So far I've gotten two emails about grades from ym students. The first student I felt really sorry for and in answering her email I wrote:
Hi ________. I wish I could give you the grade you deserve.You do deserve higher than a C+ and you did an excellent job this year. According to my records you were absent only once and you got a 15/20 on the final
exam. Your number grade was 86/100.However because of the university curve, I had to give the "B" grades to people who scored higher than you. In your class students with scores from 88-91 received "B" grades.
I know this seems unfair. In fact in some of my other classes a number grade of 86 received an A+, but in your class there were more high-scoring English
learners than in most other classes.I'm afraid the only thing either of us can do is petition the university to change their grading curve system. I will see to it that this email gets to the coordinator of the IFLE.
And have a merry Christmas and happy New Year. I know it's hard, but try not to worry about the C+ because you are an excellent student.
The second student received a B even though her average was ten points lower than the first student who complained about her C+. I know it's crazy, but the curve is based on each class regardless of how good the students are. So a class full of motivated students has more victims than a class full of students who don't try. I replied:
Hi ________. I would love to give you a high grade that reflects your excellent effort this semester. Sadly, I can't. I can only compare the points you received to the points other students received because of the university curve. You finished with 76/100 and while you did an excellent job on the oral final, missing that test hurt your grade (8/20 for tests) and the final written test also didn't help.I understand that you want a higher grade, but I think you were lucky. There aren't many students who can miss a quiz and still get a good grade (and a B is a good grade although it's natural that you want better). When I was calculating the grades, I noticed that you were the last student to receive a B. One less point and you would have gotten a C+.
I will send a copy of this email to the coordinator of the IFLE. We can hope that there won't be a university curve in the future, but for now I can not change your grade. I know this is bad news, but there's nothing I can do Please don't let something like this ruin your holidays. I hope you have a very merry Christmas and happy New Year. And thank you for the Christmas card! I really did appreciate it.
A complaint about my job. Last semester I was promised a raise when I completed my Master of Applied Linguistics. I completed it, waited a few months for them to mail me the diploma, did a bunch of paperwork, and was told I wouldn't get the raise until next year because they couldn't change my current contract.
The other day they asked me to stay and I agreed. Then they told me I might not get the raise I was promised. My colleague got a raise when she finhed her Masters, thanks to some strong lobbying from the previous coordinator. I've asked the new coordinator to do the same for me but she ahs only been here a few months while the previous one had been here a number of years.
This whole thing is very upsetting. I don't like thinking that the university won't back up the previous coordinator's promise. I don't like thinking that my colleague will be making more money than me while we have the same qualifications. I was wondering if I should be mad because another colleague who has been here only 6 months told me they promised him a raise next semester. I'm not going to be angry if that's a raise for the entire staff, but otherwise I think I'll be very angry.
I hate grading exams. I've tried to make it a little more tolerable this year by giving students situations and asking the to write something appropriate, and it is a little more fun (still not fun) and it takes longer. I have a few long long days in front of me.
I was talking to a colleague who was amazed at the amount fo work we do here at Catholic University. At Seoul University (or was it the University of Seoul?), students take their tests on a computer and the machine calculates their scores. No free response obviously, just listening and various multiple choice type questions. Anyway, it sounds good right around now...
Sponsored by Cool Product Reviews
So the 20 minute sample lesson was OK, but not spectacular. The students didn't seem to know each other and were a bit uncomfortable talking to each other. In a real class we would have been playing games to break the ice...
Anyway I didn't get the job but want to write down the questions they asked before I forget them all.
Your sample lesson was a vocabulary lesson. Do you use any other methods to teach vocabulary?
What is your approach to teaching writing?
What is your greatest strength as a teacher?
Are you willing to work many extra hours?
Why do you want to leave your current position?
A while back, why did you leave a school after only one year?
What responsibilities do you have at your current school other than teaching?
How do you assess students in your current school?
There must have been more, but I can't remember them now. What I noticed and didn't like was that they didn't allow time in the schedule for me to ask questions.
For the ALAK 2004 International Conference CALL fair, 12/04/2004
Example online communities:
ESL go English practice message boards
Learn English grammar online
What you need to build one:
A website - your own domain name will cost about 10.00 US/year while hosting should be 8.00 US/month or less. If you tell me what your needs are, I can probably help you find something suitable.
Software - Message boards are the most popular form of online communities and you can see an old-fashioned one and a more modern one by following my links above. At first I preferred the older style because seeing the subject of every message in a thread seemed somewhat conversational to me. However, the modern ones look so much better and are easier to moderate, that I would sugeest one of these. There are a couple of good free choices.
A theme - The theme should give learners a reason to use your message board. Without an interesting theme, few people will be inspired to read and post messages. On one site I used the theme "English practice and suggest various discussion topics". Hopefully visitors find one interesting enough to discuss. On my other site the theme is sharing examples of English grammar in use. If you can't think of a new theme, you may be better off joining and referring people to an existing community. Building your own online community is hard work and without an interesting theme you are probably facing a steep uphill battle.
Who you need to build one:
At least one moderator/administrator - Someone has to delete spam, and reply to messages. Moderators and Admins make sure that the boards stay clean and that conversations keep going. This usually means that the admin will end up making hundreds or thousands of posts, far more than the average member of your community. This is not an easy job.
Forum members - People have to come to your message baords and post messages. You can make your students visit for homework, you can attract visitors with free online English learning exercises, you can advertise, you can get other web sites to link to you, or you can fight for search engine traffic. I've done all of these with the exception of advertising. It will probably take you quite a while (6 months minimum but probably more) to attract much search engine traffic, even if you know what you're doing. If you're learning as you go (that's what I did) expect it to take even longer.