Classroom Contributions CS3
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = School visit
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Core Task-School presentation. My C/S 3 class of seven students
visited Terre Haute North High School on two occasions. As a variation on the
presentation, we divided the American students into small groups along with one
INTERLINK student. They were then able to participate in a small group discussion
on a much more personal level than a standard presentation. As preparation, my
class brainstormed topic ideas a week before we went. I narrowed these and then
had the students come up with questions relating to the eight topics. The day
before we went, the students worked with each other practicing asking the questions.
I also sent the list of topics to the high school teacher I was working with so
that the American students would be prepared also. This format worked extremely
well because my students felt much more comfortable with the speaking in front
of a small group than a whole class. They were able to use the communication skills
they have been lear! ning as well as hear conversational style English spoken
by native Americans. My student feedback was very positive, and the American students
were so happy with the experience that they asked their teacher to ask the INTERLINK
students to return. All in all, I believe it was a very beneficial exercise, and
I would do it again. Topics: Food, traditional and modern clothing, free time
(dating, social life, etc.), sports, school violence, music, language, education,
manners.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category =
Core Task = Visitation Project
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Chiara Comes
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The students in my CS3 class went to visit 2 classes: one other ILC class of their same level or higher, and one university class of their choice. They were to record the class (with the professor's permission), take notes on the subject taught in class that day, then listen to the lecture again at home and make a comparison between the kinds of teaching styles they are used to and the ones they see being used here in the United States. They had to keep the notes and the cassette tape (to be turned in to the instructor), and make a 20 minute presentation to our class about their discoveries, disappointments, and things they learned. Out of the 10 students I had, 9 really enjoyed visiting the other classes and also felt they learned something new. One student took a very high level college class and was overwhelmed with notes and big words he didn't understand.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = Visitation Project
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = C/S 3 Visitation Project Core Task For this core task, I arranged with a teacher at one of the local high schools to bring my students to her AP English class several times during the term. The first time we met the American students had developed their own questions to ask the foreign students because their teacher was requiring them to write a paper on the information they collected. This encouraged the International students to converse and ask their own questions. The Americans had also researched my students' countries and had made welcome posters for them. The Internationals on one visit brought items from their cultures to share with the Americans (for example, money, games, etc.) During another visit, one of the American students had brought a karaoke machine to class. Several of my students performed songs in their own languages in front of everyone. This was a great confidence builder for the Internationals. Another meeting we went outside, and the Americans and foreign students engaged in a variety of sporting activities. It is in these relaxed settings where some of the best communication took place. At the end of the term, the American teacher had her students and my students to her house for a pitch-in dinner. This was an excellent way to end this session. Some of my students became e-mail partners with some of the Americans which was another added benefit. I gave my students a questionnaire afterwards to evaluate their experience. It was overwhelmingly endorsed by all the students and was probably one their most rewarding activities to date.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = School Visitation
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = C/S 3 Visitation Core Task
Once again I arranged with a local high school teacher for my C/S 3 class to visit her senior Government class. There were four meetings in the project. When we arrived the first time, student representatives greeted us at the door which helped put my students at ease. The Americans were divided into groups of 4-5 to meet with one of my students. This was done in advance of our arrival by the local teacher. The high school students had researched the different countries represented and had many questions to ask the ILC students. The group discussions were always lively and were excellent conversation practice for my students. After the last meeting, the American teacher invited her students and the internationals to her home for a potluck. Our students brought many of their native dishes which was a new experience for the Americans. One of the African women came in her native costume. The evening culminated with our students performing native dances for and with the ! Americans. Everyone had a truly enjoyable time. As part of their requirement for this task, my students asked the Americans questions which my students had generated in class before meeting with the high school students. My students then gave a presentation in their CS class based on the answers to these questions and their overall experience. They all agreed that this visitation was extremely beneficial both culturally and verbally. One of my students said that she was afraid to speak to Americans before she did this project, but now she felt very comfortable doing so. Many of the internationals have continued to maintain contact with some of the Americans. This is by far the best core task that I do.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = Middle School Visit
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The middle school visit was completed during the last week at Kunsmiller Middle School in Lakewood with Jacob Segerhammar, a bi-lingual social studies teacher who is an old friend of mine. Two of the three students showed up, and they were asked to pick one specific thing about their culture that they wanted to teach. The students ended up giving general presentations about their country, which was not the exact task, but they were good. We practiced the presentations by videotaping them and having students review them for pronunciation and grammar. Middle school students were very participatory, and after the students gave about a ten minute presentation, they spent the rest of a 45 minute period answering questions. Both students enjoyed the experience.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task =
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Debra Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = After contacting four middle schools to see if we could visit, one responded positively and wanted detailed information about what we wanted to do, the names and countries of students, etc. After three faxes I never received a call. I was informed that the teachers "had my information and would contact me." If they do, it'll be next term! Contacting schools is time consuming as one plays telephone tag for weeks. I think that next term I'll try contacting private schools. I did call one private school but it never returned my call.
As a last resort we contacted a retirement home where the students gave presentations about their countries. Students presented to small groups of 2-5 people. Because some of the senior citizens were hard of hearing, the "presentation" was a conversation between a student and one or two seniors. Although the interaction was good, a retirement home does not offer a more formal group presentation atmosphere that should be required for this level.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = High School Visitation
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For this core task my class once again visited a class at one of the local high schools. We had the international students placed into groups with 2-3 high school students. The high school students had many questions for the international students, so the discussion was often very lively and entertaining for everyone. As part of the final requirement for my students, they had to give a presentation in CS class about their experience with the high school students. Below I have included the instructions I gave to them concerning their presentation. Last term the presentation was based on questions my students asked the American students, but I decided to try this format this term. Of the two methods I believe that I prefer this format, but I would try the questions again.
PRESENTATION ON HIGH SCHOOL VISITATIONS
You will give a presentation on your visitation experience with the American high school students. The presentation should be 5 minutes in length and should include an introduction, body and conclusion. You must use notecards (NO SHEETS OF PAPER PLEASE.) In your presentation you should talk about the following:
Give a brief description of the topics you discussed in your group
Tell what you learned
Tell what you think you taught the Americans
Discuss any new vocabulary you may have learned
Compare the lives of these students with your lives when you were in high school:
How is it the same and how is it different
Tell how you felt about this experience before and after you went
You will be graded on presentation skills (fluency, eye contact, loudness, presence, pronunciation, etc.), grammar, organization, inclusion of introduction and conclusion, content. Make sure your presentation is organized so that you give all the necessary information in a way that it is not too long or difficult to follow. Remember that you want your audience to be interested in what you have to say!
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = Middle School Visit
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Debra Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = My twelve students visited a private middle school. They were split into four homerooms and allowed 45 minutes for their presentations. I visited each room on a rotating basis, which allowed me to view each student presenting. ILC students enjoyed seeing an American school first hand. Their experiences varied; some said that the American students were too apathetic, while others said that the students were fine. One possible factor may be that some presenters had the students more involved in the presentation (such as asking the students questions, or having them practice Tae Kwon Do moves.) The head teacher of the host school enjoyed our visit and offered to host us again. My advice to those planning a school visit: call as soon as you can. Sometimes you play phone tag and once you make contact, coordinating schedules needs time flexibility.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = School Visit
Center = VU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = John B. House
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Instead of taking my small class of three students to a local middle school, I elected to take them to a special school for students who had been expelled from their original schools for one reason or another. It was recommended to me by another teacher who had taken a CS3 class there a couple of terms earlier, and had a very good experience there. It took a little time and a couple of phone calls to get in touch with the contact person at the county juvenile center and make the arrangements, but it was not difficult to set up a time and a date that matched our CS class time. Upon arrival at the center, we were met by the teacher I had spoken to on the phone, and taken into a classroom that had around eight teenage male students waiting for us. We were introduced by the teacher, then I addressed the class and told them we did not have presentations to make, but instead had hoped to answer any questions they might have had about the two countries represented b! y my students, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. I was pleased that the students were all very polite and interested to learn more about those countries. They asked many good questions, and I assisted only when my students did not fully understand the questions. My students did a fine job of explaining what life is like in their countries, and we all enjoyed the session very much. It was so successful, in fact, that we went beyond our allotted time by 20 minutes. My students asked a couple of questions as well, but almost all of the questions were posed by the students of the Learning Place and their teachers, three of whom were in attendance. A few days after our visit, we received handwritten letters from each student thanking us for our visit and telling us how much they enjoyed it and what they learned about South Korea and Saudi Arabia. It was a very positive experience for my students overall.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = Visitation Project
Center = ISU
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Carolyn Mayo-
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This summer, as part of the Community Involvement Project, INTERLINK CS 3 students participated in an information exchange with Indiana State University students enrolled in an upper level English class on Folklore. The goal of the ISU students was to get information for a paper they had to write, and the goal of the ILC students was to get information for an oral presentation. ILC students could choose any aspect of American culture they were interested in. Before the interviews took place, ILC students did some Internet research on folklore from their own countries. Then they presented one story to the class. The purpose of this was to make them aware (especially those who said, "I don't know any folklore from my country") that they did have knowledge about this topic. It was also to help them develop some of the vocabulary they might need. The next step was to meet with the ISU class, draw names for partners and exchange telephone numbers and e-mail add! resses. They were to have two face-to-face interviews, one for the ISU student and one for the ILC student. Before the actual interviews, we discussed the content and structure of their questions in class. Finally, the ILC students presented their findings with visual aids. The presentations were good, and the students responded quite favorably on their evaluations of the project. However, some aspects of this task did not work well. The first problem was that some of the Americans did not respond to our students' requests for a meeting. Fortunately, there were two Americans to one international student, and some ILC students had two willing partners. Therefore, we were able to rearrange partners at the last minute so that everyone had the opportunity to participate. Secondly, the ISU professor did not follow through on her original invitation for us to attend her students' oral presentations of their papers. I don't know the reason for this, but I do know that some ! of the Americans' topics were too specific (Bloody Mary leg! ends, for example) for our students to be helpful. Perhaps, they were disappointed with our input. Likewise, some ILC students could not get much information from the Americans (even though they had relatively simple topics, such as wedding superstitions), and the ILC students had to resort to the Internet to fill out their presentations. Despite these problems, all ILC students said they enjoyed the opportunity to talk with their English-speaking peers.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement
Task
Core Task = High School Visitation
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = My CS3 class visited a local high school class and participated
in discussion groups with the American students. After each of the first three
visits, the students worked with a classmate to gather information about their
previous visit and talk about what they would like to do for the next visit. (These
activity sheets are attached.) This was a useful activity because it helped the
students focus on what they were actually learning from this project. It also
gave them a chance to think about subjects they wanted to discuss, and it helped
them see that they were giving the Americans valuable information about their
cultures. At the last visit, the internationals asked the Americans six questions
(also included), which they then used to give a presentation about their experience.
Attachments:
discussion
topics for HS visit
further
discussion topics for HS visit
questions
for HS students
reflection
on HS visit
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = Senior Center visit
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Cheryl Howard
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Senior center visit/Presentations The students visited the Greensboro Senior Center for an afternoon tea. They listened to a senior African-American woman read selected poetry of Paul Lawrence Dunbar and learned about the dialect used at the time. The students could not understand everything, but they knew before they went that the dialect would be difficult to understand and during the presentation, they focused on what they could make sense of and talked about it after the visit. The students did not have exposure to the poet’s work before the visit, as we did not know what the woman would be presenting, but the students accessed some of the poet’s websites afterward and could see in writing what they had heard at the center. I would recommend looking at the poetry before attending such a presentation if it is possible to know what will be used as the students would have a better understanding overall. However, the students seemed to enjoy the game of trying to understand as much as they could on their own and then talking about it afterward. In addition, the students had the opportunity to get up in front of the seniors and share facts about some winter holidays that are celebrated in their countries. They were prepared for this since they had already presented on this topic for a campus event called Winter Holidays Around the World and were confident about their presentations. The seniors at the center also shared ways that they traditionally celebrate Christmas and New Year’s in the U.S., so the students were able to learn more about American customs and traditions. Overall, this visit was a success, and the students were very fascinated at listening to a different dialect in English and by sharing holiday information with each other. The students and seniors even shared addresses and made new friends to continue sharing experiences and learning about new cultures from each other.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category =
Core Task = visitation project
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2002
Instructor = ron engel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Core task report for cs3, Spring II, 2002 Ron Engel For the visitation project this term, cs3 attended 2 class lectures in an introductory African American Studies class. Because of our location in Greensboro, I wanted to attend the lecture classes that dealt with the civil rights issues that were in the news around the time of the sit-ins at Woolworth's in Greensboro. Before we actually attended any of the lecture classes we watched related segments of Eyes on the Prize. This was done as if it were part of a university class. The students were instructed to take notes. At first, with the use of overhead transparencies, I showed the students my notes and re-presented what we saw and heard as if it were a university lecture. As we proceeded, students were assigned to do the same as I had done. In order to encourage the students to take complete and accurate notes, they were given quizzes that allowed them to use their notes. Then, we attended the UNCG African American Studies class. This was fairly difficult. The lecturer did not use a lot of visual support. He spoke quickly and, naturally, assumed a lot of background knowledge that most ILC students do not have. Again, this was a listening and note-taking activity. Because of their lack of background knowledge, we brainstormed what we needed to know and we created appropriate background information questions. In groups, the students were assigned background information questions and they interviewed Americans in order to get this information. Students then presented their information to the rest of the class. Finally, with the use of whatever notes they had, they took a quiz based on the two lectures that we attended. Finally, The Sit-In Museum is located in downtown Greensboro. They provide a speaker and show a couple of videotapes that relate to much of what was discussed in the UNCG lecture class. A really interesting aspect of this field trip is the fact that the museum is actually located at the site of the Woolworth's store where the sit-ins took place. Consequently, the ILC students could actually observe the place that they saw on videotape and heard about in class. A cautionary note: I recently received my class evaluation. One comment was: "I am sick of Black and White."
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = School Visits
Center = ISU
Semester = Summer
Term =
Year = 2002
Instructor = Carolyn Mayo
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = In CS3 this term instead of visiting a school, the students went two times to the Boys and Girls Club of Terre Haute. There they worked with children aged 6 to 13. We met in a large gymnasium, and the children were divided into eight groups. The INTERLINK students worked with one group for about ten minutes, and then rotated to another group. They did many interesting things. Some played games from their countries, some taught the children how to write their names in a different alphabet, and some brought traditional clothing and let the children try it on. The INTERLINK students discovered that activity was necessary to keep the children's interest. Even though they were exhausted after an hour, the ILC students all enjoyed this core task.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = community interview
Center = CSM
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2003
Instructor = Marcia Lane
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = To prepare for the community interview, students were given a list of ideas for which they made questions. These were checked in class and then students took the questions to Conversation Partners. They reported on the results to the class, aftrer practicing reported speech from the grammar inventory. The next step was to create questions for the community interview,have these checked, and make the appointment before going on the interview. Recommendation: A problem occurred when two students, who were added to the class after the Conversation Partners pracice, didn't follow directions. This problem might have been avoided and others could have been helped by in-class practice of making an appointment, a recommendation I now make.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Community Involvement Task
Core Task = school visitation
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2003
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = A few days before our last visit to the high school, I had students work in groups to create questions to ask their high school partners. I compiled the questions into a worksheet of ten questions which I gave to the students on the day before our visit. The students reviewed the questions together and made some suggestions that I later corrected. Then the students asked the high school students the questions and took notes on the information (speaking, listening, and note taking practice). The next day in class, the students worked with a partner to sort through the information they had gathered and put it into summary form. Their assignment was to work together to give a mini-presentation on this summarized information. I gave them three days to work on it (outside of class) before they had to present. As is true for most classes, some groups did a better job than others. Probably if I do it again, I will give the students more time to work on the presentation. Overall, I thought it was a useful assignment for two main reasons. First, the students sometimes have difficulty speaking with the Americans in spontaneous conversation, so the questions gave the internationals a starting point for discussion. Second, it gave the students practice doing oral summaries. They often have problems condensing information, so this was a good exercise for them to practice this skill.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Community Involvement Task
core+task: School Visitation
center: ISU
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2006
instructor: Melissa Yi
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: In CS 3, the school visitation project for this term was at Riley Elementary School. This was the first time for Interlink to visit this school and it was upon request of a mother in the community who wanted to promote diversity in the school and whose son also attends Riley Elementary. She wanted our students to teach the children about their various cultures. We had students representing four different countries: Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Oman, and Korea. They had a few weeks to prepare general information about their country, pictures of their country, and games/activities in which the children could participate. When we got to the school, each group set up their station and over 100 students passed through each station for a period of about 1 and a half hours. This was somewhat draining for my students, but they had an enjoyable time teaching them about their countries. The children seemed very interested in the presentations, as they learned about Saudi A rabian traditional clothing, learned how to play a Korean game for children, saw pictures of Taipei 101 at New Year�s Eve, and received their name written in Arabic. This was a great teaching and learning experience for my students not only because it really stretched their communicative skills, but it also gave them an opportunity to share their culture with others.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core
Task = Role Plays
Center = VU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year
= 2000
Instructor = Gesa Roschek
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Report Text = As some students like doing role-plays and some are
very reluctant I start this task once the students have become familiar with each
other. The first step is to give them role plays which I have invented and which
are about some conflicted situations. I decide on the pairs and start with the
more confident students. The next step is an assignment to devise their own role
plays and choose the players. After the first approach students can volunteer
to take over if they have a different idea of how to play the role.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Skits
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Chiara Comes
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This was fun and helpful I believe. The students were responsible for going to the ILC web site, printing out their level's inventory list, and dividing the idioms and phrasal verbs among them. The task was to create a 15 minute skit using as many phrasal verbs and idioms as they could, by acting out a situation. One group acted out a scene from a soap opera. Another group made up short conversations. The last group, acted out a scene from 2-3 movies all the students would know.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Role-plays
Center = VU
Semester = Summer
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = John House
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = I approached this team task in a very straightforward manner, and found it quite easy to complete by limiting the activity to role-plays. The material that was used came from the text Conversation Inspirations, which has many pages of role-playing situations grouped according to themes. I concentrated on those involving some form of conflict in order to allow the students to use their imaginations and spontaneousely attempt to resolve the problems they were acting out. The role-playing situations were based on either roommate problems, general conflicts, and giving advice. Students were paired with a different partner each time, and one person in each pair had to choose a scenario from the list after they had been copied from the text and then cut into individual strips. Each pair was given a few minutes to discuss the way they wished to approach the situation, but were instructed not to construct any staged dialogues in the interest of promoting spontaneity.! The pairs then acted out their role-plays and the class watched and listened, then comments were elicited about the performances. A few errors were also highlighted and suggestions were elicited regarding possible corrections. We did this activity an average of once a week, and the students enjoyed it each time.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Role Plays
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = C/S 3 Role Plays Core Task
As a variation on this core task, instead of having the students write their own role plays, I gave them different scenarios which they had to discuss as a group and perform for the class. They did this several times in the term, and the students worked well together and seemed to enjoy doing it. The scenarios I used were conflicts which can occur in everyday American living. For example, one set was about conflicts within the family (between children and parents, between spouses, between siblings, etc.). Another set was about conflicts which can occur in public. For example, what do you do if someone is smoking on an elevator and it is bothering you? Do you confront the person or remain quiet? The role plays encourage free thinking and language use.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Movie Project
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Jillian Haeseler, Julie Phillips
E-Mail = [email protected], [email protected]
Report Text = Basically the 9 weeks were evenly divided into three main presentations: the creation of a film, the political ad campaign and the community story. The Drama Project in CS 3 "which provides students with an opportunity to use their imaginations and personalities" became the Movie Project. Students in both CS3 classes were divided into two groups and were given the task of creating the plot, writing the script (in which they had to incorporate idioms from the inventory), acting, filming, adding music and editing for their films. Three groups came up with romantic comedies while the other created a dark romance. The CS3 classes then presented a Film Festival with two students as MCs for the other UNCG INTERLINK classes. The audience was served popcorn and judged the four films in terms of best film, best camerawork, best actor and actress, best costume...to which the winners received small awards and gave short speeches. This along with the ad campaign centered around students' negotiated interaction to which they had an authentic, meaningful and entertaining goal. Creating a movie as their first group task provided! some experience in working as a team as well as videotaping themselves in role-plays before making the political ad campaign. We did, however, discover that only some teams worked well together and that a preliminary "team building" or "problem solving" video should have been shown and discussed to encourage respect and ensure equity of work distribution.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Role Play
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = We did several role plays this term, and they seemed to work well. I used the ones from the Curriculum handbook, and I liked those. This class enjoyed being self-expressive and creative. One role play that we did which I thought was particularly successful was a re-enactment of a talk show. I arranged the students in groups of 2-3 and gave them the information which I have included below. We discussed the instructions briefly, and then I let them work together to create their own scene. They also met outside of class to prepare. I graded this like any other type of presentation with more emphasis on their creativity. It turned out to be quite amusing for the participants and the audience. I recommend this activity to anyone wanting to try a role play.
Instructions: For this role play, you will work in groups and role play a talk show (such Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O'Donnell, Jay Leno, etc.). One person will act as the talk show host, and the others will be the guests on the show. You may pretend to be a real famous person, or you may invent your own identity. Each person should speak for at least three minutes. You will be graded on creativity, fluency, loudness, clarity, and grammar. Below is an example.
Talk Show Host: Good evening, everyone. My name is Perry Mason, and I am glad you could join us. We have a wonderful show which I know you will enjoy. Our first guest is someone well known to all of you who like action movies. Please welcome Jackie Chan to our show!
Jackie Chan: Thank you! I am glad to be here.
Host: It's good to see you, Jackie. Tell us what you have been doing.
Jackie: I've been working on Mel Gibson's latest film. He is directing and starring in it. He said that he thinks the theaters will be showing it this summer when a lot of people are ready for a new movie. I think we will have the premier in a city where people like action movies, maybe New York. By August it will have been in all theaters for at least two months, and it will have been running even longer in bigger cities.
Host: What was it like working with Mel?
Jackie: It was great! He had a lot of interesting stories. He told me just the other day that he had gotten sick a few weeks ago. He said that he had gotten food poisoning from eating bad food on the airplane. He had been using this airline for several years, but he might never use it again. If he had to do it over again, I think he would have taken his own lunch!
Host: That's too bad Mel was sick. I haven't seen him for a long time. Please be sure to tell him I said hi when you see him again. Well, it's been a pleasure talking with you, Jackie. Please come back.
Jackie: Thank you. I will!
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Role-Plays
Center = CSM
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Aaron Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = To warm students to the idea of role-plays, Ss were given a series of mini-situations. We started off with cultural role-plays adapted from the Tapestry Speaking series, asking Ss to play normal situations while simulating cultural body language or behavior. After that, Ss played a number of games where they impersonated celebrities and interviewed each other, for example. Once they were used to the idea, Ss were asked to create characters of their own. The rest of the class was spent completing activities in these ‘new’ personalities; in order to hit different grammar targets while still keeping them engaged and creative, the Ss might have been asked to relate an embarrassing past experience as their character. Even games as simple as 2 truths and a lie were more interesting and useful because of their roles. For the last three days of the unit, this group combined with another class of similar level who had also created characters. On the first day, Ss created and spread rumors about each other that were tabloid worthy. This proved to be quite fun; Ss really enjoyed the opportunity to make fun of each other protected by their manufactured personalities. It was also an excellent vehicle for reported speech. After the first day, Ss took part in a mystery role-play that took place on a cruise ship similar in structure to the board game “How to Host A Murder”. Teachers wrote a plot that included all students, and they were given role-plays and mingling situations along with information that they had to convey to other students. The audience, on the other hand, was asked to take notes, since each piece of information would eventually help them figure out the mystery. On the morning of the third day, the ‘crime’ occurred, and Ss had to ask each other questions to figure out who had committed it. Ss displayed a wide range of skills during the role-play. Overall, this unit was successful. By ending the task with a large, multi-day role-play event, it felt much more substantial, and Ss were really able to repeat skills over a longer period of time.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Role-Plays
Center = CSM
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Kara Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For this unit, we started with a few small situational role-plays to get them used to the idea, including beginning and ending conversations, giving and receiving compliments, and other sociolinguistic functions. After these initial role-plays, Ss were asked to create characters and fill them out with jobs, personalities, and personal histories which they played for the rest of the core task. They were also required to give a speech about a personal experience based on their characters. For the last three days of the unit, this group combined with another class of similar level who had also created characters. On the first day, Ss created and spread rumors about each other that were tabloid worthy. This proved to be quite fun; Ss really enjoyed the opportunity to make fun of each other protected by their manufactured personalities. It was also an excellent vehicle for reported speech. After the first day, Ss took part in a mystery role-play that took place on a cruise ship similar in structure to the board game “How to Host A Murder”. Teachers wrote a plot that included all students, and they were given role-plays and mingling situations along with information that they had to convey to other students. The audience, on the other hand, was asked to take notes, since each piece of information would eventually help them figure out the mystery. On the morning of the third day, the ‘crime’ occurred, and Ss had to ask each other questions to figure out who had committed it. Ss displayed a wide range of skills during the role-play. The unit was successful as Ss got to practice a lot of speaking skills including grammar points and pronunciation in the context of their role-plays, which often stimulated creativity and fluency while practicing.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Documentary film
Center = UNCG
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2002
Instructor = Haeseler
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = CS 3 students were asked to write, act in and produce a documentary film. The topic was free but the rules were that everything must be real and that all students must participate in the film equally. Since I had 10 students, I divided them into three teams. One team chose car auctions, another the purchase and care of a pet, and the third team about the art of tatoos. The students were given two weeks to create the documentary which was supposed to be no longer than 10 minutes. In Week nine the students showed their films which turned out to be longer, ranging between 18-22 minutes. The films were too long so the next time I do this, I will insist that the students adhere to the time limit and spend more time editing. After surveying the students about what core task they enjoyed the most (the TV news program, the individual presentation on an aspect of America culture, and the documentary), 95% of the students chose the documentary. They said the project really brought them together as a unit. Because of the challenge, logistical issues and time pressure, students told me that there were occasional arguments but that they were always resolved amicably (task proved to be good conflict/resolution practice). They often ate together and spent large portions of the weekend working on the project. They also reported that the documentary was excellent language practice since they often had to practice their dialogues over and over again until they were satisfied with their fluency and grammatical accuracy. They also liked the opportunity to interact with native speakers since their documentary included interviews with Americans. I think that a documentary film is an excellent vehicle for gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of an aspect of American culture. It also compels students to learn about their environment and to interact with Americans. The documentary film has a more serious intent than a fictional film. A fictional film sometimes acquired a quality of silliness and slapstick comedy. The documentary film at this level serves as a much more serious, academic project. Students should be given two weeks but warned that producing and editing a film is very time-consuming. They will need to buy two empty VCR tapes so that they can edit the master tape by recording parts onto the second tape. They should give reports everyday about what they had done. I also had my students display their "script" on an OHP and explain their plan of action. It is also very important to practice setting up oral interviews with Americans either in person or on the phone. This can be achieved through roleplay. At our university, students can borrow camcorders and tripods for free and also reserve a room for editing the tapes. After students have produced and shown their film, they can make copies and send them to their families at home if they wish.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Drama Task
Core Task = Role Plays
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2002
Instructor = Saussotte
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Here is a highly interactive and successful method for students to acquire idioms and phrasal verbs combined with the role play task. Each week, we studied a list of six or seven idioms and four phrasal verbs. This is how we studied them: First, we repeated the words together to hear the pronunciation. If a student already knew one of them, we would discuss the meaning. Then, I assigned three or four to each student. Their task was to find the meaning, with an example, by asking a native speaker. The next day, students reported their findings. We made sure their understanding was correct, and discussed possible situations where they could be used. During the next two or three days, we would try to use them in context during our other classroom discussions. On Friday or so, I would divide the students into groups and let them choose two idioms and two phrasal verbs, making sure each group chose different ones. They then created a short dialogue using the idioms and phrasal verbs. While one group performed their skit, the other students listened for the target words and made sure they were used correctly. From time to time, we would review the entire list. I saw several significant benefits from using this method. Students learned the phrases in context. They successfully communicated with native speakers to understand the meaning. The role plays were creative and memorable. Students often excitedly reported hearing idioms on the TV, movies or in conversation after we had studied them, without prompting. They really seemed to acquire these phrases, rather than just memorize them. Last but not least, the entire process was fun and engaging for all.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Drama Task
core+task: Documentary Film
center: UNCG
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2004
instructor: Jennifer Griffin
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: I used the documentary film project this term. I followed the model that Jillian developed and presented at a recent TESOL conference. This is a handout that I gave the students based on Jillian�s TESOL model. The Documentary You will create a documentary movie with your group. The objective of the film is to give an audience of international students information about a topic which is interesting to them. The film should be 10-15 minutes long and will be shown to an audience of international students at INTERLINK. Step One: (due July 1) You will work with your group to decide a topic for your film. Please consider these questions while making your decision. What aspects of the topic should be portrayed in the film? What people should we interview? What role does each student play in the evolution of the project (camera person, interviewer, scriptwriter, editor, etc.)? What equipment is needed? How do we edit the film? Step Two: (due July 7) Prepare a tentative script and present an outline to class. The class will give feedback. Step Three: (due July 9) You will write your interview questions and bring them to class to role-play with another student. Step Four: You will film and edit your project. Step Five: (due July 16) Each student should prepare 7 questions for the audience to answer. The group should compile their questions and pick the best five. Step Six: (due July 19) The students will show their films and ask the audience questions.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Drama Task
core+task: ad campaign
center: CSM
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2005
instructor: Marcia Lane
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: With only two students for a six week summer program, it was a little difficult to do the video ad. We met a CSM summer school student in our building and asked her to be an actor for us. She was great and even became a friend of the female ILC student. This was a wonderful opportunity to let CSMers know about ILC and for our ILC students to interact with Americans.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Drama Task
core task: Improvisational Theater
center: CSM
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Noelle Vance
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: For the drama task, students worked on a variety of improvisational skits. Students final drama project was an improvisational skit presented at graduation where the audience presented the troupe with an adjective and a place and students had to act out a scene that used both.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Tape of choice
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Episodic Story Core Task For C/S 3 the episodic story I used was the sitcom “Home Improvement.” The first segment we watched together as a class. The students had a set of questions based on the program, and as we watched, I would pause or replay the tape so that they were able to understand the dialogue. On this day I gave them an overview of the show. Then each week I assigned them questions which they took with them to the language lab where they watched the show. On Friday we discussed the questions and any vocabulary they needed explained. This class seemed to really enjoy the show and was very faithful to watch and answer the questions. This was an excellent listening exercise and was a fun way to get them to use the lab. By the end of the term, they were familiar with the “Home Improvement” characters which prompted even more discussion.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Episodic Story
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The episodic story was completed in the form of weekly summaries that students turned in regarding a TV show that they watched twice a week. They chose a show during the first week. I did not ask specific questions. This was quite successful with students who had a high level of individual responsibility.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Episodic Stories
Center = CSM
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Aaron Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Episodic Story We tried using a videotaped series for the episodic story with prepared worksheets. We used Northern Exposure, and the first episode with the worksheets took about four class periods. After that, students were asked to review the first episode, and watch three more on their own. This was not a successful approach. Students did not get enough sustained listening in. It was, however, a good idea to use a common story as it built community. Northern Exposure, however, is probably better suited to a CS 5 question and perhaps not even then. There’s too much vocabulary.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Episodic Story Task
Core Task = Audio Books
Center = CSM
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Aaron Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = I was unable to use a movie or video series, which would have been my first choice, due to a lack of materials. Instead, Ss were introduced to the Golden Library through a scavenger hunt type activity where they had to answer questions about the library by finding the information on-site. Once Ss were familiar with their options, they were asked to choose an episodic story: a TV show, an audio book, or a radio show. Ss were given a log on which they were asked to record their listening times over the course of the task. To complement the episodic story in class, Ss were divided into groups of four or five and asked to write and perform their own episodic story. They were to write three episodes, complete with cliffhanger endings and plot twists, but were not really able to rise to the challenge as well as I had hoped. However, they did complete episodes. We recorded them once on audio tape, and Ss then spent time raising self-awareness in two ways. First, they were asked to compare what they actually said to what was written in their scripts, because they often forgot simple things like the third person -s even when it was written correctly. After that, they were asked to listen for specific problems that they wanted to fix. After they had worked with their own scripts, they filmed the skits. Ss had a hard time seeing the importance of the episodic story and tended instead to focus on the in-class skits as their focus. This, of course, shifted the emphasis of the class away from the episodic story. In addition, it is difficult to monitor students if they are all listening to different things. Although Ss were asked to complete sentences, it was not feasible for me to check them all to see what they were getting and what they were missing. Of course, they did still achieve the task of listening on their own over an extended period of time.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Episodic Story Task
core+task: listening
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2005
instructor: Allyson Newport
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: As part of the listening core task for CS3, I used the book Academic Listening Encounters by Espeseth. There was a great variety of listening and speaking activities which I found very useful. These included interviews, stress practice, pronunciation practice, and academic lectures. It also had ideas for presentations and group activities. All of these things I liked. The problems with the book were that there was actually too much to cover in a nine week term. Also the lectures were not as organized as the ones in Contemporary Topics and at times were difficult to follow. Therefore, even my better students had difficulty taking notes on them. I didn't feel that they were a fair reflection of university class lectures. In the future, I would not use the book again but would possibly pull certain activities from it to use in class.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation
Task
Core Task = Information Gathering
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = John Graney
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = In my C/S 3 class I had the students do an information gathering
activity and make presentations on the information they gathered. Topic: International
students experiences at ISU First: In class, in small groups, students generated
questions for students interviews concerning issues related to being international
students at ISU. The questions concerned classes, majors, language, living situations.
Second: Using the survey questions the students interviewed 4 - 10 international
students and compiled their answers. Third: Students developed presentations and
made them to the whole class. If I did it again, I would spend more time preparing
them for the types of questions they are going to ask and how to present quantitative
data.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Cultural Presentation
Center = VU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Gesa Roschek
E-Mail = Gesa.RoschekHagedorn
Report Text = Report Text = This is the second presentation in CS 3 which is connected with a listening comprehension exercise of 'Selected Topics'. The students are required to give a presentation of music (traditional or modern) or food of their home country. As the presentations combine their own personal interests with their cultural background the students are usually very enthusiastic and feel pretty comfortable. This often has a positive effect on the quality of the presentation and the level of interest they generate.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Community Stories
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Chiara Comes
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = As part of one of our lessons, our class spent half a morning at Urban Ministries. The first part of the morning was spent touring the facility, asking questions about the homeless shelter and its residents, and taking notes and comparing them with the notes they had previously taken on their own following a set of questions I had given them (Who becomes a homeless person? How can one become homeless? Etc.). The second half of the morning was spent in the kitchen, actually serving food and helping out. Their task was to later in the week give a 15 minute presentation on what they experienced at Urban Ministries, how they felt, how their perceptions had changed or not changed, and how was a homeless shelter the same or different from the way they had pictured it. The students weren't thrilled to volunteer 1 hour of their time but afterwards their comments showed otherwise. A few students were so touched they decided to go back and help out some more. The students and I also decided to collect canned goods and clothes and bring them to the shelter as a way of saying "thank you". They all enjoyed this and were able to continue practicing real life English.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Community interview
Center = VU
Semester = Summer
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = John House
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The students were instructed to meet and interview someone in the local community, preferably a native speaker of English, and assemble the findings to present a summary of the interview in front of the class. First, time was spent in class on two occasions to allow students to decide upon a general theme or topic for the interview, as opposed to a bunch of scattered and unrelated questions. Once that was completed, the next phase was to formulate the questions to be asked in the interview. Students were encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to utilize several of the grammatical structures that had been studied in the class, and some students did a fine job of adapting present unreal conditional questions, for example, to fit into their interview plans. The next step was to let the students conduct the interviews outside of class, and they were instructed to make sure they made an effort to utilize another grammatical structure when giving their pres! entations, which consisted of indirect or reported speech. The presentations themselves went quite well, and each student was able to maintain the interest of the other students while also eliciting numerous comments and questions in response.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Ethnic Festival
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = C/S 3 Ethnic Festival Core Task Replacement for Report on Local Merchant Core Task Since we decided to participate in the local Ethnic Festival for the city, we needed time for our students to work on their displays and presentations, so we had to replace one of the core tasks. I chose this one since they were dealing with the local people. We divided all the students into groups by country. I had a group of Koreans and one from Taiwan. The students worked very diligently finding pictures and cultural items to put on their display boards. They all put a map and flag on the board along with pictures of places of interest from their countries. They had many objects to display as well, including traditional clothing. A few days before the festival, my Korean group gave a presentation about their display to the Taiwanese and vice versa. This gave them a chance to practice what they would say to American visitors who came through on the day of the festival. All in all, it was a great communication experience for the students and a wonderful chance to share their cultures with the locals.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Presentation-Community Involvement
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For this core task, I asked the students to interview 7-8 international students now studying at ISU. Half of those interviewed were to be former INTERLINK students. The students found their students to interview on their own. Many of the internationals live in the dorms, so it was not difficult for my students to find someone to interview. The students worked in pairs to create questions to ask their interviewees. I then checked their questions and helped them correct any semantic or grammatical problems. I directed the students to be sure to get oral answers to the questions and not to have their subjects write their answers. The class was given three weeks to work on this. Then they compiled their information and presented their findings to the class. The students interviewed students from a variety of cultural backgrounds. On the whole, the students discovered that the majority of past ILC students found their time at ILC to be beneficial. Several s! tudents who were interviewed said that they wished that they would have studied with ILC longer rather than leaving after getting the TOEFL. This was a good activity for my students because it gave them some insight into the rigors of being a university student. Since this was a speaking task, I did not have the students submit their notes. Perhaps this would have been helpful, but it was not what I was assessing. Below are some of the questions that they asked. Some of the answers to these questions were interesting. For example, my students discovered that in general ISU students have several hours of homework each night depending on the class. The university students do a lot of group work, and this seemed to be true for every major, even computer science and math fields. They discovered that the American students fell into two categories: those who study and those who do not. For the most part, the internationals interviewed found American students to be friendly and helpful. What classes are you taking?
How much homework do you have each night?
What kinds of projects or group work do you do?
Did ILC help prepare you for ISU?
What was helpful about your ILC classes?
What are your American classmates like?
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Community Interviews
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = I gave students the option to interview anyone that they wanted to in the CSM community, provided the person did not speak the same first language. In class, we worked on basic organization, including hooks, introductions, support in the body, and strong conclusions. Students critiqued another class that they helped before they did their own. Students presented in front of other Interlink students with visual aids; each student had about ten minutes. Two students interviewed friends that they had in their major or field, and one student interviewed a CSM professor. Students generated their own questions after some work in class. All of the work of finding a person to interview and the interview itself were completed outside of class.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Community Interview Presentations
Center = CSM
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Aaron Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Presentation Task Students had to interview a member of the community, and a few decided to interview their host parents after more ambitious initial ideas. They videotaped practice run-throughs and then presented in front of ILC students and self-assessed. We covered basic presentation form, including a hook to grab attention, a thesis statement, organized body information, and a conclusion that summarized information. We also worked on body language, volume and eye contact.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Interview
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For the interview project, I divided the students into three groups and assigned a specific topic to each group. The topics were the death penalty, human cloning and juvenile justice. Together the groups brainstormed questions they could ask about their particular topic. Their assignment then was to use these questions to interview five Americans about their opinions on one of these topics. The students did the interviews individually on the particular topic they were assigned (not on all three topics). They then synthesized the information and gave a presentation to the class about their findings. Overall, I thought this was a good project, especially since it forced them to speak with Americans about a more involved subject rather than having just a casual conversation with them.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Idioms & Phrasal Verbs
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Debra Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday four different students would teach two phrasal verbs or three idioms. Students were given a web site to find the meanings: //dictionary.cambridge.org. If they couldn't find their assigned idiom or phrasal verb, they were to look it up in a dictionary. Students can ask native speakers, but in my experience half of the answers from them are incorrect. Students then present the meaning and a sample sentence. I usually contribute more information such as contexts in which to use the idiom and additional sample sentences. Students seem to enjoy increasing their vocabulary and this makes a more positive impression when they are informed that phrasal verbs and idioms are included on the TOEFL. The presentations can take twenty minutes or more. Students were then tested on Friday.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Community Stories
Center = CSM
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Kara Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = We began this task with a lot of work on questions, trying to make them both accurate and appropriate. Ss were asked to interview each other while they were role-playing other characters. We also discussed taboo questions, and while Ss were asked to formulate questions for their interviews, they were asked to distinguish between interesting questions uninteresting questions. After Ss selected their interview partners, which they did on their own outside of class, they were also required to ask at least two hypothetical questions during the interview using appropriate grammar and delivery. Once interviews were finished, Ss organized their presentations using organizational schemes and made sure that their presentations contained all the needed elements. They practiced twice, the second time with video feedback, completing self-assessments while watching themselves, attempting to diagnose both grammar and pronunciation target areas. Once these areas were identified, both by teacher and Ss, these became criteria for their final presentation. Ss were also required to use note cards and visual aids. This simple, no-nonsense approach was useful, and Ss built presentation skills as well as self-awareness.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = TV News Program
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Haeseler
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Instead of doing the advertising campaign, I decided to have students produce a mock TV news program. This activity proved to be an excellent vehicle for the following reasons: 1)Students read the newspaper and reported on news bits which gave them practice in reading, skimming and picking up essential vocabulary. 2) Reading the newspaper and selecting important news items (international, national and local) forces students to be aware of the important happenings in their environment. Because of their awareness and practice in the verbal expression of these events, students are able to engage in the discussion of these events with people they come into contact with. The Logistics Unlike the advertising campaign, students must be able to pull together the presentation within a week so that their news is still fairly current. In order that they feel fairly comfortable and glib at verbally summarizing news items, they should buy the newspaper at the beginning of each week and take turns summarizing articles. In order that students speak as much as possible, they should only use PowerPoint to show photographs. Students should be divided into groups of three or four. They then decide who is going to cover international, national, local, sports and weather. Optimally, they should visit a local TV station where news programs are made. For their presentation, they should dress nicely. The news program should only last 30 minutes. Students have the option of making and showing videotaped commercials (which offer a nice reprieve between parts of the program). The whole project will take around 2 weeks but students should already start practicing by buying the paper (USA Today is perfect for this task)and making oral summaries in class.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = News Magazine
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2002
Instructor = Cheryl Howard/Ron Engel
E-Mail = [email protected], [email protected]
Report Text = On 12/14/01, the students presented a television (acting) news program with live and videotaped commercials. The students had been divided into two groups with one in charge of the news broadcast and the other in charge of the commercials. The two eventually came together and combined their efforts into one live pretend television news broadcast. The students had an audience of one of the CS2 classes, and those students gave some feedback to them on a brief overall presentation form. The students learned about the difficulty of technology as one of their commercials loaded on one of the student's computers would not show on the large screen, so the students had to gather around a small computer to view it. The students spent too much time at the beginning of the news program trying to make the commercial work, and that caused the presentation to seem disjointed, but the students did a nice job and learned the value of having a backup plan in case of technology troubles. On 3/12/02, we tried a variation on the same theme. There were two cs3 classes this term and these two classes combined forces in order to produce a multi-media news magazine. The class was divided into 6 focus groups that were created based upon areas of interest. For example, one group gave a report on issues related to science and technology; another group gave a report on entertainment options in the city of Greensboro. Each group had 3 to 5 students and each presentation was limited to 20 to 25 minutes of presentation time. The idea was for the program to have the "feel" of a program like 60 Minutes. The program was presented in a large lecture hall before an audience of between 40 and 50 people. Each group was encouraged to organize their presentation as the group saw fit. We tried to keep the guidelines to a minimum: 1) all students within a group had to have equal air time, 2) the focus of all segments needed to be on speaking English rather than demonstrations of technical know-how and virtuosity, and 3) as would be the case on television, the spoken word needed to be backed-up with visual representations throughout the entire program (transparencies, power point, and student produced video tape segments). The students were informed of the task approximately three weeks before the day of performance. During class time, they divided themselves into the previously mentioned focus groups. Except for two rehearsals, all of the other preparation for the performance was done outside of class. During the rehearsals we worked on coordinating the entire show so that it would be as seamless as possible. In particular, for the day before the actual performance, in order to make certain to avoid embarrassing glitches, we reserved the lecture hall where the presentation was to be given. As it turned out, that was a critical move that really benefited the final outcome. During this final rehearsal, we had glitches and we worked them out. In one instance, an opaque projector presentation was substituted for a power point presentation because the power point made the presenter nervous and prevented her from communicating effectively in English. Again, the focus was on presenting useful and interesting information in English while the visual material was used in a supporting role. ch/re
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Interview presentation
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2003
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For the interview project, the students were required to interview a total of seven people, 4 Americans and 3 International students (not INTERLINK), all of whom had to be students at ISU. The students worked together in pairs to brainstorm questions, and then as homework, they wrote eight questions based on their area of interest. The students were required to ask the ISU students some questions about their academic life and campus life. a few of their questions to the International students could be different. For example, they could ask them whether they had difficulty understanding their professors or their American classmates. When my students gave their presentations, they made comparisons between the lives of the American and International students. This seemed to be useful information for them to see the differences and similarities. They also had to have some kind of visual. In the past I have had my students interview Americans or Internationals, but not both. I thought this worked well since it gave the students an opportunity to speak to Americans as well as to find out from the Internationals what their lives will be like when they enter university.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Presentation Task
core+task: Public Service Campaign
center: UNCG
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2003
instructor: Haeseler
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: Instead of the advertising campaign, my students conducted a public service campaign. Fashioned after Dean Daniel's model, students looked at examples of public service announcement on the Internet, chose their focus, conducted a survey and did a final presentation for which they created three videotaped PSA's. Students selected the following three topics: smoking, illegal drugs and aggressive driving. The students also invited a guest speaker to come to class and speak about their topic. A state patrol trooper spoke about aggressive driving and an employee at the Student Health Center spoke about the dangers of smoking. Before we began the PSA project three weeks before the end of the term, the students practiced conducting primary and secondary research about the topic of SARS. In threes, they gave a group presentation in different INTERLINK classes about aspects of the epidemic (origin, symptoms, victims, etc.) as well as the results of a survey they conducted on campus about the public's awareness. This project helped them to learn skills such as finding and summarizing information, synthesizing and organizing this information into a presentation, and giving an effective delivery. Learning and practicing these skills initially in the SARS project gave them more experience and confidence to tackle the bigger project, the PSA. The SARS project took around 11/2 weeks to prepare. Conducting a survey at the beginning of the term also forced shier students to speak to native speakers. Each student had to interview 10 Americans. Students admitted that the task was formidable at the beginning, but as they kept the repeating the same questions, speaking to strangers became easier. We have the Speaking Center here on campus as a wonderful resource. I required students to practice their presentation at the Center where they were videotaped and critiqued by a
course: CS
level: 3
category: Presentation Task
core+task: Interview presentation
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2003
instructor: Allyson Newport
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: For the presentation core task, students were asked to interview the students they had been meeting with during their high school visitation. I had my students work together in class to brainstorm questions, and then as homework they typed and submitted their questions to me. Each student made 8 questions that interested him or her. Some had similar questions, but mostly the questions were all different. They included such questions as: What would you do if you were principal for a day? What do you think about music file sharing? What is your opinion of the U.S. role in the world today? What is the biggest problem facing teenagers today? My students had to interview four high school students. They then took that information and summarized it for a 6-minute presentation. In addition to summarizing the answers to their questions, my students were also required to compare these answers with answers that might be given by students in their countries. This was very interesting. One of my African students had many insightful comparisons. Overall, this was a good project.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Presentation Task
core+task: Community Stories
center: VU
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2005
instructor: Julie Dean Jones
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This term I had nine students in CS 3, and I was feeling a bit daunted by the prospect of arranging interviews with nine different people in the community. This core task is always challenging for teachers without a lot of local contacts. Instead of trying to set up individual interviews at various times and locations throughout the term, I arranged for us all to go together to visit a nearby retirement community. There, we were given an introduction and brief tour by a staff member. We also joined the residents for lunch. Residents had been informed of our visit in advance and many had volunteered to sit with and talk to our students during the meal. Two or three of our students sat with two or three residents at each table. Each student had one specific person to interview. Several students opted not to eat lunch, as it was early by their standards (11:00 a.m.) and did cost $6.50, but they still sat at the tables. The disadvantage of the arrangement wa s that the students and residents were not paired until we arrived and this limited the questions that students could prepare in advance. However, they prepared general questions about interests and hobbies, life in a retirement home, being elderly in the U.S., etc. and I think this was sufficient for level 3. Because all of the students had met and knew something about all of the interviewees, the subsequent presentations were interesting and meaningful for the audience. The students indicated that they enjoyed this experience very much. They have been invited to return to the retirement community to participate in a discussion group that meets weekly. The retirement community has invited us to schedule regular class visits as well.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Presentation Task
core+task: Interview presentation
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2005
instructor: Allyson Newport
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: In order to prepare for the Interview core task, I first introduced reported speech to the students. They did some exercises to practice and then we did some oral training. I put the students into groups of three and labeled each person as A, B or C. I gave person A a slip of paper with a sentence on it. That person then read the sentence to student B. Using reported speech, Student B told Student C what Student A had said. Student C wrote down the information, and then the three students looked at what was written to see if it were correct. After a couple of sentences, the students rotated positions. This was a useful activity to help the students practice using indirect speech, and they seemed to do better with this grammar when doing their presentation.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Presentation Task
core task: Ad Campaign
center: UNCG
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Ellen Baumgartner
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: Since the presentation task is an ad campaign, I decided to incorporate both the community involvement task with the ad presentation. The students had to choose a local business and then interview the manager or an employee that worked there. They came up with questions specifically related to the business, but also had to find out some background information about the person who ran the business. They then did two presentations. They had to present the results of their interview about the manager and/or employees and then had to build an ad campaign about that particular business. Since they had already learned about the business beforehand, it was not difficult for them to come up with slogans and the actual advertisements. They had to design a print ad, a radio ad and a TV ad. Some of the groups used video for their TV ad and others acted it out "live." This was a very realistic way for the students to combine the community project with the ad campaign.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Ad Campaign
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Chiara Comes
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report
Text = The class was divided into two groups: one was responsible for creating
a campaign for Nike and the other group was responsible for coming up with a campaign
for Reebok. Our class was very lucky this term: we were invited at an ad agency
and we also had the pleasure of having a vice president of an ad agency come to
our class and explain the steps one needs to take to develop a campaign for a
product. The students asked questions and they took notes. They had to find clippings
of "good" and "bad" examples of athletic shoe advertisements, they then had to
come up with a slogan and carry that slogan theme throughout the campaign. They
were required to develop a Power Point presentation, a web page of their product,
a print ad, a jingle, a radio ad, and a TV ad. I helped the students with the
basic instruction of making a web page and using Power Point; the rest was left
up to their imagination. On a weekly basis, a certain task had to be turned in
to the instructor for revision and "checking". Each "task" was graded and discussed
with each group. At the end of 6 weeks, the students were ready to present their
entire campaign to the other section of CS3 students who posed as investors in
the athletic shoe business (they knew which criteria to grade the students on
since the main goal was to entice the business people to buy the best campaign
for their company). I am happy I started planning for this project on the first
week of class. The students were also alerted of this project on the first few
days of class and they were given a "to-do" list and a "due date" for each task
on the list. This, I think, kept them from waiting until the last minute to do
it all. It was a lot of work for the students, but after the first few weeks,
they really, really got into it and the final presentations were extremely creative
and funny!
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Advertising Campaign
Center = ISU
Semester = Summer
Term =
Year = 2000
Instructor = Graney
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The ad campaign was done over a four week span with three groups of students, two groups of 5 and one of 4. The activity began with me handing out a description of the activity (see handout 1). The students were divided into teams and told to develop an ad campaign for a product. Each group developed their own product. The students were instructed on the steps for preparing the ad campaign (see handout 2). We also went to the computer lab for a training using Power Point. I also had them do an advertisement analysis (see handout 3). We visited a television studio, where they described the process of making an advertisement. The students then were asked to present their advertisements developed by their groups following a prescribed pattern (Handout 4). The presentations were very animated, with nervous students making sure things were working, and then giving some of the best presentations of the term. What I would do differently. I would spend more time and effort on developing multi-media activities to supplement the PowerPoint presentations. I would also work in more advertising analysis and try to identify some movie or television show with an advertising theme. Students joined the class in the middle of the term, and I would probably give them more orientation to the project. What went well. Students were very active. They used the bulk of the time in class working well. We began during the third week, so they were past the getting-to-know you stage, but still didn't know each other well. I had assigned the groups so that there was a natural leader in each group. They remarked that this activity taught them a lot about team work and working together.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Advertising Campaign
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = C/S 3 Advertising Campaign Core Task Beginning the third week of the term after students had gotten to know one another, I divided them into groups of four of varying degrees of ability. The first week they worked on choosing their product which they would advertise. The second week they each brought in 3-4 advertisements that they found in newspapers or magazines. Then in their groups they used questions to help them analyze the ads. Questions like: Who is the audience? Is it a factual or emotional ad? Then on Friday each group presented their findings. Over the next two weeks they worked in and out of class on producing the ad. They had three choices: visual, audio, or print. To give them further information I had them listen to a lecture on advertising. The students did an excellent job when they gave their presentations. Two groups used power point. One group actually designed the clothing they were advertising and modeled it. All the groups had very clever ideas and ways of marketing. They seemed to enjoy the teamwork concept.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Political Ad Campaign
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Jillian Haeseler, Julie Phillips
E-Mail = [email protected], [email protected]
Report Text = Since it was election year, the students were asked to create a political ad for either Gore or Bush. The two instructors- Haeseler and Phillips- organized a talk with one of the political science professors as well as excursions to the Republican and Democratic headquarters. Students were supposed to think of their target audience- the swing state of Florida- when creating their ad. They also had to do a lot of research on the positions of their candidate on the issues. They also saw "Electing the President: Six Steps to the Summit", "Hot Spots" by John Nelson and GR Boynton and "The Great Libertarian Offer" which presented both traditional and non-traditional techniques used in political ads. Other INTERLINK classes again judged the best ad campaigns, and prizes were awarded to the winners. As a follow-up students analyzed their product, teamwork and individual contributions.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Presentation Task
Core Task = Community Stories
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Jillian Haeseler, Julie Phillips
E-Mail = [email protected], [email protected]
Report Text = The final presentation was the community story which students presented individually. Some used power point; others used photographs or drawings or videoclips to talk about their interviews with members of the community. The length of their talk was about a half an hour. Topics ranged between the chief of a fire department, an electrician, the owners of a jewelry shop, a music shop and the Tate St. Coffee house, a car dealer, the owner and cook at Dunkin doughnuts, and teachers at a Yoga center. Students enjoyed interviewing local owners and in becoming more familiar with local establishments.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task =
Center = CSM
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2000
Instructor = Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The advertising project took up a significant part of the term. Students were shown advertisements from magazines through a variety of activities, and were asked to find the target audience and the "promises" that ads make to the consumers. They also completed a survey at CSM to determine the effect of advertising on normal people. Finally, because advertising agencies were unresponsive, we took a tour of Coors Brewery. The room at the end of the tour was full of ad campaign examples. Students chose to do an ad campaign on Conversation Partners. We worked on a slogan in class, and I devoted only one class period to the campaign. Students completed a poster, a radio ad, and a TV ad. They presented these to two other Interlink classes during an informal presentation. It was a success, but mainly due to the work of one student.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Advertising Campaign
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This task was done much the same as before except that previously I had not had my students practice with me before giving their final presentation. I wanted it to be more spontaneous, and with my other classes this worked fine. However, I had weaker students this time and ones who did not work well together; therefore, I decided that I needed to have them practice for me. As it turned out, this was a good decision as there was some dissension among two of the groups. By seeing the presentation, I was able to help facilitate some compromise between them.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Ad Campaign
Center = CSM
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Aaron Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Team Task The advertising project went very well; students made up products and then designed a campaign for them. We filmed the commercials and recorded the radio commercials in class, and this worked well. Students did most if not all of the work on their own, and then self-assessed their work at the end of the project. They presented the ad campaigns to other students, and other students pretended to be executives in a company. They had to choose an agency. This competition had a positive effect on the Qatari student and unknown effects on the others. Finally, students were asked to evaluate their performance as a group member.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Ad campaign
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Robin Wise, Dean Daniel, Debra Johnson
E-Mail = [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Report Text = Each of our 3 classes were competing to come up with an ad campaign for a local hot sauce company. Each class was responsible for creating a print, tv, and radio advertisement using their own slogan. Each class spent about two weeks developing their campaigns. At the end of two weeks, we invited representatives from the hot sauce company to come view and judge the presentations. The judges provided prizes to the class with the most appealing campaign. Other activities included a trip to an advertising agency, a trip to a local tv station, watching video of previous student advertising campaigns, and watching video of a real commercial awards ceremony.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Advertising Campaign
Center = ISU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = To begin the advertising campaign, I divided the students into groups of 3-4. In each group, I assigned one person to be the leader who was to act as facilitator for the group. The other people in the group took turns acting as the recorder. Each week the recorder turned in a brief report which included this information: 1. The date and time of each meeting 2. The names of group members who attended and who were on time 3. A brief summary of what was discussed 4. The tasks that each member was working on. By doing this, I was better able to keep track of which students were working and which ones weren't. They also knew there was some accountability. Next the students brainstormed different products that they would like to advertise. They voted on one product which was chewing gum. Each group then created their own type of chewing gum and the advertisement to promote it. This became a mini-competition to come up with the best advertisement. On the day of the presentation, the audience was given a handout which requested them to choose the group whose product they were most likely to buy based on the advertisement. The students seemed to enjoy the friendly competition. In the previous ad campaigns I have coordinated, the students all chose different products which I think I like better although the competition was a fun idea. I would do this again sometime.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Advertising Campaign
Center = VU
Semester = Spring
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = John B. House
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This task turned out to be very enjoyable for my small class of three students. At first they had no idea what kind of product to focus on, but eventually decided to advertise their own English school, the CS3 Class School. Once they chose the product to advertise, it was decided to use Microsoft Powerpoint as the basis for their presentation, which would in turn be performed in front of the rest of the school at the beginning of the CS4 presentations. The students spent a few hours of class time in front of a computer putting together the slides about their new English school, and the result was very creative and entertaining. I provided some input as far as possible areas to feature in their presentation, such as the cost of their program, the instructors, the course offerings, and housing, and they decided how to incorporate them into their advertising campaign. It did not reflect an actual school in any way, as it was a figment of the students' imaginati! ons regarding what a perfect school would be like, so Interlink need not worry about a new competitor! It was a good experience for them to get some experience with Powerpoint, while at the same time it allowed them to express themselves creatively.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Ad Campaign
Center = CSM
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2000
Instructor = Aaron Andersen
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = The core task started with discussions and worksheets on group norms and the way that students were used to working in groups. We spent a fair amount of time discussing the project itself. Students were asked to assemble a portfolio of magazine advertisements and to briefly analyze them, saying which ones they liked or disliked and why. With these advertisements, we discussed terms like ‘target audience’, and Ss were asked to choose between a product, image, or issue ad. Looking at these three types of ads, we also discussed different purposes for ads. Another teacher, Susan Sunflower, was able to organize a fantastic field trip to visit the marketing director at the Golden Transcript, a local newspaper. She gave the students a lecture of significant length, and discussed layouts and principles of advertising that students were then asked to incorporate into their final ads. Ss were encouraged to ask the marketing director, Debbie Rodriguez, about their own ads, and this was very useful. Students had varying success completing all the elements of the ad campaign; one group did very well with the print ad but was not able to complete the video ad, while the others completed the video ad but were not able to correct and proof their print ads. Despite these problems, which were mainly due to time, Ss did incorporate most of the elements that they had learned about, and did a good job of working together in their groups.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Ad Campaign
Center = ISU
Semester = Summer
Term = 1
Year = 2001
Instructor = Carolyn Mayo
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = For the Advertising Campaign, I divided my eleven students into 3 teams. First, we discussed the premise of the campaign. They were to be the marketing department of a large company that was going to invest in a new product. Each team was going to compete to have its product chosen. Then we brainstormed types of companies, and the students voted for cosmetics. Next, we discussed the schedule for completing different aspects of the task, and the learning objectives of the project. We also talked about the skills needed for successful group work, and I gave them a form called "Group Performance, Self Evaluation" that they would fill out at the end of the project. I followed the steps used by the previous teacher, which fit very nicely into five weeks. Step one was to decide on their product, their marketing target, and a slogan. Step two was to analyze other cosmetics ads. Steps three and four were to plan their ad campaign and to make the ads. Step five! was the final presentation to an audience. One of the students suggested that we have someone who worked for a cosmetics company speak to the class. Since there is no cosmetics company in Terre Haute, I arranged for a Mary Kay representative to do a demonstration for us. The students seemed to enjoy this. The final presentations were excellent and much more sophisticated than I had expected. Some of the teams even prepared graphs showing their "market analysis", etc. They really took the project seriously and tried to make a professional-looking presentation. They did an excellent job for level three students.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Advertisement
Center = VU
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2001
Instructor = Lynn Grantz
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = First we looked at ads that the students were asked to bring to class and discussed the target groups, the type of appeal made (logical, emotional, etc.) and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Then the CS3 students (there were only 5) were divided into two groups and asked to think of a product or service to advertise. Both groups decided to make an advertisement for Interlink. They chose their primary target groups (both chose Asian students) and secondary target groups. Each group designed a radio advertisement, about 30 seconds long. Afterwards they presented their ad to the class and talked about the steps involved, the way the work was divided up, and the thought behind their ad - the type of appeal, the strengths and weaknesses of it, etc. The students seemed to enjoy this activity, since they like to work in groups and they enjoyed the chance to be creative and make something.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Advertising Campaign
Center = ISU
Semester = Fall
Term = 1
Year = 2002
Instructor = Allyson Newport
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = This term for the ad campaign I followed the same format as usual by dividing the class into groups, having them analyze ads and turn in progress reports to me. The one thing I did differently was to have the students create a product that would be useful to INTERLINK students only. It actually was very successful probably because it was something they could relate to. The students created a vocabulary pill, a travel agency where they could learn a language in 6 days, and a restaurant which catered specifically to our students. Their ads were very well done and were very creative. They also seemed to need less guidance from me during their planning phase.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Inventions
Center = UNCG
Semester = Fall
Term = 2
Year = 2002
Instructor = Dean Daniel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Activities for the invention unit included: 1/ Students watched segments of "Inventions" tv show. One segment in which a young inventor talked about how she got the idea for her invention and how it works was used as a listening exercise. In another segment 6 inventors along with their inventions came on stage and spoke briefly about their inventions. This segment was shown with no sound and students guessed what the inventions might be. Then the segment was played again with sound. Students discussed which invention they thought was the best and why. 2/ Each student was given a picture of an unusual invention (pics can be found at Patently Absurd website) and told to examine it and be ready to describe it to the rest of the class. Each student described the picture and the rest of the class tried to draw it. After all the inventions were drawn, the actual picture was put on overhead, and students compared their drawing to it noting differences. Then the class discussed what each invention might be. Finally, students took notes as the instructor talked about each invention and its history and purpose. Presentations for the invention unit included: 1/ individual presentation about an invention (ex. airplane, dental floss, Frisbee, microwave) 2/ pair presentation about an original invention This presentation was videotaped and consisted of an infomercial and commercial about the invention 3/ pair presentation about one of the following: early inventions, modern inventions, newest inventions, crazy inventions 4/ the two pair presentations were presented before an audience of Interlink students. Afterwards the audience members could meet with the student inventors, examine the inventions, and ask the inventors questions. Then the audience voted on the best invention.
Course = CS
Level = 3
Category = Team Task
Core Task = Ad Campaign
Center = UNCG
Semester = Spring
Term = 1
Year = 2003
Instructor = Dean Daniel
E-Mail = [email protected]
Report Text = Public Service Announcements Project Each group selected a social problem involving college students (ex. organ donor shortage, alcohol, theft, racism). Students were told they would need to research the topic and prepare a presentation about the social problem including 3 public service announcements (videotaped). They were also required to conduct a survey about the social problem and about what type of public service announcement college students felt would be most effective. Survey results would be included in the final presentation. Students were also told they would need to invite an expert on the topic to speak to our class and information from the talk would be included in the final presentation. In-class activities done in conjunction with this core task included 1/ Each student gave an individual presentation about a social problem in his/her country. 2/ Students described public service announcements they had seen in their countries or in the US. 3/ We watched some public service announcements and discussed their effectiveness. Many public service announcements are available for viewing on the Ad Council�s website (http://www.adcouncil.org). Information about historic campaigns that have made a difference is available. The site is also a good source for students as they are deciding on a social problem. Many social problems are listed there along with information and links.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Team Task
core+task: Travel Show
center: CSM
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2003
instructor: Laurie Cribb
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This term I tried a variation on the �News Show� because I had a combination class of four students in three Levels 1, 2, and 3. I called it the �Travel Show�, based on a travel documentary program such as the Travel Channel or a piece of CNN Headline News, thinking that anything these students wanted to learn/research about our region was fair game. It worked out very well because Level 1 could survey the INTERLINK community regarding their experience in the area, Level 2 could focus on a place in the town, and Level 3 could choose from a wide variety of locations, activities, and recreational opportunities. The resulting �I-Travel Show� was quite impressive complete with presentations including visuals, graphs, and charts, and video journals introducing historical towns and local amusements, as well as great information about mountain backpacking, safety, and equipment. The commercial was a special addition. This demonstration involved students working individually, in pairs and a team in order to produce video clips and a cohesive presentation. They incorporated their community interviews and resulting information into the program. Each student presented one or two parts of the show, introducing it and then relating it to the following segment. Spontaneous transitions were attempted, which occurred naturally in practice and vitually did not happen for the audience. A visit to the local television station, observing a live news show, would have enhanced the experience. Watching a variety of morning news programs helped them visualize what they were shooting for and how it should look in the end. The videotape of the show did not turn out well due to the lack of a microphone. The camera has to be too far away in order to film the show and, therefore, does not pick up sound well enough. But, the feedback from the other teachers and the audience affirmed the success of this combined level production. The students learned a lot about history, interviewing, presenting, video editing, and the responsibility of the individual in teamwork. I would recommend this task/project for a mixed level group, large or small.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Team Task
core+task: Advertising Campaign
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2003
instructor: Allyson Newport
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: After the students did their ad campaign presentation, I had them answer the questions below with their group. This was a chance for them to reflect on the project as well as give me feedback. They spent quite a bit of time trying to answer the questions and gave some very insightful answers. I found it useful for them and for me.
1. What was the most difficult part of doing the ad campaign?
2. What was the easiest part of doing the ad campaign?
3. What did you enjoy most about this project?
4. What did you enjoy the least?
5. What was successful about this project?
6. What would you have done differently?
7. Do you think preparing a power point presentation will be useful for you in the future?
8. Is there anything that would have helped you prepare better for your presentation?
9. Overall, were you happy with your presentation?
course: CS
level: 3
category: Team Task
core+task: Advertising Campaign
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2003
instructor: Elise Harbin
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: We started the advertising campaign in about week 4, which is much earlier than the start date from past terms. Starting at this time led to difficulties in the group process that I had not been dealing with previously. The students began to tire of each other and normally small frustrations grew into larger issues. This problem was compounded by the fact that the students drew for groups and ended up with students whom they also were working with in RW class. I would like to share a few suggestions about dealing with tensions that might occur in the group process.
I would recommend having the students fill out at least two, if not three, feedback forms. Normally, I just give out a feedback form at the end of the task. However, doing periodic checks would allow students to express their feelings and would make it easier for the instructor to get an idea of what are the �true� problems in each group. I might use statements of evaluation for early feedback forms, but here are some possible questions I�ve used for the Final Group Project Feedback Form: (1) What was one of your group�s strengths? (2) What does your group need to work on more? (3) What was one of your personal strengths? (4) What do you personally need to work on more? (5) What do you wish your group had done differently? (6) What do you wish you had done differently? (7) How would you evaluate or grade your group? (8) How would you evaluate or grade yourself? (9) Overall, the group process was��.. [an open-ended description question]
I would also recommend doing more introduction of group work at the beginning of the term. One of my groups struggled this term because the mix of cultural expectations was working against the group. The most invested student was the youngest and he didn�t feel like he should even make suggestions to the other members. He was frustrated continuously because the �older, better� group members weren�t �taking charge�. However, the one of the �older� students couldn�t understand why the other students were stressed out since he felt as if the presentation was the most important and that the group didn�t really need a �leader�. One way to try and prevent these clashes would be by talking about different groups students have participated in and trying to clarify the values of those groups. Also, it might be helpful to watch other examples of groups, for example from TVs or movies, and use those as examples of effective or ineffective group work. [Some current possibilities could be The Real World or Survivor, but there are other tamer examples out there.]
course: CS
level: 3
category: Team Task
core+task: ad campaign
center: CSM
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2004
instructor: Marcia Lane
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: A combined levels 3 and 4 were in this class, but none had been at ILC previously so I decided to do the level 3 team task of the ad campaign. I put one level 4 student in each group and the level 3's were divided equally between the two groups, a total of 3 per group. Having them practice with ideas from "Great Ideas" (the book and the tape) was a big help in choosing what kind of advertising they might like to do. Also, they watched "The 30 Second Spot" from Focus on Business, in which the ad agency presents their ideas about promoting a chick product to Phyllis George. This is really an excellent resource.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Team Task
core+task: Ad Campaign
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2004
instructor: Julie Dean Jones
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This term, instead of developing an imaginary product, the students designed, marketed, and sold a real product: INTERLINK t-shirts. This resulted not only in meaningful language use, but also in fun for the students and a good promotional opportunity for INTERLINK. Since we had a small CS 3 class, the students worked together as a single team. They first surveyed the other students to find out if there was a demand for this product (there was) and how much they would be willing to pay for it (not a whole lot). The CS 3 team then looked at catalogs and visited local stores to compare options and prices. After this research, they chose to work with the Shirt & Cap Connection in Valparaiso. They designed the t-shirts and got an estimate of the cost. Students spent a long time trying to choose the color of the shirts, and in the end, let everyone choose from a variety of colors. This satisfied our various tastes, but it was a hassle, both for us and for the store. The next step was to advertise the product. They prepared and videotaped a �tv commercial,� and visited the other CS classes to show the commercial, distribute order forms, and answer questions. The students have sold 64 shirts to date, and we are planning to place a second order after the new students arrive next term. I highly recommend this project. It could be repeated with sweatshirts, hats, coffee mugs, etc. Students could arrange a contest to choose the design.
course: CS
level: 1
category: Team Task
core+task: Advertising project
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2004
instructor: Kate
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: CS3 students completed a team project on advertising during the Fall II term. Students learned advertising vocabulary and evaluated ads in the print media and on television. Then they developed a product, designed the package, created a print ad, and a 30 second television commercial.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Team Task
core+task: Advertising
center: UNCG
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2005
instructor: Jennifer Griffin
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: We used the advertising project as one of our core projects this term. As a part of this project we went on a tour of a local advertising agency. We did this about a week in to the project. This was good timing because the students had already gained some vocabulary about the topic and were interested in researching ideas to help them complete their own portfolio and advertising campaign. The students were required to come up with ten questions that they wanted to ask the agency. They brought in these questions the day before to use them in role plays. I had several students practice their questions in front of class. The class gave feedback on their language, content, and body language. The class then split into pairs and practiced their questions. At the tour, each student was required to ask at least two of their questions. This worked out really well because the students had confidence because of their practice the day before. They also gained more valuable information and had to practice their listening skills. The students really enjoyed the tour and using the language skills that they had practiced in the real world.
course: CS
level: 3
category: Team Task
core+task: Advertising Campaign
center: VU
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2006
instructor: Maria Avtgis
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: I compiled a LIST OF INTERNET RESOURCES that may prove helpful while preparing for the Advertising Campaign Core Task. The list below includes nine links, a brief description of each link, and how I utilized it with my students. The list includes links to slideshows, an advertising notebook activity, classroom activities, lists of exemplary slogans, and general information about advertising appeals and features of an effective advertising slogan.
Resource List:
Advertising Campaign
CS3
Slideshow and activity distinguishing appeals.
Suggested use: whole class activity.
http://ideas.wisconsin.edu.ad101
A catalogue of historical print advertisements showing changes in print
advertisements over time.
Suggested use: homework assignment
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/search.html
A notebook project designed to teach the different advertising appeals of print and broadcast.
Suggested use: begin in class and continue as a homework activity.
www.jteacher.com/adnotebook.html
Advertisement appeals and persuasive devices used in creating commercials.
Suggested use: general information for the teacher
www.pbs.org/elections/kids/docs/appeals.html
An article distinguishing between rational and emotional appeals.
Suggested use: general information for the teacher
www.orwig.net/articles/rational_emotl/rational_emotl.html
A list of exemplary slogans and icons
Suggested use: classroom discussion
http://advertising.yahoo.com/advertisingweek_05/winners_2004.html
Features and examples of effective advertising slogans.
Suggested use: background information for the teacher
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Advertising_slogans&printable=yes
Best Advertising slogans: Hall of Fame
Suggested use: classroom discussion
http://www.adslogans.co.uk/hof/2top10.html
Activities and articles to help make consumers aware of the ways in which television tries to influence people.Suggested use: initially begin as a classroom activity then assign as homework with a partner.http://library.advanced.org/17067/influence.html
Riddle Stories:
These stories were a big hit with my CS3 class. Some of the stories like the River Crossing were already familiar to the students. I think they could be used in any CS class.
After I told the first one which was the River Crossing they got very excited and started competing to remember and tell ones that they each knew. This lesson practically taught itself - after I did the first story the students just took over. It might be good to try to keep the first ones who figure them out from blurting out the answer. My original idea was to have them discuss possible answers in groups but they were too worked up to keep it to themselves.
Homework could also be given to have them research and bring in some of their own for future classes.
Here are the Stories:
THE CLEVER BRIDE
There was once a bride who lived with her mother-in-law and was very fond of chick peas. The bride liked them so much that she would steal some from the kitchen every day to roast and eat in secret. Before long, half the sack of chick peas was gone and the mother-in-law was angry. She suspected the bride and mumbled to herself, ''I'm certain she's the thief. She's the only new person in the house.'' The mother-in-law was a smart woman but the young bride was even cleverer. She knew she was being suspected. One day, while cleaning house with her mother-in-law, the bride found a chick pea on the noor. She picked it up, showed it to her mother-in-law, and said three words that convinced the older woman that she had not taken the chickpeas. What did the bride say?
answer: "What is this?"
THREE ROSEBUSHES
At one time the spirits came down into a village, took away three women, and turned them into three identical rosebushes in a field exactly alike in every way. Same color, fragrance, and shape. Same number of petals, leaves, and thorns. Except that one of the women had a husband and child. After much pleading, the spirits let her visit her family every night. Each night when the sun set, she would find herself at home; but as soon as the sun rose in the morning, she was again one of the three identical rosebushes in the field. Still, she wanted to be with her family night and day as everyone does. She continued to listen to the spirits and one night told her husband, ''Please. If you can do as I tell you, I will be able to be with you both night and day. Tomorrow once I leave, go to the field well before noon and look for three rosebushes exactly alike. If you can pick a rose from the bush that is me, I'll be set free.''
When the sun began to rise, she was suddenly gone and back in the field. After tending the baby, but still well before noon, her husband went to the field and found three rosebushes exactly alike. He looked long and carefully, and he knew which one was his wife. He picked a rose from it and by the time he got back home his wife was there with the baby waiting for him. How did he know which rosebush was his wife?
answer: Her rosebush had no dew on it
FISHING:
One fine summer day two fathers and two sons went fishing at their favorite lake. They fished and talked all morning long and by noon everyone had- caught one fish. As the two fathers and two sons walked back home, everyone was happy because each had a fish even though only three fish had been caught. Two fathers and two sons. Only three fish and no fish,were lost. How can this have happened?
answer: only 3 people went - a boy, his father, and his grandfather
RIVER CROSSING
Once there was a man who had to take a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage across a river. But his boat was so small it could hold only himself and one other thing. The man didn't know what to do. How could he take the wolf the goat, and the cabbage over one at a time, so that the wolf wouldn't eat the goat and the goat wouldn't eat the cabbage?
answer: 1) he takes the goat returns alone; takes the wolf returns with goat; takes the cabbage returns alone; takes the goat or 2) he takes the goat returns alone; takes the cabbage returns with the goat; takes the wolf returns alone; takes the goat
KING SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
Once long ago there lived two rulers of different lands famed for their wisdom as well as their beauty, the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. Upon his visit to her land, the queen decided to test King Solomon's wisdom by a series of tests and riddles. He passed each one with ease until she led him to a room filled with flowers of every shape and color. The queen had had the finest craftsmen and magicians in her land construct the flowers so that they looked exactly like the real flowers from her garden.
"The test," she told King Solomon, "is to find the ONE real flower among all the arificial ones."
King Solomon carefully looked from flower to flower and back again, searching for even the smallest of differences. He looked for any sign of wilted leaves or petals, but found lifelike leaves and petals in all conditions on every flower. And fragrance was of no help, for the room was filled with fragrances.
"Please,'' said King Solomon. ''This room is so warm. Could we open the curtains and let in the breeze? The fresh air will clear my head for thinking.''
The Queen of Sheba kindly agreed, and within minutes after the curtains had been opened King Solomon knew which of the many was the one real flower How did he suddenly know?
answer: a bee flew in the window and went to the flower.
course: CS level: 3
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2006
instructor: Maria Avtgis
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: In an attempt to improve the listening comprehension of my students, I required my students to create a listening notebook. The students visited three websites per week and listened to news stories, conversations, and narrative stories. The three websites that the students accessed were as follows: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish (news stories of current events) http://cla.univ-fcomte.fr/english/precoce/stories/storiesindex.htm (narrative stories including classic fairy tales) http://www.esl-lab.com(conversations) Each listening exercise was recorded on a separate sheet of paper with the title of the listening at the top of the page, a brief summary of at least five sentences, and self-selected vocabulary words or phrases learned from the listening. The vocabulary words were listed below the summary and each vocabulary entry was followed with the meaning of the word(s), the part of speech, and an example sentence using the word. In addition to the requirements, some students elected to include synonyms, antonyms, and translations. Over the course of the term, students were required to compile at least 21 summaries and filed them into the appropriate sections of their vocabulary notebook. At the end of the term, I selected words from their listening notebook to include on their final exam.
course: CS level: 3
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2006
instructor: ron engel
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: This activity will probably require 3 hours rather than 2. A mini-debate for cs3 in preparation for a more formal debate in cs4. By expanding what is suggested here, this material could also be used as a foundation for the cs4 debate. Possible topics: Smoking in public places Speaking on the phone while driving Racial profiling Athletes taking performance enhancing drugs Adopting children of other races Corporate advertising in schools Plan Day one 1. Divide class into teams of 7 or 8 students. 2. Have each team choose a topic (brainstorm their own, use the list above, whatever). 3. Divide groups into teams or 3 or 4. Tell them to prepare arguments for both sides of the discussion because they might have to defend either side of the issue and they will not know what their position will be until just before the debate begins (in this scheme, the next day). 4. Describe debate format-- >1 person from each group provides one minute intro >Each person from each group provides one clear argument in one minute--alternate sides. Students are instructed to take notes on what the opposition presents. >5 or 10 minute break to organize and prepare rebuttal >each student gives a 30 second rebuttal in direct response to what had earlier been stated. >each group has one minute to give a summary/conclusion >Homework at end of day one: research in order to find one strong pro and one strong con argument relevant to their debate topic Day two >Discuss proper debate language and courtesy. >Discuss use of effective discussion/debate language. Distribute the following as a handout. Since they have not seen this before, provide some time for them to integrate these expressions into their one minute assertions. They should be encouraged to do the same when preparing their rebuttals. Opinions, Preferences: I think..., In my opinion..., I'd like to..., I'd rather..., I'd prefer..., The way I see it..., As far as I'm concerned..., If it were up to me..., I suppose..., I suspect that..., I'm pretty sure that..., It is fairly certain that..., I'm convinced that..., I honestly feel that, I strongly believe that..., Without a doubt,..., Disagreeing: I don't think that..., Don't you think it would be better..., I don't agree, I'd prefer..., Shouldn't we consider..., But what about..., I'm afraid I don't agree..., Frankly, I doubt if..., Let's face it, The truth of the matter is..., The problem with your point of view is that... Giving Reasons and offering explanations: To start with, The reason why..., That's why..., For this reason..., That's the reason why..., Many people think...., Considering..., Allowing for the fact that..., When you consider that... Opinions, Preferences: I think..., In my opinion..., I'd like to..., I'd rather..., I'd prefer..., The way I see it..., As far as I'm concerned..., If it were up to me..., I suppose..., I suspect that..., I'm pretty sure that..., It is fairly certain that..., I'm convinced that..., I honestly feel that, I strongly believe that..., Without a doubt,..., Disagreeing: I don't think that..., Don't you think it would be better..., I don't agree, I'd prefer..., Shouldn't we consider..., But what about..., I'm afraid I don't agree..., Frankly, I doubt if..., Let's face it, The truth of the matter is..., The problem with your point of view is that... Giving Reasons and offering explanations: To start with, The reason why..., That's why..., For this reason..., That's the reason why..., Many people think...., Considering..., Allowing for the fact that..., When you consider that... >Follow the procedure for the debate and remember�.NO FIGHTING!
course: CS
level: 3
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2006
instructor: Allyson Newport
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: In order to help students assess their experience with the ad campaign and to help me to make any adjustments to the way I organize it, I prepared this questionnaire. After the students have finished presenting the ad campaign, I put them with their group and have them answer the questions. Then we discuss their responses together. It is useful for them to see what they have gained from doing this project, and it has also helped me to make changes as needed. In addition, I have the students complete a form which evaluates the members of their group. The form asks them to rate their teammates according to effort and cooperation. These forms help me to judge who has participated appropriately within their group, and I may make adjustments to their final grade depending on the kind of evaluations I get about a student. I inform students early on that they will be filling out such a form, and this seems to motivate them somewhat.
course: CS
level: 3
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2006
instructor: Maria Avtgis
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: My CS3 students found this activity valuable and requested that we continue to use this format to improve their listening comprehension and speaking proficiency.
1. Pose two controversial questions:
When the students enter the classroom, two controversial questions with accompanying targeted vocabulary are listed on the whiteboard.
2. Form two groups:
In an attempt to promote student choice without allowing one person to be chosen last, follow this simple process for group formation. This format works well for a class of 8 to 14 students. Form two groups by selecting two group leaders. Allow each group leader to select one member. The two newly selected members then select a new person to join their group. Continue this until half of the members have been selected. When half of the class has been assigned to either of the two groups, select one of the remaining classmates to chose half of the remaining students to join the first group. The other half of the students then join the second group. No one is chosen last because there may be two or three students left.
3. Assign each group a question with targeted vocabulary:
Approach each group separately with a prepared script of background information. Targeted vocabulary is embedded in the script and listed on the whiteboard. Dictionaries are off-limits. Students are expected to take notes during my 3 to 4 minute monologue in an attempt to collect valuable ideas. The ideas from my monologue, the targeted vocabulary, and their own ideas are to be integrated into their presentation which will follow shortly.
4. Everyone is engaged:
While the second group is being briefed on their topic, the first group discusses their topic within their small group. Each person in the first group then presents their 2 - 3 minute response to the second group. I am listening intently to the student presentations in an attempt to provide and list additional vocabulary on the whiteboard. The second group listens intently as they are required to generate and direct questions to the first group. Targeted vocabulary is recycled in the question and answering phase.
5. The cycle is repeated with the second group: After each person in the first group has presented and questions have been posed and answered, the second group follows the same format with their controversial topic.
My students and I have found this format valuable. During this activity, all students are required to take notes initially, listen intently during my monologue and again later while the other group presents, speak in a small group format which promotes confidence before presenting their ideas to a larger group, and to generate and respond to questions. All CS modes are engaged!
A sample of the questions used during this term is as follows:
Should gun makers pay the cost of gun violence?
Should people lose their jobs if it helps the environment?
Should student athletes have to get good grades to play sports?
Should boxing be banned?
Should hunting be banned as a sport?
Should students get paid to attend school?
If an adolescent does a crime, should the parents do the time?
Should teen criminals be locked up in adult prisons?
Should you change the way you dress because of what other people think?
If you find $100, is it yours to keep?
Should students have to do volunteer work to graduate?
Should school newspapers be censored?<
course: CS
level: 3
center: CSM
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Noelle Vance
e-mail: [email protected]
report+text: For the ad campaigns, I use a process assessment system in which the students are graded as a group and as individuals. for the group grade, students are assessed on the six P's. Here are my assessment sheets for everything except the Process rubric which did not paste well into this format.
course: CS
level: 3
center: VU
semester: Summer
year: 2007
instructor: Lisa Stodder
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: Play: "Stranger in Town" Activity: Listening Comprehension/Note-taking/Speaking and Grammar Assessment CS 3
Part I: My students listened to the play and took notes, paying close attention to the action and characters in each scene. I had them ask themselves as they listened: What is going on? What are the characters talking about? Who's speaking? What are the significant details?
Part II: At the end of each scene, they compared and discussed notes with the other students in class.
Part III: The next day students were asked to recreate the play, scene by scene (a la round robin). They could use the information from their notes. Part IV: The final stage was to write a final scene for the play and present it to the class.
Throughout the exercise, I provided feedback on grammar and vocabulary.
This four-part exercise may sound arduous but it actually worked very well. The students not only enjoyed the story but were also engaged on all fronts--listening, speaking, note-taking etc. I found that it was a good way to shift the focus from the students' descriptions of themselves to third-person reported speech, action and characters.
course: CS
level: 3
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Allyson Newport
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: I created a form for the students to fill out as part of a peer review process for the ad campaign. On the practice day for the ad campaign, I had the students jot down notes on the form about each group and then had them share their suggestions verbally after each group had finished presenting. Before that day, I had gone over the things they should look for as they watched the presentations. Ex: Did students make good eye contact? Were they easy to understand? etc. By requiring the students to take notes, they were forced to pay close attention and use their listening and note taking skills we have been working on. This activity was very useful. The students gave each other very good advice, and it was clear that they learned a lot from each other.
course: CS
level: 3
center: UNCG
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Lynn Bergschneider
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: We (Ellen Baumgartner and I) have been working on a variety of ways to build on the Episodic listening task that students are doing at this level. We came up with a variety of role play scenarios for use in class. Beyond the standard role play of a scene taken from the episodes they watched, we have done the following for Friends Season 9. These can obviously be adapted to any series.
1. Conversation with a character not in the original scene.
Episodes 7-8. Examples of what students did. Mike has a conversation with one of his parents about Phoebe and her behavior at their party. (She was nervous and acted inappropriately.) Rachel's sister calls her mom to tell about her feelings when Rachel said she couldn't be her child's godmother.
2. Talk Show role play.
Episode 6. One student acts as a talk show host and invites three characters to talk about a fight or misunderstanding from the episode. We discussed different styles of talk shows ... Oprah/serious and Springer/chair throwing. They had Rachel, Ross and the Male Nanny on to talk about the situation in this episode.
3. Deleted Scenes.
Students continue a scene past where it ended in the show, or they can enact another scene that didn't appear. (Much like the DVD extras.) My group did an extra flashback scene from a strange Christmas (Episode 10) and one where Rachel runs into the guy who got her phone number at a bar (Episode 9).
4. Interview a la Barbara Walters.
One of the characters goes on an interview program to talk about their life and relationship with their friends..or the actor talking about the role. This fits in with the interviewing prep for the community stories. This will be used as a last day, wrap-up exercise.
5. Just for laughs...
This was done in the past by Jordan Earl and is a lot of fun. Have students do a short scene from the episode until they are comfortable with it. Then have them do the same scene in different ways..i.e. with a headache, on horseback, under water, in a hurry, etc. You can tell them the first one and then have other students decide how they should do the scene (either choosing from a list or adding their own).
course: CS
level: 3
category: Presentation Task
core task: Advertising Slogans
center: UNCG
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Ellen Baumgartner
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: In order to prepare my students for their ad campaign, I give them a series of slogans from "famous" TV ads from the past and present along with a list of the products the slogans are associated with. They then have to match the slogans with the appropriate product.
We begin with a short discussion about slogans; we define what slogans are and then I ask them why are slogans so important. I then ask them to think of some slogans they can think of, either for American products or products from their own country. This then leads to the actual matching exercise. They are always surprised at how many of the American slogans they are able to match.
We then do a follow-up activity where I bring in some "real" products and they work in pairs to come up with a slogan and a commercial for this product. The pairs act out the commercial for the class. This gives the students a chance to be creative and it also helps them with the big project of the ad campaign since they have to do commercials and write slogans for the business they have chosen to advertise.
And the most important thing is the students have a lot of fun acting and watching their classmates' commercials.
course: CS
level: 3
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Chuck Goesel
e-mail: [email protected]
Each day, I had 3 students research 2 vocabulary words from a list of 500. Each student would explain the definition of their words and write a complete sentence on the board. My students also enjoyed acting out given scripts and creating their own scripts as a group. I also read a majority of the quizzes to the students rather than having them take a traditional written quiz.
course: CS
level: 3
core task: Interview Questionnaire
center: UNCG
semester: Fall
term: 1
year: 2007
instructor: Dave Goode
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: In the past I handed out the following questionnaire to students and asked them to complete it themselves.
I have recently realized that a much better idea is to have students interview each other the first day of class and use the information they obtain to complete the form for another student.
It is a good way for them to get to know each other and requires the simultaneous use of all language skills.
Student Questionnaire
Name:
Nickname:
Date of Birth:
Hometown:
Telephone number:
E-mail address:
Goals for the future:
What do you do in your free time?
What English skills are you hoping to improve in this class?
Describe the perfect English teacher:
What are the most important three things in your life right now?
After considering your previous experiences learning a foreign language, check all options below that apply to you.
Learning a language:
 involves hard work
 can be a lot of fun
 is easy
 is confusing
 comes naturally
 is boring
 is frustrating
 is difficult
 is required
When I am speaking a foreign language I feel:
 happy
 confident
 challenged
 frustrated
 embarrassed
 anxious
 stupid
 tongue-tied
 like a different person
List three topics you would like to discuss in this class:
Is there anything else you would like the teacher to know about you?
course: CS
level: 3
center: ISU
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Michelle Parks
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: I started off the class with a fun get-to-know-you activity that works well even with students that already know each other. First, you elicit ideas for an "interesting question". Some ideas could be "If you were an animal, what animal would you like to be? Why?" or "What would you most like to change about yourself?" The idea is to steer away from "Where are you from? How many siblings do you have?" and other not-so interesting questions.
Once you have a couple of ideas that pass as being "interesting", have the students come up with 3-5 of their own. Then they need to mingle, asking as many other students as possible to answer their questions. They need to take notes on the answers given and press for more details if needed. It is also helpful if they have given their questions a number that can then be used to match the response to the appropriate question.
After they mingle, I then assign each student another student's name. Each student must again mingle to find out as much as they can about their assigned person. They may NOT talk to their assigned person but can only talk to others who have talked to that person. If they talked to their assigned person on their own as part of the first mingle, that is OK, but they cannot talk to them again. The other students will use their notes to give information about the assigned person. The inquirer must of course take notes on the information the others have gathered. Upon completion of the task (or the end of the predetermined time), each person will compile a mini-presentation about their person based on their gathered information and present it to the class.
This can also be adapted for a RW class by having the students write paragraphs and then post them around the room for others to read.
course: CS
level: 3
core task: News Show
center: CSM
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Noelle Vance
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: I offered my students two options for completing the news show project. They could do a show about "Events as they happened in history" or "News as it should be" Both groups chose the history option to great success. Here is the project sheet for getting this project going.
News
Show Project
In this project, you will create a news show that will be presented
live to the Interlink School. The specific requirements of the news show will
be presented as you work through specific tasks. Your first task is to choose
a focus for the news show. You can choose from the following two topics:
Events
as they happened in history
or
News as it should be
Further explanation
Events
as they happened in history
If you choose this topic, you will do one of the
following:
1. Research one event in history and present the story of the event
from multiple perspectives;
2. Research 3-4 events in one time period and report
on the events separately.
News as it should be
If you choose this topic,
you will do the following:
1. Choose 1-3 recent events and present the events/outcome
according to what you believe should happen or should have happened. (You are
essentially rewriting events)
course: CS
level: 3
core task: role plays, drama, role playing
center: UNCG
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Molly Anthony
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: We did role plays several times a week, in many different forms. I got plans for many types of role plays at this website: http://www.eslflow.com/roleplaysdramatheatregames.html
Here are overviews of some of the more interesting role plays we did in class:
Using
Vocabulary: As homework, students were each asked to bring in 5 slang words, with
definitions and also used in a sentence. In class, I paired up the students and
told them to create any kind of role play scenario, using all 10 vocabulary words.
The students then acted it out for the class, after listing the vocabulary words
on the board. This forced the students to think carefully about the words they
had chosen—many of them did not truly understand what their own words meant.
This was a nice introduction to new words in context—we worked with these
words throughout the week to improve their understanding of them.
Survival/Ethics
Scenario: This is an extended role play, which can easily take up to 50 minutes.
It is very engaging and good for group discussion—basically, the students
discuss pros/cons or ethical decision making within imaginary survival scenarios.
We used two scenarios, one in which each student had a different persona (drug
addict, pregnant woman, doctor, etc) and they had to decide which characters would
be sacrificed, and the second in which they ranked the importance of various tools/items
for surviving on the moon. You can find examples here: http://wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/SurvivalScenarios.html
or use a search engine to find “survival scenario” or “ethics dilemma”.
The students really enjoyed this type of role play and I heard a lot of great
reasoning, questions, and ideas from them.
course: CS
level: 3
core task: Sitcom group summary
center: VU
semester: Fall
term: 2
year: 2007
instructor: Chuck Goesel
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: This term I split my class of 13 into two groups. I had the luxury of having two available classrooms equipped with a TV and dvd player. I played a different sitcom for each group. I gave each group about 10 minutes to discuss what they watched and to formulate a group presentation of their sitcom. Each group presented their sitcom and then we had a group discussion. I used the same show, so that the class could discuss the same characters. I might add a quiz to this activity, only it would be a group grade and the group presenting would get the grade of the group taking the quiz based off of their presentation.
course: CS
level: 3
center: ISU
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: Allyson Newport
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: After the final visit to the high school, I had students fill out an evaluation form of the project. My goal was to get them to think about what they had gained from the experience, both culturally and linguistically. Before I collected the forms, we discussed together their thoughts about the project. Although this form is geared to the visits, I believe it could be adapted for other projects. It was an effective way to get students to ascertain for themselves the value of such interactive projects.
course: CS
level: 3
center: VU
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: SAhola
report text: Since it is campaign season, I had my students make political advertisements for a political candidate of their choice. Each team had to make a radio and a television ad for one candidate. In order to make the radio ad, the students used a digital voice recorder. As for the television ad, the students used Photo Story 3 by Windows. You can examine the full details of the assignment below. Enjoy! CS 3 Team Project: Ad Campaign The Project You are going to work together to create an advertising campaign. We will use the following procedures: 1. You will work in teams of 2 or 3 2. Each group member will have duties assigned to them 3. You will create a radio and a television advertisement for one of the presidential candidates 4. Each radio and television advertisement should be at least 30-60 seconds long The Plan 1. Choose one of presidential candidates and look at his/her website 2. Read the information found about the person— his/her biography, his/her beliefs about the issues, his/her experience, his/her posted messages, etc. 3. Discuss what information your group feels makes the candidate strong 4. Decide what information you will include in your radio advertisement and in your television advertisement 5. Organize the information carefully 6. Record your advertisements (you will receive some assistance) 7. Practice both your radio advertisement and your television advertisement 8. Give your group presentation to the other CS 3 students and other guests 9. Have fun! The Group Presentation » Each group will have 10-20 minutes for the presentation. » Each group member should speak for at least 5 minutes. This time could be divided throughout the presentation. » Introduce the members of your group and your candidate. Share and explain the radio and television advertisements you have produced. Assessment Your grade for this project will receive both a group and an individual grade. You will also receive individual feedback. You will be evaluated on completion of all parts of the activity, participation and performance within the group presentation, and the contents of both the radio and television advertisements.
course: CS
level: 3
center: UNCG
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: Molly Anthony
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: Our class approached the Community Project with a kind of "expanding circle" approach. First, students discussed their home communities. Next, we discussed our classroom community and made a list of rules and guidelines that we would follow in class. We also discussed the Interlink community. The UNCG community came next, and each student chose a significant location on campus to give a presentation about. We then made our own campus tour by walking to each location and having each student present about their spot. After starting with the extreme local community, we spent the rest of the term investigating Greensboro. We noted the various aspects that are part of a community (e.g. government, transportation, environment, history) and discussed them on different days. The students organized a class field trip that they felt helped them learn about the community (a BBQ restaurant and the mall). Finally, each student was required to visit 2 additional places (or do interviews) that would give them insight into the community and give a short presentation about what they learned. The students were not as enthusiastic about exploring the community as I had hoped, but they still participated well.
course: CS
level: 3
center: CSM
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: Thad McGinnis
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: I am submitting my contribution in a separate email attachment in M$ Word format in order to preserve the layout which includes html code. It is about macromedia flash advertisements and embedding them in web pages.
course: CS
level: 3
center: VU
semester: Spring
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: Peter Martin
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: See Attachment "Backpack Full of Modals" (MS WORD DOC) from [email protected]
keyword: advertising project
submit: Submit Query
course: CS
level: 3
center: UNCG
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2008
instructor: Molly Anthony
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: As part of the advertising project, I had my students form 3 groups and choose/invent a product to advertise. I requested that they choose a product that could be used to benefit Interlink students--2 groups chose electronic dictionaries (which they have souped up with imaginary technology) and the third chose a magazine that gives advice and community information.
So far, the groups have given two Powerpoint presentations: a 5 minute presentation introducing their product and a 7-9 minute presentation showing more detailed information about the product's design and features. They will also report on "product research" they have done--interviewing and surveying people.
For their last presentation, they will create and perform a 15 minute "informercial," which will also contain a print ad and a 3rd kind of advertising.
I think that using infomercials gives a lot of opportunity for discussion, both about the common techniques used in infomercials (e.g. free bonus offers, guarantees, limited time discounts, etc) and about the dubious quality of the product itself.
There are many informercials available on Youtube and my class had fun watching them (Especially "Doggy Steps"), discussing realism, polling to see who would buy the product, and then checking product reviews online. I even found an "expose" video online that shows all the tricks used to create infomercials.
I am looking forward to seeing how the groups approach the final infomercial assignment--I have had them watch various short informercials as well as the longer "paid advertisements." The paid advertisements often have hosts, celebrity guests, customer testimonials, and "expert" testimonials, which I think is great for using the infomercial format as a student project.
keyword: presentation, Incovenient Truth, CO2, sequestration, carbon market, movie
submit: Submit Query
course: CS
level: 3
center: CSM
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2008
instructor: McGinnis
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: This is a way to use the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" in class. It is good for listening practice as well as stimulating discussion. After showing the movie I like to present the following questions for the students to answer individually on paper before discussing them in small groups and/or as a class. (These are not all my original questions - but I can't remember or find where I came across them.)
1.Why is the
movie called "An Inconvenient Truth?"
2.What is Al Gore’s
purpose in/with the movie?
3.Did Mr. Gore make the case that global warming
is really happening because human beings have greatly increased the production
of green house gases?
4.What was the most striking image from the film? Why?
5.Throughout the movie Mr. Gore points out many devastating situations, which
do you think is the most important? Why?
6.Throughout the film Mr. Gore mentions
several different stories from his life. Why did he mention his sister’s
death? What is the connection between tobacco and global warming?
7.Who is
or will be most affected by climate change?
8.Do we just have to change a
few behaviors to stop global warming? Or do we have to look at the world differently?
9.Did
you leave the movie feeling more or less hopeful? Excited or discouraged? Why?
10.What
can we do to diminish the effects of global warming?
As a further exercise
and follow up, on the following MacMillan Business English web page:
http://www.businessenglishonline.net/InCompany/worksheets/upperintermediate.htm
under
the heading "A radical proposal " I found an exercise in presenting
proposals for two different possible ways to help remediate CO2 levels that can
be done in small groups:
For the Students:
http://www.businessenglishonline.net/InCompany/PDFs/worksheets/upper/IC014WSU-radical.pdf
Teacher's
notes:
http://www.businessenglishonline.net/InCompany/PDFs/worksheets/upper/IC003TNU.pdf
I have used this in CS3 but it should work well in higher levels as well.
keyword: community service commercial
submit: Submit Query
course: CS
level: 3
center: UNCG
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2008
instructor: Jenny Perron
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: This term, I combined
the components of community and commercial into one, killing the two inappropriately
termed "birds". Over the course of the 9-week-term we took our
time to get to know what kinds of organizations serve the community and how; this
gave us a sense of who is in the Greensboro community, and their needs. After
this first stage, each student researched ONE favorite organization including
an interview with a contact there. They then gave a formal presentation of why
this organization should be chosen for their ad campaign project, based on the
most informative/persuasive presentations about each one. We put ourselves into
small groups and planned and made the commercial and ad campaign. At the end,
both the audience and the organizations help to rate their commercials and ad
campaigns on aspects such as comprehensibility, persuasiveness, and organization.
This was successful in my class because it allowed a lot of creativity and self
-organization, as well as continuity. I think they were especially motivated from
watching The Apprentice once a week throughout the term and seeing how those groups
have their own successes and failures with similar projects.
keyword: LIne Fluency Drills
submit: Submit
course: CS
level: 3
center: ISU
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2008
instructor: David Karl
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: LINE FLUENCY DRILLS
I have been using this technique for a while now (courtesy of some lecture by Paul Nation), and I think it’s quite useful for any level in a variety of classroom situations.
Basically I have the students stand in two lines facing each other. One line is the listening line (they are to say little but back channeling), and the other line is the speaking line. If there is an odd number that day, I have the odd person team up with one of the listeners for team listening. Then when it’s time for the listeners to become speakers, I join the listening line to listen to the second listener of the aforementioned team listening group. So everyone gets a chance to speak at least six times to six different people, and everyone gets the chance to listen to six different people.
The main purpose of this task is to increase
speaking fluency and listening comprehension. The entire class has previously
been given a speaking topic to think about for several minutes quietly before
we start the exercise, or sometimes they’ve been assigned this
topic for homework and are to think about it the night before. I have a stopwatch,
and I time each speaking session. The speakers speak to the people across from
them until I stay “stop.†Then the speaking
line rotates so that each of them is now in front of a new listener. Then they
are to repeat the same story but in a shorter period of time. Then they rotate
again. This usually goes on for five, six or seven times. I usually used six intervals
this past term. When the six intervals had been completed, we would switch, and
the speakers would become the listeners and vice versa.
The idea is that
hopefully students become more fluent by being forced to repeat the same information
in an increasingly shorter time period. This may cause them to edit unnecessary
information and combine sentences. They also may improve grammar and pronunciation
as time goes by. For the listeners, it gives them a chance to listen to several
students giving their variations on a topic at a slowly increasing speed and increasingly
shorter time period.
On Mondays, the topic often concerned the past weekend. On Fridays, the topic was often the upcoming weekend. Therefore they were working on general conversational fluency in the past and future tenses. On other days the topics were often related to things we had been covering in class. In this way, vocabulary and ideas were reviewed/reinforced while improving fluency and listening. This activity also forced students to speak and to process/recount what they had been learning in and out of class recently. I used this activity on many class days as the opening warm up. It usually took about a half hour or less.
I have had much success with this activity, and have found it useful in numerous situations. This term it was also helpful since I had 14 in my CS class. It was a good way to assure that students were speaking/listening to multiple people in class, and I had a chance to walk up and down the line monitoring how they were doing.
The biggest trick is deciding how much time to devote to each speaking session. I would sometimes lengthen or shorten the time, but generally I found that 1:40, 1:30, 1:20, 1:10, 1:00, and :50 were good time intervals for the CS 3 level. I used longer intervals last term when I had CS 5.
Occasionally I would also use this technique without altering the length of time. This would be in situations where I wanted them to practice a mini presentation of some sort. They would just speak in two-minute intervals to six people to practice their presentation coming later in the week, and then they would become listeners while their classmates did the same.
Student responses to this activity have been overwhelmingly positive.
keyword: VoiceThread.com
submit: Submit Query
course: CS
level: 3
center: VU
semester: Spring
term: 2
year: 2008
instructor: Peter Martin
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: I know that one of my colleagues, Michelle Parks at ISU, has already contributed material concerning VoiceThread.com. I have been planning to do so as well and, since out classroom contributions are submitted in the spirit collaboration and not competition, I would like to suggest other potential uses for this versatile resource.
I see
VoiceThread.com as a tool with universal appeal for any teacher of any language.
For TESOL professionals, VoiceThread.com offers a tool for any level of CS or
RW (and ESP as well) that can be adapted and reworked without any end in sight.
I have not, as yet, used this web tool in my class, but I would like to encourage
all of you to consider how you might. As Michelle described, you or your students
can post pictures and then write speak or overdraw on the picture to better explain
what is being shown. Then, others can sign in to the account and add their own
comments in the same fashion. For CS classes, the teacher could post a picture
and ask the students to simply identify the objects or ideas depicted to use VoiceThread
as a vocabulary exercise or the students could be asked to weave a complex story
around the pictures or ferret out evidence for a court case in CS 5. Likewise
in RW, the task can be quite simple or nuanced. The pictures posted could be prompts
for writing assignments or supporting pictures that the students post to help
illustrate their writings. Each posting can then be made available for comment
by the rest of the class.
While this is similar to the blogging that several of you have been doing already with your classes, the interface of VoiceThread offers an easier interface and a wider range of interactive options. I will be working over the summer to develop several new lesson plans using VoiceThread and encourage you to try it yourself.
keyword: Blackboard Discussions
submit: Submit
course: CS
level: 3
center: ISU
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: David Karl
e-mail: [email protected]
report text:
I have started using the ISU Blackboard for my CS 3 class this term. It's a handy
way to post assignments and put audio and scripts from lectures or other listening
tasks we have done this term. The newest experiment is using the discussion board
as a means of having chats on various topics we've been covering in class or in
news listening homework assignments.I choose a topic that has come up in class
recently, and I make a posting on the board. However, I make the posting an audio
file that I have recorded on my computer and uploaded to the board instead of
written text. Students can then do the same. Eventually we have a thread that
has no writing, but instead has audio files from the students containing their
comments on the topic. The newest topic concerns English as the global language.
We used a lecture on this topic from Contemporary Topics for practice taking notes,
and we also listened to another lecture I found online. They are to record a com
ment concerning the current and possible future role of English in their countries,
and also what they think about the idea posited in one of the lectures that control
of the English language will be transferring to the majority of speakers--non-native
speakers.Blackboard is a great tool, and I plan to continue explore its many possibilities
in the near future. DK
keyword: community exploration
submit: Submit Query
course: CS
level: 3
center: UNCG
semester: Summer
year: 2008
instructor: Kim Richey
e-mail: [email protected]
report text: For the Community Exploration component of CS 3, we took a field trip to our 911 Call Center. Arrangement was made to listen to a presentation given by their public outreach coordinator, followed by a tour of the facility. The presentation was very informative and it included demographic information about our city and county. It also clarified when and why to call 911. I found that some of the students were surprised to learn that it is OK to call 911 if you are feeling scared or feel that there is suspiscious activity (as some students seemed to have thought it is only OK to call for fire, robbery, etc.).The tour was very exciting. We were allowed entry into the call center itself and were able to overhear some of the calls coming in. One of the telecommunicators showed us where some of the students lived via satellite pictures and also in relation to the location of current police activity, etc. My class also overheard activity in regards to a plane trying to land at our local airport that was having trouble and had the potential of crashing (which, luckily, did not). I think this field trip was successful for a number of reasons. First of all, it was exciting and there was the feeling of real-life "adventure" while we were there. Secondly, some of the students may be more inclined to call 911 now, which may result in increased safety. Of interest, I had 10 students in my class that day and the 911 center was training new employees at that time. If I had had a smaller class on a different day, it would have been possible for each student to have buddied up with a telecommunicator and listen in on all of the calls received! I will definitely do this field trip again! Usually, 911 call centers have some sort of public outreach component to them. I encourage you to give yours a call and see if you can arrange something similar!
keyword: community service project
submit: Submit
course: CS
level: 3
center: CSM
semester: Summer
term: 1
year: 2008
instructor: Holly Bean
e-mail: [email protected]
report
text: CS 3 - Community Service Project: I have often thought that children's picture
books offer great vocabulary and often just the right amount of text for a focused
pronunciation study. The obstacle, of course, is why in the world would our adult
students be interested in reading children's books. The answer was : for reading
to children! Here in Golden we have a relationship with our local Community Center
and have often gone into the senior center for conversation. They also have a
pre-school and were more than welcoming of our students coming in to read books
to the children. My students seemed enthused by the idea, so I selected several
books from my 3 year old's collection and my students each chose one. They read
their selections initially, then again after practicing them at home prior to
our appointment at the pre-school. During the first reading, we confirmed meaning
and pronunciation stressing the fact that you can't read aloud effectively without
k
nowing what you are saying! At the second in class reading, the other students
and I made comments on pronunciation as needed. My students were all men between
the ages of 18 and 45. In class, the younger ones especially acted indifferent
about the assignment; however, the next day at the pre-school, I noticed that
each and every correction made the day before was executed flawlessly. Afterward,
and even at the termination of the term, students commented extremely positively
regarding this activity, and the pre-school is enthusiastic about our coming again.
Our contact person here in Golden Community Center is Bobbie, the pre-school director.
Submitted by Holly BeanInterlink\school of MinesGolden Colorado