E-classroom and PE8
Simon Smith
Cockpit drill
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Start computer
Turn red switch on
Lower screen
Double click projector icon
– Open only one projector icon
– Check the setting is “internal computer”
– Press start once only
• To turn off display temporarily
– In PowerPoint, view any slideshow
– Then press B for a blank screen
• Plug in flash drive if needed
• Turn off front two rows of lights
Using the computer
• Use plain PowerPoint slides (like these!)
• Make sure fonts are large enough to read
• Why use the computer?
– If you could only do Google image search, it
would have been worth MCU’s investment!
• Computers initialized to default values at
startup
– You cannot save any files on these computers
Cry it in the streets
• Save your voice: use the mike
– Background noise
• There is a not very useful bell, and other controls
• There are TV monitors
– Ignore them
• You could play VHS videos
– But I’ve never tried it
• EASY to play
– DVDs or CDs
– Audio or video from web, flash, MP3 player, iPod
• Sound problems?
– Check physical volume control
– Loudspeaker icon at bottom right (volume/muting)
– Volume /muting in the application itself
Chalk it on the walls
• Use the board
– Don’t just teach from PowerPoint the whole
time
• Chalk is provided in the classrooms,
sometimes different colours
• Marker pens will be placed in your mailbox
for you to keep
– Don’t leave them in the classroom!
Leaving the classroom
• Raise screen
• Turn off projector
– Just press “stop” and leave it
• Clean the board
• Make students
– remove litter and tissues
– put back furniture
• Consider turning off lights and aircon
Paperchase
• I have a paperless classroom
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Passing papers round takes time
Students just drop them on the floor
Photocopying at MCU is inconvenient
I like trees
• There is a free copy service
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Have to complete a special form (more paper!)
Take originals, form, big plastic name card to copy shop
Copies sent later, or next day
No copies in the run-up to midterm and final exam weeks
• Paid copy service ($1)
– On the spot copies
– Sometimes, Taoyuan copy shop (in underground car park below
Admin building) will make free bulk copies on the spot. Don’t
abuse this, and be very smiley and polite
• Circulating an article or book chapter
– This is probably legal, but MCU won’t do it
– Make a single copy at a 7/11 or in the library first
Simon’s teaching website
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http://mcu.edu.tw/~ssmith
cf http://mcu.edu.tw/~mikew
And http://mcu.edu.tw/~vedrash etc etc
It’s fairly easy to set up
– Once you have an email address, I can help you
– You can put things there using ftp
• I use my web space for
– Grades
– Rules and policy
– Resources
• Students have to go there to check their grades
• They can look at other resources too.
Class rules
• Come on time
– The door may be locked 10 minutes into class
• Come every week
– If you miss 5 or more classes (including 病假 and 公假), you will
fail
• Late assignments and homework
– None are allowed – no late work is accepted
• Switch off your cellphone
• Wear your name tag every week
• You may be asked to leave the classroom and marked absent if
– You cheat or copy in class written work
– You bring hot food to class (cold food and hot drinks are OK)
– You fall asleep
– You do not bring the textbook to class
– You do not bring A4 paper (or a teddy bear notebook) and pen or
pencil to class
– You chatter while I am speaking
– You do reading or writing which is private or for other courses
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Contacting me
Sometimes I have to leave quickly after
the class. You can ask questions by
email, or you can come to see me in I306:
Monday 1200–1300 and 1500–1800;
Thursday 0800–1000
Grades
Of your final results, 20% comes from the
mid-term and final reading and listening
exams. 20% is decided by the week 11
in-class email writing test. A total of 30%
is decided by your performance in class,
quizzes and in-class work (12%+9%=9%).
30% is decided by two speaking
assignments (15% each). The
assignments will probably be one speech
or talk, and one oral test. If you miss a
quiz, or do not hand in home work on the
right day, there is no opportunity to make
up. Don’t worry about this: I don’t include
your worst piece of work in the grading.
Normally, there is a quiz every two weeks,
starting in week 3.
It is your responsibility to check your own
grades. You should regularly go to
www.mcu.edu.tw/~ssmith to check that I
have given you the correct grades for
homework and quizzes. If there is a
problem with a grade, contact me
immediately; don’t wait until the end of
the semester. Please do not contact me
to ask for a better mark, though, or to
complain about your grade: if you do this,
you will automatically fail the course.
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If you take part in the peer tutoring program
(小老師), as either a teacher or a student,
you will get extra credit. If you think your
English is not very good, and you join the
remedial program, I will discuss your grade
with the remedial teacher if there is a
chance you might fail this course. Please
show me the papers to prove that you are
taking part in these programs.
in-class
mid-term
exercises, 9%
exam, 10%
final exam,
10%
speaking
assignments,
30%
week 11
writing exam,
20%
class
performance,
quizzes, 9%
12%
Spare the rod and spoil the child
(Proverb, seen on MCU toilet wall)
• Sometimes surprisingly poor discipline
• Good response to
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firmness
disappointment
limited sarcasm
grade reduction
• Poor response to lost:
– student face
– temper
• Be prepared for
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Background chatter while you’re speaking
Cheating on quizzes
Eating, sleeping, talking on the phone
Students sauntering in 30 minutes late
Students without PE books, paper, even pens
Admin requirements for all your
classes
• Your class rules, grading policy
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Tell students (by web, slide, or printed handout)
Copy mine, or seek help from former teacher
Glyn: check with former teachers
Send the information file to Dolly (tochang@mcu.edu.tw)
• Your office hours
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6 hours per week, with some time on both campuses
Specify times and places
Inform your students
Write times on a copy of your timetable, and give the copy to Dolly
• For non-PE classes, you may need to input the syllabus and other
course details on the Faculty Information Network (Mike)
– New this semester: grade breakdowns will have to be entered by the
teacher on the FI Network, by week 3. We will help with this!
Admin stuff: attendance
• Your rules must include your policy on attendance
– There are different types of absence (official, sick, time of the
month) that students can apply for
– Many ELC teachers disregard them all
• You can appoint a student to take attendance every
class
– Fill in the special form with the attendance taker’s phone number
etc
– Give it to Dolly
– Or, take attendance on the system yourself (Mike)
• If you collect work done in class from the students, use
that to enter the attendance at home, and save class
time
Assessment
• You can set homework, but
– Students don’t like to do homework, and if they do it they just
copy each other
• I mostly give classwork
– Writing exercises (PE8: business emails; PE6: summary
writing…)
– Other exercises done individually (eg from PE book)
• I also give quizzes
– Vocab clozes, dictations, and some other things
• There are also projects that require planning at home
– group presentations (recorded or live) and individual speeches
– oral tests, mock job interviews (Joe Lavallee)
Assessment 2
• The chart is for PE8
• The proportions are
different for other
levels
– See your Grade
Percentages handout
• You have some
flexibility, but at least
– two grades for writing
– one for oral work
• Class performance
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Attendance
Participation
Effort
Up to you really
in-class
mid-term
exercises, 9%
exam, 10%
final exam,
10%
speaking
assignments,
30%
week 11
writing exam,
20%
class
performance,
quizzes, 9%
12%
People mountain people sea
• You can get a class
list from the Faculty
Information Network
• And stick it in an
Excel file like this
(Mike):
Who are all these people 2
• Add-drop period
– For the first 3 weeks of the semester, students can be added or
taken away on the FI net
– So you must keep your Excel file up to date
• First class
– Get seating charts from the office
– Get students to write their name and student number on the
seating chart
– New students will probably come up to have their names added,
during the add-drop period
• Remembering names
– Ask students for photos?
– Have them make name tags?
– Take pot luck: you’ll get to know the good and weak students
First day on the job
• Try and get the admin stuff out of the way
– Seat chart
– Attendance monitor
– Class rules and grading presentation
• Don’t expect the students to have their books
• You could ask the attendance to go and get the
PE textbook pile in the class break
• or organize it for the following week
• first unit is “business across cultures”
– you probably have some travel activities
• I sometimes do this introductory activity
Take a piece of blank paper
• Write 10 questions you would like to ask me
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“come from” – Where do you come from?
“married” – Are you married?
“smoke”
“kids”
“age”
… (5 more questions)
• Goal: introspection, making questions from
keywords
Now, change your questions
• Where do you come from?  Where does
Dr Smith come from?
• Are you married?  Is he married?
• Do the same for all your questions
• You don’t have to write this
– Just talk to yourself
• A grammar focus
Now, talk to someone else
• The person who is sitting
– Behind you
– Or in front of you
– Or next to you
• Ask all your questions
• Let the other person say the answer
– Is Dr Smith married?
– No, I think he is single.
• Get them communicating, and working in pairs
Now, make a group with 5
classmates
• Move your desk units so you are sitting in a
circle, and can easily talk to each other
• Student A asks, Student B answers
• Then, Student B asks, Student C answers
• Student A: Is Dr Smith married?
• Student B: No, I think he is single. Does he
speak Chinese?
• Student C: Yes, I think so. Does he have kids?
• Student D: …
• Get them moving the furniture and making
groups
Now, ask Why?
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(question)?
(answer)
What makes you say that (or, Why do you say that?)
Because he is so handsome!
Adding an element of discussion
Then, you could pick a couple of groups to report their
guesses (answers that differ wildly from two different
groups, maybe)
• Or elicit a couple of questions which you reply to
• Then give a little self-introduction (where you reveal the
true answers!)
During group work
• Go round monitoring
• Squeeze between the furniture
• The quickest path to the back may be via
the corridor
• Listen, don’t necessarily look them in the
eye
• Participate in the conversations
• Don’t make corrections
Whole-class work
• Usually warm up and wrap up time
• It is possible to
– Pick on individuals
– Award points for answers
– Some teachers do this successfully
• I’ve never really been able to make this work
– Certainly don’t expect to be able to ask for volunteers
– Asking groups to have a leader report to the class is a
good strategy
Pair work
• I like pair work
– They have to talk
– Can’t just leave discussion to other group
members
• Just sitting down with neighbour
• Standing up makes them talk
• Standing up in lines also possible
– Shuffle to change partners
A visitor to Taiwan (pairwork PE8 1)
• Hey John, guess what, my penpal’s
coming to Taiwan for a week
• That’s great! Are you going to take her on
a trip?
• Yes, I was thinking of taking her to the hot
springs at Chihpen.
• That’s a good idea. Or why not take her on
the little train to Alishan?
• Well, maybe we’ll have time to do both!
Travel in Taiwan (ss make a list of
cool places in .tw, board race?)
• Hey ___, guess what, my
___’s coming to Taiwan for
___
• That’s great! Are you going
to take ___ on a trip?
• Yes, I was thinking of taking
her ___ at ___.
• That’s a good idea. Or why
not take her on ___ to ___.
• Well, maybe we’ll have time
to do both!
Travel in Taiwan
• Hey ___, guess what,
___
• That’s great! ___
• Yes, I was thinking of
___
• That’s a good idea. Or
___.
• Well, maybe we’ll
have time to do both!
What places would you take a friend to
see?(listening from another book; discussion
must have some fixed questions to get the
ball rolling, or… silence!)
• Listen to the dialogue
• Where would Chen take his Western
friend?
• Discuss in groups of six
– What is your favorite tourist place in Taiwan?
What makes you say that?
– Not many tourists come to Taiwan. Why?
What could the government do to attract more
tourists?
PE8 Goals: students should learn
to:
• Reading
– Make inferences about texts
• Listening
– Understand inferred meaning
– Understand faster speaking rate
– Differentiate between registers
• Speaking
– Make semi-formal presentations
– Respond to interview questions
• Writing
– Write a short enquiry
– Respond to a short enquiry
PE8 lesson structure
• Every lesson follows a standard pattern.
– Warm-up  reading  fixed format exercises  freer
format  open-ended communicative expression (we
wish!)
• How you teach the lesson is up to you, your
students, your teaching style
• You can use the PE text as much/little as you
feel appropriate
• But, you must
– Deal with the lesson topic
– Cover the vocab (not necessarily the “word bank”)
– Teach writing skills (for PE8, business emails)
PE8 topics: mostly business/work
related
• Intended to prepare students for postMCU
– Look at them!
• In PE7, related topics were covered
– Study overseas
– Résumés and cover letters
• Let’s take a closer look at Lesson 2
Make them write an agenda: a real
life task
• Groups (or individuals, then collect and grade)
• They have to meet in their free time to discuss
their group presentations
• p28 for inspiration
• Supply first couple of items, eg
– Who exactly is in our group? What is our group’s
name? Which PE lesson will our presentation be
based on?
• You could make the groups hand in minutes,
too, and split the grades
– Find some template minutes on the web
Email writing practice
• Specify, on the board or on a slide, a format that you like
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To:
From:
Subject:
Dear ___
Polite opening
Introduce topic “with reference to …”
Main points/questions
Thanks, anticipation, blah blah
Signing off
Name
• Give them an example like this
Ask them to write a reply
• They pretend to be the addressee of the
example mail
• This is a standard exam format
• You should do a couple such email tasks
before week 11 (first half of semester)
• Grade and return
Oral assessment
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Group presentation?
Group video
Individual speech?
Oral test?
All have pros and cons
Really, you should squeeze in 2
assessments
12 vocab words [___1___] and 8
easy words [_3_] (in-class quiz example)
• Dana a__1__ it would be easy to __2__ a successful
meeting, _3_ he was wrong.
• George wrote the a__4__ and gave it _5_ all the p__6__.
Therefore, everyone understood the i__7__ g__8__ of
the meeting.
• Our company is pretty f__9__ about what we wear. We
must dress a__10__, but we don’t have _11_ be too
s__12__.
• The company _13_ not tolerate dishonesty. Last month,
a member _14_ the sales __15__ stole some product
s__16__. He was __17__ immediately.
• The other day, I got an email _18_ my friend Candy,
asking for advice _19_ running a meeting. She seemed
pretty nervous, but I hope my reply made her feel more
_20_ ease.
Midterm and final exams
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Held in special midterm/final weeks
Teaching stops
Listening/ reading multi-choice questions
New this semester
– Week 11 (?) writing exam, held in class
– Graded by teacher, with limited second rating
– PE8: email; PE6: summary of article…
ELC website
• http://www.mcu.edu.tw/department/applang/elcenter/english/indexELC.html
• screenshot
Library
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2 branches
Most of “our” material at Taoyuan ;-(
Stuff can be shipped over
Website links to journal databases
– Can be accessed from your home ;-)
Research funding
• NSC applications can be made at any time
for first time Asst Profs
– So come up with a project and apply!
• Separate NSC funding available for
overseas conferences
– I’m off to Poland in April!
• MCU gives financial rewards for
publication in listed journals