- Lightened heart and enlightened mind- Overflowing lessons in life- Various cultures- Extraordinary teaching practicum-
Procedure of Teaching
"In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.."
-Phil Collins
The first time I teach, before I start with the lesson I introduce my self first. I told them my real name and my Thai name which was given to me by one of the English Teacher in the school because they were having difficulty in pronouncing my real name. My Thai name is Mali which means Jasmine flower. That's why my students called me Ajarn (Teacher) Mali. In our first meeting, I also laid out my classroom rules so that the students will know beforehand what I had expected from them inside the classroom. We also had some simple agreements, I taught them some chants that they said every time I said the magic phrases. I said the magic phrases and make them shout their chants every time they forget our rules and created some unnecessary noise, and it was effective to make them quiet again. Every time I teach I just followed the flow of my lesson plan. I gave the handouts, worksheets, games or activities according to what was planned. But the lessons that I had been taught was interconnected that's why every meeting I conducted a brief review before proceeding to the next lesson.
Time Management & Organizing Activities
To manage my time wisely and to make sure that I will not missed any important part of my teaching plan, I divided it into 3 periods according to lessons. The first period was about the open-ended problem with the jigsaw puzzle that they completed and the vocabulary. I had given them open-ended problem with jigsaw puzzle to activate their prior knowledge and at the same time to motivate them to learn the new topic. The second period was about Play, Go and Do and the third period was about Present Continuous.
I used educational games occasionally to break the monotony of a straight class but I assigned limited time to every games or activities. I always checked the time and reminded the students about how much time left for them to preform the activities.
I also sort out the handouts and worksheets of the students beforehand so that I will not consumed my time in distributing it on class. My mentor also advised me to check the worksheets by myself after class to save time.
In classroom management, I used some of the approaches that I had learned in my country. I have used the Group Managerial Approach I responded immediately to student/s misbehavior in order to prevent problems or ripple effect. That's why I laid out the rules beforehand and we made an agreement like every time I said "M1/2" or "M1/4" they said "Hi! Hi! Hello! Hello!". If I said "Are you good?" They said "Very good, very good, awesome!" And if I said "1,2,3 zip" they all zipped their mouth and keep quiet. I used it to distract their noisiness or misbehavior and remind them about our classroom rules. I had also used Business-Academic Approach, I keep the students busy doing the things that they loved, playing. When the pupils were working on their tasks, there were little opportunity for discipline problem to arise that was why I provided various educational games and group-based activities to keep them busy and at the same time enjoy while learning. Lastly, I had also used Behavioral Modification Approach which was focused on positive reinforcement. I gave points and praises to the student or to the group that had good behavior.
Classroom Management
Problem-Solving
I encountered three problems inside the classroom. First was the language barrier, in my class observation I noticed that the Thai teachers sometimes translate the English lessons or English directions into Thai if the students didn't understand it. As a student teacher who didn't know how to speak Thai I cannot translate the English into Thai when they didn't understand some point. That's why my solution was whenever I gave directions to them for the games or for group activities/tasks, instead of just saying it or writing the direction on the board, I showed them the step by step procedures using pictures and videos. And in our discussion I had tried my best to use simple terms for them to comprehend what I am saying I also support it with a lot of examples and visual representation so that they will grasp the information easily.
The second problem was the students' misbehavior. My students were very sweet but sometimes they were noisy, naughty and very hyper. I noticed it during the observation that's why I had a chance to plan a remediation about it. That was why in our first meeting I already laid out the classrooms rules to them because for me, they might be obedient if the rules were clear to them. I also used the magic phrases and the chants that I taught them to remind them about our rules and to keep them quiet. I also given them a lot of games and interactive activities and games with rules affiliated for them to enjoy while learning and to keep them busy to minimize their opportunity to misbehave. Through this, I also taught them to control theirselves when they were happy and excited and express themselves in moderation.
Lastly, was the low participation of the students in class discussion. They were all very eager to participate in playing games and group-based activities but only few students were willing to answer questions and express their ideas. Maybe some were shy or afraid to speak English. That was why I encourage them to answer. I waited for them to answer, I have given them time to think and I help them by asking supporting questions and given them clue until they could think an answer to my questions or until they got the correct answer. I asked evaluating and probing questions most of the time that's why they could express their own opinion or idea. I also give points to those who answered correctly and use variety of praises (e.g. that's right, correct, excellent, awesome and the like) to motivate them to answer. When the students didn't got the correct answer, I always said "nice try" and I had give them a chance to answer again for the next question for them to know that even though they didn't got the correct answer at first, they can try again until they succeed.