Level A: Unit 7.1

Warm-Up Listening Activity:

List of Irregular Past Tense Verbs:


Short Story Activity:

Irregular Past Tense Verb Worksheet:

Students review their passages during the Short Story Exercise.

Students explain their passages in new groups and piece together the story.

Overall, a varied and effective class. The following provides summary and minor recommended adjustments:

Warm-up Listening Activity: The conversation was presented in relatively natural cadence, so it took four or five times for students to understand main ideas. Before beginning, we reviewed new vocabulary words such as laundry, apartment, picnic, and instead. In hindsight, I would reconsider word choice in the following phrases: last weekend and this past weekend, stay around town vs. stay home, couldn't stand to vs. didn't want to. Overall, this warm-up activity served as a nice change of pace and seemed to engage students more than physically active, timeworn games.

Grammar and Pronunciation Lessons: The three grammar rules were review for students, though they seldom use the past tense in conversation. Next week, we will go over doubling the consonant for words ending in one vowel + one consonant, other than w or y.

For pronunciation of reduced forms of did you, I supplemented the phonetic alphabet in the book with didjew (did you) and whudjew (what did you) on the board. Students thought my exaggerated presentation was funny, which created a comfortable environment for them to practice on their own.

Exercises in the Book: After completing the conversations, students read them aloud in pairs and as a class. This offered a chance to practice and critique the pronunciation of reduced forms of did you. In the future, I will supplement oral exercise reviews with a powerpoint slide, so students have visual confirmation of the correct answers.

Magazine Activity: Always great for generating new vocabulary words. The blackboard was chock full by the time we were through.


Short Story Activity: A starkly different fit for each of the classes-- extremely challenging but doable for the Monday class, perfectly challenging with almost magical execution by the Tuesday class, and varying levels of challenging, though we ran out of time, for the Wednesday class. The activity was magical in the Tuesday class because very few students resorted to Vietnamese, they independently encouraged each other, and they acted and used gestures when their words failed. For the first time, I didn't feel the need to motivate them. I felt their strength and hunger as they took off on their own.

Lastly, a self-evaluation...


* The list of irregular past tense verbs if from http://www.grammar.cl/Past/Irregular_Verbs_List.htm. The short story is from http://www.rong-chang.com/eslread/index.htm. The Irregular Verb Worksheet is from http://bogglesworldesl.com/irregular_verbs.htm.

Level A: Unit 6.1

Pre-Quiz and Answer Key: The answer key provides a sample answer. Any grammatically correct response with logical content receives full credit. Each question is graded out of 3 points. Full credit for perfection, 2.5/3 for minor mistakes, 2/3 for verb mistakes or a moderate number of small errors, 1.5/3 for serious grammar errors or illogical content.


Exercise Activity Worksheet:

Monday Students during the Exercise Activity.

Tuesday students during the Exercise Activity.

Reflections to come...

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level A: Midterm Exam

Grading Rubric:

Students from the Monday class review.

I've struggled to find time to write lately because my three classes respond so differently to each lesson that wrapping my head around the slew of reasons, required modifications, and varied results is job enough for the head, not to mention the hand. All in the name of growth, though, so here goes...

Monday class: two review classes* for the most beginner class, one that reviewed general grammar structures and vocabulary, the second that allowed time to prepare the prompts. The latter was more effective, particularly when coupled with pre-performances and detailed feedback on content, pronunciation, and grammar.

Tuesday class: one review class, allowed time to prepare the prompts. Extremely effective. These higher-level language students were energized and efficient, completely capitalizing on pre-performances and teacher feedback.

Wednesday class: one review class, allowed time to prepare the prompts. Somewhat effective. Lower level students had trouble getting motivated. Minimal time to hear pre-performances and give feedback. Students did not take preparation very seriously, and they had the lowest marks of the three classes.

The grading rubric worked extremely well. Students were also given written feedback on pronunciation and grammar mistakes.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...


*The first review class occurred before the exam prompts were approved, so students received an additional session so as not to be at a disadvantage. One proper review class would have sufficed.

Level B: Conversation 5.1

Preposition Worksheet:


Pictures for Room Descriptions:


The first staff class in a LONG TIME. Teachers have been swamped with end of the year festivities and Tet holiday. We're back now and chugging along.

This lesson was effective and intimate as teachers (henceforth refered to as students) trickled back and readjusted to the reverse-role classroom routine. Musical chairs was an absolute hit. Students liked the movement and made sure not to repeat stories/feelings from Tet. Energy remained high as we generated vocabulary lists on the blackboard, which were referenced for the duration of class.

The lesson on prepositions was iffy. I had emailed students a detailed preposition chart with meanings and usages before class, but it would have been helpful to provide a print-out version during the lesson. Because I couldn't reproduce the chart on the board and students couldn't listen and record, I resorted to physical demonstrations for most of the words (I am behind the desk; the book is under the chair). Luckily, with the exception of in, on, and at, the words were easy to understand, and we had a worksheet and discussion to review the former.

The most brilliant part of this class was the students' curiosity and desire to learn, and the time we took probing questions and ideas. We spent 15 or 20 minutes on the relatively brief prepositions worksheet, going over exceptions and creating our own rules. We spent 20 or 25 minutes on the room descriptions, rising to the challenges of required specificity and preposition use, then adding to our list of household vocabulary words. Finally, we had a candid conversation about homes in our countries and the things they represent about our cultures. Overall, it was a pretty awesome class.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...


*Preposition worksheet from www.esl-galaxy.com.