I wrote some kind of intro to this, but it disappeared into cyberspace!
My speaking and listening students had done a unit on food trends, and they'd given reports on topics from the book like their favorite fast food restaurant, so as we were beginning a unit on Canine Colleagues, I decided to assign pages focusing on animals from Chew On This, which is reading for their level. But explaining what they read is different from understanding it. They were supposed to work in groups to paraphrase it, but I should have asked for summaries instead of paraphrases. The students didn't really help one another. They just randomly assigned paragraphs without reading it together. So it's not surprising that some of the presentations were very difficult to understand. I spent hours on their evaluations--mine of them, theirs of their peers, and their self-evaluations. Here's what I told one student:
You spoke so briefly—and you really read most of the time—so I caught only a little bit of your presentation. You were telling us that “McDonald make the meat suppliers humanly…” You mean that McDonald made (past tense) or makes (present) the meat suppliers treat the animals humanely. You needed to tell us when they started making the meat suppliers treat animals better and why. You also needed to give examples of what kind of treatment this is. What was the old way? What’s the new way?
My speaking and listening students had done a unit on food trends, and they'd given reports on topics from the book like their favorite fast food restaurant, so as we were beginning a unit on Canine Colleagues, I decided to assign pages focusing on animals from Chew On This, which is reading for their level. But explaining what they read is different from understanding it. They were supposed to work in groups to paraphrase it, but I should have asked for summaries instead of paraphrases. The students didn't really help one another. They just randomly assigned paragraphs without reading it together. So it's not surprising that some of the presentations were very difficult to understand. I spent hours on their evaluations--mine of them, theirs of their peers, and their self-evaluations. Here's what I told one student:
You spoke so briefly—and you really read most of the time—so I caught only a little bit of your presentation. You were telling us that “McDonald make the meat suppliers humanly…” You mean that McDonald made (past tense) or makes (present) the meat suppliers treat the animals humanely. You needed to tell us when they started making the meat suppliers treat animals better and why. You also needed to give examples of what kind of treatment this is. What was the old way? What’s the new way?
I
think you can give a better final presentation.
But you have missed so many classes that it might be good for you to
take ESL 142 again. What do you think?
The student's self evaluation went like this;
According to these presentation several times. I think I had a great research experiments before I present. I am ok to use some inseparable phrasal verbs adn use teh simple pas tense with correct pronunciation. But I am not good at talk with a professor about a problem. and need to practice to give a short oral presentation. I think I am a student with many shorcomings in prsentation. I need ore practice in my oral skills. and be confident whenI am presenting. I should prepare well before my presentation and learning how to plan a short oral presention. These are important for me. I notice I am unnatural during my presentaiton. I should practice more and keep relax during my presentation.
Here's a note card from another student--one who was absent when her group was planning and spoke for 50 seconds of the three-minute allotment:
--Enimal have thinking
--People make they calm
In her self-evaluaion she said, "I felf nervous so I forgot my organized idea..."
I doubt that she had one of those.
The student writing is better than I could ever do in Chinese, I'm sure: "I thought I told the clearly story aboaut 2 pigs run off. But I was not sure people got it or not." Not, I'm afraid.
Here's a note card from another student--one who was absent when her group was planning and spoke for 50 seconds of the three-minute allotment:
--Enimal have thinking
--People make they calm
In her self-evaluaion she said, "I felf nervous so I forgot my organized idea..."
I doubt that she had one of those.
The student writing is better than I could ever do in Chinese, I'm sure: "I thought I told the clearly story aboaut 2 pigs run off. But I was not sure people got it or not." Not, I'm afraid.
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