Final Exam

Seong 1

Eun Nyeong Seong Theresa M. Johnson ENG6696 MWF10:00-11:00 9 Dec 2008

A. Students’ participation is the most important point for achieving the lesson object in English class because language learning asks more active and positive responds and reactions from the learners. Therefore, teachers need to encourage their participations. First, teachers help to reduce students’ affective filter by making comfortable and freely class mood with fun activities such as, songs, video clips, and games. Students are worried about their errors and mistakes when they express English among the classmates and teachers. Thus, teachers need to offer sufficient practices and clues for expression. Sometimes, teachers should permit students’ errors in the conversation and writings, if they are not related to the lesson object and key expressions. Students should be proud of their language abilities and confidents their producing in English most of all. Second, teacher should provide meaningful activities for interactions. The task based activities is one of good ways to draw students’ participations because students should interact with other students for completing their tasks. Whole class survey activities give a chance that all students practice and converse with each other in limited time. Group activities, such as group discussion, role play, problems solving, are good for interaction. Third, teachers should prepare well designed lesson plan to keep the balance between teachers’ talk and students’ one. Teachers like to talk too much, so teachers are careful to waste much time to explanations and presents.

Seong 2

B. The integration of four skills in the ESL class is very important because language do not separated to each skill but always showed and expressed with whole language form. Thus, teachers need to teach four skills together in class. For integrating 4 skills in English, It needs to divide lessons into not language skills but functions and topics: greeting, shopping, birthday or vacations. Lesson objects are concentrated on specific tasks and contents by using English, so students devote on fulfilling the task without focusing on individual language skills. Second, teachers introduce multi-activities to use all skills variously. For example, if the lesson topic is inviting. Teacher can plan the activities how to invite the guests and how to respond when you are invited: by calling which they speak and listen, by send mail which they read and write, by make the poster which write and read. Through using four skills, students have a chance to express and practice one topic with different ways, and they develop their whole language skills. Third, teachers keep the balance among four skills in their lesson plans. If teachers use listen a story for motivation, they use speaking activities for practicing, reading for application, or writing for lesson review. If they consider what students do the class before the lesson, they find out if their lessons are biased toward some skills more.

Seong 3

C. Teaching to ESL class was more different and harder than I expect, so I changed some activities during the class. First, I planed to spend the more time on practice and application activities because I expected that students can understand the key expression of ‘can’ easily. In actually, the students did not understand grammar related ‘can’ and ‘be able to’, so I could not go forward to the next steps. I changed the plan that I spent more time to explanation and student’s self-practice instead of the activities, because if students did not understand difference between the meaning of ‘can’ and ‘be able to’, they could not do application activities. Second, I did not know about the class mood and students’ attitudes. When I asked whole class answers and some volunteers for answer the questions on the first day, just couple of students always raised their hands and said ‘I will’. Some students never show active attitudes, and one of them did not write any answer in handouts. Thus, I changed my teaching style and made them answer turn by turn. Also, I did more pair works and group activities than whole class activities. For encouraging adult students’ participations is more difficult than those of children. However, for three days teaching, I have felt getting better to relationship between me and them day by day.

Seong 4

D. Review and assessment are main wrap-up activities in English class because students need to know what they should learn, what they learned and how to use what they learned. Teachers summarize the lesson and do review activities: matching key words with pictures, filling in the missing words in the sentences and making dialogues by using today’s key expressions. Sometimes, they ask students with question like outcome sentences: What is today’s lesson point? We learned how to …, I can read….. These activities give chances for the advanced students to reinforce the important lesson contents and for the low-achievement students to learn the lesson again. The last assessment is very helpful for teachers to know students’ achievements and plan the next lesson: what they need to learn more?, how they learn well?, and what are their weaknesses?. These are my favorite assessment activities. Before students return to their classroom, they line up in front of the door of English room. I show pictures or key words, and they make sentences using them instead of saying good-bye or hi-five. Sometimes, they make dialogues with their partners. Second, I prepare some multiplechoice or true-false questions, and all students answer by using their fingers or number cards. If they pass some points, they can go to their classroom. At last, just several students, most of them are struggling learners, remain, and I help and encourage them to overcome their language and learning problems. Third, I use self-assessment sheet which students mark their understanding by themselves in every class. They gather compliment stickers in it, too. At the end of the semester, it shows how much students develop their English abilities.