Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Microteaching: Demonstrating how tasks can help integrate language skills



Again, the objective is to get the teachers busy walking, talking, looking for information and doing a little presentation. And, I finally figured out the right recipe for engaging students and getting them producing desirable outcomes in terms of language skills, which is in the following order: introducing the topic/arousing interesting of learning, thinking to themselves, discussing with each other, writing down their ideas and giving reports.

I got to feel what it’s like to be picked up and dropped off at the HSR station today, with a friendly salesperson taking care of the commute to the venue. Unfortunately, I got a cold, feeling really drained and drowsy after taking the medicine for my sore throat and runny nose. As a result, I just repeated what I did last Friday.
I constantly paused and explained the rationale behind every task. I also asked them if those activities, after some minor adjustment of course, can also be used in their own class. I noticed one thing was quite exciting, which was all the participants took the initiative to use English during discussion and presentation. That means I must do something right. Also, during the Q and A session, several interesting questions were posed, like the English CAP really made it almost impossible for slower learners to catch up.
On the way home, I got a phone call, demanding to do a teaching demonstration with their students. He insisted that this was a consensus agreement from the English teachers. Well, I felt a bit intimidating because those students have never experienced cooperative learning before. However, on second thought, I’m also curious whether it’ll work all right. Therefore, I emailed him to accept this invitation, for I myself also want to know what would happen in a setting like this.
Most important of all, I need to get out of my comfort zone. 


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