Hi Rod, I Like the my time/our time/your time split Last fall I did a workshop in Korea were the discussions and reporting were in Korean....and when it was all over the strongest Korean English speaker would fill us in on what was said.....didn't feel optimal for me but might have been optimal for them Christine 1) Remind them of the course title and make everyone responsible for making others to speak English in the private conversations.....make it a course task 2) Lean into the groups more often before reporting and ask for a recap (in English of course) making sure that different people participate 3) During full class report use something like Michaelsen Answer Finder...so when my group is called to report...we don't know who will have to talk....it might keep the stronger English speakers from hogging the floor...."talking chips" would be another approach Jim ________________________________ From: Team Learning Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rod Lange Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 7:07 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: getting students to discuss in ENGLISH! 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]