Kazakhnomad’s Blog: A Westerner’s View of Kazakhstan

I asked the question to my 30+ English listening and notetaking  (ELN) students which they preferred, being taught out of a textbook and listening to taped lectures or having guest lecturers instead.  The following were their responses:

“I think that listening to a “live” speaker is better cause we can ask questions.  As for me, I understand better than listening to a tape.”

“While listening to a real lecturer you can ask your questions, have a real discussion. You also listen to real people with their specific accent…”

“No, I would prefer guest lecturers because you could improve your listening skills better.  I think all courses of ELN should have these kind of speaking guests.”

“Of course I prefer guest lecturers because it is much more interesting than textbooks.  And it is interesting you try to memorize more information, so it is much more useful. When I tell my friends that we have guest lecture every week, they just tell me how lucky you are.  So it is just obvious that guest lecturers not only interesting but also very helpful, you really get a lot of new information, and at the same time your listening improves!”

“I think when we have guest lecturers it’s better and I prefer this.  Because when we are listen taped lectures, its boring.  When we have a guest lecturer it’s interesting and we can listen real English language by that we improve skills.”

“It is apparent that I’d choose guest lecturer.  Live presentation are the most memorable. You listen to real speaker, you catch all gestures.  Because 60% of the speech consists of gestures and really makes sense.  Besides, I always struggle with my brain which wants to sleep when I listen to a tape.”

“It’s better to have guest speakers to talk with because for many students it’s laziness to listen to tape or read it.  It’s original to invite guests who can directly answer your question and maybe learn how can you behave yourself or present something correctly.”

“I am really appreciated that our class had a chance to listen to native speakers.  Listen to tape and listen to live speech it is two different things.  I have ability to listen to tape 24 hours a day but don’t have many chances to listen to the person who thinks in English and speaks that language all his or her life.”

“This is my first course with foreigner guests.  Personally I enjoy them and thank you my teacher for giving me opportunity to listen and communicate with them.  It is really practice for me and one of the ways to improve my English skills.”

“I think that it more understandable when you see the speaker by your own eyes.  It is great to see real speaker because students can ask questions also.”

“I liked a lot having guest speakers and their lectures because it was very interesting to see how they love what they are doing, how passionate they are about their topic!”

“I prefer handouts and real lectures from foreigners, not a textbook or taped lectures (it’s boring, not interesting and that means not effective!)  I think I got a lot of knowledges, real knowledges that I will be needing in the future.”

“I like more guest speakers because I think it is easier to listen to a real person than the taped lecture and I think it is more interesting you see people’s feelings, you understand them better.”

“I certainly would be negative towards such, in my opinion, “old” types of lectures; because when lecture is live, you are not even trying to sleep because people who makes them are really skilled about it and will not have you fall asleep.”

Yes, our dear, Kazakh students write about sleep a lot because those who are NOT lazy and work really hard suffer from sleep deprivation.  Weekends are the time when they try to catch up on sleep but the main point of all these responses is that students have enjoyed having LIVE speakers to listen to.  Tomorrow I will write about what they said about some of our guest lecturers.

T/F Laziness is a problem for me.

Thirty students took a quiz yesterday in my two listening classes answering the above True/False question.  Fifty per cent claimed they are NOT lazy, the other fifty admit that laziness is a problem for them.  I’m trying to get to the bottom of why some of my students refused to follow instructions about how to write a properly written academic paper in APA format.  I think many of them were not honest in their appraisals of themselves.  Those good students who I know are NOT lazy thought they are and those that haven’t done their assignments assessed themselves as not having a problem with laziness.

The other question that was more revealing at the end of this questionnaire was: “Explain what grade you deserve and why?”  The following are some of the responses from those who do not think they have a laziness problem:

“I think that whatever I have or haven’t done, my instructor should decide what grade I deserve.  P.S. if to be fair, I worked hard during the semester and have been trying to do my best in everything because I don’t only just finish this course and this is all.  No, I need finishing this course in order to be good at the other courses I am going to take.  So, after doing a good job, I want A+, if you think that I’ve done a good job too.”  It’s true, this student has worked hard but I have a difficult time giving A+ grades, I think most Americans do since we max at A grades.

“I really don’t know what grade I’ve deserved. I hope to have good grade but I did not done many works and missed many lectures.” I would call such a student as delusional. He did none of the assignments until the last paper and has missed 19 classes out of 36. Delusional!!! Unless he thinks that an “F” is a good grade.

“About my final grade, I don’t know exactly what I get.  But I believe that my works will good. I hope!!! When I saw my midterm grade I was in : (  I’m trying do everything, in details. I want to have good grade…and I know that my situation is not good…I want to have B or B+ It’s my grade.”

This is the student who copied off the Internet about her grandmother’s story from an American grandmother’s experience which I blogged about what seems many months ago.  She since rewrote her grandmother’s story portraying the real Kazakh one.

The following student is no doubt getting an “A” grade and I do believe she is not lazy, this is what she wrote: “I hope to have an A or A- grade because I think in this listening class I have done everything my teacher said.  All my self-study assignments, notes and other papers were done on time.  I didn’t miss classes and I was always prepared for all classes.  My final paper was enough good and I’ve learned a lot from this class.  I know a lot about APA style and how to make presentations that will help me…”

This student claimed that she did have a laziness problem before but not now: “As every student, I would like to have A+ but I think that it is no more than A.  To me, I did a good job, because I really improved my skills in speaking and listening, of course with big help from you.  Why I think I can get A?  Because I was one of the first presenters in my group.  In comparison, what I could do in the beginning and what I have now, it is big step.”

One very astute student wrote the following: “It is very difficult to estimate yourself because actually everybody thinks that they deserve good grades for themselves.  I think that I can truly and fairly deserve A- or A, because I think I did my job proper, right and at time.  Yes, I had some problems with rough draft, but we are learning, so I understand my mistakes that were showed by you and I take them to account and change my paper to better side.  Hopefully, now I have good paper and presentation to be shown to my groupmates and guest speakers. So, I hope that my grade will be A or unless A- but not less, because I believe that I deserve it!”

Finally, this student is a very hard working student, not a lazy bone in her body! “When I came to this university, my first goal was to study hard and get a deserved grade.  Everyone wants the best grade.  Why not?!  Even they’re dreaming.  That’s why, I want to follow every rule, assignments to get excellent grade.  Then, I want my parents happy and proud of me.  It’ll prove that I’m not just wasting my time, because I don’t like sitting without anything.  So, I expected to get A+ grade from every subject which I was taking, I tried all this fall semester and I studied really hard to not make my teachers disappointed in me.  For me, it’s really important to get a maximum grade which is not so easy thing to do.

Honestly, I love my subject and teachers.  It’s a motivation for me too.  Because I don’t want to make my lovely family and teachers disappointed in me, I know one of my best feature in my character. They’re hardworking and responsible.  I know that if I want I can do.  Just there should be extra studies to improve yourself.  It’s very important.  Laziness is the worst thing in human beings, but it depends on person how they wish or want.  I wanted a maximum grades, so I was trying and studying really hard not to miss the deadlines of the teachers.  My hopes are in the deep of my heart.”