marianne and kim - balancing students’ needs and wants with electives

Balancing Students’ Needs and Wants with Electives

Kim Chavis and Marianne Wheeler

Studies in American Language

San Jose State University

The SAL Program

Average size = 250 students per semester 8 Levels of Instruction Most students have academic goals

(community college, undergraduate, and graduate)

Some come for personal English improvement The majority of students are from Asia (others

come from the Middle East, Europe, and South America)

2Kim Chavis and Marianne Wheeler (Studies in American Language, San Jose State

University, CATESOL 2009)

Customization is Key

Students attend 20 hours of classes per week in the IEP.

Most students must take Written Communication, Oral Communication, and Current Events Reading and Vocabulary courses (=16 hours per week).

Each elective course runs six weeks for twelve hours total. Students select elective courses that meet their individual goals.

3Kim Chavis and Marianne Wheeler (Studies in American Language, San Jose State University,

CATESOL 2009)

Example Student Course Schedule

Time Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri

8:30 Writing

Skills

Reading

Skills

Writing

Skills

Reading

Skills

Writing

Skills

Advanced

Elective

Choice

10:30 Speaking

Skills

Elective Choice #1

Speaking

Skills

Elective

Choice #3

Speaking

Skills

Advanced

Elective Choice

1:00 Elective

Choice #2

Elective

Choice #4 Advanced

Elective

Choice4

Kim Chavis and Marianne Wheeler (Studies in American Language, San Jose State University, CATESOL 2009)

Creating an Elective Schedule

The first piece is deciding how many total electives to offer. This is done by multiplying the total number of level sections of instruction by 2.

(Ex. 12 sections X 2 =24 courses)Academic courses: Since the majority of

our students have academic goals, 50-60% of courses should be academic

(13-15 courses on average).5Kim Chavis and Marianne Wheeler (Studies in

American Language, San Jose State University, CATESOL 2009)

Selecting Academic Courses

From an evaluation of skills needed at the college level, the following academic electives are usually offered: TOEFL Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Notetaking, Grammar Workshop, and Active Reading.

These courses are offered at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. Students (for all electives) are grouped into multi-level courses.


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Business Elective Courses

SAL students can customize their schedules with business courses. 10% or less of the elective schedule is comprised of the following types of electives: Business Writing, Business Idioms, or The Apprentice.


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Interest Courses

For SAL students who do not have academic goals (or for those who need a “break”), 30-40% of the schedule is comprised of interest courses like: English through Music, Art or Movies, American Idioms, Volunteers in Action, American Popular Culture, and Excursions.

In all Interest courses, the focus is on learning English in a fun environment.


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Concurrent Enrollment Elective Option

In place of one SAL elective, intermediate to advanced students can take 1-credit San Jose State University courses. There is an additional fee of $50 per student for this option; however, students can receive the benefit of interacting with American students.

Options include: physical education, music, and communication courses


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Time Scheduling

Most SAL courses are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30-12:20 or 1:00-2:50 with advanced courses on Fridays.

More choices are offered to the largest levels which are usually intermediate to high intermediate levels. It is important to balance the course offerings between the four time blocks which allows maximum student choice of academic and interest courses.


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Time Scheduling (con’t)

Because a balance of student choices is important, this may create some difficulties with teacher availability. (Ex. an intermediate student has a balance of academic, business, and interest courses in the four time blocks; teachers are then scheduled who have the experience, skills, and availability.)

Kim Chavis and Marianne Wheeler (Studies in American Language, San Jose State University,

CATESOL 2009)

11

Example of the Spring 2009 Morning Elective Choices

Tuesdays 10:30 Thursdays 10:30

TOEFL Listening 1

TOEFL Speaking 2

American Movies 1

Active Reading 2

Business Writing

TOEFL Listening 2

12Kim Chavis and Marianne Wheeler (Studies in American Language,

San Jose State University, CATESOL 2009)

Example of Spring 2009 Afternoon Elective Choices

Tuesdays 1:00 Thursdays 1:00

Clearer Speech

Survival English

American Movies 2

Grammar Workshop

Business Idioms

TOEFL Speaking 1

Writing and Grammar Workshop

Active Reading 1

13Kim Chavis and Marianne Wheeler (Studies in American Language, San Jose State University, CATESOL 2009)

Example of Spring 2009 Advanced Level Electives

TOEFL WritingSilicon Valley ProfessionalsTOEFL Speaking 3American Accent TrainingPresentation Skills


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“Selling” the Courses to Students

Titling Courses is Important: Titles should be short but explain the course adequately. We often use “TOEFL” to describe a course that is more academic (like TOEFL Notetaking) because students may not understand the relevance of why notetaking skills are important.

Teachers help select course titles and provide short summaries (3-6 sentences) of courses.

Course summaries are compiled on “choice” sheets sorted by level (students only see choices for their levels)


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Academic Course Description Example on a “Choice” Sheet

Grammar Workshop-This class is designed to help you become more knowledgeable about grammar and to use it more effectively in academic and everyday communication tasks. We will explore grammar using games, charts, handouts and other materials.


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Interest Course Description Example on a “Choice” Sheet

English through Art- Are you interested in Art? Improve your English speaking skills and expand your vocabulary by learning about great American artists and discussing modern art. This class includes fun hands-on activities. No artistic talents or background needed!


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Course Selection Process

Students have 2-3 days to select their courses. Students rank their top 3 courses in case their 1st or 2nd choices are full.

Students choices are then compiled. In the past, we moved more students to their third choices when courses filled. However, we have recently started to accommodate more 1st and 2nd choices with split courses. This means that students can keep their 1st and 2nd choices but may have a different teacher (this can cause some problems).


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Course Selection Process (con’t)

The average size of elective courses is 16 (but some courses with more of a lecture format, like advanced TOEFL courses, may have 20 students)

Courses are closed if the total number of students would hinder the learning process (Ex. 20 students is too many for a lower level speaking course) Usually, another course is opened to split the course in half.

Classes with less than six students are closed, and the students are moved to their 3rd choices

Students receive their course information (room number, teacher name, etc) in their classes about several days before elective courses begin.


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Can Students Change their Courses?

YES!A change period is allowed during the first week

(which does mean that students can change after attending the first class).

A change sheet is created for this process which shows which courses are full and those that have remaining space.

Students can change for any reason (teacher, time/day, desire to be with certain classmates, etc.) as long as space is available.


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Are We Crazy for Allowing Changes?

Despite the chaos and anxiety that such a process could create, there are only about 20-30 total change requests per session (only about 10%) of students. Only 7% of these students actually change courses due to space availability.

There are not many change requests because about 95% of students receive their 1st and 2nd choices due to course splits.

There is no significant difference in request changes from academic or interest electives.

It is important to not allow any changes after the change period has expired.


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Use of Books in Electives

Since electives are short courses, most do not use books. However, many of our academic (TOEFL) courses use books as students need structure in these courses. It is important to select books which have a reasonable cost as students have already paid about $100-200 for the core texts.

We currently are using Delta’s Key to the TOEFL Test (Delta Publishing Company), Building Skills for the iBT TOEFL (Compass Publishing), Clear Speech (Cambridge), and Giving Academic Presentations (Michigan Press).

TOEFL books are often used for multiple skills at the same level. (Ex. an intermediate student can often use the same book for a TOEFL Reading and Listening course.)

For those courses that do not use texts, teachers need to prepare their own materials. This can be difficult for newer teachers.


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During the Elective Session

Teachers compile online attendance (weekly) which helps us confirm that students are adhering to our attendance policy.

At the end of the course, teachers also enter their grades online.

All electives receive letter grades which are determined by the criteria the teacher selects but usually include a combination of the following: participation, homework, presentation, or quizzes/tests.


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Elective Course Evaluation

Courses are evaluated during the last day of the session.

Questions about the quality of the course as well as what other types of electives students would like offered are asked.


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Example Elective Course EvaluationPlease give us feedback on the electives that you took this

session. [The students then complete the following sentences]

The teacher was prepared

The teacher expected the students to learn a lot

The teacher helped students feel comfortable participating in class

The teacher evaluated my work in a fair and clear way

The class helped me improve my English skills[by choosing from the following responses]

Always, Very Often, Sometimes, Infrequently, Rarely


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Example Elective Course Evaluation,con’t

[Then they complete these sentences]In general, this class was _____In general, the teaching in my class was _____

[by choosing from these responses]Excellent, Very Good, Good, Not so good, Poor

1.Write a comment about your elective class. Please write examples…then we can improve your elective courses!

2. What other electives would you like SAL to offer?

3. Do you have any suggestions for the SAL program?


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Results of Elective Evaluations

Results are gathered and distributed with elective coordinator comments to teachers. If there are issues with the teacher’s performance, the elective coordinator will brainstorm with the teacher for ideas of improving the course.

Student suggestions have resulted in new courses(e.g. Silicon Valley Professionals).


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Examples of Student Comments about Electives - Academic Elective

From a TOEFL Listening course:“It is excellent elective class. This class

helped me to understand listening point of TOEFL. This class really improved my listening skills.”

“Teacher taught us how to note take, how to listen something like that. It was very good for us.”


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Examples of Student Comments about Electives - Interest Elective

From an English through Music course:“It’s really an interesting class. Not only

sing the songs, but also learn new vocabulary.”

“We sing a lot of songs. It’s really a good chance to study English in different way. I have a lot of fun in class. I love English more than before.”


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Presenter Contact Information

Kim Chavis: [email protected]

Marianne Wheeler: [email protected]


CATESOL 2009)

marianne and kim - balancing students’ needs and wants with electives

Education

courses academic courses

business courses

vocabulary courses

elective schedule

marianne wheeler studies

electives kim chavis

writing skills

majority of students