The Key to Educational Success: One Teacher Is Sufficient
December 12, 2012 Leave a comment
Here is a nice piece of inspiration from the Huffington Post!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronald-tiersky/educational-success_b_2277272.html
Natural vs. Standard, Descriptive vs. Proscriptive
October 10, 2012 Leave a comment
This “Ask the Editor” clip from Merriam-Webster provides some great food for thought on natural versus prescriptive language, what is “correct,” and how a language authority figure (whether dictionary editor or foreign English teacher) can and should balance the two.
Remember that natural language is language as acquired and produced by humans’ natural cognitive abilities – i.e. what people actually say. Prescriptive language imposes [often arbitrary] rules that do not exist in natural language, but it is the only kind of language that is acceptable in writing for all but the most informal/unorthodox/creative settings.
Encouraging Participation (and Note on E-mails)
May 15, 2011 Leave a comment
This past semester I encouraged participation in my Communications for English Majors II class in many of the ways we discussed at conference; I was explicit about expectations and gave examples of what good participation looks like. Also, throughout the semester I gave specific, immediate praise to students who went beyond simply answering my questions (e.g., if they responded directly to what another student said by building on it/critiquing it, if they asked a question that was not solicited but was still on topic). All these things helped raise participation levels. Something else that increased participation dramatically however was when I sent out a ‘Participation Progress Report’ midway through the semester.
I sent out these reports in individual e-mails and in them praised students specifically for what they did well at with regards to participation (e.g., quality comments, consistent comments, building on what others said, critiquing what others said well, etc.), told them if their participation levels needed to increase (and roughly by how much), and how many absences/tardies they’d had. Additionally, if a student didn’t participate much but wrote excellent papers (several students fell into this category), I commented on how given the quality of her/his papers, s/he would contribute greatly to the class if s/he spoke up more. After sending out the reports, every student participated voluntarily at least once per class and most mid-level participators turned into high level participators. I’m not sure exactly why it worked (The praise? The knowledge that I was watching them closely? The reminder they were being graded in participation?) or how well it will work again, but at least for this semester, it worked very well.
A side note on e-mails though: I’m not sure what it’s like at other sites, but at least most of my students are used to more indirect feedback/are more sensitive to write I write in e-mails than their American counterparts might be. Because of this, I now make sure to add plenty of praise in my e-mails, to warn them of the directness of my feedback beforehand, and to be direct but gentle in my comments.
YCTB Vol. 1 No. 7 Introduction
March 15, 2011 Leave a comment
This month I have a link to share:
http://www.economist.com/content/chinese_equivalents
It’s a map of China that shows the GDP of each province; they have also listed a country with a similar-sized economy for each province.
I hope you all were able to get your tickets to Huangshan without any trouble. See you in Xiuning next week!
YCTB Vol. 1 No. 5 Introduction
January 15, 2011 Leave a comment
Introduction by Brendan Woo
Happy New Year!
Here are a couple things of interest I have to share, which cover life’s two inevitabilities (death and taxes):
Taxes:
You have 92 days left to file your tax returns! As filing my taxes has become somewhat of a hobby[sic] for me, here are some resources that will allow you, too, to join in on the fun!
–IRS website for international taxpayers
-If your income is below a certain level (if Fellowship-related income was your main source of cash in 2010, you definitely qualify), you can choose from a list of tax preparation software companies that will help you prepare your taxes without charging the usual fees. Federal tax preparation is free, as is preparation for tax returns in certain states. I have used TurboTax Freedom Edition (one of the choices on the list) for several years now, and have been pleased with their software (all web-based), which walks you through all the steps, does the cross-referencing and calculating, and has answers to questions along the way. The IRS and state governments generally have their own e-file options, too, but they offer less guidance than the commercial options.
Smoking:
I happened across this articlethe other day, which offers statistical support to a different approach to anti-smoking messages: it’s bad for the economy! Excerpt:
The health and other costs of smoking already exceed the tobacco industry’s economic contributions by at least $9 billion, said a report prepared by a group of prominent Chinese public health experts and economists.
If trends continue, by 2030 an estimated 3.5 million Chinese will die from smoking each year — three times the current level, it said, citing China’s failure to take basic measures such as passing a national law to ban smoking in indoor public places and raising the price of cigarettes.
…
However, last year, authorities did instruct kindergartens and elementary, secondary and vocational schools to ban smoking on school grounds and bar teachers from lighting up in front of students.
How well is that last part going?
Safe travels to everyone as you ring in (?) the year of the rabbit!
Teaching in English in Hong Kong: Linguistic Imperialism?
October 15, 2010 Leave a comment
by Christina Stouder
Last month’s edition of the Chinese University Student Press (中大學生報) ran a fascinating article by a student who boldly critiques CUHK for encouraging an increasing percentage of courses to be taught in English as the medium of instruction (MOI). The student challenges the dominance of English in academia and argues that the university is selling out to the temptation of creating globally competitive graduates while the development of critical thinking skills and local identity go by the wayside. She raises questions about the scholarly writing (is it only valuable if it’s written in English? Is that because we acquiesce to the status quo?), the development of critical thinking skills (and how the university demonstrates a lack thereof), and the global education market (is it a higher priority to appeal to international students than to serve local students and require outsiders to learn Chinese?) *Fittingly, the article is only available in Chinese traditional characters (*excuse the dangling particle).
The student’s concerns reflect how policy and identity meet in the classroom. By extension, it serves as a reminder of the fine line we toe as EFL teachers: are we agents of “linguistic imperialism” or of empowerment? More likely, I would think that we occupy a space on a cline between the two extremes. The article reminded me of a couple of the following resources that you might want to check out:
- Peter Yongqi Gu’s article (see attached, GU 2006) about the actual language education policy in Hong Kong and what the Ministry of Education in the Mainland should learn from it. Understanding these policies better might help you make more sense of where we fit in the scheme of things, and it definitely clarifies some of the CUHK student’s arguments. If you would like any other articles related to language policy in China/HK or on linguistic imperialism, just let me know, and I’ll send them your way!
- A brief commentary by Julian Edge about some curricular implications of teaching EFL in light of the notion of linguistic imperialism: http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/intlpolitics_julian.htm
- Chinese University Student Press article (see attached, CUHK student’s critique). Note the character pun in the title: 中大！學咩人用英文呀! (something like “Chinese U, using English like the Westerners,” but instead of the character 洋 in Westerner (洋人), the student used a similar character 咩, which is the onomatopoeia for a sheep’s baa)
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