Conversations with students and Coworkers and the sounds of ~ed

This week, quite a few classes were cancelled and others had tests so generally teaching was fairly uneventful.

For grade 3 we passed out a fun sheet called Fry's first 100 words. We surveyed the students and asked how many words they knew. Most students new about 40. A couple per class knew between 95~100. A couple per class knew less than 10. A few students in the grade knew 0. I think memorizing word lists is fairly useless. Also these words are arranged by frequency and most of them have abstract meanings. I mean how do you explain to a Korean third grader what the word 'The' means? I just say it looks nice so we use it a lot, don't worry about how to use it until you can write paragraphs.

We also did the same survey as above for grade 4, but with slightly better results (average was about 70). The grade 4 classes had a speaking test. It is based on the memorizing and reciting the script from the role play. A role play lesson was discussed in an earlier post if you are interested in learning more. Basically two students would memorize a script and then recite it. I would award up to 10 points: 3 for accuracy, 3 for fluency, 3 for pronunciation and 1 for active voice or gestures. Most students who managed to memorize the script got 7 or higher, those who failed usually got about 3 or lower. There were very few marks in between. It was more of a recitation test than a speaking test. Designing an actual speaking test and having it approved for use around here would be a nightmare. Speaking isn't suppose to be spontaneous and natural, it's supposed to be scripted and the output should be precisely measurable.

The following is a video from the sole 5th grade class I taught. This was on Friday morning. It was the first time I taught this class since June! It was taught in a colorful classroom known locally as the 'Englishee Jone'. I have no idea what an English zone actually is but it sure looks expensive and important. The giant touch screen, ridiculous decor and the distracting lighting, combined with the lack of windows, inadequate heating, cooling and ventilation are enough to help anyone feel like they are learning English. No wonder some students claim studying gives them headaches. The video starts with my wonderful co-teacher explaining that we are going to listen to the foreign teacher talk about past tense ~ed sounds. It ends with the bell ringing and a mentally disabled student (sitting back out of frame with her assistant) saying her mood is great (in L1). All the students agree. She was doing her ABC coloring sheets, so I'm not fully sure whether she was commenting on my lesson or not.. Also I will apologize for failing to edit the video as I don't have the power or the software on my work computer.

Class 5-1

Essentially during this class, students were learning regular past tense verbs. I was focusing on the three different sounds ~ed makes. I taught them about the [d], [t] and [id] and also the tricky Y+ [d] that everyone thinks is [id] (ie: studied). They generally understood that there are 3 different ending sounds. They could all distinguish between the three when I pronounced the words. Some of the more advanced level students seemed to know how to distinguish between them without hearing me say it or having memorized the pronunciation. I taught them how to feel the air for voiceless and feeling their throat for voiced and explained [id] is for t/d ending sounds. At the end when I wrote glided on the board. The student I picked had no idea. Obviously the part about it being [id] if it ends in the [d] or [t] sound went past him. He probably had no idea what the word meant and saw that it ended in an e. He said something like glee-di-du and went with [d]. Fair enough. I should have started with a less tricky one.

My co-teacher interjects throughout the video using L1 to help with comprehension. In other lessons, she did this a lot more, the message seemed to stick more. My theory was that it wasn't so important. Who knows in the end they will likely only remember anything if they practice a few times at home which they won't. I'll see them again in February to ask how they are doing.

The only truly memorable event in 6th grade happened Friday morning as Tuesday's classes were the same as what was filmed last week (I'm sick of the warm-up lesson). This class has the lowest average in the grade. Three students are among the most advanced at the school. S1 is a brat, his conversation skills are great. He dominates the class. S2 and S3 are quiet girls. S2 has near native pronunciation and S3 can read novels. All three of these students are upper intermediate to advanced and the class average is novice medium. Safe to say they are bored. We decided to start with a random hello and then quickly ask them about the 3 -ed sounds because it went so well in 4th and 5th grade. One dialogue that emerged was interesting and somewhat along these lines:

Script:

ME: So class lets talk -ed endings. What are the three ending sounds?

Ss: [t], [d], [id]

ME: Good now an example of each.

S1: bored [d]

S1's naughty friend: Fucked [t]

S?: Fighted [id]

ME: Fighted is actually fought. One more try?

S?: Needed

ME: Okay. Let's move on.

In case you are wondering they got spoken to after class. I think they had to sweep up and weren't rewarded with any stickers. S1 and S1's friend are very good at sweeping.

Next week a lot of classes are cancelled because of autumn picnic season. I'm looking forward to grade 3 and 4 the most. I really wish I could spend more time with the higher grades then maybe I could discover how to reach them.

I am currently thinking about and discussing a lot of changes that should be made regarding how English classes are taught at my school. At the moment I'm having serious discussions with my coworkers about the value or point of having me teach 3 20 minute lessons over a month every 3 months for grade 5. I think focusing on less grades perhaps for a semester a week each and doubling my amount of time to 40 minutes a week may actually make my lessons more useful. Maximizing the amount of students who see me with having little concern of how much class time they actually have with me is having minimal effect. If this continues I must start thinking in terms of designing the most unforgettable 20 minutes of English you will never forget. We are also thinking of how to divide the classes into different levels such as high & low because this is important and the range is causing a lot of difficulties teaching the class. Imagine having to keep bored children entertained who are on opposite ends of the learning spectrum. How to you make content interesting and challenging enough for everyone in a large classroom populated by students who have no choice but to be there when their abilities vary so much? I know there is no easy answer and I'm not saying that I haven't been successful before, but if someone can tell me how to be consistently successful without resorting to bribery or giving up on some of them, I would appreciate this greatly.