Dear Heather,

You have my sympathy. I have a significant proportion of ESL students (around 50%) in my entrepreneurship classes, and I sometimes get questions from students about the time allotted for doing the individual TBL tests.

 

The way that I deal with this is to, firstly, not fix the time for individual tests. I move around the class, and when a clear majority of students have completed the test, I give the whole class an additional two minutes. That approach allows more time if the questions are more complex. (I also use the same approach for the conduct of the team test.)

 

My second approach is to question whether the student should be in my course. For example, my university requires that our students achieve a certain IELTS level to be accepted and I know that my tests can be done by students that meet that level. I know that a number of students do not actually meet that level (for various reasons), but that is the university requirement - and the University let them in. So, I push the problem back onto the international student coordinators or equivalent, and ask them if they should have allowed the student into the program. If the student is having the kind of difficulty you have mentioned, then it is their problem to provide whatever support or remedial attention that the student needs. Should the student be in your class? If the student cannot handle your questions, how can they handle the whole program, and how can they meet any professional requirements?

 

I do not know if this helps, but at least you know that you are not alone!

All the best, Peter Balan

 

 

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From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Heather Lerner
Sent: Wednesday, 2 September 2015 1:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: help for ESL students in a TBL class

 

Hello,

 

We are using TBL in our large intro ecology course for this first time this semester. Today we received a message from an international student coordinator with concerns for a non-native English speaker in the class (see message below). She gave us some suggestions which mostly revolve around extra work for the faculty members. We are already facing a lot of work overhauling this class to better promote deeper learning and growth in science-related skills through TBL. I'm wondering if others have suggestions for how to help students struggling with keeping up with discussion in a TBL course. Particularly if those suggestions do not require extra hours of work on our end (like personal meetings and specialized worksheets of terms!), but maybe just a modification of the way we structure things. But really, whatever tricks you have found that work would be helpful to know, even if they require extra time!

 

Thanks,

Heather

MESSAGE: I hope the start of the semester is treating you well! NAME DELETED, who is in your eco bio class, came to my office this morning with a concern. Although she loves you and your class, she is very nervous about the class because of her English. She is not confident in her ability to express herself in your class or understand everything you are saying. I told her to talk to you personally about ways you could help her with this, but I also wanted to send some suggestions to you.

Mostly, she is struggling with the vocabulary used in your class. One possibility is making her a list of vocabulary words that you will use in your class so she can refer to that list during discussion. Another suggestion is perhaps scheduling weekly meetings with her in your office to go over the content together a second time. This gives her a chance to ask any clarifying questions. Another idea is if you have discussions in your class, post your discussion questions on Moodle a couple of days before class so she has a chance to look at them and be more prepared to contribute to class discussions.

If you have any questions about any of this, please feel free to contact me!

 


*******************************************
Heather R. L. Lerner, Ph.D., M.S.
Joseph Moore Museum Director
Assistant Professor of Biology
Earlham College
801 National Road West
Richmond IN 47374

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Email: [log in to unmask]
http://heatherlerner.com/
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