My TESOL Practical

05 Apr 2007 18:01 (Edited: 05 Apr 2007 18:01)

Yesterday I had my TESOL Practical lesson. I was full of excitement nerves and a little bit of uncertainty what to expect. I started the class with the typical way of saying "Good Morning" and then i did a icebreaker so i could learn all their names which was difficult when it came to some of their names but i apologized beforehand if i don't remember their names. The icebreaker consisted of just saying their names and what Australian Animal do they like the best. Then I got one of the pictures that i had printed of Australian Animals and started the vocabulary part of the lesson. I asked the class to describe the picture of the animal they saw. All of them started big, 4 legs got hair (maine) and tail etc.. it was going great. Then after they built their vocab of how to describe how the horse looks like etc... I handed out other pictures of Australian Animals and got them to describe the picture to the other person so i got them in to pairs and they really looked like they enjoyed that activity of the class. :)

After that I started on the main part of the lesson. I gave them all a text about the Toronga Zoo Elephants and their trip from Thailand. I asked them to read the text first and then i waited for about 10 minutes for them to skim read the text but it seemed they were reading the text word for word cause they really like the story. After the time i stopped them and went through the vocabulary of the text and this part of going through the vocab really took most of the lesson time up which was amazing cause their was only 7 students in class. So i went through the text and explained and i and the other Teacher wrote the meanings of the word on the board and this took about over an hour and by the end of this we had 30 minutes left for me to teach the rest of what i had planned and i asked the teacher can i bypass the grammar section cause there would not be enough time to go through that. The Teacher said just go through the questions and answers and then do the warm down activity. So i did that.

They did well in answering the questions from the text that may i add that i had not simplified and kept it in its original form. They did very well in reading and had a little difficulty with pronucation but with the teacher and i assisting and i also had a teacher aid to help one of the other students their so i was full of support it was the best atmosphere and it all worked.

At the end we did the warm down activity that was just a few questions about pets and if they had any and how many what where their names questions like that.

One of the students answered the question of do you have any pets as yes and the type of pet surprised us and the student said that they have flies as a pet and that they keep it in a bottle and do not feed them and after awhile he just kills them :)

So all the class enjoyed that little pet story.

Last week was the last week of our actual TESOL classes and we went out as a class and had dinner and just was glad to be done with the class although it was fun and enjoyable we had a nice time out we went out to one of the local pubs and had a feed. Some drank and some did not.

I don't Drink for 2 reasons.

1. I don't drink because of My religion. I am a Baha'i (It is against our religion to drink alcohol)

2. I have a disability and i dont want to add more problems to myself although i walk like i am drunk anyway soo i rather be sober and walk like a drunk :)

At the end of the TESOL practical class the teacher was very happy and pleased as to how i taught and understood why i missed the grammar part of the class and i told her if i had another class i would cover the grammar as in 2 classes in a row. Basically all the teachers feedback was positive the aspect of my teaching that she really liked was my ability to adapt to changes. We sat and had a nice little chat and the only downside to the class was that i need to work on more board work and she was not worried about that cause that was a small aspect to the class.

The teacher told me that i will not have any problems and that was because i have the youth work background and i had mentioned that i do a lot of group work as a youth worker and also as a Bahai Scripture teacher soo all in all she loved the class i ran. She aaid it was very appropriate and activities were suitable for their levels. She told me the text was difficult but they managed with it well but the thing i could do was simplify it so all in all Good outcomes.

Tags: tafe tesol

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User comments

by dsstrlght @ 07 Apr 2007 0:41

That's very good news. Are you familiar with the children's song Old Mac Donald? When my son was very little we used to go to these Mommy and me classes with other little children- 3,4 year olds. The teacher would sing the song with the children and with each verse she chose another child to choose which animal Old Mac Donald had on his farm. (If you dont' know the song in your country, after they say the name of the animal they sing the sound it makes). Well all the other children chose farm animals because after all Old Mac Donald had a farm, right? so we were singing moo mooo and baa baa and and cluck cluck. or quack quack... then we get to Gregory. He always wanted Old Mac Donald to have tigers and dinosaurs on his farm! Your fly story reminded me of that.

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