Journal 6

Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation is very important for students. I can see how intrinsic motivation work on one of my students, Nancy.

She used to be no interest in English. She did not know why she had to study English. She felt bored and meaningless to memorize vocabulary and grammars. Because of her lower motivation, she did not concentrate in class. As a result, her grades in English were not well, which caused her lack of more confidence in English.

She began to make excuses to “forget” to bring the English textbook again and again. I found out this behavior, so I tried to communicate with her. During the break time, I would pay more concern about her, not only about her study but also about her daily life, to show that I really cared about her. When we were doing exercise, I would pay more attention to her. I would encourage her to try and praise her when she did well.

Gradually, she becomes more interested in English. She rarely forgets to bring the English textbook. I do not have to pay more attention to her now because she will automatically do the exercise. What’s more, she will actively ask the question if she does not understand or feel confused. Her English grades in the second exam improved a lot, which enhance her confidence in English a lot.

It is intrinsic motivation that makes Nancy improve a lot. At first, it is I that almost control her study in English; however, now it is she that automatically does the study. A first, I use outside reward to encourage her; now she is encouraged by self-reward. It proves that with the teacher’s help and the cooperation of the student, the intrinsic motivation to learn English can be inspired.

Reflection

On Written Plan
Overall, the peers say it is a complete lesson plan; however, there are several mistakes I should improve. First, the explanation of the objectives part is wrong.
“Objective” means what you want students to gain from the lesson. “Goal” means that the teacher identifies an overall purpose that he or she will attempt to accomplish by the end of the class. Second, it’s hard to know who my target students are. Actually, my target students are college students
On Facial Expression & Body Language
It’s happy to hear peers comment me as an enthusiastic and charming teacher. I look confident in teaching the lesson.
On Speech Quality
Peers comment that the speech is clear and fluent. In my own reflection, I should practice to make my speech more fluent.
On Content Knowledge
Peers comment that it is a very good strategy to use 8 processes for teaching listening and that I explain listening strategy clearly and with details. Besides, the teacher comments that it is good to apply what you learn in teaching listening strategies and also raises a question: Does process 1—turn the speech into the “image” work in this case? I ignore that I should tell the class this process doesn’t work for this activity because it is already images.
On Teaching Material and Activities
Peers comment that it’s useful to develop strategies by a video clip and that playing “Sex, and the city” as the practice is quite interesting and attracting. It’s the well-planned activity and it is good for learners to listen without subtitles and with subtitles in the second time. Besides, it’s good to give students’ listening homework for evaluation. There is one aspect that I should improve: the questions on the exercise papers. One peer comments that questions are a bit hard for non-native speakers but it’s a good challenge. When I made questions for the activity, I have considered this problem. I put two questions about the general gist. I was afraid these questions a little hard for students, especially for ones that don’t see “Sex, and the city” before. However, I think that it will make students improve by giving some challenge in questions so that’s why I don’t delete them. Maybe I can still put more challenging questions in but it should be moderate; otherwise, students will feel frustrated.

Journal 5

I ask my tutor student to write a composition every week as a task. By this every-week task, she has learned a lot from it.
First, she can apply English she has learned for a long time to reality, not just limited to the boring textbook. My tutor student lacks a little motivation in learning. One time she asked me, “why should I learn so many subjects?” Therefore, by writing compositions, she finds motivation in learning English. The topic she chooses for writing is “My favorite Singer.” She told me when she does not know some information about his favorite singer, she gets on the Internet to search for further information. She will look up the dictionary if she does not know how to express in English. All these are motivated on her own. From this task, learning English becomes more interesting.
Second, the completion of the task builds her confidence in learning English. It is she that finishes the task on her own, and she is proud of herself. When she turns in her composition, I give her some compliment and I see smile on her face.
Last but not the least, she can make mistakes work for her. Because it is her own writing, she has deep impression on it. Although many mistakes in her first writing may frustrate her, I encourage her that she should keep going and make progress. Therefore, when she corrects and revises next time, she will notice not to make the same mistakes again.

Proposal of the Final Project

In my final project, I am going to do further research on tutors’ writing. I will ask my tutor students to write a composition every week. The topic chooses according the genre. We will start with easier and more interesting genre, description or narration. The student begins with the appealing topic will motivate them to do more research. In this process, they will not only learn new vocabulary but also apply what they have learned in class in their composition. After the students make progress, I continue to write the different genre such as persuasion or exposition.
I will help them plan the composition, using brainstorming and free writing. When the students turn in the draft, I will respond on the global content and organization of ideas first. After their revision, I will evaluate their writing in specific aspects, for example, verbs, punctuation, word form, preposition, and so on. Instead of telling why is wrong, I will underline the errors so that they can think themselves and learn from mistakes. Besides, I will categorize the type of errors and help the students decrease their amount of errors every time they write.
A last, I will analyze what are the students’ weakest points and adjust my ways of teaching writing. It may be a way to give the students hangouts, exercising the part they do not familiarize with.

Journal 4

After couple of classes, J had some reflection on my teaching.
First reflection is that sometimes because of traffic jam, I almost go to the cram school late. When I arrive, I begin to teach a lesson without warm-up. Under this circumstance, students are not ready to be in class so they are easy to be distracted. Therefore, next time I should start off earlier because as a teacher, I should set an example of being punctual. Then I should prepare warm-up, for example, ask students the scheduled progress in school, which will raise their interest and is also related to the class.
Second reflection is that it is a little hard for me to control the timing of the quiz. My boss asks me to have a period of time for students to memorize the vocabulary or reading context I have taught just now (in the assumption that they will not study after the class.) However, because of the heterogeneity of the classroom, the proficiency range is broad. The higher-leveled students just spend little time to achieve; however, the lower-leveled students have to spend a lot of time in order to achieve, and sometimes they resist the quiz and even don’t want to try, which frustrates me a lot. I can not give up any student, but the dilemma is that in order to wait for the lower-leveled students, the higher-leveled students will be ignored and feel bored. After the reflection, I decide to make some change – give the same quiz paper to all the students at first. When the higher-leveled students finish the quiz, give them more difficult and challenging tasks while they are waiting for the other students. By this way, the higher-level students can enhance other knowledge and review what they have learned again; the lower-leveled students can also have sufficient time to complete their quiz.

Journal 3

My tutor student is fourth grade in elementary school. For a beginning –level learner, the major teaching strategy I take is Audiolingual Method, which focuses on oral activities instead of grammar translation. The instruction I use is theme-based teaching. At first, I use reactive way – repeat the sentences after me. Because she is a beginner in English, the rate of delivery must be slower in case that she does not understand. Besides, I incorporate the context with a change of intonation, sometimes even more exaggerated. By this way it can appeal to her interest to get more motivated to learn. After she understands the conversation of this lesson, we begin the role play game. I give her priority to choose which role she would like to be. In psychological way, students like to be given right to choose, which make them feel recognized. After she gets more familiar with the conversation, I change to use responsive way, eliciting her to make immediate response with the textbook closed. By this way she can apply what she learns to reality.
In the rest of the class time, we learn some words like wig, pig, king, pink, etc. After she repeats after me every word, I ask her to read herself. In the process, I know which words she is still not familiar with and then I can focus more on these. Then I use chunking strategy to link between words, for example, “a pig is pink” or “the king wears wig,” which enables her memorize easily. I also use the related picture to impress her. After that, we start to do some bottom-up exercise. The exercise includes word recognition: I say “king”, and she has to match a word that she hears with its picture, and listening for normal sentence word order: I say “I go to school every day.” The words “go to school” are missing, so she has to fill in. If she forgets how to spell, I will allow her to review for a while and then continue to write. We also do some top-down exercise. The exercise includes getting the gist of a sentence: I say “I eat breakfast at seven o’clock.” Then she has to select the correct picture that I describe.
For a young child, whose memory us limited, the content can’t be overwhelming for her. Therefore, I repeat and repeat the context by using four skills, listening, speaking, reading, and writing in two hours. By this way, it can not only achieve the effect but also be interesting.

Journal 2

I have a job of teaching English in the cram school. This is a small class, which is composed of eight students in the seventh grade, three girls and five boys. I have taught them for three months. The levels of their English are uneven. It is a big challenge when I teach them the first day.
After getting along with them for a while, I have gradually come to realize them.
Erica is placid and well-behaved. Her English competence is not bad. Also, she is a good follower and has intrinsic motivation to learn. She concentrates on the class so much, which makes me feel worthwhile to teach with my whole heart. She is a little shy. She usually answers the question I ask in a small voice or sometimes she will blush. She’s a cute student and I quite like her.
Ivy is an easily distracted student. She likes to pass notes during the class or to do her homework sneakily, so I have to pay more attention to her.
Mandy is the one that Ivy passes notes with but she is more concentrated than Ivy. She sometimes answers the questions I ask actively.
John and Teddy have better English competence. Also, they are highly motivated to learn. They sometimes will be ahead of my teaching progress if they have already been familiar with what I am teaching. They are both bold in asking question and not afraid to make mistakes.
Michael has a potential to learn. However, he has an emotional problem. If something does not go in his way, he will be irritated. He will refuse to cooperate. What’s worse, he will call teacher’s names! It’s heartbreaking when the teacher heard this. But he is a cute student when he is well-behaved.
Robert and Bob have lower English competence. They have to spend time to realize the concept and memorize the vocabulary. They are easily distracted, sometimes unable to follow my steps. Robert has more motivated to learn while Bob doesn’t. Bob has lower motivated and lacks of self-confidence and automaticity. Pessimism occupies in his mind, always saying “I can’t do it.” In my opinion, it might relate to his background. He is a spoiled child. His parents cannot bear to blame him because of hid poor grades. However, because of this, it will give Bob passive and negative learning attitude, which will influence his life.
It’s really a big challenge for me and I will keep going!