Advanced Oral Skills

  • Since this was an early morning class, there were no other classes in the room previously, so my fellow student-teacher and I went in and sat down relatively early before the class started. The class’ desks were situated in a semi-circle facing the board. We actually had a really good conversation with two of the students before the rest walked in. They had been curious as to why we wanted to be English teachers.
    • This honestly blew my mind, as I had not considered students would want to actively get to know their teacher to this degree and what potentially drew them to teaching. While I understand that I am not directly teaching these students today, it helped me realize that not only are students there to learn a language for the country they are residing in, but also perhaps without realizing it, that they perhaps are looking for a human connection at the same time. No matter the demographic that we end up teaching, I believe it is important to recognize that a good number, if not all students came here alone and want to not only communicate for their daily life, but for making friends and starting a new life in a new country.
  • Once all the students had piled in and class had started, a student presented to the class a quote that they really liked. There was a small slip of paper handed out to each student to fill out based on the speaking student’s presentation outlining a criteria to look for within the short presentation. One student per class is expected to present their quotes to the class, along with the translation in English if necessary, who said it and the history behind it.
    • Looking at this critically, I immediately saw the value in conducting the activity in this way. Students have time to come up with something that they want to present, whether or not the order of students was determined randomly or if they chose when they would like to go (this would also be a good opportunity to give students the chance for options and choosing to get them a little more involved in the curriculum). As well as giving something to look for within the presentation encourages the students to listen and pay attention to what is being said. I think this activity is a great way to get students into the mind space to continue with the class, as well as getting them comfortable with speaking and listening to different accents speaking English.
  • After the student had their presentation, the class had a guest speaker from the school’s English tutoring program. The speaker let the class know about certain events coming up as well as when the room the program takes place in is open
    • This was really nice to see. At least during my time as a student, I never really knew if there were resources for helping or strengthening understanding, nor did I end up looking because I got swept up in trying to keep up with my classes. To have someone from the service actively communicate where and when to get help with homework or understanding shows students that might not think to get help that there are resources available.
  • A group activity where the students are put into groups of 3 or 4, each person was given a role within the discussion, and was expected to relay what was discussed depending on the role they had been given.
    • This is a good way to give those who might not speak as much an opportunity to have their voices heard, as well as making the students use as much vocabulary as possible while discussing their individual group topics. This particular activity made use of a “devil’s advocate” where a student in each group was encouraged to counter-argue the topics within the text. I really liked this because it makes the students use their critical thinking skills as well as their speaking and vocabulary skills. This is definitely an activity I would like to use in the future.
  • During this activity, the teacher first makes some rounds to ensure the student’s understanding of the tasks, then once understanding has been communicated by the students (either by verbally saying so, or by overhearing the conversation had, the teacher can glean that the students understand what they are to do in the activity). Once it is clear that the students understand, the teacher encouraged us to walk around the room to see not just the students at work, but to help answer any questions they might have about the text.
    • As a relatively hands-on type of person, I appreciated that this teacher let us interact with the students. I was glad to have been able to help out with answering a few questions the students had, and I could tell that some of the students were actually pretty comfortable with my presence in the room despite being a guest. I know personally that having a guest within your class to observe can be unsettling for some, so I was glad to see that the students didn’t feel threatened by my presence and observing. While I know that sometimes this is unavoidable, it was nice to see some students be at ease with my presence in their learning space.
  • If there are any students noted to not be partaking in the discussion, the teacher makes a point to talk to them and ask their opinion on the paragraph that the group is discussing.
  • Once the timer has gone off, as it had only been about 10 minutes, the class came back together to discuss what each group had read, as well as the discussions that had been had. This was a lot more informal, as students stayed in their seats and spoke to the rest of the groups in the room.
    • I think this is a good way to warm some students up to more public speaking without putting a lot of pressure on them by having them present in front of the room. It also has a much more relaxed atmosphere to it so that students hopefully will be more inclined to participate.
  • After each group has had their chance to speak, the teacher keeps the students in their pre-established groups, but changes the roles each student has and gives each group a new text to discuss and work through.
    • I thought this was really smart! With the pre-established groups hopefully students will have already become more comfortable speaking in the group and be more inclined to participate. By giving the students a different role, the teacher can see which students may have been more reluctant during the last exercise and give them the more proactive speaking/presenting roles that had also been pre-established in the previous activity. Not only that, but having done and understood this activity once already, the students don’t need to be told the instructions again, or might just need a reminder opposed to ensuring understanding of the activity from the get-go.
  • The teacher makes their rounds again once the class goes off into their groups, gauging how long they need to complete the activity by seeing who is done, and who might need more time with the written portion of the group work. Once the students have finished the written portion of the activity the teacher gives the class a short break.
  • 10 minute break
  • Once the class reconvened and the students returned to their seats within their respective groups, the class went over each individual answer for all the group’s paragraphs one by one. As they went through the teacher made sure to clarify any phrases or words that either students had shown trouble with, or that they thought might be more difficult for their level.
  • For the rest of the class, the teacher had gone through the group discussion questions and answering questions the students might have about them, as well as marking down what the homework is for the next class before the class ends.