Teaching
Dictogloss
So, you may be one of those instructors who are very teacher centred and has a deductive approach to learning and teaching. However, it may well be a good idea to think about collaborative procedures that allow the students to make discoveries. Thus, there is the inductive approach where students (in a dictation lesson, for example) induce meaning through their own use of the English language. Here is where ‘Dictogloss’ comes in. Learners retain the gist of a story (from dictation) and then use their own grammatical knowledge to rewrite the story.
So, here is how it goes. Students are introduced to the topic and the related vocabulary. Techniques such as an open class discussion, group brainstorming, question and answer elicitation, predicting text content from pictures or vocabulary, are used to contextualise the lesson. Learners then listen to the text. The first time, they do not write anything. But, the second time they take notes, noting keywords. Then, the students work in groups of three or four to reconstruct the text with one student acting as a writer of their own group version. Once finished, students can then write their copy on the board where a comparison can be made with other groups’ ideas and of course the teacher’s original text. Above all, at this point, feedback through peer correction is encouraged for all students.
text → student reconstruction → comparison
input output feedback
Thornbury (1999:85) evaluates the dictogloss and reports that it ‘provides a useful means for guiding learners towards noticing the gap between their present competence and their target competence’.
Reference: http://www.academia.edu/323021/A_Classroom_Experiment_Using_dictogloss
GIVE IT A GO!!!!!
Teaching Reflection: A Critical Incident
(554 Words)
A “prudent understanding of variable situations with a view to what is to be done” (McCarthy, 1984, p.2) encapsulates that moment when a teacher is met with new experiences that need resolving. Teachers are met with acts that define their personalities. While working in Asia, I was faced with one such dilemma as two students had complained to my manager that I was rude to them. I had mentioned, after class on the first day of a new term, that they had entered late, ignored me as they walked in across the class and sat down to subsequently talk with friends. Contemplating Asian culture which may ignore this kind of attitude, I still felt the need to deal with it. What is called a ‘technical rationality’ (Schon, 1983), my reaction, I hoped, was a means to an end by telling them, in not so many words, that I would like them to respect the learning students and the teacher teaching. In this given situation and given they were both adults, who was right as we both had views? For this piece of writing, I would like to like to draw on Gibbs (1988) model of reflection with the hope of using the six steps to examine this classroom experience.
This ‘critical incident’ (Flanagon, 1954) emphasizes a direct observation of human behavior to examine the point of myself, the teacher, keeping two students behind after class to talk about their behavior towards the learning process. This is also the ‘concrete example’ (Peters, 1984) where we have to step back and test ourselves. One test is my ‘feelings’ (Gibbs, 1988) towards the students’ attitude of nonchalantly arriving late and traipsing past me. I felt somewhat annoyed as the class had been disturbed, I was disrespected as a teacher and unfortunately unsupported by my manager who told me to apologize to them.
Moreover, to ‘evaluate’ (Gibbs, 1988), the third stage of Gibbs’ model, which highlights the good and bad, is first to say that I chose a quiet moment to explain myself to the students after the class. The bad would be the students’ reaction to a situation they felt was nothing to be worried about which in Asian culture may have made them lose face. So, to make sense of the situation and ‘analyze’ (Gibbs, 1988) it, I was left feeling that I was in the wrong. My manager was now telling me to apologize and forget about it although I felt he was driven by the Asian culture and business ethics of the customer is always right and do not say anything bad.
The “conclusion” (Gibbs, 1988) is to highlight and reflect on what more could I have done, seeing as I had to apologize (or jeopardise my job). Culture was an issue, but also I think attitudes to lateness of another teacher to which they had had the previous term. My ‘action plan’ (Gibbs, 1988) is now to see if the situation arose again what I would do. Of course, there are reasons for being late, and also for reactions to negative things said about someone. Culturally, maybe I was too abrupt and too serious. Finally, laughter and a smile work in Asian culture and also getting the students’ personal feelings as to the right behavior instead of pushing my personally held beliefs. Hopefully, this essay creates more reflection.
References
Peter Scales, 2008. Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector. 1 Edition. Open University Press.
Geoff Petty, 2009. Teaching Today: A Practical Guide. 4 Edition. Nelson Thornes.
Yvonne Hillier, 2005. Reflective Teaching in Further and Adult Education. 2 Edition. Continuum.
Andrew Armitage, 2011. Developing Professional Practice, 14-19. Edition. Longman/Pearson.
Figurative Langauge – Does it add flavour?
Jones’ Exclusive Swimming Pools
120 Parade Avenue, 13000
Abu Dhabi
Phone: +971 08994746
August 7, 2017
Mr Davy Backham
The Villa Complex
Dubai, 123235DB
United Arab Emirates
Dear Davy:
Re: Completed Swimming Pool and Birthday Party
I hereby accept your most generous invitation to the prestigious ceremony; I say with tongue in cheek, of the opening of your new exclusive swimming pool we built for you. I am also over the moon to come and join in the celebration for your son’s tenth birthday party. It will be an honor to be there, not only as the president of the company but also as a friend. You and your wife have been most generous to a fault to invite me.
I must expound slightly, if I may, on the completion of the pool. I feel it must be like a manna from heaven to you to be able to sit by the water. I must apologise again for all the stalling blocks.
Thanks for the last email; I did hear about your last party, I will not buy your son anything too exorbitant. I hope he relishes the birthday party: how sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child! All the same, it is nice to be young, rather than like me, and be as old as Methuselah. I am actually going to feel like the man on Clapham omnibus with all those celebrities around the pool. I pertain to be up in the mix with the gentry and well healed, but it will put me on my mettle. It will actually all be like water off a duck’s back as I do now have a VIP box at FC Barcelona that has seen a few famous faces. By the way, you are always welcome!
It will be strange coming back to Dubai as we had a wild time there before. Sorry for the slight crassness, but I was pissed as a newt. We had a works do, everyone was there from the last time you came to the house. It was like herding cats at times. I will reveal more of the story when I see you. All I can say is we were scattered from here to breakfast. I should also say that my wife has thrown a bridle on me since then, at least for the time being, but it will be alright for the party, I will be free. Actually, the story should only be between you and me and the bedpost.
I must say (I think you have not been back for a year) having been to Dubai to complete the pool, I was amazed what an out of this world place it is nowadays. It raises eyebrows. I say this, but it is crazy how many foreigners are riding the gravy train there. They are buying up property like nobody’s business. I am not sure when the bubble will burst. All the same, if we go out, I know some places to avoid to cut loose from those hangers on.
So, I am arriving on October 3, I will book into the hotel and then work my way over to your abode. We need to do a little shopping; for one the wife needs a little retail therapy – she is a strange bird – but it would be nice to get a few bottles and a present for the kid. I hope she does not buy a pig in the poke, so I think I will take over and buy something for the party. She has the knack of spending money on absolute junk.
Yours faithfully,
Jim Jones
Literacy Review – Formative Assessment
Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment By Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam
(535 words)
Giving an overall picture to the students’ learning, and them understanding clearly the subject matter and material in the lesson as an ongoing process, led me to focus on formative assessment for professional development, and subsequently on a small book called Inside ‘the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment by Paul Black and Dylan William’ (1998).
The first main focus of this book was that outside of the classroom there are many factors/forces that push the teacher to do a proficient job. However, Black and Wiliam state that ‘learning is driven by what teachers and pupils do in classrooms’ (Black and Wiliam, 1998: 1). This highlights the classroom as the Black Box and what goes on inside is as important if not more than outside assessment. The teacher is the one who has that direct relationship with the students and that helps deal with progression within this sphere. The teacher is really the only one that can see what is happening on a day to day basis. For example, Black and Wiliam suggest ‘how can anyone be sure that a particular set of new inputs will produce better outputs if we don’t at least study what happens inside?’ Black and Wiliam (1998: 2). Teachers are always looking for ways to improve and formative assessment of the students’ on-going study means that the teacher can change factors to help suit the needs of the students.
Furthermore, the fact that students have tests at the end of their learning makes room for more formative assessment that can help highlight issues along the path of their learning actively helping them and adjusting their learning. Black and Wiliam state that ‘the practice of formative assessment produce significant and often substantial learning gains’ (Black and Wiliam, 1998: 1). There is a need for the students to be actively involved and the process of letting the students just complete work and then mark it reinforces underachievement. Students should be allowed to assess their on-going learning as well as the teacher. Black and Wiliam highlight this, as improved formative assessment helps low achievers more than other students and so reduces the range of achievement while raising achievement overall (Black and Wiliam, 1998: 4). Thus the teacher can adapt their teaching to fit the needs of the students. This gets away from summative assessment as the vital part of the learning process where the final result is more important than the path getting there. Black and Willams show that ‘the giving of marks and the grading function is overemphasized, while the giving of useful advice and the learning function are underemphasized (Black and Wiliam, 1998: 5). This then gets away from the students competing and puts focus on them actually looking at their personal improvement. It could be said to be true that ‘when the classroom culture focuses on rewards, gold stars, grades, or class ranking, then pupils look for ways to obtain the best marks rather than to improve their learning. (Black and Wiliam, 1998: 7). This puts the focus back on the students to change the culture into one where all the students involved can progress and achieve. The students can understand the main focus of being in the classroom.
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998b). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom
What makes a good (English) teacher working in Thailand? – Thai class survey
(817 Words)
Any new foreign language teacher in Thailand can feel that they have studied and acquired the knowledge to feel confident in a classroom full of excitable children. This knowledge lies at the feet of the teacher having the foresight to know how the students might react in any learning situation. One of the most important factors of teaching is the students who have to be in the right frame of mind while having the willingness to learn. This said, a confident teacher still has to change course when their best-laid plans do not seem to be working because of uninterested/reluctant students. For this report, I based my research on what a good teacher should have and do in class. I surveyed 50 Thai students who were between 15 and 17 years of age. This was done by way of a survey during the class where I had the chance to circulate and talk to the students.
My initial thought was to use a list of factors I thought the students would empathize with that showed the character of a teacher.
