The Minimal Pair is a dynamic duo dedicated to discussing issues in language learning and teaching. This podcast focuses heavily on the practices, challenges, and rewards of teaching adult language learners. Together ESL instructors Stephanie Axe and Jean Dempsey comprise The Minimal Pair, but from time to time other professionals from the field, as well as English language learners themselves, will round out the discussion.
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The Minimal Pair is a dynamic duo dedicated to discussing issues in language learning and teaching. This podcast focuses heavily on the practices, challenges, and rewards of teaching adult language learners. Together ESL instructors Stephanie Axe and Jean Dempsey comprise The Minimal Pair, but from time to time other professionals from the field, as well as English language learners themselves, will round out the discussion.
The Minimal Pair: Episode 008 Show Notes: The Minimal Pair Title: The Little Episode That Could Episode no: 008 Date: Recorded on 5/8/14 Introduction: So, it’s finals time…how are you holding up? Topics in Language Learning Students’ perception of their own performance: Students who think they are doing fine/don’t seem worried, but are failing Students who are doing fine, but constantly worry about their grades Students who wait until the very end of the semester to ask what they can do about their grade Students who didn’t do the original work, but want extra credit Students reactions to final grades [17:04] Methodology How to deal with a test/writing prompt that doesn’t go as planned… The test takes longer than anticipated Give them extra time? But what if another class is coming in…? The test results were lower than expected: was it too challenging? How to decide: Look at scores overall: did everyone do poorly? Look at individual scores: did anyone do drastically worse than they did on previous tests? Adjusting scores for tests that were deemed disastrous Avoiding the same mistakes in the future/gauging the length of time and level of difficulty of future tests [32:27] Adjunct Antics Career Adjunct? Being an adjunct wasn’t meant to be a career, yet that’s what it is for many people Feeling like a second-class citizen Unions: the solution? Or part of the problem? SHOUT OUTS: Dan Clark, thanks for listening and giving us positive feedback on the quality of our recording—it means a lot, coming from a fellow pod-caster (First World Podcast). Also, I have a HUGE shout out to Stephanie, for figuring out our microphone problem so that we could record tonight, against all odds. This truly was the “little episode that could.”
The Minimal Pair
The Minimal Pair is a dynamic duo dedicated to discussing issues in language learning and teaching. This podcast focuses heavily on the practices, challenges, and rewards of teaching adult language learners. Together ESL instructors Stephanie Axe and Jean Dempsey comprise The Minimal Pair, but from time to time other professionals from the field, as well as English language learners themselves, will round out the discussion.
