Paper Details
Paper
Session 6a: English Paper 10
Title
Writing Self-Reflective Journals about Language and Cultural Exchange
Speaker
Ms. Elsie Christopher
(The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Time
02:30pm - 03:00pm
Venue
YIA 408
Abstract
The Language Exchange Program (LEP) was launched in the fall semester of 2012. The program is a 6 week semi-structured program which involves the language and cultural exchange of students wishing to learn and/or improve a target language, namely: English, Cantonese, and Putonghua. Because the program has a limited number of spaces available for student enrolment, students are first short listed based on their place of origin, native language(s) and general communicative proficiency. During the course of the program, students attend weekly workshops, meet with their assigned groups outside of the classroom (usually 4 - 5 students/group), and participate in culturally related activities. Workshops are facilitated by one English language lecturer and one Chinese language (Cantonese and Putonghua) lecturer who work with students during the class simultaneously. Through the LEP groupings, students become peer tutors for others in their respective groups. Activities and meetings held outside the classroom are organized by each group of students so that they can share in each other’s language learning. The exploration of local culture is also further augmented by the sharing of cultural information provided by non-local students. Themes that are taught and discussed during the classroom sessions include culturally relevant topics such as: films, travel, food, festivals, customs and places of interest etc. In each case, students are asked to write weekly self-reflective journal entries about their progress with regard to learning their target language (including vocabulary, commonly used language structures etc.) and also with regard to developing a greater sense of cultural awareness. Experiences and perceptions of student improvement and the development of self-reflective practises will be examined and used to inform future program development and also to develop various new independent learning activities which are specifically suited to the diverse international student population at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.