Practicum, Day Thirteen ::: ProfObs3
I think I've found a place for the computers in my class. They make good warm-up, and the students who arrive early can work to increase their vocabulary. I chose four different sections for them to choose from tonight, all of which related to my lesson. It would be nice to find another computer program that sequentially followed my train of thought for the class, but I'll stick to the one I have for now. It's fairly interactive, if I make sure they're doing the activities provided. Only three students worked on computer tonight - all but one student came in way after seven, which was odd. Since simple seemed to work so well Monday night, I decided to keep this lesson as simple as possible as well. I went online to
www.ingles-markets.com to see if they post their sales papers. Come to find out, they do! I made a vocabulary list from the sales paper (20 words), and printed out the ads for the ones I'd chosen (turns out that was a pointless exercise, but I didn't know that at the time). After I'd already printed those out, I went by Ingles and picked up some sales papers to use instead. I went over the vocab list with the class, and then put them in groups. I am not as good as group assignments as Pedro, but it worked okay, I think. Getting the students
into the groups is the hardest part, b/c it's not what they're used to. I hope they get used to it soon, b/c I like how they interact with each other in small groups. In their groups, they went through the sales paper to find each item from the vocab list, and copied down the sale price. Then I had them make a list with a specific meal in mind, as if they needed to buy all the main ingredients for that meal. I didn't do a very good job explaining that one, but Chandrika helped out. By that point in the lesson, Yolande had asked to work on the computer, b/c she was bored - so I didn't have a translator! It was good for the other students to have to work at understanding, and good for me to think about how to explain things. On Monday nights, Pedro chimes in with translation (though I'm trying to limit this), and when Yolande is present, translating is how she keeps from getting too bored. I made a note to make sure activities have immediate context, whether it's true context or not. As for Yolande, I have got to start bringing challenging work to keep her occupied, so she can start improving. She's practicing, but she's not learning, and that is so frustrating for her. Chandrika suggested I bring in some novels, and design some questions on the reading. I'd also like to see if there's a high-intermediate text for non-academic reading. I think I'll see what she can let me borrow Monday. Back to the majority of my class, I still have trouble with keeping everyone focused and on task. The students like to chatter, and I want them to have fun - but I want them to have fun in ENGLISH! Aaron's idea of a stopwatch is a good one - I'm going to try that. Another thing I need to work on is getting their attention when I need to change gears. Aaron mentioned that I lower my voice when I need to raise it. I hope the video Monday night helps me see what he means, exactly. No matter how well I self-monitor as a matter of course, the video will show me miles of area to improve on. I feel pretty good about tonight's class, compared with last Thursday night. I know it could be better, but I think I'm making some improvements as I go. I look forward to hearing what Chandrika has to say.
Practicum, Day Twelve
Tonight was another big class, and I had planned for either big or small. I'm glad that worked - so commensensical! The lesson was for money and shopping. I used the Picture Dictionary as a guide, which worked rather well, considering that the pictures themselves for the shopping part are not very good. The students who arrived early worked on the computer, but as more students got there, I just pulled them off the computer and combined the group as a whole. I wanted to try that before I'm observed again. I did remove the side-by-side CDs, so the ladies working on the computer did the money/shopping section of the picture dictionary. Except Carmen, who works so quickly that she finished it and moved on to a chapter of her own selection. I will have to have backup sections for her in future, or pre-determined activities from the side-by-side that will go with the lesson. With the class as a whole, I went over the money and shopping vocab, and word partnerships. I learned the Mexican gesture for "cheap"! I suspected that my students don't use banks, with the exception of Yolande. I found I was correct in this assumption. We discussed the different words for banking anyway. I wonder though, if I need to edit that out of my course objectives. [Feedback on this would be helpful, Chandrika, Aaron, Connie and whoever else reads this.] After the break, I wanted to divide the class into groups. This is something I've been trying to figure out how to do since I began, but I never could get a grasp on it. As I started, Pedro came to the rescue. He split the class into three groups, and it was perfect. He actually split them according to level, but not homogenously. Two high beginners were paired with the low beginners; one high beginner with two low-intermediates; and two low-intermediates with one high-intermediate and a Korean high beginner. The key was to put the intermediates with Lee, so they were compelled to speak English during the entire process - this challenged them and included Lee. Very clever of Pedro, who seemed to do it without thinking. It's something I'll think about for future group work.
In groups, I asked them to write out a grocery list, referring to the food sections of the picture dictionary. I told them that they had $100 to spend, and could not go over that amount. I didn't have amounts written, so they had to do that from memory. They had no trouble with that, but I'd like to do some more with amounts. I discovered that they are not sure of how to write amounts. Often, the price included a dollar sign before and a cent sign after - logical, b/c we say both. I will need to plan that into the next lesson - how to read, write, and say prices. Overall, the class went very well. They were much more focused than last lesson - maybe b/c the class was larger, but more likely b/c I kept the lesson quite simple instead of trying to do worksheets that didn't make any contextual sense.
Practicum, Day Eleven ::: ProfObs2
I'm afraid my teaching takes the term "flexible" to a brand new level of madness. I planned a
flexible lesson for possible groups, based on the numbers we've been having, and Malinda's participation. We had four students. They all came at different times. That's okay, but we needed to get started early so I could get some teaching done while Chandrika was there. Starting out on the computer is convenient with the staggered arrivals, but I have got to get them off the Side-by-Side! I just can't seem to juggle it, and it's not tied in to the regular class material. I tried to do the lesson I'd planned, but somehow the time gets away from me, and it turns to crazy. I let them spend too much time on the computer, b/c they seemed to be enjoying it, and I want them to do those activities. Then they took forever getting back from their break, though I'm sure I said five minutes. I did the warm-up discussion that I'd totally skipped earlier ... and that was useful, to find out what they'd studied before, and it got them thinking about the language. I think that worked out pretty well. I skipped around in my lesson plan, and did the worksheet before the vocab review, which was fine, since they'd been over that vocabulary before. Somehow, though, the worksheet didn't contain them at all. By that, I mean we talked about all kindsa stuff instead of the questions on the worksheet. Now, as far as I'm concerned, that's fine, on account of they're producing language, they're practicing conversation, and they're learning without even realizing it. We talked about last names, Gloria Estefan, J-Lo, basketball, weather in Mexico, butterflies, holidays, parties ... and some of it was related to the lesson, and some of it wasn't. I didn't manage to get them writing down sentences in English, which was something I'd really wanted to do. Maybe that's not as important as getting them to speak English while talking about something they're interested in, but the lack of structure concerns me. Shouldn't I be able to do both? I don't know if I lack confidence in my lesson-plan, or if I was too laid-back about it, but it didn't happen. After Chandrika left, we briefly reviewed the vocabulary, which again went off in a tangent about money and pronunciation. We were having conversation in English, about English, and I was able to answer questions for them, so I didn't stress too much about it. I can do fun, communicative, conversational, but without structure, I'm afraid any learning becomes accidental. How do I bring structure to this process, make it work, and stick to it?
Practicum, Day Ten
I had a new student tonight, but I refused to test him. I've tried it the other way, and it was horrid. It's just too much to yank a student out of class their first night and make them take a test. They don't get to participate in class, they don't meet the other students, and it makes them never want to come back. I filled out the registration form, and if the substitute (likely Genia) doesn't want to test him Thursday night, I will do so when I get back. I tried to prepare Pedro to take initiative with class content next week, since there will be a substitute then as well.
It looks like I'm going to have at least two groups, which I may be able to divide into three. Group size is largely based on the number of available computers, which I do not like. But for now, I'm using that to my advantage. I want to make sure the basics have been covered. Numbers, time, seasons, days of the week, money, etc. Tonight we started at the very bottom, with numbers. This is also a good way to introduce the new computer program, since the subject matter is pretty much review for most of them. The first group of students who came wanted to work on the computer, so I let them warm up with the old side-by-side program. Then when another group of students had arrived, I had them switch places. The early birds sat at the table with Pedro, who went over pronunciation and vocabulary for numbers. The later arrivals (students I know a bit better) went to the computers and I got them started on the picture dictionary cd. I made sure they knew how to click on each item and then the symbol to play the pronunciation, and showed them where to go for activities - I told them to do the word-search and the matching exercises. While the groups worked, I circulated, kind of overseeing everyone's progress (including Pedro). It is such a weird feeling to be the one in charge!
Two more students came in while Pedro was doing the book lesson, so they joined his group. When it was time to switch, I had a leftover student, but Ruth insisted she would rather work with me than on the computer, b/c she wants to "work on grammar". When we switched, I showed Pedro how to work the computer program, and let him be in charge of that group, while I took over the book lesson. That worked well, except Pedro isn't very skilled with computers. I'd noticed that he went too far into the book. He doesn't really know how to get the students involved with conversation about the vocabulary, which is perhaps the most important element of the lesson. I didn't go as far, but I learned that few of my students (even those I would place at low-intermediate) know how to tell their street address. So we worked on that. We worked on the difference in pronunciation between "third" and "turd", and when I told them that the latter was a "not very nice word", they worked so hard to make the "th" sound! I spoke to a couple of the more advanced students about how far backward we're going, but they said the review is very helpful to them. That's enough for me. For the next few weeks, I'm going to focus on getting all students started at the same place. If that means major review, so be it. Kay expressed "concerns" about lack of progress for three students in particular. One of the students she mentioned seems to be stuck at beginner level, but the other two are the most advanced. One of those is high-intermediate, and was being relegated to the computer as soon as she arrived in class, and was thus removed from all class conversation practice. I plan to change that. Unfortunately, she hasn't been to class in several weeks.
For the next few weeks, I plan to work through the "basic words" unit in the picture dictionary, with all levels, giving all students an opportunity to work on the computer (this might mean three shifts). During this time, I'll do some additional informal assessment so I can ascertain which students need to be given more challenging work. Until then, they can review, and continue to get communicative practice.
Practicum, Day Nine ::: PeerObs ::: Aaron
Carmela came back! We had another big group - 14 students this time. Other than that, class felt like a total disaster. Aaron came to observe, and I met my new Thursday night assistant, Malinda. I was just getting set up with computers and papers, etc, when here came Genia to do something to some paperwork. She asked me about some other papers, and I realized I'd left them at the office. Aaron, being the wonderful friend-cousin he is, went to get them for me. I wanted to start the students on the picture dictionary cd, but for some reason that didn't work. And for another change, a big group of students came all at the same time, so I didn't have enough computers for all of them. And I didn't have a workbook activity for the others. I spent a few agonized minutes worrying over this hitch in the routine that had seemed so smooth when Genia did it. And I had no idea how to use Malinda. Somehow I ended up with all the students sitting around a table (I think they sat down and looked at me expectantly), and I took out the big paper easel to go over ... contractions? We'd done some stuff with this before, so it should have made more sense. I think everything was just off a bit, and I know it's b/c I felt totally overwhelmed. We muddled through the contraction lesson for a while, which was confusing for them. I explained as best I could, and Yolanda translated like she does, and Aaron piped in with some helpful comments (thanks, dude!), and I made them laugh by elaborately ripping the paper off the easel every time I filled up a page. I figure if they're more likely to learn if they're having fun, whether that's sound methodology or not. I think I might have managed to pull through the lesson eventually, but never got the chance (and I may never have been able to salvage it), b/c there seemed to be loads of interruptions. Kay came in and needed me to go over paperwork with her Right Then.
I had to leave Malinda in charge and let her jump right in while I was carried off by Kay to take care of paperwork. I hate paperwork. I told Malinda we'd been working a bit with cooking and food vocabulary, so she and I chose a few pages of the picture dictionary to go over. I told her to stress punctuation and use more than going over every word, but I think she might have just run down the list. That's fine, b/c they've seen most of the words before, and she was doing great for her first night. So after Kay left, I let Malinda finish out what she was doing, and then it was time for the baby shower. For some reason, the whole night is a bit blurry for me. Aaron left at the break, and Malinda and I took some time to go over ideas for dividing the class, and what text to use. I'm excited that she likes the picture dictionary. I love it, and the companion cd-rom is great! She liked my idea of splitting the class, which is to give her the beginner group - she can split it into two groups, one on computer (all working on one pre-determined activity on the picture dictionary cd-rom), and the other in a small group with the picture dictionary, in discussion on the same topic as the computer activities. While she's doing that, I can work with the more advanced group on pronunciation and grammar. Then in another segment we can do interactive games, group activities, and conversation practice. She has a communicative approach that I heartily approve of. I think we'll get along very well. I always hate to have a pointless class, but I'd really have liked this one to go well, since Aaron was observing.
Practicum, Day Eight
I had three new students tonight! Isabel, a semi-regular student, brought them - her mother-in-law Silvia, sister-in-law Carmela, and Carmela's husband Miguel. They all came a bit early, so I decided to try Genia's immediate testing thing. OH I am never doing that again. I started them all with the low-intermediate CASAS test - 31 or 32, I think. Well, it was too easy for Miguel, who only missed one question. And Silvia refused to try it, insisting that she couldn't read it at all. So I had to give her the test for non-readers. She did too well on it, but fortunately her score was still below 180, so she is officially a novice-beginner. I gave Miguel a second test, and he placed intermediate-high. Carmela placed right in the middle, low-intermediate. Have I mentioned how much I hate the CASAS testing? It is too vague, and I don't think it's accurate. Carmela took a long time on her test, and thought about each answer. But when I asked her questions for the needs assessment, she turned to Miguel for translation. This could be cultural, but whatever the reason for it, I have to put a stop to it. The first four students who arrived worked on the computers, as is their wont. Pedro helped with that, which was great. I was trying to get the new students' paperwork together and figure out Genia's filing system when the other students arrived. I tried to split the class between intermediates on computer and beginners on book (I need to work on this class division thing), and had Pedro go over their homework that Genia had assigned last week. Then they worked in the book. Everything seemed to take forever tonight. During the break, Yolanda organized Carmen's baby shower for next class. She had everyone draw a slip of paper from a basket to determine who would bring what gift. I drew, and of course it was written in Spanish. I acted like I had never seen a Spanish word before, and exclaimed, "Oh no!!! I can't read this!!!" They all laughed, and several of them tried to translate (pacifier). This gave me an idea - after the break, we'd make sure we had English translations for all the items on the list for the shower. I also wanted to make sure everyone knew each other, since we had the new students. We sat around one big long table (we had 13 students!), and I started by introducing myself: "My name is Emily. I was born in South Carolina. I've lived in Franklin for 25 years." I was amazed by the combinations they came up with for introductions ... "My name is ___. Me living in Franklin quatro ... sorry ... four years." Mental note: go over "I" vs "me". I didn't want to over-correct, but I led a little "discussion" of how we introduce ourselves. Then we brought out our slips of paper, and worked together to find the English word for each item, and discussed each one. Some of them were easy, like "blanket" and "towel", but Lee, the Korean student, had "bottle" and she wanted to know what size bottle to bring. That led to a gesture adventure, with several of the Mexican students taking part. She eventually understood - I think she may have just wanted to remind us that not all the students speak Spanish. She is way smarter than Genia gave her credit for, but I've noticed that she relied on Genia's slow/loud speaking style, which makes it harder for her to understand my laid-back conversational style. It's not like I talk very fast, so she'll catch on soon enough. After we'd finished the list of gift items, I passed around a list for food items, which they had to write in English. They consulted their picture dictionaries, and each other, and came up with who would bring what, in English. I was very pleased with how well that went. Their spelling is pretty bad, but we can work on that as we go. I hate that I lost the first half of class for the stupid testing. I'm not doing that again. I'm afraid Carmela won't come back. She didn't seem to be having fun at all, and her baby cried so much that the babysitter brought him in before class was over. I hope she will - the other students were welcoming and encouraging, and it wouldn't take long for her to gain the confidence to become independent from Miguel's translating. On Thursday, we're going to have the shower for Carmen starting at 8, and I want to get an idea of where they are as far as grammar and vocabulary go. Last week I noticed problems with contractions, so maybe I can start there.
Practicum, Day Seven
We had eleven students tonight - what a difference from last week! For Genia's last night, the students threw her a surprise party with food and presents. She was very touched, and came very close to crying. I thanked her for guiding me into the class, and told her I appreciate having the opportunity to work with her. This was not a lie, b/c I learned a lot about what not to do ... and tonight I realized that she is very good at working from the book, while I am NOT. I tried doing some book exercises with them and it was dismal. Is it the materials, or is it me? It just seems so pointless to drill the nuances of asking and answering "where am I, where are you, where is he" when the answer has to be in the form of a contraction, but they don't understand how to make contractions. I want to leave the book for a while, at least till I can design some interactive exercises around it. Since it was her last night, I felt it was important to let Genia drive the train. She wanted to make sure I knew where all the students were in the book, and how to set up the computers, and how to do the ever-present paperwork. The students were very hyper and chattery, so it was hard to do anything as a group. I don't know if Genia was waiting for me to quiet them down, or if she just didn't know how ... I didn't worry about it. I just kept interrupting them to ask what they were saying, so they'd say it in English. Five seconds later, they were back to speaking in Spanish. I guess I'll start attacking that problem next week.
