Thursday, August 23, 2012

Speaking/Speech Class

I heard that I'll be teaching a Speech class for the first time this semester, so I went onto the Kotesol Facebook Group (very helpful: join!) and asked for some advice.  People mentioned lots of stuff ranging from no book, to books, to video-taping presentations.  One book that was mentioned a few times was "Speaking of Speech" by David Harrington & Charles LeBeau, so I decided to order it and check it out.  It's quite expensive on Amazon, but I found it on Gmarket for around 15 000.  And, it arrived 3 days later. 

It looks pretty fabulous: it's beginner level, easy to understand, covers all the highlights such as posture, gestures, slides, etc and has fun, in-class practice things.  Plus, there are around 8 (didn't count yet!) ready-made speech assignments, complete with evaluation grids.  What more could a teacher want?  Planning/executing this course will be not as overwhelming as I first thought it would be. 

3 comments:

Jason said...

I've taught speech courses using this book several times and it is AWESOME! Can't recommend it enough...

I also usually tell students that their tests will be videoed and that they have to view their individual videos and evaluate themselves....

Good luck with the course!

Sir Charles said...

Hi! I'm Charles--one of the authors. I just stumbled on this blog...How do you like teaching in Korea? Most of my experience is in Japan, but I have been to Korea to present.

Glad you enjoyed Speaking of Speech. I assume you are using the New Edition? I am using it this term in 3 classes. BTW, Did you know that there is now a Speaking of Speech Level 2?

Jackie Bolen said...

Hey Charles...nice to meet you. I switched departments at my university and now teach mostly academic writing, so I'm a bit out of touch with the new edition/level 2. But, I did put the other teachers at my uni onto the book and it's the official one now for that class I used to teach :)

Will you be around Korea for the Kotesol International conference next fall? If yes, let's meet up in person.