Communication Skills for International Associate Instructors
GRAD G530

Instructor: Elizabeth Merceron (bmercero@indiana.edu)

Pre-requisite: Completion of all LING T101 courses assigned by the English Language Improvement Program (SLS) and a score of NC4 or C3 on the TEPAIC. This course counts for three elective credits.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: The primary objective is to help you become an effective teacher in the US classroom. This course addresses the communication, teaching, and cultural issues that you are likely to confront as an international associate instructor at Indiana University. One on one and small group tutorials offer students the opportunity to work with the instructor on individual language problems. Specific objectives include:

• Communication skills
  • Become aware of your English pronunciation problems and learn strategies to correct these problems
  • Develop presentation and discussion skills for classroom and conference settings
  • Learn typical classroom jargon and idioms
  • Improve your understanding of student talk
• Pedagogy
  • Learn the qualities of an effective teacher
  • Develop a personal teaching style
  • Learn to use visual aids effectively
  • Learn how to keep students engaged during class time
• Cultural orientation
  • Gain a better understanding of the social and academic backgrounds of Indiana University undergraduates
  • Understand expectations of both teachers and students in the U. S. university classroom

MATERIALS NEEDED:

One blank VHS videotape and a textbook or lab manual from a course you are likely to teach

One small notepad for recording vocabulary

ON-LINE READINGS FROM:

IU Campus Instructional Consulting Teaching Handbook on-line at: http://www.indiana.edu/~teaching/

LIBRARY RESERVE:

Gross Davis, Barbara (1993) Tools for Teaching, Jossey-Bass. http://bert.lib.indiana.edu:2205/Details.aspx Sarkisian, Ellen (1887) Teaching American Students, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning.

COURSE COMPONENTS

Micro-lessons

You will present five micro-lessons in this course, which will be video-taped, to record your progress. By viewing and critiquing your lesson after each taping, you will be able to accurately judge your progress. All video assignments are on the Weekly Topic and Assignment document. Undergraduate observers from the School of Education will give you feedback on your presentations. NB. You are responsible for assuring that your tape is queued up for a new presentation. You may not tape over a previous presentation or borrow another person’s tape.

Observations and critique of peers’ presentations

During our frequent informal practice presentations, you will learn to recognize effective teaching and communication strategies and give useful feedback to your classmates. Finally, you will be assigned an AI from your department to observe two times.

Individual or small group tutorials

We will review your presentations together, and develop specific objectives and strategies for you to improve your pronunciation and communication skills. These are held either in the downstairs room of the International Center or in my office.

Conversation Partners:

You will be offered the opportunity to participate in a conversation partner program, meeting weekly with an undergraduate, which will improve your fluency and introduce you to IU undergraduate culture.

We will have a Group Discussion with undergraduates on expectations of an AI, and Guest Speakers will talk on the expectations of IU undergraduates and teaching excellence.

GRADING

Due to the scheduling of this course, absent students cannot make up a missed presentation.

The Final Exam and Certification: The final exam for this class will be the same as the TEPAIC Appeal exam: You will be required to demonstrate that you can communicate effectively in a 5-minute interview, a 10 minute teaching presentation, an office hour role-play, and respond to typical student questions. The final exam may lead to associate instructor certification.