As become routine since starting STG, my classes started out with activating the students' schema, as well as trying to lower their affective filter though casual conversation about topics we have previously covered in class. I am still struggling a bit with corrective feedback when students make grammar mistakes since I realize that there is a risk of raising the effective filter when I correct them. However I also feel that it is important that students are aware of when they make mistakes, and this has become a tight rope to walk and I need to further research on the issue. I spent more time on the isolation stage of my teaching this week this week, which seemed to help tremendously when student output was required, although there are still plenty of bugs to workout before the process works to my satisfaction. One of the main problems I am facing is that I am not the same teacher that I was at the beginning of the semester and many students were allowed not to contribute in class, and often times they lost focus. I have changed my teaching through the use Exploratory Practice, so most of the students barely have noticed the difference in teaching. Unfortunately though, there are still problems with students that are still used to coasting through due to my old teaching habits and these are the students that I am trying to focus on the most via chaining questions.
The unit that was covered this week was "Crime" and I think the students had some fun in the class. I used the "word circle" exercise in Harmer (pg 235) and wrote the word "crime" on the board. I then had the students shout out answers to what crimes they may know, such as "fighting", I then wrote the words 'assault and battery" on the board next to fighting , (there is an actual difference between assault and battery, since battery involves the actual touching, where as assault is just the perceived threat..but the students didn't need to know the difference). Other crimes were acted out, such as 'drinking and driving' and "bribery". I then had the students play a game of "have you ever". I spent more time then usual in the isolation stage during this part of class, and as a result, the student output was much more productive. After the isolation stage I had the class work in groups, then eventually came the production phase. I had to get the ball rolling by listing some of the crimes I may have committed in my youth. Such as stealing candy when I was 10. I also mentioned that I 'may have" gotten behind the wheel of a car when I had one to many beers. Once I confessed my crimes, students were much more open to make confessions of their own. A couple older ladies admitted to drinking and driving, where as many of the younger students admitted to stealing from their parents when they were younger. Funny how a "good cop/bad cop" approach can get these criminals to sing. I made it a point not to judge the students, but I found myself laughing a lot when students told me how much they ACTUALLY stole from their parents when they were children. One of my most innocent looking students confessed to stealing 150,000 won (albeit, not all at once) as well as confessing to fighting (it's always the quiet ones). The students asked about family assault/battery , and I wrote Domestic Violence on the WB (after the class inquired). Some students mentioned that they believe that Domestic Violence is a problem in Korea, however, Drinking and driving, as well as bribery are the 2 biggest crimes the country faces today, where as Domestic Violence is on the wane. .
My organizational skills still need much work, and as a result, the classes toward the end of the week went much more smoothly then the classes earlier due to the fact that I was able to practice the routine. i feel as though this is quite unfair to the earlier classes and I will work on a way to make things much less lopsided so that all the classes are equally ran.
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