I Get New Students Tomorrow

And so, the cycle starts again

Published on June 15, 2005 By chiprj In Blogging

We'll be getting our new input of students tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. We're conducting an experiment here at DLI and I'm going to be one of the MLIs that gets to participate. Some of the other schools have already started this program, but this will be the first time we try it out in the Korean school.

Instead of our normal input of 30 students per class on day one, we're going to start with only 12 (maybe less). Also, instead of breaking them up into three sections of 10 students each, we'll be putting them into classrooms with only 6 students on day one. We will also be accelerating the curriculum so that we finish all of the text books by the end of second semester (normally we don't finish until late in third semester). During third semester, we'll focus on authentic material from the internet and TV. We'll also be raising our goal scores of 2/2/1+ to 2+/2+/2. So it will be a challenge. But, I'm living proof that we should be able to do it.

In 1993, I came through this course. At the time, it was only 47 weeks long, not 63 weeks like it is now. Also, our textbooks were terribly out of date. So out of date that four months into the course, we were ordered to throw them away. The school then scrambled to find (not-so) suitable replacements. After all that, I graduated 2/2+/2. I missed the 2+ on the listening test by only one point. Now, granted, I'm a freak, but I think that the improvements we've made in course length, materials, and Second Language Acquisition teaching methodologies will help these students attain that goal. We're actually graduating students right now in our normal classes that are at or very near those standards. So, now we're just trying to find that extra little edge to get all the students to that level. And I think this new program is going to be it.

Another factor that's exciting is that I was given a lot of freedom in trying to improve and lengthen the military topics portion of the class. I was able to talk to graduates and ask what they felt would have helped them more on their Final Learning Objective tests. I then was able to make new materials or adjust old materials to meet those areas.

So, wish me, and the other MLI that will be sharing this class, luck!

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Comments

Moderateman

on Jun 15, 2005

Luck to all.

greywar

on Jun 18, 2005

Well I had that score as well but I think a lot of it has to do with the lacksadaisical attitude of the civilian faculty unless that has changed? They certianly didn't make me score well, I am just a freak like you.

chiprj

on Jun 19, 2005

I think that the attitudes, in general, have improved since you and I were students, but that could also be memory playing the "back in my day we had it tough" game with me.

I can honestly say that now that I'm standing on the other side, I see the effort the instructors put into preparing and teaching. Most of them do genuinely care. We do have some of the old schoolers that are still under the old GS system (we can't fire them if we want to pretty much) but we have effectively weeded out many of the ones that were merely trying to pull down a paycheck and score citizenship. We have a new, merit based contract system, that is not only tied to how well your graduates perform, but also holds you accountable for the ones you drop along the way. They don't get away with high recycle/disenrollment rates just to score a high percentage of 2/2/1+'s on graduation day. The percentage based on day 1 students is very important, too. They are also making a strong effort to put effective people into team leader positions. It's not a perfect system, but from talking to the students of the three most recent graduations, the instructors are not being viewed in the same way we saw many of ours.

chiprj

on Jun 19, 2005

They certianly didn't make me score well, I am just a freak like you.

Meant to add -

We had a few grads in the most recent class that scored 3/3/2. I think they would admit that they were fairly equal parts "self-made" and "instructor-created" freak. The teaching teams do a good job of motivating the inner freak in the students. That is one thing that has changed significantly, the students want to learn Korean. Many of them don't bring this attitude to day 1, but instead, develop it along the way.

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