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Trial-Run with Aiden

Time: June 17, Friday, 15 GMT at Alado.

It was absolutely wondeful. I never had any oppotunities like this to dicuss teaching matters with teachers from other countries. It was surprising that we were all facing the same difficulties: teachers lacking the joyful spirit, students lacking the agressieve attitude, parents lacking the responsibility and time.

Now I know the problems do not only exist in Taiwan, and there are many people in Webheads who can help me find solutions to them. This helps ease my mind.

CAVES 2005 (1): Reading about the world

Reading about the world:
guided reading for children through non-fiction

by Ian Martin

1. Creating an environment is important: Ss can just pick up a book read anytime.
2. Give variety to reading materials: Boys in elementary schools fairly not like stories; girls do. After moving onto junior high schools, boys’ reading picks up because they are asked to read more non-fiction information books.
3. meaning-focused input: learning a list of words is 1000 times more difficult than reading them in content.
4. To learn a new word: it will take 5 to 10 times (instead of the meaning being taught directly).
5. low frequency words: need general understanding; high frequency words: need to be studied
6. language teaching & study takes: (1) voca & grammar (2) syntax (eg. pountuations...)
7. A suitable new book to read will contain 1 new word in every 16 words you read. (90% of the voca should already be familiar to the reader)
8. meaning-focused input: to read; meaning-focused output: (1) what Ss remember about the book after reading it? (2) can Ss make sentences by using the new voca they’ve learned
9. language study v.s. fluency development
10. Teaching how to read is not just about making Ss learn “new words”, but to teaching the “meaning”!
11. The structure of a story: a conflict at the beginning, a problem in the middle, and a resolution in the end. (A purpose of a story is to create the need to read.)

for better or worse?

After attending the workshops, I felt I learned lots information needed for an English program to run successfully. I only learned a couple games or activities that I would like to try with my Ss, but over all, it was worth the money, time, and effort. I was really impressed by CAVES’ service. They made me feel that they held all these workshops not just to promote books, but also to bring positive influence to the ELT market.

The downside is, the more I listened, the more I realized what a poor program I had been teaching in. For instance, the books I am using now does not teaching phonics in a logical order, and my Ss still have NOT learn any “Simple Present Tense” sentences after being the program for 1 year. Although we buy them readers, there is only “one” reader to read for 8 months.

(Now I am nagging ...big time)

With the hours we have, it is not possible to finish teaching all the lessons, make sure Ss have had enough practice, and teach them “what” should be taught in the way “how” English should be taught. (If the experts mentioned 10 things to do, my schools as maybe accomplished only 1 out of the ten.)

Due to the fact that my school is a franchised branch, we can only teach the books published by the head office. When I took the job at the first place, I didn’t have a chance to know how the books are laid out. (In fact, I was so glad I found a job I didn’t think I cared.) Now, I feel trapped. My owner has discussed with me and made it clear that we would not be able to use whatever book we like in another 2 years. It will be much too late! I can already predict parents complaining how slowly their children are progressing because the books we use keep “recycling” the old sentence patterns for new vocabulary.

I have worked for a different school before which had a good/well-planed program/curriculum. I left that school because the new supervisor was “cold” to the teachers. With the schools I work for now, my supervisor is super nice to me. However, the program is a failure. Both I and the other more experienced teacher agree that the books are pretty “ridiculous” to teach. But, what can we do? We don’t own the school, so I suppose we keep teaching. (Unlike Aprils’ boss, my owner does not teach English herself.)

Does any other teacher feel the same way? Hands being tied? Or what books are you teaching now that’s NOT giving you nightmares when you sleep at night?

Sorry about this passage being so negative. I know Taiwan’s buxibans need more good news, so hope I will have good news next time.

How to Teach Phonics (2)

1) Heads Down & Arms Up
Example: Have Ss put their head down on the table, and tell them to listen to the short “a” sound. If they hear a word with “a” sound, they need to raise arms. If not, keep their head down.

The first time I did this, some students would look up to see if they were making mistakes. I had to keep telling them to put their head down. The second time I did it, the students were more comfortable because I told then in the first round that they would not have to worry about making mistakes. If they did, all I would do was to tell them to listen more carefully. Most students did better the second time. I think the advantage about this game is that I can see clearly which students can really tell the different sounds, and which ones still have trouble doing it.

2) Stand Up and Be Counted
Example: Have students write down words with different sounds like the short vowels on several pieces of memo size paper. Choose one student to come to the front. When he/she show one of the word he has and saying it out loud. Other students who have words with the same vowel need to stand up and say the words they have in their hands.

This game was fun because all my students wanted to be the teacher (they think they are the teacher when they come to the front of the classroom). I make an extra rule that the slowest student standing up/finishing saying the word by have to do five jumps. Others thought it was funny to watch and the slowest student thought it was fun to do the jumps, too.

3) Back Spelling
Example: Write down five words with short vowels on five pieces of paper. Paste them on the students’ backs, and have the students to ask each other to read the word on the backs. The students have to write down the vowel that’s in the word on the whiteboard after hearing the words said to them.

I don’t really like this game because the students try to cheat too much. Instead of listening to the words, they will ask each other, “Is it ‘e’?” However, if you just want to give them a chance to get off their chairs and move around for a while, this game is pretty good for that purpose.

4) Eat your words: Use chopsticks to pick up small pieces of paper with letters on, and combine them to make a word. (Example: r + ai +n à makes “rain”.)

5) Make a Poem: Have students create their own poem by using words with the same phonemes.

How to Teach Phonics

Building Spelling and Pronunciation Through Games and Activities
by Todd Hess

1. Why teach phonics?
An. When a person can use correct pronunciation for a word or a sentence, then successful communication is possible.
Example: This guy is falling.

2. What are phonemes?
An. Phonemes are different sounds within a language.

3. Phonemic transcription:
1) There are 26 letters in the English alphabet.
2) There are 21 consonants.
3) 24 consonant sounds.
4) 5 vowels.
5) 20 vowels sounds.

There are totally 44 phonemes in English. (24 + 20)

4. What difficulties that individual learners have?
1) Lack of a 1 to 1 relation between spelling and pronunciation in English.
2) Alphabet & Phonics are overlapped.

3) There are sounds and combinations of sounds that are in Chinese that are not in English.
4) English has stress and tones (for not only words but also sentences).
5) Other: Pronunciation teaching is often neglected. It’s usually not part of the curriculum/program/lesson planning.

5. Teachers of pronunciation need:
1) A good understanding of theoretical knowledge
2) Practical classroom skills
3) Acess to good ideas for classroom teaching

6. Techniques and Activities
1) It’s more important to teach the final sound of a letter not the initial sound. Eg. Mom à teach m sound as /m/ instead of /mə/
2) Point out the difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds. Eg. /t/ & /d/
3) Deductive Approach and Productive Approach

7. More Techniques:
1) For better pronunciation: I say. You say
2) Best done before they see the written form of the new language.
3) Drilling:
a. Choral drilling: Help build confident.
b. One-on-one drilling: allow Ts to see how each S is doing.
c. Chain Driving: by sentence or by word
d. Front Chaining: sp, spoo, sppok, pooki, pokiest (Break it into ridicules.)
e. Back Chain: a fest., need a fest, Jake needs a fest.
f. Substitution drilling: change only one phonemes. (Eg. nat, nut, not, nit..)
4) Mimal pairs: words or utterances which differ by only one phoneme. They show the phonemic principle of changing just one sound can lead to the change of meaning. (Eg. cap & cape, goat & coat)
5) Listening Activities (Respective method)
6) Reading: circle all the “ai” with a yellow marker, all the “ay with a blue marker….
7) Recording the students: a good way for Ss to find what they are doing wrong.

7. Activities
1) Heads Down & Arms Up
2) Stand Up and Be Counted
3) Back Spelling
4) Eat your words
5) Make a Poem

I have learnt a couple new concepts from this workshop, and many useful techniques and activities. I have applied some of them in my teaching, and I found there were games more suitable for elder kids that didn’t work as well for younger kids (or vice versa).

Re: I don't kow how to teach

(Feburary 20, 2005) April said,

"I am teaching one class in my cream school now. The students are about 2~3 grade students who have been learning English for 2 years. Because their first teacher who has 10 years experience was fired by my boss so I replace her position. I have pressure when I teach English because the students get used to their first teacher's style already(very fast teaching style). Including my boss,they think the tempo of teaching English should be as fast as possible.Do you agree or not? They think when teacher's tempo of teaching is fast, the students can pay much attention to the class and also they can learn more .....Should I be like her or just be myself?"


Dear April,

I think it is more important for you to make sure that your students comprehend and learn well in the class. Whether you teach fast or slowly is less important.

If the ex-teacher was a good teacher, and your boss liked her way of teaching, how can she got fired? So maybe you want to find out what went wrong in the teacher’s class that made her loose this job and try to avoid making the same mistakes.

I do not agree that when you teach fast, then the students pay more attention. Actually, if you teach faster than the students can follow, they will get lost in your lessons easily and sooner or later they will stop listening to you because they can’t understand what you are saying.

One more thing, isn’t there a curriculum for you to follow? A good school should always have a curriculum for the books it’s using. Find it and look it up. Go with the curriculum, and if it’s a well-written one, then you should not have to decide what kind of path to go with for teaching this class.

PS. Don’t worry about teaching the class with your style, but do make sure you have a good/strong theory to explain why you are teaching them the way you are.

CJ/Joy aka Josifina

My “Perfect” Student and Her “Helpful” Parents

Mimi is one of the eight-year-old girl students in my beginner class. She has always been pretty good in class. She pays attention and responds to my questions quickly. Every time when she hands in her homework, it's always perfect. However, about a week ago, I got a phone call from the father, and he asked to schedule a time to talk to me.

The day came when the father and I met. I was shocked to find that Mimi has been having problems doing her homework at home. It turned out that it was Mimi's mother who actually finished the homework (meaning she helped and checked all the mistakes) before Mimi came to class every single time. After that appointment with the father, I sat Mimi down one on one to see how much she could actually comprehend with the reading/writing assignments I had given the class. It was about 70% without my help, and 90% with my assistance. (I didn't tell her the answers, but only gave her hints.)

Due to the fact that the class was formed with beginners, I did not ask the students to memorize the spellings of new vocabulary, yet I trained them to recognize the words by using Phonics rules. I have checked Mimi's Phonics skills and she got only maybe 2 or 3 of them confused sometimes. She was able to point out the words I read to her, but obviously had more difficulty in read some longer vocabulary by herself. (eg. Water bottle, handkerchief, penguin…).

Before this event, I would grade Mimi's performance 90% perfect, but now, only 70%. I was rather upset—not with her, but with myself—for not having noticed her problem earlier.

Two important things I earned from this incident:
1. It is usually a great thing that the parents will remind/help their children to review after class. However, when the parents “fix all the problems” in the homework for the kids before class, they will leave no trace for the teachers to discover the students’ problems.
2. A good student in class can also be a problem student under the surface. As a result, checking the students’ progress by giving quizzes is necessary—even with young beginners who don't have to memorize the spellings yet.

Re: Approaches to classroom investigation in teaching

Let's start with Journals [Blogs]
A journal is a teacher’s written response to teaching events. Keeping a journal serves two purposes:1. Events and ideas are recorded for the purposes of later reflection. 2. The process of writing itself helps trigger insights about teaching. Writing in this sense serves as a discovery process.

The following procedures are recommended for keeping a journal {Bailey, 1990; Porter et al 1990; Walker, 1985} 1. Make entries on a regular basis, such as once or twice a week or even daily if possible. It may be useful to spend five or ten minutes after a lesson to write about it or record it. 2. Review your journal entries regularly.

Ask yourself these questions: l.What do I do as a teacher? 2.What principles and beliefs inform my teaching?3.Why do I teach the way I do? 4.What roles do learners play in my classes? 5.Should I teach differently?


My Feedback:
Before Aiden asked me to create my blog, I always thought that teaching journals were not much different from “lesson plans”. After reading the above statement, I found that teaching journals are not simply about recording what the teaching activities I have done for each class. It is more about looking into the events taking place in class and discovering the meanings behind it. In other words, the journals reflect on the students learning as much as they reflect on teacher’s progress in teaching. From now on, when writing my journals, I will always keep these questions in mind.

Re: Mei's Observation & Diary

(February 14, 2005) Mei said,
“I changed their seating arrangement to three straight lines today...I noticed that they had less space to practice the things I taught in class because of the space limitation...The teaching activities were limited as well because of the space. Some of the students didn’t show their happy faces to me because they only could see the back of their classmates’ head and just like in the elementary school seating…For the younger kids, I think they need more space to move in order to practice the things they are going to learn in class.”


My feedback:

For most of the classes I have taught, I prefer the students sit in a U shape for it’s much easier to conduct group activities this way. However, I have also been to classrooms where there are only long tables and the students have to sit in rows. Students always seem more relaxed (sometimes too relaxed) with the U shape arrangement, yet there are also times when the students complain that they can’t see the whiteboard clearly (especially those students who sit on the two sides). I feel that the traditional seat arrangement is sometimes the better choice for older students. It gives them a stronger sense of “we are in a ‘class’ now so we’d not be fooling around.”

Re: buxiban teachers

(February 06, 2005) Joy Chou said,
“…of course, if you are willing to improve teaching skill you will a lot of way to know the information. but too busy,and exhausted are the reason to lose opportunities. And who can make up for your class when you are attend the activities…”

My feedback:

I agree that being too busy at work sometimes takes away the opportunities for teachers to achieve improvement in their profession. For example, many buxiban owners in Taiwan are not willing to see their teachers taking time off from work to attend workshops—even when the workshops can actually bring long-term benefits to the buxiban. It’s unfortunate to see some teachers have to work 40 hours a week and still have to find time on the weekend to attend workshops. Without the owners’ support, the desire and passion of buxiban teachers to improve their teaching/languages skills will eventually burn out.