Teaching Report 1
The Teaching Class
Having a nice and warm atmosphere in the classroom is important and necessary. It can ease nervous feeling from both teacher and student sides. It provides the tendency of improve the teaching and learning process into an efficient level. At the very beginning of the class, a gentle introduction from teacher and student would bring two parties closer. It usually furthers a comfortable air after they know each other a little bit more.
In my teaching class, I had two students, student M and student H. Before the class teaching, it was necessary for me to understand students’ second language condition such as the vocabulary they knew, the accuracy of their pronunciation and the first and second language background, etc. For this reason, I encouraged them to introduce themselves to the class in Chinese. From the introduction activity, I immediately knew Student M could complete her self-introduction in Chinese in a nice clear tone. She liked to learn language and had experience in learning Japanese and Spanish. She was now learning Chinese in the Columbia University. Student H was a little shy. She gave us little information about her name and mentioned she was currently studying Chinese.
After that, students play a game called “dice and words”. This is an activity I designed for the class. Students took turn to roll the dice. The number showed on the dice is the number of words the student has to say to the class. If the number on the dice is 3, the student who rolled the dice had to say 3 words from current lesson he/she was learning. In case he/she couldn't finish all words from current lesson, he/she could draw words from previous lessons. In this way, I can know their vocabulary level.
This was a drilling class. Students had to practice grammar and words they learned from the current chapter. I chose some words they were required to manage in this chapter. At the same time, I chose some other words from previous chapters for them to use in the grammar practice exercise. I put all words in flash cards. During the drilling exercise, students used words to produce sentences. Sometimes I would encourage them using some other words to make sentences. If they made same mistake again, I would correct them. Otherwise, I would let them build up confidence in spontaneous producing language.
Student H had problem with her pronunciation. I gave her explicit correction couple times at the beginning of the class. Considering too much correction would discourage her, I did not point out her pronunciation problem in the rest of the class. Since this was a class to drill sentence structure, I wanted to focus more on the accuracy of sentences student produced. Once student M made a mistake in her sentence, I gave her elicitation and she could correct the mistake by herself. Occasionally, they built sentences with good grammar feature but the meaning was a little off. I did not correct them because of the time limit. I wanted them to concentrate more on the structure of the language.
During the class, if they had problem to produce sentence, I would give them proper support to build the sentence. With the help, they could successful complete the sentence.
In my teaching class, I had two students, student M and student H. Before the class teaching, it was necessary for me to understand students’ second language condition such as the vocabulary they knew, the accuracy of their pronunciation and the first and second language background, etc. For this reason, I encouraged them to introduce themselves to the class in Chinese. From the introduction activity, I immediately knew Student M could complete her self-introduction in Chinese in a nice clear tone. She liked to learn language and had experience in learning Japanese and Spanish. She was now learning Chinese in the Columbia University. Student H was a little shy. She gave us little information about her name and mentioned she was currently studying Chinese.
After that, students play a game called “dice and words”. This is an activity I designed for the class. Students took turn to roll the dice. The number showed on the dice is the number of words the student has to say to the class. If the number on the dice is 3, the student who rolled the dice had to say 3 words from current lesson he/she was learning. In case he/she couldn't finish all words from current lesson, he/she could draw words from previous lessons. In this way, I can know their vocabulary level.
This was a drilling class. Students had to practice grammar and words they learned from the current chapter. I chose some words they were required to manage in this chapter. At the same time, I chose some other words from previous chapters for them to use in the grammar practice exercise. I put all words in flash cards. During the drilling exercise, students used words to produce sentences. Sometimes I would encourage them using some other words to make sentences. If they made same mistake again, I would correct them. Otherwise, I would let them build up confidence in spontaneous producing language.
Student H had problem with her pronunciation. I gave her explicit correction couple times at the beginning of the class. Considering too much correction would discourage her, I did not point out her pronunciation problem in the rest of the class. Since this was a class to drill sentence structure, I wanted to focus more on the accuracy of sentences student produced. Once student M made a mistake in her sentence, I gave her elicitation and she could correct the mistake by herself. Occasionally, they built sentences with good grammar feature but the meaning was a little off. I did not correct them because of the time limit. I wanted them to concentrate more on the structure of the language.
During the class, if they had problem to produce sentence, I would give them proper support to build the sentence. With the help, they could successful complete the sentence.
The Evaluation of the Class
The teaching class went well according to my teaching plan. I covered all vocabulary and grammar structure students should practice in the class. The materials I prepared was moderate and helpful for them. Since I managed the time very well, I did not need to touch the extra activity I designed. ( If I finish class early, for security, I would have students doing an extra activity as bonus).
The class seemed to be learning the material well. Students basically could produce sentences well with provided words or with their own vocabulary. In order to let them understand the sentence 1 ‘S 想找人 sb. VP’ and sentence 2 ‘S 正好也想/要VP’ better, I explained the the relationship and difference between them. I provided some examples for each of the sentences. “他想找人吃饭。我正好也想找人吃饭。他想找人教汉语。我正好也想找人教汉语。” From the examples, they knew the difference between the two sentences structure were “正好也想”. In English, the word 'too' had the same meaning as “正好也想”. If one wanted to say ‘one party wants to do something, and the other party wants to do the same thing at the same time’, he/she could use the combination of sentence 1 and sentence 2.
After drilling the structure of sentence 3 ‘从PW V 的 NP’, I tried to make a connection of this sentence with sentence 1. I encouraged them to combine sentence 1 ‘S 想找人 sb. VP’ and sentence 3 ‘从PW V 的NP’ to form a new detail sentence. Example: 从土耳其来的女生想找人吃饭。
While we were practicing sentence 4 ‘(以)后/ …(以)前, I gave examples of combination of sentence 3 ‘从PW V 的NP’ and sentence 1 ‘S 想找人 sb. VP’. For instance: 一小时以前,从土耳其来的女生想找人吃饭。This is a way to stretch out the sentence and give more detail information. By now, beside understand the use of each single sentence, students had an idea on further manage these four sentences.
In this class, learners were active all the time. They concentrated and engaged in the class. They took turn to do the drilling exercise.
I manage the time of the class very well. 5 minutes before the class ended, I did a little conclusion of what they practice in this class. In order to test them the understanding and practice of the sentence structure we focused in this class, I did a litter testing for them. I said, ‘一小时前,我们开始上课。现在十二点,我想去吃饭。 你们想去吃饭吗?’ Not surprisingly, I heard them answering my question in ‘我们也想去吃饭。’. From this conversation, I am sure they understand the class material very well.
The class seemed to be learning the material well. Students basically could produce sentences well with provided words or with their own vocabulary. In order to let them understand the sentence 1 ‘S 想找人 sb. VP’ and sentence 2 ‘S 正好也想/要VP’ better, I explained the the relationship and difference between them. I provided some examples for each of the sentences. “他想找人吃饭。我正好也想找人吃饭。他想找人教汉语。我正好也想找人教汉语。” From the examples, they knew the difference between the two sentences structure were “正好也想”. In English, the word 'too' had the same meaning as “正好也想”. If one wanted to say ‘one party wants to do something, and the other party wants to do the same thing at the same time’, he/she could use the combination of sentence 1 and sentence 2.
After drilling the structure of sentence 3 ‘从PW V 的 NP’, I tried to make a connection of this sentence with sentence 1. I encouraged them to combine sentence 1 ‘S 想找人 sb. VP’ and sentence 3 ‘从PW V 的NP’ to form a new detail sentence. Example: 从土耳其来的女生想找人吃饭。
While we were practicing sentence 4 ‘(以)后/ …(以)前, I gave examples of combination of sentence 3 ‘从PW V 的NP’ and sentence 1 ‘S 想找人 sb. VP’. For instance: 一小时以前,从土耳其来的女生想找人吃饭。This is a way to stretch out the sentence and give more detail information. By now, beside understand the use of each single sentence, students had an idea on further manage these four sentences.
In this class, learners were active all the time. They concentrated and engaged in the class. They took turn to do the drilling exercise.
I manage the time of the class very well. 5 minutes before the class ended, I did a little conclusion of what they practice in this class. In order to test them the understanding and practice of the sentence structure we focused in this class, I did a litter testing for them. I said, ‘一小时前,我们开始上课。现在十二点,我想去吃饭。 你们想去吃饭吗?’ Not surprisingly, I heard them answering my question in ‘我们也想去吃饭。’. From this conversation, I am sure they understand the class material very well.
Teaching Report 2
Instructor’s name: _Danchen Yang____________________
Class taught in: __________Kent, Columbia University_____
Date of teaching: _______March 13, 2015______________
Duration of teaching: ______50 minutes________________
I. What transpired in class
It was a drilling class. Two advanced students who have learned Chinese for three years attended the class. The goal of the class was to practice words, phrases and some grammar so that learner understands how to use them correctly.
At the beginning, students repeated my sample sentences. They had no problem with repetition. I found out that they were more likely to create their own sentence by using the specific grammar or words they needed to practice. I decided to change the way of teaching by encouraging them to answer my questions by using specific new words and grammar. This drew their attention immediately and they were motivated by more freedom of speaking out their opinion.
I used Chinese in my teaching. Sometimes students did not notice what I said such as 大气污染, I translated it to English. This did not cause any obstacle in the teacher-student understanding. Their pronunciation was quite good. Sometimes I did correct their unclear pronunciation if it caused any problem in interaction or it happened more than 2 times.
Since they needed to practice 率,比例,占,上升,出现…趋势,百份之% in the class, I provided two charts for them to read. One chart was about divorce curve in US from 2000-2011; the other was shopping habits, men V. women in 2011. I required them telling me all information they can find from the charts. At the same time, they had to answer my question by using all words and grammar above. If the sentence they said was not clear enough, I recasted or give them implicit correction.
II. Reflections
The validity is good. We went over and practiced most of words and grammars. They used recycled words from the textbook when they made sentences.
The volume is good. They had plenty of practice in this class. The charts and picture I provided were real world charts. They are interesting to learners.
The teaching strategy should change according to learners’ reaction to what you teach. Always remember language acquisition is based on i+1. If the material or teaching method is too easy or too hard, teacher should adjust the teaching strategy immediately. Appropriated challenge can motivate learners and increase their interest in the class.
I tried to reduce the gap between real-world and classroom setting. I used real-world material – charts – to improve their engagement. Then I led them into the target language producing process: a combination of thinking, understanding, speaking with required words and grammar in their utterance. The complexity of the activity reflected real-world language operating procedure and the real-life environment. I think it is better if I could provide chance for students discussing the charts in pair, and then choose one as a reporter to explain the charts to the class.
Providing proper assistance is necessary for learners. I gave appropriate help to facilitate learners’ output speech. It made the interaction smooth without too much difficulty. Learners were willing to speak more out.
Basically, it was a successful drilling class. Students had plenty of opportunity to practice new material based on the real-life situation. If the material were not too much to cover, I would like to provide more activities for them to practice.