Week 7 (late T_T)

Finally got my students to let me film a lesson!

 

Hope the videos work. I had to split the video into two clips because it was too long for youtube. Therefore, there might be some overlap/missing parts. 

The purpose of my asking “Do you agree with…” was to elicit “I agree/disagree …” because the goal of the lesson was for the students to be able to share their opinions using expressions like, “I (strongly, somewhat) agree/disagree…” , “I think…”, “I understand what you’re saying, but…” , etc. from the previous lesson in an activity where they create laws/rules for a new society, which also requires them to be able to talk about rules and laws using should/have to. I wasn’t sure whether or not they learned about should/have to previously (I took over this class towards the end of the program from another teacher.).

In the warm-up stage, I wanted the students to use the TLC from the prior lesson. They did to a certain degree (I agree/disagree with…) and they were able to ask for opinions too, but didn’t use it when giving feedback (I know what you mean but…; I think so too…” In hindsight, I should have modeled it for them and written it on the board and review it in more depth. Huge fault on my part.

Also, a part of the lesson that bothered me: student 2 (Eric) expanded his thoughts after stating “I disagree…”. I know it’s a good thing to have the students talk a lot in class, but in the ‘intro’ part, I wanted just simple answers. Is that rationale wrong? Should I be thankful that my students are willing to expand their answers from the get-go? These students LOVE sharing their thoughts and going on and on.

I presenting new vocab (compulsory/mandatory) by having the students brainstorm rules and laws in Korea. “Breaking the law” idiom à was confusing for students. I could’ve made it better by preparing pictures in advance to help the students. I think the students had a hard time coming up with some. The purpose of brainstorming was to activate schema for the activity and present vocab that would come up in the activity.

I should have gotten the students to do choral repetition, but I feel awkward doing it with adult students. I tried to do it with “anarchy”. However, as you can tell, I’m really bad at that.

Presenting reading material: I showed them which paragraph to read by using my copy of the sheet, which helpful for students. However, I did not give them a purpose for reading that paragraph. I asked them after they finished reading. I should’ve done that before asking them to read. Also, I should’ve gone over all the questions to check comprehension of the language used.

Some additional comments: I think I try to get students to create full sentences. I could push for more. Also, I sway too much. It’s quite annoying. And, I think I talk too much. (Ex: when student 3 (Thomas) asks me for my opinion.)

There are eights students in this class, but only four attend on average. The most that ever show up are five. Three students came and one student came in late. I stopped recording while they were working on the activity. After class, one of the students told me that he really enjoyed this activity and had actually thought about such a scenario: If he were a mayor, what kinds of rules would he establish? (I think his dream was to become a mayor.) Unfortunately, they weren’t able to complete all of the activity because of time. So, we just went over what they had finished at the end of class. I could’ve made this activity into a debate in a following lesson by having one group share their set of rules and then, the whole class could have a debate or discussion on what they think of those rules.

I think I am growing as a language teacher in a way. I’ve become better at waiting. There were so many times during this lesson when I wanted to jump in and complete their sentences. Perhaps I did and didn’t catch myself or see it when watching the lesson. As mentioned above, I still have a long way to go. I need to improve techniques like repetition, proper comprehension checks, and presenting material.