This week, the lesson was a great end of semester wrap-up. Obviously, I meant that this lesson was a potential last class due to how next week may look like in school. We had more students come in progressively, but they missed a fair bit of the beginning. Luckily, I was able to quickly gain the attention of the students that came late. They immediately immersed into asking others and responding to each others’ questions. During the breakout room activity, the students spent a few minutes asking one of six questions to ask questions to a peer. Also, the same peer responded back to them. The students had growing opportunities to discuss and practice their speaking and listening competencies. For that, I had to make sure I remove myself as the teacher but as the facilitator instead. It was successful, but there was a point during the activity that a student was stuck with a thought. And so, I deemed it necessary to step-in and give him/her some ideas as examples. Takeaway: committing to change what is needed.

Students had expressed before that they would love to do more drawing, so I included it in our lesson slides. They participated a lot, and explained the image importance. It was surprising as it related how “listening to the students” and asking them based on their interests can increase their participation in the class. Reflecting on my TESL classes, I found that students enjoyed the lesson if they had personal experience and/or became interested in the topic. Takeaway: committing to valuing student feedback.

Even though we had included learning objectives and outline in our previous lesson slides, the teaching assistant really spoke about how vital the two were to our lesson. She was in charge of the class today, and she thought the inclusion of both the LOs and outline served as guides for students to what was the next sub-topic. Bringing an effective way to engage students. She added the remark that this lesson was the most engaging thus far. I appreciated this comment, as both my partner and I hoped to change what was needed to make sure students enjoyed coming to the LLC. Also, used the feedback we have obtained till now and show our growth. Takeaway: committing to detailed schedule.

Reminiscing on the past weeks of teaching in the LLC, I thought that teaching opportunities are to give teachers a list full of experiences to reflect and grow from mistakes. Teachers were never meant to be perfect figure head in the classrooms. Presumably, I had this notion in mind as we began teaching our first lesson in the LLC with our sponsor teacher. It was supplemented weekly by the autonomy our sponsor teacher gave us, which encouraged us to make mistakes and change them overtime. I also appreciated how we grew in the time that we were assigned. Firstly, our lessons were not meant to be long, nor had time to be long. As a 50-minute session, time usually was our worst enemy. Somehow and someway, my partner and I pulled through and made sure the lesson was as fluid as possible. In addition, we made sure to hear and apply the student feedbacks. From the TA’s and our Sponsor teacher’s feedback, I wanted to changes to be seen in the next lesson. At the very least, there was an attempt to change. Bad habits or character changes were difficult, but once you understood the root of your mistake/habits/character and amend it a bit, all went well. Students appreciated the opportunities to talk and express personal relations to the chosen topic. Takeaway: committing to accept changes within ourselves.

Lastly, I would say that if this week was perhaps our last lesson, I was proud how the lesson ended. There were parts that could be better (as always), but considering the overarching fluidity and content, we engaged the students consistently. These lessons saw the differences between talking less and talking a lot. “I talked a lot” was not a negative, rather showed that students did not receive sufficient time to reflect and speak in succession. Contrarily, “I did not talk much” showed that the roles were switched, and the progression of the class lied on the students’ ability to move on. If they wanted to stay on a sub-topic, we stayed on it. Students observed and quickly realize they were in control of the flow of the class, so they loved talking when given the chance. Takeaway: committing to noting difference and using it in future lessons.

The following are the slides of our Dream Vacation lesson:

In this lesson, I was proud of the outcome. For some time, I was unable to really make sure my students had sufficient time to speak. This meant students had opportunities to practice their speaking compared to just listening to the teacher. However, I felt this week was different, I left the instructions very concise and detailed. I chose to leave all the autonomy for the students. When it came time for questions and answers, student led the discussion, and not the teacher. It made me think about the shift of dynamic once instructions or words were simplified in front of them. On the slides, there were less than half a sentence each, and so explanation time needed was slimmed to a minimal. To my surprise, the involvement of students were extremely high and they reflected well during the exit ticket portion of the lesson.

I thought overall the flow was fluid, and language was kept appropriate to their level. I felt the language which I used did not focus primarily on the difficulty of the words rather the times I said it. From keeping it short and concise, I did not have to repeat instructions and ask students if they understood it. Actually, immediately immersing them into the activity, and checking once we began. All seemed great, as they were knowing and participated almost right after I explained the instructions. I would say that next time keep this sense of mystery in the lesson. This meant that the students don’t know the order beforehand. Have them anticipate and react when the activity begins.

Lastly, I would commend the teamwork my partner and I had in the lesson. As always, we worked well. When she presented, I would prepare the materials for her. The same occurred when I taught. It improved our time-conservation skills. However, we were asked to give a lesson plan, and I felt a bit thrown-off from the request. By “thrown-off” I meant that I was astonished that a team-teach lesson plan can exist. For me, I always took lesson plan as an individual thing. To include the other partner into the plan made confused me, and made me think of coherency. I am not discrediting team-teach lesson plans, but perhaps it would make little sense if a portion of a lesson was split in two. A great example was the lesson we usually create. Being split 25 minutes each for my partner and I. Being fair, we decided to split it beginning half and ending half. One of us picked to begin or to end. However, a part in between exited which we both used simultaneously. In certain cases, it was difficult to write a description on half of a portion, and kept its relation to our remaining half of the lesson. Let alone the entire lesson plan had to be cohesive and all-related (begin relates to the end). Also, in the past, my partner and I taught by slides. And so, our deliveries were so intertwined, it would be impossible to split the lesson plan equally and made sense out of it. In the beginning, I had requested to our sponsor teacher about formulating lesson plans. As team-teach is far more complex than we expect, she insisted that we take “baby-steps” to develop these plans. My partner and I became mindful that our lesson slides must reflect the tools we would use and how we wanted to complete a task. That in ways became our lesson plan. In conclusion, I would say that lesson plans are a great method to gauge where the lesson might go, but we should’ve thought about the what-it scenarios.

The following are slides of lesson:

In this lesson, I was actually quite pleased with the results as my partner and I were working with limited time. This was the case due to us not knowing what was happening with the other teacher (responsible for sending students to the LLC). However, we tried our best to work with what we had online. I commend my partner for going along with me in another team-teach session. Although time was cut-short by 5-10 minutes, we basically got most of what we planned. It was another week of only a few students. Although we were hoping for more students for our breakout rooms activity, we only had a few individuals. Keeping it professional and time-friendly, we just proceeded the activity with the four students.

Overall, the flow went well, but there were over-occurring reminders that should be noted and corrected over time. Firstly, limiting the spoken words. It is not seen as a negative for a teacher to be talkative, but a teacher must understand the group that he/she is working with at the moment. For example, the level of learners was well beyond a level 4 or intermediate level, you might not want to restraint too much on word choices. However, when they were below level 4, you might need to limit. Learners especially those in L2, needed familiarity with words, and so restrain from colloquial and idioms Additionally, formulate shorter and less complex sentences is more ideal. Takeaway: Keep it realistic

Although, it was quite similar to the last lesson, there’s only a few more points for considerations:

No matter the competency level, students need to be responsible for their learning. This meant they discuss and ask each other the questions on the slides. Doing so, students may adhere a bit more to the lesson. Perhaps, adjust the content to be more creative. Instead of asking what they have done, ask them how they felt about the issue/topic? That way they will always create interest and variety. Takeaway: Leniency

The following are the slides for the party/festival lesson

Unfortunately the class was affected by the brutal snow, so many of the students could not make it. Benefited to this occurrence though, my partner and I tried implementing the delivery in a different manner. In essence, we organized it in a way that each of us would do 25 minutes each throughout. She did the first 25 minutes, and I would help her set up the activities, and vice versa. From the feedback from the TA, she appreciated this change. She commented that the organization was clear for students, and progression was flowing well. She also made remarks about how before it could have caused students to feel confused on who is in control. However, this style benefited all parties, and in turn increased overall participation and engagement. Takeaway: Open to try something new.

Reminiscing on the goals of today’s lesson delivery, I wanted to practice limiting my words and try not be redundant. Sometimes redundancy was the worst bad-habit of mine. I thought maybe they already understood the words, but let me just make sure. Talking more as a teacher might not always be ideal. Give them time to reflect and share. Reflecting on it, I used this mentality when I delivered content and it was a success. Surely, the percentage of teacher talk and student talk were comparably better than last week and prior. There was a comment about the teacher talk being more than 60-80% of the lesson, and it should’ve been the other way around. Fortunately, today’s lesson was the other way around, or 60-80% student talk. As more students conversed, I realized that I was only prolonging conversation to motivate their speaking competency. Students appreciated the time allotted for their expression of thoughts. From certain slides and conversations, when we came to a term or image that needed further clarification, I asked students to state what it was or what it meant to them. That in turn made them engage it more personally, and spoke all that they knew about the subject being asked. Takeaway: Allow STs to speak.

Lastly, I took time to ask for the TA’s feedback on the lesson. She gave some points of consideration, such as the following:

• 50/50 delivery form is a massive success as students become clear who is in control
• Students’ comfortability allowed increase in lesson flow
• Explaining more difficult words and images when it shows
• Familiarize the class with harder words so they are not fossilized at their current level
• Theme of lesson was relatable and realistic, made them connect to Qs easily
• Vocabulary relates/related to how they might use it in daily conversation.
  • how might L2 words and phrases like “sweet-tooth” make its way in their conversations and understandings?

The following are the slides for the hometown lesson.

I greatly appreciated this week’s lesson because we got an observer! Today marked the first day my sponsor teacher did not join our lesson. I was a bit worried about this change, but it made me learn lots. As the observer saw how the lesson progressed, she gave some valuable feedback. As teachers we tend to talk our way in hopes that our students are 100% knowing what is expected. However, it might not be ideal. The conversation club was to promote student talk, increasing and improving more than if they were in classes. This made me think of how much I talked compared to the students. I loved teacher-led classrooms, but students were muted. When students became voiceless, the teacher moved on. Sometimes, this was not the case though. Settings like the conversation club needed student involvement, and lots of it. For that, teachers needed to be mindful and create a student-led classroom environment. A reminder that I asked myself was “remember, students need to talk.” Whenever I taught a lesson, I had to forcibly remember to trust and rely on our content. Talk when needed, and rely on the students to dictate the progression. When we have great learning content, teachers shouldn’t or have no need to talk much, rather have it scaffold to the students. Repetition instructions might have been unnecessary in a our intended student-led classroom. Students should first wrestle with the content and ask questions if they become unknowing of something. Takeaway: Student-led learning.

For having student-led learning settings, we got to consider some factors. One, to not repeat verbatim what was said, but shortened. Instead of repeating the same way, perhaps say it simpler? Don’t change the speed if the class can move onto the next content. We must realize why we adjust our dialogue speed. If they are comprehending the language, there’s no reason to slow down. And most importantly, teaching to facilitate. If teacher keeps rumbling for the majority of the time, it might cause students to feel someone will eventually carry the load. Have awkward moments, let them wait. Give wait time, and make them believe that it is their time to show off their abilities as a learner. Once students realize this time of theirs cannot be tampered with, they will come to appreciate and participate as much as they can. For that, students are responsible for the class progression, and not the teacher. Same allocating time for students to speak, if students are responsible for their own lesson content progression, they will pick up or ask for clarity. If the responsibility is taken away, the motivation may become lacking and gradually diminish. Hence, we must work towards student-led, if students are seen as main participants in a learning setting like the conversation club. Takeaway: Facilitate for a good reason.

The following is the slides for the Internet & Social Media lesson.

In the lesson, I learned more about assumptions. The topic for the lesson was ‘Halloween’. However, some students could not answer the question(s) due to their culture not having this holiday. Hence, amendments needed to be made. My colleague and myself remade the questions on the spot, and hoped it made sense. Throughout, I figured that students might’ve been timid, not unknowingly. However, it is better to rephrase the question to a more broader, relatable one so that they can answer properly Perhaps consider cultural differences.

In each activity, students were able to engage relatively well, but the best was during the breakout room activity. Since, the assumption of ‘students should know Halloween’ was wrong, the active constant participation didn’t start until the breakout room activity. In my opinion, I needed to get them familiar with the topic and apply scaffolding to them. Thinking back, it was the case. I shortly realized my learners needed heavily reliance on me, so I steered the content to their own comfortability (native culture). Gradually, I made the reliance be less on me, and had them converse by what they were curious (relies on students themselves). Each time we progressed, the activity served as the checkpoint for their ‘needs/reliance’ of obtaining the course content.

The following is how I viewed scaffolding in the perspective of our activities:

Video discussion: teacher asks the STs to observe the various costumes shown in the video, and STs then understand what might a costume be or worn for what reason. Start- All teacher

Choice polls (w/discussion): STs participate in a poll to show what they like as costumes among 4 choices. Depending on their understanding of the costumes and their representations, they can reply to the class their rationality. Pre-mid lesson- Mostly teacher

Would you rather (Interactive whiteboard): STs are selecting an answer according to their preferences. Then, they are asked why they chose the preferred answer. Mid-lesson- Mostly STs

Breakout Rooms (discussion): STs are split into 2 groups (~equally) and answers at least 4 of the 8 Wh- questions on the slide. STs are asked a question shown and they reply accordingly. Near-end All STs

Exit ticket: Yes or No (Interactive whiteboard + discussion): STs note whether they like Halloween (Yes) or they don’t like Halloween (No). They then are asked why they perhaps choice no as their answer.

In conclusion, I thought learning assumption was a huge takeaway. It certainly made me appreciate lessons. Especially appreciating having mistakes occur so we learn from them. There are no perfect going lessons, and we shouldn’t view all lessons like they ought to be perfect. Always assume the STs not know what you are teaching, then they might be able to develop a greater comprehension of what you’re teaching as content.

Lesson slides on Halloween:

In this lesson experience, I taught with my colleague. Familiar students came back, and new names joined. Further, I was able to use the materials and resources to my advantage. When a timer had only a few minutes left, I was able to add minutes to the pre-existing timer. I did this because my plan was to have equal numbers of students join one of two breakout rooms (one by led me and another led by my colleague.) However, the count was somewhat imbalanced. As the student were talking, I saw that a lot more students had joined my breakout room instead. Now, seeing that I only had 2-3 minutes left to allow the others to converse, I thought of adding more minutes. I took a chance and all the students in the group were able to share and converse at a good pace. At the end, I appreciated this ability to change on the spot. Realization point: Flexibility

Throughout the lesson, the flow seemed great. My sponsor teaching did mention a few points for future considerations. I took to heart her comment on levelling. This is very crucial in teaching a low to high beginner classroom settings. If grammar structure, vocabulary and pacing are not appropriate enough, student might not fully comprehend anything spoken. If lucky, they might have understood half of what was said as instructions. Hence, I became aware of pacing and created easier dialogue for students to easily comprehend words’ meaning. As my sponsor teacher said, “planning more doesn’t mean you have to do more. You include more just to be able to use it if you have more time. If there’s no time, you can skip it.” This phrase or saying related to me because of what I’ve seen in my current lessons in the LLC. Sometimes we may plan the exit ticket, but we somehow don’t allocate enough time for it. For that, we either omit or vocalize it. Realization points: Relatability & Time Management

Lastly, I reflected on whether teaching a higher level is harder, or a lower level harder. Relating to what my sponsor teacher mentioned, levelling is very important. Knowing your class is vital, especially if a teacher promotes worthwhile learning. Worthwhile meant besides having challenging material or content, students are given time to wrestle with the new material. As i+1 suggest, the students must be given enough time and materials that are 1 level above their current level in order to grasp new understanding. I thought about materials we use that benefit students’ short-term growth. Later realized that those that can grow will never grow. Challenge needed concurrent experiences to facilitate. If not, the class progression will stay the same and never level up. Realization point: Appropriate Challenges

I enjoyed this lesson as it taught me to be adapting and reflective of my demographic. A teacher that forgets about this aspect, might wind-up teaching a class of puzzled students.

The following is the slides for my lesson about ‘school’.

From the lesson, it made me become appreciative of team-teaching. I would never dare as a student to imagine the classrooms having two equal teaching figures; two of which are equally dependable for course content and classroom issues. Teaching the lesson with my colleague allowed me to appreciate this as an instructor. Students that were part of the conversation club this week showed enjoyment all throughout and increased their participation. Certain students would demonstrate shyness and doubts from speaking, but through group-work and collaboration, my colleague and myself were able to improve their confidence. This is why team-teaching is such a life-saver. Often, teaching experiences can be more beneficial when a fellow colleague teach alongside you within a classroom environment. Maybe, there could be instances where teaching pedagogies are different. Beneficially from the differences, the relationships between two teachers build trust based on giving constructive criticism.

By collaborating, activities like breakout rooms were a treat! The past two lessons required at least another instructor figure to to monitor and/or facilitate student discussions. In these sort of activities, it the additional teaching figure maintained interaction and control. Students commented on their feelings and spoke from their minds. Without the hassle of one student interrupting the other, “student-talk” became free-flowing and the result truly was satisfying. It’s not always about whether you can teach on your own that defines a good teacher.

Sometimes, it might just come down to whether you can work alongside your peers to attain a common objective. In this lesson, both my colleague and myself demonstrated that team-work can make obtaining similar learning objectives easier and more convenient.

Photo Source: http://www.alexander-woerlsinger.de/teamwork-warum-teams-nicht-immer-funktionieren/

The following are the slides for the lesson: “All about Movies”

Today, I taught alongside a fellow colleague with the topic being “hobbies.” Students were late coming to the LLC, which caused some time management issues. Perhaps my colleague and I could’ve worked on assessing what activities we need to skip if time was in a crunch. Technical issues were limited as it worked because my colleague and myself communicated with one another about the possibilities (if she left the LLC BBB for some reason) beforehand. For discussions and break-out rooms, we were able to depend on helpers like our Sponsor teacher and TA to guide other room discussions when it required three rooms instead of two. For this added benefit, it promoted interactiveness while maintaing controlled learning environment. Takeaway: Dependence

Thinking back on the experience, there were a couple of amendments that should be fixed. One, the pacing was done well, but I felt a bit rushed at certain moments. During my delivery, I chose to repeat instructions twice hoping the students listened carefully. Even if they didn’t have many instructions on the screen, they formulated further instructions themselves (boosting listening competency). From our sponsor teacher, she mentioned that pacing also included the notion of ‘keep it moving’. It’s important to give a moment to wait for a response, but it is short wait. If the wait time takes five minutes, the instructor must move on. She advised us to create immediate prompts (through reaction). Students usually wait for others to speak. If no one speaks, they won’t neither. It made me think, “maybe I should create immediate Q&A to make sure class time is used well.” Takeaway: Participation Encouragement

Secondly, assumptions are crucial too. If an instructor assumes the learners know all the jargon and idioms, the lesson may not go as planned. Being in a predominant level 1/2 classroom, students needed familiarity and repetition. Without the two, the learning were affected, and along with their understandings of the class content. An example of how this amendment was needed, our sponsor teacher used a word like ‘position’ to comment on a student’s reply. And for the student, he/she didn’t know what the word meant. This needed further explanation, and our sponsor teacher had to veto her own question. She commented in our briefing session that we must keep track of what words to use, and inappropriate word-choice might create unnecessary explanations. For her, ‘position’ appeared like a familiar word, but apparently not to the learners. Takeaway: Word Relevancy

Concluding the session, I found that importance is not about how we as students or teacher get graded; importance is comprehension mistakes that’s the biggest takeaway instead. Ability to take constructive criticism is key and knowing to change for a better experiential learning environment for those in your class.

The following are the slides that we used for our lesson. Given by our Sponsor Teacher.