Reflection 12 – ICC MT

June 3, 2014

This MT went better than I thought.  Prior to this day, I spent several days thinking about what I wanted to do and I was in panic mode.  As soon as someone helped me with the topic, I was able to finish it, but I didn’t plan it as well as I wanted to.  As a result, I modified part of my lesson plan as I went along, but they were things that I normally do, which I will explain later. 

For my preview stage, although I did not teach it, I planned for a vocabulary game, but I realized afterwards, that maybe this wasn’t really necessary for my lesson plan.  I thought that it would’ve been an interesting activity, but it would have taken too much time and I think it would it have been more suitable for a different lesson.  Afterwards, I wanted to show them a picture and remind them of camping or vacation in Korea.  I realized after watching the video that I had explained too much, when I wasn’t going to even teach it. 

For my presentation stage, I started off with my top-down task of scanning the article and underlining all the subtitles.  I wanted to reduce my teacher-talk so I tried to speak more clearly so that they would understand.  I realized throughout my video that I could have personalized with the students more, instead of watching them, looking at the time, and trying to go by my lesson plan too much.  I was just moving back and forth with a paper in my hand, which didn’t really seem “teacher-like”. 

I had them the students discuss with their partners on their answers.  Some missed a few, so they were able to help each other find the right answer.  They generally seemed to do it well, and they didn’t seem to be confused.  I tried to make it more dialogic so I had the students ask each other, but again, I could have personalized with them more.  This part was not planned. 

I wanted to ask them if they knew where the article was taking place, but I wasn’t getting the answers I was expecting, so I had to rephrase my question and they were able to get the right answer.  A few thought it was the states, but the right answer was Canada.  I made a joke about how it was the best country in the world, but I realized the main topic was on culture and how there shouldn’t be any stereotypes, but I was doing just that.  My students would have joked around and said that Korea was the best.  However, thinking of that again, I knew that even that might have not been appropriate for the students to learn. 

I’m not sure if I had taught the top-down task properly, but because there were so many subtitles, I thought that it was a good idea to have the students scan it and check for the subtitles, because underlining could help them find the answers for future questions, and could help them scan the article better.  I wanted them to read for gist.  If they had for details right from the start, I don’t think there would have more questions and confusion. 

For the top-down-bottom-up task, I had the students’ think of 3 things that they have and have not done in Korea based on the article.  This is where I wanted them to think of the grammar part of the TLC for present perfect and also wanted them to think about their own culture and compare it with the other culture (Canada).  The students seemed to do the task well and did not seem lost or confused.  Afterwards, I had the students ask each other and share their answers.  But while they were discussing with each other, I should have written the questions and answers on the board to help the students discuss with each other.  I was thinking about whether to do this or not but I thought that it may have been considered as isolation so I decided not to do it.  But regardless if it was or not, I should have just done it…

Another thing that I did that was not planned was asking the students about hunting in Canada.  I thought that it would have made them think about the article more and think more about both cultures.  I don’t know if it’s possible to hunt in Korea, but I would assume that all of my students would have never hunted before.  But I know it would be something they would find interesting. 

For the bottom-up task, I made more of a conscience effort in speaking more clearly so I wouldn’t have to speak too much.  I told them to discuss a scenario that I had given them.  Originally, I wanted them to look closer into the text by thinking about how much it would cost for them to do both of their activities for the day.  However, thinking about my students, I thought that it might have been difficult, so I took it out at the very last moment (during the break).  However, again, I should have left it in because I realized that that would have been a better way of doing the BU task.  In this part, I wanted the students to practice speaking with simple future sentences, without having to teach them.  The “students” for this MT did very well, but I’m not sure if I would have gotten the same results with my real students. 

Generally, I wanted to reduce my ‘umm’s’ and ‘ok’s’ but I realized that I was still saying it too much.  I felt that I wasn’t as nervous as my previous MT’s, but looking at the video, I realized that I might have been more nervous than I thought because I kept moving around with the lesson plan in my hand.  I know it would have been different in my real class, but I should have personalized with the students more by going around and actually talking to them, and not just listen to them to see if they are simply doing it or not. 

I felt that I was speaking less and the students were speaking more with each other.  They were using the language, using the article to help with their discussion, and they were discussing things about the other culture.  I didn’t feel that there would be any stereotypes because I feel anyone from any country could have taken part in this assignment.  Students from around the world could have discussed with each other and shared their opinions.  It would have been interesting to see students from different cultures, participate in this lesson. 

Through this assignment, I learned that it was possible to tie in all aspects of speaking, writing, reading, and listening into one lesson.  I normally taught a reading comprehension and I did not think about or teach grammar.  But after reviewing previous notes and comments, I realized that I did have to think about vocabulary and grammar (TLC) for my lesson because that’s how they learn the language.  This assignment made me open up my eyes as a teacher, made me think more about what I have been teaching in my hakwon, and it made me think of ideas of what we could change at our hakwon.