Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > English
How to Make Upper-Level University English Classes More Interactive
Md. Mostafa Rashel:
Task 1: Listing and ordering
(Time required: 20 minutes)
The first task is listing and ordering, which allows students to review and activate what they know about the topic and related vocabulary.
First, students brainstorm about the words they need to talk about the ecological and social consequences of cars, computers, and cell phones, products that are part of our everyday lives. This task is especially suitable for making words and phrases available that the students will need to discuss and write about the environmental and social consequences of technology. As students brainstorm and volunteer words, the teacher writes them on the board. Students are allowed to ask the teacher or other students the meaning of words they do not know. Then, the class chooses the most essential vocabulary and the teacher circles the words. Students then form groups and organize the chosen words into three columns labeled Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Listing and Ordering Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives
NOUNS VERBS ADJECTIVES
environment cause dangerous
diseases pollute electromagnetic
waves waste uneconomical
Finally, the students create phrases by combining the adjectives and the verbs in different ways with the nouns. Some examples are: “pollute the environment,†“cause diseases,†“dangerous diseases,†and “dangerous electromagnetic waves.†The teacher writes these word combinations on the board.
Irina LytovchenkoUkraine
Enduring ............
Md. Mostafa Rashel:
Task 2: Problem solving
(Time required: 40 minutes)
In groups, students record two problems each caused by cars, computers, and cell phones. Then they suggest a solution for each one of the problems. Next, a representative of each group reports to the whole class what problems and solutions they recorded, and the teacher compiles the list, as is illustrated in Table 2.
Table 2: Identifying Problems and Solutions
PRODUCT PROBLEMS SOLUTIONS
A. Cars 1. pollute the air 1. use filters, ecological fuel, solar
batteries, and electric engines
2. waste energy 2. make economical hybrid engines that
work on mixture of petrol and biomass
B. Computers 1. ruin people’s eyes 1. use modern LCD monitors and glasses
with filters
2. cause carpal tunnel 2. improve design of the
syndrome computer keyboard and mouse
C. Cell Phones 1. emit microwaves that 1. use Bluetooth earphones
influence the brain
2. produce chemical waste 2. improve recycling technology
when batteries are thrown
away
Irina LytovchenkoUkraine
Enduring ............
Md. Mostafa Rashel:
Task 3: Sharing personal experiences
(Time required: 50 minutes)
In Task 3 students individually write a short paragraph (110 to 140 words) explaining why they have chosen the profession of an engineer, why they are attending this particular university, what they would like to do after graduation, and how English will help them in their future career. Then, in pairs, they read their paragraphs to their partner. Finally, students exchange papers and report their partners’ information to the class. Following are the paragraphs written by one classroom pair.
Student 1
I have chosen the profession of engineer because I like cars. Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is the most prestige technical university in Ukraine. So I decided to study here and become a good engineer. After my graduation I would like to work with cars, be an engineer in a sport car racing team. It’s a very interesting profession because you always should create new technologies in autosport. Autosport is not developed in the Ukraine. That’s why I want to work abroad, and so I need to know English. English is the most popular language in the world, and I could communicate freely with the specialists from other countries, and we could work on new technologies together.
Student 2
I’m studying in the National Technical
University of Ukraine because it was my dream. It is one of the famous Ukrainian Universities. It gave education for many famous people. Now they are the pride of our country. I’m studying at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty. One of the best students of this faculty is Alexander Yablonsky. He is the great mechanical engineer and now lives in USA. Maybe in the future I will be a great ngineer too. As for me, English is the best subject in my study program. I speak English not as good as I want, but I try very hard. The English language helps me very much with the Internet. In the future I want to be a teacher in my University and English can help me to communicate with my colleagues
from other countries.
Irina LytovchenkoUkraine
Enduring ............
Md. Mostafa Rashel:
Task 4: Comparing and contrasting
(Time required: 25 minutes)
In pairs, students exchange the paragraphs and write down three similarities and/or differences
between their paragraph and their partner’s paragraph. Then, they report the differences to the whole class. Following are examples of the differences Student 1 and Student 2 found in each other’s paragraphs:
Student 1’s observations:
1. My partner wanted to study at KPI because it was his dream, and I wanted to study at any good university.
2. My partner wants to be a teacher at the university, but I want to be an engineer in a car racing team.
3. English can help my partner to communicate with his colleagues, and it can help me to improve new technologies.
Student 2’s observations:
1. My partner wants to study in KPI because he wants to work with cars. I want to study in KPI because it was my dream.
2. My partner wants to work in the future with a sport car racing team. I want to work at my University.
3. My partner wants to work abroad. I want to work in the Ukraine.
Irina LytovchenkoUkraine
Enduring ............
Md. Mostafa Rashel:
Task 5: Creative task and project
(Time required: 45 minutes)
Students are directed to write a paragraph (140 to 160 words) about three new things that they think will happen in engineering over the next fifty years. These paragraphs are then displayed in the classroom so that all the students can read them. Following is an example of one student’s paragraph:
As we know, technical progress and the development of engineering is the same. So I think that in the future there may be some changes in technology as:
• The reduced influence of petroleum and gas and an increase of using new types of energy (more economic, safer for the environment), and the development of the new branches of engineering to deal with their production.
• The increase of computer technologies in manufacturing and in daily life. People will stop working so much as executives and will begin to work more as operators who control the work of computers.
• The rapid development of aerospace engineering, the exploration of space, creating new kinds of spaceships, the building of the new space stations to improve communications, and the start of the regular flights to the moon. That will be the new stage of the engineering and human evolution.
Irina LytovchenkoUkraine
Enduring ............
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