Jocelyn Pihlaja, an American lecturer of the English Language and Literature at Lake Superior College (Duluth, America), continues providing classes for the students of the Centre for Foreign Languages Study at Polotsk State University. On September 27 and on October 4, she met with the students to give them an opportunity to have a live dialogue with a native speaker, master their language skills, learn some modern phrases and, of course, enjoy their work.
Each new lesson is not like the previous ones: Jocelyn takes into account the level of language proficiency, the needs and even the mood of the students. However, the personal approach, high tempo and a great variety of tasks are unchangeable.
After the first class, Jocelyn wrote a post on Facebook: “The students today tried their best to tell me about the cafes and restaurants where I can have hamburgers, pizza and other dishes that Americans usually love. I felt like I was in the center of attention and it was extremely pleasant”. In her turn, she pays much attention to the people she works with: everybody gets the opportunity to express his or her opinion and be heard. Moreover, she always answers students’ questions and finds words of approval for those who perform.
This time Jocelyn focused on the modern English vocabulary. First, she asked the students what they knew and then she presented the most relevant and frequently used phrases. Vivid examples helped to understand how to use the new words. Then, the practical part of using the words helped to memorize them well.
It should be noted that thanks to Jocelyn, everybody who is subscribed to the VKontakte group of the Centre for Foreign Languages Study can enrich their vocabulary with modern words. She supervises the new project the “Word of the Day” which will inform the subscribers about useful colloquial expressions and phrases every day.
A. S. Kononova, Centre for Foreign Languages Study