Your Last Weekend is coming up!

Can't believe there's only one week left of your stay in L.A.   Hope you'll make the most of this weekend by visiting some "must see" places in Southern California.   As Rosie mentioned in her Culture presentation, we often categorize 'culture' into "high culture" and "popular culture."   Well, I think you 'll see a little bit of both if you visit Disneyland  and the Getty Center.    By the way, I strongly recommend that you watch the 10-minute video on the Getty Center website ( http://www.getty.edu/visit/ ) before going there.  It gives you a wonderful overview of what you can see there and how this wonderful cultural institution came about.  I showed it to my students before we took a field trip there and everyone got excited, even those students who weren't especially interested in art.  
Also, be sure to visit the garden at the Getty -- it's one of the most unusual landscape designs you'll ever see. 

Teaching Culture

Today's presentation tried to condense a very broad subject into just three hours.  It is always challenging for an EFL teacher to respond to students' request to learn more about American culture.  That term can mean so many things:  our values,  customs, traditions, history, and so many others.   Our HQU participants certainly have a strong foundation in understanding many aspects of American culture; yet, they were surprised by many things during this, their first visit to the U.S.   Bella and I enjoyed listening to their observations and would like to hear more.   Let us know what other interesting things you've noticed during your visit here, what intrigued you about our customs and behaviors, and what areas of American culture you would like to know more about.

By the way, here is a website with some useful books about American culture:
http://esl.about.com/od/advancedenglish/tp/tp_culusa.htm

Globish!

Do you know what Globish is?  Go to the link on right and tell me what you think.  Is this a good idea? Who could benefit from learning Globish?  Should we as English teachers promote this idea? 
Would love to hear your opinions.

Are you a digital native?

I'm certainly not.  But I hope today's presentation on Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)gave a good overview of the type of tech tools we find useful at ALC.  I personally love how computers have made me a more efficient teacher and have allowed me to enliven my lessons with authentic materials.


I would have liked to spend a little more time learning about how our Chinese colleagues implement CALL.  We still have two weeks left, so perhaps there's still time for that. 

Oh, and speaking of technology --  some of you have not been able to leave comments here because you don't have a GMAIL account.   I've changed the settings so that anyone can leave a comment without registering.  Try it again, okay?  I'd love to hear from more of you. 
Also, I promise to find some online information about purchasing the CD-ROM software we looked at today.

Listening and Speaking

Today's topic was teaching listening and speaking.  We did a lot of both!  In spite of a busy weekend (Las Vegas, San Francisco, Yosemite, etc.), all participants seemed well-rested, ready to join in and contribute to the presentation.  After examining a long list of characteristics that make spoken English hard to understand, we worked on types of exercises and strategies to address these characteristics.   Finally, all participants brainstormed and designed activities based on a recording of a real conversation.  

My colleague, Lida Baker, was very impressed with the level of knowledge, English proficiency and enthusiasm of the group.  She said she wished all her students were this good!  Yes, I consider myself lucky to be working with this group of Chinese professionals.

Teachers as students

I wonder what it feels like to be a student of English after many years of teaching it.   Well, I suppose one never stops learning a language, but for the HQU participants this may be the first time in many years to sit in a class with other ESL learners.   Of course,  their participation in a variety of elective classes serves a dual purpose:  to upgrade their own language skills as well as to observe and learn new teaching methods from their instructors.

Thursday morning was also the first day of  observations.   Bella and I were so pleased with the many astute  comments our colleagues made about ALC teachers and their teaching methods.  We could just see all the wheels turning as teachers described what they had seen, already thinking about how some of the activities could be implemented in their classes back in China.

Participants:  feel free to comment below and mention an activity or two that you might try with their your students.

Our first methodology session

Wednesday was fun!   We learned a lot about how and what English professors teach at HQU and shared our teaching philosophy here at ALC.   Seems we all attempt to teach English through the communicative method, using a variety of techniques and activities.   What became apparent though is that our colleagues face a number of very different challenges  ---  huge class sizes and a lack of variety and availability of materials.   As to lack of motivation on the students' part, I'm afraid we are also familiar with that challenge, though to a lesser extent.

I particularly enjoyed brainstorming some of the solutions to the challenges and creating a list to which we hope to add continuously as this course progresses.

UCLA Campus Tour

After a brief orientation session,  we walked to campus and had lunch at a student cafeteria at Ackerman Union.   I was a bit worried that my Chinese colleagues might not like what we call 'Chinese food', served by Panda Express, or the Mexican tacos some others tried for the first time.   However, everyone seemed to be open-minded and willing to try something new ---  well, after all, that's what a visit to a new country is all about, right?

After lunch, we were given a guided tour of the campus by Dean Osuka, a UCLA senior.  Since UCLA is my alma mater, I'm very much biased, so I'm not going to comment.   But I hope some of the participants will share their impressions right here.    
So,  what did you all think?   How what impressed you?  What more would you like to know about the campus?  What are some differences between HQU's campus and ours?      

Welcome to Hao Qiao University English Teachers!

On Monday, August 2nd, UCLA Extension's American Language Center welcomed 16 university professors and lecturers from China to participate in a four-week teacher-training program.   My colleague, Bella Anikst, and I are very excited to share teaching ideas with our colleagues, who have extensive experience teaching EFL to university students.   Since most participants are visiting the U.S. for the first time, we hope this visit will give them lots of cultural insights as well as opportunities for professional development.

One way to keep track of experiences is to blog about them right here.   We hope to read frequent entries and responses, see photos, useful links and anything else that helps enrich this unique experience.

So start your blog and post often!