‘Get Up, Stand Up’

Wednesday 30^th, November, 2011

Today was the first time I had seen my grade 1 low level classes since the speaking tests. I decided I needed a lively, energetic and engaging lesson to help motivate them and get them back into the swing of things.

The TLC I decided to focus on was ‘you must’ and a series of actions such as ‘you must brush your teeth’, ‘you must snap your fingers’, ‘you must hop on one foot’. I prepared a PowerPoint presentation with lots of pictures signifying each of the actions. At first I showed each picture and attempted to elicit what it was. They were also given a handout with a list of actions they could refer to. I then showed them how to perform the action using body language and movement. Then I lead them in choral repetition of each action. After we had practiced like this I went through the presentation again and this time the students had to perform the actions. This got them on their feet and moving almost immediately. Three out of four classes thought it was fun.

After this we played ‘Simon says you must…’ First, I explained ‘you must’ using examples mostly involving me acting (my co-teacher helped me by giving instructions - ‘Barry you must sit down’ for example). Second, I tried to explain ‘Simon Says’. I say ‘tried’ because it turns out ‘Simon Says’ is actually remarkably difficult to explain. Eventually my co-teacher stepped in and explained in Korean.

We played ‘Simon Says’ a few times and by and large it was a hit with the kids. Only one class wasn’t interested. This class is strange. In three of these classes the students are really lovely; they are happy and get along with each other and like interacting with me. But in the fourth class the students seem like they are depressed. My co-teacher confided in me today that she has problems teaching this class as well.

After ‘Simon Says’ I showed the class how to make a paper fortune teller and then led all the students in making their own one. They really enjoyed this and were noticeably animated throughout. The fortune teller incorporates the dialogue from the lesson – ‘you must stand up’, ‘you must dance’ etc. There is a game to play with the fortune teller using the dialogue and the students really got into it.

This comfortably took up the whole lesson. The students left happy and buoyant and throughout the day I noticed these students using the fortune tellers they had made with their friends from other classes. This means they were practicing the TLC outside of the classroom of their own volition! Can any teacher really ask for more?

I used lots of MIC and CI throughout the lesson and have to conclude that it went very well.

'Walkin' on Sunshine'

Friday 25^th, November, 2011

I am really happy with how today’s lessons went. As usual today being Friday meant that I taught four of my grade 3 classes. The lesson I gave was the second half of the lesson I started last week. (I wrote assignment number two about last week’s classes).

To start with I briefly reviewed last week’s material which essentially consisted of the preview and presentation stages. To my eternal gratification they actually seemed to have remembered quite a lot about the presentation I gave last week. I was floored. Every class exhibited a decent amount of recall. Again I think today’s lesson flowed so smoothly because it was based on the solid foundation of last week’s lesson. I had been concerned that the week long gap between the preview / presentation stages of the lesson and the isolate, practice, produce sections this week would be a problem. I thought they would forget everything and I would have to start from scratch but this did not prove to be the case.

Anyway, the lesson itself consisted of one of Harmer’s teaching grammar lessons from a class handout we were given in week 10. The lesson was called ‘Girl’s Night Out’ and I adapted and added to it for my lesson. I have to say it all worked surprisingly well. The students, for the most part, engaged with all the different parts and went diligently about completing the different sections of the handout. However, I’m not sure I can identify exactly what it was about this lesson that engaged them so much whereas other similar lessons have failed. Was it really the schema from last week?

Regardless the students actually, again mostly, worked with their partners and there were very few cases of any students not participating. Whilst the lesson TLC was known to them (past simple irregular verbs) the language used throughout the lesson examples was definitely L+1 at least; maybe more in some instances. This actually seemed to spur them on. They were interested by the content and had questions to ask and comments to make.

Furthermore, this lesson required very little teacher talk from me! I could not believe it. I set up each of the activities and off they went. I spent most of the lesson going around the class whilst students were working and helping individual students (or pairs of students). This is truly a result worth celebrating. If I could give lessons like this all the time I would not be so shattered by the time I finish work.

However, there were some problems; the class did not progress through the activities at the same pace – some raced ahead while others lagged behind; and again my timing is really a problem. We didn’t get to the final activity which is the main production activity. So this means the material I thought I would cover in one lesson could not be covered in two lessons. I need to find a way to make more compact lessons.

Overall, I am very happy with today’s lessons.

‘Getting Better’

It's getting better all the time
I used to get mad at my school
(No, I can't complain)
The teachers who taught me weren't cool
( No, I can't complain)
You're holding me down
Turning me round
Filling me up with your rules
(The Beatles)

Thursday 17^th & Friday 18^th, November, 2011

Thankfully my grade 3 classes today and yesterday were significantly better than the debacle that occurred in Tuesday’s class. During my first grade 3 class yesterday relief swept over me when the students responded and engaged with the material. I had been genuinely worried that the lesson was going to crash and burn in every class. I needn’t have been so concerned. All four classes today and yesterday responded well. The Tuesday class remains an anomaly. Why did that one class completely ignore everything to do with the lesson when all the other classes, for the most part, willingly embraced it? I don’t think that I will ever have a satisfactory answer.

Although the other classes responded well I discovered that the lesson I had prepared was by no means perfect. The most glaring issue is my timing. In each respective class we only made it approximately one third of the way through the material I had prepared. This is not entirely negative. The earlier activities took longer than I had planned because there was often a lot of interaction. The students had a lot of questions in relation to my slide show presentation of what I did last weekend. As if there was ever any doubt they were fascinated by what I spent the weekend doing away from school and had numerous questions. This was a fun activity. The students in all four classes really seemed to enjoy it and mostly paid attention.

This was not the only activity that took longer than expected. In fact every activity took longer than I had planned. This indicates I have a significant problem with timing and planning! Recently I have found myself wishing that I had longer classes – fewer but longer classes; 45 minutes can be restrictive. I think I actually plan far too much. I am normally worried I will run out of things to do in a lesson. I live in fear of having to fill 45 minutes with no material at my fingertips and so I always make more than I will ever use.

However, this means the students are only part of the way through the lesson – we didn’t get to the later stages where they focus on practicing and production. I plan to finish the lesson next week. On reflection what I have prepared will easily fill a second lesson. This is not a bad thing as it means I don’t have to prepare a new lesson next week and can spend time preparing the winter camp lessons and working on TESOL assignments.

Despite the timing issue I have to say the parts of the lesson I did have time to teach today and yesterday were successful. All of the elements of the warm-up and introduction appeared to work well. I think using a variety of MIC and CI techniques really helps. After the initial greeting for example I drew a huge unsmiling face with tears running down its cheeks on the blackboard. Before I even finished drawing and asked ‘who is this?’ the students had started speculating, commenting, asking questions and making jokes. What was meant to be a brief transition became a 5 minute Q & A session.

The PowerPoint about my weekend worked really well. It is strange to note that they were more expressive and vocal during this activity than during activities where I expressly want them to speak. Maybe this is an example of the power of authentic schema. All I am doing is showing pictures that represent what I did the previous weekend. But the response is great. They ask questions and comment and make jokes. I was really satisfied with the result. Upon its conclusion though when I try to transition to an activity where they ask their partner questions there is a bit of a drop off in interest. However, I think using different CI techniques helps smooth over transitions like this.

The most substantial activity that was completed during the lessons was the ‘find someone who…’ activity. However, I am sure that some students just used it as an opportunity to go and speak to their friends. It is impossible to monitor that all the students are doing an activity like this as they are meant to.

One thing I have been trying in these classes which I remain unsure of is a suggestion from both methodology and SLA class. Here the teacher asks a student a question and then asks that student to ask another student the same question. I don’t think this works well in my classes. I think my classes are too large and the students not specifically involved just drift away and don’t pay attention.

Overall I was happy with these classes and I am looking forward o giving the second part of the lesson next week.