Reflections for Week 5: Teacher Development: “Going through the motions” only takes you so far.

 I want to focus on how I’m developing as a teacher. When I first came to Korea almost six years ago at the tender man-child age of 25, I didn’t know the first thing about teaching. I was good with kids and that was it. I have a B.A in English Literature, but I’m not sure why that’s so prized here, as that major had nothing to do with education or English proficiency (I think employers focus on the “English” part and probably don’t fully understand what the “literature” part entails, because I’m not dissecting Vonnegut novels in class). I had had no formal training and didn’t know anything about ELT techniques (and I would later find out to my chagrin, basic grammar).  My first year working at a hagwon (hakwon? I don’t have hangul on this keyboard) was a breeze and nothing I took very seriously. Like most long-termers I never expected my duration in Korea to last so long. I was taking a job as an ESL teacher in Korea almost as a lark and a way to get out of my house back home.

             Not to say I was indifferent or feckless during my first year, just woefully inexperienced. I brought energy to the classroom and dialogic exchanges came naturally to me, even though at the time I had no idea what those were. I was teaching kids from a textbook and not really developing, except in my ability to control kids. The real shock came when I was hired at a University for my second year. I want to first say I was incredibly lucky and I’m kind of baffled as to why I was hired (in fact, the first three or four months there I would consider myself a bad hire and I’ll elaborate shortly).  I only had my B.A, one year experience at a hagwon and basically zero real teaching experience. I can only speculate that I got the job when the job-market was less competitive and the effects of the US recession and Eurozone hadn’t driven every 20-something (and some a lot more experienced than me) to Korea. My first shock was when students started challenging me in class and I received a terrible (and much deserved) poor first evaluation. I asked advice from my peers and started to study more about the components of English proficiency and how to properly teach and/or utilize them in my classroom. I also prepared more as a teacher, putting aside at least a couple hours each morning so I wouldn’t be caught off-guard in the classroom. I considered different angles to approach the subject-material and crafted my own supplements. This was in contrast to my first month or so at the University when I approached the classes with a hagwon mindset, doing exercises straight from the book with little forethought and preparation outside the classroom and not enough teacher-to-student interaction, scaffolding or practical application activities inside the classroom. Furthermore I had a bad habit of cutting off students with corrective feedback that would erode the student’s confidence, willingness to self-express and enthusiasm.

             Naturally, as time progressed, I became more aware of what students responded to, both in my personal interactions with the students (as I talked about in the blog question about ‘authority vs solidarity’) and my academic instruction. By the time I left my University after four years (a seriously misguided and hubristic decision as I’ve lamented countless times) my student evaluation averages were in the mid 90’s. However, I still acutely felt the deficits in my teaching; whenever I had trouble delivering a point or was confronted with an EFL term I was unfamiliar with, it would remind me that I still had no formal training in teaching. I think this TESOL course is the greatest leap I’ve taken so far in committing seriously to a future as an EFL teacher (or ESL teacher in the states). As far as my limitations go, being a visual or demonstrative learner as opposed to an auditory one, I absorb techniques much more than I do the terms describing those techniques (which is why I always fear the dreaded pop-quiz). Sometimes when I want to teach I dive into trying to explain grammar that I know innately, but have trouble verbalizing in a concise manner. This is one deficit I’d seriously like to improve by studying more seriously, even if I can’t completely correct it. I hope I continue to develop as a teacher and progress towards that forbidden, unattainable “perfection” that Barcelos talks about in Chapter 5 of our Johnston reading.

Reflections on Teaching for Week 4: Choral Repetition in large classes

UPDATE: Here is video of the lesson in question.

Reflections on Teaching for Week 4: Choral Repetition in large classes

I’m trying to adjust my teaching style to better suit a 35 student middle-school class after teaching small (4-12 student) university classes for the past few years. It’s a challenge and one of the things I’m noticing is I have to apply different methods than I would in an intimate adult EFL classroom where I can engage more easily one-on-one with the students. It’s kind of like reprogramming yourself and examining, sometimes reluctantly, which of your teaching techniques are still effective and which should be scaled back or discarded. One technique I find myself employing more these days is choral repetition. Since it’s a public school with standardized exams, I have to prepare the students to remember and become familiar with new vocabulary.  I show them a PPT of different terms and then we repeat the name and definition. I try individual repetition and dialogic exchanges when I can, but with such large classes I find myself relying on choral repetition and monologic or more specifically the dreaded (at least for me) closed display questions to keep the pace of the class flowing uninterrupted. I’ve found with middle-school students, if some students are neglected while you engage with others, they can easily lose focus and that’s when you’re at risk of losing control of the class.

            The problem is I question how challenging or impactful such an approach is, even with basic EFL learners. There is no room for critical thinking when you are teaching a lesson based around memorizing terms for a test. This kind of “teaching for the test” goes against my personal teaching philosophy (I would prefer much heavier interaction and to see practical application of the terms in their own sentences), but the school requires it to be taught in this method. I tried to insert dialogic questions when I could, but they were more open questions to the entire class than targeted towards individual students. I’m trying to reassess at this point what I can do to become happier with this new class dynamic. I’ve considered grouping the students and giving them hand-outs based on the terms, so they can engage in student-to-student interaction and have dialogic discourse with each other, but when I’ve tried this in other classes I’ve noticed their conversation rarely stays on topic and as previously mentioned there’s the loss of classroom control to take into account.

             I think an additional hurdle to take into account is that they’re used to the more traditional Korean approach of monologic discourse and choral repetition, so to introduce and have them adapt to a new style of learning is something that might prove difficult, since they could misinterpret a more open and casual classroom environment as an excuse for chaos and disengagement. After the Chuseok break, I will seriously evaluate my approach and search for a way I can keep my students focused while teaching the way I’d prefer to teach. The first thing I might try is ditching the very dry, boilerplate PPTs the school provides me with, and make my own that will have questions focusing on personalization (such as for ‘tooth’, talk about how you lost your last tooth with a partner) that will open up more avenues for discussion. I might couple that with handouts and if I do divide them up into pairs or groups I might create a point system to keep their attention focused.

Reflections based on filmed debate class from last week

I’m going to base this reflection on the video I made this week of myself teaching an afterschool debate class.  The class only has two students and I had asked them to bring in a list of issues they would care enough about to debate. The students giving opinions was a focus of the class, as was personalization since they’re internalizing issues they care about and so was pair-work since I wanted one student to challenge the other by coming up with counter-points to the other’s chosen issue. The students would ask each other questions about their chosen topic and then, even if they didn’t necessarily oppose those ideas, they would have to construct a coherent counter-argument as an exercise in critical thinking. I believe we engaged in a lot of useful dialogic discourse and I believe they enjoyed the class, because while they were employing English they were using it to express opinions they were passionate about. I think when an EFL student uses English as a conduit for self-expression it makes it a lot more enjoyable and easier for them to absorb than when they’re using it as part of a teacher’s pre-scripted or textbook lesson plan.

 The main thing I believe I accomplished was getting the students to formulate their own ideas and express those to me, and each other in open display questions that emulated more casual every day conversations than the usual strict environment of the EFL classroom. I think casual classes, such as this one, allow me to have a more free and engaging lesson with the students where I can interact with them on a personal and more relaxed level. I think one of my strengths as a teacher lies in providing a counterbalance to the strict student-teacher roles they have come to expect from local Korean teachers, in that I bring a more casual, equal and interactive tone to the classroom through exercises that focus on the dialogic. On the other hand, I think one of my weaknesses is that I have a bad habit of tending to cut off my students with corrective feedback instead of waiting for them to verbalize a difficult word or sentence. I have to keep myself in check and remember the parable of catching a fish and feeding a person for one day or teaching them to fish and enabling them to feed themselves for the rest of their lives.   
Next class they will have their first mock debate with each other over one of the issues they brainstormed about this week. I’m not going to interfere verbally at all except if to remind them of the debate rules and the clock. I look forward to seeing how they conduct themselves in an interference-free environment. 

Transcript of my EFL interview and analysis of certain phonemes

Transcript of interview with “Cindy” aka Lee Jieun.

Interview and research: Andrew Cutler

Class: SLA

Objective: Analysis of two habitual phonemic problems and also incidents where they are pronounced correctly. Discuss problems and differences in speech patterns.

The two phonemes analyzed are /b/ and /ð/. There are other phonemic problems, but these are excluded in this study.

Incorrect usage will be in bold. Correct usage will be underlined.

A: Hello, can I ask what your name is both in Korean and your adopted Western name?

C: Sure. My name is Jieun Lee and I’m using my English name, which is Cindy. And you mean, uh… the age?

(Interviewer’s note: the /ð/ is not enunciated enough when she verbalizes articles. Instead it sounds like a hard ‘d’ sound. )

A: Sure, what is your age?

C: I’m 23 years old in international age.

A: Where did you go to University? Or where are you going to University?

C: I’m going to Seoul Women’s University and I’m majoring in Japanese language and literature.

A: How long have you been studying English?

C: Well…. Since I was in elementary school I guess. Because as you know, from elementary school student and high-school student it’s mandatory to learn English in school. So it’s been over 10 years.

A: Okay, have you lived or studied in an English speaking country?

C: Yeah, actually I live- I studied in New York for a year to improve my English skills and it helped me a lot.

A: Okay.  Um, do you ever talk in English with your family or with your friends?

C: With my family or friends…? Um… yeah, I have. With my younger brother. Or just for fun. But with my friends?  Maybe in the class I’ve talking (sic) to them in English. Or with my foreign friends…. Who doesn’t (sic) speak my mother-tongue (trails off slightly)… we should communicate in English.

(Interviewer’s note: again, the /ð/ is not enunciated enough when she verbalizes articles. Additionally, she hesitates when saying “mother” perhaps trying to concentrate on verbalizing the /ð/.  The instance where she talks about her “brother” also suffers from this problem )

A: Good. Um, in your opinion what do you think is the most difficult aspect of learning English?

C: Of learning English…? Um, I think compared to Korean the structure is totally different. Like in Korean, the verb comes at the end. But the structure of English is subject, verb and something like (trails off)… and so this makes me, um, distracted or frustrated sometimes.

(Interviewer’s notes: In both instances, Cindy dropped the /b/ sound at the end of “verb.” Instead it sounds like she’s saying “verve.”)

A: Okay, thank you so much for speaking to me, Cindy.

C: My pleasure. Thank you.

Conclusion:

/b/

When /b/ is at the end of a word it is problematic for Cindy. As a borderline intermediate/advanced EFL speaker, she pronounces words that begin with /b/ fine, such as “but.” However, when a word ends in /b/, especially when said word begins with a soft consonant sound like /v/, then the /b/ is dropped and in this instance replaced with the /v/ consonant that started the word. I believe this is a case of assimilation. According to the consonant phoneme chart we received in class, /b/ is a bilabial sound that is primarily formed with our lips and is voiced. As mentioned I could not notice any problems when /b/ started a word.

Incorrect:                                                      Correct:

Verb                                                                But

                                                                        Because          

/ð/

She seems to have trouble with /ð/ with articles that she rushes out, but words such as “think” are pronounced clearly and deliberately, perhaps because she puts more thought (no pun intended) into a more significant and/or meaningful word. Several times when she said “the” it sounded more like “duh.” With some other words such as “mother” I think the placement of the /ð/ in the middle of the word causes problems for her.

Incorrect                                                                               Correct                                 

The                                                                                          Think

Mother                                                                                   

Brother

The influence of other words on sound production:

When Cindy says “mother tongue” as a compound word, I believe the different hard and soft sounds make this a challenge to pronounce properly. She assimilates the /ð/ in “mother” with the /t/ in “tongue” causing “mother” to sound like it has a /t/ sound instead. When she mispronounces the /ð/ in “Maybe in the class” and “comes at the end”, it could point to a pattern of problems with prepositions that lead to articles. At least with “at the”, the hard ending of “at” could be influencing how she pronounces “the.” When /ð/ words are isolated or she has time to consider them, she seems to be more successful in pronouncing them, such as with “thank you” and “think.”

With /b/ in isolation and at the beginning of a word, it’s pronounced correctly. Here is something interesting I noticed with the second “verb” though. While the /b/ sound requires a tightness with the lips, the “and” with its /æ/ beginning requires the lips to be spread. Perhaps sandwiched between the /v/ at the beginning of verb and /æ/ with “and” the /b/ sound is completely neglected or assimilated. 

First Lesson Warm-Up for Upper Intermediate to Advanced Students:

The following lesson is an example of a pre-orientation warm-up exercise designed to improve familiarity between students, while simultaneously allowing the teacher to assess their particular English levels. For the purpose of brevity, occasionally students (plural) shall be referred to as Ss, students (singular) shall be referred to simply as S and the teacher referred to as T.

Involves: Critical thinking, improvisation, anticipating questions, dialogue trees, some chunking and repetition and being able to detect lies by listening to tone and observing body-language.

Students: Usually this game is suitable for 6-12 students. For huge classes (say 20+), split students into groups and have them do the game just within their groups.

Description of exercise: The game is called ‘Detective’ or ‘Two Truths and One Lie’. Its main purpose is to get students critically thinking and to help them express themselves. Response time and the ability to improvise an answer to an unexpected question will also be gauged.  Ss should be informed that the lies should be neither too obvious (“I’m an alien!” I’m a North Korean spy!”,etc), nor too boring or subtle (“my age is 18” when student is 17, or “my name is Yong-Ho” when it’s really something else.) Ideally, the answers should lead to dialogue trees instead of being monologic answers that don’t lead to further conversation. For this reason, simple statements about age and names are also discouraged. First, T should give an example of how to play. For myself I usually tell them “I am from New York City, my hobby is painting and drawing comics and I have a younger sister.” The follow-up questions should follow the “who, what, why, where, what, how” (or Five W’s plus One H) pattern. One student may ask “what’s your favorite place in New York?” to which I’ll answer naturally and quickly “Central Park.” Another will ask me the plot of a comic or a description of a painting I’ve done, to which I’ll tell him the answer to that too. When a student asks about my “sister”, maybe what her name is, I’ll feign an awkward response and maybe snap my fingers in the air as I try to recollect the name of a person who doesn’t exist. Ideally, the students should pick up on this. Perhaps for more advanced students, I hesitate only for a moment and then tell them an unusual name like “Ruby.” This should lead to more critical and probing questions, like “where does she go to school?”, “what are her hobbies”, etc.  At this point I get caught out (T please don’t try to be too smart or you will completely miss the point of the set-up).

Students will go around in a circle and attempt the game. It has always been successful and it sometimes produces a lot of laughs when students have to answer a follow-up question with a ridiculous answer (eg: “my dog’s name is Kimbap!”). Pay attention to their reaction time and their ability to detect lies and build dialogue trees from information provided.

Conclusion: Students become better acquainted with one another, teacher has quick indication of students’ levels.