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Narrator: Situation 3: The after class "wave", and class participation. Research has shown
that international students are well aware of their own language challenges. It may take
great courage to speak up in class or ask a question. Instructors might find it challenging
to engage all students in a culturally diverse classroom. International students often wait
until the end of class to approach the teacher to gain the answer to questions they were
afraid to ask in class. This is the time when both the teacher and student are often in
a hurry to get to their next class, and not an appropriate time to clear up student difficulties.
Teacher: Okay class, so basically we've come to the end of another period, before we leave,
are there any questions on what we covered today on circuit currents or any of the assignment
questions that are due in next class? No? All right, class dismissed, and we'll see
you next week.
Student #1: Sir, um, will chapter 11 be on the test?
Student #2: Sir, can you do the other question again?
Teacher: I'm sorry guys, I feel bad, but I really got to leave. I've got to go, I've
got another class, okay.
Student #3: But, but, but sir...
Narrator: To alleviate the problem of waiting to ask questions until the class is over,
and the lack of class participation by some students, teachers can try following recommendations.
Teacher: Okay folks, so, just kind of just finish off what you're doing, and you can
kind of turn back around from your groups. So basically what we're going to do is I'm
going to be stopping 5 minutes, as you can see, 5 minutes before the end of every class
so that we can have questions answered. Now remember that the rubric for this course,
you get marks based on participation, so please feel free to participate, ask your questions,
I won't bite. Okay so, oh come on, that was a joke!
That's better, all right. So, I won't bite. Please ask your question, as many as you can,
we've got 5 minutes at the end of every period that we're going to leave open for any kind
of questions about any of the material. About anything that's going to be covered in next
week's test, about anything that we're covering at all.
Student: Sir, do we have to know about circuit currents for the test next week?
Teacher: Excellent question, and yes, we do. So, on the test next week, this is going to
be one of the main topics, now, how many people would like me to go over this one more time
before the test next week? Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay, so, what we did at the beginning
of the course, or, we started talking about our regular circuit current, we took what
was coming out of the power supply...
Student: Sir, do we have to know about circuit currents for the test next week?
Teacher: As proof of -- I'll let you know what we're talking about before the test next
week, what I'm going to do, is I'm going to slightly change this question, and then we're
gonna get into small little groups, and we'll see if you can actually do the math and solve
the currents for that circuit as a little group. It'll be great practice for next week's
test.
So what I'm going to do, is I'm going to take one more resistor, and I'm going to add it
to the end of our circuit.
Narrator: Cultural differences in participation levels may mean that asking questions in class,
or volunteering comments may be viewed in their home culture as rude and disrespectful
to the teacher. As a teacher, it's important to be open and enthusiastic, and to regularly
go over your expectations about class participation, and the importance of it in western educational
system.
When calling upon an international student, allow enough time for the student to collect
his or her thoughts and formulate a question or answer in English.
Teacher: Okay class, so, basically we've come to the end of another period. Before we leave,
are there any questions on what we covered today on circuit currents or any of the assignment
questions that are due in next class?
Student: Sir, I honestly do not understand where that comes from.
Teacher: Thank you for asking the question, there's probably a lot of other people in
the room that have the same question. It is a very, very important concept that's going
to be covered a lot throughout the semester and everything that we cover onwards on the
course is based on this one concept, so, let me go through it one last time, nice and slow,
please stop me if I'm going too fast. So the current that comes out of our power supply,
it's what's known as...
Narrator: Stop class five minutes early for questions and answers. Give marks for participation
based on a participation rubric given at the beginning of the semester. Use group work
to promote problem solving, and to create a question bank. Go over expectations regularly
about the importance of class participation, allow time for a student to collect their
thoughts and ask a question. Be open and enthusiastic.