Edward Vigen

Hello Randi,

I wonder this myself. Soft skill, unlike hard skills, are more fluid and are not necessarily objective. I have implemented a plan to grade these skills more effectively in my classroom that I learned from my study of Chinese Mandarin.  When I was learning Chinese Mandarin, we were told from the beginning of the program a ranking system that was very objective as to what constituted mastery of the language. It was a simple scale of 0-5 with 0 meaning no ability and 5 being mastery. Each level in between was defined very thoroughly with visual/auditory/written examples so… >>>

It is very true for many adults that they have established patterns and habits for themselves that may not be conducive to learning. However, I believe the biggest difference is that adults, who have entered the workforce, find that they are primarily concerned with learning what is actually applicable to their career/job. If they are simply doing busy work, learning theories but not facts, or simply learning something that is too abstract, they quickly lose faith in the teacher and the course. Relating all course content back to the "real world" I believe helps to move past most learning difficulties… >>>

Hello Ben,

I have noticed this too. I have had the privilege of many nationalities in my classroom and often most of them are capable of reading the material but may not be able to verbally articulate it well. Having plenty of written aids really helps them to reinforce their knowledge of the material and can provide for ways communicate effectively. Also, knowing a few different languages helps too as you start to see the patterns in human speech that are common to most forms of verbal communication.

Hello Michelle,

I agree with the reply by Shantana. That method really helps as the experienced students will help you in teaching the inexperienced ones which enables you to be in "multiple" places at once. The other thing I would add is that I usually ask a new class where they are with the material. By taking some time at the beginning of the class to ascertain where everyone's knowledge is at, I am able to identify which area(s) need more focus and provide each student with their own self evaluation for where they are. I can then create tailored… >>>