Teaching Speaking Day 3

Today was the same group as Day 2. Some students on the list seem to have stopped attending, so I was prepared to modify my group assignments to accommodate the absences. All the tech was working and I was able to play the videos and display the discussion prompts on the board.
Some whole class discussions and transitions took longer than I allowed for, so there was not time for discussion of the final video or for the closure discussion at the end of the plan. However, because this is a less formal speaking class, this is preferable to having too few activities for the students to do.

There were a couple of spur-of-the-moment modifications to the plan. During the warm-up, I made a table of shopping methods by type of item and country on the board while students related the shopping methods in their home countries. For the whole class discussion of internet shopping, I used a show-of-hands survey for question 2 and 3, and recorded the results on the board. This prompted extra discussion with the class.
The crossword activity did not go as expected. The students seemed to prefer to work on it individually and with the exception of one pair, did not discuss it with their groups, even after I reminded them a couple of times. I suspect that this is because many of the students are used to wanting to finish an assignment as quickly as possible and to feel that they must do written work on their own.
Overall, it was a good lesson. I feel somewhat uncomfortable when I have to interrupt enthusiastic discussions between students. Sometimes it seems I have difficulty getting some of the students to interact, and also some difficulty getting them to stop when it is time to move on. These are some aspects of my teaching that I will need to work on.

Self-evaluation:

My strengths:

1. I did a good review of some difficult points from the previous lesson.
2. I introduced each video and reviewed some vocabulary that I thought might be difficult for the students.
3. I allowed an appropriate amount of time for each discussion, and moved on to the next part of the lesson when I noticed that the discussions in groups were slowing down.
4. I circulated while the groups were discussing each topic and had some good one-on-one conversations with students.
5. I asked some students to move seats in order to get them to work better with their group partner.

My weaknesses:

1. I did not always push students enough to answer my questions during whole class discussions.
2. I sometimes allowed students to chat with each other while I was speaking to the class.
3. I did not ask for students' attention forcefully enough to give additional directions when they had begun working on a reading/writing assignment.
4. I did not notice when some students were misusing their mobile phones (i.e. not as a dictionary or translation aid.)
5. I did not notice when two students were using their L1, even though they were separated in different groups.
6. I need to ask specific questions about the topic when students claim they are "done" with the current discussion.
7. I need to provide students with specific examples of questions to ask each other during discussions, rather than the general discussion questions I have been using.

Lesson Plan #3
Instructions for Student Activities April 4
Alternate Student Work Pages

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Resources:

Genzel, Rhona B, & Cummings, Martha Graves, (2010). Culturally Speaking, 3^rd Edition. Boston: Heinle, Cengage Learning.

CF Polo Park. (March 28, 2014). Winnipeg is Happy – Polo Park Version. [video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OefuX06J2Fw.

Howcast. (June 23, 2008).  How to have a Yard Sale. [video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWoSyl5j5f0.

Manitoba Eco-Network. (Nov. 15, 2014). FRESH- St. Norberts Farmers Market. [video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doPylb2okdQ.

The Course Outline, Instructor's Guide and the Curriculum for the course were provided by the school, but cannot be cited due to privacy requirements.