One of the most popular posts appearing here this year has been Three Videos Of English Language Learners Giving Advice To Teachers.
That post shares three short panel discussions our students have done as part of our faculty trainings this year. They [and I] love the fact that in the evaluations participating teachers spend far more time talking about how much they got out of the student presentations than commenting on my part of the training 🙂
One of the students did some splicing and dicing of presentations at one of the trainings, and I thought readers would find it interesting….
I felt like this was such a great video clip to watch, and I also think it would do teachers good to listen to it. I think sometimes we think we are helping our students, but sometimes, as it turns out, we are only hindering them. Something that I found really interesting that one of the students said was that sitting them by someone who can translate for them in a way doesn’t help them. I always assumed that, especially as a newcomer student, sitting them next to someone who can translate things for them would make them feel more comfortable. However, the student in the video also brought up a good point about it also makes them not speak English or not try to speak English because they have someone right next to them who they can talk to in their native language.
Great video! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing this, Larry!
NOTES FROM THE VIDEO
1. Body language
2. Google Translate
3. Using basic words or synonyms
Avoid:
1. Letting students translate unintentionally without discerning
2. Group intentionally
Motivating students
1. Don’t pick favorites
2. Give everyone a chance
3. Don’t speak so quickly
4. When the teacher doesn’t explain the instructions clearly
5. Encourage students when they make mistakes