave me alone,' she sighs, 'I'm feeling so out of place. Perhaps teaching is not for me.'

I wonder if I told her that this is not at all her but the school's problem for not being supportive to new teachers, would it help regain her own confidence?

From teacher training to the real classrooms - how much are the new teachers prepared to face the reality? I was completely at a loss in my first week. 4 hours of different classes everyday - how do I cope and plan? Should I write a lesson plan for every lesson like I did for CELTA? Should I just use the book, or should I have my own materials? How much can I teach in a 90-minute lesson? How do I make sure I finish teaching everything I'm supposed to teach by the end of the term? What about homework, quizzes, tests? etc. etc.

Shocked...overwhelmed...apprehensive...stressed...

I however will never forget the first thing my new colleagues said to me, 'Chwa, if you need anything, just give us a shout, okay?' As a newbie, these words were more meaningful than anything else to me. They have definitely set me a firm and sound first step to move along in my teaching career. Otherwise, I might not be writing this post now - and I know it's time to pass the same kindness to someone like me before.

No way to test? (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:43:00 PDT

(continued from No way to test? (Part 1))

Then my friend talked to her boss about the problem. The boss, too, didn’t know of a solution.

‘Well, most lecturers give out notes from Powerpoint slides nowadays anyway, so I suppose there’s no need to test note-taking directly anymore,’ she said in the end.

My friend was not happy of the reply she got.

‘Perhaps she’s right, why do we need to test note-taking?’ I said.

‘No, I still think note-taking skills are useful. You may well also ask: why do we test skimming and scanning in reading?’ she protested.

I thought for a while, then said, ‘But we can still, test it indirectly, right? Think about what the students can do with the notes.’

Her face lightened up. ‘You’re right. I know what to do for the final test now!’ she said excitedly.

Towards the end of the semester, her university decided to use only multiple-choice questions for their reading and listening papers as they could be marked easily by a machine the department had just bought.

She later described what they did for note-taking to me:

First, the students were given a piece of paper each for note-taking. On the paper, only the instructions and the topic of the short lecture were printed. The questions were not disclosed to the students at this stage because the students would focus on listening for only the specific answers if they knew the questions. This would result in merely testing the ability to listen for specific information and the students would not bother to take notes. Although the paper was collected after the test, it was not marked, so the students were free to write and scribble as they liked.

After listening to the short lecture, the students were expected to already have notes on their paper. At this point, the question books were distributed. Only the answer options were printed in the question book. Students then listened to the questions and had to refer to their notes to find the answers. Some time was given as thinking time and for checking their own answers after all the questions had been read out. This way, students were not tested directly on how they took notes, which was not really so important; instead, the test provided them with an immediate purpose for taking notes – the notes were needed to answer the questions. My friend however admitted that the post note-taking task could have been made more authentic by getting the students to write a report based on the notes etc.

I can see this as a more purposeful and natural way of getting students to take notes - for if they don’t or don’t know how, they won’t be able to complete the next task.

From Iran with hopes

noreply@blogger.com (Chwa) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:54:00 PDT

My Canadian friend, Brenda Engberts Kaya, wrote about her Iranian students in her blog. Her photos reminded me of some familiar faces, since we used to work at the same school together. I know it's bad, but I can hardly recall their names now.

I however remember a student from Iran. I remember him in particular because I studied him for my DELTA assignment. He introduced himself as MR in class and wanted his classmates and teachers to call him so. MR was one of the few matured students I have had, who was older than me - he was 38 years old then.

In class, MR behaved differently from the other young kids. He would approach any piece of work given to him in a methodical and analytical manner first before working with other students. As an Intermediate learner, his written work always showed very good accuracy in grammar and spelling. However, he was always over-cautious in speaking and wanted to get things perfect before speaking up, making him less spontaneous than others.

In my interview with him, I found out that MR was married with two children. He had a Master’s degree in Material Engineering and had worked as a Metallurgical engineer in a German company in Iran for 12 years. However, earlier that year, MR made a once-in-a-lifetime decision to leave his job and family to study English full-time in Malaysia for at least six months.

I asked if he liked Malaysia and studying English here. He said he did and described the school as ‘an international English language college that uses modern ways of training of English’. But he said he missed his family in Iran. Why did he choose Malaysia? He said studying in Malaysia was more affordable for him.

But, why such a big sacrifice - giving up his permanent job and leaving his family behind to learn English?

'I learn English because I want to emigrate to Australia - that's my plan,' he said, 'In Australia, I can get a better job and have a better life for my family and children in the future.'

In order to emigrate to Australia, MR had to obtain a minimum overall band score of 5.5 in IELTS, but he was still a bit under par. He asked if we taught IELTS preparatory classes - I told him we wished we could but we were so understaffed at the moment. He looked a bit disappointed. So after a few months, he left for another school for IELTS training and I lost contact with him. The last time I heard about him from his friend, he was back in Iran to sit for IELTS, though I didn't know why he needed to do that.

I hope MR has made it to Australia in the end. It was a regret that I couldn't help him till the end. Among all the students we see day in and day out, some of them come with hopes and dreams that they wish we could help them to achieve. To them, English means the key to success and a better life in the future - but then, how much usually, are we prepared to do for them?