The golden rulish looses it's lustre; um, er, onwards

Before

Post CELTA, I knew the requisite amount of teaching methods and why. The one thing that was missing from my teaching was CI or, classroom interaction techniques.  I believe that my early videos will show this. As far as lesson planning goes, I’ve only been expected to teach a pre selected lesson with arguably very simple goals. Learn the TLC, repeat, chant, sing. Frequently these lessons would have no context set, and so the TLC would have almost no meaning at all. Looking back, my classes were very, very teacher fronted. Lots of talking, (but in my defence not as much as the KEt.) The students did learn, but only along very rigid lines.  Having gotten a CELTA meant that I had different ways to teach the material, often didn’t, or wasn’t able to implement new techniques. There was no motivation to or any clearly defined goal that the students should aim for nor for me as far as overall picture goes.  What STG has taught me was the one primary goal for any L2 learner is communicative competence. Which makes a very good over-arching goal. An excellent guide to which all sub goals can be set. But as to lesson planning, I informed (by a very reliable source) that my lack of planning stemming from in-depth thought.  I can cite examples of this from ICC lesson plans on video.

Reforms –still don’t know what a ‘golden rulish’ is, but I’ve a pretty good idea what it is!

This course has taught me not only the method to reflect and also what to be reflective on. Not only my teaching has been given thought but also my own personal self. It is often to separate one from the other. Indeed giving feedback on a fellow classmate was much easier than looking at ones own lesson. It’s a matter of turning the telescope around and examining oneself. A classic example of avoidant behavior are my early blog entries. Admittedly light and entertaining, they related to something that of avoidant and not facing the point to be addressed. But even once you isolate ‘a problem’ the next step is to find a solution or a remedy to it. Very blokey, manly, stuff when you come to think about it. But in making those reflections you need not be brutal in making the observations, nor make them in a sterile way. It is possible have a balance between readability and pure observation. If you want people to read it, then it shouldn’t take a dedicated egghead to get through it. But there is a time and place for everything.

Righting the errors, implementing change.

It’s all very well finding fault, but it requires deeper thought to effect change on yourself, and ultimately the classes and students I teach.  Lack of preparation is perhaps my one great sin. Put aside the time, prepare, write, contemplate. Then go over the lesson plan again. Interaction patterns between students are important in making a communicative classroom.  Give the students as much chance to talk as possible, and then some. A totally communicative classroom, one that is student driven is a great ideal, and for me, the next stop. It would be a new line of thinking for the KEt, and for me, it means setting up of routines and a bit of regularity for the students. Sure, the textbook must be gotten through, but I’d say that with a little practice on my part and the students, it can be done.

Reducing teacher talk time. Cut out the ums and errs.

I’ve pruned a lot of what I think, is aberrant talk from my TTT. So much so that I’ve become quiet to the point where my KEt has had to take up the slack. It’s improved the TTT/ STT ratios somewhat, so much so that though the class is still a teacher fronted one, the students have and are been given as much chance to talk. Even walking around my fifth grade classes, I have a sentence or two to the students. Actually the less I’ve spoken, the more they’ve spoken to me! Yes, it does work.

Being quiet does work, but the caveat is that it also requires time for the students to think. Wait time in other words is needed. Having watched some of the other STG groups videos, (A. L’s is one of them) the need for patience in the classroom is a necessary factor in letting the students think, given that they have enough comprehensible input at the time. One example I used in class springs to mind. A student asked me if her answer was correct. I saw that it wasn’t so I mimed for her the correct verb. She did get it, and the result was a rap on her friends arm for giving her the wrong answer! Still, a bit of peer correction would have been better in retrospect. But if the answer came from her friend… then okay, looking like I was sweeping the floor to elicit clean seemed to be the right thing to do at the time.

Future reform

I could learn all the games in the world, but I need to learn how to create games based on interaction patterns. A lot more focused than looking something up online. Indirectly, Bill had said that knowing the patterns would help you devise any game to suit the need.

As to building a communicative classroom, this will have to take some discussion with my KEt, on a trial basis, but, I feel it’s a start. Once I get it right, then I can release the new framework onto the other classes.  Still, a video review every month or so to check on my own progress would be good. I now know how to operate the editing software (it’s in Korean) so that’s a start. But the way forward is through better CIs? Once I’ve mastered this mindset, then it would be a matter of working on the ‘bigger picture’.  Lesson planning,