Product Description
While Experiential Learning has been an influential methods in the education and development of managers and management students, it has also been one of the most misunderstood. This Handbook offers the reader a comprehensive picture of current thinking on experiential learning; ideas and examples of experiential learning in practice; and it emphasises the importance of experiential learning to the future of management education. Contributors include: Chris Argyris,… More >>

Handbook of Experiential Learning and Management Education

One thing that I have learned about teaching a second language is that students take French for a variety of reasons. They are either pressured by government, school, or parents; and some are even self-motivated. Some students are pushed into French classes kicking and screaming, others jump at the opportunity to learn a new language and its cultural appreciation.

A French teacher must not only push high-achievers to new levels, but this teacher must use the appropriate teaching techniques, in conjunction with the curriculum to model the Core, Extended and Immersion programs, to ensure struggling students a chance for achievement. A better understanding about teaching a second language comes organically from experience with each class more easily than from studying pages from curriculum documents. When it comes down to it, we teach ’students’, not ‘curriculum’.

In high-school French, culture is integrated into the classroom in differing amounts by various teachers, depending on the students in the classroom. The time of introduction and breadth of cultural teachings is heavily dependent on both the strand of French education, as well as on a teachers interest and ability to integrate culture into lessons.

One thing I have learned about teaching culture to a second language is that you have to make it fun. Many teachers simply assume that if they are teaching a bit of culture instead of grammar, that it is inherently fun, simply because it is not grammar. This is simply not true. The way cultural teaching is received by our students, especially in applied classes is solely dependent on the delivery. We must make sure that we appeal to all learning types when we deliver this material.

Many students also experience disenchantment in their language capabilities while learning a second language. This occurs because most of their time is spent hammering out grammatical concepts that are a requirement of the curriculum, rather than spending time focusing on real life applications of the language. Thus, they cannot conceptualize how the language could affect their lives. Many students learning a second language have a much better understanding of how to conjugate the verb ‘to be’ over how to ask for help, or how to engage in a simple conversation with someone from another country.

Learning about teaching solely through focus on curriculum expectations without taking time to explore practical links can drown even the top student in the sea of French curriculum. If we learn about teaching from our students instead of our curriculum documents, we will ultimately be better at motivating new language learners to embrace second language learning for the long haul.

Do not forget to check out the link in the resource box below. I’ve got a great free report that details my experiences so you can learn from them.

Up until last year, it was not always practical to buy college textbooks online. Book lists for courses were not published well in advance and students who waited, ran the risk of not being able to find their books in time. Finding booksellers that carried required texts was difficult and using little-known and perhaps unreliable sellers entailed even more risk.

All this has changed thanks to a little-publicized provision in the 2008 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. It requires

1. textbook publishers to provide pricing information to professors
2. schools to provide book lists to students early

This has helped to improve the online textbook retail industry enormously. Now, if you buy college textbooks online, you know that not only do professors and students have this information, but so do the online retailers. They can stock the books that will be needed (and dump the ones that won’t be) and streamline their businesses to provide increased benefits to their customers (like fast or free shipping). You don’t have to stick with Amazon anymore, either. Secure payouts, sophisticated search functions and 247 customer support is the rule among online textbook retailers.

The irony is that the colleges who figure out your cost of attendance are stuck with the book estimates they get by using prices on books from their college bookstores. They can’t do these estimates using the online discount textbooks, so their figures will always be higher than they need to be.

The risks are mostly gone now; all you have to do to save a bundle on your college texts is to find out what books you need for your next semester’s courses. No more waiting in line at the college bookstore the day before classes start. No more fighting over the last used, discounted textbook for a course. (Online retailers have plenty of these as most also have a book buyback program.) And best of all, you can get a jump on your next semester’s reading assignments, because you will have all your books early if you buy college textbooks online.