kit in the bottle

Open a Window

katechao — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:53:23 +0000

With different belief and philosophies, we want to become teachers. No matter how many courses we take or how much love we have. There is still something beyond our ability or imagination. We have so many goals want to achieve at the moment we decide to become teachers and usually assume that we can love all of our students. However, could we really keep our vows and promises to each of them when they might never achieve our expectation? Would we change our faith and turn away from them? Children are angels; angels wouldn’t be imperfect. Maybe some of them have broken wings; we can mend the part they need. We could be their eyes, hands, legs, brains, and hearts. We could love them, help them, teach them, or at least trust them. Don’t leave them in the dark. Open a window for them and lead them feel the wonder of the world.

Action Research of Microteaching

katechao — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:32:59 +0000

Action Research of Microteaching

“Del.icio.us”

katechao — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:52:59 +0000

I knew a very useful website which is called “Del.icio.us” on May 23th. It can help us to organize our favorite sites in the most efficient way. We can know the latest news or changes about those sites through this fantastic entrance website. Today we have an opportunity to register and try to manage our own account, and it could be a great help on our learning. Besides, it could help us to save much more time when browsing websites. What are you waiting for? Take a look here and get your own “Del.icio.us.

Reflection of Visiting Lishan Junior High School

katechao — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:11:49 +0000

*Class Observation– Actually when we got the class, they’d already started the class for a while. So we missed the opening part; however, we still had a great time in this class. Here are some records of the class procedures:

I Watch some pictures & ask some questions: The interaction between Teacher Hsu and students is great. Students were willing to answer the questions, and I was amazed by their good pronunciation.

II Play & read after the CD: Teacher Hsu played the CD and asked students to read the paragraph after it. Then she would repeat it and correct some mistakes.

III Enforce the usage of phrases & vocabulary: Teacher wrote down some phrases and vocabulary on the blackboard and enforce the usage of those words. She spent some time to explain the synonyms such as “in addition= besides”, “nothing= not anything”. Besides, she asked students use those phrases to answer the questions. Ex: She has nothing to wear. = She doesn’t have anything to wear.

IV Answer the “Practice Part” on the textbook: Teacher Hsu led students to answer the routine questions on the textbook. However she also corrected and added some useful information to the students. Ex: “Garbage & Trash Can” are American English. “Rubbish & Dustin” are British English. When talking about some special words, she would explain the syntactical functions, usage, and sentences. Ex: Paint v.

n. painting(s), much more like pictures.

Teacher Hsu also mentioned the word “roof” and its plurality; besides, she asked students to find out the English name of 青康藏高原(Qinghai-Xizang Plateau). Because 青康藏高原also called “the Roof of the World”. Then Teacher Hsu explain the phrase like “nothing…but…” and make some sentences for students. In this part, she added a sentence function such as “have/be nothing(something) with sb./sth.”

V Play the CD & Answer the Question: Teacher Hsu prepared some other pictures, and she asked some questions first before showing them to the students. Then she started to play the CD and wanted students to answer the questions from the textbook, and this part she led students finish two sections on the textbook. (Ask Questions→Show Pictures→Answer Questions→Read after the CD) After that, Teacher Hsu asked students to write an interesting ending for the “Cinderella” on the textbook as a homework. Then she played the CD again in order to train students reading and listening skills. During the process, she would emphasize on certain phrases and sentence structures such as “Would you like…?” Then she asked students to play different characters on the textbook and practice the conversation with their classmates. After that Teacher Hsu led students accomplish the “True or False” & “Listen Check” part.

VI Review the whole class & make a closure: Teacher Hsu asked students to take out their attention book, and write down the process today & assignments for next class. She also checked their progress of another reading assignment and wanted them to choose the role from it to do the role play activity.

*Students’ English Achievement– After observing the class, we had about an hour to inspect and learn from the students English learning work. I was touched by their effort and passion. Almost all of them had thick records of English learning; I enjoyed their compositions, reading notes, journals, experimental projects, and those cute drawing. I was learnt a lot after reading one student’s record. She moved to America when she was about seven years old, and she faced a lot of difficulties in first two years. However, she worked very hard to fit in such a different environment and want to improve her English. When she moved back to Taiwan; she knew she became better. She has a stunning achievement in English learning now; I believed that all efforts were rewarded.

*My Reflection– First of all, I have to say that I was amazed by the students’ English ability. I realized that those students sure need more intensive English learning environment to develop those talents. Teacher Hsu also had a great interaction with each student in the class, because there are only six students in the class. She could look after all of them and still have enough time to continue the procedures. I especially appreciated that Teacher Hsu had planned a very fulfilling class, and she knew how to gathered and presented useful information in an appropriate moment. Her pace and pronunciation are also great, she delivered all the information clearly and fluently. Besides, Teacher Hsu combined all kinds of subjects in this class; students could practice their reading, listening, speaking, and writing ability in this class. Teacher Hsu also enforced some important grammar patterns and sentence structures in a spontaneous way, and I was amazed by that. There is almost nothing to criticize except the CD part. I think Teacher Hsu could read some of paragraphs by herself, because she has great pronunciation and enunciation. She could make good use of this advantage instead of playing CD so many times. If I were a student, I would like to hear teacher’s voice better than the CD player in class.

My Microteaching– Indirect Question

katechao — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 17:57:14 +0000

Here are the materials of my microteaching as follows:

Lesson Plan: Lesso Plan of Microteaching

PowerPoint: PowerPoint–Indirect Question

Handout: Handouts for indirect question

Flash Card: Scrambled Sentence

Peer Evaluation Form: Peer Evaluation Form

Please feel free to browse and leave your comments.

Feedback to Group Four

katechao — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 17:26:49 +0000

I must say that Harry and Billy did present us a very well-designed speaking class. Firstly, they used music to create certain conditioned speaking environment. Secondly, they provided a specific goal for us to achieve—order our meal in the restaurant. Thirdly, they have a smooth procedure. They make good use of the material from the Internet and give us an example to follow, and then we can accord to the handouts they gave to create our own conversation. Besides, I absolutely admire Harry’s pronunciation and enunciation. This is a speaking class, and he is a great model for students to imitate his speaking skill. I also like the cooperation between Harry and Billy and their interaction with students. Frankly speaking, I enjoy this class very much and I think it’s because they create a pleasant atmosphere in this speaking class. I think they are both potential teachers and I think their creativity can bring a lot of fun to their students.

This is our Taiwan

katechao — Wed, 23 May 2007 02:23:49 +0000

“Where isTaiwan? What’s special inTaiwan?” you might ask these questions. Allow me to show you the beauty of Taiwan by this amazing commercial which is made by Taiwan Tourism Bureau. You might recall something familiar and discover something new through watching this film. This is our Taiwan and welcome to Taiwan!

Teacher Interview Report

katechao — Tue, 01 May 2007 17:53:11 +0000

Teacher Interview Report

Presentation Files of Group 3

katechao — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:46:22 +0000

Here is the PowerPoint file of Group 3. It also contains the grading cards file; please feel free to browse it.

Grading Cards

Group 3

Reflection of visiting Lishan High School(2)

katechao — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 10:31:22 +0000

Class: 308 Teacher: 袁正玉

Lesson objective: Grammar (Sentence Pattern) [Main] & Vocabulary (Synonym) & Writing & Reading (Dialogue Poem)

Teaching materials: English Textbook, 2 worksheets, 1 assignment

Opening

In the beginning of the class, Ms. Yuan led students review the vocabulary they have learnt in last class. Then she made a clear statement on the lesson procedures and the activity they would do in this class. According to her statement, they would have two activities in this class. Before starting this class, she showed students something below on the blackboard.

Handling Stress Regard A as B

Tension Take

Pressure See

Strain View

(synonym) Think of

Look upon

She has written the topic of this class and some useful grammatical patterns on the blackboard, and then asked students to follow these patterns to do the first activity.

Body

1. Consulting activity—In this part, teacher wanted them to take turns in playing the role of the consultant and the patient. During this process, they could be more familiar with those grammatical terms and find a way to handle their stress.

At first, she asked each student to find one or two members to form a group and gave them the first worksheet. Students have to write down their issues then exchange their worksheet and give some useful advice to each other. The interesting part is that two students ask if we can give them some advice, and we did. During this activity, Ms. Yuan walk around to observe each group’s presentation. When students had some problems about this activity, she would explain the rules again in English. However, if they still couldn’t get it, she would explain certain difficult phrases or vocabulary to them in Chinese.

2. Dialogue Poem activity—In this part, Ms. Yuan gave them the handout with a lot of dialogue poems on it. She asked some of them to read it aloud in pairs first and want them to share their own opinions.

On this handout, there are a lot of creative poems which were created by different pairs. The most special part is that the poem was created by two people, but somehow the poem was quite a harmonious combination of different tones. After reading those poems, Ms. Yuan left some time for them to create their own work in pairs. She still walked around to see if there are any questions.

Closure

In fact, there was not enough time left for Ms. Yuan to do any summary of this lesson. Most of students even didn’t finish their “Dialogue Poem,” in that case, Ms. Yuan asked them to take it home and finish it. She also asked them to hand it to her later and she would do give them some feedback then print those poems to share with the whole class.

Feedback

First of all, I have to say that I adore Ms. Yuan’s teaching style and I also appreciate those two activities she designed. I believe that she must put a lot of effort to do the preparation of this class, because those activities bring her students so much fun and sense of achievement. Let alone the students can learn this topic well through these activities spontaneously, that is the goal which is hard to achieve. However, there is still some space for us to improve and considerate; such as how to manage our time more efficiently? How to create a great atmosphere but still keep students under control at the same time? As I said, I really enjoy this class and learn a lot from Ms. Yuan, but I also think it is a pity that there is not enough time to do a brief summary. In my opinion, the most time-consuming part is the grouping part; maybe there will be a good way to solve this problem. I also noticed that Ms. Yuan did pay her full attention to each student’s demonstration and answer each question carefully, and I am deeply fascinated by her caring action.