Week 3 Reflection

By the end of each week, I have a lot of questions in my mind about my own teaching practice and the current situation of my work place.  I totally agree with Miller's idea of using authentic materials as described in "Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials" but what if students' proficiency level is really low and their listening skill is poor?  Can we still use authentic materials?  If we slow down the speed of the audio, is that still considered authentic?   

 

I am in favour of using authentic materials because real life conversation is very different from those audios in academic listening textbooks.  Take myself as an example.  I couldn't understand my professors when I was a freshman even though I had had studied English for twelve years by that time.   My question is, having experienced that situation, why am I still creating those "inauthentic" listening materials for my students?  Is it just because I think they may not understand the content?  Am I too subjective?  I think it's time to change.  Perhaps I may start with using videos which can provide more linguistic clues to what the speaker says.  Students may have different reactions to it, but it is still worth trying.

Delicious.com is the panacea to my messy favourites / bookmarks.   Not only can I store all the bookmarks in one place, but also to catergorize them as public or private.  By doing so, it allows me to filter the bookmarks thus saving time when searching for a website.   I think the "Follow" function is also a useful tool.  I am building my Delicious networks and adding in more links gradually.  Overall, it is very fruitful week.   

Week 2 Reflection

I was astonished that there are so many search engines available in the Internet.  Then I start to question myself why I have only been using Google.  Am I influenced by social media, friends, or what?  Then I wonder why many of my Mainland Chinese students use Baidu but not Google.  Does that have to do with culture? 

I selected 7 search engines from the long list of "Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need" that may be useful for students and myself.  They are SurfWax, IDEA Portal, SweetSearch, Infotopia, CIA World Factbook, Social Issues, and Search Engine Colossus.  Some of them are good and can be used as resources for class projects and activiies.  The ones that I would recommend are:

• IDEA Portal
• SweetSearch
• CIA World Factbook
• Social Issues

I will include them as resources in future projects or even create a portal for students.  As I am working on the assignments throughout the week, I understand the importance of clear instructions and guidance.  Sometimes I am reluntant to give students links to resources for projects because all of them will use the same materials without taking a further step of doing some research on the topic even if you told them to. Now, being a student again, I see the need to have those support and resources available, especially when learning a new subject, and to have some assurance in the quality of the content. 

I also try using the search engine "Exalead" which claims to be an excellent alternative to Google according to "Phil Bradley's List of Web Search Engines".  I think the results generated are limited and for some broad terms, such as non verbal communication, Exalead can't find any matches to my search.  

Another reading that I find very useful is the Web Searching Tech Tip by Deborah Healey.  I have had a lot of experience of not being able to find materials that I want from the Internet.  I think it is because I didn't know to use Boolean opeators to limit or expand my search. 

After finished the readings for this week and the online discussion on websearching, I can't wait to get back to the classroom to share these tools with my students.   

The readings about learning objectives and the ABCD model shed some light on me.  I understand the concerns of our new teachers and why they are so confused about the course materials and activities.  I think the terminologies "objectives", "learner outcomes" and "goals" are intepreted differently by teachers so it caused a lot of misunderstanding.  Moreover, the objectives in our course outline are vague and they are not easy to measure. There is a need to revise the objectives and the A.B.C.D. method can be adopted.    Though not many colleagues might wish to take the time and trouble to improve the objectives, I think the clearer the objective, the easier it is for teachers to evaluate. 

 

 

Week 1 Reflection

This is my first time to create a blog and it took so much time to create one.   I have been reflecting on what went wrong and I realize that I spent too much time exploring and trying to make it perfect.  I should have created the basics and then as I am more familiar with it, I can improve the layout and design of the blog.

It is not easy to spend a few hours straight in front of the computer working on the assignments because there are always things happening around which require your attention.  When I am back to the computer, I forget where I stopped and I have to start all over again.  That is not efficient and it causes a lot of frustration. 

During this first week, I notice that I like reading from paper rather than online because I like to take notes while I am reading.  So I printed out the materials in paper, though not environmental friendly, but it works better for me.  I also list out the weekly tasks and write down the usernames and passwords of the websites that we have to visit regularly in my notebook, and carry it with me in my handbag.   When it is not possible to have a computer in front of me, I can read the print out and write my reflection on it, or I can view my course mates' discussions via my phone and write down my comments in the notebook.

 

 

 



Since I have never created a blog, or even comment on a blog, the idea of a blog for class is new to me.   After I read "Blogging for ELT" and "Weblogs for use with ESL Classes", I think concerns I have all the time with my students can be addressed.  Through blogging, students can practise their writing in a more meaningful and authentic way  because they are writing for a real audience. They will probably be more involved and careful about spelling and grammar as well.  Shy students may feel less intimidating instead of sharing their ideas verbally in class.   According to the readings, there are many benefits of using a blog for class but I think I should not be too ambitious at this point since I am also a new blogger.  However, I wonder what I should do if students are not using standard English, correct grammar, and/or correct sentence structure?

 

The author of "Blogging for ELT" states that teachers have to reply to students' posts quickly in order to keep them interested.  I think it is a big challenge for me.  I have around 125 students each semester, how can I comment on each of their posts every week?