I began teaching a new class this semester, an EAP content-based class called "Sociology of American Cities". Instead of a formal needs analysis, I asked these questions (it's only an 8 student class so we just made a circle and discussed the answers to my questions). Here are the questions. I hope they help you because I felt that things went very well. We got to know each other and break the ice a bit and I got my needs analysis. And in case you were wondering we all introduced ourselves before we did the questions.
Sociology
How much do you know about sociology? How many sociology courses have you taken? Have you studied urban sociology?
Have you been to America? Have you been to any American cities? What cities have you been to (in Korea and abroad)? What do you like and dislike about the cities you've been to?
What are some differences between rural life and city life? Which aspects of each do you like?
Academic English
Look at the goals on the syllabus and rate them in order of importance (1-8).
The midterm and final projects will be a presentation and an essay; what do you know about academic writing and making speeches? What do you need to know?
This course is based on learning English through studying the sociology of American cities; why do you want to learn English (be specific- for work, travel, the TOEFL, make friends, etc.)?
Considering why you want to learn English what do you want to study most? (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation - speaking, listening, reading, writing).
Naturally, this course will present a lot of academic English like listening to lectures and reading academic papers. Have you listened to English lectures before? Have you read English papers before? How do you take notes? How do you make sure you understand the content? How do you help yourself understand the English?
This course will be conducted entirely in English. Does this make you nervous? How can you avoid speaking Korean in class?
Do you know each other? Are you comfortable speaking to each other in English? Are you comfortable speaking to me in English? What can we do to make speaking in English more comfortable?
Posted by James Trotta at March 4, 2004 2:23 PMESL blog is one of many Blogs for learning English & teaching English. Translation services information.