"We've got Annie!", ICC Lesson Reflection

In this lesson, my goal was for students to identify messages sent through body language. I used two clips from the 1982 'Annie' movie.  Common among musicals, scenes in 'Annie' are rich in body language.  I chose two contrasting scenes to show the different messages of adult characters.  The first scene was Miss Hannigan with Annie and the orphans.  The other was the scene when Annie first enters the Warbucks mansion with Miss Farrell., Mr. Warbucks's secretary.  

                                     

The lesson began with students looking at picture from their textbook, a sketch of two faces.  Students explained how the people felt and were asked to give reasons for there opinions.  Following a brief discussion, I taught the terms facial expression, gestures and body language.  One of the students knew the meaning of 'body language' and had been introduced to the word 'gesture'.  As I watched the video, I realized that I could have asked the students if they knew what the terms meant before going directly into explanations. I also noticed that when students were hearing a word or phrase for the first time, I did nothing to stimulate student understanding.  Phrases, such as 'facial expression, and words, like 'annoyed and confused', were stated without allowing students to repeat them.  I was too hasty.  As a result, it is unlikely that the new vocabulary was placed in short term memory.

Before the video clip activity began, both the students and I gave examples of different types of body language.   We tried guessing the messages that were being sent.  Sometimes the intended message of the sender differed from what the recipient understood.  These instances, were opportunities to point out how the messages one intends to send are not always what is received by the observer.  Unfortunately, I failed to point out that such misunderstanding is a common challenge in intercultural and interpersonal communication.  

                                  

When it was time to show the video clips, students had a good understanding of what they were looking for.  My instructions were pretty clear and the following discussion showed that students understood the goal of the lesson.  During the discussion, I returned to the clips and asked them to point out specific movements that sent the messages they received.  One student said that Miss Hannigan was drunk.  I asked her why she thought so and she said that the way Miss Hannigan was moving was how her father moves after drinking alcohol.  I was not surprised that she shared such personal information.  This is common amongst my students.   

                                                      
Continuing with the lesson, I pointed out several gestures and asked what messages were being sent.  In the first clip Annie and another orphan are hugging each other tightly as Miss Hannigan enters their bedroom.  In the second clip, Miss Farrell touches Annie's face and makes other gestures for expressing her message to Annie.  What I did not anticipate was that students lacked the emotion vocabulary needed to describe the messages.  I should have taught some terms before showing the scenes.  I could have asked students to identify which gestures matched the terms discussed before the viewing.



In observing the video I realized that there were quite a few missed opportunities for encouraging greater intercultural competence.  I also noticed that at times, when reacting to student comments, my voice carried tones of judgement.  When facilitating lessons of intercultural competence, I must be cautious as to how I use my voice in responding to student messages.  Voice inflection can send messages more explicit than the words themselves.  Also, I must accept that student viewpoints will not always correspond to my own and that this difference in understanding should be expected and encouraged.  If students are taught to answer according to what they think the teacher wants to hear, then the communication is dishonest and the lesson will be unsuccessful.

                                                         
This lesson was an introduction to understanding body language.  The gestures in the movie were obvious to read.  In the future I'd like to teach a lesson in which the cultural messages of body language are less definable.  Students should know that body language is not always easy to read and that misunderstandings occur when people of different countries use the same body language to express different meanings.  When I do teach a follow-up lesson, I will hopefully avoid the mistakes made this week.

The Rat in the Jet, Reflection on a Pronunciation Activity

In this activity my goal was for students to improve their pronunciation of short vowels 'a' and 'e', by noticing the subtle difference between the similar sounds .  This review activity was inspired by Harmer's chapter 15 activity 'Ship and chip' and Kelly's 'Minimal pairs and related activities'.  To guide students, I made a short simple poem using 7 three-letter words that the students had encountered in previous lessons.  Four of the words had the short vowel 'a' sound and the other 3 had the short vowel 'e' sound: bat, cat, rat, hat, jet, vet and bed.  

Before writing the poem on the board, I showed the class flash cards of each word and had them pronounce and spell the words.  I exaggerated my mouth to that students could see the difference in the wider mouth opening of short vowel 'a' as compared to the slight opening of short vowel 'e'.  After showing the flash cards.  I wrote two sentences on the board using two short vowel 'a' words and two short vowel 'e' words.  I used red to write the words of the sentences, except for the short 'e' words.  For these, I used a blue marker.  One of my students asked, why I had used two colors.  I was not expecting the question, although I should have been.  I'd like to say that I rarely use any marker color other than black, but the truth is that I can't remember ever using colored markers in this class.  Before I could finish explaining why I was using red and blue markers, the student and his classmates figured it out on their own; different colors were used for different vowels sounds.  I think that I should have held off on my explanation and asked the students why they thought two colors were used.  This would have been a great opportunity to incite more student-talk.

The activity was received well by the students, one of which added his own suggestion on how to make the reading more fun.  As suggested, I lead the students through slow and fast readings of the poem.  I was impressed when students were able to speak both quickly and fluently, but for the purpose of the lesson I kept most of the practice at a normal pace.  I used my hand to guide students through the reading, at several points asking them to identify sounds, by pointing from 'a' to 'e'.  I added two more sentences to the poem, making a four-line poem.

During this activity, all of the interaction was between the student(s) and myself.  This was necessary for modeling correct vowel sounds.  A few student initiated responses/ comments did make the activity a little more communicative. 

 
In my opinion this was a successful pronunciation activity.  Only half of the class was present, but it did not make much difference regarding my instruction.  This group, big or small, is pretty attentive and motivated when studying English.  I will incorporate similar activities in later lessons so that all students have the opportunity to notice their pronunciations.

To end the activity, I told students that there was one more short 'e' word and in blue ink I wrote a big capital E over the poem.  Once I added the second letter, all of the students shouted, "Excellent!"  I think we were all in agreement.  This activity was excellent.

Vocabulary in Action: A Reflection, from wk. 11

My lovely beginner students are the subjects of this week's video vocabulary lesson.  Three days of the week, this group of first and second graders are my first class.  As soon as they pass through the sliding door, these students are in full communicative  mode.  I become instantly inspired as they dig deep into their adolescent lexicons to retrieve every bit of English so that I, Tracie Teacher, can understand the information that they are so eager to share.  By the time class officially begins student affective filters are lowered and they are ready to learn. 

Unfortunately, when the camera is on, it is my affective filter that is elevated.   This was not the case in week 11!  I will call this my 'breakthrough lesson' because it is an honest representation of my teaching style.  More importantly, in this lesson I observed how my animated personality has been fused with newly acquired teaching strategies and how this fusion has increased the quality of instruction provided to my students.  

  

In week 11 my beginner class played Charades (acting game) as a vocabulary review activity.  The objective was for students to become more familiar with phrases of morning activities by using and responding to body language.  I have played this game in other classes, but it was the first opportunity for my young beginners.    

Although initially there was some student disapproval of my team selections, their objections were short-lived.  There were points to be won!  The class was divided into two teams.  One member went to the front of class and acted out a morning routine, such as 'brush my teeth' or 'wash my face'.  The other team members guessed what the student was doing, by answering in complete first person sentences, like "I brush my teeth."  The team received one point once the sentence was said correctly.  The class greatly enjoyed the activity and wanted to play longer than time allowed.

In planning this activity, I used the WB to present a question and record student responses.  I modeled the language and used hand and arm gestures to signify proper intonation.  When students struggled to recall certain terms, I used my entire body to show meaning.  While watching the recording, I was surprised at what I viewed.  Evidently, the camera was of little concern to me.  I was more involved in guiding students to comprehension and less worried about how silly I may appear.  

There was a minor flaw in my planning.  During the game, I realized that I had not anticipated a small problem.  The second and fourth students (Team 2) repeated the activities of the first and third students (Team 1).  This made it easy for members of Team 2 to guess the terms.  I should have explained that the same morning action could not be done consecutively.  

Another flaw was that I frequently referred to two female students by the other student's name.  The two girls are best friends who are equally polite, attentive and soft-spoken.  Although they do not express the dramatic disapproval common with most of my students, I should still be more conscious of to whom I am speaking.

Overall, I was very pleased when I viewed this 'breakthrough' lesson.  I observed how my expressive teaching style has been significantly enhanced by better teaching strategies.  This lesson is a true reflection of my growth as an English teacher. 

ICC Video Clip, Wk 10 - Building Socio-Cultural Awarness

The Lesson:
My objective for this lesson was for students to contemplate the emotions and reactions of a person upon first entering a culture greatly different from their own.  First, they compared a group of Japanese students to a group of American students.   As my students commented on clothes, hair style, hair color, skin tone and eye color, I recorded their observations on the whiteboard.  After a brief discussion about homogeneous and heterogeneous (I did not use these terms.) cultures, I posed two question to the class.  First, I asked, "How would a Japanese student feel if they were placed in this American class?"  I then asked the opposite question.  While most of my students agreed that the Japanese student would be scared and nervous, they thought that the American student would feel excited and nervous.  They believe that being from a racially and culturally diverse environment dissolves all fear of different cultures.  I wanted to discuss this idea more, but time was not on my side.  I am planning a follow-up activity that will hopefully widen their cultural lenses a little more.

The Students:
Before seeing this lesson clip, the viewer must be informed on my history with this class.  I have taught most of the students in this class for eighteen months.  When I first met these students, I was immediately impressed with their proficiency in listening, reading and speaking.  Although, they struggle with grammar usage, most of the students in this class are able to speak fluently and express their thoughts with ease.  This group of second and third graders are extremely talkative and highly competitive for my attention.  Random comments develop into group conversations that greatly detract from the lesson goals.  I have recorded this class on at least three other occasions and decided against posting any of the lessons.  Their constant playfulness and foolish comments were even more disturbing on video.

The  Reward:
I am constantly trying new strategies to manage this class more efficiently.  My daily goal is to focus their conversation on the lesson's topic.  

During this week's ICC lesson, students did just that.  Although student enthusiasm and competitiveness overwhelmed me at times and ridiculous comments annoyed me, I was greatly pleased with the contributions made during class discussions.  Unfortunately, the lesson was incomplete, as was my recording space.  

My camera did not record when students described the two groups as being either scared nervous or excited nervous (as mentioned above).  Nor was their any recording of the student who described the Japanese students as clean.  I really wanted more student output.  Inability to incite elaboration, of both perspectives, was not due to technical (camera) issues, but my lack of  class time and the unanticipated eagerness of student response.  Students were uncharacteristically focused on the task and I didn't want to stifle their voices.  In the future, I will facilitate a class activities that allows for more expansion of the topic.

Micro-Teaching, Major Improvements - A Reflection, Wk. 10: REVISED

My lesson objective was for students to understand  modals 'need to' and 'have to' in expressions of necessity.  Specifically, students were to understand the degree of necessity to which each modal is applied.  I taught this lesson to a class in my academy prior to the MT presentation.  My real students responded well to the lesson and the teaching goal was accomplished.  However, there were some unexpected answers to one question that I posed and as a result this question was changed for my MT.  

"I need to drink water."

Normally in this class, instruction begins with some form of lesson preview.  I may ask students to look at the picture or title and predict what the lesson will be about.  This usual follows a short discussion that relates the topic to their personal experiences.  What follows is a reading of a passage and assessment via textbook questions and/or task.  Although, I was allowed to teach the modal lesson I still had to give a test on this day.  So, following the test, students were told that they were going to participate in a special lesson.  Then I went straight into the presentation, just as I would during the MT.  I always use my STG lesson plans in my real classes.  In doing so I am able to involve my students in new and interesting activities while gaining insight to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of my planning.

"It's urgent! I have to drink water!"

In my opinion, my second Micro-Teaching was a great improvement from my first MT effort.  During my first teaching I was nervous and it showed.  I looked uncomfortable and often stood with my hands folded in front of my chest.  My body language reflected uncertainty and the class responded with a lack of interests in my lesson.  Also, I did not use enough gestures, I spoke too often and I over-explained every instruction.  "Let's think about Chuseok...Let's answer these questions...I will be listening as you and your partner speak...I will ask you what your partner saw."  Too many of my words were unnecessary.  

In my second MT I was confident in my teaching and exact in my instruction.  Though I used my body by pointing, gesturing and acting, I feel that I could have been more animated during parts of the lesson.   When I showed a picture of a man whose mouth was on fire, students responded with interest.  If I were to teach this lesson again, I would act out the man's feelings with much exaggeration for better understanding of the target language. 

                                 


A significant improvement in my second MT was that I did not over-explain.  I, Tracie "Talks-too-much" West, did not over-explain!  When I wanted the students to do something, I used short, clear, comprehensive statements.  I was also allowing students to respond more often, limiting my T-talk by asking questions that were more open-ended like, "What do you see?" as opposed to "Does anyone know what this picture is?"  Through short open-ended questions, the class was able to provide a variety of responses and student interaction increased.  Simple instructions also made for better transitioning between activities.

Finally, utilizing the computer made a great difference in my second MT.   The large colorful drawings of my slide presentation immediately captured student interests and they were eager to comment.  I did not have to waste time taping pictures or walking around class with pictures that were not visible from the board.  During my first MT my back was sometimes facing students as they responded to questions.  My preoccupation with taping caused me to appear uninterested in student responses.   The convenience of the slides gave me more freedom to use my body in emphasizing meaning and more time to show interest in student contributions.  Although a few technical difficulties caused some moments of silence, I feel that overall my second MT went quite well and I am pleased with the what I was able to accomplish.

Student Written Role-Play, from wk. 9 MT LP

                                         

Like Beating a Dead Horse: Reflections on a Lesson in Intercultural Competence

                                                                

With the ICC lesson plan completed, I was eager to find out if my procedures were practical for my students. Through my lesson, I sought to heighten intercultural competence by leading students through a discourse analysis based on the common Korean perception that America is a country of 'White people'.  Even as I write this blog, I am unsure as to whether 'White' is the term I should use for this lesson.  This nagging uncertainty existed as I wrote the lesson plan and was further perpetuated when a student laughed at my use of the term 'white people'.  She pointed to a sheet of paper and said, "That is white."  From my experience, the terms 'white people' and 'black people' are socially and politically acceptable by most Americans. Yet, my student's reaction to the term 'white people', caused me to question the appropriateness of these terms when teaching Korean students, who tend to be overly literal.  On many occasions, a student has corrected me after hearing me call myself 'black'.  They tell me that I am brown.  I always agree and move on.  What I realize, at this very moment, is that I should be teaching my students honestly.  If they have a literal interpretation of 'white people' or 'black people', then I need to explain what the terms mean to the majority of Americans.  Korean students should be taught that 'white' and 'black' are words used to refer to groups of people who share common ancestries based on a shared ancestral continent.  They should be taught that the terms are NOT literal and that people in both groups are diverse in skin coloring.  The point is that I should be the one to teach them these facts.  I doubt that white teachers in Korea are faced with this racial dilemma in the classroom.  In Korea, a white American is called an American and a white Canadian is called a Canadian.  Black people are called African and nationality is always questioned.  The constant doubt of my nationality is rooted, not in antagonism, but in ignorance.  

                                       
                                        This is what my students probably wanted to say to me.

As I considered the different forms of discourse that could be used in my ICC lesson, I could not stop thinking about the posters, fliers and brochures that are used as advertisements for my academy.   I asked my students to compare the group of American students shown on our academy's brochure with pictures of real groups of American students.  I introduced the lesson by showing a food advertisement depicting Psy and students were immediately engaged.  As I went through the first half of my lesson, I was confident in my teaching plan.  The students were interested and responsive and learning the new vocabulary needed for the discourse analysis activity.  As I began the comparison activity, my confidence slowly began to diminish.  My greatest mistake was in the initial discourse task, "Look at the pictures.  Find the similarities and differences."   It was entirely too broad and the answers were based on moods.  Instead of asking a more specific question, I began to monopolize the discourse with further instruction for the same task.   It was beating a poor dead horse again and again.   At one point, I say, "Hmm, I have to change this."  The next question I asked was, "What do they look like?"  They then responded by describing hair color and clothes.  I was struggling as I failed to provoke the intended response.  I thought it was obvious.  The brochure shows a group of all white children.  The authentic pictures show groups of students of many different colors.  With my eyes on the clock, I said, "I'm going to have to change this again."   One student used the brochure to hide her expression disapproval.  The lesson was crumbling before my eyes and I said, "What color are these people?"  While I viewed the question as crass, I was genuinely interested to hear the answer to my final question. I realize the biggest fault in my planning was the impractical expectation that the students would be sensitive to the racial difference.  Secondly, my task instruction was too broad and greatly failed to incite the intended feedback.  Lastly, in my frustration I failed to be calm and monopolized the discourse.  In the future I must carefully plan my wording for task instruction.  I should spend more time thinking of every possible flaw in my planning and not be overly confident.  This is especially true when teaching new lessons or using new techniques.  

Once the students were able to recognize the racial contradictions of the two groups, I asked, "Why did [our academy] choose these students for the brochure?  Why not a group of many different colors? Why does the brochure show only light people?"  Although I asked too many questions and cut off a student as she attempted to answer the first question, once I closed my mouth my students had some very interesting responses.  The most interesting was that 'people of the world' like white people the most.  The student agreement on this point was extremely revealing, as it suggest that some Koreans view themselves in some way inferior to white people.  The short closing discussion ended with the consensus that no one group is better than another.  Even if the students are not convinced that this is true, I hope that our discussion has resulted in positive introspection.  I'll call this lesson, "baby steps."

...and the Academy Award Goes To......

After my last attempt to record a lesson I realize that when teaching youngsters, the 'greeting' phase of a lesson rarely follows a script.  I continue to ask students, "How are you today?"  The responses are rarely, "I'm fine."  It is more likely that a student will tell me that they are hungry and then proceed to beg me for snacks.  Often my students say that they are hot and then ask to leave class to get a drink of water.  Once a student told me he was doing great because his family was moving into a bigger apartment.  I was especially eager to hear about this student's experience.  During the week preceding the move, he was more talkative than he'd ever been.  The point is that it takes a while to get through the 'greeting' part of my lessons.

Normally, this free discourse is a welcomed aspect of my lesson.  I am building relationships with my students and I am truly interested in their daily experiences and consequent moods.  However, when the camera is rolling, I become very aware of the time restrictions of each phase of my planned lesson.  During this week's greeting phase of my recorded lesson, a student told me about her paper cut.  As she smiled, she expressed how bad she was feeling.  I knew that this student's comments were going to interfere with my allotted 'greeting time'.  I immediately felt anxious.  Then, almost as quickly, I got over it; I mustn't be overly concerned about the camera.  My student needed a little attention.  I wanted to show her that I cared.  I wanted to point out the smile that contradicted her stated misery.  So, I stopped acting and allowed myself to be the kind of teacher I needed to be at that moment.

Despite the thirty dollar battery and the fifteen dollar memory card I foolishly bought two weeks ago at Yongsan market, my damaged camera only recorded about twelve minutes of my lesson.  The class greeting included a paper cut, a Saturday bible test and a Saturday math test.  The rest of the lesson was one of the best I've had in that class.  Had I spent less time on the greeting, I would have recorded more of the PPP phases of the lesson.  Yet, I am happy with the result.

When I present this preview lesson to my STG classmates there will be many elements of acting.  They will be acting like novice adult students and I will be acting like I am teaching novice adult students.  However, when I am in my true classroom, it is best to do what is most beneficial for my students.  Ignore the camera.  Engage the students.