The following are reflective posts written at the time of my learning during the Trinity TESOL Diploma course with Hallam University.  They were originally stored on my Livejournal account, but have since been relocated to this website.  They follow a normal chronological order, the earliest post is the first post I made, the post immediately below is the late

For any of you who have followed my PDP lessons, (Lesson 1 here) my general aim throughout the lessons is to encourage the learners to 'use' grammar and 'discover' where they need help... hopefully I've done that in some interesting lessons, lessons that haven't had a focus on explicit grammar teaching.  At the same time I'm trying to improve my confidence with grammar... obviously, if they have questions I should provide the answers.

This is the penultimate PDP Lesson, for my Diploma in TESOL, and I'm struggling to keep a focus, so please tell me if I'm mental doing this lesson tonight.  

At school I loved Chaucer and Shakespeare, trying to understand the language and appreciating the humour of olde times... so, I'm going to do a lesson using 'Midsummer Night's Dream'.  Using Act One: Scene Two my aim is to give the students a view of the culture of England (in engaging them at the start of the lesson) and to have them translate Shakespeare's English into modern English *nail biting chatter* 

I've chosen what I think is quite an easy scene to follow (the players are talking about the parts they will perform in the play) and we will read through together after I've got them interested in Shakespeare, the Globe, beards, plays, bottoms, and fairies.  Then, after short eliciting of meanings, I will split them into 4 groups and they will work on translating a quarter of the play.

Teamwork, helping each other, has been an integral part of my PDP themes, and I really think it is working out well.  Last lesson I arranged my groups very well, I was pleased, so again I'll have to pay attention as to who joins which group.  I'll give them about 10-15 mins to translate - of course I'll wander around eliciting meaning and helping wherever needed - and then ask them to perform the script at the front.  Because I only have an hour I won't get the students to exchange scripts - I would like to, because this would allow for peer correction, something I want to develop as well... maybe if time falls kindly, or if I think of another way.

So, that's the idea.  The grammar is non-specific, but in the most part 'future tenses' are used with a few modals of probability/possibility - what I want for them is to a) enjoy a bit of culture/Shakespeare, b) recognise the changes through time in English, c) construct their own versions of a text which, by all accounts, is wrong (if they handed work in in the style of Shakespeare at college the teacher would run out of red ink!).

Basically it's about correcting a work and putting the appropriate grammar in in place... I have tried this with students before, but because they don't want to lose face they are reluctant to 'change' another student's work... if this works as I hope it will it will be a major coup... if it falls flat like a pancake, I'll probably cry ;0)

Hmmmmmm!    Today's lesson, I have to admit, was a little ad hoc.  I was busy today doing all sorts of thing TESL oriented, but unfortunately left my lesson planning until the last minute.  I'd been thinking about it since last week however, but not got any concrete ideas.

I liked the way my learners have been discovering grammar, so I was keeping to the same kind of theme and lesson strategy, but in truth the grammar I had arranged for them to 'discover' was a little easy... they didn't need to discover it, they'd found it already.

Truthfully, the lesson went well.  I used a worksheet from englishclub about clothes/uniforms (a topic I thought all the students could relate to), this allowed them a quick brainstorm of clothing items, then some clothing idioms (which I then got them to use in a different sentence - was pleased with that aspect, got them to understand when and how we use the idioms, something I often forget as it comes naturally for me), and finally they got to ask and answer some questions about clothes/uniforms/culture etc.

For that final exercise I put them into small groups (3 or 4) and made in plain that they were to take notes on each person's answers... I didn't tell them why.  The carried out the exercise quite well, but the first problem I have to acknowledge was that the questions were set a higher level than appropriate.  The questions actually deserved a whole lesson spent on them, rather than be used as a subsidiary to my target... so, next time, easier questions.

After 15 mins I swapped it around, picking pairs (each partner from a different group).  I actually allocated which person I wanted to join which partner, so I was also happy with this... it meant I was thinking about who would draw the best English out of who.  When the pairs were settled I informed them that I wanted them to tell the other person (in a conversational style) what the other people in their groups had said - reported speech.  As the teacher I circulated and collected good and bad examples of the use of 'he said...', 'she said...' and the correct tenses.  

The thing was, they were excellent... no problem (apart from a few slips of the tense)... which means either they are very good, or I just didn't have the correct materials to challenge them and make them use clauses, neutral verbs, attitude markers, blah, blah... in short, I didn't prepare enough, so I didn't know what to expect, so I didn't challenge them as much as I wanted.  So, my verdict on this lesson is - no score draw!

Today's lesson was a grammar discovery lesson on the subject described in an earlier post - the article.  Many learners still have problems choosing whether to use an article or not, and if they use one picking the right one is often troublesome... the best evidence comes from the oft repeated 'The China'.

In my lesson I hoped that through the exercises I had planned the learners would begin to notice the rules for using articles in general English.  We started by defining what we know about the rules from our previous teaching.  Most of the learners had a fair grasp of the simple rules... the first time we mention something, something that is specific, a noun representing a geographical feature.

Then I presented them with a story I had created which carried each of the separate rules/guidelines (14 at my estimation).  The learners read the story, which was quite interesting, humorous, and near natural English.  So, along with a little vocab and pronunciation help, they also had a good reading and listening lesson to boot.

After the story I asked them to once again try and highlight the rules and see if they could spot the usages of articles in the story.  Now, the first time round the learners all helped each other and there was a real collaborative feel to the group work, but (because they all had a handout) there was little collaboration in the groups the second time around.  This was one aspect that I think needs adapting, although it still had its merits.

Noticing the lul I presented them with a handout with the rules/guidelines listed - of course the articles (or no article) were omitted from the handout... the task now was to complete the 2nd handout and find examples in the text.  I must mention that I said that using the L1 was totally ok, in fact I promoted it, they were after all talking about the language.

The handouts worked very well, and as I told them, this is a really good way for them to improve their grammar - talking about it in groups, reading magazines and spotting common themes and uses... but, the lesson fell apart when we came to check the answers, and that was totally my fault.  I should have been more prepared and had concrete examples HIGHLIGHTED on the page... when questions were raised I struggled to remember where my example was in the text, so by the end of the task the learners appered more confused than ever.  But, I have to take heart in my belief that this is a great way to teach grammar, by letting learners discover it by themselves - the only problem was the cocky teacher interfering at the end ;0)

There are a few kinks that need to be worked out... my timing for instance.  While we waited for the class to 'fill up' I 'filled in' with some idle chat about the spring (lambs, frog spawn, caterpillars!).  As a result the whole lesson was running a little late, without this I'm sure it would have worked like clockwork - 60mins on the dot.

The students didn't relax as quickly as I had hoped as well, they didn't volunteer any gossip about friends or celebs, perhaps they are reserved by nature or they are so good that they don't gossip as freely as the Brits... it wasn't until I mentioned a video online I had seen that day regarding a math teacher and a middle school student kissing in the classroom... then they really started getting into it and opening up.

The group work improved the amount of talking and a few language points offered by the teacher improved it further, then I moved into the final task.  They were a little perplexed at first, Chinese students, well my Chinese students, seem wary of following instructions when they don't know why (unusual considering)... simple instructions too, 1. number each member of your group 2. number one come with me; nothing, just sitting there... I actually think that they thought it was too easy and that they had missed something, but when I walked out of the room they got the idea.  This reminds me of my earlier awkwardness in arranging group and melee work, I will look into my use of language at a later date... maybe the problem is with me.

As the final task went on (I walked around the groups between readings) I heard some terrible and characteristic mistakes, "Michael eat everything", "Tina sit and stare", "Nina sing a song" - but by the end of the cycle (4 readings) all the groups had a fair grasp of the words, the rhyme, and more importantly the tense.  With the groups working as a team and different people hearing at different stages, looking for different things, missing words, they helped each other and reconstructed my poem with the correct present simple tense.  I was delighted.

My next lesson will combine the good things I have isolated through the 11 lessons so far and a question/request from two students who find the use of articles difficult to get right.  Once again, a simple grammar element, but one that stays with a learner (especially a learner whose language omits the use of articles) and is a persistent reminder of their accent.

At last I have developed my next lesson plan in relation to my professional development in teaching grammar.

As mentioned earlier from the outcome of assessing (not too professionally) the errors of my students I found that the most frequent lapse was in their use of the present simple, or rather lack of use of the third person 's'.  So, I have devised a class where we will use the present simple 's' in a listening awareness task.

The topic of the lesson will be 'Gossip' and will begin with some free talk on the phenomenon and then moving onto group work (4 students) directed discussion (adapted from Dave's ESL).  This structure of the lesson will first make them familiar with  the topic and allow vocabulary questions and the like while loosening their apprehensions about talking, then the group work will develop their speaking and hopefully get them having fun using English.

The grammar section will be the final task of the lesson, followed by a short discussion.  From the groups I have arranged I will ask one student (from each group) to follow me outside where I will tell them a poem using the 's'.... I may say it twice, in fact I think I will.  When they go back to the classroom they will hopefully recount as much of the poem as they can remember (I have given them a handout with the structure and some words already - an extended gap fill I guess).  Then another student will follow me outside etc etc until all four have had the original poem read to them.

To conclude, the students will read their poems and hopefully have heard and used the 's' - conversation will centre on when we use the 's' and why it is so difficult for students to remember to use it in conversation.  

Wish me luck.  I'll tell you all about it later.

PDP lesson 9 & 10 will be taken from my General English course as I am able to give writing exercises and homework... therefore they will be focussing on written grammar as this is an intrinsic part of the learning process.

Also, my classroom observations have been concluded... 10 hrs, lots of data, a relieved set of teachers, and a lot of work to do in making useful comments in my findings.

A great success I think.
The evening started off terribly however, as I forgot my AC adapter for my laptop... but a quick transfer of my PPT to a different laptop and I was armed and ready bang on 7pm.

The topic was 'The Greatest Joke in the World' (adapted from onestopenglish.com).  Basically a speaking lesson with a joke tagged on to the end.  I let the students see my objectives for the lesson, just so they knew that I wouldn't be correcting them and that the whole principle was to improve their fluency and use of the present simple.

In the three speaking activities I used (pairwork, groupwork & whole class) I circulated and kept a record of the mistakes that occurred.  I must say, as an aside, that my control of the class, my accuracy in timing, and my ability for organising group and pair work have immeasurably improved throughout this action research... these were three of the areas that needed improving, and it is the concentration on lesson planning and lesson structure which has helped me develop these skills. (nice aside)

As mentioned previously, my trouble with this particular exercise (taking notes of errors) is hindered by the lack of movement in my right arm... so, I put a sheet of paper at the front of the class and kept returning to the front to write down an error when one had been identified.  This did mean I was exhausted after the lesson, but it served its purpose.  I will, however, if I am to do this kind of teaching practice again, have to think of a better way that will save my legs!

As the lesson, a very successful speaking fluency lesson, drew to a close, I gave myself 5 minutes to write the mistakes up on the board.  In truth I should have allowed more time and perhaps written the mistakes on the board as we went on.  The main error that students were making was use of the present simple 's'... although they could all correct their mistakes when written evidence was provided it was clear that they need more work.  I have read that, although the relatively simple rule is learned early on in the L2, the problem will still exist through intermediate and even advanced learning stages... but, that is going to be the target of my next lesson.

Wow, long reflection, sorry... I'm sure I could've added more to it, but I must retire to bed.

So far my lessons have been 1hr long expository grammar lessons or discovery lessons... today I'm going to simplify things a little, which will actually make things a little complicated and put me at risk!

I'm going to do my usual, fun lesson... include some vocab, some culture, some humour, a little grammar and then I shall turn it over (as usual) to the students for practice of the target language... and here comes the difficult bit.  USUALLY, I correct any errors (especially regards grammar) as the student makes the mistake.  Hopefully I give them or their peers the opportunity to self-correct, but in actual fact I know that I'm a little quick correcting sometimes, but generally if the student makes an error on my target language or one of those persistent errors (he/she, a/the, ..s) I will interrupt their fluency and make the correction.  I believe that it is important.  I do plenty of fluency work where errors are allowed and ignored or recast, paraphrased, or checked implicitly later, but where I want to teach a language point I think it is important in the 1hr you have them that they get the grammar right.

But today, I am going to let errors pass-by me and make notes on those errors for whole class correction on the board at the end of the lesson.  This hopefully will a) encourage fluency, b) help students notice, c) encourage peer/cooperative reflection and correction, d) give me some data on the quantity and quality of mistakes in my classroom....

One major drawback tho... I had a stroke 10 years ago and still have use of only one hand.  How do I note down the errors while circulating the class as I can't hold my notepad and write at the same time!  Well, we'll find out later... on to the lesson plan.

Oh, forgot... the risk... I'll write up the errors and as a group we correct them at the end of the lesson... of course I'll know the correct form because I'm English, but will I know WHY it is the correct form??? Gulp!

Pre-teaching a little vocabulary is a must, and truth be told I perhaps didn't do enough, although it raised the learners' interest (all 24 of them, a new record) and made them aware of the topic.

My managing of group work has vastly improved, to tell the truth I'm not so sure why right now cos I don't think I'm doing too much different, maybe it's just my confidence.  When they were in groups of 4 they were instructed as to the task... each learner had part of a puzzle (clues to a crossword) and they were to collaborate with other students to solve the first puzzle (sentence completion).  No one group had all the pieces of the puzzle so the groups needed to be rearranged, all student 1s became a group, all student 2s etc... this was the first step.  Then they had to construct the sentences using the pieces they all had.  After 15 mins, back to your original groups and try and complete the crossword.

Sounds complicated, was complicated... there were only a few instructions that I wish I had made clear at the start (all students MUST write the whole question, students must tell the other students what they have on their card not show) but all in all it was a smash in achieving my aim... a cooperative learning lesson.

1. Students knew they were responsible for helping the team.
2. If they failed their team would fail.
3.  They used language as a social tool.
4. They realised the result would be rewarded.
5.  They took on different roles to help the team. (Oh, and I surreptitiously taught them some grammar)

Even though the task was a little too hard and nobody managed to complete it, the main aim was achieved in that they worked together, for each other, and had a purpose.  There were so great tactics employed by the students to reach their goals....

if only every lesson were this good!

I'm excited about todays lesson.
My grammar focus is relative clauses... but I don't mention that in class.... but the whole class direction is bound by the Cooperative Learning reading I did in the last two days.
I've worked very hard on developing the materials for this, and as I say I'm excited, but as every teacher knows... when you think something will be good, it usually turns up pap!
Watch this space for an update after my class.