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]