Transcript
Legal Terminology
Teaching Legal Terminology
One of the reasons that make the study of law interesting is that it is basically the study of people interacting with other people—what they do to each other, the difficulties they encounter, and the way they respond to life’s complexities. The late author, Stephen E. Ambrose, found the same to be true in teaching history. In his final book To America: Personal Reflections of a Historian, he titled the preface “Storytelling,” writing the following:
When I first began teaching American history, my students would come to me before the first day of class and say, “Doc, I hate history. I’m only here because it is required.”
My reply was, “You don’t mean that. You don’t hate history, you hate the way it was taught to you in high school. But history is about people, and there is nothing more fascinating to people than other people, living in a different time, in a different circumstances.”
The same can be said about the teaching of law because an effective law teacher is often a good storyteller. Legal Terminology, helps to set the stage for you to make your students excited and interested in their study of legal terminology.
Teaching and learning legal terms can be fun for both you and your students. A good way to begin the fun is to have the students open their books to the Key Terms at the beginning of the chapter. Tell the students that you are going to pronounce each term out loud and that they are to repeat what you say very loud in unison. When words are difficult to pronounce or you hear mispronunciations, smile and say the word out loud again and tell the students to repeat it. Do this several times with words that are mispronounced. Use your own judgment in skipping terms that can be pronounced easily.
Encourage your students to begin using legal terminology as often as they can in their daily conversation. Benjamin Franklin once said that when you use a term three times in everyday dialogue, it becomes yours. Every once in a while in class, divide the students into pairs and have them talk to each other out loud, making up sentences using the Key Terms in the chapter you are studying.
After pronouncing the terms, ask students if they know the answer to the opening Ante Interrogatory and whether they knew it before reading the chapter.
To make the subject interesting when presenting the chapter to the students, tell a factual story or two that relate to the subject matter in the chapter. You will find some in the text, others in newspapers, and, of course, from legal casebooks. Every once a while, invite a lawyer to come to class to "tell a few stories" about the particular subject matter you are studying. He or she will know what you mean.
Class use of the end-of-chapter student activities is an excellent way to get students involved. As a regular homework assignment, tell the students to read the chapter and complete the activities that ensue. During the next class session, call on students by name for the answers to the activities. This allows you to call on each student by name several times in one period, giving individual attention to students and encouraging them to be prepared for each class.
Special research assignments can be given from time to time on subjects of students' choosing, including checking out state and federal statutes on the Internet. Guest speakers and videos help to vary the classroom activity. Titles of relevant movies can be found on the Net by keying in the words "law related movies." Field trips to the courthouse while it is in session can be a highlight of the course.
Show enthusiasm and interest in the law, and your excitement will pass on to your students, making the experience enjoyable for all of you.
