Just a quick announcement - I published a new class on ESL go. I think this class which uses vocabulary items in an interesting context - the popularity of computer games in South Korea - should be interesting for a lot of students. The language should be authentic though it may be a bit formal (like a newspaper).
Let me know what you think?
My normal conversation classes have their oral exams, which they do in pairs by having an 8-10 minute conversation on one of the 6 themes we've discussed in class (determined randomly by rolling a die) assessed on the following rubric:
Fluency / listening / conversation building = 0-5
Accuracy = 0-5
Complexity = 0-5
Content = 0-15
Content refers to the number of cultural differences discussed and the amount of detail given regarding each cultural difference. In class we discuss Korean and North American in order to compare the differences so the same thing needs to happen on the exam.
The difficulty is in giving feedback. The content area is likely to be the same or similar for both students and I won't be able to write the same thing twice (because I can't write fast enough). This means students end up with individula feedback sheets for fluency, accuracy, and complexity but partners have to share a feedback sheet for content.
This gives me an opportunity to address language issues individually by pointing out errors (plain errors in the accuracy column and avoidance in the complexity part). But it doesn't do the same for content - the discussion is a team effort and I can't really separate each partner's contribution to the overall depth and insight generated during the conversation. So I don't - I have one feedback slip for content that the two students share.
It's a little weird, but it's the best method I've thought of.
Midterms are here. For my advanced conversation class based on Conversation Strategies (a text published by Pro Lingua Associates) I'm using the following rubric:
Student:
Correct Incorrect
Fluency / listening (0-4):
Rejoinders (0-2):
Terrific, wonderful, That’s too bad, Oh really?, I can’t believe it, I see, That’s nice
Follow-up questions (0-4):
What, When, where, why, who, how?
Confirmation questions (0-2):
How big? Which corner? Could you repeat that?
Clarifications with question words (0-2):
You did what? You went where? You’ll meet who?
Keeping or killing (0-4):
I have no idea, I’d rather not say, I’d have to think about that, What do you think?
Probability (0-2):
Will, should, ought to, might, may, could, shouldn’t won’t
Interrupting (0-4):
Excuse me, wait a minute, hold on, Can I add something? But…
Echoing (0-2):
Did you say…? You said…? That’s…?
Polite requests, responses, excuses (0-2):
Would you mind… I wonder if I could… / would, could / I’m sorry but… I’d like to but…
Getting a response (0-2):
What do you think? Don’t you agree? Do you know what I mean? How do you feel…?
/30
The idea is to assess their ability to use the strategies from the first 10 units in a 10 - 15 minute conversation on whatever topic they choose. They've had time to plan what they want to say and how to incorporate the different strategies. The fluency / listening at the top refers to how well they build a conversation together by working with what their pareter says (they do the exam in pairs but are graded individually).
What do you think about the rubric?
Since I did my Master of Applied Linguistics via distance learning (not online but distance nonetheless) I sometimes visit different online learning sites to see their teaching degrees. I'm not considering another degree - just curious really.
And then I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if I hadn't gotten into education (it was an accident really that I ended up teaching SAT classes and one thing led to another and now I'm a professor of linguistics). I considered music and zoology among other things. Online education for criminal justice is another interesting one. I almost studied criminal justice because I wanted to be a Park Ranger. When I took those high school job aptitude tests they said I should either be a Park Ranger or a lumberjack...
People are amazed at how expensive college is in America. For example a school I've never heard of, Collins College in Tempe, Arizona is $55,550/year according to scholarship.com.
It seems like you need a scholarship or a student loan just to go to college in the US. In this article on The Game of Life, players choose whether or not to go to college. University doesn't always mean better paying work, but it does mean more job choices.
In Ohio, they realize that some people can't afford a higher education so they are working on a tuition freeze. The schools aren't sure they can make the plan work since tuition covers over half of their operating budget. Take the example of Miami (Ohio):
Miami's already facing a shortfall of between $6 million and $7 million next year, and Hodge said Miami is on the bottom of the beneficiaries of the compact: Less than 18 percent of funding for the Oxford campus comes from the state, university figures show; nearly 70 percent comes from tuition and fees.American culture values a higher education, but public funds don't seem to reflect that culture. Public money just doesn't end up in education like it used to so tuition becomes more and more vital to universities (and that means expensive).It wasn't always this way.
Two decades ago, state support accounted for nearly two-thirds of an Ohio public university's budget, said Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. But that support began to erode.
So if college loans are a necessity for most students, what does that say about American culture? How much do we really value higher education?
If students are having sex in class, isn't it safe to say that the teacher isn't doing his/her job? Yet in Louisiana, the kids face felony criminal charges.