I am currently teaching English as a foreign language at a middle school in Korea. One of my classes is specifically focused on Grammar and speaking. I have had a hard time designing this language course because of two factors. The first is the difference of English proficiency level. Some of the students have lived and studied abroad in the U.S.A, so their English level is very high. Others, on the other hand, wanted to learn grammar and speaking with no background knowledge. Since there is a huge language gap, it is hard to set a goal and design my course. Currently, I am assuming the level of the entire class is intermediate, so I have started to design specific lessons targeting their needs.
While reading these two chapters, I realized that my experience as a second language learner, and as a teacher, are absolutely affecting the designs of my lesson plans. I noticed that most of my students were shy in showing me their expectations for my class. When I was a student, I also did not say in which way I wanted to learn English, so the instruction was absolutely teacher-centered. This did not help me learn the language, but only got me scared of making mistakes. That is why I thought the student-centered approach would be effective in acquiring English. However, the lower-level students felt that my class was not easy to follow, and they wanted me to teach the grammar step by step. They are not satisfied, but the high-level students are. I am still struggling to fix this dilemma. It is hard for me to meet all my student's needs at the same time.
I understand your difficulty designing a course for a class of mixed leveled learners because I had the same experience as yours as a curriculum developer of my own academy. However 'problematizing' helped me a lot. Defining and focusing on the best way to make the most of the resources available explicitly shows the direction because 'problematizing' takes place in the context you are in. Sometimes teachers want to put too much in one. In my case, problematizing helped to see what I could actually bring in into the class.
ReplyDeleteNow you have got a clear definition on the context you are in and a firm belief of your own, which bases a curriculum on. I'm sure you will pull through. Good luck!
Thank you so much for your encouragement. Yes, I also learned that I had to problematize my curriculum to find out where I need to be improved. You are right though. I think I tried to put too much information at a time. I will re-design a course and try it again. Thank you so much!
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ReplyDeleteI really impress your posting about you are considering between reality and goal as a teacher. I also agree the student-centered approach would be effective in acquiring English but It is hard to instruct like this reality of the education on the school.
ReplyDeleteI’m sure you will re-design a course because you already know what problems are and
You have got absolutely context. I also want to be learned and improved a lot.
keep it up^^
Yes, it is very important and difficult to set appropriate level of teaching when there are various students whose English fluency levels are different. Actually, I do not know the best solution for that. Surely, if possible, you can divide them and teach differently to improve all of their English competence. However, you are a school teacher and it is impossible. So, I think that increasing opportunities to communicate with each student may be effective if you can. As you said, Korean students are very passive to express themselves as you and I did. They consider English just a difficult subject. So I think that teachers should inform students of that English is a “language” that convey meanings and thoughts like our native language, Korean. Moreover, if they feel fun when meet interesting information or stories through English, it would reduce students’ fear for English. Thank you for your posting that ave me many questions to think.
ReplyDeleteDoes any teacher meet all his students’ needs at the same time? In Korea, there are a lot of classes where high and low level students study together. In the case, what level does the teacher has to focus on? It is an intermediate level. It can’t be helped. To avoid the situation, schools should classify students according to their levels.
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