MAILING LISTS

Hi All,

I just wanted to give an update on the English speaking situation in 
class.  Thank you all so much for your great ideas!

First of all I introduced 3 "new" medical terms that I wanted the 
students to "beware" of.  I told them, quite seriously, that these 
conditions are running rampant at our university.
1. Hypoenglishia - a condition in which levels of English production and 
use are below normal.
2. Toxicoeigodynia- a condition in which past negative English 
experiences have poisoned the person leading to pain when trying to 
produce English sentences. (note:
   eigo is the Japanese word for the English language)
3. Superlingoshyorrhagia - a condition in which there is an excessive 
flow of shyness regarding using language (especially foreign language).

After frantically searching their medical dictionaries for the first 
word, they caught on and I even saw a few smiles.

I then introduced English Effort Points.  There are 10 EEP possible each 
class session.  Students fill out a form (much like the peer evaluation) 
with the names of the other members of the group and disperse the 10 
points appropriately among the other members of the group.  Several 
groups divided the points evenly, but if even one person decides to 
honestly give a little extra to someone they recognized as trying hard, 
that person comes out a little ahead for the day.  The EEP results will 
be posted anonymously (by student number) each class period. 

I also added the "praise box" that someone here had mentioned in an 
earlier post.  The praise box was for praising someone in your group for 
any kind of helping or outstanding positive behavior.  I was so uplifted 
after reading those praises!  Some of them praised use of English, but 
others praised good preparation, good leadership, and one even praised 
me! (haha!) 

One of the praise comments said "I want to praise so-and-so because he 
really tried hard to speak in English even though last week he had said 
'I'm poor at English.'

And there you have it!!  Great progress from the sorry state of things 
one week before!  Woohooo!

Thank you all again for your wonderful input!

Christine
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Christine Kuramoto, Assistant Professor: Medical English
Kyushu University, Department of Medical Education
Faculty of Medical Sciences
3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582 Japan
Phone: (+81)92-642-6186 Fax: (+81)92-642-6188
E-mail: [log in to unmask]