Part IV. Teaching Materials
Reflection on Practicum Experience
Reflection on Practicum Experience
In January of this year, I was fortunate enough to get a job teaching general English courses at Education First (EF), an English language school, in Waikiki. Luckily, I could count this as my field experience for Practicum II. The school, located on the 11th floor of the Waikiki Trade Center in Waikiki, Hawai‘i, is one unlike any I have ever taught at or volunteered in before. All of the walls in the building are glass, which makes the classrooms facing the ocean a bit more difficult to teach in; the students can be caught numerous times throughout the class daydreaming as they stare at the crystal blue waters and clear blue skies. That is one of the reasons I am also so fortunate to work there; I am reminded daily of the beauty of the world around me and the chance I have to teach my students the language they need to express their own feelings about being in Hawai‘i.
I have worked with two different groups in my first four months at Education First. Both groups were labeled as elementary, although one group seems more advanced than the other. I have been teaching the ten-week extended term we call “ET.” The first group of 16 students from Japan, China, Korea, Switzerland, Denmark, Chile, Columbia and Venezuela were studying at level A2.2 when they began in my course. The second group of 12 students are from Japan, Taiwan, Columbia, Chile, Brazil, Italy, and Switzerland. These “elementary” students use the A2.1 text, currently the lowest offered at EF, but I think many of them would benefit from being in an even lower class.
Having had the opportunity to work with two different groups for a long period has given me a lot of insight into who I am as an English teacher. I believe one of my biggest strengths as a teacher is the rapport I am able to build with my students, especially those I get to have in class for the ET courses. I like to connect with the students in more ways than just teaching them from the book and answering questions. I like to bring their lives, backgrounds, cultures, experiences into the classroom to help everyone get to know each other. At first, I only used the students’ personal lives as a way for me to connect with them, rather than having them connect more with each other in the classroom. It was nice for me to be able to get to know them and have a reason to talk outside of class, but I realized (and was encouraged from my Practicum II teacher) to find ways to bring their lives and their experiences into the classroom as well. I am constantly finding ways of doing this to make the class content more relevant and interesting. The topics in the books are generally interesting, however the content within those topics provided in the books are more often not that interesting. Having the students find different ways to incorporate their own stories make the classes much more interesting for everyone.
I have also been told that I incorporate humor well when I am teaching. I believe this is because for me it is quite easy to over exaggerate something or act in ways that would otherwise be embarrassing for someone else. I have come to realize that it takes a lot of acting things out and finding new ways of describing or explaining things to be an English teacher (or teacher in general), so I have decided I really cannot take myself too seriously. I remember an example of my “acting” during a unit on music during which we were discussing various artists and I brought up John Mayer. Some of the students did not know who he was, so I promptly began to play an air guitar and sing the lyrics to “Your Body is a Wonderland.” My academic director, who had been observing me that day, told me afterward that it was a very brave thing for me to do, but I did not think of it that way. I was merely pulling out another tool from my toolbox to reach my students in any way that I can and make the class more engaging and interesting. I believe that if I can show them that it’s okay to do something a little out of the ordinary (and perhaps out of someone’s comfort zone) that they would be more willing to communicate with each other in the classroom.
Another of my strengths is my ability to communicate. Generally, I am able to gauge my speech so my students can understand me well, speaking slowly and clearly to fit my audience. I try to grade my language to fit my audience and I speak slowly and clearly. I have the tendency to speak quite quickly, so slowing down my speech is something I have had to work on. Since I began working at EF, I have gained an amazing new talent of explaining this so that they are easier to understand. The thesaurus in my head is continuing to grow larger and larger since I have to find new, simpler ways of saying or describing something. I feel it is quite an accomplishment when, after some exceptionally difficult negotiation, the point of understanding is reached between my students and myself.
While I believe I am on my way to becoming a great English teacher, I have some areas to work on still. One area of weakness that I am currently focusing on is incorporating more of my students’ lives and experiences into the classroom content. I mentioned before that I enjoy bringing students’ backgrounds into the classroom, but I really need to focus on using that to help me with the content and language that I am presenting. For example, I recently taught a unit on hobbies and sports, and while my own life might be exceptionally interesting to me, I had to work on bringing my students’ lives into focus by my examples. This is currently a strength and weakness for me because of my desire to share my life with my students as well as learn more about them. I also was under the impression that by sharing something from my own life I was scaffolding for them, but perhaps this is not necessarily so as they seem more excited to interact when the examples all come from their own lives.
Another area that I am continuing to work on is developing or adapting materials. It took me weeks to realize that while the book is required, it is often not organized to best meet the needs of my students. I could easily find and adapt or create materials that fit the same themes and language goals that the textbook is teaching. Additionally, I could work on making the materials I do have work better for my students. I believe in making my language teaching as communicative as possible and this means focusing on student-to-student communication much more than the textbook suggests. While I do provide ample opportunities for students to work in small groups and with partners, I think I could find more creative ways of getting them to speak with one another and negotiate for meaning.
In conclusion, it has been a great transition from observing ESL classes to teaching them without much chance for guidance from a mentor teacher. I believe having had to start teaching sooner than I planned has forced me to figure out things a lot faster and I am grateful for that. Getting to teach a lower level of students than I thought I would be teaching has made me realize that I am a better communicator and have more patience than I thought. I will continue to work on my weaknesses so that I may mold them into strengths. This opportunity has been an amazing experience and I am so glad I get to continue enjoying it even after I have graduated from the MA TESOL program at Hawai‘i Pacific University.
I have worked with two different groups in my first four months at Education First. Both groups were labeled as elementary, although one group seems more advanced than the other. I have been teaching the ten-week extended term we call “ET.” The first group of 16 students from Japan, China, Korea, Switzerland, Denmark, Chile, Columbia and Venezuela were studying at level A2.2 when they began in my course. The second group of 12 students are from Japan, Taiwan, Columbia, Chile, Brazil, Italy, and Switzerland. These “elementary” students use the A2.1 text, currently the lowest offered at EF, but I think many of them would benefit from being in an even lower class.
Having had the opportunity to work with two different groups for a long period has given me a lot of insight into who I am as an English teacher. I believe one of my biggest strengths as a teacher is the rapport I am able to build with my students, especially those I get to have in class for the ET courses. I like to connect with the students in more ways than just teaching them from the book and answering questions. I like to bring their lives, backgrounds, cultures, experiences into the classroom to help everyone get to know each other. At first, I only used the students’ personal lives as a way for me to connect with them, rather than having them connect more with each other in the classroom. It was nice for me to be able to get to know them and have a reason to talk outside of class, but I realized (and was encouraged from my Practicum II teacher) to find ways to bring their lives and their experiences into the classroom as well. I am constantly finding ways of doing this to make the class content more relevant and interesting. The topics in the books are generally interesting, however the content within those topics provided in the books are more often not that interesting. Having the students find different ways to incorporate their own stories make the classes much more interesting for everyone.
I have also been told that I incorporate humor well when I am teaching. I believe this is because for me it is quite easy to over exaggerate something or act in ways that would otherwise be embarrassing for someone else. I have come to realize that it takes a lot of acting things out and finding new ways of describing or explaining things to be an English teacher (or teacher in general), so I have decided I really cannot take myself too seriously. I remember an example of my “acting” during a unit on music during which we were discussing various artists and I brought up John Mayer. Some of the students did not know who he was, so I promptly began to play an air guitar and sing the lyrics to “Your Body is a Wonderland.” My academic director, who had been observing me that day, told me afterward that it was a very brave thing for me to do, but I did not think of it that way. I was merely pulling out another tool from my toolbox to reach my students in any way that I can and make the class more engaging and interesting. I believe that if I can show them that it’s okay to do something a little out of the ordinary (and perhaps out of someone’s comfort zone) that they would be more willing to communicate with each other in the classroom.
Another of my strengths is my ability to communicate. Generally, I am able to gauge my speech so my students can understand me well, speaking slowly and clearly to fit my audience. I try to grade my language to fit my audience and I speak slowly and clearly. I have the tendency to speak quite quickly, so slowing down my speech is something I have had to work on. Since I began working at EF, I have gained an amazing new talent of explaining this so that they are easier to understand. The thesaurus in my head is continuing to grow larger and larger since I have to find new, simpler ways of saying or describing something. I feel it is quite an accomplishment when, after some exceptionally difficult negotiation, the point of understanding is reached between my students and myself.
While I believe I am on my way to becoming a great English teacher, I have some areas to work on still. One area of weakness that I am currently focusing on is incorporating more of my students’ lives and experiences into the classroom content. I mentioned before that I enjoy bringing students’ backgrounds into the classroom, but I really need to focus on using that to help me with the content and language that I am presenting. For example, I recently taught a unit on hobbies and sports, and while my own life might be exceptionally interesting to me, I had to work on bringing my students’ lives into focus by my examples. This is currently a strength and weakness for me because of my desire to share my life with my students as well as learn more about them. I also was under the impression that by sharing something from my own life I was scaffolding for them, but perhaps this is not necessarily so as they seem more excited to interact when the examples all come from their own lives.
Another area that I am continuing to work on is developing or adapting materials. It took me weeks to realize that while the book is required, it is often not organized to best meet the needs of my students. I could easily find and adapt or create materials that fit the same themes and language goals that the textbook is teaching. Additionally, I could work on making the materials I do have work better for my students. I believe in making my language teaching as communicative as possible and this means focusing on student-to-student communication much more than the textbook suggests. While I do provide ample opportunities for students to work in small groups and with partners, I think I could find more creative ways of getting them to speak with one another and negotiate for meaning.
In conclusion, it has been a great transition from observing ESL classes to teaching them without much chance for guidance from a mentor teacher. I believe having had to start teaching sooner than I planned has forced me to figure out things a lot faster and I am grateful for that. Getting to teach a lower level of students than I thought I would be teaching has made me realize that I am a better communicator and have more patience than I thought. I will continue to work on my weaknesses so that I may mold them into strengths. This opportunity has been an amazing experience and I am so glad I get to continue enjoying it even after I have graduated from the MA TESOL program at Hawai‘i Pacific University.