It might seem that my revised activity is not related to that of what I did first time, but it is actually related, as my first activity involved describing activities and so did the second one. There were a lot of opinions on my first activity that the students were dissatisfied because they had to involve only one from speaking and listening. I had to meet the students' needs to meet the standards for their interest, so my activities were moved toward the activities in which the students showed most interest.
The first activity was similar to the bingo, but it was slightly different, as the students had to explain the words instead of just calling them out. The materials provided were a paper with the bingo game and words printed on them. I expected the activity to last more longer than what was done in class, but the students who were expected to have problems explaining some words were able to explain the words without too much effort, so I was a bit surprised; maybe the students have had improved explanation skills due to the numerous activities done in class.
The problem with this activity was that the words seemed too easy(I designed it in this way so a situation where students do not know any of the words do not happen, to not embarrass the students.) to make the activity more meaningful to the students. Perhaps I should have use more words that are harder to understand. To add, the students did not use proper sentences to explain the words, so I thought that more precautions must be given to encourage the students to do so.
I thought that I could improve this activity by making the students switch their bingo papers after filling them out; while the method that I carried out provides students with time to consider how they can explain the words, the new method will provide students with opportunities to practice skills to quickly produce sentences. The students also looked worn out and slightly losing interest after they had done a similar activity with Seong-ah.
For the second activity, I planned an activity also known as the "Son Byung-Ho game" in Korean. The students had to hold their five fingers in the air, and will take turns telling the group one thing that they have never done, using the word chunk "I have never..." The students who have experienced that activity had to fold their fingers. I gave a piece of paper with explanations so that the students remember to say "I have never..." I actually saw a student making use of the material in this way, so I was pretty satisfied.
I focused a lot on time use, as I had unexpectedly large amount of time left the last time. I prepared two versions of the second activity, one that is planned to be used when there is more than 15 minutes left and the other planned to be used when there are less than 15 minutes. The difference between them is whether to ask the students who folded their fingers when they have experienced the activities. Luckily, the plan worked. I used the shorter one after looking at the clock. I also kept reminding the students of the time so they can accomplish the given tasks.
So both activities were meaningful in that the students actively encouraged to explain various words and made use of the given word chunk. The input and the outputs of the activity were comrehensible, and the students seemed to not have major problems; the other students were willing to ask what the speaker had said when the words were incomprehensible for them. Moreover, the activity served pedagogical goals and authentic goals at the same time, which is to define the speakers' intentions. The speakers, using combination of keywords, were able to define the words.
2.Seong-ah's activity
Stars for the activity:
I could see that Seong-ah improved her activity by looking at the new system that she had constructed. The way how the exercise worked changed slightly in diverse aspects. First, Seong-ah emphasized the fact that the papers given to each group should not be shown to the other group. Second, the restricted words were given in groups, not each person, so that the students could pay more attention to the other group's use of the word. Third, the words became more complicated, like nun. I realized that the students did not use proper sentences to explain the words, so I thought that more precautions must be given to encourage the students to do so, like my activity.
This time, Seong-ah failed to manage her time, as she prepared similar amount of words than what she prepared last time. This seems to be because the students got used to the structure of explanation. Her pedagogical goals were similar to mine; supporting students so that they can explain certain words. However, in this aspect, I thought it will be better to not form teams. This is because when our team was having problems, Seong-ah was on the other team and could not help our team members. If she wanted to make teams without these kinds of problems, she should have made sure that she and the professor was in separate teams. On the other hand, when having a second thought, the exercise played its real life goal of practicing the skill of listening. I learned in another class that it is actually hard for people to listen to others carefully, and this requires focused training to improve. Since the students had to listen to what the other group was saying, I think that the students paid attention to the words that were used and the contents of the speaking at the same time.
So the activity was meaningful in that the students were interested in performing the pedagogical goal of the activity. It was also comprehensible for most people, but I thought that more consideration is needed, like putting explanations below some complicated words. Overall, although Seong-ah had some problems with the team system, I thought that this can be improved by 1) organizing the students into the right groups(so each group has a person who is familiar with complicated language) 2) elucidating complicated word definitions below the words.
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Anonymous
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RE: Teaching Listening and Speaking (Spring 2019) - Week 7 Reflections for Wonderful
Our first instructor for this week, Sang Ah, actually made some improvements on her material compared to the previous exercise that she had prepared. At first, she divided us into two groups of three and then different taboo words were given in each group, not each person. Thats why it was easy to take notice of the use of the words while the other group was speaking. To be more specific, she helped the other group to focus on listening carefully to the use of words while we are saying and then they could find out the professor using the restricted word. Compared to the last time, I felt that she also controlled the difficulty of the words that we had to make a good guess. However, the same problem that I found like the last time was the security of the words. The notebook the instructor used for this activity was exactly the same as the ones that she had used last time, so I could mistakenly see some of the words that were written on the back of the papers, since it was so thin. If she had used a thick notebook or replaced it with another thick small card, she could have improved the activity. Another problem was that she failed to manage the time because we still had 15 more minutes left even though we had finished the activity. Since the activity ended too early, the professor brought another activity for us. I think the reason why this kind of situation has happened is because the number of words was not enough to fill up the time.
Anyway, one of my great regrets in her activity was the distribution of time. Overall, except for several problems, I think the activity successfully served its pedagogical goals to make students speak actively and listen carefully to others. In addition, I thought that this activity could be used in the actual lesson to teach students new words in a very exciting way.
Yeon Jins activity
The second instructor, Yeon Jin, brought two different kinds of activities, but it seemed to be totally different from the materials that she had hosted on her first material hosting day. Anyway, for the first activity, the instructor handed out a piece of paper to each person with some blank boxes on it and there were also lots of vocabularies which were almost comprehensible for everyone. The first step was to fill in the blanks with several words that we would like to pick in 5 minutes, and then in a clockwise directions, we had to give an explanation of the meaning of any words that we wrote down to the person sitting right next to us. Finally, the one who makes four bingo lines would be the winner of this activity. The level of difficulty of the words was not high, so there was no difficulty in intentionally trying to make the explanation of the words. However, I thought that one of the pedagogical goals of this activity was to help the students to be familiar with speaking in a full sentence, but I remember that while one of the students was explaining the definition of future, she just said only two words, past-present, not a full sentence. At this point, I felt that the instructor should have to tell the students that they have to say something in the full form of a sentence at the beginning of the activity.
Generally, everyone tried to show great ardor for this activity and actively engage in it. Whats more, it could help them to acquire or understand their target language very easily. So the activity was meaningful in that the students were interested in being involved in the activity. Furthermore, this activity served nearly all of the pedagogical goals to make the students think creatively while speaking actively, build up their vocabulary, help them to speak with familiar words, and extend their skills of explanation.
The next activity also included a piece of papers for each student that contained instructions for the activity. For this one, the students had to hold their five fingers in the air and take turns telling the other people that they have never done before by using the word chunk I have never. And then, the students who already have done that activity should put a finger down and the one whose fingers are all down is out. At the beginning of this activity, several students seemed to be a little bit confused with the instructions and it took some time to fully understand the rule. Also, I saw that one of the students was having a hard time comprehending the instructions, so a student on the opposite side of her helped her understand. At this point, the instructor ought to have helped her understand because I think that the teacher has a responsibility to guide and instruct students. Another point I want to mention is that most of us used done or eaten too often, so it actually sounded a little bit banal and the professor suggested us to use other words chunks except for those two. But, it was not that easy for us to come up with another word chunk in a short time. Thus, I thought it would be much better if the instructor provided several options of word chunks for us that can be used variously in advance, so that we could form a variety of sentence.
It was meaningful in that the students kept their ears open for listening others words, so that they could develop both of their listening and speaking skills. Also, the activity served the pedagogical goals to lead the students to make use of particular words that are used in similar contexts and intensify the interaction between students. Of course, it might help the students to be familiar with the common word chunks, so that they could use it without any difficulties in real life.
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Anonymous
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RE: Teaching Listening and Speaking (Spring 2019) - Week 7 Reflections for Wonderful
The activity was different from the previous one. We did Bingo game this time and it was different from ordinary Bingo. We were given the list of words which can fill the bingo blanks but in order to cross out the word, we should explain the meanings of the words without saying the exact word. After the bingo game, we also did Ive never game. Everyone raises their five fingers and says one thing that she thinks everyone else has done before except herself. Students took turns and if someone has done what others say, then she has to fold one finger. If all the fingers are folded, she loses the game.
By explaining the words, students could practice speaking and listening. To describe words, students have to come up with an explanation about the word, and then they should go through the process of translating them into English. While doing that, they also have to select proper words on their own. And the others speaking becomes listening input. From the second activity, students could practice making sentences using the given grammar form, Ive never
The level of the given words was appropriate. Also everyone should be involved to play the game, so all students participated in the game actively. Generally, the activities were simple but good enough to practice both speaking and listening.
Sang Ahs activity
The activity was a transformed version of the previous one. We were divided into two groups of 3, and the taboo word was given to each team. We explained some words and tried to guess the words that other group presented.
By doing this activity, students could practice selecting proper words that describe the given word, making sentences without using the taboo word, and describing words in English. And the others speaking becomes listening input because students have to monitor whether other team members are using taboo word or not. We should listen to other group more carefully.
The level of given words was appropriate for students and since it was a team competition activity, it was good enough to derive students interest. However, if I have to pinpoint one little thing, I think it would have been better if the time allotment had been more systemic.
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Anonymous
Date:
RE: Teaching Listening and Speaking (Spring 2019) - Week 7 Reflections for Wonderful
On this day, the activity of Sang A and Yeon jin were a day. First of all, Sang As activity started. I could see her activity have been improved. In last activity, she was lack of using a narrow range of taboo words, and the letters appeared in the notebook. So, I found out that her letter on the notebook was changed. Also, Taboo words were changed to words that people usually use a lot and brought in many kinds. The rule of this activity have changed a little, and three people are one team and look at one word, and explain it to the other team, and they will answer the question.I personally think Sang A's last activity was better. Because I think student had little chance to talk to everyone during this activity. I don't think it's mandatory to say one by one, so I think I had fewer chances to talk. There's also time left. As we've been working on this as a group, it must have ended sooner than she predicted.However, there was also a good change in activity. Last time, it didn't take a single student because the taboo word was in a very poor range, but this time she seemed to have shortened the scope and prepared it. It took the students many times.The last remaining time was for asking questions with using two taboo words. Student led a question to the other to say the taboo word. I think this part was unprepared but quite creative.
Yeon jins activity
Next is Yeon Jin's activity. She's been preparing a completely different activity from the last one. It was a bingo game that I know a lot, but it was a little different. There were a lot of different vocabrary written under the 16 spaces she prepared. Host gave the students five minutes to fill in the blanks. It was nice to see students who were running out of time giving them a few minutes more fluidly. The rule of approximate activity is to give an explanation of the words to be checked when each turn is returned. The word can be marked if the students correct it by explaining it. Though it was completely different from the last activity she had undertaken, I think it was a creative activity that fits well with the educational goals of this class. Because personally, I like bing go game and I realized that I can listen and speak to English in this way while I do bingo. In the last activity, I added a comment saying that I was disappointed that only one student would be able to speak and listen to it. This time, it improved well and the activity was fun.
