It was officially and formally the very first class, not counting the first two classes before the add-drop period, and, thus, did carry an important meaning. There are several things that deserve positive comments.
Firstly, students seemed to enjoy a lot. According to a lesson plan, there seemed to be a lot to do, and it looked a little overwhelming at first. However, once class got started, they reacted fairly actively. It should be remembered that however well planned out a lesson is, it is pointless if students do not take a main role. Students liked it, and even big siblings seemed to have some fun time together.
Secondly, those tasks and activities hit the target right in the middle. They were student-friendly and age-, gender-appropriate. In addition, they were full of fun factors, and that should well explain why students had a great time. Plus, those tasks let students practice on the expressions over and over. It was felt that Group 3 must have put lots of thoughts and effort into this class.
Thirdly, big siblings were quite cooperative, and, that obviously helped to lubricate the class.
However, it was far from perfect. Even though a lot of class materials were prepared, some of them were misplaced. During an ideal type world cup, for instance, quite a few photos of male celebrities overlapped, and students had to choose the same guy over and over. That might have affected their choice even though that was not the main point.
Additionally, during the party, it was fun to mingle around having snacks and drinks. It would have been better, however, if the number of males and females had been equally adjusted. Since students were allowed to have a different identity, many of them chose to be male, which itself wasn’t bad at all. The problem was, though, there were too few females left at the party, and males had to move around looking for available ladies.
Lastly, at the final task in which students watched a video clip and talked about it with one another, the clip wasn’t clear enough in terms of sound quality. It seemed that students managed to understand what it was about mainly through the soundless actions, but still it would’ve been greater if the sound had been okay.
However, none of the shortcomings mentioned above was huge enough to disrupt the smooth class operation. Overall, well done~
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Miss Cho (a.k.a Haewon)
3/17/2011 01:18:49 pm
Soohyun and Soyun did a fantastic job teaching their first class. The class went smoothly and students seemed to enjoy the class a lot. First part of the class was devoted to hw checking and going over the reading within small groups; some students commented that the reading was a bit too hard for them though. Even from the first activity, I could see that students really enjoyed talking in English although some of them were struggling a little, still they tried to practice their verbal language a lot. Since most of our students are motivated to speak more, it would be better for us to develop such activities where students can practice speaking in a comfortable environment. The best part of the class (in my opinion) was that the most of the talking was done by students and not by Soohyun and Soyun. In order to develop such a lesson plan, Soohyun and Soyun must have put tremendous amt of effort into it. I also liked the fact that students not only had a chance to talk w/ their group members but also with other ss in the class as well. Also they were not forced to present in class but they could freely talk about their opinions in a comfortable atmosphere.
One thing to suggest.
It would’ve been better to download YouTube files and save them in a separate folder (and maybe number them in order) so that you would not have to struggle to open the files under pressure. Other than that, I really enjoyed the class, and can’t wait to see your second teaching! ^^
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Ms. Min(not mean)
3/18/2011 04:39:20 pm
Week 3
As Mr. Lee and Haewon mentioned Group3’s lesson in their reflections, Group 3’s teaching was successful. Their lesson plan was well organized and cohesive. I agree that well planed lesson plan is the most important factor for their successful class. What is more, the kinds of material and their delicate supporting devices made their class smooth. First, students were motivated by very authentic materials such as dramas and cerebrates’ pictures. The teaching group considered what students might like and which entertainers they might be interested in. Next, their scaffolding was very considerate. In Activity 1, three questions such as “Who is he?”, “What is he famous for”, and “Why do you like him?” were helpful for my students to give their opinion. In other activities, Soohyun and Soyun provided several questions like some question starting with which or why. Moreover, their reading resources were well designed for the activities. Especially “Useful expressions for giving advice and making suggestions” guided students to use polite expressions that they didn’t know. Lastly, I couldn’t mention their effort. The teaching group searched some video clips related to the topic. I guess that it took much time finding a right one. Personally, speed dating was my favorite one. It gave students a chance to talk a lot within a short time.
About the weakness of their lesson plan was Activity 5. After party was over, when the teaching group asked who was their favorite, my little sisters were a little bit confused about picking up one. The reason was each little sister had several identities, for example, John or Ann at speed dating and then, Joy at the party. Therefore, they wondered which name they had to say, John? or Ann? or Joy?. In my opinion, if the teaching group asked us to choose someone at the party, it would be better. Shortly, Group 3 did a wonderful job. Now I have to think about how to satisfy our little sisters who might have high expectation after they had fun with Group 3. Hmmm…that’s my concern.
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Soohyun
3/19/2011 05:01:41 am
It was me and So-yun’s first actual teaching. The class was composed of 6 activities. No.1 was what we called ‘Ideal type world cup’. First problem was as Jongsik mentioned above, the male celebrities pictures were overlapped many times. Before the class began, I carefully divided each set of pictures but I think some of the sets were mixed up while we were preparing the lesson in the front desk. That was really shameful when I found some of big siblings seemed to be embarrassed and confused. I should have paid extra carefulness on this.
The second activity was to come up with 3 questions to ask for advice to a friend after they picked a male student of eight. We intended that students actually use some expressions that we provided in advance through this activity. I think it went fairy smoothly thanks to the big siblings help.
According to other big sibling’s comments, the speed dating activity was quiet fun and satisfactory, however, after the lesson I thought it could have been better in terms of learning aspect, if we gave them a chance briefly to have big siblings help students with proper question making process. Students had to keep asking same 5 questions that they made not assuring if it is correct way to ask. Jooyeon said that it was a good practice for the students but still I thought it would be better if they knew how to properly ask questions in a complete sentence since I witnessed some of student asked in a few word phrases.
After we had a break, activity 4 began which was a party time. I didn’t prepare enough to make party-like atmosphere so it was a little bit awkward air going on in the beginning part but soon the big siblings actively participate in the situation so that reluctant students could slowly adjust to the party setting. As Jongsik mentioned earlier, I think I should have considered the numbers of females and males for the party. Not likely my expectation, many students chose to be men so the males had to move around looking for a female. It taught us how detailed and precise the lesson plan should be considering all the minor possibilities.
In the activity 5, students were asked to select one man that they liked best during either the speed dating or the party and discuss why within the group. When we were sharing opinions about the reason they liked particular man, professor Nam jumped in to ask students to think about weird guests they met in the party. That was good to help students remind of part of our lesson, cultural difference of asking questions at first encounter. The thing is that question should have been asked by us. ^^;;
The last video watching activity was full of mistakes despite of its original fun element of itself. We should have been fully ready to open any file at any time for the lesson. Also the volume was so low that students could barely hear. I should have adjusted the volume before opening the file. Besides, at some point I was totally out my mind when I had to do re-grouping with in-class students and out-class students for the discussion. I must have looked so unprofessional and unprepared and I should admit that it’s true. I didn’t prepare how to regroup when I was designing lesson plan and that made me so embarrassed in the public.
From our first teaching, I learned that the lesson plan should be designed with meticulous care. And I suggest that we have a brief micro teaching before our actual teaching to avoid unexpected mistakes that might happen in the real class. It won’t have to be long and detailed. I think it can work effectively because it will help not only leaders of the day but also other big siblings to understand the natural flow of the lesson and the latent problems
One more thing I learned was the importance of big siblings’ cooperation and support. Their active participation to the activity and assistance played a huge role to make up our defects of the lesson. I really appreciated their sincere efforts. (Thanks to the warmest comments, too ! )
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So Yun Kim
3/19/2011 08:53:58 pm
The objective for Week 3 GEP class was for the students to be able to ask and answer simple questions. The theme was about dating and the function required was to inform and give advice.
The first activity was the Ideal Type World Cup. It was an activity to warm up the students to speak comfortably on a topic that they would be interested in - who they think is their ideal type among famous male celebrities. It was a problem that the pictures distributed to each group were not well prepared and some of the pictures were overlapping. I recommend that the teaching group take extra care in organizing the teaching materials because even though we thought we had everything ready, accidents such as this occurred.
The second activity was giving advice to a friend before a blind date. Students saw the guys on the PPT slide and gave appropriate suggestions to their group members depending on whom they have picked. The big siblings did a good job in guiding their little sisters to speak out and complete the task. Going around the room, I was happy to hear some interesting questions and suggestions given by our little sisters.
The next activity was the speed dating. I started the activity by showing pictures and a video clip in order to give them some idea on what they were about to do in the activity. I hope it was helpful to them. This activity was important for me because it made me realize how much students like to be participated in an activity that they could move around. I could see that students were having fun while doing the activity and they surprised me because they actually talked a lot more than I expected. However, there were some drawbacks as well. We expected 16 students but there were only 13 people that day. There was a little confusion at first in assigning them into the seats. Once again, I emphasize the importance of being prepared for the unexpected factors. I also thought that the activity would have been better if we gave them more freedom in asking and answering the questions. Instead of making only the females to ask the questions, it would have been more authentic for them to just ask and answer as they like.
Right before the break, students were informed that they will have a party afterwards and that they needed to come up with a new identity. After they came back from the break, some questions that were appropriate and inappropriate were discussed ahead of the party. The big siblings and the professor were assigned to ask inappropriate questions to the students. One thing that I learned from the professor was to go over the things that you have intended to teach in the activity. We didn’t include the part where we ask the students who they thought was weird. It was very helpful for the professor to ask the question to the students and give them more thought into what they have just learned. Another problem with the party was that males out numbered females. I think it would have been better if we had assigned the students into males and females.
The next activity was to pick who they liked the most from both the speed dating and the party. This was problematic because they could not recall the people they met. Since they have met numerous counterparts in the speed dating and the party, students found it difficult to remember the names of the male they liked.
The last activity was to watch a video clip and discuss about it with the ones who had watched a different one. The volume of the video tape was very small. Once again, I realized how important it is to put extra attention in preparing the teaching materials. No matter how well-prepared you think you are you should always double check before class. One suggestion I’d like to make is to give some more time to the teaching group before the actual teaching. There were much more things to prepare than I expected. One more thing that I want to point out is that the school’s computer system is different from the one that we prepare our materials from. The content in the PPT slide and the volume of the computer should be double checked in advance of the actual teaching.
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Jooyeon
3/20/2011 04:48:19 am
Reflective Journal for Lesson 3 (week3)
First of all I learned a lesson that I should take notes while observing the lesson, and write the reflection as soon as possible. After 3-4 days, I don’t remember the process of the lesson quite vividly as I expected.
The overall lesson was well-performed in regard to the organization, motivation and adaptation of various resources and materials. The activities were revolving around a clear topic of “dating,” which is one of the most popular interests among the target students. The activities were not only simple and fun-fiving, but also were appropriate to perform the task of informing and giving advice. Moreover, the activities were arranged in the order of simple, receptive to more challenging and productive. The instructors used various materials to motivate the students. The pictures of the celebrities used at the ideal type Olympic successfully engaged the students in the lesson. There were some students who came into the classroom with long faces and sarcastic smiles. I spotted the change of their expressions when they were picking the handsome men. The videoclips were fun and provided authentic examples and situations to help students understand and perform the tasks. I especially liked speed dating and giving advice to Miranda and Carey.
Speed dating was a good opportunity for the students to talk, because the information they created was fun, and at the same time, the languages were not difficult to produce. Also, they had to repeat the same kind of utterances 4 times, which makes them more fluent speaks. 1 minute and 30 seconds were the proper amount of time for the students to come up with all the information they made up. The final activity was a combination of information gap filling and giving advice. The students showed much interest when watching the video clip. Then we came back to the classroom and exchanged the story. The students were eager to deliver what they had watched. Another strength of lesson 3 was the skillful and clear instructions. The projection of voice, speed, eye contact were all appropriate, not to mention their English. The instructors moved on from activity to activity by drawing the students’ interest first then connect it to their topic in a very tactful and natural way.
Overall, the lesson was great and the students and big sibilings enjoyed the lesson together.
Still, there are several trivial points that I’d like to mention. I noticed that when the students were asked to talk about why they like their ideal type, they were embarrassed and said, “handsome,” only. It was hard for me to lead a conversation until moving to the next activity. I’m not sure if that was only the problem of our group. Secondly, while mingling up with the students, there were too many men and few women. I observed a few students (wearing male identities) standing together and talking in their real identities, not in fake identities. Lastly, though students were eager to deliver what they had watched in the last activity, the advice they came up with was quite simple and insipid. Other groups might have different results. But I think these are minor problems that might be limited to certain groups only. I expect the lessons will consider individual differences as we get to know the students better.
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