Author: ehilchey

My final practicum teaching experience was conversation club on November 23. The focus of the conversation was a show and tell of an item near students in the room they were located. Kathy and I chose this topic as we felt that students would be comfortable speaking about a personal item within their vicinity and it would provide an opportunity for Kathy and I to get to know the students quickly.

At first it felt like Kathy and I were talking a lot as the students seemed to be nervous. In order to get the conversation started I called on specific students to introduce themselves in order to break the ice. After a couple of the students introduced themselves it seemed the tension subsided and many students wanted to engage.

We proceeded with the lesson, explained the activity and shared an item from the rooms we were located in; students responded really well to this. So many students wanted to turn on their cameras and share their item! Other students commented in the chat about each of the items and overall it was an extremely positive way in which to end our practicum teaching experience.

This experience reminded me of the importance of sharing a little about yourself as the teacher in order to create a connection with the students. This small act of sharing built trust between the students and teacher and helped to create a virtual safe space for students to engage with.

Today’s lesson was a test of my energy, nerves and use of technology. With the recent time change this was the first lesson I taught at 5:40am, the first time I integrated Nearpod into my lesson and it just happened to be my first formal practicum teaching assessment. Overall, a big day!

Building on Kathy’s lesson the previous day, the focus of my lesson was on IELTS Writing Task #2, specifically how to write the introduction. Using Tiger King as the hook to get students interested in the lesson I provided an overview of the purpose of the introduction, highlighted tips when writing the introduction and provided time for students to write. Throughout the lesson I integrated a variety of activities from Nearpod, including polls, matching pairs, and collaborate boards. While MS Teams is an excellent platform for video conferencing and conversation, Nearpod provides so much more opportunity to engage students in the learning. Students responded extremely positively to the new platform and appreciated the opportunity to engage in new ways throughout the lesson.

At the end of the lesson I asked for a student volunteer to share their answer. Students then provided constructive feedback on the writing in order to improve sentence structure, vocabulary and grammar. Creating a safe classroom environment in which students are comfortable sharing their work and receiving feedback is an ongoing goal of mine. Classrooms should be spaces where everyone feels they have something to contribute. Students have a lot of knowledge to share and providing spaces for them to peer evaluate and provide feedback is an important aspect of a positive classroom environment.

Today’s lesson was the final lesson focused on IELTS Writing Task #1. In order to assess comprehension of the lessons that had taken place and to determine whether or not the students writing had improved, the only activity today was for students to write the exact same IELTS Writing Task #1 from a previous lesson so we could compare answers.

Students in this class seem to enjoy lessons referencing pop culture and current events. With this in mind, I integrated an opening music video, Eye of the Tiger, and followed-up with a discussion regarding commons phrases such as “eye of the tiger,” and “keep your eye on the prize.” This opening hook grabbed the attention of students and helped them focus on the task at hand.

The last component of the lesson today was solicitation of feedback concerning my teaching. Kathy and I used the same feedback questions to ensure consistency of experience for students. Using a google form, students were invited to provide feedback based on the Stop, Start, and Continue model. It felt great to receive such positive feedback from the students; they highlighted my high energy, positive attitude and integration of a variety of teaching tools to engage students (check out Student Feedback for a snapshot of the feedback I received over the course of my practicum placement).

Today’s lesson focused on IELTS Writing Task #1, specifically how to write a body paragraph. Unfortunately the technology challenges from earlier in the week continued. While Kathy and I were able to get into the classroom through MS Teams, we were not able to use the chat or raise hand functionality, which made it quite difficult to engage students in the lesson. As we were team teaching it was possible to divide the tasks up; Kathy led the lesson while I provided support by watching cameras and microphones to see if students had a question or wanted to participate by answering questions.

Breaking down the IELTS Writing Task #1 into separate lessons was well received by students. By providing them the opportunity to focus their writing on specific aspects of the assessment, students were able to integrate the feedback into their answers and improve their writing. This has become even more important in online teaching. While each class lasts 50 minutes, by the time students log-onto class, attendance is taken and we commence a lesson, approximately 10-15 minutes has already passed. This leaves approximately 35-40 minutes each class, thus requiring focused and concrete lessons on specific aspects of the English language. As we continue with our teaching reflecting on the structure of each lesson and how it will be received will be important.

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Teaching in an online space is challenging. Sometimes technology supports teaching and learning and sometimes it just doesn’t work. Today was the latter. Unfortunately, due to an IT issue Kathy and I were unable to teach this morning as we weren’t able to get into the platform so our lessons were pushed off to Wednesday and Thursday of the week. This experience reminds me of the importance of being flexible. While this is important when teaching in person, it’s even more important when teaching in an online international placement. Until Wednesday!

This evening Kathy, my fellow TESL team-teacher and I, led Conversation Club. Conversation Club is a gathering of TRU ESL students who are interested in practicing their English language skills in a safe space. This year due to COVID-19, the club takes place online through an application called Blue Jeans. As students were joining from different places around the world, Kathy and I decided to focus our lesson on “My Favourite Place.” We felt that the topic would be easy for students to engage with as it would provide students the opportunity to share their personal thoughts.

Overall the lesson was well received by students as most students were eager to share their thoughts and perspectives. One challenge that emerged was the English language levels of students. As this was not a class focused on a specific aspect of the English language, students were at different levels and it appeared some struggled with the level of English that Kathy and I were using. In the future I believe it would be important to assess English language proficiency at the beginning of the club in order to meet students where they are at. This could be accomplished through a quick confidential poll or white board activity asking students to self-assess.

Today’s lesson built upon the foundational IELTS Writing Task #1 lesson from yesterday. The plan was to break down each section of writing tasks into separate mini-lessons where students could focus on improving their writing in a timed setting.

Being an online class it can be challenging to provide “handouts” students can fill out. To meet this need I created an online writing submission form via Google Forms. This provided students the opportunity to immediately submit their answers to me, while also showing me who had completed the task, and who did not. Once the answers were submitted I was able to pull up a student submission and share it via MS Teams. As a class we talked through the submission and students provided peer-feedback. To my surprise, students welcomed the opportunity to provide feedback and may students volunteered to do so.

Overall this was a successful lesson. We were able to get through most of the components of the lesson and students indicated that it provided valuable information to prepare for the IELTS assessment.

Today, Kathy and I began two days of team teaching focused on ITELS Writing. Working with another TRU TESL Teacher has been an enjoyable experience as it provides an opportunity to discuss and plan our approaches to lessons. At first, when assigned to a team teaching experience I was nervous and tentative as I prefer to work independently, on my own time, and at my own pace. Over the past couple weeks it’s proven an effective and supportive way to approach the practicum experience.

Over the past couple of weeks, Kathy and I have created a wonderful bond. Early on we took time to get to know each other and the reasons we chose to enrol in the TESL program. To my surprise we have a number of similar reasons and have often joked about our desire to pack our bags and head to Japan to teach English. This common drive and understanding of each other as individual teachers has benefited our team teaching experience.

After our successful lessons last week, Kathy and I were excited to start the next two lessons. The opening lesson focused on introducing the IELTS Writing Task #1 while the second lesson focuses on breaking down the task into separate chunks to provide students with an opportunity to focus writing. This first lesson ended with providing students with twenty minutes to write a complete answer; an answer that would be used to reflect back on the following week to compare and identify writing progression.

While overall the first lesson went quite well as many students participated through engaging in the online chat or turning on their cameras and/or microphones, I did note a high amount of “teacher talk” taking place. Working in this online environment can be challenging. In times of uneasiness or silence we often revert to an approach where the teacher talks and students listen. Kathy and I have brainstormed ways in which to more engage students in the lesson and I’m looking forward to trying new techniques in the coming weeks.