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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > homework
homework
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casasalemanenglish
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homework
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Hey everyone, I have a question for you. I am conducting a survey on homework. If you are free to assign homework, (it is not established in your syllabus) what are your guidelines when you assign it? Are the activities we assign really thought of tasks or just time wasting ones? How long are we asking students to spend in their hw on a daily basis? and finally, Are students really doing it or just copying if from their peers? how prodcutive is it? I would really want to know what you think about this topic, Regards |
18 Sep 2009
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Motivator Tech
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Hi casasalemanenglish,
Re:
1-If you are free to assign homework, (it is not established in your syllabus) what are your guidelines
- I would add all students mistakes so far.
2- when you assign it?
-Right after exams or as a reivew for studying process.
3-Are the activities we assign really thought of tasks or just time wasting ones?
-It depends on the text you are using...some texts have boring activities some not. I sometimes bring visual and extra materials related to topics we study and students feel great with that.
4-How long are we asking students to spend in their hw on a daily basis?
- This is also depends on students motivation and goals or teacher �s purpose of hw.
5-Are students really doing it or just copying if from their peers? how prodcutive is it?
- Teacher should inform and explain the value behind this hw...it is not just for wasting time ...it is an extra work to enhance their level. Students also should evaluate their process and watch their improvment through doing hw.
Finally, I would like to thank you fo this useful topic and hope all fun and enjpyment for you and your students. |
18 Sep 2009
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Zora
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Quite honestly. I think if a subject is presented properly, homework is not needed and should only be given as a way to re-enforce a concept before an exam. OR if a teacher insists on giving out homework, I think it should be a task that takes no more than 15 minutes to complete and should just revise given concepts.
I have seen kids in grade 5 (10 year olds) with 4 hours worth of homework!!  They had homework from every single subject! To me that is crazy. I had very little homework as I grew up and that was because the teacher took the time to explain in class... a student shouldn �t need to spend time at home doing school work after they have spent 7-8 hours at school!
And also, teachers should take into consideration the fact that their colleagues are also thinking, "Oh, this is just 20 minutes of work..." - Well, take 20 minutes times it by 6- 7 (normal number of subjects) and you get 120-140 minutes! And to be honest, what we believe is 20 minutes is more like 30-40 minutes to our students!!
That is way too much... no wonder kids copy or hate homework sometimes...
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18 Sep 2009
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douglas
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I teach adult students, we meet once week. Most of them want to have some kind of homework that they can work on at home--it is kind of like having an extra half hour or hour long lesson for them. For those groups I usually give them a work sheet with lots of exercises repeating whatever the current topic is. The course is all voluntary so I don �t apply any pressure at all if the homework is not done. We review the homework in class right after the conversational (I ALWAYS start class by asking each student about their weekend, etc.) part is over. Sometimes the conversational part leads to a topic that we talk about for the whole lesson, in that case we review the homework the following week. I always try to assign homework that can be accomplished in less than 30 minutes by an "average" student. |
18 Sep 2009
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cgato
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Hi!
I have classes twice a week with my students. I assign homework when I want them to practise what is taught at school. If they have doubts doing their homework then they can take these doubts to class so that I can explain and help them out.
Usually good and interested students do their homework and then ask me when they have problems. But the most part just copy and then present their work! Of course we -teachers-can see the difference!
Usually and in general, I ask my students to watch loads of films-subtitles in english- and listen to tons of music understanding lyrics! They kind of like it 
Hugs from Portugal!
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18 Sep 2009
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