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Mid-practicum intellectual discourse week 21 -25 July

Introduction This week is an opportunity to share your experiences, re-energise, re-equip yourselves, and gain inspiration for the teaching weeks that lie ahead. Enjoy the opportunities to explore your teaching experiences together and to learn from one another and from the KSAH/VUW team. Sunday Schedule Day Sunday 0900-1000 Activities - Linking to past learning: Brainstorming effective teaching techniques VUW team arrive Unpacking a sample activity Who Student teachers working autonomously Outcomes Lists of techniques for each of the four skill areas and for language-focused learning

1000-1030

Student teachers in groups

Learning how to see & get the best learning opportunities from an activity A finite set of issues identified. These to be the focus of research and reporting for the remainder of the week Ideas for making the most of the textbook. Identify topics for research and presentations

1030-1200

Working with textbooks (and a 20 minute break)

Student teachers in groups

1200-1230

Exploring a sample textbook task

VUW team and student teachers

1230-1300

Agenda setting for the week

VUW team and student teachers

Sunday activities 1. Linking to past learning: Brainstorming effective teaching techniques (0900-1000) For this activity you will work in groups to brainstorm as many effective teaching and learning techniques as you can recall for each of the four skill areas (L S R W) as well as for areas of languagefocused learning (grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling). You will write down your lists of techniques on large display pages, with one page per skill or language area. Steps a. Divide into groups of seven or eight and pick up your papers and pens b. Move to a suitable workspace (outside, another room, the library etc) b. Subdivide into pairs to work on the separate sheets c. Circulate pairs around each poster sheet and keep adding ideas

Carolyn Tait and Jonathan Newton

Victoria University of Wellington

July 2013

2 d. Between 0930 and 0945 post your posters in the main room, making sure that all the posters for each skill area from each group are posted together (e.g. all the reading techniques posters in one corner. e. Circulate and view posters. Appoint recorders to type up a key list of techniques for each skill/proficiency area. f. VUW team to arrive and view posters 2. Unpacking a sample activity (1000-1030) Jonathan and Carolyn will work through a simple activity and explore the learning opportunities in it and how to make the most of these opportunities. 3. Working with textbooks (1030-1200) The focus of this activity is on how to make effective use of the textbook (and save material preparation time). For this task you will work in groups on a couple of set text book tasks, planning innovative ways to use these activities to provide rich learning experiences. Steps a. Divide into groups b. In your groups, develop creative ways of implementing the textbook activities you have been given in order to provide creative, cognitively stimulating and engaging lessons. c. When step b is more or less complete, each group will be given a couple of typical teaching challenges to consider. Your job is to identify specific strategies you will use in the lessons you have designed in order to meet these challenges. d. Random groups will be selected to report back 4. Modelling textbook implementation (1200-1230) Jonathan and Carolyn will lead this session in which they will take another textbook section and explore the ways that they would use it in the classroom. Feedback and discussion encouraged! 5. Inquiry based learning focused on topics central to your practicum (1230-1300) In the table below is a set of 12 topics. To conclude our work with you on Sunday we will introduce these topics and then assign you to a group of 5 to work on one of the topics. During Monday and Tuesday, your group will research your topic as it relates to teaching and learning in Malaysian primary school English language classrooms. On Wednesday and Thursday, you will present a short presentation between 15 and 20 minutes with 5 to 10 minutes of questioning. The presentation can be a power point presentation or any other medium suitable for a large audience. After your presentations you will also need to upload your presentations/posters (via a photo if they are hand drawn) to the VUW Blackboard site for this practicum course (LALS 393). Your presentations will be 15-20 minutes long with an additional 5-10 minutes for questions and discussion. We look forward to seeing your presentations there! Monday and Tuesday a. Within each group, establish roles and draw up a time frame for the investigation and presentation. b. Begin by brainstorming ideas and identify tasks and sources/resources needed to complete your poster and presentation. c. Carry out your inquiry-based learning tasks and complete your poster. Prepare for the presentation.

Carolyn Tait and Jonathan Newton

Victoria University of Wellington

July 2013

3 Wednesday and Thursday a. Deliver your presentations as a group, with all group members responsible for part of the presentation (and you might also consider using members of the group as a mini-class to illustrate a teaching technique) b. You are welcome to model techniques and encourage audience participation (or use the audience as a big class!) c. Six presentations will be scheduled for the each morning.

Inquiry based learning focused on topics central to your practicum

Purpose: This task allows you investigate a complex issue related to you as a student teacher. You will work in a group to: identify and define relevant problems that surround the issue propose possible practical solutions within the context of your classrooms critically evaluate the implementation of those solutions.

An excellent presentation will: Clearly identify the issue Show evidence that you have used a range of resources Demonstrate the complexity of the issue Make a constructive contribution to the learning of your peers as teachers Be motivating and engaging Promote critical thinking Topic 1. Fostering creativity in the classroom Stimulus questions What is creativity? Why is creativity important in learning? Do creative teachers make learners creative? How is creativity linked to language learning? Your further stimulus questions

2. Using space and movement in the classroom

Why is planning for the use of space important in the classroom? How can you arrange students for effective communication for different types of learning activities? How can teachers maximise the use of space for classroom management? How does the use of space differ for different learning purposes?

Carolyn Tait and Jonathan Newton

Victoria University of Wellington

July 2013

4 3. Using group work effectively How do you know when group work is effective? How often should group work be used? What are the purposes of group work? How can you ensure that each group member is working effectively? What group sizes are effective for what activities? What are effective ways of moving students into groups? How can you engage learners to motivate them? What can you do about demotivated individuals? What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? How do rewards affect motivation? What is the connection between goal setting and motivation? Are teacher motivation and student motivation linked? Why is teacher language important in a classroom? How much time should a teacher be talking? How do you give instructions that work? What is the role of L1? How can you plan for effective teacher language use? Why is reflection important for development? Do you need to do it by yourself? What elements need to be included in effective reflection? What can you do to increase the power of the reflection process? What questions can you be ask yourself during the process? What forms of formative assessment could you carry out during your practicum? How could you use information obtained to guide your teaching? How do the results of assessment feed forward into your teaching for individual students and for the whole class? How do you build assessment activities into every lesson? How is assessment part of the learning process for the students?

4. Motivating learners

5. Using effective teacher language

6. Making the most of reflection

7. Assessment

Carolyn Tait and Jonathan Newton

Victoria University of Wellington

July 2013

5 8. Teacher roles Do you need to be liked by your students to be an effective teacher? Why/why not? How can a teacher build rapport with students? What is the role of the student-teacher in the community of teachers within the school? How do you manage relationships with CTs? How do you decide when to use ICT? Are worksheets an example of ICT use? If not, why not? How can you ensure that the ICT is integrated into your teaching? What can you do when your school does not have enough ICT facilities? What do you do when you have a range of language proficiencies in your classroom? How do you cater for those students who always finish early? How do you draw on cultural diversity as a resource for your teaching? How do you foster critical thinking in your classes through questioning? How does critical thinking relate to the curriculum including the values? How does thinking critically enhance language learning? What is the meaning of rich in this question? How does it relate to the other topics above? Why is it important? How will you know when your classroom environment is rich?

9. Use of ICT?

10. Managing diversity

11. Thinking critically

12 Creating a rich English language environment

Carolyn Tait and Jonathan Newton

Victoria University of Wellington

July 2013