my reflection about Unit 8 presentation on May 20, 08 May 25, 2008

I assumed I messed up my presentation on May 20. Actually one of the reasons for that day’s bad appearance was that I didn’t advanced rehearsal well. In the other hand, I didn’t count on the time of group discussion accurately. Though I didn’t calculate the time on the spot, I considered I had waste too much time on some meaningless activities. It was out of my previous plan, and I as well didn’t follow my schedule to run all the procedure. It was pity that I really gave others a bad imageL

        My original plan was that at the beginning I would say a story related to my GO design which was a Winnie and his sweet hearts. I planned that I would say the short story and meanwhile relate to the actual purpose of the activity (group learning sheet doing), and then I would give a clean instruction about how to co- finish it and share an application about using the theory in the practical teaching. But after I broken speech about the Winnie story, I gradually forgot what I had to do next. It was really a tough challenge for me, especially for my explanation after each group’s board writing. I also found out that I couldn’t speak out a complete and organized sentence, and I still couldn’t deliver my message entirely. It was my weakness that I still need to try my best to conquer my stage fright, and I also had to create more opportunities to practice my English presentation. However, the most important work for me was that I needed to rehearsal well and sharpen my speaking ability advanced.

        But I could say I still did a small job on my learning sheet (Winnie and hearts_graphic_organizers), and I really gained some experiences from producing it. I would continuously apply GO in my teaching.

reflection about the efl class on May 6,08 May 7, 2008

This class had approximately three parts, and every part was meaningful to me. I’d like to focus on the first and the third part which was talking about a new methodology- GO ”Graphic Organizers” in this reflective blog. The first part could roughly belong to the introduction about the usage and application of GO. Alice had introduced it on the last class, and we also had the homework to practice it. At the beginning, I thought the theory of graphic organizers was abstract. For me, I couldn’t understand its’ importance for students, especially for students’ linguistic competence. But after Alice’s explanation and my practical operation, I gradually discovered its’ value. The graphic organizer is like a map of an article, and learners (readers) can through the instruction of map know the whole structure of the reading.

My thought was reinforced by a teacher who was from Taipei Fuhsing Private School. In her speech she also repeatedly emphasized on GO. She said that GO also popularized in the elementary English teaching, and so many teachings today utilize this skill to make learners construct the structure of meaning tightly. She also gave us some samples about the GO which have common used in the junior high school. Students by teacher’s instruction really can create their own GO, and by their design and explanation teachers can evaluate how degree students understand the articles. The students’ examples above deeply support my idea, and I consider I would apply this method in my teaching in future.

Taipei City Long-Men Junior High School Visit on April 1 April 7, 2008

Class Observation Notes

School: Taipei City Long-Men Junior High School

Teacher: Grade 8^th

Learners: 8 Graders

Date: April 1, 08

Opening:

It was unfortunately that when we visitors went into the class, the teacher in this class had started her lesson for a period of time. So we interrupted the class and observe it from the body of the whole lesson.

 

Body:

Name of the activity	Sequence of the activity	Patterns of interaction	pacing
Vocabulary teaching	1. T teaches Ss KK alphabets (discrete the vowel and consonant first ,and then combine them together) and leads Ss pronouncing the word. 2. T translates the word meaning, reading the sentence on the textbook, and she supples the related extra- knowledge(synonym, homonym, etc) 3. After the whole voc teaching, T leads Ss reading all the words again.	T would build the new knowledge on Ss previous one, helping them recall the old related words or sentences  taught before.Ex: “review”T departs the prefix “re-” first and take the old sentence to remind Ss such us the “site-viewing” which equal to the Chinese風景.	About 15 minute
Grammar teaching 1	1. T teaches Ss grammar application and limitation, and then lead the Ss learning the textbook’s sentence. 2. T helps Ss underlining the key word and analyzes the Gr. 3. Ss finish the exercises on the book and reply the answers on the class.	T goes around the whole class and evaluates Ss work when Ss complete the exercises. Teacher also use the activity of “九宮格”(-the neighbors of the called number of Ss need to stand up, and T would order one depending on Ss reactions) to go through the exercise checking work. Also, T gives the illustration of activity and the examples in English.	About 15 minute
Grammar teaching 2	1. read the sentence in English and translate it and explain the grammar in Chinese. 2. write down Ss translation on the blackboard and revise it with Ss(Gr teaching also) 3. Ss finish the exercise on the class.	The main method is in teacher- led	About 10 minutes

 

Closures:

Teacher in the end finished on the grammar teaching and required students finishing the incomplete sentence (one of the Ss was called to answer T’s question). Teacher also reminds students they would have a vocabulary test tomorrow.

 

Feedback:

It’s mainly a GTM, and I also found some techniques and class administration used in this class. Teacher continuously watched out each student’s action under the platform, and she would order some specific students answer the questions to attract their attentions. I also found that there had a great relationship between teacher and students. Their interaction was just like friends, and it was so natural and moderate.

I really love this kind of atmosphere in this class, and I also discovered that teacher would encourage students learning English grammar. She took the other subjects as comparison and wanted to arouse students’ interests about learning English. In addition, teacher’s examples were kind of authentic and related to student’s daily life. Teacher would use Ss’ name as example and made students laugh, intangible reinforcing students’ memories. I would treasure this experience and utilize the advantages learned from this class in my future teaching.

 

reflection about the EFL class on Mar 18 March 18, 2008

I had to say that this week class really “shocked” me a lot. After the second group’s presentation,  the professor asked us to prepare vocabulary teaching in 15 minutes.  Actually, for me, at that short 15 minutes my brain only could go through some traditional teaching ways like syntactic categories analysis or  translation, etc. However, the impromptu the two classmates presented for us really made me surprised! ” Wow! I havn’t thought that definitions also can be taught as a vocabluary teaching materials.”  I believe it would be a good lesson for me to absorb others’ inspiration, and I also have to read more and think more. Hope that one day I can be a creative teacher:-)

reflection about the EFL class on Mar 4 March 9, 2008

For me, the second class really broadened my eye sight. I havn’t imagined that  such great technological programs or websites could help teachers integrating technology into our language class. I’ve known that some teachers would use their teaching platforms , and students are required to leave comments or fb to others in the discussion section. Also, students can download some materials teacher uploaded. It’s amazing that there still have so many creative room for teachers enhancing their teaching technique.
From this class, I discover that teachers wouldn’t require students do their paper personal learning portfile anymore; instead, students can through writing the blog regularly post their assignments, and it has so many advantages. One is that students can design their own blogs presentation and make it privercy. Sencond, teachers and students can use the “bloglines” checking classmates’ new posts and giving latest fb. Third, after the class end it is convenient for students  continuously buliding their e-portfile and revising it. Moreover, besides the blogs teachers can use advanced teaching assistant and make students communicate or exchange their learning productions on the web. In shore, if teachers know how to properly utilize the technology, language teaching(learning) would be so fun.