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Internationalizing Your Teaching With The Blackboard Learning Management System, Three Useful Websites & Frequently-Used English Phrases For The University Classroom
Internationalizing Your Teaching With The Blackboard Learning Management System, Three Useful Websites & Frequently-Used English Phrases For The University Classroom
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Introduction
As Taiwanese universities continue to internationalize their campuses by implementing
bilingual (English & Chinese) instruction, it is becoming increasingly important that we locate
online sources that can help us meet this ambitious goal. The purpose of this workshop is threefold: 1) to demonstrate how the presenter uses the Blackboard Learning Management System
in his English-language content courses, 2) introduce the audience to three extremely-useful
ESL/EFL websites, and 3) to familiarize non-native English-speaking instructors with some
commonly-used English-language teaching terms that they can readily adapt to the bilingual
classroom. The sources of the material for this workshop derive from Randalls Listening Lab
[http://www.esl-lab.com], Rong-chang.com [http://rong-chang.com], The Purdue University
Online Writing Center (OWL) [http://owl.english.purdue.edu], the University of California at
Santa Barbara Teaching Assistant Handbook*, and the presenters own lecture notes.
Hopefully, this presentation will not only help audience-members take the necessary steps to
transform themselves from monolingual to bilingual instructors, but also offer some
pedagogically-powerful phrases that teachers everywhere might find worthy of reflection.
This presentation is supported in part by funding received from the National Science Council
(NSC 97-2410-H-011-014) and the Institute of System Engineering, National University of
Tainan.
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Introducing a Topic
What we are going to cover today is ... /First of all, I would like to talk about ...
Today, I am going to talk about /What I want to do today is ...
The important point I want to make today is ... /Today's topic is ...
Making Transitions Between Ideas
Now, let's see what happens. /The second point I want to make is...
If that's clear, we will go on to the next point. /Let's get back to the idea of...
Now, let's approach the problem in a different way.
I'd like to finish talking about ... before we move on ...
Summarizing and Concluding
In summary ... /To conclude ... /In conclusion ... /The conclusions we can draw from this are ...
What we have been talking about ... /Okay, we have discussed...
So far (up until now), I have been trying to show you ...
The important points to remember are ...
Inviting Participation or Discussion
Who would like to say something? /Do you agree ...? /Could you say a little more about that?
Can you elaborate on that? /What do you think ...? /How do you feel ...?
What comparison can you make between ...?
What is the point made by the author of this article?
Clarifying Student Comments
In other words ... /If I understand you correctly, you mean ...
What you said is ... /What this means is that ...
I think I understand what you mean. Let me put it another way.
Would you like to elaborate on this point? /This brings us to our major question ...
Could you restate your point? /I'm not sure I understand.
Giving Examples
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For example ... /Take ..., for example. /To be more specific ...
Let me give you an example ... /For instance .../
____________________________________________________________
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To ace a test. (do well) - To bomb a test. (fail) - Goose egg. (zero)
Ill definitely be seeing you next semester!
(I dont want to beat a dead horse here, so Ill conclude this lesson )
Conclusion
This brief presentation has introduced you to three ESL/EFL websites and some common
English-language phrases for the bilingual classroom. Hopefully, this workshop has inspired
you to implement some of these phrases into your own teaching. Please remember that
successful internationalization begins with each and every one of us! rj
*Source for Part II:
Ronkowski, S. (1999). The international teaching assistant handbook: An introduction to university
and college teaching in the United States. Santa Barbara, CA: Regents of the University of
California. Uploaded October 22, 2007; http://www.id.ucsb.edu/IC/TA/main.htm.
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