Reason # 1043 why I hate group work.

[margaret_yakoda]

The scenario: A summer ceramics class. Groups of three or four students were assigned by the professor to build kilns

Comments

[cielamara]

Fail. Can you speak to the professor about it?

[mmmsogood]

I actually lived at a college that had many international students coming in for the summer. This one friend I know was learning English and I would guess she did the same thing (because there were groups of international students, and they were always together -- although I didn't take classes with them, we just shared the college facilities). I think she did that moreso because it felt comfortable. If she tried speaking English maybe she felt embarassed or something. I know when I was talking to her I had to be really patient. Anyway, I don't know if you're just looking to vent a bit, or are looking for advice... since you're all undergrads I doubt the prof is going to do much, but my suggestion is to try to make friends with at least one of the persons. ^^ My friend from China always came to talk to me as it helped her practice English. Maybe if you can get one of them to be more comfortable with you then they'll try to speak to you in English more often. I guess it must get exhausting trying to initiate all the conversations, but

[margaret_yakoda]

Ya. I've tried initiating conversations, and I've tried being polite, and pretty much everything else. There is just one more day of kiln building and then I'm pretty sure we don't have to work as a group after that

[mmmsogood]

Well firstly, I should say what you're doing sounds really cool. <3 And I'm sorry that's the case with the other students. I would agree that going to your prof is a good idea, maybe at least in the future, the prof can take that into consideration and try to integrate more teamwork into the course...who knows? Wish it worked out better for you, though. x.o!