There are many skills students should acquire while studying at university. The ability to analyze a topic, discuss it, then present it are all valuable real world skills that students need to practice before entering the workforce. These are not always a natural skills, but rather skills built up through practice and self-reflection. This is what the analysis and discussion course aims to do.
 

The from the first day of the class students are given a level of autonomy that they wouldn’t receive in other classes. They are given the opportunity to vote as a class to choose which units in the book they wish to do and the order in which to do them.

Open discussion does not come naturally to many students, so after performing the reading for any specific unit together, they are given several minutes to think in small groups about their thoughts and questions about the passage. Students are taught that native speakers will often use information mining words such as who, what, when, where, why and how. They are asked to think how these types of questions can be applied to the passage they read.

Once the discussion of the topic is completed, students are then given time to work on presentations about the topic at hand. Students use a whole class to prepare their own script and PowerPoint. They are also given some time to practice their presentation.
 

Students are not asked to memorize their script, but rather to read it naturally as if they were an on-air announcer. They are instructed that the main focus of the presentation is to improve how they give their opinion in an open forum setting. Students are also instructed to fulfill certain criteria for each individual presentation. Some examples of the criteria would be to make the presentation a certain length of time, make eye contact when speaking and be well prepared with easy to read large print copies.

It is not unusual to see the students progress and make noticeable improvements from their first to their final presentation. As a teacher, it is quite enjoyable to observe their development over the course of the semester.

As a teacher I have never come across a challenge like this before. We have been removed from the classroom and placed online to find our way through a new style of learning. I have been so impressed with how so many students have accepted the challenge. But remember we will meet in the classroom again face to face and this will be but a memory to remind us the importance of human interaction which is the real reason we have been put on this earth.  Soon you all soon. 

オキーフ先生の授業では教科書のテーマについてグループで話し合ったり、関連したことについてプレゼンテーションしたりしています。プレゼンテーションの準備をしていくなかで、今まで知らなかったことなどを知ることができるので、とても楽しいです。英語でのプレゼンテーションは大変ですが、この授業を通して自分の強みになればいいなと思います。