Time flies. We have been studying for the third week and it seems to be more and more complicated. But don't give up! I address it not only to my students but to my colleagues and mainly to myself also.
This week I had to surf the Internet a lot and look for some new oral\aural materials. I have registrated in the "Delicious" and published some links there. Although I have already planned what I will teach my kids during the week, I think I should change the weekly plan a little and give them a lesson using one of those sites. I decided to give them listening comprehension from this site http://www.talkenglish.com/Listening/LessonListen.aspx?ALID=300 because some of them are planning to study in the USA or Canada after finishing school and military services. I am sure such materials will motivate them study better. Moreover, using authentic materials in the class has many advantages. Listening to real-life things will be helpful in real life. But I should give them all the necessary vocabulary because the language in this dialogue is a bit difficult for them. I have also found some useful materials in this site: www.real-english.com
Yesterday I read an articly by Jonathan Snell who taught English in Japan and had a problem of interaction between students and teacher. Sometimes such things reflect the culture of the students. Since Japanese are very quiet and shy, never ask any questions to the teacher, it was very difficult for him to make them speak English, even answer his questions. Nevertheless, step-by-step he broke an ice and made them speak, at least short phrases.
In my opinion, this problem could be solved with the help of web technology and online games. Since the Japanese are perfectionists and are eager to get excellent grades, the teacher could make them repeat sounds and words after the recordings and a bit later - to listen to the radio and answer the questions. First give the short answers and then more and more detailed ones. Such success-oriented activities help people speak a foreign language and motivete them get good grades. The Japanese probably would get excellent grades, of course.
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Bonjour Julia!
ReplyDeleteI did not read Jonathan Snell's article but I wish my students were as quiet and concentrated as Jonathan's ones !
As you said in one of your post in the "discussion ", your students like mine are very talkative and have a very short attention span . It is a real issue in French schools.
I noticed that when we worked on the site Dvolver to create a movie last week , my students calmed down for a while as they were attracted to the novelty of the screen content on their computer but after 15 mn they started losing interest in what they were doing as they had to build sentences .
However , they loved the task which was different from what they do with me usually so it may be a good start !
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeleteNice to see you again through this blog. Your motto and title of your blog "Don't give up!" inspire me to work hard and run fast to finish all assignments given, especially in Week 3. I see you have been successful in doing many during this week. It's a great job. You reviewed the article about Aural/Oral materials for teaching listening, was successful in registering your Delicious URL, and did commenting on the previous project. Good job and good luck.
Thanks.
Best,
Rudi Hartono