Hi, Chinglish is a normal part of the learning process. I point out this is
Chinglish, that's English, etc. I will help them re-write/correct the essay.
After many times they get it.
MK

Hi to all,
I've just started teaching my first Discourse Writing class and was wondering if
others had come across the same problems with Chinese students' English writing
with it's indirectness, it's inappropriate word choices, it's average at best
use of English grammar and it's over-dependence on the passive. I understand why
those problems are there I think, the students are producing inter-language,
English with Chinese characteristics as I refer to it,  but I wonder if any
teachers out there could tell how they surmount these problems. How do you get a
Chinese student to correctly structure an argumentative essay in English in the
requisite direct style rather than writing indirectly employing 'beautiful
phrases'(sic)?
I'm teaching seniors at a Normal university (when they are not job hunting that
is)
I have recommended some websites like the Online Writing Lab for help with
General Academic Writing and in particular with Argumentative Writing and I am
encouraging the reading of Op-Eds in native English newspapers and magazines to
see how argumentative writing is written within word limits. These students will
be writing the Test for English Majors (TEM)8 exam next semester. Any thoughts?
Thanks

Russ Taylor

Here is a chance to have a go at being CEO. You and your students can
experience the hard work and the thrills of starting a business. Make
decisions about the product, service, customer, sourcing, marketing and
more. Then experience the ecstasy of victory or agony of defeat.

This is a business simulation website that is suitable for
upper-intermediate students. Students will have the opportunity to be
introduced to words like ethical, brand-driven, recyclable, labor costs,
etc.

http://www.btplc.com/Societyandenvironment/Businessgame/BetterBusinessChoice
s/index.html

OK, I failed. But will the government bail me out?

Dave Kees

GUANGZHOU, CHINA
Email - DAVEKEES@...
Chat - Skype:DAVEKEES QQ:897869963
Blog - http://DAVEKEES.blogspot.com
Podcast - http://gcast.com/u/DAVEKEES

INSIGHTS INTO TEFL
Blog - http://INSIGHTS-INTO-TEFL.blogspot.com
Podcast - http://gcast.com/u/INSIGHTS_TEFL

Thanks for the input on Blogs.  All further Blog posts will be re-routed to
Life.
Teach List Moderator

It's frustrating as many professional information is found in blogs.
Just now I couldn't get into Shutterfly. Is that a fluke or another blocked
site?

Susan K.Jinan

A few blogs are blocked in China but the word "blog" does not trigger any
blocking. For example, these blogs are easily assessable:

http://www.typepad.com/
http://www.livejournal.com/

And this,
http://blogsearch.google.com/
leads to many blogs and none of the ones I checked were blocked.

The likely problem is the F.a.l.u.n-G,o,n,g. If these guys start a blog or a
website then the whole thing gets shut down or even the whole ISP. I use
Blogspot, a Google blog site, which has been blocked and unblocked
periodically. It has most recently been blocked for several months. It has
37,800 hits for the F.a.l.u.n-G,o,n,g. If an online magazine or newspaper
does too much stuff about them then it gets shut down, too.

You will need to find a proxy to access those websites you want.

Dave

You will freak out with the gradual realization that you have failed to save
the world. Oh Mom, if only I listened to you and went to medical school!

This is a great website for medical students studying English at an
Upper-Intermediate level. It is an interactive game where you are
responsible for dealing with a virus break out. Your goal is to isolate it
and not let it spread around the world. You have a large budget, many
options are available and you are receiving video reports and news articles
updating you on the events. It provides a rich language environment for the
students with an added realism that almost overwhelms you.

http://www.thegreatflu.com/

Sorry I failed you world. Can I play again?

Dave Kees

GUANGZHOU, CHINA
Email - DAVEKEES@...
Chat - Skype:DAVEKEES QQ:897869963
Blog - http://DAVEKEES.blogspot.com
Podcast - http://gcast.com/u/DAVEKEES

INSIGHTS INTO TEFL
Blog - http://INSIGHTS-INTO-TEFL.blogspot.com
Podcast - http://gcast.com/u/INSIGHTS_TEFL

Nik Peachey's postings are always very interesting and helpful. However none
of the links he provided can be opened from Guangzhou, probably because they
contain the dangerous word 'blog', which seems to switch on the blocking
algorithm: most (i.e. at least 90 per cent) links containing it are
inaccessible.

Steve NoNes


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I wrote a blog post explaining some of the pros and cons of selling your own
materials online and how you can set it up, if anyone is interested.

http://bloggingandsocialmedia.blogspot.com/2009/07/selling-your-work-on-your-sit\
e-or-blog.html

Best


Nik Peachey | Learning Technology Consultant, Writer, Trainer
Teacher Development: http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/
News and Tips: http://quickshout.blogspot.com/
Student Activities: http://daily-english-activities.blogspot.com/
On Social media: http://bloggingandsocialmedia.blogspot.com/
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/NikPeachey

r.e. Don't Give Up! European Union language project

Don't Give Up! Is a European Union language project that has written a book of
48 best practices for every level of language educators (schools, managers,
teachers). The best practices will help improve the motivation and the results
of language courses for adult learners.

The project spent 2 years researching and analyzing the problems of adult
learners, language educators were asked their opinions and ideas, as well. The
results of the research were combined with the project team's ideas and
experience.

The best practices cover aspects of managing language schools and classes,
enhancing lessons, engaging and motivating students and dealing with many
aspects of the problems adult learners face to learn a language. This book can
positively contribute to the results of your language courses.

The best practices are summarized on the project website http://dontgiveup.eu
with some examples. The 138 page Don't Give Up! Book is available through the
web site in English, Czech or Spanish. Please visit the project website to
request a copy.

Joel

--- Fatemeh Towhidi wrote:
> I'm working on a project and we are required to do a webquest on ESL/EFL
students. Does anyone here know any good pages that has samples or good
webquests on these classes?
>

Have you tried Google?  When I Googled [[ ESL webquest ]] I got a huge number of
hits.

Of course, other people on the list may have some that they know work
particularly well, although the success of a particular webquest could depend on
what type of student you are teaching.

Karen
http://karen.stanley.people.cpcc.edu

Slightly off the topic, but one of my students is doing her post graduate degree
at Nottingham University here in Ningbo. All the teachers are foreign teachers.

She complained that many of the teachers simply show slides & read the written
captions.

Her comment - why do we pay so much to have foreign teachers who simply read!

Alan Simpson


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Below is a link to some free learning resources on Swine Flu.  They are for
teachers and students and I think are well done.
Stephanie


http://www.learninga-z.com/special/swineflu/

> surf for the answers, plus cut & paste.
>Would it happen in China?

It already does :-) 2hr exam on bible stories, question about equal
treatment of woman biblical and China, or something (I forget exactly), 3
long written answers and in the middle of one, a cut and paste para.
Not her writing, found it on google :-)

Did she have a web/phone under the desk?
Or, had she done her research and memorised a para in case it came in handy?
Did she deserve credit for research, foresight and memory? (It only popped
up on 3 websites so she's been thorough ! )

I didn't believe she had a phone so I gave her credit = to debit for
pasting...

Dave Nevin

Hello all,

I'm working on a project and we are required to do a webquest on ESL/EFL
students. Does anyone here know any good pages that has samples or good
webquests on these classes?

I shall really appreciate it. I tried some pages but they were not reliable
sources.

Thanks again,

Fatima
ESL/EFL Instructor, VA USA
Graduate student on ITS


> To: TEFLChina@yahoogroups.com
> From: mert_bland@...
> Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:56:58 -0800
> Subject: Re: (teach) teaching how to present at conferences
>
> I've taught this sort of thing.� Usually, the student comes in with a few
pages he's copied from some source and puts it on the screen power point style
and reads it aloud.� The 'talk' fallls apart if there are any questions.�
Any suggestions?
>
> Mert - Dr.M.L.Bland, Arlington, VA, USA

Here is a link to a very interesting article today - apparently on the front
page:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/education/15plans.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=pri\
nt

Excerpt:

"Selling Lessons Online Raises Cash and Questions
By WINNIE HU
Between Craigslist and eBay, the Internet is well established as a marketplace
where one person’s trash is transformed into another’s treasure. Now, thousands
of teachers are cashing in on a commodity they used to give away, selling lesson
plans online for exercises as simple as M&M sorting and as sophisticated as
Shakespeare.

While some of this extra money is going to buy books and classroom supplies in a
time of tight budgets, the new teacher-entrepreneurs are also spending it on
dinners out, mortgage payments, credit card bills, vacation travel and even home
renovation, leading some school officials to raise questions over who owns
material developed for public school classrooms.

“To the extent that school district resources are used, then I think it’s fair
to ask whether the district should share in the proceeds,” said Robert N. Lowry,
deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents.

The marketplace for educational tips and tricks is too new to have generated
policies or guidelines in most places. In Fairfax County, Va., officials had
been studying the issue when they discovered this fall that a former football
coach was selling his playbook and instructional DVDs online for $197; they
investigated but let him keep selling.

A high school English teacher in upstate New York said her bosses barred her
from selling plans used in her classroom; she spoke on the condition that she
not be named."

Stephanie

"On a recent program on the BBC, it was reported that students taking exams
in Denmark will be given the exam questions in advance. Students can bring
their laptops to the exam, surf for the answers, plus cut & paste.
The education minister said he wanted students to be up with technology &
this is closer to a real world situation."

If they are testing students' technological ability to work with blocks of
text and documents then this is an excellent way to test them.

Dave Kees

Sandy said:
Over lunch, [an expert]... told me he figured the presentation was
basically an advertisement for the paper.
------------------

This depends a great deal on the conference.  In some conferences, if you have a
total of 20 minutes and you have a paper on a complex topic, this may well be
the case.

At other conferences where you are given 30, 45 or more minutes to present and
may NOT have a paper, your audience will most likely expect you to be more
substantive in what you present.

This brings up the point that not all presentations, even conference
presentations, are going to be the same.  I think that's why Stephanie's
technique of having the student present on the same topic but to different
audiences is especially valuable.

Karen
http://karen.stanley.people.cpcc.edu
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

<karen.stanley@...> wrote:

> How many people teach graduate students who may want/have to present
> in English at professional conferences? What kinds of techniques do you
> include in your teaching?

I've used Henry Spencer's paper here:
http://doc.cat-v.org/henry_spencer/thoughts_for_paper_presenters

It is a bit dated, and focused on technical presentations in computing.
Henry's a major Unix guru.

> Personally, I emphasize NOT reading a paper, but I find that the
> confidence to do this is hard to come by in a language that is not
> your own.

First time I presented a conference paper, I was distinctly nervous.
Cryptography is a really technical field, I'm an amateur, and some
of the world's top people in the field were there. Over lunch, one
of them -- Eli Biham -- told me he figured the presentation was
basically an advertisement for the paper. If you can say something
interesting enough that people want to read the paper, then your
presentation was a success.

--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

--- In TEFLChina@yahoogroups.com, "Dave" <nevin@...> wrote:

>>because H1N1 fears forced the cancellation of pre-contest
>>adjudicator training in the British Parliamnetary style



> So.o.o H1N1 isn't going to force cancellation of BP style adj training?
>
My comment:
It has already been cancelled and as yet there have been no further
announcements on the website:

http://www.chinadebate.org

BP is much more entertaining in my opinion and much more demanding on the teams
who can not simply reiterate what has already been said but must either be
better prepared in order to develop the debate with new points and new
substantive evidence or be better at paraphrasing than the average Chinese
student currently is, based on my experience as an FLTRP Cup adjudicator.
With the lack of information I think that they will not be able to change to BP
for May 2010, the adjudicators would not be able to judge the debates fairly
without some training. This has been a controversial enough issue with AP which
is much simpler to adjudicate, again, in my opinion.
We will see...

Russ Taylor

In the corporate world staff need to make presentations all the time, to their
manager, to the Board or to a client.  I find that (not only!)non-native
speakers have great difficulty with this as they tend to just read the slides -
very irritating and a waste of everyone's time.  I believe it is vital that the
presenter understands the objective of the presentation and the needs of the
audience.  Most people just spew out information without thinking about the way
it is presented. It is useful to ask students to have one basic set of
information for presentation.  Then give them different audiences each with a
different objective and present it accordingly.  For example, if you have a set
of sales graphs and market info you would minimise some facts and maximise
others dependng on whether you are trying to persuade your boss or show
competitor information.  This gives purpose to the presentation and helps
students understand why there needs to be a difference in the way something is
presented whether at a conference or in the workplace.
Stephanie

>
> Merton Bland wrote:
> ...Usually, the student comes in with a few pages he's copied from
> some source and puts it on the screen power point style and reads
> it aloud.  The 'talk' fallls apart if there are any questions.  Any
> suggestions?
> >>>

Mert wrote:

> I've taught this sort of thing.  Usually, the student comes in with
> a few pages he's copied from some source and puts it on the
> screen power point style and reads it aloud. ...

You could prevent that by restricting the amount off text on slides.

Some years back, my ex worked in a Canadian gov't management
training shop where your did your slides in Word, sent them off to
the printing people to get them produced in standard format. They
gave you back transparencies with the corporate logo.

They refused to print her first batch, sent the file back and told her
in no uncertain terms to fix them. According to them anything over
four lines on a slide or six words is a line is unprofessional.

I certainly agree in principle, but I'm not sure their numbers are
right. I fairly often go as high as six lines and ten words a line.

If there's also a written presentation, you can have limits based
on that. One line on the slide per or two paragraph of text, not
more than 10 slides per section, or some such.

--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

This is a list of conferences in Asia and Oceania excerpted from the TESOL
worldwide conference website:
http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp?CID=159&DID=2145

Note that in May there is a conference in Taiwan.

December 2009

5. (Asia and Oceania) The Applied Linguistics Association of Korea (ALAK) 2009
Conference, "Foreign Language Education Policy in Korean Context," Chung-Ang
University, Seoul, South Korea. E-mail alaksecretary@...
[alaksecretary(at)gmail.com]
Web site http://www.alak.or.kr

8-11. (Asia and Oceania) "Globalization and Localization in Computer-Assisted
Language Learning Conference", Faculty of Humanities, Chiang Mai University,
Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Web site http://www.glocall.org

January 2010

28-30. (Asia and Oceania) Thailand TESOL, "ELT in the Next Decade: Sharing,
Caring, and Daring." Twin Towers Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand. E-mail
ubon_s@... [ubon_s(at)hotmail.com]
Web site http://www.thaitesol.org

February 2010

27-28. (Asia and Oceania) 6th CamTESOL Conference on English Language Teaching,
"One World: World Englishes," National Institute of Education (NIE), Norodom
Blvd corner Suramarit street, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. E-mail info@... 
[info(at)camtesol.org]
Web site http://www.camtesol.org

May 2010

29. (Asia and Oceania) The Ninth Annual Wenshan International Conference,
"Meeting the Challangees of Serving the New Generation," Taipei, Taiwan. E-mail
wsconf@... [wsconf(at)nccu.edu.tw]
Web site http://www.english.nccu.edu.tw/seminar/actnews.php?sn=9

July 2010

7-10. (Asia and Oceania) Australian Council of TESOL Associations (ACTA),
"Redefining 'TESOL' for the 21st Century Language Learning and Teaching for the
Future," Holiday Inn Surfers Paradise QLD, Australia 4217.
E-mail sarah.hoekwater@...
[sarah.hoekwater(at)optusnet.com.au]
goldla@... [goldla(at)optusnet.com.au]
Web site http://www.astmanagement.com.au/acta10/

August

1-4. (Asia and Oceania) TESOLANZ, "Context and Communication: Mediating Language
Learning," Ving's High School, Dunedin, New Zealand. E-mail mmcm@...
[mmcm(at)hotmail.com]
Web site http://www.clesol.org.nz/2010/home.html

December 2010

4. (Asia and Oceania) Applied Linguistics, Association of Korea (ALAK)
International Conference, "Interdisciplinarity in Applied Linguistics," Korea
University, Seoul, Korea.
E-mail alaksecretary@... [alaksecretary(at)gmail.com]
Web site http://www.alak.or.kr

>just as Deng Xiao
>Ping's "to get rich is glorious" was never meant to mean "pillage and
>plunder at will"

Did you see an article in C-D, I think maybe 2008-9 by, I think ?? Shapiro
that Deng was mis-translated in the above and in fact said something else,
but Shapiro's own translation , to me, meant the same thing.

(I think Shapiro is a writer and one of those 'friends of China' who live
permanently in Beijing, ala Rewi Alley and various others did/do, and he
must be 80-90?) And I may have the wrong spelling..

Dave Nevin

>Here they are still talking about American Parliamentary style for the 2010
>competition because H1N1 fears forced the cancellation of pre-contest
>adjudicator training in the British Parliamnetary style

Oh dear I adj one BP style and it's not nearly so interesting, because the
Prime Minister and Leader Oppn don't get to make a second speech. And it's
harder to judge :-) And it's longer... but it gets more teams speaking per
day, which might attract FLTRP.

So.o.o H1N1 isn't going to force cancellation of BP style adj training?

Dave Nevin

Merton Bland wrote:
...Usually, the student comes in with a few pages he's copied from some source
and puts it on the screen power point style and reads it aloud.  The 'talk'
fallls apart if there are any questions.  Any suggestions?
>>>

Here's a possibility:

Begin by having the student choose an issue s/he has a strong *personal*
connection to.  Have the student write a short paper (often a narrative, but not
necessarily) that explains exactly how the strong connection to the issue came
about.  (This is an adaptation of an idea that Ilona Leki used as the starting
point for a more extended composition class.)

Then have the student go out and find three sources that deal with the topic. 
Assuming these are short newspaper or journal-style articles, have the student
HIGHLIGHT the parts of each source which are directly relevant to the topic. 
The highlighting can be done either digitally or in hard copy, of course. 
Either way, the student has to give you the sources with the highlighted
sections to check.

THEN have the student write an outline for the talk that brings together at
least those three sources.

Karen

http://karen.stanley.people.cpcc.edu
Central Piedmont Community College
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

On a recent program on the BBC, it was reported that students taking exams in
Denmark will be given the exam questions in advance. Students can bring their
laptops to the exam, surf for the answers, plus cut & paste.

The education minister said he wanted students to be up with technology & this
is closer to a real world situation.



Would it happen in China?



Alan Simpson


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I've taught this sort of thing.  Usually, the student comes in with a few pages
he's copied from some source and puts it on the screen power point style and
reads it aloud.  The 'talk' fallls apart if there are any questions.  Any
suggestions?

Mert - Dr.M.L.Bland, Arlington, VA, USA

I see some famous writer (who I haven't read) and probably from HongKong,
was taken to task by a reviewer, for plagiarising 'a few phrases' from
other sources.
The article was in SCMP, the Hong Kong paper. If anyone wants to read it,
I'll seach for it...maybe the 3-10th Nov.

>i've told students in the past that
homework assignments at school, which are given under the assumption that
practice-yields-progress and to give Ts content-irrelevant samples to
>assess, tend to be fairly identical from school to school and class to
>class.

One answer is to give writing topics which are un-plagiarizable..
"Go to Beijing North Railway Station. Sit for 10 minutes. Write your
impressions." (BNRS was a derelict dump at the time, but historical,1906)
"Describe the worst toilet you remember." (Dave Barry on the Great Wall is
the lead-in to this)
etc.
It's pretty easy, especially if you've non-English majors :-)

Dave Nevin

>Can a good text book be recommended for 2nd year English majors writing
>(for their 2nd term) that also has a teacher's book. To cover business &
>thesis writing.

Ah no but there were books on such things in the FLTRP bookshop, 3rd Ring
NW corner , Beijing. I think I bought one written by an Australian 'for
Chinese students at Tsinghua' but I didn't bring it with me.
One or two list members teach at BFSU (next door), they could have a look
and get ISBN numbers :-)

I used "Advanced Writing for Juniors" FLTRP 2001, which had lots of styles
of writing, expository , comparison etcetc and samples of good writing.
but no teacher's book.. Juniors, Law/Anthro/English majors. but it didn't
directly offer writing exercises (from memory)

Stephen King's little book, On Writing, is/was available from various
barrows around BJ uni gateways, :-) 8rmb :-)

cheers
Dave Nevin