Final exam(1)

Final exam(2)

 Today is 10th December, 2025. I have been English teacher in the most popular kindergarten for 10 years. The reason which my workplace is well-known among many parents is that we have taught our students by unique and special methods unlike the other kindergartens. Would you like to know about the secret of my school? Now, I am going to talk about that.

 First, we let our students take a test which informs their own learning style before we start a new semester. In the past, most students was able to know only their IQ and EQ. Even though they knew these things, it did now help them improve their English ability. However, our test is totally different from them. The structure of test is similar to them, but we can discover suitable learning style for each student from it. There are five classes related to learning style in our school. If one student is good at doing exercise, his class will be class for physical. Also, if another one is interested in wrting and reading, his class will be class for verbal, too. The number of students each class is under 12 and they have this class every 2 hours a day. 10 years ago, when I worked in another school, most of my students looked so bored and they did not have interest about English. On the other hand, current students really enjoy learning English as well as their English has been improving dramatically.

 Second, we make our students have a exact motivation before new semester starts. In terms of study, having certain purpose is the most important thing. Because of this, we give a time to think about their motivation and they have to express it by drawing or writing. Even if their goal is just for getting good marks, it does not matter. Having exact purpose is very crucial. We found that student who has his own goal shows better achievement than another one who does not have a goal.

 Third, before starting class, we welcome and greet with our students by doing handshake Q&A. When I studied TESOL in my university, I learned about it and I was eager to apply this way in the future. So I suggested it to my boss. As soon as we applyed it, it is very effective way to check our students's current learning state. We can ask what we learnt last lesson as well as we can tall about their daily life by handshaking. To be honest, it is quite hard to communicate with each student face to face, but we can share our our feelings by doing this.

 Fourth, every teachers in my school tries to educate our students by communicative language teaching. In prehistoric times, it was common way to teach them by grammar translation method. It had many negative effects. For instance, teachers let them memorize vocabulary and sentence and students usually felt tedious due to this. That is why students could feel nervous and they did not speak English at all when they encounter foreigners. To solve these problems, we teach them by doing various activities to improve their speaking skill such as role play and dicussion time in English. When they are doing it, I do not disturb them and I just assist them when they need my help.

 Finally, students have a free time to study whatever they want by computer every 1 hour each day. There are lots of websites which help their English learning by themselves. Most of all, the most popular website is 'Lyrics traning' among our students. They offer various songs, including song for children. They not only listen to music but also study English listening.

 That is all thing which explain the secret of our school's success. I really satisfied with teaching English for children and I would like to educate them by more varied tools. I am going to find it. :)

01/12/15

• What did think as you watched your videos?

After watching my video, I was quite satisfied with behavior of speaking. In my opinion, the most important attitude in terms of discussion and presentation is a loud voice and exact pronunciation. I think I have both of them. My voice was so loud that another people could hear and my pronunciation was also quite exact. However, I have a weakness as a speaker as well. When I talked about subject that is familiar for me, I could answer it confidently, but I lost my confident and my speaking was slower in opposite situation. Last thing is that my tone and intonation was robotic. 

• How could you have improved what you said - language correction, speaking style, or anything else?

 I concluded that I should fix my robotic speaking style. To improve this, I have to practice English speaking repeatedly. For example, I really like to watch American drama. When I watch it, I use English subtitle to understand their conversation easily. By this, I could learn exact pronunciation and I sometime could imitate their speaking. 

It will help me have more natural speaking than now.

11/24/15

*What thoughts did you have about the specific things shown in the videos?

→ I was really surprised about teacher's challenge for students. Now, I teach English for teenagers in small institute, I have never tried to teach them by new teaching method. Although they sometime feel tedious, I always let them memorize vocabulary and solve some questions which are for their exam. I know that it is wrong way as a teacher, but I think it is inevitable especially in Korea. Most korean think getting good mark in test is only their purpose and it show their real achievement of their studying. I'm really sorry about that. When I went to abroad to study English, All teacher at school used various kind of class material to help us make sense our lesson like teachers who appeared in videos. After watching video, I turned back my behavior and I wanted to be a special teacher for my students. 

*How have you (or others you know) included these in your teaching?

→ I found only one thing is included in my teaching skill. I'm very glad to know it. It is giving clear instructions. When I teach my students, I use book as teaching material. During lesson, I make them memorize vocabulary by giving specific time. If I don't do that, they lose their concentration and make a noise with their classmates. That's why I always give them exact time and also it help to teach them easier. 

*How might use these in your current or future teaching?

Starting the Lesson with a BangUsing Guessing ActivitiesHandshake Q & A FishbowlDialogue CirclesVoice ProjectionGiving Clear InstructionsTeacher Movement and PositioningUsing Gestures and Nonverbal CommunicationStaying Focused on Teaching and Not Being DistractedDealing with Behavior Issues

→ I think I can't use all of these material for my teaching, but one thing that I really want to try in the future is Handshake Q&A. As soon as I watched that video, I was fond of this teaching way. Because it is helpful to make a close relationship between teacher and student as well as check each students's condition. As a teacher, Communicating with students is also critical thing. That's why I want to educate my students by this method.

*What systems of behavior management/discipline do/will you use in your teaching?

→ When I watch several videos, some teacher in England tried to fix their tone and habit of their speaking. After watching that scenes, I considered that making a gentle voice is also important thing to educate especially for young students. I often shout when I don't listen my speaking and I usually say quite quickly when I explain something to them. So I'm going to make a considerable voice and tone for my students.

Welcome to the world of cooking

03/11/15

1. Which sites and resources were of most/ least interest as a language learner? Why?
The most interesting site was 'English central' to me. There are a lot of videos and it also offers a English subtitle and explanation of vocabulary. In addition, I could choose a different type of video depending on my level. It might be helpful to improve my listening skill. On the othet hand, the least interesting site was reading site. I wanted to read a novel, but the structure of site was quite complicated. Because of this, I could not read what I wanted to see.

2. Which sites and resources might be useful as a teacher? why?
'English hilfen' site might be useful to teach English as a teacher. There are a various kinds of quizes about grammar which we can make a error easily in the site. Also, the type of quiz is like a game, so it makes students enjoy doing these quizes without any pressure. I would like to provide this site to students after teaching grammar as a review.

3. Which other sites have been useful to you as a learner or teacher?
When I was in NewZealand, I used to enter 'lyrics training' site. Also, this site was very popular among other students. It provided us a variety of pop songs and we had to fill in some blanks by listening music. Thanks to music, we really enjoyed doing this game and also it helped us improve our listening skill. It is the most useful site to me as a learner.

4. What did you enjoy about spending time in the computer lab vs the classroom.
Of course, I really enjoy spending time in the computer lab. We always have a class in classroom and the only things that we do in classroom is just listening teacher's lecture and looking at white board. Due to these, I sometimes feel bored. However, I did lots of interesting things such as game in computer lab unlike classroom and I could choose a material which I wanted to do. That is why I was satisfied with studying in computer lab.

27/10/15

today's class was so interesting. It was about flipped-class. Before class, I have never heard about it. Because this teaching method is not common in Korea as well as other countries, but some school in British have tried this method nowadays. During class, we was a various videos about it and most of all, the memorable video was story about korean middle school students for me. While they were studying at school, they felt bored easily in terms of their class and they used to sleep for class  just like normal korean students. When I watched their behavior, I laughed at them. Because their behavior was so similar to my behavior when I was middle school student. The reason which I felt bored easily was that their teaching skill was tedious to me and I already learnt it in 학원 before studying it at school. However, in documentary, some teachers changed their teaching skill from original one to flipped-class skill. After changing their method, the result was so incredible! Most students participated in their class and concentrate on it very well unlike before. Also, their exam score was amazing. Most of them got higher score than before and one student went up his score even 30. I was really surprised about that result and I think that all of schools in Korea have to accept this method. However, it might be a revolution in the area of education and it could take a lot of time to change eduation way. I hope that I will see this teaching skill at school soon!

Mid-term assignment

1. Of the topics we've covered so far. which one will be most applicable to your future language learning and teaching? why?

 we have learnt about motivation and reward in learning process. In my opinion, I think that having our own motivation is the most important thing for learning as well as teaching.

 Having specific motivation helps learners to concentrate on their studying and it also encourage them to do not give up their purpose. In my case, when I was in NewZealand for studying, I had a hard time to study IELS which is test to enter the national university among students. Because my agency manager recommended it to me, I just chose to be in that course without any exact motivation. Every students was in this course so as to acheiving their own purpose unlike me, so it was so difficult to continue to study IELS. I used to think of dropping out of that course. However, I changed my mind and I decided to have my own goal. It was getting more than 6.5 score in real IELS exam. After having decision, I did my best in this course and I finally got a good score in test. Thanks to this experience, I always make my students have their own motivation. When I met them at the first time, I asked them what their reason for studying English is. But, no one answered about that question and even one student said to me that he just wanted to get a good mark in school exam. I was disappointed about their behavior. However, most of korean students might be same as them. If they do not have their own motivation, they will feel bored in term of studying English.

 In conclusion, I always would like to try to have a specific motivation in every task as a learner and I am going to help my students have their own goal as a teacher as well.

2. Choose one aspect of something we've covered in this course and describe in some detail how you would apply that to a future lesson?

 we also have learnt about various learing styles in learing process. Accoridng to this theory, every people has their own learning style depending on their innate talents such as visual learner and kinesthetic learner. It is very interesting to me, so I would like to apply this for my students in the future.

 At first, the most important thing is that I have to find which learing style for each student fits. I think that it is quite difficult thing, so it is also useful to make test paper in order to finding learning style such as IQ and EQ. Nowadays, every people find out their own IQ and EQ ability easily. I hope that test for finding learning style will be made soon. However, I would replace it to have a aptitude test for students. By result of this test, I could decide their learning style. For example, if one student is good at sports, he might be kinethetic learner. Also, if another one is interested in playing instrumemt, he could be aural learner.

 After deciding their learing style, I would seperate my students and make several classes depending on their learing style. And then, I will teach English for them relying on each classes. For instance, for verbal learner class, I will focus on teaching a writing and reading a book. Also, for kinethetic class, I will lead them to instruct English with sports activities instend of studying in classroom.

 I think that this teaching method is a kind of revolution. However, I would say that this way will help students enjoy studying English and they will not feel tedious during class. If I have my own English school, I would like to make various classes depeding on learning style and also I want to allocate professonal teachers each class.

3. Which topics or methods are you interested in learing more about during the second half of the certificate program?

 I am very interested in how students in another countries acquire their second language and what the most common learing methods for them is.

 When I was in NewZealand, there were many students from all over the world at my language school. I was very surprised about their English skill. Although they were lower intermediate level, their speaking skill was like a native speaker. My level was intermediate, but their communication skill was better than me. How come? Maybe, most of korean students was same as me.

 On the other hand, even though they were good at speaking, their grammar and writing was worse than me. They always made grammar error when they were doing writing task. However, their acquisition skill was better than me, too. We had a level test once a month, they used to go up their level easier than me. It is still curious thing to me.

 In my opinion, foreign students have another certain method unlike korean. In korea, most teachers concentrate on behaviorism teaching method, so we are forced to memorize every tasks and we cannot lead our class by ourselves. In contrast, foreign students used to lead their class freely and they always have a confidence when they was speaking. I really wonder what makes them like that?

06/10/15

Today, we studied and discussed about our own and a various kinds of learning style. It was very interesting to find my learing style during class and also I discovered my new learning style. We had a short test to find which brain is dominant between right and left. I was very surprised about the result. I believed that I am a right brain dominant person, but the result was totally different from

my expectation. Actually, I am a left brain dominant person. Since I was teenager, I hate studying logical things such as math and science. In contrast, I do like to study abstract things such as music and art. Because of this, I thought that. However, I do not trust these theories and I think that students do not need to follow their learing style. Of course, knowing their own learing style is helpful to choose their studying method and material, but their effort is the most important thing for studying.

22/09/15

Today, in my class, we discussed about motivation for studying as well as behavior of life. Through our discussion, I found myself as motivated person. Because I do not like to waste my time. I spend my time by doing useful and helpful things. For example, I have a gap year

now, but I have my time with TESOL course and working as a English teacher. The reason that I do these things is that I would like to be a English teacher after graduation. Being a teacher is a kind of motivation for me now. Also, I think that it is very important to

have a motivation for students. If they have a exact motivation, they will do their best for their aims. So, I always try to let them have a motivation by themselves.

15/09/15 Tuesday

On your blog, post a short reflection about Week#3 discussions. 
- today, in our class, teacher taught us through various videos. I really like that kind of teaching. I studied when and how children acquire their own language and what difference between Asian and Westerner. It was so impressed to me, especially second one. According to the video which teacher shown, Asian usually focus on whole thing whereas Westerner think individual is more important than whole thing. I totally agree that fact. For example, when I looked at my foreigner friends pictures on Facebook, I could see only their face. :) It is so silly.


Also, please answer this question (on your blog):
What materials, tools, and/or sites have been most useful to you as a language learner?
- When I was in NewZealand, I used to read a book and watch a american drama with English subtitle whenever I had a free time everyday. These methods were quite helpful to improve my English skill. So I would recommend these way for my friends.

08/09/15 Thursday

1. Can you think of times when you learned language by the different historical approaches…
 - Grammar Translation Method? 
I used to be taught by this method during my high school life. Most of my teacher who was in my high school focused on their syllabus and they always explained in terms of some question in our class material. Because of this, we thought that getting good mark is the most important thing for us and it shows my achievement about English class. Normally, I was bored when I learned by this method.

- Audiolingual?
I used to be taught by this method when I was elementary school student. It was the first time to learn English in my life, so it was important to have a exact pronunciation and good listening skill. For example, teacher used to read a article and we followed her speaking. And sometime she used CD for class material, so we could do listening practice.    
- Communicative Language Teaching?
I have been taught by this method since my university life. Before entering university, I had never discussed about certain subject with classmates. However, I have had many times to discuss some subject and shared our own idea by group activity.

2.Which have you experienced the most?
I usually have been taught by grammar translation method. Most teachers were so strict and they were leader of our class. So I couldn't ask some question during class. Also, getting good mark and recording high rank is the most important things as grade achievement in Korea. That's why I have experienced this method the most in my life.

3.Give examples of activities that fit into the different methods. 
For grammar translation method, solving question and explaining that question fit. We can find these
things in korean high school class and toeic class. And dictation which is good for improve listening skill and speaking some article as pronunciation practice fit for audiolingual. Finally, discussion activity during class is a good example for communicative language teaching.
4.In what ways were they effective or not?
The communicative language teaching is the most effective way to learn English to me. When I was in NewZealand, most of my class teacher used this method. So we could lead our class and shared our own idea in English. Discussing something in secend language is very effective to improve my English skill. On the other hand, grammar translation method is not effective way. I used to be bored easily and I couldn't concentrate on class.

5.How do you (will you) balance these approaches as a teacher?
I think it depends on their ages. For under 14, I would like to teach them by audiolingual. As I said, it is important to have a interest in this period. So I will use various class materials to improve their class interest as well as concentration such as animation and music. For more than 14, I would like to teach them by communicative language skill. In that age, they can tell their own opinion so they can lead their class. I want to make them enjoy their class by their ability.

09/01/15 Tuesday

09/01/15 Tuesday 

 Today was the first time to join in tesol class. Before going to school, I felt nervous because I thought that it was too difficult for me. But it wasn't. The impression of teacher, Jeff, is so good and my classmates are so familiar.
 We had a time to get to know each other before we started to study a lecture. At that time, I found that everyone has a same goal. We would like to be a English teacher and we want to improve our English skills. 
 After introducing ourselves, we studied about three kinds of theory which are in terms of learning second language such as English for us.
There are Behaviorist theory, Innatist theory and Interactionist theory. Normally, I think that the first theory is similar to method of korean student learning. In my opinion, the second theory is the best way to learn second languages.
 I really enjoyed our first class and I'm looking forward to see another teacher tomorrow as well. :)