ASSIGNMENT 4: LESSONS FROM THE CLASSROOM Two teaching strengths: Two areas of teaching that I needed to work on were ICQs and Staging. With persistent effort over over Weeks 1 -3 I managed to improve on them. Regarding Regarding ICQs,in TP 1 - 2, I recognized the omission myself when I had to repeat the instructions a couple of times while the Tasks were on. In TP 3 I made sure that I signposted, gave clear & crisp instructions which I had memorised earlier, & the tasks went on smoothly. smoothly. By TP 5 - 6 , I had built in this process of signposting-giving signposting-giving clear ICQs-checking well, so when I set my learners a Speaking task in TP6, with the game Network, using a ball of thread, they formed beautiful webs, having understood the instructions well. The 2nd area that I really had to work on, was staging the lesson. lesson. Twice, Twice, during TPs1-4 I was unable to put the lesson lesson in appropriate staging.In staging.In TP4 I lost out on an ‘above std’ rating because I had made a mistake in the ‘for gist’ task in a Skills lesson. My tutor’s written feedback reflected this gap in understanding on my part, I acted on it, and received praise from my peers and the tutor for the seamless flow of my lessons , in my following TPs. One of my colleagues in our TP group has crystal crystal clear clarity in staging of the lessons , I collaborated with her in drafting my stages and this helped me deliver deliver well-structured lessons. lessons. Another colleague has a little trick that she shared with me, she pastes a sticky-note behind the handout she is signposting, which has the instructions to the task, task, this way she doesn’t have to memorise the ICQs, and the learners get clear instructions.
Two areas of improvement: However, there are a couple of areas where I need to put in more work: reducing TTT and and doing Error Correction. My My tutors have have been marking me on reducing reducing TTT, they have applauded my progress ( TP 6), but it still remains an area that I need to greatly improve on, so that the focus remains remains on lessons being learner centered. I will video tape myself giving a lesson , and use the information gleaned from the video to find ways ways to reduce TTT TTT through the following techniques: techniques: using more gestures, mime and body language rather than words; ensuring that I elicit answers from Ss rather than giving lengthy explanations ; use simple, clear instructions; graded language; pair work activity; getting Ss to give feedback on the task to each other, and not to me ; giving Ss processing – processing –time time to assimilate instructions before they begin the activity ; give out more communicative tasks to ensure that my lessons become decentralized with ample learner-control.
An interesting tip that I picked up from one of my tutors was to check my interaction interaction pattern in the LP, if I am involved in all the activities/ stages, I have created a teacher centric plan, and am likely to have a class with high TTT, consequently less STT. Another area that needs work work is consistent Error-Correction. Though I am quick to pick up and address learner learner errors, my mind is engaged in executing executing the next level of the planned lesson; as a result, I sometimes am not as thorough as I should be in correcting learner errors, either by myself or through eliciting or WCFB. My tutors have remarked on this in my feedback ( TP 6, 7), and I will , in my next TPs, address and close this gap as well. There are a no. of methods of error correction that were taught to us in this course, such as finger correction; eliciting from other Ss; allowing Ss to discover his/her mistake through T’s facial expressions; making gestures combined with facial expressions; echoing sentence with changed intonation to indicate error; putting the incorrect word/ phrase/ sentence on board for Whole Class FeedBack and I will use some of these techniques in every lesson for effective Error Correction.
I am greatly influenced by my tutors who who are expert and experienced teachers, talk slow, and maintain a very stable pace and rhythm to reduce their Teacher Talk Time. They use a variety of tools such as keeping silent for learner to auto-correct, mime, gesture , clear instructions for ICQs and CCQs, audio and visual stimuli, all of which contribute to controlling TTT, and increasing STT, giving learners autonomy in their classrooms.
Professional development: I have approached the British Library in Pune, my home-town, for opportunities to work with the Council , in ELT centres and as workshop consultant. The BC is running classes for Maharashtra State Board School Primary and Middle School English teachers for Language Skills Development, Development, and I am interested in delivering high quality face to face English English Language courses to the learners. Pune has 5 CELTA trained teachers ( I hope hope to be the sixth) and also a DELTA, I am in touch with a few of them, and they have assured assured me that I can approach them them for feedback on my teaching. I am going to take the IELTS Train the Trainer course , with the Council. I am looking forward to tutoring IELTS aspirants .
I am a member of the British Council Teaching Opportunities group on LinkedIn, and it keeps updating seminars/ webinars/ conferences on ELT at http://www.britishcouncil.org/english/careers.. There are a no. of ELT forums to which http://www.britishcouncil.org/english/careers I have a subscription : eltgazette;Cambridge English Language Learning Assessment, ELTeC: India & Sri Lanka, IATEFL, ELTAI,and British Council Teaching English to name a few. Through these forums one keeps abreast of of latest developments in the field of ELT, interact interact with other teachers and build a community of practice.
Perhaps when I have gained gained a few years of teaching with CELTA methodology , I may take the Cambridge DELTA course too, as it is widely recognised for its in-depth practical focus on teaching.
