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Narrator: Situation 1: Difficulty reading course materials and taking class notes. Research
has shown that many international students have difficulties reading class materials
because of language difficulties. Formal complex materials are very difficult, and may take
much longer for international students to read. Many students come from countries that
have an oral tradition of learning, rather than a written mode. This oral tradition also
lends itself to international students who may dismiss the importance of taking notes
during class time.
Information that is not in the reading materials is not recorded, and as a result, is often
not retained.
Teacher: Okay, so that's great. So, if you remember when left last day, I asked you guys
to do the readings from Chapter 2, pages 29 to 54, cause I think it's really important,
especially at the beginning of the semester, to get in the habit of reading on a regular
basis so it doesn't catch up with you in the end. And as well, to take your notes when
you're sitting here in class, either in paper, or on computer.
So, can I have an idea of how many people might have found it a little bit difficult
to understand the readings that we had last day?
Can we get a show of hands? Okay, hmm all right, that's really good. Thank you for letting
know, cause it looks like quite a few of you had some difficulty with that, so we'll make
sure that we spend some extra time today going over those concepts and seeing if we can figure
out how to best help you with that.
Narrator: Research suggests that international students do not ask questions in class, as
they feel it is not in their place to question the teacher, especially in front of the entire
class. For them, it is a sign of disrespect. Limited English may also be a factor in their
reluctance to speak up.
As a result, many international students may not comprehend what is being taught in the
class. Reading skills may be weak, and this impedes overall comprehension and retention.
Instruct students to read with a purpose using a highlighter and a pen for taking notes.
Teachers: Okay, so you have questions 29 to 54 to do for homework, and I know sometimes
when you look at that amount of text, it looks fairly daunting, but I've got a few suggestions
for you that I found have kind of helped in my time, you know, at school, and also when
I'm reading for pleasure, and I want to kind of remember something that's really kind of
interesting.
So I would definitely suggest that you kind of read with a highlighter, and you read with
a pen, because you want to read with purpose whenever you're doing your lecture notes.
And two, I think that at the beginning of every kind of lecture, I'm going to have some
objectives for you when you're reading. So again, you're reading with purpose, cause
you're reading to find the answer to the questions that you've got as well as your textbook says
some good objectives at the front, and some questions in the back. So when you're reading
through your text, make sure you've got that highlighter in hand, and you're highlighting
things throughout your text. You've spend lot of money on your books, use them, they
don't have to be pristine. It's just like a test, you want to mark up the test, you
don't want to be thinking of things, cause then, when you go back, you'll have like a
visual representation of that page a little bit more in your head. And then the other
thing is, to keep notes as you go, so keep a pencil around. Know the questions that I'm
asking you to find in the readings and when you find the answers to those questions, write
them down, because that will help you remember things when you get to the end of it.
Not all of us are just visual learners, sometimes we need to talk aloud as well, so maybe you're
going to be in a room where you can talk aloud and hear yourself speaking cause some of us
are more auditory learners and that helps as well. Some of you might need to move when
you're doing reading, so you might want to have a stress ball with you that you can be
squeezing at the same time, you know, to kind of get your fidgeting out and keep yourself
engaged and active with the information.
Narrator: Vary delivery of the course materials by using videos, case studies, and guest speakers.
Teacher: Okay, so, to kind of help you remember and be more engaged in the content that we'll
be reading about, as well as, you know, I'll show some videos. Does anybody remember the
video, one of the videos we had yesterday? Fish video, that's right, we had the fish
video! So already, you remember something from yesterday, which is fantastic. So, we're
also going to have guest speakers in our classroom. We're going to do the case studies, so that
you can make an emotional connection to the material, and that'll help you to remember
it a lot better.
Narrator: Have students form groups, and read aloud difficult course material.
Teacher: Okay, so one thing I like to do, especially when we're looking at the content
of the book, is to sometimes form reading circles so that we can read together through
the content of the information. So, if you could perhaps just turn around, and turn your
chairs around so you face each other and form small clusters of about five people per group
throughout the classroom. If you can do that now please.
Good, yeah, that's good. So one here, got another one over here, excellent. Group over
here is right. Yup, do you guys want to come together? A little bit more awkward, but that
would be great.
Narrator: Insist that students wrote down teacher's bullet points as well as additional
comments to aid retention.
Teacher: Last day when we were talking about psychological health, and we were looking
at cognitive functioning of many different things, I asked you guys to write down your
bullet points within your notes. Who wrote down the bullet points? Okay, so all of you.
But who wrote down extra things? You did? Awesome! Because when you're taking notes,
it's not good enough to just write down the bullet points. Things that I talk about you
can't always find in the textbook, and if you don't write down those extra things, as
I'm speaking and talking about our information, that information's going to be lost the next
day, right?
Narrator: Encourage students to record lessons to playback after class.
Teacher: Okay, another suggestion I have for you; sometimes you might think that I talk
a little bit fast, and, if it helps you at all, please feel free to bring in an audio
recorded device. You can, place it right here in front of the class, or you can keep it
with you at your desk, and then you can record everything that I say, and everything your
classmates say, so if that you don't here it perfectly well, or you can't take down
the notes, as well as listen at the same time, then you can take it home and you can use
it later on if that helps you. Does anybody think that they might try and do that? Yeah?
Okay, excellent! So feel free next week if you want to bring it up.
And if anybody else is a little shy that you're doing that, that's okay, just bring it to
me ahead of class, and I can place it up here and give it back to you at the end of the
class. Especially, if anybody has any personal learning disabilities and things like that,
it might be helpful to you.
Narrator: Use visuals within lessons to help students remember.
Teacher: All right, so from these - this slide, we're looking at the effective treatment of
depression. Obviously we've got a lot of visuals here and I like to use visuals as much as
I can in class to kind of help you engage and remember with the material, especially
if English isn't your first language. So here we see right away that a drug called Prozac,
you know is probably going to wash away out blues, and that can be an effective treatment
for depression. And of course we have the woman on the cycle exercising, and then our
cognitive behavioural therapy. So we'll always try and put some pictures in with the notes
so that it will help you to remember what some of the content is.
But also, if I'm not speaking slowly enough, please raise your hand and tell me "Denise,
hey, slow down, you're talking too quickly, or you're not talking clearly enough". Because
I can tell you right now, if you're feeling that way, there's other people in this class
that are feeling the same way, and you can help everybody out, if you tell me to slow
down. And then I would certainly not be offended, and I will do my best to help you with that.
Narrator: Instruct students to read with a purpose using a highlighter and a pen for
taking notes. Vary delivery if course materials by using videos, case studies, and guest speakers.
Have students form groups and read aloud difficult course material. Insist that students write
down teachers' bullet points as well as additional comments to aid retention. Encourage students
to record lessons to playback after class. Use visuals within lessons to help students
remember.