Level A: Unit 2.2

Activity 1 (Listening):


Activity 3 (Acting):


This class did not go quite according to plan because a student meeting was scheduled at the same time, which the college gave precedent. Total class attendance was nine students, which apparently will be a trend for the rest of the year if the class continues. As it stands, English is not part of students' main schedules, so they must skip a class (or meeting) to attend. The classes they skip must slow their paces for absentees, or are canceled all-together. As a result, many schedules are compromised, teachers feel frustrated, and students are confused.

The majority of students in the class are third years, and the course began before the start of the new academic year. The college has proposed canceling this class and starting a new class for first year students from the same department (technology). This wouldn't be too off base since placement tests are happening this week for students in the business and agriculture departments, who will have class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, respectively. Altering the schedule would mean I would teach Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday classes of students in the same year, with English included in their main schedules. Downsides to this plan are that the current class has made significant progress, many students are devoted to learning English and need it more immediately for jobs after graduation, and the level at which they began the class (higher than the first years) may be more conducive to full-immersion language instruction. A decision has yet to be made.

Despite low attendance, class proceeded. I was concerned that the lesson would be too easy since many students have moderately-sized vocabularies, but little experience listening and speaking. I was correct: the students were familiar with the time expressions, so I modified the lesson to focus on hearing the difference between "What are you doing now?" and "What do you do?" and providing an appropriate response. We practiced with the blackboard race, which was slated to be warm-up. I worked to engage the most students by sending four to the board at a time instead of two and quizzing people in line about how they would respond to scenarios. Scenarios included, "It's raining after class. What do you do?" "It's 7:00 in the morning. What are you doing?" etc.

Though the blackboard race seemed to be the highlight, the sequence of activities was 1) lesson, 2) listening, 3) blackboard race, and 4) write a schedule and share-- with incremental increases in difficulty. We did not have time for the acting activity, nor did we have enough students. In hindsight, I question the activity's level of ambiguity and the extent to which is would have engaged and empowered students of varying skill levels. I continue to assess students' abilities to shape a class that stretches them, while building their confidence.

Lastly, a self-evaluation...