Medical English

Re: (Again)Teaching English for medical people

Melati_indonesia — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:39:18 GMT

Hi there,

Yes I agree with you that it is not absolutely necessary for a language teacher to know all subjects to be able to teach their ESP courses (quoting from your letter). However, I still think it will be good credits for the teacher if she/he can prepare themselves with sufficient knowledge of their courses. The students will feel more apreciated by then. With my EMP course, as we are focusing on the academic discussions and presentations, to me then the most difficult part is to choose suitable topics from them. I do sometimes ask them to choose their own topics from their lessons at the university (my students are doctors who are taking their specialists). My tricks are subscribing to reputable English sites like englishforums and medical forums (where I can get ideas for topics). There are two books which are very useful and very inspiring that I would recommend for similar course .i.e. English for Medical Professions (Lorraine Beitler and Barbara McDonald) -- good for reading skills and Professional Interactions (Candace Matthews and Joanne Marino) -- good for discussion and presentation skills.

Unfortunately, I dont know about the PHd for ESP

Re: (Again)Teaching English for medical people

Anonymous — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:38:36 GMT

Spelling corrected:

Hello Ruth. I'm also a teacher of English language at a medical university in Iran. At the beginning of my carrer, I wondered whether I had enough abilities and knowledge to teach my students and thought that it was necessary to know alot about medicine. Now that I am doing my job, I've learne that it is not absolutely necessary for a language teacher to know all the subjects to be able to teach their ESP courses. You just need to know the teaching techniques to select the best material for teaching and help your students understand them. In my classes, I ask the students a lot of questions on their fields of study and demand them to give me some information.

Please tell me about your conducting your classes. One more thing: Do you know about any Ph.d courses for ESP to medical students?

Re: (Again)Teaching English for medical people

Mister Micawber — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:24:03 GMT

I have never taught such a specialized interest group as medical people, Ruth, but in teaching Business English, I would not be able to do a good job without having some general knowledge of commercial practices and terminology. I am sure they do not expect you to have a degree in medicine, but your students may well presume that you know something of the basics. We are lucky nowadays in having information readily available on the internet, so that a little Googling before, during or after class can help us appear more educated in any field than we actually are.

Re: (Again)Teaching English for medical people

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 03:12:29 GMT

<BLOCKQUOTE><table width="85%"><tr><td class="txt4"><img src="/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif"> <strong>Melati_indonesia wrote:</strong></td></tr><tr><td class="quoteTable"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4"><P>Hello semuanya. I am Ruth from Indonesia. I am an Indonesian who teaches English. I have to teach English for medical people who are equipped with some English already next week. I have no background of medical knowledge at all. I have checked some recommended sites for teaching medical people. My questions are: do medical students usually expect the English teachers to know about their field? Also, when students already know grammar how could someone who has no knowledge of medical field survive to teach them English? Pls help me. Would appreciate any ideas! Ruth</P></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

(Again)Teaching English for medical people

Melati_indonesia — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:12:21 GMT

Hello semuanya. I am Ruth from Indonesia. I am an Indonesian who teaches English. I have to teach English for medical people who are equipped with some English already next week. I have no background of medical knowledge at all. I have checked some recommended sites for teaching medical people. My questions are: do medical students usually expect the English teachers to know about their field? Also, when students already know grammar how could someone who has no knowledge of medical field survive to teach them English? Pls help me. Would appreciate any ideas! Ruth