This reflection is written in response to my contemplation of the lesson that was implemented at the English Language Institute (ELI) on the campus of California State University, Sacramento regarding weekly vocabulary words for a Reading and Vocabulary class. The program at ELI consists of 8 levels in each of the language tasks of Listening and Speaking; Reading and Vocabulary; and Grammar and Composition, with varying electives for students to choose from for additional practice in the language, such as a board game class in English. All classes are held four days a week, Monday through Thursday. The class that I taught is a level 4 Reading and Vocabulary class, so these are approximately low-intermediate/ intermediate level students. One student in the class is taking this level for the second time. All students placed in this level began with a placement test to the Institute, however some have been in the program for 1-2 terms already. My host teacher, teaches this and other classes as a full-time teacher at ELI. For his Reading and Vocabulary classes he typically sets a schedule to teach solely vocabulary one day a week. Students have been struggling with vocabulary this term, so the host teacher and I have brainstormed several ways to support them as word learners.
The host teacher and I decided that I would be teaching the week prior to my class time. We arranged for me to teach the vocabulary words for week 6 that had been chosen out of the novel the class is reading, “Holes,” by Louis Sachar. We discussed and brainstormed possibilities for games since many of the students were struggling with vocabulary and were pressing the teacher for more time on vocabulary. I felt that instead of more time, we could possibly create activities that would be more effective word-learning tools for them. I sent a rough draft to the host teacher with some game and group activity ideas of which he approved. Initially, I was going to do the second activity and have the students present their words, but the host teacher liked the idea of preparing the students for the group game by having them guess which words each group had. I thought this idea was brilliant because it broke the ice for the game in addition to scaffolding what was expected of the students for the following activity. We ended up turning that activity into a guessing game as well. I wanted to create games in which the students could offer their own experience and context to their learning, thereby creating multiple contexts for their peers to hear and see the words being used. I began with my own dramatization, again reinforcing the learning of words as an active pursuit, and breaking the ice for students to perform in front of their peers. Knowing these students are struggling with how and when to use vocabulary in context, I knew that 50 minutes of drama and games would not empower them further, nor give them a deeper understanding of the words. I developed an out-of-class assignment for the students, which requires them to seek out two real-world occurrences of each of the 11 words. The project assigns questions for the context in which the words are found in the form of a checklist to bring further student awareness to collocation and registers. The students will be sharing those answers in class within groups next week thereby broadening their exposure to usage and context.
The group work, games, and even the story were all very well received. I was confident in my pacing and more aware of the time than I was with the previous lesson I taught. I was very pleased with the student responses to the lesson and the understanding and enthusiasm they exhibited toward the activities, which my host teacher also commented on their comfort level with the activities. My disappointments lay in my ability to organize my instruction in a clear and concise way. I felt that my filler words, false starts, and disorganized explanation could prove problematic for second language learners. My host teacher expressed as well, that the instructions could be a little clearer, especially when I explained the homework. In spite of my shortcomings, the activities went very smoothly and the students showed comfort in using most of the words.
I ended the lesson by handing out peer surveys to the students that had them reflect on their learning process. Though this class has had known struggles with vocabulary, they expressed having fun, ease with the activities and confidence in using the words in diction. They also expressed that the story was extremely helpful in their understanding of the words. This was encouraging to me because I felt that the students’ ease came as a result of them enjoying themselves throughout the lesson. I would have liked a way to further assess their ability to use the words in a sentence. If there were to be no follow-up on this lesson, (which there will be) I would have asked the students to compose sentences with each of the words, or orchestrated an interview-type task using these words in order to assess their understanding. Overall, I feel the lesson was very well paced, organized, and resulted in a rewarding experience for both the students and myself.
The host teacher and I decided that I would be teaching the week prior to my class time. We arranged for me to teach the vocabulary words for week 6 that had been chosen out of the novel the class is reading, “Holes,” by Louis Sachar. We discussed and brainstormed possibilities for games since many of the students were struggling with vocabulary and were pressing the teacher for more time on vocabulary. I felt that instead of more time, we could possibly create activities that would be more effective word-learning tools for them. I sent a rough draft to the host teacher with some game and group activity ideas of which he approved. Initially, I was going to do the second activity and have the students present their words, but the host teacher liked the idea of preparing the students for the group game by having them guess which words each group had. I thought this idea was brilliant because it broke the ice for the game in addition to scaffolding what was expected of the students for the following activity. We ended up turning that activity into a guessing game as well. I wanted to create games in which the students could offer their own experience and context to their learning, thereby creating multiple contexts for their peers to hear and see the words being used. I began with my own dramatization, again reinforcing the learning of words as an active pursuit, and breaking the ice for students to perform in front of their peers. Knowing these students are struggling with how and when to use vocabulary in context, I knew that 50 minutes of drama and games would not empower them further, nor give them a deeper understanding of the words. I developed an out-of-class assignment for the students, which requires them to seek out two real-world occurrences of each of the 11 words. The project assigns questions for the context in which the words are found in the form of a checklist to bring further student awareness to collocation and registers. The students will be sharing those answers in class within groups next week thereby broadening their exposure to usage and context.
The group work, games, and even the story were all very well received. I was confident in my pacing and more aware of the time than I was with the previous lesson I taught. I was very pleased with the student responses to the lesson and the understanding and enthusiasm they exhibited toward the activities, which my host teacher also commented on their comfort level with the activities. My disappointments lay in my ability to organize my instruction in a clear and concise way. I felt that my filler words, false starts, and disorganized explanation could prove problematic for second language learners. My host teacher expressed as well, that the instructions could be a little clearer, especially when I explained the homework. In spite of my shortcomings, the activities went very smoothly and the students showed comfort in using most of the words.
I ended the lesson by handing out peer surveys to the students that had them reflect on their learning process. Though this class has had known struggles with vocabulary, they expressed having fun, ease with the activities and confidence in using the words in diction. They also expressed that the story was extremely helpful in their understanding of the words. This was encouraging to me because I felt that the students’ ease came as a result of them enjoying themselves throughout the lesson. I would have liked a way to further assess their ability to use the words in a sentence. If there were to be no follow-up on this lesson, (which there will be) I would have asked the students to compose sentences with each of the words, or orchestrated an interview-type task using these words in order to assess their understanding. Overall, I feel the lesson was very well paced, organized, and resulted in a rewarding experience for both the students and myself.