Posted by Eric Roth newBlog on Jun 15, 2008 in conversation starters, ELL, English class, English langugage learners, teaching tips | 0 comments
Make a bureaucratic procedure more engaging by asking questions
“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.”
-Thomas Berger (1924-2014) American novelist
Can you recommend a good movie? What’s your favorite song? What’s your favorite color? How do you prepare for a test? How do you relax? Do you have a favorite English word?
Can you turn a bureaucratic requirement into a communication tool to express personal ideas and build classroom community? Absolutely.
Taking attendance remains a vital part of our teaching duties. Some schools even require student signatures to prevent fraud and inflated student numbers or covering for weak students. When faced with this situation years ago, I started adding simple questions to the attendance sheets. What’s your favorite month? What’s your favorite sports team? What are you grateful for? How will you revise your last paper to make it better?
Students appreciate the opportunity to express their ideas and perceptions, and learn more about their classmates. The questions also help build a better classroom atmosphere and provide ice-breakers for students to talk with each other during break. Finally, this extra line turns a boring procedure into an educational tool that works for administrators, teachers, and students. What’s not to like?
As an old American TV commercial used to say, “try it – you’ll like it.”
Visit my website www.compellingconversations.com for free conversation materials, teaching tips for ESL/EFL classrooms, and links to excellent websites to learn English.
Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visit www.compellingconversations.com
Posted by Eric Roth newBlog on Jun 15, 2008 in adult education, adult ESL, Conversation lessons, educational philosophy, ELL, English class, English curriculum, English langugage learners, ESL | 0 comments
Conversation activities need greater presence in classrooms
“Speech is civilization itself. It is silence which isolates.”
-Thomas Mann (1875-1955) German novelist
Conversation remains a vital social skill for our English students. Naturally, immigrants and international students want to fully participate in their schools, their jobs, and their communities. Speaking clearly in English allows individuals to express their life experiences, insights, and perceptions in fluent conversations – both inside and outside classrooms. Limited English fluency, in contrast, often causes additional stress.
Therefore, conversation skills deserve far greater attention in English language classrooms for academic, social, and cultural reasons. Conversation skills also require practice, practice, and more practice. So let’s give our students more chances to express themselves, share their experiences, and develop their discussion skills in our English language classrooms – especially our high intermediate and advanced students. Teachers need to create encouraging, yet rigorous, classroom atmospheres where students can learn by doing.
Speaking skills, I’d suggest, deserve at least as much attention as grammar in our classrooms. Do students who know grammar, but can’t hold a conversation really speak English?
Conversation skills often matter more at work, at school, at parties, and at home. Whether ESL students seek better work opportunities, higher grades, or closer relations with native English speakers, our students also want to become fluent in English. So let’s meet both our students needs and wishes, and add more conversation activities and allocate more time to speaking skills in our ESL classes.
Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visit www.compellingconversations.com
Posted by Eric Roth newBlog on Jun 15, 2008 in academic matters, Compelling Conversations, conversation starters, Conversation Tips | 0 comments
Converse with a teacher, student or stranger about books
“No two persons ever read the same book.”
-Edmund Wilson (1895-1972) American writerBooks and literature still matter in our 21
st century global culture of blogs, especially for starting conversations. In the past few days, I have had three engaging, satisfying conversations with strangers about books. How?
- Is that a good book?
- What is on your summer reading list?
- Can you recommend a good book?
- What’s the best book you’ve read this year?
Once I broke the ice standing in line, the conversation just flowed. I asked a few questions, shared a few reading suggestions, and enjoyed what had been “dead” time waiting to mail books to customers.
English language learners can develop and deepen their conversation skills with classroom practice. As English students practice more, they also develop the confidence to start conversations with co-workers, fellow English students, fellow bus passengers, or strangers in line. Conversation skills can be practiced almost anywhere, but our English classrooms provide a safe, tolerant, and natural environment to develop and deepen speaking skills.
Talking about books is fun, provides information, and helps keep our literary traditions alive. Start a book conversation today!
P.S. Ray Bradbury’s novel, Green Shadows, White Whale is on my summer reading list.
Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visit www.compellingconversations.com
Posted by Eric Roth newBlog on Jun 15, 2008 in academic matters, adult education, educational philosophy, English langugage learners, English Teachers, ESL English as a Second Language, Speaking Skills | 0 comments
As ESL and EFL teachers, we should encourage all English language learners!
“A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.”
-Brad Henry (1963- ), former Governor of Oklahoma
Our students have chosen to speak English because it opens more doors. We should help them realize their ambitions, support their dreams, and avoid judging their motives.
For better or for worse, knowing English makes life easier and better. For instance, the ability to speak English allows individuals to communicate with millions of other people from around the world. Some globalization critics and ethnic nationalists, especially in smaller countries, have attacked English as subverting national and group identities. English speakers tend to be the more educated, more affluent, and more successful individuals in several developing countries. This fact apparently offends many people, including a surprisingly number of ESL teachers, who feel seeking worldly success, money, status, or an international spouse is elitist.
You will also find a rich literature on the use of English in advertisements in non-English speaking countries for the same reasons. Modern technological products and companies, such as LG, advertise in Europe in English their message that “Life is Good”. The clear implication is that buying their LG product makes “Life Good” and as does speaking English since only English speakers can understand their ads. Hence, English has also become a symbol of modernism and stylish consumerism. LG is a Korean company!
Attacking the prevalence of English remains popular, and questioning the “morality” of choosing to speak English in some academic circles. This obsession seems misguided and ironic. As English teachers and tutors, we need to carefully assess the full range of aspirations and skills that our students as we choose and develop materials. But assessing does not mean judging them! A teacher should support the legal goals of their students.
If our students need a certain score on a standardized exam (TOEFL, TOEIC, citizenship), we need to choose appropriate materials to meet their immediate goals – including active skills like speaking and writing. The new TOEFL, by the way, is a huge improvement over the old, grammar-focused one used for decades. Speaking has been recognized as a vital life skill.
Yet we also need to help students develop authentic language skills that transcend immediate test scores. Many administrators, for understandable reasons, attempt to force all instruction toward standardized tests. Many English instructors feel that standardized test scores have displaced traditional educational goals. Professor Charles Talcott, for instance, has passionately argued against “The Tyranny of Standardized Testing in English Language Classrooms.”
How many times have you encountered ESL students who have collected impressive test scores yet struggled to express themselves in a simple conversation in English? Students need the chance to develop their conversation skills – in and out of the classroom. Listening and speaking remain essential skills so students can express themselves – even be themselves – in English.
English, an optional language for a majority of the globe, remains a smart choice for our students. They have chosen to be English language learners. Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics helps English language learners go from students to authentic speakers. Speaking English opens many doors. Can you think of a door you would like to open for your students?
Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visit www.CompellingConversations.com
Posted by Eric Roth newBlog on Jun 15, 2008 in academic matters, censorship, Compelling Conversations, democratic classroom, educational philosophy, free speech, freedom, language politics | 0 comments
Why I chose not to censor Compelling Conversations to increase accessibility
“Only the educated are free.”
Epictetus (55-135), Greek philosopher
Many English teachers have asked if I plan a “culturally sensitive” version so Compelling Conversations can be used in more countries.
For instance, China censors not only their classrooms, but has created a great electronic fallwall so its citizens can not find information on Tibet, Taiwan, democracy, or free speech. China’s educational leaders, perhaps the most important market for many English language programs and books, simply wants “harmonious communication”, not discord, goes the argument. Likewise, Saudi Arabia – where women are banned from driving, Islam reigns as the one and only religious faith, and free speech is forbidden – wants books where relations between men and women go unasked. Why not accommodate the local rulers and pander to the prejudices of the powers to be? Sales will surely increase.
No doubt, sales would increase. Yet I prefer not to censor myself or support local tyrants. Consider me a “live and let live, speak and let speak” teacher. As Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence declared, “resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” Asking simple questions and sharing personal experiences, without worrying about what some government official might think, seems reasonable. Freedom is still a good idea.
Originally written for immigrants and refugees coming into the United States, Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics allows students to share, candidly, their personal stories. Some fled to avoid persecution, some escaped civil wars and economic poverty, and some sought more free to just be themselves and create a new, usually better life.
I’m even a bit flattered that my tiny little website is blocked by a few governments addicted to censorship and trying to stop their citizens from asking questions. My book simply asks over 1400 questions, shares a few hundred proverbs, and demonstrates how brilliant women and men have disagreed on many issues through out history.
Conversation matters, especially during times of war and hysteria. I’m trying to help English language learners develop their conversation skills, reflect on their experiences, and exchange insights with other fellow human beings. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes powerful people abuse their authority. Sometimes little people suffer because of the mistakes and decisions of the more powerful. If some government or authority feels that these questions are too dangerous, uncomfortable, or impolite, than so be it.
Asking questions and simple conversation help us clarify and understand our world. I’m perfectly comfortable with every question that is asked in this book, and emphasize many times that students can just decline to respond if they feel less comfortable. (Learning how to say “no” is also a good conversation skill to master!) Yet it’s a very different situation for a student – an individual – to choose to pass over a question and for a censor to block a website, ban a book, or prohibit a question. I prefer to treat all adults as adults.
Sorry for the long rant, but that’s why I have declined to create a “censor’s version” that would eliminate questions of elections, corruption, women’s rights, or double standards. Freedom, including the freedom to ask simple questions, still seems like a good idea to me.
What about you?
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Create Compelling Conversations.
Visit www.compellingconversations.com
