This week was test week for my afternoon classes.It gave me the opportunity to assess what they had learnt over the past few weeks. A few weeks ago, I had tried a new way of teaching them vocabulary. I had introduced more pairwork and made the students use dictionaries to help them formulate a definition that they could comprehend. They also used the story to help them understand the meaning in context. Next, I spent much more time practicing and using these new words. They built sentences using these new words and I quizzed them several times over the last few weeks. Can you guess what happened. Well the majority of the students scored much higher on their test than they had previously. I can call that somewhat of a success. The way I look at it, is that I must keep refining my approach of teaching vocabulary. I know that some of my students lack motivation to do their homework and study for tests therefore it is up to me to peek their interest in class and hopefully be able to get that information stored into long term memory. I will keep working hard on this aspect because I can see the benefits of changing my approach of teaching vocabulary.
Another key point to my reflection this week is my t-talk. It really bothered me to be told that I don't sound genuine when I speak in front of a classroom. It bothered me so much that I couldn't sleep last Saturday night and I spent the day on Sunday just mopping around instead of doing my homework. Monday, I went in to work determined to find some explanation behind this issue. I actually asked my boss if I could watch some of my CCTV recordings to see exactly how I talk to my students. To my surprise 75% of the time I speak in a normal tone and sometimes to get their attention I seem to put on a different tone. I was somewhat satisfied with my findings. So then why do I change my tone when i'm in front of my STG classmates? Why do I make it seem like it's a show....a terrible one on top of it. Is it nerves, is it lack of preparation??? I need to keep reflecting on this issue.....
Another key point to my reflection this week is my t-talk. It really bothered me to be told that I don't sound genuine when I speak in front of a classroom. It bothered me so much that I couldn't sleep last Saturday night and I spent the day on Sunday just mopping around instead of doing my homework. Monday, I went in to work determined to find some explanation behind this issue. I actually asked my boss if I could watch some of my CCTV recordings to see exactly how I talk to my students. To my surprise 75% of the time I speak in a normal tone and sometimes to get their attention I seem to put on a different tone. I was somewhat satisfied with my findings. So then why do I change my tone when i'm in front of my STG classmates? Why do I make it seem like it's a show....a terrible one on top of it. Is it nerves, is it lack of preparation??? I need to keep reflecting on this issue.....
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