Level A: Unit 5.2

Pronunciation Powerpoint Slides:

Family Activity Powerpoint Slides:


Family Activity Personal Descriptions and Scenarios: Cut personal descriptions into slips and label with and M or F (male or female). Keep personal descriptions in separate envelopes by family until you count the students in class and determine which families to use. Cut scenarios into slips and keep in separate envelopes. Give scenario envelopes to students once they have found their families.



The main purpose of this class, particularly the family activity, was to get students involved in the subject matter, bring it alive, and provoke critical thought. However, my expectations for the family activity were a little too high. The following were some of its strong and weak points:

Strong:

• Students enjoyed the different stories.
• Students got to practice critical thinking.

Weak:

• The activity was too long to hold student's rapt attention the whole time.
• Some of the vocabulary was too difficult.
• Families larger than four struggled to find each other (I made them smaller after the first class).
  
• One of the scenarios did not have a clear solution, or at least one that could be described in simple English.
• In one of the three classes, we did not have time to present the skits.

And lastly a self-evaluation...

Level A: Unit 5.1

Pre-Listening Activity: Cut the paper in two halves, descriptions and pictures. Break students into pairs and have them take turns reading descriptions and searching for their matches.


There's not a ton to say for this lesson, except that students enjoyed a spontaneous lesson on pronouncing TH. First, I used my teeth and tongue to demonstrate correct and incorrect TH pronunciation, showing students that if the tongue is between the teeth at the outset, it's correct; but if they only see teeth, it's not. Then, I asked them to give me a thumbs up or thumbs down to show if I had pronounced a word correctly. Lastly, I had students come up in rows and one by one say TH words in front of the class. Students in their seats had a chance to observe the visual and auditory manifestations of the sound and provide feedback (thumbs up or down) on whether or not their peers were correct. The activity was challenging at first, but students got the hang of seeing, hearing, and saying TH correctly. For those who truly struggled, I had them put a finger on their tongues so they remembered to keep them between their teeth until they uttered the sound. Students nearly fell of their chairs in delight.

Other than that, the grammar concepts were review for the students. The challenge is getting them to remember in natural speech. Blackboard races are always effective, though they get a little less engaging towards the end. Both the pre-listening activity and dicto-comp were novel concepts for the students and seemed engrossing.

Note on the dicto-comp. It is an MVP of exercises since it requires listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. Students listen to a passage three times. The first time they simply listen. The second time they listen and take notes. And the third they fill in holes in their notes and turn their notes into complete, grammatically correct sentences. The goal of the activity is to create replicas of the passage, exact in meaning and accuracy, but they don't have to be word-for-word. Students should pool their resources and work in groups.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...


*Pre-listening activity from http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish.

Level A: Units 1-4 Review

This class was a joy. Unique activities went according to plan, students were excited and engaged, and we thoroughly reviewed the material. Only thing wrong was timing in the Tuesday class.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...


*Activity 2 came from Friederike Klippel's book Keep Talking.

Level A: Unit 4.1

Powerpoints from the Lesson:






Opinion Poll Worksheet:


Likes and Dislikes Worksheet:

Alas, this lesson was too long ago to remember subtle observations. Students did, however, appreciate the jazz chant; and the opinion poll was a useful tool for practicing questions, sharing personal information, and breaking with routine.

And lastly, a self-evaluation:

Level A: Unit 3.2

Powerpoints from the lesson:





Adjectives and Superlatives Worksheet:

Students constructing their outfits for the fashion show

A Smiling Model

Announcers Present their Models to the Class

This class was a combination of excellence, mediocrity, and chaos-- with the fashion show particularly lending itself to chaos. My explanation of the comparatives and superlatives registered with students, though the powerpoint was difficult to see from the back of the room* and the number of rules was overwhelming. The worksheet seemed thought-provoking, and students put answers on the board so there was nary an idle moment for quick workers and everyone got to look at the answers and listen to their peers receive corrections on pronunciation.

The fashion show was stuck at the end of class, when we hardly had time. As a result, outfit production was quick and students wanted it to bleed over into the more academic part of the activity. Not only was it difficult to get students to quiet down and shift gears, I didn't have time to review the clothing adjectives in each of the classes. The speeches were also so mistake-ridden that it was impossible to correct everything and difficult even to triage and identify the most grievous errors. This said, excellence can be derived from chaos, as the activity sent students through the roof with joy. Joy is an important morale-booster in these early months, as students patiently sit through lessons they don't fully understand due to the language barrier and truly work hard. Overall, it was worth it.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...


*I send all powerpoints and worksheets to a class email address, so students can review after the lesson.

**The adjectives and superlatives worksheet was taken from Life Lines Pre-Intermediate Workbook by Tom Hutchinson and Oxford University Press. The Newspaper Fashion Show was inspired by Stephen C., Fulbright ETA 2010-2011.

Level B: Conversation 4.1

We had our first class on family at the coffee shop rather than in the classroom in honor of Vietnamese Teachers' Day. The faculty members presented me with a bouquet of roses and material for a lovely new ao dai. Then we went around the table and everyone talked about their families and answered questions from the group.

In my mind, it was not particularly stimulating, challenging, or entertaining for the 5 advanced students, since many already know their peers and the sentence structures and vocabulary are elementary. Though useful in building the confidence of the 7 beginner students, I feel that there are better ways to do this within a structured lesson. While, of course, this lesson was adapted for the holiday, I make these observations because some seemed to prefer an abbreviated coffee to actual class. Since I am keen on listening to the faculty members' diverse wants and needs (and unmet wants or needs generally means lower attendance), this revelation bothered me.

As one could guess, I am still struggling to find the correct balance with this class. Some want a textbook, most do not. Some want structured lessons, others simply want conversation topics. They all want to learn, but they have a seemingly unquenchable desire for games and songs. Of course I want the class to be fun and engaging, but I want to facilitate productive fun and engagement, which is sort of like offering a kid healthy dessert. When students have a choice about whether they're coming to the table (and often have other activities planned during "dinner"), it's hard to entice them without giving in to their demands.

Level A: Unit 3.1

Pronoun Worksheet:


Market Activity Handouts: Cut out the pictures before class and put them in envelopes to give to members of the selling teams.





This lesson plan had various degrees of effectiveness in my three classes. In my most beginner class (Monday), we did not have time for the market activity, which I moved to the next class. Instead, we spent a lot of time on examples, pronunciation, and activities in the book. My instructions seemed clear and comprehensive, but without the diversion of a game, things got tedious.

In my more advanced class (Tuesday), we completed the market activity with relatively little chaos, and it seemed to be an effective way to practice what we had learned. In hindsight, I would have given students more sentence structures and vocabulary to use in the market dialogue because though the activity was dynamic, there was not a lot of meat after students grasped demonstratives.

In my Wednesday class which has both beginners and advanced beginners and the most variable levels of attendance and motivation, I made a huge mistake: I forgot the envelopes with the pictures for the market activity. Students still had handouts with pictures of the items, but these could only be used for reference in the activity. I adapted by having sellers write the names of products in the various quadrants, rather than placing pictures. This solution sufficed, but all variables considered, it was not as tight or as effective of a class as the other two.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...