English for Study Abroad/TOEFL / English for Legal Study Abroad Discussion

June 18, 2005 Hayama

(Steve, Robert and Mary Jo)

Summarised by Mary Jo

We met for about 45 minutes and discussed what we've been doing in our classes and possibilities for the future.

1. The ESA/TOEFL course description says “this course will also help you improve your TOEFL scores,” so we (Rob and MJ) initially added a short TOEFL strategies segment to the 90-minute class period. More recently, we have moved away from teacher-led TOEFL activities into the realm of self-study. We’re currently asking the students to spend about an hour a week on one section of the test and then writing a reflection on how their studying went. They spend a few minutes at the beginning of the class discussing their reflections with a partner.

2. Beginning next term we will ask the students to research study abroad possibilities. They could research costs, admission requirements, courses offered, etc. This should be useful and motivating.

3. We also talked about the possibility of creating a “TOEFL Advisor” position within the faculty. Ideally, a teacher would be available for consultation (in the Resource Center?) one class period a week. Students who needed help/advice regarding the TOEFL could drop in (or make an appointment) and speak with the teacher.

4. English for Study Abroad is also supposed to offer students a chance to experience a “model study abroad classroom”, so we’ve tried to think of what skills the students will need most in a real study abroad environment. We want to help them improve their listening, note taking, research, presentation skills - with lots of opportunity for discussion. We (Rob & MJ) are using the text Learn to Listen, Listen to Learn (Lebauer) to teach listening / note taking skills. We are pretty happy with it. In the last cycle, students expanded research on a topic presented in the text and then did a presentation.

5. Steve did some research in the States last year focusing on what skills Japanese law students need most when they enter an American law school. The one comment that seemed to be universal was that, while Japanese students are all good at reading and writing, they need to learn to speak without spending so much time thinking about what they want to say. The ability to respond quickly is necessary for success in an American law school classroom.

6. We also discussed different ways of teaching presentation. Steve offered a nice change from the “presentation at the front of the class” style. His students form research groups of 4, and on presentation day they split up with each member of the group presenting to a different group, i.e., students from groups A, B, C, and D would form new groups (ABCD) and give their presentations. This offers a less formal style which is more conducive to question asking than the traditional front of the class presentation. (One caveat from Steve: If you have trouble getting students to stick with English, don’t make groups of 4 -- stick with pairs, then form groups of 4 only for the presentations.)