Turn the volume down!

This is Kim Myong Mo.  Myoung Mo is a student at the college I work for and is by far one of my better students.  He is 21 years old (Korean age) and  he has studied English for 8 years, in which he spent 2 of those years in my home state of Michigan. He started studying English when he was 13.  His English  accuracy seems to be quite high. but I believe that his communication skills are better.  At present, his learning styles  consist of watching English movies and reading English magazines. His personality is shy but inquisitive. Myoung Mo's  main motivation for learning English is for employment purposes .  

He is most similar to Xue, because he can communicate quite well and has a rather large vocabulary. 

Richard and Lockhart

My goal was to teach the students about some  basic  questions concerning  English introductions, such as asking and giving their name, age, likes and where they live, and I feel as though I accomplished the goal I set forth.  Since it was the first week of class I didn't use a book because none of the students had one, thus I called on material I have used in the past as to get the ball rolling.  My class time is usually divided equally among teacher and students.  I tend to introduce questions in the beginning of the class and how I want those questions answered.  Then in the 2nd half of the class, the students repeat what was taught.  By approaching my lessons in this way, I tend to have a great deal of teacher student interaction.The main objection of the lesson was to get the students familiar with basic English greetings so that they would feel at ease using them.  The plan went some what smoothly, but at times I was a bit cumbersome and I realize that I need to slow down when teaching.

I taught all my students today and some were challenged by the lesson, while others were not.  I  spent more time with the needier students, or had them work with the higher level students as to keep everyone active.  I believe the students do respond to my teaching styles as, I try to keep the classroom stress free, Plus, it was the first day of class and students are usually more motivated during the first days of school. 

My class structure is very simple, I tell the students the questions, and the answers, then i have them repeat what they have heard. I do as think that there is a better approach,and that I have much that I can improve on . I have quite a few limitations, but identifying them is a  problem, because I have never been formally trained, thus, it is difficult to know what to look for.  

The Methodology of Madness

Well, here we go.  

This is a video from  my first day of classes at Yeo Ju Institute of Technology (YIT), a 2 year college where I am currently employed. What I  would first like to mention is that my supervisor has strongly hinted that I pass every student that meets the attendance prerequisites in which YIT "enforces". Having to abide by such a suggestion, I feel that my hands are very much tied when it comes to student grades, which in turn allows  the less motivated students to give very little effort in their studies. With the majority of  YIT students tending  to have very low English skills, they often get stressed when speaking in front of the class.  With my class's anxiety level in mind, as well as my grading situation, my  main objective is to attempt to set a less stressful  class environment so that the students feel less intimidated when  they are called upon to speak in front of their peers.  As seen on this video,  I openly display my own errors in front of the class in the  hopes that  S's become aware that it is OK to make mistakes, where as a lack of effort is frowned upon. 

After watching my video, I was quite surprised by how many CI techniques that I use in class.  Obviously Choral repetition is a major part of my teaching style, as is modeling, and the WB.  Also, I often have Ss work in pairs for 5 to 10 minutes, (which is not shown on the video), then  I have them come in front of class so that the Ss ask their partners the daily questions without the aide of their notes  (which also is not shown on the video).   I then correct any errors that they may have made, either directly or by writing the mistake on the WB.  At the end of the class, I give homework points to whichever students ask me a daily conversation question.

To conclude,  it was quite painful to watch this video, I often appear cumbersome and unprofessional.  As the days progress at SMU, i am finding more and more things that I must work on as to improve my teaching level.  I am very much a proponent of self improvement , and  although this was painful to view, I was glad to see  the many things that I can improve on so that I look more professional  in the future.

The name  of my blogger page is pretty much indicative as to how my  first week at SMU has gone.  Yep, you guessed it, the name was caused by "user error".  Aside from the computer problems though, I do seem to think that the reading portions of the courses have gone "OK" thus far. Although...I do realize that l need to improve on NOT ONLY my computer skills, but on my writings skills.as well.  For example, I originally wanted to name my blog page:  "I didn't know how much that I didn't know"; A title like that has a broad meaning, it covers many bases.  Unfortunately though, because of my laughable computer skills, the name my blog  somehow ended up as  What the heck does "heterogeneity" mean?
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Do I  get no love?
None whats so ever?

Well, let's move on, shall we?

Nearly 20 years has passed since I sat on the opposite side of a teacher's desk; and despite the fact that the physical appearance has been altered, in not so subtle ways. the challenge (and in this case, the TESOL course)  is still what drives me.  I love being challenged. I truly do.  It's not as though every challenge that I have faced  has turned out to be roaring successes either.  Trust me,  there has been many MANY major (can I use profanity on this blog site?) 'mess" ups in my day.  Yet, regardless of  how a particular challenge may have ended,  I could always appreciate the wisdom that I gained from taking up it's call..  It has indeed  been a challenging week, (navigating the websites has placed me on the cusp of  insanity), yet it has also been rewarding week as well. in which I learned  a great deal. The opposites sides of a single coin.