At the beginning of the activity: the teacher introduces the theme for discussion, e.g. the work
of Czech police, advantages of civil law and common law, the existence of death penalty. The
students are given appropriate time to prepare (the facilitators prepare questions related to the
topic, reporters decide on organizing their notes, the rest of the group gathers their ideas). The
teacher can set a specific time for the discussion, or the debate can be stopped after an
appropriate time. After the discussion all reporters summarize the main points discussed, if
relevant they could share interesting vocabulary and phrases mentioned by their peers.
It is advisable to practice facilitated discussions more often to enable the students to get
acquainted with individual roles and learn to perform them naturally and meaningfully. The
teacher can also help with providing useful phrases such as opening a discussion, asking
questions, giving opinions, moving to the next point, summarizing. If the students are below
B2 level, the topic for a discussion can be complemented with several hints to help the
facilitator develop the debate.
The role of the reporter might be unexpectedly tricky and difficult. Reporters need to listen,
note down main ideas and summarize concisely. Ideally, they should be able to provide
feedback on the language, however, this has to be trained as the students are not used to
noticing the language structures actively.
If the class needs a complex and intensive practice on speaking, the discussion could be
recorded and the students themselves could self-assess their performance and make
suggestions for improvement.
3.2 Role plays with supervisors
In legal English classes there are mainly two situations role played: lawyer - client interview
and lawyer - lawyer discussion/negotiation. In both cases there could be another person
present - a supervisor who will observe the conversation and give feedback afterwards. It is
easier for students-supervisors to use a check list which can be then handed over to the
teacher.
As in the case of facilitated group discussions, students have to be trained to provide a
meaningful feedback after role plays. Checklists can be more detailed and structured at the
very beginning, later, they can include only open questions, e.g. what strengths an observer
identified and what recommendations he/she suggests. The criteria should include the points
with which the students are familiar e.g. from the previous lessons.
4. OUT-OF-CLASS ACTIVITIES
4.1 Home assignments
The availability of technology brings wider possibilities of working both inside and outside
the classroom. I have introduced a simple assignment of setting audio homework into the
courses. Students can easily record themselves either on their mobile devices, or they can use
online tools mentioned below. The audio files are then uploaded for the teacher or fellow
students to listen to and assess. I will present examples which involve simple audio recordings
or a combination of voice and slideshow.
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Audio tasks can be used for preparing a presentation, an explanation of a new topic, or
revising a topic. Such tasks can efficiently supplement reading comprehension tasks, such as
read a text and write a summary/answer the questions. They can either be used as a
preparation for work in the lesson or can be followed by peer reviewing. One of their benefits
is that students have sufficient time to produce adequate results and thus prepare more
cautiously.
4.2 Examples of tasks
Task A (e.g. used for explaining new terms): Read a text and prepare a 1-minute presentation
on the main points which you record and submit.
Task B (e.g. a summary of a topic, the teacher prepares a slide): You have a slide with a few
bullet points, explain them in 2 minutes. Record the explanation and submit it.
Task C (adapted Three-Minute Thesis (3MT), used e.g. for case briefs): Present a topic in
3/2/1 minute(s). You are allowed one slide.
Task D (adapted “Pecha Kucha”, can be used e.g. for summarizing): There are five slides
(pictures) related to one topic dealt with in the course. You have 20 seconds for each slide to
summarize the topic. Submit your 1min. 40 sec. audio. The pictures are either given by the
teacher, or students can select their own pictures illustrating the topics.
Audio tasks which are based on subject specific source texts or terminology are rather
complex. Apart from understanding the text or the topic and practicing pronunciation and
intonation, the students usually need to practice text transformation - the source text is
available as a written formal text, nevertheless, they are instructed to submit an audio which
should be understandable to lay audience.
4.3 Tools for recording voice or voice+slideshow
Teachers need to be careful with employing the technology as they cannot expect all the
students to be enthusiastic using it. It is, therefore, pref