Hi Christine,
I understand your situation. Although I do not use TBL in my classes,
I have the same problems getting students to talk in English. You
mention the students do not have the knowledge to diagnose medical
topics. Is it possible to have them diagnose why they do not discuss
the topics in English? They could come up with reasons, then they
could look at some ways to address the obstacles they face. This would
allow you to have a clearer idea of why they do not work together in
English. It would also give you a way to introduce diagnostic skills
that they could use later on medical topics.
After you have gathered the information, you could then use the same
process you used to have them negotiate their grade weights to
negotiate the terms for using English in class. For example, if from
their diagnosis a number of students have problems comfortably
presenting and defending opinions in English, you could contract with
them to give them some ways to overcome this weakness. You could also
have them set the results of using or not using English. This way, you
are not rewarding or punishing them, they are setting the guidelines.
They could use peer or group assessment each class or each week to
measure their English usage in class.
One other thing I have also done is specifically identify three times
in class: my time (teacher time), your time, and our time. During 'my
time' students need to listen. During 'your time' students can use
whatever language they want and talk about whatever they want. 'Our
time' is our shared time to use and improve our English skills. Maybe
you could adapt this to give them some 'your time' to form and discuss
their opinions in Japanese in their group. They could then work with
another group in English. This would be an 'our time' activity.
I hope these ideas are useful.
Take care,
Rod
__________________________
Rod Lange, Instructor
Tokyo Denki University
Department of English Language
School of Engineering
E-mail W: [log in to unmask]
E-mail H: [log in to unmask]
On Oct 15, 2008, at 10:01 AM, Christine Kuramoto wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I've made it through the preliminary TBL orientation and grade
> weight setting. Now my problem is how to get them to discuss in
> English. My class is "Scientific English" for pre-clinical medical
> students (116 in 19 teams) and the students are learning a lot of
> terminology, so I'm trying to give them tasks that get them
> discussing and using their new words. The problem is that they tend
> to just discuss in Japanese and then use English only when I call on
> the groups to report the reasons for choices.
>
> I'm stuck. I can't thing of any POSITIVE way to get them discussing
> in English. I have to stand over them watching and reminding and
> can only think of NEGATIVE ways (i.e. pay a penalty for every time
> you speak Japanese--I'd be rich! ;-) ). My next class is tomorrow
> and I'm wracking my brains for some sort of solution to my dilemma.
>
> Any and all suggestions welcome!
>
> Regards,
> Christine
>
> PS at the moment I'm basing the tasks on ethics case studies since
> the students don't have the knowledge to diagnose, but do have
> opinions about what is best in ethical cases. I'm using the "no
> right answer," but choose the "best answer" according to your group
> discussions-- consensus is the key.
> --
> *******
> 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]
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