Sessions

Quizlet and Slack in English for Mathematics

English for Mathematics is a series of workshops designed for university students and teachers of mathematics at a Japanese institute of technology. Sessions are offered to provide students with additional opportunities to practice English in an area of interest. The focus of the workshops for attending content teachers is on developing language skills to teach their content area in English. In previous iterations, these workshops have focused on general mathematics topics, teaching English through content. In the fall 2019 semester the content was changed from general topics in mathematics to applied mathematics, specifically space and aerospace engineering. These topics contained familiar mathematical concepts, but solving word problems with many new vocabulary items caused the learners difficulty. To address this issue, Quizlet word lists were created and distributed via the Slack application for learners to practice before and during each session. Slack is a work-oriented messaging platform that has intuitive workspace management for handling multifaceted projects. Using both of these applications allowed the attendees to prepare and acquire the vocabulary more quickly. Slack provided the space to share ideas and ask questions, while Quizlet allowed for a more interesting and diversified way to practice new vocabulary. This poster presentation will explain why Quizlet and Slack were used and how each were implemented. The presenter will also discuss examples of the content-specific vocabulary included and how Quizlet improved the learners' experience. Details from an example session will also be shared.