Regina CO#2

 

Regina Sosinski - CO#2

July 5, 2017, 1:00 - 1:50 pm

Speaking 3B, Felicia Ciappetta

 

Teacher Presentation: Debates

 

Class began with a recap of the previous class discussion, and introduction of the first topic to be discussed today: "The pros and cons of advertising--Can advertising do more harm than good?" Instructor had the students form pairs/small groups, and asked me to join a group to take part in the discussion. Goal: get the students to speak in English as much as possible. I was in a group with two Korean students who were rather shy and reluctant to talk at first, but I was able to elicit some of their opinions regarding the pros and cons of advertising, writing down notes for each. They both agreed that advertising is more helpful than harmful--that it provides us with more information on a product before we buy it. I shared my opinion that we are aggressively inundated on a daily basis with advertising from every source imaginable, and that glossy, airbrushed women's magazines are commonly viewed in America as perpetuating an unrealistic ideal of how women should look. I could tell that the students (both female) didn't feel the same way, or maybe that they didn't understand that viewpoint being from a different culture. Results were discussed as a class, with the instructor asking each group to share an opinion, and writing down new vocabulary words on the board for review and discussion. We further discussed how advertising can be misleading, aggressive and manipulative, appealing to our emotional needs in order to sell their products. We summarized the exercise by agreeing that everyone should do their own research, and that we can't believe everything we read! We formed the same pairs/groups to discuss the second topic: "Should all students should be made to learn a foreign language?" Again, group results were discussed as a class, the consensus being that it was a good thing to learn a foreign language in school. I learned that in Korea, students begin studying English grammar at 8 or 9 years old. I also discovered that Arabic students are taught English throughout high school, then switch to all English when they attend university! The students seemed genuinely interested in expressing their thoughts, which facilitated lively discussions in the class as a whole. I enjoyed the speaking class and the chance to communicate with some of the students. Teaching students to speak in English seems like a subject I would enjoy.