Movies and Videos of Films.

During the assessment period when it became apparent that listening was not developing, it became apparent that another way had to be developed so that listening can be focused in a meaningful and interesting way. The usual methods were not developing the students fast enough.

It was suggested that film be used with English subtitles rather than Chinese subtitles and this is what the students have been exposed to for the last three weeks.

It started with an assignment from English-to-go on the James Bond Movies and I purchased a selection of movies, which was shown to the students, and the first weeks essay was based on an aspect of the movies.

However after a week of 4 movies, and a carefully worded selection of essay topics, the essays showed that students were not concentrating on the movies, and were not even remembering the events and the story. It seems to be a blank staring at the screen, enjoyment and a non-learning session.

The comprehension on the movies needed to be emphasized and students were given questions, which they were asked to answer during the movie and to look for the answers during the movie.

This was still not done as students just watched the movie and remembered only a minimum the next day.

The next stage was an actual reading of the questions as a group, with emphasis being placed on what students have to watch out for, and finally a 1-minute timed speech to be prepared which has to be presented to the next day to the class.  This actually had a better result as they had to face the class and non-preparation was blatantly obvious.

This week all answers to the given questions will also be teacher corrected during the course of the class lesson and given back to the students, with the mark being recorded, as many students were not doing the task and just filling in the answers during the class session.

During a self-assessment paper given end of week 3, only 2 students, were negative to movies. One felt that he is having trouble understanding the speech, and the other would like fewer movies. One will be advised on how he needs to concentrate on the listening with reference to the sub-titles, and the other will be given an explanation as to why movies are being used and how she needs to see that it is a learning task to improve her listening skills.

Other students are realizing the value of listening to different dialects, different voices and pronunciations and also seeing the movies as a glimpse into a different culture, as well as a comprehension task in remembering the sequence of events and being able to answer questions about the movies.

Tapes and Listening Tests

These are being used from  101 Exercises and it was apparent from the start that students did not understand any of the tapes. They are being listened to with the script over and over again until the students can understand. They are expected to repeat the mornings session in the afternoon and privately for homework. All students have the tapes as part of their package and all have access to tape players.

Some exercises from Challenges in English are also used but they are very repetitive and are best used by students individually or within a small group in the afternoon sessions rather than with the whole group.

It is being emphasized that there is a need for the listening session to be repeated every afternoon, and the tapes and book is left ready for this to happen.

It is being emphasized that there is a need to be able to listen to different accents and different speeds as there is no indication as to what voice the IELTS test examiners will use.

Debates and Short Speeches.

Debates are based on topics studied so the students have some group knowledge about the subject. Students enjoy this and are willing to participate.  The quieter and less vocal students get to take a background and listening role, because the class has some very vocal and dominant individuals  who like to talk more than there is time for, and others who try to finish their prepared speech even though they are clearly timed out.

Timed speeches are being used now with a stop watch to lessen this but it is needs controlling as some students enjoy speaking and will dominate and others may not get heard as a result. Appointing these dominants as leaders meant that they still take the leading speaking parts and talk for the team, so the teacher has to be very careful here in managing without discouraging.

Short speeches are kept to either 30 seconds or 1 minute because of the time factor.

Students enjoy this and prepare speeches and are getting proficient at speaking with either notes or even with no notes. Some are still reading their speeches, which makes for less fluency. Students are asked to tape their speeches with a view to critically analyzing their own voices but I do not believe this is being done as things only get done when I do it and time has not permitted this to date. Students do not take the initiative in their own learning. It is an area that needs direction.

The aim of this session is to share ideas, but also to speak for a set period fluently and confidently without notes, thus thinking on ones feet.  The next step will be students asking the speaker questions about what they have spoken with the speeches longer and students broken into groups and only speaking every second day.

The speeches have been on the movies and originally about themselves to develop speaking confidence.

Writing.

Research and a researched and academic essay complete with bibliography, footnotes and paraphrasing of readings, are the focus of Writing this semester.

The articles related to improving writing from the IELTS and 101 Exercises have been carefully covered and students are focusing on improving sentences by using combination and complex sentences with linking and joining word.

Homework has been brought to one major essay a week, allowing students time to research and find information and plan their writing. A pattern has been presented incorporating format and students are using passive rather than active writing and analyzing whether the essay is a discussion or an argument.

Students are encouraged to present writings in a typed format where possible and many students are now starting to do this and also to research the information necessary.

The quality of the essays are improving and there is a 10 point checklist and marking score giving the student a total of 20 per week for this area.  There is a plan of putting these writings into a book format for future reference.

Drama and Plays.

The Internet E-Books led to some plays being downloaded as students enjoy reading parts. It breaks up the monotony of listening to long passages and also adds to concentration and thinking, to follow a role and come in as required.

A selection of Books were bought, and Alice in Wonderland was read with Group 2 with students taking individual roles and reading the spoken parts. This is being continued with the whole group, and now Pygmalion has been added with students reading the parts. Acts 1 and 2 will be acted and students are being encouraged to memorize their parts.

Other plays downloaded were, Cowboys Dont Cry and Dead Rats, both contemporary writings. They were selected on their size rather than anything else.

The purpose of the play readings is reading conversation and following a story through speech rather than the more known articles and book extracts as usually utilized.

 Four copies of Macbeth are available and one copy of A midsummer Nights Dream.  Students will be given extracts to memorize and there is plan for a Shakespeare presentation later in the year either as recitation or as acted sections.