Category: Teaching Reflections

Class Type: Composition

Time: 50 Minutes

Topic: Adj, Adv, and Noun Clauses/ The Environment

Level: Low Intermediate

Introduction: ~5 mins

• Ask the Ss if they remember the theme from the last class (environment/salmon), and let them know that we will be continuing on with the same theme of “the environment”. Then go on Youtube and look up “reuse ocean plastic” and click on the 3-minute video from National Geographic.
  • The class’s energy definitely dropped after their original instructor had left when myself and my sponsor teacher took over. That being said, I did try and create some banter while setting up for the class. However between setting up for group work, and pulling up the lesson plan (I had forgotten to print off a physical copy beforehand), and waiting for Ss to come back from their break the lesson started roughly 10 minutes later than intended. Thankfully however, this did not impede on the timing for the rest of the lesson.
  • Overall the students were distracted, and I had had some difficulty reigning them in to focus despite calling for their attention a few times before I had begun the video. Something I need to work on for sure is having a stronger presence within the classroom. While I do strive to have a comfortable learning atmosphere within my classes, I need to find a maintainable balance between having a fun upbeat attitude and interacting with the students in such a manner that they will actively listen to me with little to no repetition. I had joked with my sponsor teacher that I need to learn how to tease my students a little bit. Little jokes or something within the context of the interaction to let them know that I want them to do what I ask, but also that I am here for them and that I want class time to be an enjoyable experience.

Activity 1: REVIEWING CLAUSES

• Next, explain that we will be going over phrases and the different types of clauses (Noun, Adverb, Adjective), and write a few examples on the whiteboard and get Ss to guess the types of clauses they are.
  • Now, this aspect of the lesson I know I went over fairly quickly. While I have been going over different levels of grammar points and how to teach them within the TESL program, I have always struggled with grammar. While I have gained more practice explaining how to explain different grammar points, I still feel lacking when it comes to my ability to explain them due to having grown up with English as a native language. All this being said, I did go over the different types of clauses that my sponsor teacher was so kind as to write them on the board for me in case they had to leave the room (which they did). However, I only labelled the type of clause, and read out the example sentences provided. I was not able to go too terribly into depth of how to tell the difference or provide more examples. Due to this, I was unable to take the time allotted to explain/review further.

Main Activity: LEARNING CENTRES

• Tt divides the class into 3 groups, assigning each group one of the three readings prepared. Have each group label the different types of clauses on their respective worksheets. **Give groups their respective answer sheets a minute or two before time is up before the next rotation. Collect the answer keys BEFORE rotating groups and their respective learning centres. You may choose either to have groups move physically to the next “station” or to hand out the different worksheets to the 3 groups where they are currently situated. Repeat from ** until Ss have gone through all activities or the lesson is over.
  • Overall, I believe that this exercise worked really well! However, if I were to do this again I would leave all the papers at their respective stations and have students rotate opposed to trying to rotate the handouts given to them. I had caused a bit of confusion trying to do this by not rotating the worksheets themselves properly and having to go back and give a group different worksheets after I had already given them some to do. Besides the mix-up however, this activity had gone over pretty well. I had had to explain the exercise a few times to those who were not paying attention to instructions, or on their phones messaging. I think I was able to handle getting them off their phones and to do their work well enough. Like I had said earlier, I believe I need to work on my banter as well as learning how to talk to students in a manner where they know they can have fun in the classroom, but also that they need to listen to me when I’m in charge.

Exit Ticket: WRITING PRACTICE

• Have the students work in pairs or small groups to come up with a sentence that includes either a noun, adjective, or adverb clause. Then have each pair/group of Ss write what they’ve come up with on the board. Go over the sentences with the class, and help tweak them to be more academically inclined in order to help prepare students for academic writing in the future.
  • Due to my negligence on the explanation of the different clauses, as well as students finishing earlier than anticipated, my sponsor teacher and I had decided that since we were early on time, that we would get each group to come together to create one sentence with each group using a different type of clause we’d gone over. This served as a great exit-ticket, and overall I think this lesson went over really well and that students are catching onto adverb, adjective and noun clauses!

Class Type: Composition

Time: 50 Minutes

Topic: Clauses vs. Phrases

Level: High Intermediate

Introduction (5 minutes)

• Show students the trailer of a fish movie. Ask them what the topic is today (still around the environment)… yes, FISH… in particular… salmon. Have they ever eaten salmon? (if possible, bring in something for them to try). Ask Ss why salmon is important in the environment (salmon feed everyone and everything and produce phosphorous – needed for life).
  • The class was pretty unmotivated today for some reason, so our attempts at riling them up a little bit fell a little flat, but overall it went well. Some of the students shared their previous knowledge about fish and their preparation, as well as my sponsor teacher brought in some candied salmon for the class to try to see if they like it as well.

Main Activity (35 minutes)

• Ask the students the difference between a phrase and a clause (put up example on board). Then go over the three different types of clauses: adj., adv., noun. Give lots of examples and show how they function. Once Ss are comfortable with the three different kinds, tell them today we will be reading an academic essay on salmon. Have they ever eaten salmon? (if possible, bring in something for them to try). Ask Ss why salmon is important in the environment (salmon feed everyone and everything and produce phosphorous – needed for life).Hand out the reading. Read the essay with the students slowly, checking comprehension as you go. Once finished, pair students up and have them identify the different types of underlined clauses.
  • While reading it aloud to the class, I had found it a little difficult to pull them along to the call and response within the reading that we had been doing (reading aloud most of the sentence, but then pausing to allow students to say the next word or phrase). There had been some more difficult words so we had made sure to write the new/different words on the board as a point of reference.

Closing (5 minutes)

• Take up answer with the class. Ask Ss one thing they learned about salmon today as an exit ticket question.
  • as we had gone over the answers with the class (the underlined phrases/clauses) both aloud and using the overhead projector to ensure that students could follow along in labelling the different clauses within their given text.
  • Overall I think this class went well! I would have liked to be a little more active in the learning process, but I also appreciate being able to take a little bit of a step back and see how my sponsor teacher conducts themselves as a facilitator of learning ESL, opposed to being their student.

Class Level: High-Intermediate

Class Type: Composition

Topic: Annotation and Summary of Academic Texts

Introduction: (5-10 minutes)

• Greet the students. Ask Ss what topic they have been working on— pollution and environmental issues! Ask if Ss have a lot of pollution in their home countries. Then tell Ss we will play a quick game of trivia in groups to activate background knowledge on the subject. Divide the c lass into groups of 2 or 3. Each group has to assign a Mama/Papa Bear as their leader to lead discussions and choose an answer from the group. Play the trivia game.
  • The students really enjoyed this! Since the questions weren’t based on anything that the students had been learning specifically in class, they were really energetic and motivated to parse out the correct answer from the multiple choice questions. A few of the questions had to be skipped to ensure that the class moved along and gave enough time to the main activity, but overall this activity went swimmingly!

Main Activity: (30 minutes)

• Tell Ss that today they will learn how to annotate (write on the board and explain as marking up and interacting with a text) and SUMMARIZE a text. Give each student TEXT 1 and put your copy on the overhead. Read the article out loud slowly to the students (they should be reading along) and show them how to circle/highlight/underline important information such as names, dates, and major ideas. Show students how to react to the text by adding “?”, happy faces, expressions such as “wow!”. Then ask Ss to identify the main idea(s) of each paragraph and write them in PHRASES in the margin of the text.
• Once the text is annotated, tell Ss we will use the annotation and especially the main ideas in the margins to write a summary. In order not to plagarize, we nee to identify ‘technical’ words we are allowed to use in the reading (for example, pollution/environment/chemicals etc…). Explain that all other words will need to have a synonym. Also, show how the main ideas can be switched in order in the summary — this also helps with accidental plagarism. Show Ss how to begin an academic summary:
• This article_________(reporting verb) the (major idea of article).
• Main idea(s) of paragraph with important supporting detail
• Main idea(s) of another paragraph with possibly important supporting detail
• Main idea(s) of another paragraph with possibly important supporting detail
• Closing sentence.
• Write the summary with the class now. Have Ss write it onto their worksheet
  • The students were quite concentrated on following along and making notes of their own on their worksheets. I believe this went over fairly well, as every time I looked up from marking up the essay on the overhead, everyone seemed absorbed in making notes of their own. Since this was my first time with this particular set of students, my sponsor teacher aided in showing them how to write a summary by taking the key points from each paragraph in the last 5-10 minutes of class. They also handed out another essay for the students to annotate on their own for homework and give to their regular teacher. Facilitating the class with them definetly eased some of the anxieties I usually face when teaching solo, so I had really appreciated their participation despite how minimal it may have been.

Class Level: High-Intermediate

Class Type: Speaking

Topic: Privacy and the Digital World

Activity 1: The Wheel of Digitality!

• For this activity, students can remain in their seats (class is usually formed in a semi-circle facing the front whiteboard). Each student will take turns reading aloud a random question about the internet and internet safety, before answering the question themselves. Questions will be drawn using a wheel choice generator.
  • Looking back, I think I would have like to execute this activity a bit differently. While yes, I believe it was successful, it very much felt like a cold open to my lesson and less of a warm-up. As well as going through each student one at a time caused the students on the other side of the room to lose focus easily. If I were to do this again, I think I would create a question sheet to be handed out to the class and have the numbers on the wheel. Opposed to having the entire question written on the wheel generator. This way students would be able to have at least a moment to think about the questions, and what they might want to say or add to the conversation around that question. I would also first give the question to an individual, and then open up the question to the class once they have had a chance to answer.

Activity 2: Online Acronyms

• For this activity, Tt lists common online acronyms on the board vertically. Ss will then try and guess the meaning of the acronyms before Tt writes the correct answer on the board. For example; BRB = Be Right Back.
  • While I enjoyed this activity and believe it went over well, I did not go over all of the slang/acronyms on the worksheet I had created before handing it out for the next activity. If I were to do this again, I would probably just write them on the board first, and then go over them giving brief examples of how they would be used opposed to having the students try to guess. Alternatively, it was suggested that another way to do it is to have the acronym and instead make students race to guess the right answer out of two possibilities (Ex: IRL = Inventing Raccoon Laxatives vs In Real Life). Either way, the biggest downfall to how it was executed was that not all of the vocabulary was introduced before moving onto the next activity.

Activity 3: Make a Conversation

• After some or all of the words are introduced, Tt will hand out a worksheet with the same acronyms from the last activity, and room for Ss (in pairs) to make a brief conversation/dialogue roughly 3-4 lines each of a conversation using at least 3 of the acronyms. Once time is up, each pair will read their dialogue to the class.
  • Like I had mentioned before, I would have liked to have gone through all of the vocabulary/acronyms before i had handed out the worksheet, as students were too occupied with reading all of the words and meanings instead of listening to the instructions i was giving. That being said, I also only repeated them once or twice and forgot to ensure everyone understood the instructions. Some students ended up working solo on making phrases/dialogue opposed to pairwork like I had intended. I also struggled to get the class to come together when it came to reading each pair’s dialogue aloud. Something that was suggested was that I should raise my voice a bit and tell the class that we’ll be presenting our dialogues. With the word presentation, it signals to the students that they will be sharing their work with the class. Due to my inability to wrangle the class together as one group, I ended up going through each pair and having them tell me their dialogues one by one. If I were to do this again, I definitely have a game plan on how to make it more efficient.

Activity 4: Online Safety Q&A

• In this activity, Tt and Ss come together as a class and have a discussion about the internet and internet safety. Topics such as how can we stay safe in online spaces. Ex: Should you accept friend requests from strangers? Why or why not?
  • The class was really receptive to the questions being asked and had really thoughtful and insightful answers. However, if I were to do this again, I think I would put it with the other questions or keep all of the online discussion topics together opposed to separated like I had had it. It was also close to the end of the class, and the switch from one activity to the other was a little jarring. Another suggestion was to make this lesson into two. One about the internet and internet safety, and the other about online slang. If I were to do this theme of lesson again, I think I would want to segregate it into two lessons so that the material is more coherent.

Activity 5/Closing:

• If there is any time left over, Tt shows Ss the commercial from the 90’s/early 00’s “You wouldn’t download a car”
  • Unfortunately there was not enough time in the class to show this commercial, but that is okay! I try to have some smaller filler activities planned for the end of the class in case activities run faster than anticipated.

Overall, I’m really happy with how this lesson went! The students were really receptive to what I had to say, and listened to me for the most part. I was able to keep them on their toes in anticipation for their respective turns. As well as I felt confident in my presence within the room as a teacher. While there is a lot that I would do differently if I were to teach this again, I am happy with my performance with this class. C:

Class type: Intermediate Speaking

Subject: Advertising and Consumer Behaviour

• Before the class started, I was able to gain access to the classroom a few minutes before the class arrived to set up. I had ensured enough copies of the activity sheet were available, as well as a few copies of the lesson plan in case any supervising teachers wanted a copy as well. Then I prepared the video ad for the end of class, and skipped through the ads so that I could get directly to the advertisement. I tried my best to prep all of the activities ahead of time to the best of my abilities.
• Once all of the students had pooled in and got comfortable in their seats, I had begun the lesson with asking what their topic for the week was. It took a little bit of coaxing to get them to respond.
  • Understandable so, as the usual teacher that had helped coordinate this lesson the previous week was away, so shuffling teachers can be a little daunting for students.
• For the first activity that I had planned, Students were to take turns pulling a piece of paper out of a hat. Each piece of paper listed a common every day item such as a watch, a car, a toothbrush etc… Then we went around in a circle and each student was to give at least 3 reasons/sentences as to why they think we should buy the item on their piece of paper.
  • I think this activity went really well! I had also pulled out a piece of paper, and modelled how I wanted them to answer. I would say all of the students in my class were really receptive to the activity, and it made them think critically about what they thought of the item, and then communicate those thoughts. Some of the students needed a bit more time than others to organize their thoughts. But overall I would say it was a great success. This activity only went for about 15-20 minutes, as we did 2 rounds as a group before moving on.
• For the next activity, I had students think of a favourite thing (or a brand if they could not think of anything). Then once everyone had an item in mind, I gave them an activity sheet where they would need to interview 3 people with the questions provided about their favourite item. Once every one had finished their interview sheet, they were then to return to their seats and we’d go through each person’s favourite item as a group before moving on.
  • I will admit, here is where my nerves got a bit of the better of me. I hadn’t explained the instructions clearly the first time, so there was some confusion as to what the students thought they were supposed to do. After a few attempts at explaining however the students went whole heartedly into the task, and pairs that had finished early, I had beckoned them over so that they could interview me as well. This way they weren’t just standing around waiting for another pair to be finished, since some went through it quicker than others. Once everyone finished, and we had gone through everyone’s favourite things and why, I think the activity overall went really well! I think if I were to do this activity again, I would try and either find a way to explain it more succinctly, or I might tweak it a little more.
• The next activity I had planned was sort of a game of comparison. I had attached pairs of company logos that produced similar goods/services. For example; Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Starbucks and Second Cup, Apple and Samsung etc… And we had a group discussion as to what they believe is better and why.
  • Wow! I think this was the most talkative I have seen the group yet! My only grievance is that I did not have enough cards prepared. Looking back I would have liked to have maybe 2 or 3 more pairs of brands to go through. The group was really good about taking turns voicing their opinions with minimal coaxing, and a few good laughs. The reason why I wish I had made a few more cards is because we had gone through the activity a little faster than I had anticipated.
• For what I had intended to be the last 1 or 2 minutes of class had actually turned out to be between 5-10 minutes, as the previous activity had gone quicker than anticipated. I had planned to show the group one of my favourite commercials (a Korean Tropicana Ad). Because the ad is only about 30 seconds long, with only slight variations, I only played the first 3 loops before moving on. Since we were still too early to let them go for the day, i turned what was meant as a farewell-food-for-thought video into a discussion. Did they like the commercial? Did they think it was effective? Would they buy the product? Why or why not?
  • Not going to lie, I felt very proud of myself for thinking on my feet in the moment. Everyone wanted to voice their opinions, and we actually ran out of time opposed to waiting for the clock.

Overall, I think my very first time actually creating a lesson plan and executing it went really well! The students were engaged for the majority of class time, and I can see that the class I am currently with are warming up to me. I cannot wait to see them again for the next class!

That being said, the only real critique I had from my supervising teacher was that I seemed a little bit nervous. We discussed that this was something that will go away more or less with practice. During my time in the TESOL/TEFL program, I can already see major improvement in my skills in facilitating a classroom and I look forward to seeing how I grow and improve moving forward!

Conversation Club for Level 3 (Low-Mid Intermediate) ESL Students

• Before the lesson, my sponsor teacher handed me a copy of the lesson plan before giving me a brief rundown of what she had planned before the students came in. After I understood what was to be done for the class, my Sponsor Teacher began ensuring all of their props were accounted for before beginning the lesson.
  • It was nice to see the teacher double check that they had everything they had intended for the lesson, this way they can adjust the activities accordingly if something was missing.
  • Since the teacher wanted to model how they wanted classes to be conducted, I did mostly sit back and do more observation than teaching this time. However, I did my best to support the teacher and students in the class while taking a secondary position this time around.
• As the students pooled into the classroom and got comfortable in their seats, the teacher began an ”introductory activity” of just asking the class what their topic for the week is, which this time was Age and Longevity. Once the students answered, they explained that we will be doing a few speaking activities based on the topic.
  • I liked this because it starts student engagement as soon as they’ve become comfortable as well as lets them know what the plan is for today/the lesson.
• The first activity was Two Truths and a Lie. The teacher starts by explaining that they’ll be listening to each of the 3 statements a few times, then once everyone understands the statements we’ll go around the circle and ask them a WH question to see if we can figure out which one is the lie.
  • Originally after we do this first round, we were all to come up with our own 2 truths and a lie, but since this example round went longer than anticipated the group worked more on coming up with questions to try and figure out the lie.
• At first students struggled to come up with questions, but after the teacher and I came up with a few examples the activity went fairly smoothly with some repetition of the statements sprinkled in throughout the student’s questions.
• This next activity included a few flash cards with numbers on them and a squishy ball. Each student must say their age (the number on the card) and what they like to do at that age before tossing the ball to another student to then do the same thing. After handing me the flashcards, the teacher explained the rules to the students and began with an example by doing the activity themselves. “I am __ years old and I like to___” before tossing the ball to a student.
  • Some of the students needed a bit of coaxing, but once they got the hang of it, the activity went over pretty smoothly.
• The next activity was a question sheet of up to 12 question. Students were then given oversized dice to roll, and the number they got was the question they then read aloud and answered. Originally, this was something to be done in two groups, but seeing as the class was really comfortable on the beanbag chairs and the couches in this particular classroom, the teacher decided to keep it as a group since students might not have much for motivation if they were to move from their current places.
  • This activity was much more the class’ speed. They got the hang of it really quickly, and some were excited about the questions pertaining to how this concerning age might be regarded in their home cultures. Something like this might not be a bad idea to re-introduce to these students with a different topic if I struggle to come up with ideas for lesson plans in the future.
• The closing/final activity was pretty unique as I’d never seen one like it before. Here the teacher had prepared little strips of paper with questions related to age on them. Each student was to introduce themselves to another, ask their age, and then ask them their question on the slip of paper. Once both parties had said their pieces, they were to switch papers and find a new partner.
• The students had a fair amount of fun with this as snickers and laughter could be heard coming from the mingling pairs. There were enough slips of paper that I could also participate and help students find their answers with critical thinking questions.
  • I’m glad that with this last activity the teacher got them up and moving around, especially since it was now nearing the end of class time and the students did not end up moving around as much as the teacher had originally planned.