A. The issues of grading and testing are somewhat less important to me than to, for instance, undergrad students, simply because at this point it is my dissertation only that may make or break my prospective degree; if I get a D in this class, it will not hurt anything other than my heart. :)
Nevertheless, I would suggest having as few examinations as possible, just because they consume classroom time, which itself is very limited. My personal goal for this class is to extract as much knowledge of grammar and vocabulary as I can, so that I could subsequently use it to communicate at a basic level with people who do not speak English. Therefore, until I learn enough to say something comprehensible, I prefer to listen, the more the better.
As an aside, I myself went to college in Russia, and therefore was educated in a system very different from the one in the U.S. In my college, 100% of one’s grade was determined by the final exam (written, or oral, or usually both, conducted in two days). As a result, I am now somewhat wary about the idea of spreading tests throughout the semester.
B. As to the presentations, I believe that it would have been a wonderful opportunity to enhance our language knowledge, provided that we had (1) enough proficiency to comprehend the speech and communicate in Japanese, and (2) much more classroom time. Generally speaking, this is a great idea for an advanced class.
That said, although the level of language proficiency and exposure to the language of my fellow students may be very different, this is an Elementary class. I myself do not possess enough grasp of Japanese, for such an exercise to be helpful. Honestly, at this point I would rather refrain from “presentations” for fear of picking up bad pronunciation habits of non-native speakers. At this point, I strongly advise against student presentations. This by no means concerns any material supplied by the instructor himself. Any language- or behavior- related info from Prof. Sato and any native speakers is, of course, very welcome.
1 comment:
こんにちは。
If you would like to know the grammar items or vobcabulary that you would like to know, do not hesitate to ask me. You do not have to stick with the textbook all the time. I am happy to teach you whatever you would like to know.
It looks like more stundets voted for "No" for extra exams.... Let's talk about it in class. Thank you for your suggestions.
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