Teaching Reflections - Lesson 1

-

TESL 0170
Practicum in Teaching ESL

On Tuesday I taught my first lesson as part of my practicum. The class is an Entry level (CEFR A1-A2) integrated skills class and uses the text Top Notch 1. This week the unit topic was Shopping for Clothes and my lesson focused on the Preview section. The lesson included reviewing the previous day's homework, introducing the topic of clothes and clothing departments, teaching and practicing new vocabulary, discussion, listening comprehension and writing. I incorporated a mix of teacher-centered and student-centered activities, and included individual, partner, small-group and whole class activities. There was also a combination of productive and receptive tasks. Since this lesson was the introduction to a new unit there was a bit more teacher talk and and vocabulary instruction. I made use of the digital textbook, online text and notebook function on the smartboard. I also used, modified and created some supplementary materials to introduce and reinforce some of the text activities and content.

I think the lesson went fairly smoothly and was well-received by the students. I also received a lot of positive feedback from my sponsor teacher. She commented that I knew the content well and that I had good classroom management. She also said that my timing was good and that I had good movement as I moved around the room and paid attention to all of the students. She appreciated my punctuality, organization and preparedness. She noted that I did mix up one thing that I had written on the board, but that it did not affect comprehension. She also commented that although I did ask each student at least one question, there were a couple of students that I called on more frequently. I also needed a little assistance with the smartboard when switching it from one function to another.

I definitely felt confident in the content and had prepared multiple activities for the lesson, as well as a few extras. I was a little unsure of how exactly to use some of the functions within the digital textbook and online website, but by the end of the class I got much better. There was definitely some giggling from some of the younger students, and I asked the class to please be patient with me as I was learning. I had thought one of the vocabulary activities went on a little too long and at the end of class I did not have enough time to have the students discuss the writing questions. However, my sponsor teacher said she thought the students needed the vocabulary practice and she also said she could have the students discuss the writing questions the following day. She also really liked the handout that I had prepared and plans to use it in the future. I had to remind myself a few times to slow down my speech as I am used to talking to fluent elementary school students! Overall I think the lesson went well and I have some ideas on how to make the next lesson better. I am looking forward to using some more interactive activities such as role-plays and games in the next lesson as it is closer to the end of the unit.

My lesson plan and handouts are attached below:

Lesson Plan 1
Unit 8 Preview
Shopping for Clothes Writing and Discussion

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Continued Professional Development Report

-
Image
TESL 0170 Practicum in Teaching ESL The professional development resource that I selected to engage with and analyze is the free online CLB Bootcamp provided by the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks. The CLB Bootcamp is a 10-hour self-directed online training course that introduces and explains the CLB’s, as well as how to use the CLB’s for lesson planning and student assessment. The CLB Bootcamp is divided into three modules: CLB Basics , Planning and the CLB and Classroom Assessment and the CLB . Each module is then broken down into three to four sections. The material is presented in a format similar to a PowerPoint presentation, with links to resources, documents and example materials. There are also optional short quizzes throughout that can be taken more than once. It is not necessary to complete the sections or modules in order, or even to complete them all. You can pick and choose which areas you want to learn more about. If you do complete all of the modules
Read more

My Classroom Community

-
Image
TESL 0100 So I kind of overlooked this assignment, or maybe I was procrastinating it and avoiding it because I am not much of an artist and was not really looking forward to attempting to draw my classroom. :) I tried to do some of the parts in 3D, but other parts are much more basic. It's kind of a mix of both. Attempting to draw a couch was the trickiest part! Anyways, I like to think of my classroom as a community of learners, which is why I used a circular table with me, the teacher (the one with the speech bubble), as part of the circle. When needed, everyone can turn their chairs toward the whiteboard for direct instruction, or to read sentence stems or discussion prompts. I would put our agenda on the board so the students would know what was in store for the day. There would also be a word wall bulletin board with high frequency words and words we had learned in previous lessons. The classroom would have a bookshelf with a wide variety of reading materials and games/
Read more

21st Century Learners

-
Image
TESL 0100 Unit 9 Reflection As we begin to think about the language classroom that we may be teaching in, we need need to also take a step back and consider what teaching and learning looks like in the twenty-first century. We were asked to think about the skills, tasks and technologies that our students would need to have an understanding of in order to be successful in today's world, and to create an infographic to represent our ideas. Below is the infographic that I created. It includes the skills and strategies that I believe are needed by all students, including language students. In order to succeed in today's ever-changing world, students need to be taught more than just the basic knowledge and skills that were taught in traditional classroom. The four key skills that I have highlighted - communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, often referred to as the four C's, should be an important component to any classroom. In university, the workp
Read more