This book explores the acting theories and teaching methods of great teachers of acting--among them, the Europeans Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Brecht, and Grotowski; the Japanese Suzuki (who trained in Europe); and the contemporary Americans, Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, and Sanford Meisner. Each chapter of the book includes a sample class, which…

This article presents a curated collection of 10 teaching innovations debued at the Association for Business Communication's 87th annual meeting held in Tampa, Florida, USA, and online October 2022. This "My Favorite Assignment" 27th edition introduces readers to classroom-ready ideas to help students gain personal and professional…

This article offers readers 13 "My Favorite Assignments" that were presented at the Association for Business Communication's 83rd annual conference held in Miami, Florida, in 2018. The teaching innovations offered include assignments that present quick, fun icebreaker exercises; visual communication and diversity; rhetoric; email; and…

Many scholars have recognized the important value that civic-engagement activities can have, not only on student learning, but also on the development of civic agency, which involves the capacity of individuals acting alone or in groups to enact positive change. From a political science point of view, the development of civic agency among college…

This article explains an activity that can be conducted to form teams in university business classes. It allows students to actively participate in the team selection process and learn valuable human resource management skills. Students are placed in the role of hiring managers. They have to identify the skills and characteristics needed to…

An instructor's effort to internationalize a business communication course taught him much about the relationships between cognitive egocentrism and cognitive ethnocentrism. Cognitive egocentrism is the chief obstacle to be overcome in learning to write, even within a culture, while cognitive ethnocentrism is the chief obstacle to be overcome in…

The personal coat-of-arms speech provides students with specific directions in constructing a speech of introduction and has been used with success at Illinois State University, Daley College (Chicago), St. Xavier University (Chicago), and Ohio State University. The personal coat-of-arms speech gives students concrete experience on which to draw…

Seven sentence combining activities designed to be stimulating and effective for college-level Japanese students of English as a Second Language are described. It is also demonstrated that a wide range of subjects can provide viable and engaging topics for the activities. The exercises include the following: (1) combining sentences provided into a…

Using elementary and secondary school teaching methods in the college classroom is proposed, and examples of class activities are described. Incorporating elementary or junior high style in-class activity that nevertheless uses and is geared to college-level material, can be successful in making a dull course interesting. Although the classroom…

Provides a rationale for using sustained content study (studying one area over time) to improve the reading and writing skills of college-bound ESL students. Describes a course (and course materials) on "Film & Society." Offers excerpts from student discussion and writing. Examines students' progress as shown in their portfolio writing. Notes…

Class activities and games designed to stimulate student interest and provide feedback in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESOL) pronunciation and phonetics are described. They are intended to address specific challenges of a typical Japanese, ESOL classroom--low student motivation and inadequate feedback--and to supplement conventional language…

Oral histories are an exciting way to directly involve students in the act of historical inquiry. They assist students in personalizing history and relating to the actual lives behind major events, names, and dates in history. This article discusses the benefits of using oral histories in the classroom. It describes how to use "Oral Histories…

Ten speaking and listening activities designed to improve the intercultural communication skills of intermediate and advanced learners of English are presented. The activities are based on seven goals of cultural instruction: (1) sense of culturally controlled behavior; (2) interaction of language and social variables such as gender, age, and…

This paper presents a syllabus and proposed course outline for X100, a skills-based college remedial reading class (at Indiana University at South Bend) keyed to the whole-language literature. The paper: (1) reviews two sourcebooks for information regarding the use of whole language at the secondary level and lists viable whole language strategies…

A study examined the effectiveness of a set of instructional activities designed to improve communication of university freshmen in standard-level, first-semester English through teaching interrelatedly the reading of prose literature and the writing of expository essays. Subjects, 24 typical first-semester freshmen, participated in the course,…