Self-improvement on Classroom Teaching

上海市临港科技学校 施金燕

Some specific aspects of my lesson which were successful

1.A good range of interactive patterns and activities

In my lesson,I designed a good range of activities employing different interaction patterns in order to motivate my students,including kinaesthetic tasks,group and pair work.I set up these activities clearly by using examples and asking appropriate ICQs.This was helpful to maintain the students’attention and interest in the classroom.In the activities,students were influenced by the cooperative and competitive study atmosphere.First,students could share responsibility when they made decisions,so they felt more relaxed and confident to show their own opinions.Second,they had more chances to learn from each other.Most of them were active in class,even including some weak students.The strong helped the weak and the average were also willing to discuss and compare their answers with the strong.The strong wouldn’t think they had nothing to do after finishing the task and they felt proud to help their classmates.Thus,everybody was engaged in the class.

2.A clear example and a nice CCQ

When I explained the meaning part of compound nouns with the structure ‘noun+noun’,I gave students the example ‘milk chocolate’ and ‘chocolate milk’.Then I said “the first noun ‘milk’ is something like an adjective.It modifies the second one ‘chocolate’,so the former word is a kind of chocolate,and the latter one is kind of milk.” At that moment,I wanted to check whether students had understood,so I picked a compound noun ‘taxi driver’ from task 2,and asked a CCQ “Is this a kind of driver or a kind of taxi?” Students answered “driver.” First,the CCQ was asked after the example which students could refer to,so students could understand it quickly.Second,the CCQ was simple enough for even those low level students to understand and answer.At last,through this example and CCQ，students not only understood the meaning of the word ‘taxi driver’,but also some other compound nouns with the structure ‘noun +noun’.

Some specific areas which need improvement

1.I should take notice of the time arrangement

The time allocation was not very realistic.I should have anticipated that it would take students time to understand instructions and get started on different activities.There was no time for me to give students more CCQs to check their understanding of the new words and to drill chorally more before individually.Actually,it is extremely vital to drill chorally before getting students to do it in smaller groups or individually.Thus,students can have an opportunity to get their mouth around the word and feel comfortable and confident with the whole class before saying it alone in front of the class.In the final pair work,I had intended to give students about 9 minutes to discuss what jobs were suitable or unsuitable for them.Thus,they would have had more chances to communicate with each other and develop their oral fluency.However,as a result,again due to the limited time,students lost more opportunities to practice and use English in this task.And what’s worse,I was in a hurry to give instructions and wasn’t aware of the whole class.One group was not listening at all and didn’t even attempt to do this task.

2.I should have a good command of correcting the students’ error properly

A t t h e b e g i n n i n g o f the lesson,students did brainstorming in groups.They discussed and wrote down all the occupations they knew.At the end of this activity,I wrote on the blackboard and corrected the word ‘shop assistant’ which was spelled wrong by Team A.I said“Very good.They got 11 jobs.But pay more attention to the spellings.Assistant！ Here we have ‘a’.You made a mistake.You wrote ‘e’.” Here,I was a bit teacher-centred.Instead of giving students an opportunity to make self-correction or studentstudent correction,I just told the answer to the students directly.In fact,many students forgot it and made a mistake again in the next task.

Some aspects I would change to avoid the difficulties I mentioned above

1.I will allocate my time more appropriately.

2.I will use suitable and effective techniques to correct errors.

How I will develop both my linguistic and professional understanding and teaching skills in relation to the points I mentioned above

I think some efficient inservice teacher training will help me improve my ability.A timely reflection and realistic l e s s o n e v a l u a t i o n a f t e r teaching will definitely do me a favour.And I will discuss and exchange ideas and views with my colleagues after peer observation,especially focusing on time arrangement and error correction.I will read more original English books on how to teach English.I’m going to read Learning Teaching,Chapter 14 and 17,learning how to identify errors and sensitively correct students’ oral and written language when and where appropriate and how to learn from self-evaluation and peer observation; I’m going to read Classroom Management Techniques,Chapter 5,learning how to monitor students’ performance during the group and pair work,showing sensitivity to individual needs and awareness and responsiveness to students’misunderstanding or lack of understanding; I’m going to read How to teach English,Chapter 6,learning how to help students understand meaning,reinforcing and clarifying meaning with clear and appropriate examples and CCQs when necessary.Only by learning continuously,can I make more improvement in my teaching career.