ICC / Methodology – Week 14 - Final ICC Micro Teaching – Reflection

I was satisfied with how the final lesson plan played out in class. I was a little nervous starting out first as usual, but I still feel it is better to get the stress of performing out of the way so that I can enjoy the other teacher’s lessons.

I explained to the class that we would have already undergone schema activation in the preview stage with a video highlighting the different cultural types of homes being built around the world. 

We talked about vocabulary that the Ss would already be familiar with, as well as any concepts that they would have already been taught at this point (sequencing words and ordinal numbers).

Starting out in the presentation stage of the LP, I handed out worksheets with pictures of three culturally different homes. We then worked through some questions as a group. One of the main focus points of the lesson was to give Ss practice with using interrogative sentences.

We started with

What country is this home from? Why do you think so?

Ss were given an opportunity to look at the pictures and then discuss where they thought each shelter originated from and why.

AFTER students had been given a chance give their opinions, I gave out some cut out paragraphs (with the answer) to match to the pictures. We then moved on to the next questions

What did you match for ___? Why?

What jobs do these people have? Why do you think so?

What are their routines? Why do you think so? (We didn’t get to cover this one as we ran over ten minutes )

During the course of answering these questions, all of the Ss in the class were given an opportunity for authentic interaction. They used the target language, there was pair/group work, and S questioning S in throughout the lesson.

I felt the lesson touched on both Big C and small c items in the subject cultures. We looked into the simple reasons for building structures a certain way e.g. In Coober Peddy, they build underground because it’s a very hot desert area, but cool under the ground. In addition, we looked at the jobs and routines of these people, exposing the values and norms that make up their culture.

Overall, I was happy with the CI’s and MIC techniques used on a technical level, and thought the content stimulating on an ICC level. On reviewing the video I noted myself using repetition, T-S-S-T, scaffolding, duel coding, gestures, comprehension checks and encouraging authentic interaction. I feel I hit the targets that I was aiming for both methodology and ICC. 

Methodology - Week 13 – Reflection

For this weeks reflection I put together some video I took of a lesson I taught my 3^rd grade classes. The target language was focused on articles of clothing and the imperative sentence “Put on your _______”. In order for the class to have meaning have use to the students, I organized color prints of a baby cartoon monkey that the students would have dress up. More specifically, the students would take turns commanding each other to add an article of clothing to the monkey.

We worked through the vocabulary first with a music video and range of PowerPoint(PPT) slides. The PPT slides also involved some fun recall games that I used to test the students memory of all the articles of clothing. The students (Ss) loved the games, and I feel this lowered their affective filter for improved TL recall.

I was hesitant to show another activity section in my reflection as the last one showed my class as being somewhat out of control. I don’t won’t to give the impression that I’m helpless the classroom and let all the students run riot all the time. I’m not and they don’t. I just wanted to illustrate the point that certain activities (like board games for example) are a particularly negative influence on general order in large public school classes.

However, with this exercise, when there was no competition in the activity i.e. no “you sink – so I can swim” mentality, the lesson was a lot calmer.  I’ll be the first to admit that the lesson was not as fun as some of my other PowerPoint game lessons, but more learning probably occurred with this competition free type activity. There was less cut throat competition, less pushing of the smartest kids on a team to answer all the questions, less screaming and crying about points or cheating. Given that about 90% of all my class game activities I have archived are competitive in nature, gives me pause for thought. I should probably start looking for less competitive sources of “edutainment” to add to my teaching files. 

ICC - Week 12 -Reflection

First a disclaimer. I have been butchering my set curriculum so as to insert and record these multiple STG assignments. For the most part my two employers have been graceful about the whole thing. I perceive a lack of patience for the intrusions however, and with end term tests next week, I couldn’t quite get away with another lesson devoted to ICC.

I did have to give an impromptu lesson on proverbs using material from the EBS website while an agent of theirs came to grade the class, and the merits of forming a partnership with my  employer company (SLI). So the best I could do this week was tweak the ‘Proverbs’ lesson to include proverbs from Korea and other places around the world.

We started by defining what a proverb is. Where they came from and to what purpose. I would perform some comprehension checks along the way to make sure the students were still with me. I modeled a lot of the sentences on the white board, and where possible I tried to get students to interact with each other in groups.

Students would try to come up with Korean proverbs, compare Korean proverbs with their western counterparts, and also to try to analyze other proverbs from around the world.

For example the proverb

“You never know your friends from your enemies until the ice breaks” – Eskimo proverb. 

We looked at why this could be identified as an Eskimo proverb and what different cultures focused on, as being important to them.

Another example would be the proverb

“Drawn wells have the sweetest water” – an Iranian proverb.

We spoke about what values this would indicate for those people. Their focus on hard work making a reward seem all the better, as well as the obvious focus on resources like water in a country where it is considered precious.

All in all, the cultural seen in the lesson was a mix of big C (Eskimo’s talk about ice a lot) and some small c elements (for Iranians hard work = sweeter reward).

We went on to do some worksheets where the students had to match some pictures to the appropriate pictures, and then discuss why they thought so in groups.

Finally, the students were given more worksheets where they had to write out other examples of the proverbs that they learned for the day.

For the proverb ‘one rotten apple spoils the barrel’ one group did give the answer of zombies. How one zombie would bite a human and then that human would turn and bite another person and spread the virus. I was a little worried that some of these proverbs may be too difficult for their proficiency level, but ultimately they displayed understanding with their answers. The girls in the class however, were extremely camera shy, and getting loud audible answers was tough.

In conclusion, given the limitations that I had to work with for the week (had to use specific EBS web material), I think I did a fair job of incorporating ICC elements into the lesson.  The students weren’t particularly thrilled to be learning about proverbs, but they participate when prompted. By constantly exposing my students to the big C and small c values and norms that these proverbs stem from, I can get them to develop cultural knowing and better understand what it is to be a citizen of the world.

Methodology – Week 11 – Blog Reflection (vocabulary focus)

For this weeks lesson I brought in the idea of using the snakes and ladders board game to change up my regular format a little bit. (I usually don’t use board games). This week’s target vocabulary is on the weather. So this week I went with two intro music videos (activating schema –TD), then a PowerPoint showing target language where Ss would have to hunt for specifics (TD/BU activity), leading into the snakes and ladders speaking game. (BU)

The students get into groups of four. Then split into two teams. One team rolls and the dice and lands on a weather picture. The students must then use that weather picture to form a short dialogue.

Team 1: How’s the weather?

Team 2: It’s windy.

Team 2: How’s the weather?

Team 1: It’s sunny.

In line with this week’s SLA reading Doughty, (1985) claims that Ss in smaller groups, or dyads will more effectively modify interaction further aiding second language acquisition. Although in this case the questions are closed display type questions. So all the students already know the answer by looking at the weather picture, and there is little negotiation for meaning.

 

Still, it is a student focused exercise where there is little T talk and the Ss are given more opportunity to speak. They are once again being given the floor in the classroom. I’ve been slowly slipping in more S on S talk time. I’ve been weaning them off of teacher focused lessons, and having them drink at the student conversation trough. They’re used to it at this point right? It’s been at least a solid two months of these new CI techniques in action. They practically teach themselves at this point right? Right?

Wrong. 

I taught this class nine times. I have eight other videos showing the same thing. Pandemonium.

Now I remember why I don’t play board games in class. The excitement of playing the game took priority over anything else. In most cases the students completely abandoned the target vocabulary to get on with the fun stuff (rolling the dice). All nine classes started off civilized and then quickly descended into madness.

Why? I have been giving them more S focused tasks, however for the last two weeks our lessons have been interrupted due to field trips and tests. So there has been a break from our routine. I’d like to think this is the only reason, but looking back at previous posts I see that these 3^rd and 4^th grade classes were never that fantastic at self control in the first place.

Dialogic discourse may be the holy grail of classroom interaction in linguistics, but I’m finding it extremely difficult to implement in a large, low level public school class. I have to raise the question, is dialogic discourse warranted if it promotes anarchy in the classroom? My principal walks around the school looking in windows to see if teachers are ‘doing their job’. If she had stuck her head in any of my classes this week (and she might have and I just missed it) there is the very real possibility that she would consider me a poor teacher (for the appearance of chaos in class).

Not all classes were as bad as the first, but they were still unruly enough to make me uncomfortable as a teacher. I got the sense that my Korean co-teacher felt the same way. As far as getting students to practice and produce the target vocabulary, I felt the S on S portion of the lesson was a failure. The focus was on winning the game, not producing the vocab. 

ICC class reflection- Week 10 - Video 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMxDYg2MTk4

I had doubts about whether the students in my class had the maturity levels to appreciate different culture and take the subject matter seriously. I used the oldest students that I have ( 12 years old) to try and give the lesson plan the best chance I could to succeed. There were as expected some immature moments. On seeing a Buddhist monk, one student kept repeating “monk-ey, monk-ey, monk-ey”. There were also some snickers at the Balinese Monkey Chant ceremony. Like I said, I expected some of this to a small degree, as they are young children, and would automatically laugh at something they perceive as ‘weird’.

Despite some inappropriate laughter, I do feel like many of the students broadened their cultural horizons while watching the different cultural ceremonies and dance rituals. I believe that they enjoyed what was offered, and appreciated doing something different in class as opposed to learning another grammar chapter in their textbook.

One feel good moment in the class was watching a shy Nigerian teen girl (Gloria) smile when observing the Maasai jumping dancers and identifying with their culture. I don’t know how many of these culture classes I could do with my students, but I’m glad I did this one. 

Methodology – Week 9 – Applying the 2nd Micro Teaching LP to 6th Grade L2 Class- Reflection

2nd Micro Teaching LP in Action

I took a listening exercise straight from the students’ textbooks (Everybody Up 6). The title of the listening exercise was “An Afternoon at the Opera”. I started the lesson with a TD approach of activating the student’s schema with regards to Opera. We had open discussion about what opera is, and then I showed two short famous opera videos. The Ss were not that excited by the performances. I had hoped ‘O Fortuna’ would give goose bumps all through the classroom, but no joy to be had there.

After the preview, we moved into the presentation phase of the lesson and I used a lot of CI techniques that Tom suggested in my last micro teaching with Andrew. I made sure I modeled questions on the WB, and then had Ss ask other Ss questions. The students were definitely taken aback by how much speaking I suddenly expected them to do. The Ss did not nominate their friends to answer their question, but rather chose a rival in class. I got the feeling that the Ss felt like answering a question had a negative connotation attached to it.

Other than that, we got through listening exercise, and I only played it once to keep the experience “authentic”. Most students could answer the questions (true/false) with no problems. I see that I gave the students some of the answers to the handout BEFORE I played the recording. Doh! I only realized this after having it pointed out in my 2nd STG micro teaching. Other than that, I felt the lesson went as well as can be expected. My students are still very new to these CIs and having to negotiate for meaning in class. 

Methodology - Week 8 - Reflection on ICC Lesson

For this weeks assignments we had to write a lesson plan for our ICC class. I was also informed that at some point before week 12 we needed two ICC videos uploaded for analysis. So I figured I would kill two birds with one stone.

Here is a link to a lesson on understanding different cultures that I taught to my 6^th grade class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMxDYg2MTk4

I chose my oldest students for this lesson, as I thought they would be the most mature about the lesson content. However, with this particular class, I only have one shot to record the lesson. I had edited the video to remove unnecessary activity transition times. The file is still 350 megabytes after using windows movie maker to edit, hence my uploading to YouTube and providing a link.

Keeping in mind the constructive criticisms from our reading micro teachings last class, I tried to adjust my LP for a more interactive lesson.

As has been pointed out, I am a fan of PowerPoint’s, and using T initiated monologic discourse to rapidly  force-feed my students  information to lead in to another activity. We discussed that the Ss memory retention of these slides is probably minimal due to them having no meaning to the Ss at this point. I had not given them a reason to remember it.

So this time round I gave my students a handout with the slide pictures on them, and told them to draw a line to match the definitions with the pictures. The students were seated in groups and could try to work out the activity together.

I found this to be a more effective in engaging Ss and activating their schema.

Some main points that I tried to strive for in this recorded class.

·         More Ss interaction

·         Have Ss question other Ss

·         Don’t give the answer in PPT schema activation – use a handout

·         Be animated and show interest to the Ss

·         Be consistent using time limits for activities

·         Model an answer 1^st where possible

·         Use pairwork / groupwork

·         Nominate Ss to answer

·         Try to maintain a default of letting the Ss come up with the answers

Here is the LP for the lesson. Note: the dialogue represented was predicted discourse, not a transcript of the class recording.

ICC Discourse Analysis Lesson Plan

Date/time: Saturday 19^th 2013                                                                                           

Location of Lesson: STG Class

Student Profile: Grade 6 students at a afterschool culture centre program in Yongsan-gu. 15 students  of about 12 years of age, ACTFL Proficiency Ranges Intermediate low.

Discourse Source(s):  “Baraka” BlueRay DVD; http://vimeo.com/34874282, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butoh, http://www.ninapaley.com/Sitayana/epic.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufi_whirling

Source Selection Rationale: I wanted to show my students other country cultures and expand their minds in order to show that their way is not the only way. Nor are their ways right or wrong. Different cultures have their beauty and this should be celebrated, not feared or ridiculed.

TLC:

           

Grammar:  This will be a lesson on culture, not syntax, so grammar will not be a focal point.

Vocabulary: Ss will learn cultural key words e.g. nationalities, ancestral, Catholicism, worship, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism , Hinduism, Islam, praying, priest, incense, ritual etc.

Pronunciation: There will be no focus on pronunciation for this lesson.

Function: The function of this lesson is to expand students understanding of the different cultures at play in the world. By  comparing and contrasting these cultures with their own, the Ss will come to appreciate the different cultures around them.                                                                                                                                                                                    

Task: Ss will gather into small groups and discuss the different religions, dances and cultural rituals that they observe in the given cultural video.

Terminal Objective(s):  

• To have students leave the classroom with a deeper appreciation of cultures different from their own.  To influence their young minds in a way that will enable them to grow into adults with lower levels of xenophobia.

Enabling Objectives:  

• Students will be divided into focus groups for discussion and debate.
• Local culture and norms will be compared and contrasted with that of other countries.
• Students will have to negotiate for meaning with each other to make their points understood.

Anticipated Difficulties/Solutions:

· Conceptual – Ss may not be very familiar with the new vocabulary for the lesson.

                Solution: Ss will be given a handout and given a chance to match vocabulary to images.
· Structural – As this is not a lesson focused on grammar, I do not anticipate any structural problems.
· Phonological – There may be some pronunciation problems with new words.

Solution:  T will practice some choral repetition with Ss on any problem words.
· Cultural – We have a Nigerian Teen girl in the class, there may be some awkward moments during the

                      African tribal ceremonies segment.
· Other – There are 25 students registered for the class but only about 15 students will attend at any 

                 given time. Some Ss arrive late, but have been instructed not to disturb the flow of the lesson.

Students attend this class at 5:00pm after a full school day, and afterschool private lessons.    

Most of them are mentally exhausted before they step through the door.

Materials: A vocabulary matching worksheet, TV, laptop, “Baraka” DVD, possibly some use of the whiteboard to further explain any difficult concepts to the Ss.

CI & MIC use:

*Preview – Activating Ss’ Schema

*Visual scaffolding

*Ss giving opinions

*Teacher initiated IRF (evaluative)

*Repetition

*Question Types - Open-display questions

*Encouraging Ss t negotiate for meaning

*Rephrase (if Ss don’t understand any sentences)

*S asks T for help

*Pair work

*Turn taking

DETAILED LESSON DESCRIPTION

Phase/ Aids	Activity:      Procedure	Skill Prac.	CI Mode	Time
Preview TD	1.       Greeting: Interpersonal, T greets Ss (wave: “Hello”) Random ss volunteer responses simultaneously: “Hi Mr. M” Hello teacher.” 2.       T hands out vocabulary matching worksheet to help lead into the planned video. T checks answers with Ss. 3.       T plays video clip and initiates discussion on the given material. Class starts as a monologic discourse that morphs into a dialogic discourse with Ss speaking in groups. <Show custom edited  video clip> Shows a quick look at all of the video clips that the class will more closely  examine individually later in the lesson. T: With the idea of different cultures in mind, what did you notice in the video? What is similar or different in the cultural behavior of the different nationalities in the video? Get into groups and talk about it with each other now. Students speak in groups of 3-5 people. T: Alright, let’s start with group 1, what did you notice was similar in all the cultures shown in the video? S1: They all have religion. T: Yes, that’s true. What were the different kinds of religion that you could see? S2: I could see Buddhism, Judaism, ancestral worship, and Catholicism. T: Did they all worship their God in the same way? S3: No, they worshiped in different ways. T: Can you give some examples? S3: The Buddhist lighted many candles when he was praying. The Catholic priest spread the incense when he was praying. <T then moves on to question the other groups in the class> T: Now let’s think about that video again, what was another common way that the different people from different cultures liked to express themselves?  S4: They liked to dance. T: That’s right. Did they all dance the same? S5: No, it was different. T: It was different. In your groups talk about how the dancing was different, and what you think the people were trying to do in those dance sequences. Were they just dancing for fun, to show their cultural history or as part of their worship ritual? Let’s watch the video again to remind ourselves. <play video clip again> T: S6, Were the dances different or the same? S6: They were different. T: What do you think they were doing when they were dancing? Were they just dancing for fun, to show their cultural history or as part of their worship ritual? How about the Kenyan Maasai Jumping Dance, what do you think it is done for? S1: To pray to their god? T: Every ceremony is a new life. They are rites of passage, and every Maasai child is eager to go through these vital stages of life.  They are the ceremonies that children go through to become adults. <show focus video on the Maasai dancers> T: What do you like about this video? Speak about it in your groups. Students speak in groups of 3-5 people. S1: I like the rhythm of the song.  T: Lets look at this video clip again. <show Butoh dance clip> Students speak in groups of 3-5 people. T: What do you think this clip is about? How does it make you feel? Discuss it in your groups. S2: We think that It feels like a sad song and dance. T: Yes, it is supposed to be. Why do you think they are all painted in white? S3: Because they are ghosts? T: Yes, they are the ghosts of the dead after the atomic bombing in Japan. They are the people who didn’t get to say goodbye to their families and are still trying to say goodbye. T: let’s take a close look at the Balinese Monkey Dance. I want you to think about whether they are doing this dance for entertainment or part of a religious ceremony. Be ready to give reasons why you think so. <Show monkey dance video> Students speak in groups of 3-5 people. S3: We think it was part of a religious ceremony because it seemed to be lead by a kind of priest. T: Yes, that’s right. It is the story of Sita, the beautiful wife of the god Ramayana, and her abductor, Ravana, the evil demon, Hanuman, the monkey-general.   These performances are spectacles of color and sound but their main purpose is to please the deities and ancestral spirits … The art expresses the values the Balinese hold dear, such as balance and harmony. T: before we look at the next clip in more detail, I want everyone to go to the playroom. Now we are going to spin around for 10 seconds and see how dizzy we get. Alright, that’s enough, back to your seats please.   T: Lets look at this Sufi Spinning video again. Would you like to try it? Do you think it is difficult? How long can you spin around for and not fall down? Do you think this dance is just for entertainment or is it a religious dance? <Show Sufi Spinning Video> Students speak in groups of 3-5 people. S4: We think they just do it for fun, because spinning is fun. T: Actually it is a religious meditation. They spin themselves in order to focus on God. It is a branch off the Islamic faith, and is still popular in Turkey among other places. Alright Ss, now I want you to reflect in your groups what you learned today about other countries and cultures, compared with your own culture. Alright, lets discuss what you learned. Yes. S6: We learned that people live in different ways around the world. Each country has it’s own culture and that culture is special. T: Excellent work, your homework tonight is to think about the different culture you can find right here in your home country. What examples have you seen? List them and be prepared to discuss them in the next lesson. Thanks you everybody, see you next time.	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Note to reader: When I copy the table across to the blog the interactions column misaligns with the intended dialogue. I've tried adjusting to no avail. If you should harbor a burning desire to see the original document with the columns aligned, feel free to request an emailed copy of the original document.