INTERLINK

Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Movie Scenes
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Dean Daniel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Groups of 2-3 students chose a movie and a 5-minute scene from the movie. They then wrote out the script, memorized their lines, and rehearsed (all done out of class).Before each group performed the scene in front of the class, one student from the group told about the movie and set up the scene.Students seemed to enjoy doing this task. Choice of movie and scene was a critical factor in how well students did with the task. One group picked a movie/scene that was in black dialect and full of slang, and it was nearly impossible (even for me)to understand what the students were saying (and I wonder how much they understood of what they were saying). An older student who was not able to work with a group performed a father/daughter scene from "My Girl" with his daughter. This was a movie I suggested for them when he told me his 11-year-old daughter wanted to do a scene from "Titanic". I would suggest more teacher involvement and control in the selection of the movies. Also, rather than performing the scenes live, I think videotaping would be better, giving students a chance to do the scene multiple times and choose their best performance.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Skits
Center = ISU
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Jane Blyth Warren
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The class practiced various skits throughout the term, taking turns with parts. For a final project, they performed a skit at the graduation party. Next time, I would recommend having the students create their own skit, since they seemed to enjoy it and came up with creative stories on their own.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Role-plays
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Jane Blyth Warren
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Students participated in a variety of role-play situations that they practiced in class and performed in front of the class. Generally they were willing and active participants, and the other students enjoyed the performances.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task =
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Debra Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Students were put into groups of three and chose their own videos and scenes. I asked that each student be responsible for transcribing his/her own role, but this did not always happen due to logistical reasons. For some groups, it was easier to have one person transcribe the entire scene than for each person in the group to borrow the cassette and do it himself/herself. Additionally, some students didn't have a VCR at home and although they could have used a school VCR, they had one person in the group do it all. I asked to see the transcripts in order to check for accurracy. Students did have some classroom time to practice once. During this time, they brought their tapes and were able to ask me to listen to any parts they were unsure of. Most students eagerly undertook this task. They did a good job!

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Movie Scene
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Kara Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Ss acted out a scene from the movie Fly Away Home, which was also their Episodic Story. The script for the chosen scene was presented to the Ss with many intentional errors by the teacher. (Example "They go south for the winner just like their aunts and sisters have been doing for thousands of ears" for "They go south for the winter just like their ancestors have been doing for thousands of years.") Ss first guessed and then listened for sentence level stress and marked it on the script, and began to see the T's intentional mistakes. Ss worked on correcting the mistakes and in doing so heightened their awareness of "almost" minimal pairs and their sometimes minute (or non-existent)pronounced distinctions. Next, Ss recorded the conversation and evaluated their pronunciation, focusing on sentence level stress. Finally, Ss incorporated the body language and gestures of the movie scene, first using only "da's" for syllables and not pronouncing other sounds (to focus on stress and sociolinguistic elements), and then in the usual way.(How are you= "da da DA?") Although I had concerns that hearing the errors would be too hard for the Ss, they rose to the challenge and seemed to enjoy "correcting the teacher." Acting the scene with "da's" freed students to focus on other elements of communication besides pronouncing morphemes before tackling the real words.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Movie Scenes
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Carolyn Mayo
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For the Drama Project this term, the students were divided into three groups. Each group was allowed to choose its own movie scene to enact. The choices were Mrs Doubtfire, Dead Poets' Society, and Something About Mary. The last required a good deal of editing to remove the four-letter words. All of them required a substantial introduction in order to set up the scene for the rest of the class. Although I gave each group some class time to watch and transcribe their scene, most of the work was done outside of class. This was a challenging project for the students, but I was amazed at how well they were able to capture the dialogue on paper. The quality of their oral presentations varied. Logistically, I am still struggling with how to make good use of class time for this project. Click for attachment.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Movie Scenes
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Dean Daniel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Students were divided into two groups. Each group chose a movie and two scenes from the movie, and assigned themselves roles. The steps in the presentation of the scenes were: 1/introduce the movie and explain what has happened up to the first scene 2/act out first scene 3/comment on first scene and explain what happens between that scene and the second scene 4/act out second scene 5/comment on second scene and explain what happens up until the final scene of the movie 6/show a videotape clip of the final scene of the movie 7/comment on the final scene and briefly summarize the story 8/ give a review of the movie. This was a challenging task for this level, but students did a great job and seemed to enjoy it.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Movie Scenes
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2002
Instructor = Dean Daniel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Trailers
View movie trailers and discuss: 1/what type of movie is it? 2/what's it about? 3/is it a movie you'd like to see - why or why not?

Scenes Play a scene from a movie with no sound. Groups create their own dialog and act out the scene. Afterward the movie scene can be shown with sound. Differences between students' scenes and the actual one can be discussed. Play a scene that has a lot of action. Students tell what happened. (Good for tense practice)

Movie Review Tape one of the movie review segments of the tv news. When shown in class, students discuss what criteria the reviewer used and if it seemed valid. Students can also do their own reviews of movies they've seen.

Actors Each student researches about an actor. In class the student will give information about the actor point by point until someone guesses who it is. Groups of students choose a famous actor. They are then given a list of 10 answers (ex. My toothbrush. Every day at 3:00. ) They must think of interview questions to go along with the answers. Each group will have the same list of answers.

Notetaking/Listening "The Filmmaking Process" in Contemporary Topics "Stunt People: Hollywood's Heroes" in Radio Waves

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Movie Scenes
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Carolyn Mayo
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This term instead of movie scenes, we watched 2 episodes of the TV sitcom, Home Improvement. I chose this program because I had one female student and five males, which fit the cast of characters. After discussing the content of both episodes, the students chose parts and developed their own story about the same family. They did an excellent job of keeping the style while changing the content of the original. They divided into two groups to work on two subplots which they later wove together. After numerous practices with scripts followed by memorization of their lines, we began to video tape the result. Replay of the tape each time they performed really helped the students improve. I feel they enjoyed this project and learned to work together as a team.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = video scenes acting
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2002
Instructor = Lynn
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = I started with a scene from the video "regarding Henry" where the father and daughter are making cookies together and talking about her plans to go away to school. Students listened for main idea and then organized strips containing lines. Then they practiced with a partner - taking turns at each part. We had been practicing question intonation and this scene had good examples of this. After they had practiced, I said they needed to act it out in front of hte class...with emotion, gestures, good intonation and eye contact with their partners. They had a few more minutes to practice and then performed for the class. They really hammed it up. (The lines were not complicated, so they could focus on intonation and accuracy more easily. Afterwards, I introduced the skit concept and they took it from there. There were times in class for consulting with me on proper pronunciation and intonation, and we did a dry run the day before with feedback from other students. The final skits were performed in front of the level one class. After the skits, the visitors had time to meet the "actors" personally and ask them about anything they did not understand (and get autographs!). This was a good source of feedback for students on when they were not clear and why the audience had not understood them.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Cultural Anecdotes
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2003
Instructor = Ron Engel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = At ILC UNCG we moved the culture skits from cs4 to cs 2. We decided to do it in much the same way as it has been done in cs4 (Drama Project: Cultural Anecdote Skits). In order to to introduce the concept, we watched excerpts from films that show inter-cultural encounters that are awkward, difficult, unique, or instructive. The curriculum mentions 2 or 3 films that have appropriate sequences. In addtion to those, I would recommend Good Morning Vietnam and Stripes. At any rate, we watched and discussed some pre-selected sequences and then had a bit of fun with it by acting out those sequences. The 8 students in my class were divided into 2 groups. Each group was told that they would be responsible for creating a video tape of approximately 8-10 minutes that would, in an entertaining fashion, dramatize situations of inter-cultural misunderstanding, or conflict, or "revelation". Each group needed to create the video tape, a live introduction, and 4 or 5 discussion questions that could be used after the dramatizations. We invited 2 other ILC classes and any ILC groupies that could be found to watch and participate in our performance/activity. The audience was divided into discussion groups of 3 or 4 and they were given a few minutes to discuss the 4 or 5 discussion questions that the drama groups created. I asked the students in the drama group to listen in on the discussions in order to facilitate the discussions (a tall order for cs2). We wanted the whole enterprise to last for about one hour, so each group was told that were responsible for 30 minutes of activity (again, a tall order for cs2). This is a "doable" and challenging task in cs2. A very positive aspect of the task is that the students must communicate a lot with each other and they have the the opportunity to do it in creative and meaningful ways. Equally as important was the fact that they seemed to really enjoy being able to create a product in English. The theatrical nature of the video tapes allowed some of the more reluctant speakers to speak a bit more freely, even in front of an audience, because they were playing a role rather than themselves.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Drama Task
core+task: Movie Scene
center: VU
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2003
instructor: Elise Harbin
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: Throughout the term, students had been watching various television programs and movies at home so that we could discuss genre, styles, and relevant vocabulary, such as “actor”, “character”, “episode”, “plot”, “script”,etc. To introduce the task explicitly, we watched pieces of The Wizard of Oz. I selected this movie because of its availability, its local connection (a nearby town has a Wizard of Oz Festival in the fall), and because of students’ famililarity with it. After watching some scenes together, we discussed what we could guess of the meaning from body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. The students and I then tried to act out and to recreate different parts of the movie just from our initial comprehension. Once the students felt more comfortable with the idea of “acting” things out, I divided the them into teams of 2-3. Each team had to choose a movie and watch the entire movie together. They then had to choose a 3-5 minute scene and watch the scene closely. The team was required to write a script, but it was not necessary for the script to be word for word. I strongly discouraged students to use closed captioning because I wanted the students to try to get a “feel” for what was happening in the scene based on what they understood throughout the whole movie. The students also received some instructions for what their scenes should “look like” (with emotion, props, body language, etc.) and how they should introduce the movie, the characters, and the specific scene. They had about a week to work on this assignment after the teams were chosen. As they performed, the students were videotaped so that they could see their performances at a later time. Overall, this task was much more successful than I had expected although some groups were excelled more than others. In the future, I would probably have each team be at least 3 students if possible. I would also give the students more time and perhaps more direction with the individual movie selection. I would require the students to turn in their scripts before the performance as opposed to after. Many students asked me to look at their scripts but not all did this. I would give the students even more structure about how to introduce the movie and scene even though the students did a good job with this somewhat formal presentation aspect of the drama task.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Drama Task
core+task: cultural anecdote skits
center: UNCG
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2003
instructor: Lynn Bergschneider
e-mail: [email protected]
Instead of doing these skits in front of other classes this term, we just performed for our class. The students were only given three days to complete the task and they did most of the preparation outside of class time. We did have various "cultural discussions" during class to get them thinking more deeply about cultural issues. One discussion that went really well was based on a questionnaire about lying...i.e. in what situations is it considered ok to lie in your culture? Some topics were easy to agree on (i.e. don't tell your friend you don't want to go to the party because you think it will be boring). However, others were more controversial. There was initially a heated debate about whether a 16-year-old should tell her parents if she got pregnant..and whether the father of the child should marry her. We had Middle Eastern, European, and Asian students, so there were sharp differences of opinion. However, after discussing the cultural background in which each situation might occur (esp. how the girl and boy would be treated in each culture in that situation), we had a very good discussion of cultural values and how each culture tries to show respect and be polite, but we just do that in different ways. As a result, the presentations they gave on cultural misunderstandings were well prepared and they really tried to explain the underlying values that were in conflict. It was less of a "Show" and more of a discussion without another class to "entertain". I'm glad we did it this way.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Drama Task
core+task: Movie Scenes
center: VU
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2006
instructor: Julie Dean Jones
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This term we centered the drama project around the movie Guess Who�s Coming to Dinner. We watched the movie together in 10-minute segments (an opportunity for episodic listening) and used it for class discussions, role plays, etc. For the final project, the students worked in groups of 2-3 to transcribe and act out scenes. In the past, we had had students choose scenes from different movies for the drama project. By focusing on one movie, students were able to understand the scenes much better and I think it made more sense for the audience as well. When we performed the scenes for other classes, each team gave a brief introduction that explained the context of their scene, and then afterwards they showed the actual scene from the movie. This particular movie worked well because the plot was very accessible for the students. They could appreciate the humor and could share opinions about the issues it raised. It was convenient for the drama project as ther e were a lot of conversations involving 2-3 characters, both male and female. Also, the scenes involved a lot of nonverbal communication. One problem with the movie was that it was made in 1967 and in some ways is very dated. Some instructors might feel it�s inappropriate to use any film that repeatedly refers to �colored people,� for example, especially with lower level classes. In this case, I thought it led to a good class discussion.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Drama Task
core+task: Drama Project
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2006
instructor: Steven Ahola
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: Since the Christmas season falls during Fall II, I had my students act out a scene from a Christmas movie--"Miracle on 34th Street." The movie provides a glimpse about one of the main aspects of Christmas: Santa Claus. The students can learn about Santa's job at a department store. Since a majority of the students in my class wanted to study law, I chose a courtroom scene found towards the end of the movie. In the scene, the judge must decide whether Santa is real or not. It was a great opportunity for the students to practice being lawyers, witnesses, and a judge. They also were introduced to new legal vocabulary. If you are planning a drama project, you might try to choose a movie and a scene which is relevant not only to the season but also to their own majors. It might make for more meaningful drama projects.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Drama Task
core task: Movie scene
center: ISU
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Allyson Newport
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: As a variation of the movie scene project for CS2, I used the Japanese animation series �Pingu.� This show is about a family of penguins and the adventures that occur during their daily life. The penguins speak gibberish, so there is no dialogue to follow. However, it is easy to understand what is happening just by watching the interactions between the penguins. To begin with, I showed an episode of the series to the class, and we discussed what the scene was about, who the characters were, what happened, and what the characters were probably saying. I divided the class into groups of 3-4 and gave them a DVD of the show. (The students were actually able to go on-line and find �Pingu� videos, so a DVD isn�t actually necessary.) As a group, they were to choose one 5-minute episode that they could act out. They then had to create dialogue for each of the characters they were to portray. They also found props to use for their scene. This activity worked ver y well because the students were forced to use the language they knew in a natural and creative way. They had to think in English and use it in a conversational setting. They enjoyed themselves very much, and I would do this activity again.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Selected Tape
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Dean Daniel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = I used Connect With English for this. Students watched 2 episodes per week out of class. A quiz was given for each episode (basic content questions) and then we watched it together using closed captioning (not available in McNutt). We then watched it a second time going through for all new vocabulary (which were put up on an overhead). Vocabulary tests were given every two weeks. Students seemed to enjoy watching the video and got together in groups to do it. Comprehension was good, especially for this level. As we progressed through the episodes (episodes 1-14) there were fewer and fewer words that students didn't know.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Listening
Center = ISU
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Jane Blyth Warren
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Instead of the episodic story, I used some simplified academic lectures and conversation tapes. For the conversations, students were required to listen to the conversation and answer some comprehension questions. For the lectures, students received the vocabulary words embedded in sentences via email the day before the listening. They needed to guess the meaning of the word from context. During class the next day, the students would discuss and review the vocabulary, then have a brief discussion about the possible contents of the lecture. They would listen to the lecture tape three times, and then answer comprehension questions. Sometimes, if their scores were low on the questions, I would ask them to listen to the lecture again at the language lab, and turn in the questions the next day. A few times, when we were having a busy week during class time, I assigned all of the work as homework. I also experimented with a "test-retest" technique that worked we! ll. In this case, students would answer the comprehension questions on their own and hand them in. Then they would immediately answer the questions again following discussion with their group. They would then receive an individual score and a group score. Inevitably the group score would be much higher, and they would have understood the material better after having discussed it. I would recommend using this "test-retest" technique but would have the class divided into formal study groups that they would work with each time. I will experiment with that next term.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task =
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Debra Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Students were asked to view three episodes of "Connect With English" each week. The video was on reserve in the McNutt building. Material was reviewed by quizzes and by oral summaries and retelling. New vocabulary was given in advance and students were tested on the words and story.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Episodic story
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Kara Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Our episodic story was directly tied to the drama task. Students watched the movie Fly Away Home over a period of weeks and reacted in written and spoken formats. The story lent itself to further discussions in class relating to economic progress vs. environmental protection. This film was especially intriguing to students because it's based on a true story, about which they could find additional information on the Internet.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Connect with English
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Haeseler
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = I gave the students an introduction to the Connect with English video series and then assigned them one episode a week. At the beginning of the week, I appointed three students to be discussion leaders who were also responsible for creating discussion questions. Their discussion questions ranged from being only content-based (e.g.Who did x?)to questions which went beyond the story (e.g.Would you have done the same thing?) On Friday, the class was broken up into three groups with their respective discussion leader.We could only cover up to six episodes. This seemed to go fine until the end when some students lost steam and did not have time to watch the video.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Listening
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Jane Blyth Warren
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This term I used Quest: Listening and Speaking Book 1. Overall I think it was an effective book. It is divided into 6 chapters. Each chapter is further divided into sections dealing with pronunciation, intonation, listening and speaking strategies, listening for the main idea and details of both radio programs and academic lectures. The textbook contained outlines to help students follow the academic lectures and take notes. This book was really effective in teaching students how to listen for the main points and then listen again for the discrete points. It also taught the students that they could understand the general idea of authentic material.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Joe vs. the Volcano
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2002
Instructor = marcia Lane
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = I combined the episodic story and the movie re-enactment, using the movie "Joe vs. the Volcano." I watched the movie before the students did and I made cloze exercise worksheets, dividing the movie into 10 parts so that it was an episodic story. I had 3 level 2 students, one of whom was quite low, and two level one students in the class. The movie was shown in the 10 segments, obviously at ten different times. After several of the segments, the students were asked to role play some part of what they had seen. This was to prepare them for the movie re-enactment. After the 10 segments, the movie was watched at one sitting, with the students concentrating on which scene their group would re-enact. (ones together and twos together) Then, practice and script writing before the final presentation. Using the movie for the episodic story and the movie re-enactment made it a very efficient, time saving exercise and it gave the students the basis for really understanding the movie that they re-enacted.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Episodic Story Task
core+task: Tape of choice
center: VU
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2003
instructor: Julie Dean Jones
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: We used Stranger in Town: A Play for Students of English by Lou Spaventa (Pro Lingua, http://www.prolinguaassociates.com/Pages/sitbook.html which is available for $19.50—book and cassette). The book is simply the script of the play. Here is the description from the publisher: “This dramatic "radio play" about a drifter trying to settle down in a small North American town can be understood as a metaphor for the process of language learning and cultural adjustment. However, Bob, the stranger, is a believable, very American individual with personal, very real problems, which he and many others in today's society must learn to overcome.” I came across this story rather late in the term, so we didn’t have time to do a lot with it. However, I think it has a lot of potential. We listened to one or two acts a day, and the students enjoyed it and were always eager to find out what would happen next. The ending is left open to prompt students to complete the story.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = ILC Stories
Center = ISU
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Jane Blyth Warren
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = ILC Story-Each student interviewed 4 INTERLINK students about their future plans after finishing the program and then reported to the class in a presentation. This was a culminating project for a section on the future tense. The presentations were interesting for both the students and teacher, and I would recommend repeating this project.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = ILC Story
Center = VU
Semester = Summer
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Julie Jones
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This task worked fairly well. Each student interviewed another INTERLINK student and gave a presentation. I actually allowed students to interview native speakers if they chose (two of them interviewed American students from their dorms). It would have been better if I had allocated more class time for it, particularly for developing interviewing skills and critiquing model interviews.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = INTERLINK Student Interviews
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The interview was the first core task that we completed. They started by watching interviews selected from TV, and completing activities where students pretended to be famous people and interviewed each other. We talked about stem questions and follow-up questions, and brainstormed the characteristics of interesting and not interesting questions. The students then interviewed a CS 3 class during class time. Using the material from the CS 3 students, we worked on the basic parts of a good presentation, including introductions, body and conclusion sections, hooks, visual aids, and speaking characteristics like rate, volume, and eye contact. As the final part of the core task, the students presented what they had learned to an audience of other classes.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Interview
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Carolyn Mayo
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For the Interview/Presentation Project this term, I gave the students a list of cultural topics, such as marriage, holidays, cost of living, crime, etc. Each student chose one topic and developed five to six information questions. I helped them edit the questions for grammar and content. We discussed good etiquette and procedures for interviews. Then each student interviewed three students from three different countries. They compiled the results of their interviews on a poster board chart, using key words for the answers they received. Some of the students added illustrations and were quite creative. They used the chart as the outline and visual aid for their presentation. This project was successful and interesting. Click for attachment.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Travel Project
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Haeseler
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = I made this task an individual task instead which I evaluated as their final project. We did share a lot of ideas and talked about the different components, e.g. the hotel, transportation, tourist attractions in class. The students had to create and research a 3-4 day trip package for INTERLINK students which they could take during the Spring 1 and Spring 2 break. They did all their research on the Internet and some students went to travel agencies on their own for extra information. The only thing I would do differently is to include a discussion about the physical display of their booth, i.e., give them ideas on how to make their booth more attractive and appealing to potential customers.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Winter Holidays around the World
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = ronengel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = cs2 presentation task, fall II, '01 At UNCG, the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs sponsors a presentation called Winter Holidays Around the World (WHAW). This is a presentation that is open to the entire UNCG community as well as the public at large. The basic idea of WHAW is to get the community together to enjoy and learn about celebarations and holidays that occur in various cultures at this time of year. This year, two CS2 classes and a CS3 class decided to participate in this presentation. The students were involved in every phase of the preparation for WHAW. An important benefit that resulted from ourparticipation in this activity was the contact that our students had with the UNCG community at large. Furthermore, this was an opportunity for Interlink to get some positive exposure. A great deal of organizing and planning went into the preparation of Interlink's part in WHAW. Students participated in: 1) attending organizational meetings 2) contacting and communicating with WHAW organizers and participants 3) creating a presentation plan, rehearsing scripts and performances 4) participating in an advertising campaign 5) writing and distributing handbills of information regarding the winter holiday that each group was focusing on 6) setting up a cultural information table and being available to explain the significance of whatever was being displayed 7) performing in front of an audience of from 50-100 people (many of whom were strangers) 8) writing the captions that correspond to the photos that Lynn Bergschneider posted on the Interlink at UNCG web page. This activity did present some problems. The students did have to put in a lot of time at organizational meetings that were long and sometimes seemed to accomplish very little. Because so many people and organizations were involved with WHAW, maintaining effective communication was often difficult and frustrating. Finally, because so many organizations and cultures were afforded the opportunity to give a presentation, this evening program lasted about 3 hours and the groups that performed last had a smaller and less attentive audience. Overall, however, I felt that it was a good experience for our students. Many students did get the chance to demonstrate to themselves and a large audience of friends and strangers that they could communicate effectively in English. This must be a particularly desirable result for students who are in CS2 and 3. It did seem that the Interlink students were cheerful and enthusiastic about the experience. The students seemed to be concerned about the size of the audience. This element of pressure helped them to be motivated to be well-prepared and well-rehearsed. Finally, it was especially nice for everyone to be able to share something about their culture and to have a large group of people respond enthusiastically to what was being communicated. Particularly now, at the host institution and with the community at large, anything that Interlink does that encourages the appreciation of diversity has got to be a good thing. Check the website! http://www.uncg.edu/ipg/interlink, click on WHAW.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Interview project
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2002
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For this project, the students chose a topic that was of interest to them. Some of the topics were holidays, family, education, women's roles, and funerals. They then worked with a partner and developed six questions for their interviews. Next the students had to find three INTERLINK students to interview about their selected topic. The interviewees could not be a classmate, could not speak their language, and had to be from a variety of cultural backgrounds. For their presentations, the students made a visual. This was a good project which incorporated many useful skills and which they seemed to enjoy.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Travel Project
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2002
Instructor = Jillian Haeseler
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The travel presentation was a big success. Students were asked to plan a trip in the U.S. for INTERLINK students for the five day break that occurred between Spring 1 and Spring 2 terms. Since we had a full class, there were 12 different places to travel to (e.g., Miami, Washington, D.C, NYC, etc.) While planning the travel presentation, we broke down the preparation into "chunks". One day, students had to give mini-presentations on lodging, another day on tourist attractions, etc. This way students were forced to plan their presentation on a daily basis. Further, this technique gave them an opportunity to practice before "attending to the public." The mini-presentations also gave us an opportunity to practice vocabulary and discuss "snags" they encountered. Students were able to find all their information off the Internet.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Presentation Task
core+task: travel project
center: ISU
semester: Summer
term: 2
year: 2003
instructor: Jose E. Sanchez
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: For the travel project this term instead of group presentations, the students had individual presentations. I thought that because some of them were going to go on vacation, I would find out where they were going. The students gave ideas of prices and deals to get where they were going. They also gave a description of where they going to stop, and the things that they were going to see. I think this presentation was not only helpful for them, but for their classmates when these plan some future vacation.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Presentation Task
core+task: INTERLINK Student Story
center: VU
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2004
instructor: Julie Dean Jones
e-mail: [email protected]
As a supplement to the Interview task, and as a simple way to give my students additional speaking practice, we did �Conversation Reports.� I prepared a list of topics and every day we would select a different one. The students� homework assignment that night was to have a conversation about that topic. They could talk to host families, conversation partners, roommates, friends, etc. as long as they spoke in English. (This was particularly beneficial for those with spouses or roommates from the same language background. They were willing to try to use English with each other but found it awkward to begin without the structure of a specific assignment.) The next day in class, students were asked to give a brief report about what they had learned. As this was a combined CS 2/3 class, I asked the CS 3 students to listen and ask questions. This activity often developed into an interesting class discussion. Topics included things like �an interesting movie,� �my dream vacation,� �something I�m afraid of,� and so on. Sometimes I gave them a statement (�Single people are happier than married people,� or �We should always tell the truth�) and asked them to find out if the person agreed or disagreed. I tried to relate the topics to other things we were doing in class. In the future, I would like to have students generate more of the topics themselves.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Presentation Task
core+task: Using Transition Words in Presentations
center: CSM
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2006
instructor: Suzanna Gould
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This is an exercise I did with my students to help them work on using transitional words when giving a presentation. We had worked with vocabulary and listened to a lecture on geography, then I had them work in groups and discuss different geographical features of places they chose (see handout). After their group discussions, each member of the group had to pick one topic from the handout and give a mini-presentation which incorporated the transitional words we had studied in the vocabulary. For example, �There are three major physical features in Golden, Colorado. The first physical feature is . . . . The second feature is . . . . And the last major physical feature is . . . .� This exercise was very focused, but I think it helped some of the weaker students especially, as it gave them a structure to put their information on. Handout: Using Transition Words & Geographical Vocab 1. Place: What is the name of the place where you live now? ____________________ a. Describe three � five physical features of that place. (For example, land forms, water, plants, animals, weather, etc.) b. Describe two � three human features. (For example, kind of people, language, art, architecture, etc.) 2. Place: Choose a place other than the one you live in now. Name: _________________ a. Describe three � five physical features of that place. (For example, land forms, water, plants, animals, weather, etc.) b. Describe two � three human features. (For example, kind of people, language, art, architecture, etc.) 3. Region: Choose two similar places that are nearby (2 cities, 2 states, 2 countries) Names: _____________________ & __________________________ a. Describe two � three characteristics that these two places share in common. (for example, political division, climate, language, or religion.) 4. Movement: Give three �four examples of how you travel from one place to another. 5. Human-Environment Interaction: Choose a place and describe two ways (one positive and one negative) that people in that place have affected their environment. Place: ___________________ The vocabulary and lecture came from chapter 3 of the textbook: Effective Academic Listening and Speaking. The handout is a modified version of activity 30 in chapter 3.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel Agency
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 1999
Instructor = Dean Daniel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = There were 2 groups- 5 students per group. Each group had to plan a trip across the U.S. (east coast to west coast) with stops in 5 cities. Each student was responsible for presenting information about one city. Each group was supposed to create a web site to use in doing the presentation. The final results of this task were the least satisfactory of any of the
tasks for 3 reasons:
1) I should have spent more time introducing the task and doing travel-related activities
in class (but there just wasn't time..Thanksgiving break ate into our time)
2) Students should have gotten an earlier start working on the task
3) Because each student was presenting on a separate city, there was very little group work that went on. I thought the creation of the web site would bring the groups together, but because they all got a late start, they never got around to linking up their individual web sites

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel Agency
Center = ISU
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Jane Blyth Warren
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = "Road Trip" The travel project consisted of a team "trip" across the U.S. in a car. The class was divided into two groups, (one with 3 members, the other with 4) with one group going west and the other east. Each team member was responsible for investigating one major stopping point and the final destination, making four total spots for the trip. The trip was introduced during the first week of the class. Each team was given a road map of the U.S. and was told to use the internet in order to find more information about the locations. By the third week, each team needed to report on which locations they had decided to stop at and their final destination. At the end of week 6, each team needed to provide an itinerary showing what they planned to do in each location. At the end of week 7, each team handed in a detailed daily itinerary. During the last week of classes, each team gave a presentation on their project to the CS 4 classes. One group created a Po! wer Point presentation, on a team member's personal laptop computer, and included pictures from the internet. Since the other team did not have a laptop, they created color transparencies and used them to enhance their descriptions of the trip. Both the presentations were well done. The audience enjoyed the pictures and humor shown. The speakers spoke clearly, except in one case. In the future, I would spend more time practicing so that the speakers could feel comfortable enough to look at the audience more than their papers. Overall, I was please with the results.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel Agency
Center = VU
Semester = Summer
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Julie Jones
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The class was divided into three groups. For the first part of the project, each group designed and conducted a survey of other INTERLINK students. They asked questions about students, travel experiences and then graphed the results and shared the information with the rest of the class. I gave the students a lot of freedom with this and they were very creative. They coordinated their information and produced elaborate graphs. Next, each group chose one country and did research on it (including interviewing other students who had been there, if possible). They then gave a presentation on travel in that country. The biggest challenge I had was in getting the group members to work together. I purposely had them work on one country (rather than each student choosing a different place) so that they would have to negotiate which topics to cover. Nonetheless, one group essentially gave three independent presentations on Australia. I would recommend having each group submit a fairly detailed outline of the presentation in advance.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel Agency
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Jane Blyth Warren
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Since the Terre Haute Community Ethnic Festival took place during this term, I decided to substitute this project for the team task. The CS 2 students worked with students from the same country and created displays showing information about their country. The also prepared prepared demonstrations of things they could do to show theier culture to the visitors to the festival. The students wore native dress, demonstrated crafts, and wrote names in their native language. The project was successful overall, although some students did not interact with the visitors to our booth as much as we would have liked.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel Agency
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Kara Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Students brainstormed true and false lists of places they'd been and then told stories about their visits there, whether or not they had really gone. (They were lying) Other students tried to guess whether or not they were telling the truth by asking probing questions. Afterwards, students were put into pairs and decided where they would like to go, if they could go anywhere. The resulting locations of each group became that group's project. Ss brainstormed the kinds of information they would need to research and divided the questions into 3 categories: background information (climate, location), practical information (costs, language) and juicy information (nightclubs, food, museums, etc.) In class, Ss visited numerous travel sites online (www.lonelyplanet.com) and a travel agency in downtown Golden. Ss practiced their final presentations with a camera, analyzed the video, then practiced again befofe giving the final version. Afterwards, Ss self-evaluated their presentations on video and discussed what to improve next time.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel Agency
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Carolyn Mayo
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This task was a major project involving many steps. First, students brainstormed topics and decided on Japan and Great Britain. (None of them were Japanese, but some did interview Japanese students.) Second, we went to the library to search for information. After brief instruction, I told them to find some information and bring it to class two days later to share with their group. Two days later, only half of the class brought something to discuss, so I went back to the drawing board and wrote out specific instructions on how to find books and videos at the ISU library. Then we went to the library again, worked at the computer catalogue together until everyone had found at least one suitable item, and then went together from section to section of the library to find the actual materials. This worked better and the next day everyone had something to talk about. They were also able to divide their topic based on the information they had found and what they we! re interested in. About a week later I was able to arrange for a guest speaker (who turned out to be two people) from a nearby travel agency to talk about Japan and Great Britain. This was great because it was informal and my students were able to understand a good deal of what was said. I continued to encourage the students to search for information and read it. The next step was to plan their itinerary with their groups in class. Then each individual was to prepare an outline of just his or her part and to prepare visuals. Some of the outlines were inadequate and had to be redone. Also, most did not have visuals ready on the due date. I warned them they would need these the day of the practice. The day of the practice some still did not have visuals, and several stood up and tried to read from computer print-outs from Yahoo (in spite of the fact that they had already given several smaller presentations from outlines or notes). The next day we made an emergency t! rip to the computer lab to print color copies for transparencies. The final presentation had already been scheduled for the following day, so we had a very quick rehearsal. Needless to say, the final presentation could have been better. I know the students learned about their topics, but they did not stay on schedule and they did not take the responsibility to practice by themselves (even though I admonished them to do so). They also did not make use of their own groups to help each other. After the presentations, I developed a self-evaluation form, which included each of the components of the project. Actually, their ratings of themselves were very close to mine. Next time, I will present this list of components at the beginning of the project instead of at the end. I will also schedule more class time for each of the steps, especially rehearsals. I learned that even the most obvious detail cannot be taken for granted.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel Agency
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Jane Blyth Warren
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The task this time was to plan a road trip with a group of classmates. The students spent one hour of class researching different places on the internet and getting pictures. They also used the website called "MapQuest" that allowed them to plug in different stopping points and create a trip complete with driving directions and distances. That was a really useful site for the students. They then created Power Point presentations. At this point, one group had some difficulty getting along and dividing tasks. In the future I would try to work with them to assign tasks rather than leave it to them. The students practiced the presentations and then presented their final product in front of an audience of about 25 other INTERLINK teachers. Overall, it was a successful project.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel project
Center = ISU
Semester = Summer
Term = Year = 2001
Instructor = Jane Blyth Warren
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This term the students started the travel project early in the term. They began in the second week by each surveying three Americans about interesting places for international students to visit in the U.S. This was especially effective because the student were able to hear about places other than the typical big tourist cities like Washington and Los Angeles. For that reason, the presentations were more educational for the audience than in the past. In addition, when we were working on adjectives and adverbs, the students were required to give a short in-class presentation about their destination using as many adjectives and adverbs as possible. This also was very successful. During the eighth week of the term the students spent a good deal of time in the computer lab putting their presentations together into Power Point format. They also practiced two times during class. Those students who needed extra work came to my office to practice for me as well. ! All in all, I think the presentations were very well done this term, and the audience seemed to really enjoy them.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel Project
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2002
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For the travel project, the class was divided into two teams of four. One student was chosen to be the organizer. His/her job was to make sure the group was meeting and staying on task. The other group members served as recorders. They took turns giving me a written report each week on what happened in their meetings. Early in the term I had a travel agent come speak to the class. This was very useful as she gave them website addresses and tips on how to use them. She also gave the students travel magazines which helped them select their destinations. The students met and selected their points of interest. In addition to reporting on tourist attractions, they also chose restaurants and logged miles traveled between stops. Each group gave a power point presentation. Overall, the project went well, and I think assigning duties to each member is helpful.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = North Carolina Travel Project
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2002
Instructor = Julie Shoemaker
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The travel agency project centered around destinations in North Carolina, and the winning project as selected by other INTERLINK classes, would be the trip that all of INTERLINK would be invited to attend. The students knew that the goal was real, so they were motivated to search for the most interesting destination, devise a good workable travel agenda and all at an affordable rate since they were planning for students. For their final presentations in which all INTERLINK classes attended at scheduled intervals they had brochures detailing cost, agenda, activities and pictures. The visiting students were required to talk to all of my students and to then write which place they were most interested in visiting, their name and whether they planned to attend. I had one paper for them to write this. These steps lead up to the final presentation: 1. Brainstorm places in North Carolina. 2. Research on the web 2-3 places then choose 1 to present to the class. This was a way for them to learn about the various destinations and also an opportunity to assess their communication skills at both presenting, asking questions and answering questions (the classmates were required to ask questions). All of the students used the computer projector to project pictures from their websites while presenting. 3. Survey the travel interests of other INTERLINK students. This consisted of composing questions that would enable them to learn about monetary restrictions, preferred length of stay and interests. They surveyed two classes by interviewing pairs of students. 4. Call 1-2 relevant places to obtain information they needed. After choosing their destination and planning the details, they needed to make phone calls to ask about occupancy, discounted rates, smoking v. nonsmoking rooms… I had scheduled individual times for them to make 1-2 phone calls from my office so that I could assess their ability at obtaining information through phone dialogue. Many remarked that they never communicate in this way and after the call felt a boost in confidence in learning that their interlocutors were able to understand them. 5. Present trip itinerary with pictures to our class. This was a way for them to organize their information, understand where they needed to make improvements and to answer questions from the audience. Although the final presentations were intended to be more casual, this was a good rehearsal for them and another method for me to assess their progress. 6. Present travel itinerary. The room was arranged in a way to immolate small travel agency offices. The selected destinations included the NC Museum in Raleigh, various mountain places, the outer banks of North Carolina and the NC Zoo. The visiting students choose the Zoo trip, and on a Saturday we took our trip to the zoo. If planned in advance, school groups can visit the zoo for free, so this was a nice ending to the project.

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Course = CS
Level = 2
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Travel Agency
Center = CSM
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2003
Instructor = Saussotte
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Idea: If the term comes before Spring or Christmas vacations, when many students plan to travel, why not 1) find out where students are planning to go, 2) explore travel to these places, including group tour packages and 3) give a presentation that is truly useful to other students? This added reality could give extra incentive and �memorability� to this task as outlined in the curriculum. This term, my one level 2 student was highly unmotivated and unproductive, so it did not really work very well. However, I still think it is a good idea which would work well for most INTERLINK students.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Team Task
core+task: Travel Agency
center: UNCG
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2003
instructor: Dean Daniel
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: Each student selected a place in North Carolina. There were 11 students in the class, so the state was very well covered, with several places in each of the state's three region selected. Research was done on the Internet and by calling 1-800-VISITNC. (After calling this number, students were told that the women they spoke with were inmates at the state Correctional Institution For Women and were able to learn more about the program at http://www.wral.com/news/1707416/detail.html) On the day of the presentations students were seated around the room according to their geograpical position. "Visitors" (from CS 1 and 3)toured the state via the presentations. Each "visitor" spent about 10 minutes with each student, first hearing about the place and viewing pictures and then having the opportunity to ask questions. The office of "Our State" magazine is located here in Greensboro. The magazine is a good source of pictures and information about places to visit in NC, and they are willing to come out and speak about travel in the state.

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course: CS level: 2
category: Team Task
core+task: Travel Agency Role Play
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2006
instructor: Nadine Nicholson
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This term I tried an alternative from the group project I usually had done with this level class. Instead of having each team plan a road trip together which they then presented in a formal PowerPoint show, I used a project adapted from Ron Engel and had each team act as members of a travel agency representing on US city. I introduced the project by having the class as a whole brainstorm what a travel agency does, then divided the information into critical and supplemental categories: critical being hotels, airfare/local transportation, and food; supplemental being all other sightseeing information. I then told the class they each needed to be responsible for one �critical� area for their chosen city, plus any number of supplemental details they saw fit. Additionally, I required them to design and produce one �big� visual aid, such as a poster board, and one �small� visual aid, such as pamphlets, brochures, coupons, etc. At this point I divided the class int o three teams of 3-4 persons each, let each group come up with the city they wanted to represent, and had them write me a written list of who was responsible for each part. After discussing where students could find information (library, local travel agencies, books, internet), each team was left to organize its own meetings, and develop its own plans, with frequent reminders given by me each day when homework announcements were made. Approximately one week later, I had them bring all materials to class to create their �posters� together, giving them about 15 minutes at the end of class to do so and ask me questions, followed by group time outside of class to complete them. A few days later, during Monday of week nine we had our �dress rehearsal� practice together in class, where I had the team I deemed most prepared �open� their travel agency with three other students from the class acting as mock customers, and the remaining 4 students as observers. As they went throug h the role-play process, I intervened at appropriate points to give suggestions and had students brainstorm question types that would get them necessary missing information. Following this group demonstration, the remaining two groups simultaneously practiced their role-plays with the 4 students who had completed theirs as customers. The following date, each group set up their �travel agency� in different offices of Interlink teachers and hosted the CS1 students as customers for 20 minute shifts. On this day and during the practice, each group of �customers� was given a specific role to play (senior citizens with a lot of money looking for a long, relaxing vacation, a group of teachers looking to take 60 fourth grade students on an inexpensive 2-day educational trip, 2 rich college students looking to have fun for 5 days, etc.) and each travel agency was instructed to try to match their needs and �close the deal� before the end of their allotted time. I videotaped each g roup during one of their sessions, and required each team to watch their performance, and give me written answers to the questions: What did you do well? What is one thing you would improve next time? Why? Did you enjoy your groupwork experience? What is one thing each member of your group did well? What is one suggestion you have for each member of your group on how they could improve next time? After receiving the students� self-evaluations, I made comments on them and anonymously included their teammates praises and suggestions for better groupwork. Overall, students unanimously expressed enthusiasm for the project (CS2 as well as CS1), and had fairly insightful self-evaluations, as well as good performances. The only thing I would do differently would be to allow them more dress-rehearsal time and suggestions before their actual performance.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Team Task
core+task: Travel Agency
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2006
instructor: Julie Jones
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This idea came out of the workshop at ISU last winter. It may be something that other centers have already done, but this was the first time we tried it here at VU. For the travel project, the CS 2 students played the part of travel agents with the CS 3 students in the role of customers. This focus made their research easier and made the whole project more meaningful and interesting. Early in the project, the CS 2 teams chose names for their travel agencies and brainstormed questions that they would want to ask new customers. The CS 3 teacher prepared the level 3 students and helped them develop their characters� personalities and travel needs (tying in with the level 3 drama project). We then met together and the travel agents interviewed their customers (we were also working on the interview project at this point, so it was a nice reinforcement). CS 2 researched possible travel destinations and planned a trip for their customers. The project culminated in a 10-minute Power Point presentation in which the travel agents presented the vacation plans to their customers, who questioned the travel agents and determined if they would want this vacation or not. The students really seemed to enjoy this project. The CS 1 class attended the presentations and they are looking forward to doing this next term, and the CS 2 students are eager to have a turn at being the customers.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Team Task
center: UNCG
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Dave Goode
e-mail: [email protected]
I use the activity below on the first day of class to emphasize the importance of students asking questions when uncertainty arises. A single instruction sheet is given to each pair or group to insure a team effort. Each sheet is distributed face down and students are told not to look until the signal has been given to begin. I introduce this activity as a �test� and only allow 5 minutes for completion. To make their first �test� even more unusual and interesting I offer a financial incentive ($10 or $20 bill) to the pair or group that finishes first with 100% of the answers correct. Because some of the answers can be interpreted in different ways, however, this task is never completed without errors. After reviewing all of the complete instruction sheets I put my money back in my pocket and announce that all of the tests have errors. I also sometimes indicate that none of the chickens drawn are cooked and prepared to eat, which is what I had in mind since I am hungry. The overall purpose of this exercise is to point out it will be apparent to the instructor during the course of the term when students do not understand what has been said, thereby emphasizing the importance of asking questions. I also point out that becoming comfortable asking questions will mean not only more practice listening and speaking, but also be an important asset when it comes to finding out more about their new living environment. Because the instructions seem to be non-sense and totally off the wall, students usually have fun and laugh while completing the assignment, which tends to set the tone of the class for the rest of the term. Follow these instructions� Work with a partner or in groups of three. Do everything the instructions say with your partner(s).
Read this page before you do anything.
Write your names at the top of the page.
Put a circle around your names.
Draw three squares in the lower left hand corner.
Put an �X� in each of the squares.
Write 985 and 66 on the right side of this page.
Add 985 and 66.
Subtract 382 from you answer.
Stand up.
Go to the classroom door.
Touch the door.
Return to your seats.
Sit down.
Draw a chicken in the top right corner of this page.
Raise your right hand.
Put your right hands on the top of your heads.
Look at the whiteboard (blackboard).
Count backwards from 20 to 1.
Say loudly��I really like my English teacher.�
Put your right hand down.
When you finish, go back and do the first two steps again.

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course: CS
level: 2
center: ISU
semester: Summer
year: 2006
instructor: ron
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: There are 3 role plays here. Everyone in the class can have the opportunity to participate by having more than one person take on a particular role. (example: 2 grandparents instead of a single grandparent). Each role play needs to last for a set period of time (10 minutes, for example, of constant talking). Preparation and conferencing time needs to be included before each role play. i have been using these role plays for quite some time. i have found that are a good activity to help the students to get prepared for the movie skits core task. Also, it is easy to get them to include specific idioms or even grammar structures that might be "current" at the time that the teacher decides to use the activity. Grandparents who spoil grandkids Role Play A You are the parent of a six-year-old girl. You are doing your best to bring up your child, and you are moderately strict. The big problem, you feel, is your own parent (your daughter's grandparent), who lives with you. He/she is always spoiling your child. You want this to stop, and you will now complain to your parent. Here are some examples of the behavior that upsets you: Giving her too much candy & too many sweets in general (cakes, etc.) Allow her to leave her meals half-eaten. Letting her watch too much TV Buying her too many toys Allowing her to stay up as late as she likes Buying her whatever she wants in the supermarket (Think of MORE!) You remember that your parent was much stricter with YOU when you were a child! You will speak first. Say, "Mom/Dad, could we talk, please? There's something I've been meaning to discuss with you." Then listen and respond.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grandparents who spoil grandkids Role Play B You are the parent of a grown-up child who has a six-year-old daughter. You live together, and these past six years you have really been enjoying being a grandparent. You feel it's more fun than being a parent, because you have all of the pleasures of parenthood without the heavy responsibilities. In recent years, your philosophy of child-rearing has changed. You now believe: Children should enjoy food & eat what they like. Forcing a child to eat can lead to weight problems. TV helps develop a child's imagination. Toys & other playthings are essential to a child's development. Children have lots of energy, and shouldn't be put to bed too soon. It's best to let children learn to make decisions (about shopping, etc.) Role Play A drunk friend It is late at night. You are at a party with a close friend. He/she has drunk several alcoholic drinks and is intoxicated. You have not drunk any alcohol yourself, and are sober. Now the party is ending. The host(ess) is saying goodnight. Your drunken friend came to the party in his/her own car. It is a twenty-minute drive home. You came by train, and were planning to return the same way. But now you are worried about your drunken friend's safety. He/she seems to be in no condition to drive home. What will you do? (you must decide and do it!!) You are worried that your friend: will have an accident might be arrested by the police may injure or kill an innocent person will lose his/her driver's license will not be covered by insurance may be hurt or killed Person B (your drunk friend) will speak first. Listen and respond. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Role Play B drunk friend It is late at night. You are at a party with friends. You have drunk several alcoholic drinks and are quite intoxicated. You are in a very cheerful mood, feeling great. You had a wonderful time at the party. It is ending, and the host(ess) is saying goodnight. One more close friend is still at the party, also leaving now. He/she is sober, and planning to go home by train. You came to the party in your own car. It is a twenty-minute drive home. You feel confident that you can drive home, because you: � have done it many times before � know the way home very well � have been much drunker than this before � are sure that the streets are empty now � are a very good driver � are not afraid YOU WILL SPEAK FIRST. In a slightly drunken voice, say to your host(ess), "Well, goodnight, and thanks a lot for a wonderful evening." (Welllll, g'night, ann thankthalot fer a wunnerful evenin'!) Then listen and respond. Be STUBBORN about wanting to drive home!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Role Play C drunk friend It is late at night. You have been hosting a party at your apartment. Now the party is ending, and you are saying goodnight to two good friends. One has drunk several alcoholic drinks and is quite intoxicated. The other has not drunk any alcohol. Your drunken friend came to the party in his/her own car. It is a twenty-minute drive home. Your sober friend came by train, and was planning to return the same way. But now both of you are worried about your drunken friend's safety. He/she seems to be in no condition to drive home. What will you do? You must decide something and do it! You are worried that your friend: may get into a traffic accident could be stopped by the police may hurt or kill somebody on the road will have his/her driver's license taken away will lose his/her insurance may be injured or killed Person B (your drunk friend) will speak first. Listen and respond. Role Play A intercultural marriage You are a young person who has decided to marry someone you love who comes from another country (for example, America). Today you'll tell one of your parents of this decision, and ask for his/her approval. Below are some of the reasons why you think your international marriage will be successful (think of other reasons by yourself): You feel that in such a marriage, you will: develop a broader point-of-view enjoy more straightforward, honest communication share cultural backgrounds have a chance to travel or live overseas be able to raise bilingual children You will speak first. Say, "Mother (or Father), I have decided to marry a man (or woman) from (name of country). I hope that you will give your approval." Act your part! Listen carefully to your partner! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Role Play B intercultural marriage You are the mother or father of a young person who has decided to marry someone who comes from another country (for example, America). Today your child will tell you of this decision, and ask for your approval. Below are some of the reasons why you think this international marriage will not be successful (think of other reasons by yourself). Argue against the marriage, but in the end, decide for yourself whether or not to give your approval. Below are some of your concerns (think of others by yourself): You worry that in such a marriage, your child will: quarrel too much over different ways of thinking have a limited relationship because of language barrier have difficulty with different customs, foods, etc. risk being separated from family and relatives raise children who are confused about their cultural identity (which culture they belong to) Your child will speak first. Listen, then think and respond to what he or she says. Act your part! Listen carefully to your partner!

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course: CS
level: 2
center: VU
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2006
instructor: Tonia Frederick
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This term, in CS2, one of the units in North Star was about pets and animals. Therefore, one of our visitation activities was to a local pet store that sells a wide variety of animals. The students were given a worksheet with questions about everyday tasks, prices, and the popularity of the various pets. They had to communicate with the employees in order to answer the questions. The employees were very welcoming and accommodating. This activity helped the students get involved in the community and receive a better view of pets in American society. Much of the information was a surprise to them because of the very different relationship between animals and humans in the United States than in other countries. The prices that people are willing to pay and the priveleges that people give to their pets was quite shocking to some students. This was a fun trip and they enjoyed seeing some of their favorite animals.

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course: CS level: 2
center: CSM
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2006
instructor: Lou Ann Venditti
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This multi-step activity was done as part of our preparation for going to a local elementary school. First, the students brainstormed what qualities are important for a good teacher. Next, the students voted on the five most important teacher characteristics. I then modeled how to take their votes and turn them into a pie chart. Students surveyed ten people based on the question "What is the most important teacher characteristic?" Once data collection was complete, students were required to create a pie chart. They were strongly encouraged to use the computer. Since some of the students didn't know how to use the computer for this, I had two of my more technologically savvy students give a brief presentation on microsoft excel. All of the students in the class successfully completed their pie charts on the computer.

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course: CS
level: 2
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2006
instructor: Kim Schaefer
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: CS2 Drama Project Fall II 06
Situational Skits
Lesson Plan
Time needed: 1 class period (2 hours)
Preparation: Create skit scenarios
Divide students into groups of 3-4
Materials: 2 or more skit scenarios (handout of a scenario for each student)
Objectives: Ss will be able to understand the situation assigned to their group
Ss will be able to discuss the situation in a small group with guidance from T
Ss will be able to write the dialogue for the skit
Ss will be able to perform the skit for the rest of the class
Description of the lesson: Since there were two CS2 classes this term, we decided to work together on this project. Ahead of time, we chose two scenarios we thought our students would understand and be able to work with. We created the handouts. Each handout provided a list of instructions for the students to follow, a description of the situation and some discussion questions to help students think about the situation and how they might deal with it. We then divided our students into groups of 3-4 students making sure that different nationalities and skill levels were represented in each group. We also made sure that each group had at least one student who would be likely to take the leadership role in the group. Once the students were in their groups, we assigned the skit scenarios to the groups (with 2 groups working with each of the scenarios A and B). An instructor then met with the group (group A or B) to help the students understand the situation and to brainstorm ide as for how to respond to it. After about 10 minutes, each group began to work on its own skit. Ss then had about 40 minutes to write and practice their skit. The instructors kept track of group progress and helped make suggestions and resolve problems. The second half of the class was spent presenting and watching the skits. The beginning of the next class period was dedicated to debriefing and evaluating the skits.
Results: The project turned out to be a resounding success. Ss really enjoyed the project and asked if we could do it again during the term. The skits were great. I had not laughed so hard for a very long time. The students worked well together, enjoyed the opportunity to work with Ss they don�t work with in class each day, and displayed a lot of creativity. Several students commented that the brainstorming was a very important step because it really helped them get started.

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Level: CS 2
ISU
Instructor: Seider
Term: Fall II
2006
Pronunciation Practice: see attachments
To provide Asain students with increased pronunciation practice for "r" and "l" sounds, I give out the attached two sheets of sentences, each containing 10 sentences for each sound. Teacher does some drill practice, followed w/student pair practice as teacher listens in and assists. If the class is small enough, I have students tape their pronunciation practice. I then listen to their individual tapes and record corrected sentences, leaving space on the tapes for students to record/repeat and practice. Students like this particularly because they enjoy getting "individual" feedback from the teacher in a form of a Recorded Journal exchange.

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course: CS
level: 2
center: CSM
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Venditti
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: Game: Jeopardy
Materials necessary: a large piece of foam core (4'x3'), sticky notes (4"x3") in various colors, and an egg timer
As the term comes to a close, I want to give my students a chance to review what we have talked about during the last nine weeks. To revisit the term's topics in a fun way, I construct a jeopardy board with categories and questions which reflect the topics they have been exposed to. For example, my most recent board has the following topics: world geography, Tom Watkins (a guest speaker who worked in Mongolia), The Astor House (a local historical museum), Jurassic Park, Martin Luther King, Jr., and "Anything Goes" (a miscellaneous category.) Just like the game show, students select a category and money amount and underneath there is a question they must answer. In addition to giving them a chance to recall what they have learned, they have the opportunity to work in a team. Students always have fun with this activity. Additionally, once you have the board, it's easy to change questions and categories to suit your class.

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course: CS
level: 2
center: CSM
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Jennifer Lopushok
e-mail: [email protected]

report text: During a unit on weather this term, I decided that my students should be exposed to the average American weather forecast, and showed them a piece of a news broadcast on-line. They complained about the speed at which the person spoke, but by the third time through, they had at least the basic idea for the next few days' weather. The part of the exercise which the students seemed especially to enjoy was their homework assignment; each student was given one major US city, and told to find on-line that city's weather forecast for the following three days. In class, they were to present this information as if they were newscasters themselves. This exercise was a lot of fun and quite successful, especially since the cities chosen were in widely varying parts of the country, so students were able to employ a wide range of vocabulary, e.g. "sunny," "foggy," windy," and "cloudy." The class seemed to have fun with this assignment, which motivated them more than anything else could have.

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course: CS
level: 2
center: ISU
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Kim Schaefer
e-mail: kschaefer1@
report text: To help my students speak more extemporaneously, I had them give impromptu presentations. To prepare them for this activity, I split the class into groups of three. I gave each group of three a stack of index cards with a word that I thought most or all of the students would know on each card. I had the students place the pile of cards face down and had the first �Speaker� draw a card. One group member served as the Time Keeper and another as an Encourager. When the speaker drew a card, the speaker then had one minute to think about what to say about the topic. At one minute the Time Keeper informed the Speaker to begin. The Speaker had to speak for at least one minute. The Speaker could explain the word on the card, describe it, say why he/she liked or didn�t like it, ect. as long as it was related to the word on the card. If the Speaker stopped speaking before one minute was up, the Time Keeper had to tell the Speaker to keep going. After the Speaker finished, the Encourager told the Speaker what he/she did well. Group members then change roles. They keep repeating this until each person has been a Speaker three times. We then came back together as a class and had each student give a one minute impromptu presentation to the class using a word from a new stack of cards. I gave students feedback on how long they spoke, what they did well, and what they should improve on but I did not give them a grade.

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course: CS
level: 2
category: Drama Task
core task: Aesop's Fables Skits
center: CSM
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: S.Gould
e-mail: [email protected] report text: This activity combines both listening and speaking. For this activity, I broke my students up into small groups of 2 or 3. Each group listened to one of the longer Aesop’s Fables. We used "Mercury and the Woodman" and "The Thief and the Innkeeper". In their groups, they discussed the story, answered questions, and then designed a skit of the story. For the skit, I gave them a storyboard worksheet and asked them to draw simple pictures illustrating the main events of their story, with short captions under each. (I provided a link to a website which showed them an example of a storyboard.) They then had to create a script, make any necessary props, and act it out. Although the students had the story to help them create their scripts, they still had to come up with a lot of the dialogue themselves. Both groups had a lot of fun with this activity.

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course: CS
level: 2
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Lydia Lachmann
e-mail: [email protected] report text: This term my CS2 students were very shy. As a result, they had a difficult time finding people to interview and completing the interview project. In order to give my students more guided practice on interviewing and asking questions, I invited various guest speakers to come to our class throughout the term to speak about their jobs. Each speaker would speak for 15 minutes (with the students taking notes), and then students would interview the speaker for the last 15 minutes. The students prepared some questions beforehand and also came up with additional questions as they listened. This extra practice in class was interesting for the students and allowed them to gain more practice interacting with and interviewing Americans.

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course: CS
level: 2
core task: discussion activity
center: UNCG
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Lynn Bergschneider
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: In my CS 2 class this term I had a small group of Asian students. Most of them were quite shy and hesitant to talk in the large group. I usually wrap up small group discussions with a large group summary of what they discussed. However, whenever I asked them to give their opinion in the large group, the room became silent. So, I set up a student-led discussion process.

THis is an example of the process for a Connect with English discussion about episodes they had watched for homework. I first dictated the questions for the small group discussion and students clarified and confirmed their understanding of the questions. They then discussed the questions in small groups for about 10 -15 minutes. After that, we sat in a circle and each student was responsible for asking the group one of the questions. If nobody volunteered, that person would have to call on someone. After the first person had to call on someone, the rest of the discussion went smoothly, with students volunteering. I think this was because the discomfort of answering a question in the group was less than the discomfort of making someone choose someone who might not be ready. In any case, there was a lot more involvement by all students in this way.

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course: CS
level: 2
core task: Listening
center: CSM
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: S. Gould
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: This session I made a lot of use of the VOA Special English website for my CS 1 & 2 class. For this contribution, I will talk specifically about the VOA’s American Stories. These are much simplified versions of American stories, such as A Princess of Mars, John Henry, etc. They are read by a professional and some include sound effects. This session my students especially enjoyed the stories which had been adapted to display the text as it was being read. These can be found online at http://www.manythings.org/listen/. One way I used these stories was by putting my students in groups and giving each group a different story. They had to listen, take notes, and make a vocabulary list. Then, they got into their groups and discussed what they had understood about their story and helped each other with any vocabulary words. Finally, each student paired up with someone from the other story group and retold their story.

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course: CS
level: 2
core task: Visitation Project
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Marcia Ricchiuto
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: For our visitation project this term, we made two visits to Washington Middle School. In our first visit, the American students interviewed our students. They asked Interlink students about their culture, language and customs. Two of our students were teamed up with 10 to 12 American students. It was very interesting for our students. They were happy to see the children’s interest in learning something about their country and language. After answering the questions, Interlink students taught the children how to say a few words in their language.

In the second visit, Interlink students taught the American students about holidays and special celebrations in their country. They brought pictures and each student gave a little presentation. The American students taught our students about a special tradition in their family during Christmas, summer vacations, and other holidays. Each student brought an object to show as they talked about this special tradition.

After each visit, students talked about their experience in groups of 3 or 4, and then reported their findings to classmates. We used these questions for discussion:

• Did you learn anything from the students?
• What was new to you?
• How different are schools in your country?
• What is similar?
• What did you like the most about this visit?

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keyword: using pictures
course: CS
level: 2
center: VU
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: Lydia Lachmann
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: Since I've taught CS 2 several times, I've found that using pictures is an excellent way to spark conversation as well as practice vocabulary. For this activity, students work in groups of two. Each group receives one picture with two people in it. The students must discuss who these two people are, what kind of personalities they have, and what their relationship is. Then each pair develops a short scene based on the picture in which the two people interact. Finally the pairs present their scene to the class, and the class can decide how well the scene represents the actual picture. Because CS 2's team project revolves around travel, I used pictures relating to various aspects of traveling. Although they were hesitant at first, my students eventually got excited about this activity and thoroughly enjoyed it.

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keyword: presentation
submit: Submit Query
course: CS
level: 2
center: ISU
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2008
instructor: Allyson Newport
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: I had my students listen and take notes on a lecture found in Contemporary Topics 1 called “Public Art.” Before they listened, we discussed art in their countries and their thoughts about art in general. We did a lot of work with vocabulary related to art (genre, style, representation, etc.). After we completed the listening, I assigned a presentation (see attachment) related to our discussion. I had students go to the local art museum and request a tour from the docent. They then had to choose a work of art that they liked and plan a presentation around it. They had to do research on the Internet to find as much information as they could about the art work including information about the artist, its genre, and time period for the piece. They also had to talk about why they liked the work and what was special about it. A week after the assignment was given, we went as a class to the museum. I had called ahead to make sure the museum was not booked at
that time. Each student then gave their presentation with their chosen art work. When we discussed the merits of the assignment later, the student feedback was very positive. For many of the students, this was the first time that they had been to an art museum, and even those who were not fond of art enjoyed the project. It was a great way to get them out in the community and to give them an opportunity to speak with Americans on their own. It also incorporated listening, speaking, and research skills.

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keyword: travel dialogs
submit: Submit Query
course: CS
level: 2
center: ISU
semester: Summer
year: 2008
instructor: Moore
e-mail: [email protected]

report text: In order to help students prepare for their C2 travel project, they created dialogs on the Makebeliefscomix.com web site. The site provides a variety of characters with a range of emotions that can be used to create comic strips with dialog. After introducing vocabulary commonly used in travel situations we added additional vocabulary discovered by students. Then students used the site to create scenarios using dialog to practice situations they believed they might experience when planning a trip. The comics were prepared for homework, and then two copies were printed for use in the next day’s class. The next day students would work in pairs re-enacting their dialogs class. This homework provided a great springboard for students to work on their pronunciation and speaking delivery skills using dialogs they created. They could modify their scripts during the class, correcting errors identified or adding other useful information. I found that the students enjoyed the activity and speaking improved. They were far more engaged in this activity than they were in the use of pre -scripted dialogs. This tool provided many learning opportunities that ranged from identifying cultural differences, idiomatic expressions, how to deal with a problem customer or client, grammar points and more.

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keyword: presentation, travel
submit: Submit Query
course: CS
level: 2
center: UNCG
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: Molly Anthony
e-mail: [email protected]

report text: As a "warm-up" to the end-of-term travelogue presentation, I had my students do a series of small vacation planning presentations, both individually and in groups. My favorite was the "impossible vacation" activity, in which students planned an imaginary trip to an unreachable destination. To start off, we did some class brainstorming about imaginary places or impossible destinations. We made a distinction between "possible but not feasible" vacations, like visiting home, and truly "impossible" destinations, like the moon, Atlantis, El Dorado, etc. One of my S. Korean students suggested North Korea as an impossible destination, which I guess I can't argue with.Their assignment was to make a brochure and plan a Q&A session about their impossible place. To prepare, we did several activities during the week, such as listenings about imaginary cities (Shangri-La, Atlantis, etc) and using the computer lab to make brochures using MS Publisher. On the day of the presentation, students met in pairs, shared their brochures, and did some informal Q&A. We rotated every 10 minutes until everyone had met with all their classmates (I only had 6 students). My students chose to present: The City of Gold, time travel, the moon, Atlantis, a city under the sea.I was impressed with their grasp of Publisher--I had anticipated that most would choose to draw a brochure by hand--all my students had made and saved files, and only one proved unable to print their creation (she then made a hand-drawn copy). We had fewer technical difficulties than I thought. I was also impressed by the creativity of their ideas when they decided how to answer questions: How do you get to an impossible place? How much does it cost? What will you do there? Is it safe? In conclusion, it was worth it to me to do this project just to see their crazy brochures (they are delightful). If I do this again, I would like to use more goals or boundaries to make it more challenging and/or limit the time from assignment to due date. The students seemed to enjoy this project, and I certainly liked it, but I think there are many things I should do to enrich it more.

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keyword: Tour Guides
submit: Submit Query
course: CS
level: 2
center: UNCG
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: Jenny Perron
e-mail: [email protected]

report text: The students were itching to get out of the classroom this beautiful summer (as was I) so we made a weekly “tour guide” project that I was hoping would articulate nicely alongside our Travelogue project. The idea was that they would choose a place we could walk to within campus/our building distance during our class time, and we would learn all about that place as the tour guide showed us around. However, as Greensboro is quite limited in this capacity, we started to run out of (interesting) places after the third round. The premise was this:Once a week each week, one student would visit a place as homework, ask many questions, then 'guide'us to and around that place (we did Wednesdays), describing things and informing us about it based on the information gleaned from that pre-tour interview. I encouraged the students to share the questions with each other (and me) before their interviews to be able to get all the information necessary, and a lot of 'interesting'information as well. The same student was then responsible for choosing a conversation topic for once we were settled in there for the rest of the class period (we used the second hour).It was successful for the most part. We had a most excellent conversation at the local coffee shop, and we all visited the campus museum for the first time. The latter sparked a great conversation of what we consider art, vulgarity, etc. I learned a lot about my students’ personal tastes and values. However, the last trip was to a sandwich chain which didn’t open until 20 minutes before the end of class. Some forgot to bring money, thus we felt we should leave, so that was pretty much a bust.My advice to someone who might want to do this in the future:• It’s best if your class is 7 students or less (one per week).• Find a map of the campus area and list every place in walking distance, then• Brainstorm then research feasibility for several places in the first week of class.• Make sure the place is INTERESTING for each tour guide. (I think my last two felt like they were picking the last straws.)• Require interview questions a week before. Some of my'presentations'were very thin.• Have the students rate each tour. This should help incentive, inspiration and motivation• Try to think outside the box. Even in a campus area as pithy as Greensboro, there are many un- or under-explored places around campus; a police station, a museum, a ma and pa bookstore, ma and pa theatre, etc. Encourage your students to go to places that may be free and/or that don’t necessarily entail tables and food.

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