Reflection#1

I started teaching at the ESL School of the New York Film Academy on Monday, September
26th. This quarter I will beteachingthreeclasses:PreIntermediate(Level2)ReadingandVocabulary,
Advanced(Level6)ReadingandVocabulary,andAdvanced(Level6)Presentation.Classesaresmall
I only have two students in my preintermediate class and four students in the two advanced classes.
The first two class sessions are 90 minutes long and the Presentation class is only 60 minutes. As for
my students background, I have students from Turkey, Vietnam, and China. All classes follow a
textbook (Longman Academic Reading and Giving Academic Presentations) on which quizzes and
exams are created. Overall, I feel that that my first week went well. I discovered that some aspects
workedeffectivelyandotherscanbeimproved.

Formyfirstclass,PreIntermediateReadingandVocabulary,Iallocatedsometimetoengagein
an icebreaker activity to get to know each other and build rapport with the students. Students were
asked to use three different colored flashcards to share three things: something fun they did over the
summer, something interesting/useful they learned last quarter, and something they want to learn this
quarter. It worked very well by allowing students to relax before jumping into the class content and
they had an opportunity to learn some interestingfactsaboutoneanother.Inaddition,itallowedmeto
survey students prior knowledge and get an idea of their spoken English level and understanding. I
discovered that, although the two students were placed inthesameclassroom,oneofthemhasamore
limitedvocabularyandhasgreaterdifficultyspeaking.

Bearing this in mind, I have tried to aid student comprehension by scaffolding the language
withvisualsandgraphicorganizers.Thisalignswithlearnercenteredinstructionasstudentsdonotsit
passively and listen but instead must play a much more active role in their learning (Doyle, 2011, p.
3). While the strategy worked well, I realized that I needed to do more modelingbeforestartingthese
kind of activities as students might not be familiar with how to use a graphicorganizerwhenreading.
For example, in one of my lessons I used a chart for summarizing to help students identify the main
ideas of the text we were reading. Initially, they looked confused when I handed out the chart, so I
showed a model of the chart on the board withanexampleonhowtouseit.Studentswereengagedin
reading the text and I saw that my role shifted from being a teller of knowledgetothatofafacilitator
of learning. As Weimer (2013) contends, when we give students some control over the learning
process, their motivation and engagement in the class increases, and I witnessed this in my class.
Overall, I felt satisfied with how the lessons went, but for future lessons I will remind myself not to
start an activity, especially if it is new, assuming students know howitworks.Allottingsometimefor
modeling is a valuable step in helping English language learners (ELLs) successfully achieve the
learning objectives. In fact, according toDoyle(2011)thereshouldbeaplaceinclassforsomelecture
andexamplestohelpstudentsconnectnewinformationorprocesseswiththeirbackgroundknowledge.
Finally, somethingthathasbeenhelpfulinthisclassistheuseofonlinetranslatorsonstudentsphones
for vocabulary practice. Technology, as Walker and White (2013) argue, can be a helpful tool for

foreign language learners to allowthemtomoreindependentlyengagewiththetargetlanguage.Inthis

class, if I see that there are problems understandingwordsdespitesimplifiedexplanationsorvisuals,I
allow students to quickly translate the word on their phones.Ithenaskthemtogivemeanexampleto
check if they have the correct meaning. I think this can help lowerlevel ELLs build a sense of
selfefficacy, which Weimer (2013) argues is key in a learnercentered classroom. When students are
able to independently access language on their phones, they are gaining some control over their
learningwhichcanhelppromoteapositivebeliefthattheycanlearnEnglish.

For my Advanced Reading and Vocabulary class, I met with the challenge of motivating
students toparticipateinthereadingdiscussions.Oneoftheclassobjectivesinthisclassisforstudents
to develop critical thinking by expressing their opinions about the readings, so I have tried to
incorporate discussion in the class sessions. Because students in this class come from a more
teachercentric learning environment, they did not seem very comfortable when asked to share
opinions and respond to critical thinking questions. Keeping in mind that all learners vary in their
readiness, interests, and learning profiles (Erben, Ban, & Castaeda,2008,p.5),Idecidedtoprovide
another option for students to express what they know or think. I aided the discussion process by
giving students some timetowritedowntheirthoughtsinresponsetothecriticalthinkingquestion.As
Erben et. al (2008) suggest, ELLs speaking fluency can improve with literacy experiences such as
brainstorming, charting, synthesizing, and evaluating.Thus,havingthemwritedowntheirideaswould
help them better express them orally with the group later. At the same time, I felt that it would help
lower theiranxietylevelsresultingfromexperiencingamorestudentcenteredenvironmentwherethey
areencouragedtoparticipatemore.Forthemostpart,thisstrategyworkedtoincreaseparticipationand
students were better able to express theiropinions.Nonetheless,forfuturelessons,IthinkIwouldlike
to incorporate a collaborative brainstorming session to recap the main ideas in the text as well as to
help learners connecttheirpriorknowledgewiththetopicofthereading.AsWeimar(2013)andDoyle
(2011) contend, learnercentered teaching promotes collaboration to encourage the development of
skills and allow students to help each other in the learning process. Therefore, I believe that using a
brainstorming activity in pairs couldbeavaluablestrategytohelpthesestudentsbemoremotivatedto
participate in discussion sessions. In addition, I am thinking of integrating technology using Poll
Everywhere to increase engagement during reading comprehension activities. Sometimes answering
the comprehension questions on the book might become boring for students, so doing an anonymous
collectivepollfollowedbyashortdiscussioncanhelpcollectfeedbackandkeeptheclassattention.

In my final class, Presentation, technology has been very helpful in achieving a

learnercentered environment and enhancing learning. In particular, using videos from YouTube and
TED, has helped me create learning experiences in which students are actively engaged with the
concepts wearediscussing.Forinstance,wediscussedtheimportanceofbodylanguagewhengivinga
speech and identified some of the key aspects and characteristics of an effective speaker. Based on
these discussions and readings from the books, I used TED videos to have students evaluate and
analyze different speakers. These activities proved to be effective in engaging students with the
material and, as Weimer (2013) argues, empowering learners by encouraging them to raise questions

and actively construct their knowledge rather than passively receiving information. I will continue to
use videos in this class to help students improve their understandingofpublicspeakingbyconnecting
the theory with reallife examples. One challenge in this classisthatthetextbookdoesnotoffermany
exercises to apply the concepts it offers and it is missing some key concepts for giving presentations,
such as an outline or the components of a speech. Therefore, I have reliedonexternalresources,such
as Toastmasters International, to provide students with easytounderstand handouts and tips for
speakinginpublic.

In general, I feel like class sessions went well, but I will certainly try out some newstrategies
next week to help studentsbemoreengagedinclass,especiallyduringthetworeadingandvocabulary
classes. I am also considering trying out the use of exit slips in all of my classes to gather student
feedbackandassesstheirunderstanding.

References:

Erben,T.,Ban,R.,&Castaeda,M.E.(2009).T
eachingEnglishLanguageLearnersThrough
Technology.NewYork:Routledge.

Walker,A.,&White,G.(2013).T
echnologyenhancedlanguagelearning:Connectingtheoryand
practice.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress.

Weimer,M.(2013).L
earnercenteredteaching:Fivekeychangestopractice.SanFrancisco:
JosseyBass.

Doyle,T.(2011).Learnercenteredteaching:Puttingtheresearchonlearningintopractice.Sterling,
VA:StylusPub.