On July 22, 2020, I taught, with my teaching partner, my eighth one-hour lesson with a group of four students enrolled in an Advanced Oral Communication class. The objective of this lesson was that students would be able to persuasively express opinions on topics of workplace culture using target vocabulary and discussion language. This was to be accomplished through a game to review workplace vocabulary terms introduced in the previous lesson. Production of a provided dialogue would then have students make communicative use of the vocabulary as assessed through comprehension questions. Finally, students would competitively debate topics about workplace culture judged on use of target vocabulary terms and discussion language as well as persuasiveness. This lesson successfully (re)applied what we had learned about focused objectives and spending adequate time on fewer activities. In doing so, it offered an opportunity to build new skills in facilitating students engaged in active communication.
Month: July 2020
On July 15, 2020, I taught, with my teaching partner, my seventh one-hour lesson with a group of four students enrolled in an Advanced Oral Communication class. The objective of this lesson was that students would be able to engage in workplace communication and discuss topics of workplace culture using target vocabulary and discussion language. This was to be accomplished through role-playing workplace telephone conversation scenarios. Further work vocabulary would be introduced or reviewed through a game. Students would then engage with the vocabulary by producing a provided dialogue. Finally, students would competitively debate topics about workplace culture using target vocabulary terms as well as discussion language. This lesson was something of a step backwards on the issue of scaffolding and appropriate content as well as time management. However, we did maintain reasonable engagement and drawbacks were part of exploring a focus on teaching functional language, which offered lessons going forward.
On July 08, 2020, I taught, with my teaching partner, my sixth one-hour lesson with a group of three students enrolled in an Advanced Oral Communication class. The objective of this lesson was that students would be able to differentiate between ‘L’ and ‘R’ sounds when listening and then produce them accurately when speaking. This was to be accomplished first through practicing ‘L’ and ‘R’ production in isolation with instruction and modelling. Then a game would have students identify ‘L’ and ‘R’ in words and sentences modelled by the teacher and produce ‘L’ and ‘R’ in provided words and sentences to earn points. The game would reveal a story, and students would then practice speaking ‘L’ and ‘R’ words in context from a provided text of the story. Finally, students would debate a topic related to the story using ‘L’ and ‘R’ vocabulary terms. This was the first lesson we prepared with a focus on accuracy over fluency and communicative meaning, which was good learning experience, and it was yet another reinforcement of the lesson of simplification and clarity of objectives.
I observed a video of a lesson in an intermediate high school class in Japan. The class consisted of twenty-three Japanese students taking the class in preparation for university. This was a guest lesson by a native English-speaking professor from a nearby university, and the topic was effective language learning strategies. The class had a writing focus, but this lesson did not engage this skill. In fact, it only somewhat engaged students in listening and reading skills while the focus seemed to be on the content. My overarching take-away is the necessity of lesson planning and preparation as this lesson fell quite short on both. Further, and probably as a result, the lesson was limited by excessive teacher talk, a lack of effective facilitation, and a general absence of assessment. Finally, the teacher didn’t address the limitations of being a guest lecturer by developing an understanding of the students’ English language level or establishing a rapport or even a friendly atmosphere. His dynamics with students was stilted and border-line rude and he was often inactive or distracted during student-centred activity.
I observed a video of a lesson in a high-intermediate/advanced class in the United Kingdom. The class consisted of eight adult students from a range of language backgrounds who appeared to be taking the class for academic purposes. The lesson was an integrated skills approach addressing listening, speaking, and writing as well as grammar and vocabulary. The topic was the second conditional. My key take-aways were the benefits and challenges of integrating skills development in a single lesson, the importance of integrated and scaffolding activities, the value of varied and complementary facilitation techniques, and the limitations that a lack of enthusiasm/rapport can have on an otherwise exceptional lesson plan.
I observed a video of a lesson in a high-intermediate/advanced class in the United States. The class consisted of approximately twenty adult students from a range of language backgrounds who appeared to be taking the class for academic or business purposes. The lesson was taught using the communicative approach with a focus on the function of persuasion and based on the topic of what type of place is best to live in.
On June 29, 2020, I taught, with my teaching partner, my fifth one-hour lesson with a group of three students enrolled in an Advanced Oral Communication class. The objective of this lesson was that students would discuss the role of sports in culture and cultural relations as well as cultural differences in food to improve their discussion and debate skills. This was to be accomplished through students thinking critically about hockey as a part of Canadian culture, debating the effect of sports on cultural pride and tolerance, describing their preferences in food, and discussing how food relates to culture and impacts opinions on cultural difference.
On June 24, 2020, I taught, with my teaching partner, my fourth one-hour lesson with a group of four students enrolled in an Advanced Oral Communication class. The objective of this lesson was that students would discuss what constitutes culture, cultural appreciation, and cultural difference. This was to be accomplished through students brainstorming, defining, and explaining vocabulary related to culture; engaging with that vocabulary; thinking critically about hockey as part of Canadian culture; and identifying and discussing differences between Canadian culture and their own. Additionally, students were to be asked to complete a survey to provide feedback on teacher performance and lesson activities over the previous three weeks.
On June 17, 2020, I taught, with my teaching partner, my third one-hour lesson with a group of four students enrolled in an Advanced Oral Communication class. The objective of this lesson was that students would orally present unfamiliar content to others both verbatim and in summary to effectively communicate meaning. This was to be accomplished through students reading aloud from a text, discussing key points and meaning of the text in small groups, and presenting a summary of the text to the rest of the class.