The fourth Skype
session with Azuchi Junior High School in Japan today was quite an experience.
Team Takashima, a group of Japanese professors who specialize in global English
education, came to my school and actually participated in the class.
I started the
class by inviting Pro. Takashima to give us a pet talk. I wonder how those
Japanese students would feel about that. For me, this created an even more
authentic environment for my students, complete with my colleges and me, to use
English.
Once again, the
audio issue still became a major setback today. I used both the classroom's
speakers and my own Bluetooth one, and it remained just the same. I'm
consulting with some tech experts, and they think the school's Internet
bandwidth could be the culprit.
I was really glad
to see some of my students tried to present without reading their scripts at
all. They sounded a lot more natural this way, with eye contact and smiles,
too. As a teacher, nothing can please you more than that.
Right after the
session, Hide kindly shared his ideas of how to make the next session better.
We both agreed that most students relied too much on their scripts. They were
too nervous and intimidated to speak English in front of everybody like that
today. I'll heed his advice and use pictures and questions to scaffold the
students.
Thanks to two of
my colleges' participation and help during these four sessions, I finally feel
like maybe I don't have to be alone doing this whole cultural exchange through
English thing. On top of that, their comforting words of me doing a good job
and saving the day would definitely help me get back on track soon even though
I might still have to wallow in self-pity for a couple of days.
International Video Conferencing
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