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I tried a new idea in my 108 English class that had a missed target/bullseye ending. Usually when a word comes up that gives students oral problems, there are related words that need remembered but seem too much to handle all at once. It occurred to me that we could jot these down and call it our List book so as not to confuse it with the Journal as required in my l06 English class.
I did a good job of introducing a List Book. I took in several samples of teachers List Books and drew the parallel that if a book like this is useful to teachers to help memory when groups of words are quickly needed, a custom-made student List Book would be an extremely valuable quick reference for a foreign student. Every time we discussed a subject or practiced a sound, we religiously allowed time to form a list so that the student would have additional information to practice at home. I added to this compilation with various lists of interest for students, and told them that they could add to their lists from the library. I showed them how to read and follow copyright and explained which types of books contained information that they could reproduce to use for their own benefit. Some popular ones were two word verbs and idiomatic prepositions. We progressed through many things such as prefixes, roots, and suffixes, as well as similes, metaphors, and proverbs. Some jotted down comparisons such as geek, dork, nerd, and jerk, with dude, hulk, macho, and stud. Others concentrated on double word meanings or tongue twisters. We talked often of how each book would be different, but all would help generate conversation with native speakers. The project really seemed to be going well...until I asked them to turn in the books for a check.
Two students had removed all the lists from the list book and placed instead several articles of their homelands copied from current magazines. I searched my memory to find anything that I had said that would give them the idea that a List Book is for a collection of articles. Finding nothing, I called them in to ask how it was that they could submit a list book with no word lists in it. Their response was that they found the lists so valuable they wanted to keep them, and remembering that I had said these books would help in conversations with native speakers, decided to submit information that native speakers like to talk about from magazines they owned. They had missed only one detail...the fact that the List Books were to be theirs after being checked. They had considered their lists too precious to give away, so figured the article copies would suffice.
Was my new idea a success? Well, considering this is a communication class, I suppose I missed my target totally because I failed to communicate clearly to two of ten students. As for the student...they must have considered it bullseye!