During the NUS term break (May–July 2004), members of the Law Faculty’s Legal Writing Team had the opportunity to share their teaching expertise with colleagues in Hong Kong University and National University of Laos.

Legal Skills in Hong Kong

Associate Professor Eleanor Wong, director of the Legal Writing Programme, and deputy directors Helena Whalen-Bridge and Lim Lei Theng, conducted a two-day workshop on “Teaching Legal Skills” to more than 30 law practitioners who were recruited to teach basic legal skills, such as writing, analysis and research at Hong Kong University (HKU). The workshop was held in Hong Kong from 22–23 May 2004. It arose out of an earlier visit by Eleanor to Hong Kong during which she consulted with the deanery of HKU’s law faculty on the NUS experience in launching its Legal Writing Programme. HKU was interested to learn from the NUS Legal Writing Team how HKU could revamp their legal skills course, particularly the way in which legal skills were taught to ensure active learning by students.

Summing up learning points in Hong Kong

Socratic interaction in Laos

The workshop covered topics like how to establish a discussion-conducive environment, how to use group-work to achieve different learning and behavioural objectives, how to give timely and effective feedback on written assignments and oral presentations, and how to structure learning experiences that stimulate students to form independent opinions, take positions, defend their positions and challenge each other.

Rather than lecture about their experiences, the teaching methodology for the workshop modeled and applied the interactive methods that the trainers were trying to teach. All the sessions either featured a real-time demonstration by the trainers and/or required hands-on participation and application of the principles being discussed. For example, participants learnt how to give effective feedback on oral presentations in an exercise using rotating trios group work in which each group member had to:

1. give an oral presentation on the criteria for good oral presentations,
2. critique an oral presentation, and
3. critique a critique!

Then, in the review session of this exercise, the trainers pulled together the learning points through a Socratic-style question and answer session.

The session was so useful that the NUS Legal Writing Team has been invited back to Hong Kong to consult and train on other aspects of skills teaching.

Interactive Teaching in Laos

Barely a month later, Eleanor and Lei Theng were on a plane again, this time to Vientiane, where they conducted a three-day workshop for more than 40 members of the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the National University of Laos. This workshop was organised under the auspices of a technical aid programme sponsored by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). A representative from SIDA, who visited NUS earlier in the year, had sat in some of the Legal Writing classes and, liking what he saw, invited the team to Laos.

Over three days (23–25 June 2004), Eleanor and Lei Theng shared how to use Interactive Teaching methods. Topics covered included the use of group work and strategies to overcome systemic and cultural impediments to interactive learning. The group also considered how to do more with less in an environment where resources were limited. For example, participants shared how there were very few textbooks and written materials in Lao, and how many teaching aids that we took for granted (e.g. overhead/PowerPoint projectors) were short in supply.

One major challenge of the Laos workshop was that the majority of the participants did not speak English well. The trainers therefore had to creatively adapt their workshop exercises to include the non-English speakers without sacrificing energy, pace, depth of discussion and opportunity for feedback. Some of the strategies which were effective in teaching this group with mixed language abilities included:

1. encouraging break-out group activity to be conducted in whatever language the participants wished but ensuring that the ‘reporting back’ session be in English so that trainers could engage with rapporteurs, and
   
   
2. providing more instructions in writing (even if in English) and allowing more reporting in writing (also English) because this allowed participants to proceed at their own pace without being put ‘on the spot’ as oral reporting/instructing tends to do.

Interestingly, the trainers found translation an ineffective way of conducting any interactive/responsive session. The energy loss (in the time it took to translate from English to Lao, obtain a response in Lao and translate that back to English) was palpable and sapping. At best, translation worked only for straightforward lectures.

Conclusion

In both sessions, the trainers were excited to be able to share what they know. They also felt humbled by the enthusiasm and commitment of their Asian neighbours. In Laos, in particular, bumping down the narrow dirt road that led to the FLP campus, driving past bleating goats and the occasional cow, they were reminded of the paradox—one really doesn’t need very much in order to teach well as long as one is prepared to give everything in the effort.

Armed with these experiences (and some new gastronomic knowledge), the Law Faculty’s Legal Writing Team looks forward to learning and sharing more about teaching whether within Singapore or in locations a little further flung.

Giving feedback on stimulated classes taught by our Lao friends