Cooperative Learning: The 9th Teaching Demonstration

This is the 9th teaching demonstration outside of my school, with students I've never met before and all the English teachers there sitting in the back. Words are difficult to describe how I feel now. Well, let's just say I am completely blown away.

Cooperative Learning: Class Participation and Discussion

Due to this national policy of promoting Cooperative Learning throughout all the junior high schools in the country, I get to travel to many schools to not only share what I've learned related to this teaching approach but observe other teachers' classes and give my professional feedback and suggestions. When it comes to classroom observation, I probably have done this over twenty times, gaining plenty of experience and STEALING many brilliant ideas from it as well. So, I've developed my own framework of participation and discussion in terms of Cooperative Learning, jotting down everything, including the highlights, my questions and suggestions, to share with all the participants right after the teaching demonstration.

Before Demonstration

I'll tell the event planner that I'm really willing to help check the teacher's lesson plan prior to the real performance if that's fine with him or her. Of course, this is not mandatory, but if I do

Introducing the Beauty of Taichung:演武場、光明國中、逢甲夜市

Creating an authentic environment for my students to speak the language and get to experience cultural exchanges are always the main ideas throughout this course of International Education. Toshi, a Japanese English teacher who is also a Global English alumni of the UO AEI, came to visit me during his trip to Taiwan this February. We toured places including 刑務演武場, 光明國中, 逢甲夜市 and 東豐自行車道. It was such a pleasant experience for me to introduce the beauty of Taichung to Toshi in English, and I also gained new perspectives from his points of view. What if I could duplicate what I learned and extend Toshi's visit to benefit my students by getting them to make oral presentations about the same tourist attractions?

First attempt to make a video with Screencastify

I shared the process and progress of how the English Advisory Group strived to promote Professional Learning Community and collaborative lesson planning to the junior high English teachers by sharing all the hard work of every member on our official website, including lesson plans, worksheets and reflections as well. On top of that, by doing microteaching and teaching demonstrations at many schools in Taichung, we didn't just walk the walk but engaged the participants with genuine teaching activities that can be applied in the classroom.

Kuang Ming and Seijo's Skype Exchange 3: Celebrities

"Our teacher told us this was the last time we spoke to Akiko's students. We wanted to give them a surprise. We shouted "Happy Graduation" out loud in Japanese together, and they seemed a bit shocked and also quite glad to hear it."; "I come to realize English is absolutely a magical tool for communication because we can talk about so much with each other without worrying about making mistakes."; "I felt a lot less stressed speaking to them in English today. I tried to say whatever came to my mind even though my spoken English was not very good at all." Well, I just can read their reflection and comments again and again with a smile on my face while also reliving some of the very unforgettable moments during the two-hour session, which is exactly the driving force that will keep me going no matter what.

Collaborative Lesson Planning: Celebrities

 1. Guessing Game. 

   With 15 slides of Taiwanese celebrities shown only to one of the students, the rest of them ask questions to guess who the famous person is. 

Feeling Nostalgic Already

I still remember vividly how I made up my mind and determined to take on the position as Full-time Advisor about three years ago, which totally turned over a new leaf in my life. This job requires me mainly to organize workshops for the whole junior high English teachers here in Taichung. It takes lots of time and energy on paperwork, meetings, phone calls, and sometimes even difficult negotiations, to get the job done. However, when looking back, I would definitely say it is all worth it and rewarding because I've tapped some very unlikely potential.