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GroupsCombining Learning with Fun!
Beth Kupper-Herr Leeward Community College,
Hawaii
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 3
What the groups are all about
•Who
•What
•How
•When
•Where
•Why
…and “what else”
4
WHO
• Participants• Students taking language classes
• Language instructors• promote program• extra credit• resource for leaders
• Leaders • Native speaker students
• Coordinator • organizes groups
• trains and works with leaders• communicates with instructors• provides attendance data
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 5
WHAT(overview)
• Small group led by native speaker
• Purposes: • improve speaking and comfort level• learn about culture and country• have fun!
• Meet one hour per week
• Membership is set (encourage cohesion, bonding)
• Participation is voluntary…• but when students sign up, they are told “This is a
commitment”
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 6
WHAT(overview, continued)
•English (ESL)•Spanish• Japanese
•Hawaiian•Korean•Chinese
This semester, we offer groups for
23 groups!
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 9
HOWset up groups
• Assign students to groups (4 – 6 per group)
• Accept that you can’t always get every student into a group
• Track attendance (we use TutorTrac)
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 12
WHERE
• Groups meet inside & outside
• Groups can get noisy!
• Have sheets & mats
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 13
WHEN
• Time & day• When leaders are available• When students are available• Soon after class meets
• Minimum 5 weeks, maximum 10 weeks
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 17
ISSUES, POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
& DECISION POINTS•Attendance?
•Stay flexible•Stay positive
•Mixed levels?
•Pay or volunteer?
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 18
WHAT ELSE? extensions or variations of the
program
• Foundation building groups (101 level)
• More peer group activities for our Learning Resource Center
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 23
More activities to try
• Calendar chat
• Conversation starters
• Charades
• See Conversation Leader Guide for more
• Conversation leaders have great ideas!
Beth Kupper-Herr, Leeward CC 24
Thanks for coming!
Additional copies of handouts distributed at this session can be downloaded from:
http://tiny.cc/languagegroups
Want to continue the “conversation”? Contact me at bethkh@hawaii.edu
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