F2F Class Notes (Vicki)

Why do you want to study in our school?
During my four-year teaching practice, I encountered various difficulties. On my way solving them, I read books about English teaching methods. By putting those methods into practice, I find found myself developing into a better teacher. The more I read and learned about English teaching, the more I wanted to learn. That’s why I am here. I really want to study more and thoroughly about English teaching. You may retort by saying if I have a willing heart, I can learn anywhere. But I think learning by myself and learning at a school is totally different. A school can not only provide me with a sea of books, but also can give me the opportunity to learn from the knowledgeable professors and classmates. That is absolutely the best way to improve myself. Surely I would like to study here and make the best of my school time.

As a school, why should we accept you?
As you can see, I am ready to learn, so I won’t waste my time here. I believe the school would not turn away  shut doors to a student who is willing to learn. Second, I know I have to read numerous English books about teaching, pedagogy, psychology and I am ready for that. Because I have been reading The Economist for about a year. Reading fast and with interest is already one of my habits. As for writing papers, that is what I have always been dreaming of. During my teaching practice, I have already written articles on my wechat official account, articles about my own teaching problems, solutions and ideas. I am prepared to write more critical-thinking articles and perhaps publish a book. Studying here will provide a wonderful chance for doing that!

What are your strengths?
The biggest strength of mine is that I am self-reflective. Reflecting on my own experience helps me to improve. I usually watch my recorded classes and then write the blogs about my own teaching performance. I would first write reflect on something I didn’t perform well, and then think of some practical ways of improving them. After conforming to those ways for about a month, I would examine my videos again and see if my teaching performance gets better. I think this is the fastest way of advancing myself. It is useful in other fields, too, besides teaching.
Second, I’m able to work efficiently while under pressure. Many people are too nervous about deadlines, so as to finish their tasks hurriedly below expectations, or too casual about deadlines, so as to perform like procrastinators. But I never see deadlines as a monster. I see them as my friend. With deadlines, I can make my own schedule and stick to those tasks until I finish them all.

What are your weaknesses?
First, I easily get bored with routine tasks. That is to say, if a task is too boring and unchanging, I would find it hard to persist on. But somehow I have to deal with some routine tasks. In order to hold on to them, I would add something new and creative. For example, I have to remind my students to hand in their online homework every Wednesday. In order to make it more interesting, I make some emojis. In that case, the students would find it funnier and would be more willing to hand in their homework.
Second, my speaking speed is a little bit too fast. At least some of my students once complained about that. Therefore I intentionally slow down when I am giving a class.

Vocabulary

wing it – to come up with solutions on the spot

Read about the following teaching method and reflect 

The Multilingualism and Multiliteracy (MultiLiLa) project was a four-year research study (2016 –2020) led by the University of Cambridge and a consortium of Indian and UK partners including the British Council. The project aimed to identify whether or not children who learn through the medium of a language which is not the same as their home languages have different levels of learning outcomes than those children whose home and school languages are the same. Data was collected in Delhi, Patna and Hyderabad, from children in Standards IV and V.

A total of 2500 children were assessed on their literacy, numeracy and cognitive skills. Classroom observations were also done in their schools to explore teaching practices and how languages are used during English and mathematics lessons. The data tells us that:

The number of languages a child speaks at home and whether any of them are also used at school has an effect on the child’s school and cognitive skills.

Poverty, lack of rich print exposure at home, and migration do not necessarily create cognitive disadvantages. Children living in slum areas in Delhi either did not differ or in some cases, outperformed, children living in non-slum areas. The slum/non-slum distinction did not seem to lead to significant differences in most data from the Hyderabad children. In Patna, there were no differences between children in non-remote rural areas and children in the town areas in Hindi literacy skills, but there were differences in non-verbal IQ with town children performing better.

Children from Hyderabad showed a strong positive relationship between aspects of cognitive skills and knowing and using many languages.

The teachers in all three sites used multiple languages as an informal strategy to support learning. Language mixing is used more frequently than the official medium of instruction – both in English medium and regional-language medium schools.

The majority of lessons observed involved mainly teacher-centred practice which did not encourage children to demonstrate their understanding or skills in a meaningful way.