Pamela’s Box

Discussion

We were very luck could have a discussion with the teachers and the principal of Lishan. According to Leo’s question, I realized that not only myself but also the others never experienced whole English teaching before. And how the teachers could keep a whole English learning environment?  

One of the teachers said that to design the lesson based on “language using”; trying to let students practice what they just learned in the practical world. Then the examples of tasks were vital. Another teacher said this was about framework. They would offer more and more samples that were real to life. One teacher emphasized that if they could not give interesting examples students would have no interest in class either. And how the teachers could make their class more interesting?

Collecting various sources especially visual aids was one useful way, just like Teacher Wendy looked out for a film about “wishbone” arduously. And that did make students understand much easier and also got their attention. So the teachers said that they always keep watch for everything carefully and then transform them into an appropriate teaching material. This was really a helpful habit for teaching, and we should follow it to be a conscientious teacher.  

In the end, we had the principal make an impressive conclusion. There were three point of Principal Chen’s words. The first was “How to be a good teacher” The second was “How to be a good English teacher” and the final one was “How to build an excellent learning environment” That meant only we set our mind on becoming a teacher first, we would be a good teacher. It’s not easy to be a teacher; it involved too much and also cost many. And after being a good teacher, the other two things happen potentially.

What Principal Chen told us really gave a sharp advice for me. To be a teacher should not be a minor choose, it should be a discreet decision. Because the central part of teacher career is not the teacher but his or her students. I still have a little time to think over it, and that few words did change my shallow thoughts……

  “Wow! The school looks like Taipei City Zoo!” I heard someone said that when we just entered Lishan. It’s really a beautiful campus, although it was like a maze. It’s a pity that we didn’t have enough time to take a look at the whole campus. However, we had inspiring, impressive class observations and a great discussion instead.  

Class observation

★Class109-Bermuda Triangle

It’s hard to imagine that students would have an English class in a classroom with a big screen and U-shaped seats. I have never had or seen a class like that in a high school before. In my opinion, that just happened in the college.

In the beginning, the teacher told what was going to do in the lesson today, and then started to ask them with “5W1H” questions according to the reading step by step. The process of Q&A was like all of the class was drawing a graphic in their mind together. After Q&A, in order to check the students’ understanding, the teacher prepared T or F to review the reading again. And I truly felt the teacher’s diligence; the questions she prepared not only related to the reading but also offered much extra knowledge at the same time.

Next was teaching vocabulary. The teacher had students repeat her to read the new words and then posed questions “What does …… mean?” to students rather than telling them directly. So far, the teacher had not used the board, only used PPT to present the lesson. She really used PPT very well; showing the content line by line and followed the pacing. It reminded me of the importance of USING.

Nevertheless, using computer has both positive and negative effects. During the lesson, I found that the teacher almost stood in the same area for operating the computer. Besides, the interactive zone of the teacher was not wide either. One of the reasons was that the students took their seats together by gender, and the girls nearly answered all of the questions. That made the teacher would have more interaction with them easily.

Afterward the teacher let us watch a short film produced by BBC which related to the most horrible mystery of Bermuda Triangle. I think that was the best teaching material for the students. During the watching, the teacher reminded the vocabulary and explained some plots attentively, and then the teacher had students practice some common expression in radio communication. These two teaching activities exactly connected with what the students just learned.

Finally, the teacher dismissed the class a little bit hastily. She asked students to read the handout and told them what would be done next class. 

I was very surprised at the whole English teaching. Although the students still talked to each other in Chinese, they responded the teacher in English. And like what we have discussed the teacher did not teach everything or explain too much. So the students had to study harder, previewed the lesson diligently and they were trained to learn independently. On the other hand, the teacher must organize the lesson more flexibility, and teaching would contribute to the accomplishment of learning. 

GO (Graphic Organization) is a great tool for comprehension in learning! After two-week GO lessons and the excellent speech, I learned much and I am really fond of this teaching approach.

As a student, I’ll be very glad to draw a particular graphic for the reading I am going to learn! However, as a teacher, to monitor students’ understanding is vital. Therefore we need to have students present their thought and then we can see if their graphics are logical and how much they have learned.         

Besides, letting students create their own graphics makes them experience more. That reminds me of somebody’s words-”Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.” Exactly! The more, the better!

I made two story maps on unit two before I went to sanmin learning website to see how GO is used to teach reading, and then I made a timline when I saw the sample sanmin showed.

HERE they are: unit2-story map1, unit2-story map2 and unit2 timeline.

The reading in unit two is a story about best friends. It started from the first day they met. So I searched a appropriate graphic in Enchanted Learning - the story map which is divided into three parts- beginning, middle and end. However, in order to read specifically, I put the division of each part into the author and the main role- “Kyle”. Then I found 5 W’s graphic, I thought that might be a good one to analyse a story, so I combined two of them to made story map2. Afterward I filled the blanks in story map1. Though I spent a little time to summarize it, I really could understand the reading in this way.

Finally, after I  saw the sample- which is like a chain, and the timeline I made was formed by the same sentences which sanmin offered. Both of the them can be used in information hunting and listening comprehension. And the teaching activity will be just like what Alice had us do in the class-”How to teaching listening”.