On 8 September, CTLE hosted a half-day professional development event online, entitled ‘Building Bridges for UM Learners in a Second Language Environment’. The event attracted over 80 academic staff members from UM.

In her opening remarks, Prof. Katrine Wong, Director of CTLE, said that students at UM needed to develop study skills different from secondary school, and that they needed to face a new linguistic environment as university students. Such challenge is two-fold: new study skills coupled with the English language. Faculty members not only need to teach their disciplinary material, but also teach such material in the ESL/EFL context (English as second language / English as foreign language). She hoped that the event would provide an arena where participants could explore ways to support learners.

Prof. Howard Brown, Chair of the Department of International Studies and Regional Development at the University of Niigata Prefecture, spoke about his experience of English-medium instruction (EMI) from the students’ point of view. He introduced research on challenges encountered by EMI students. He then explored with UM members different challenges that students would face when reading, listening and writing in English. Prof. Brown suggested several ways instructors could use in class, such as concept checking, greater use of pair and group work, allowing quiet time for reflection. Lastly, he hoped that colleagues could work with departments and language teachers, when helping EMI students learn in English.

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In the forum ‘Creating conducive learning environments’ moderated by Prof. Katherine Chen, Director of ELC, panelists from different faculties shared thoughts and tips on EMI teaching and learning. Prof. Nevia Dolcini (FAH) said that teaching with discipline-specific courses like Philosophy was challenging and that she would show relevant examples and materials to help students understand specific concepts. Prof. Terence Poon (FHS) provided students with lecture slides before class to help them better prepare; chat groups were also created for students to exchange ideas. Ms. Ellen Yixuan Jia (FSS) suggested students not to look up on meanings of words during lecture as it would be distracting and proposed that teachers could provide more learning tasks to help students achieve better understanding. Mr. Callus Aolei Chen (FST) advised students not to learn by relying on translation, but to try to understand content knowledge in English. (Watch Video)

Polls and discussion forums in UMMoodle are used in a variety of ways to support learners. In the session “Teaching with Moodle: Strategies and Features That You Need to Know”, Alice Lee (FAH-ELC) and Chris Fulton (CTLE) presented examples of popular activities with polls and forums that could be conducted in most courses.

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9 月 8 日,教與學優化中心(CTLE)舉辦了教師半天專業發展活動,主題為如何幫助澳大學生在英語環境中學習, 來自校內80多名教學人員在線參加了活動。

CTLE主任王嘉祺教授致開幕辭表示,澳大學生需培養不同於中學的學習技能,作為大學生後需面對全英語教學環境,同時學習學科技能令學生挑戰加倍;而教師除了教授學生學科知識,還要以英語作為第二語言或外語環境進行教學;她期望活動讓與會者探索支援學生學習的不同方法。

主題演講嘉賓、來自日本新潟縣立大學Howard Brown教授從學生的角度分享了他對全英語教學(EMI)的體驗。他介紹了在EMI 模式裡學生所面對的挑戰,以及從學習英語,到在英語環境中學習的教學策略;他還通過小組討論,了解澳大學生們與老師進行英語閱讀、聽力和寫作時的困難;他也列舉幾種方法支援口語及聽力,例如概念檢查、同伴和小組合作、預留時間進行反思等。 最後他希望同事們不要單獨幫助有困難學生,應該與所屬部門及語言老師合作。

在澳大英語中心(ELC)主任陳海瑛教授主持的論壇上,來自不同學院的師生討論了在校園內創造有利的學習環境,並分享了使用EMI教學的挑戰、解決方案和技巧。 Nevia Dolcini 教授 (人文學院) 表示,哲學等學科課程的教學具挑戰性,她會在課堂上展示相關例子和材料,讓學生理解特定的概念;潘全威教授 (健康科學學院)則表示會預先向學生提供課堂講義,以便他們更好地準備,他也創建通訊群與學生交流想法;賈奕萱同學(社會科學學院)建議同學們在上課時不要花時間查看翻譯以防止分心,並提議老師提供更多相關課堂内容的練習,令學生更好理解內容;而陳傲雷同學(科技學院)則表示同學們不要依靠翻譯來學習,而要嘗試用英語理解知識。

活動最後環節由Alice Lee 博士 ( ELC)和 Chris Fulton 博士 (CTLE)分享教職員在使用Moodle 教學時應了解的策略和特點:他們建議在Moodle中使用討論板讓學生分享想法和解決問題,並使用論壇與學生進行透明有效的交流;他們還提議引入投票來檢查學生對知識的掌握程度等。