Teach English in Guocun Zhen - Shangqiu Shi

I have looked at what I have gained from the following aspects of the course: Completing the tasks ? Read the task instructions carefully and thoroughly take in what the task required me to do. ? In the past I had often tried to twist the ideas I had to fit my ideas to the task/question, but during this course I have found that it is a good idea to continually refer back to the task. ? Decide which section of the unit notes was relevant to each task. ? To make notes whilst reading through the Unit. ? I found it best to complete the tasks one at a time rather than rush through 2 or 3 in a study session. (Obviously that depended on the length of each task) ? To ignore the temptation to submit a finished Unit before checking it through for the last time. Putting this into action I need to remember these points and use them in future study and pass the tips on to my students if applicable. ESA methodology ? This was a new concept for me and I imagine that it works very well in practice for a TESOL lesson (certainly the second DVD lesson demonstrated this,) as the priority is for the students to communicate in english. ? The choice of straight, boomerang or patchwork ESA lessons gives flexibility to the methodology. ? My previous teaching experience had over stressed that concrete evidence of progress was essential so written work was given a higher priority over practical activities although the ideas of motivating, and using skills were obviously evident in each lesson. Putting this into action I shall endeavor to use this lesson format not only in TESOL work but I will be able to adapt it for my music teaching. New Knowledge I have learnt a lot more english Grammar and found that my rusty knowledge of french and Latin and German from my secondary school days, for example in matters such as declining verbs and the perfect tenses was useful- a pity I was so rusty!! Putting this into action Hopefully this won?t have a chance to become rusty again as I will be using that knowledge. Ideas from the course notes. Justifying use of partner work ? Although, in the past , I have used partner work in many class lessons, I was always a little sceptical as to its value. ? I now realise that the language generated in discussion/bouncing ideas off each other is invaluable not only in an ESOL class but in any class lesson . ? In 1:1 lessons the teacher /student talk is obviously an integral part of the lesson ? Again I found the DVD very enlightening-seeing partner work in action. I learnt that in some cases it would be helpful to have two students with comparable language level working together as that could extend the more able or boost the confidence of the less able. At other times a more able student might be able to assist with vocabulary with a weaker partner. Putting this into action I shall definitely use partner work in lessons especially making sensible decisions about choice of partner. Lesson Plans ? When thinking of ideas for ESA lessons it was sometimes helpful to put myself in the student?s place and trying to communicate in another language. ? I tried to recall instances when on holiday, in a non-english speaking country how I had made myself understood with gestures and a few key words. ? I also had experienced a couple of french lessons for a class of 20+ seven year olds (taken by a french student) and I put myself in the place of the children. Putting this into action When planning a lesson I will try to imagine myself in as the student and hopefully come up with realistic tasks. Studying on line. ? This was my first ?on line? course and I found it was often easier to present work in a tabular form or as bullet points etc. ? I felt that if I wrote in paragraphs the answers were more wordy and I felt were less clear.( whether my tutor found this the case was another matter!!) ? On the other hand, I was limited to a certain extent, by my fairly basic computer skills. Putting this into action I think I would continue to record in this way if it were appropriate to the task.