Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3xjOpP5POA
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EAT4ApB0NU
According to how this lesson was set up, I jumped right in to the listening activity part for the presentation. Part of the idea for this was that students have already heard these words in their respective TOEIC prep classes, so it is my job to incorporate them into a lesson when I can. I also give the student 15 minutes at the beginning of every class to read their previous assignment, which would have included the section for the reading task. Warm up is typically a review of the last classes dialogue on plot and theme of the novel so this activity is referring back to their current reading homework and current TOEIC lessons. Perhaps understanding these lessons as a 9 minute segment in a class of native speakers is difficult, and even when I watch it, it is a bit awkward in my interaction with the students. In my real class, they tend to ask a few more questions, and there are always a couple of them lagging behind, which gives me the chance to incorporate more student talk by having them explain to each other what instructions i had given. As this activity gets beyond the listening stage, we have time for pair work in discussing their answers, and then composing their own new sentences with key words from the text and the transition words they learned.
As for my personal performance during this lesson, I think I did a bit better at slowing down my speech, but at times I tend to ramble on sarcastically or unnecessarily, which may confuse students if they try to follow every word I say. This is something that I have struggled with since the first lesson I ever taught back in the states. I think my brain just goes on moving my mouth without me actually meaning to talk. One thing I noticed from doing those silent lessons a couple weeks ago is that I really need to keep my damn mouth shut when there is nothing comprehensible or meaningful coming out of it, which actually applies to all the time and not just class. Having students stand up, especially for my early morning crew, is really helpful, and I have learned that I need to get them up and moving randomly during my 2 hour classes. It helps them stay awake, but if also gives me a chance to breathe, and change gears for a new activity. My WB use was pretty limited, but generally I cover the thing with illustrations and outlines to cover the dialogue. Usually if I screw up a drawing or make it overtly humorous on purpose, it gets the students attention and perhaps engages their memory a bit. I know this activity bleeds in to other tasks that involve more discussion, which is what my classes are based on, so getting students to talk isn't the difficult part for me in my current position. The difficult thing is sorting out some TLC to work into my lessons and matching that up with the other TOEIC teachers. That is where the real work comes in, as my class time is usually fairly enjoyable both for myself and my students. Now if I could get them to like homework!
Jason:
ReplyDeleteI appreciated how you began setting up your listening task by having students immediately participate . You had “their” attention from the start since you engaged both their motor skills and mind in listening and responding. Your wording for the initial instructions for such seemed a bit unclear as clarified by Andrew, but I liked how you had students rephrase answers for comprehension. Overall, you had some detailed instruction and perhaps could have benefitted from breaking up lines of teacher talk a bit more.
Throughout the lesson, I think you spread out TSST well and encouraged all students to participate. Also, since your learners are older, I think your allowing them to make choices such as whether or not YOU would read or they would read allows them to feel they are negotiating their learning environment/style. This sample is too short to see if students would have ample chance to discuss answers to the task/engage in ample production time¸ but I think you were moving toward student checks/discussion of TLC.
Speaking of TLC, your use of whiteboard was to clarify recycled TLC they were searching for in the text, right? Your insertion of review seemed smooth. You mentioned that they had learned it before and assumed they’d remember from their own review at the beginning of class, I think.
So far, I would say that they lesson flowed at a consistent pace. You speak distinctly and clearly and seem to have a handle on how to use appropriate language/material for your students’ ACTFL level. Also, you don’t waste time pausing and transition quickly from one thing to another. In fact, I think you might take more time to check students’ comprehension of material or allow for input and questioning. In order to engage with students more, you might consider your posture and gesture. I noticed several times that your hands (or one) were in your pockets while talking, which might not affect students’ feeling of the environment; but I felt you appeared to be withdrawing or a bit nonchalant instead of forwardly-engaged. You might also try modulating your tone a bit so as to appear to ask or guide more instead of give imperative “commanding” instructions. That being said, I learned from your straightforward and organized style of pace, and your volume. WHAT you said was in most cases loud enough and clear enough to be easily comprehensible. I think your time management skills must be much greater than mine!
The white board was just used to display the TLC the needed to get out of the text. Had more time followed, I would have modeled a few of them in sentences to define transition, which would have been the isolation part of explaining the specific grammar. From there the students would have had a chance to practice with the back of the handout, and then produce a few original sentences using the TLC. As far as gestures, I have noticed that I tend to gesture constantly in earlier recorded lessons, so for this one I decided to put my hands in my pockets to keep from flailing about like a tourette's victim. I haven't decided which is better for actual classes. Another thing that I clarified in my lesson plan class description is that with these girls, I have to be very direct and a bit forceful. One thing I have noticed with them is if my tone is too friendly, they tend to take advantage and goof around a bit, but if I am a bit authoritative, they remain focused a bit more. I also have to be a bit loud because for those classes, the acoustics are horrendous, so I have to project a lot to be heard clearly. It might be a little deceiving that this lesson was only a short listening/reading activity from the material I needed to cover, but it also might be difficult for me to try a microteach from literature material that co-students at sookmyung would have no frame of reference. My normal classes have to incorporate a lot of recycled reading content because discussions have to be linked together for their study of literature themes throughout the book. They also have to compare and contrast a number of scenes and characters that appear throughout the novel. It would be difficult to pull that off in a microteach. One thing you mentioned that I have noticed was student comprehension checking, which has to be done often but doesnt leave me a lot of avenues for great T-S-S-T. I have to squeeze that in during theme discussion as they have a chance to express their opinions about the material as it might relate to their time, culture, generation...
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