2011年8月26日 星期五

Lesson Plan: Ghost month conversation

credit : www.hunter.tafensw.edu.au

Wanna learn more about ghost month?
Come check this out! It includes practice worksheet which your students will love it!
還想要更近一步了解鬼月及中元節嗎?
快來看看這分教學計劃吧!!
裡面有可讓學生們練習的練習卷唷


Ghost month lesson plan: conversation

2011年8月25日 星期四

Lesson Plan: Ghost month vocabulary


Credit to Microsoft



Having trouble on teaching your students about ghost months? 
Here is a ready-to-teach lesson plan on ghost month vocabulary such as:
想要教授鬼月,卻苦於找不到合適的教材嗎?
快來看看這個禮拜鬼月單字lesson plan吧! 包含以下單字:


solar太陽的
solar calendar陽曆
lunar月亮的
lunar calendar陰曆
July七月
August八月
ghost
Ghost Month鬼月
Ghost Festival中元節
incense

Hurry up download it and have fun with your students.




Ghost Month Lesson Plan: Vocabulary

2011年8月23日 星期二

Commonly Used Classroom Vocabulary

Credit to Yoyo Liang


One of the frequently asked questions from the parents of my students or the bushiban (Chinese for cram school) that I worked for is how to create an English environment for students. There are many ways of doing it but I always suggest them to start with using English vocabulary everywhere around the classroom.

The following are some commonly used vocabulary, check yourself, your students, kids and see how much do they know! You can even print it out and paste it around the classroom.
  table  桌子
  desk  書桌
  chair  椅子
  bookcase  書櫃
  bookshelf  書架
  cabinet  櫃子
  light*  
  Air Conditioner or A.C*  冷氣
  fans*  電扇
  whiteboard  白板
  markers  白板筆 彩色筆
  eraser  板擦 橡皮擦
  trash can/ bin  垃圾桶
  recycle can/bin  回收桶
  school bag  書包
  pencil/ automatic pencil  鉛筆/自動筆
  pencil case/bag  鉛筆盒/
  pencil sharpener  削鉛筆機
  color pencils 彩色鉛筆
  crayon 蠟筆
  high lighter  螢光筆
  whit-out/ whit-out tape  修正液/修正帶
  ruler 
  scissors  剪刀
  glue/ white glue/glue stick  膠水/白膠/口紅膠
  water bottle  水壺
  water fountain/ machine  飲水機
* These are the words that most students often mis-use open/close instead of turn on/off.

2011年8月22日 星期一

Positive Communication Book or Report Card Comments

Credit to Alexandre from Planbox.com
As a teacher, one of my troublesome times was to write the communication book due the sheer numbers of them. Thanks for the improvement of technology; I don’t have to hand-write everything now. However, I still have to write the comments every week and it might be challenging from time to time. I will explain more later.
身為一個老師,我常因寫聯絡簿煩惱。一來因為我學生實在是太多,二來因為需針對每個學生的學習狀況來個別撰寫,我常寫聯絡簿寫到半夜兩三點。幸好現在有科技的幫忙,大部分都可以用文書處理軟體來解決。但是,學習狀況的評量才是最讓人頭痛的部分。

A good communication book should include two parts, one is lesson information and the other is assessment. The information part will vary depends on student’s age (For younger students, you can write it on the communication book or make copies; for older students, you can have them write it themselves.) but it should include the following:
聯絡簿基本上應該包含兩部分:課程資訊與評價。課程資訊會因為學生的年紀和需求而有所不同(年紀較小的學生,需要較詳細的書寫,有時候還要幫他們寫;年紀較長的學生,則可以獨立書寫),然而基本上仍須包含以下內容:

1.      Progress on the all materials. (It could be pages or topic.) 上課進度 (可以是頁數或是主題單元)
2.      Homework (optional) 功課
3.      Review and Test (It could be pages or topic but I find pages easier for students to review.) 複習或考試範圍

Here is an example:
Ÿ Progress :
Grammar: 83-89
Phonics: 48-51
Reading: 39-45
Writing: 83-85
Ÿ Homework :
1. Grammar worksheet
2. Read Electricity P.39-45
3. Show&Tell worksheet
Ÿ Review and Test :
Phonics: 50-51
Grammar: 83-89
Reading: P.45
Spelling vocabulary: earrings, robot, necklace, postcards, radio, control, salesman, saleswoman, camera wrapping paper.

As for comments, there are many things that might require to be included such as: attendance, assignments (hand in or not), behavior, assessment on learning progress…and so on. It is important that teacher to loyally express the situation to the parents without offending them. Some parents might not react well or over react to the negative comments. I will go into more details in my next blog entry but now let’s look at few examples for positive remarks:
有關於評語的部分,可以包含很多部分如:出席情況,作業繳交情況,上課表現,學習情況等。很多時候,老師必須有技巧地告知家長有關學生不良的情形,以免產生反效果。關於該如何委婉告知家長負面的情況,我會在下一次的文章中詳細敘述,現在先讓我們來看看有關正向評語的部分。

Attendance:
________ always attends class on time.
________ is never late for class.

Assignment:
________ completes homework on time and with care.
________ always completes his/her homework with care and diligence.
________ puts forth a consistent effort to complete homework.

Behavior:
________ participates class with great enthusiasm.
________ consistently takes responsibilities for his/her learning.
________ is a leader of the class who cooperates well with his/her peers.
________ is a highly motivated student with unlimited ideas and creativity. 
________ inspires others to perform better.
________ is self-driven and keen in success.
________ works well independently and with others.
________ enjoys sharing his/her ideas, toys, etc. with others.

Assessment in learning:
________ is a fast learner who grasps all the materials effectively.
________ has great pronunciation and is able to express himself/ herself freely.
________ can sound/read out the materials and comprehend it without further help.
________ has impressive penmanship.
________ has excellent sentence structures.
________ has superb choices/ selections of words. 

Phonics

If you are teaching young children and could not find good phonics/ reading materials. 
Check out the following site.
 It has great materials, worksheets, little books, the whole nine yard!

2011年8月16日 星期二

What is lesson plan?






I helped a friend this week by subbing her class. When she asked me to do so, she promised me that all the lesson plans are made and all I have to do is to follow it. After I read the so called “lesson plan,” I was shocked. It was only a list of all the activities that need to be done. No instructions, no materials, no time, no objective….. I can’t help myself wondering what is a lesson plan, what are the essential elements?


From my TESOL training, I have learned a few different style of lesson plan. The style serves for different purposes--- readerships, content, teaching styles.
  Although it might be different in details, here are some of the must-have parts:

        Topic: An easy way to inform others/or you the focus for the class.
        Level: Indicate the level of the students.
        Objective: Objective keeps people who made the lesson plan (you) and execute them (you or others) on track with the goal of the lesson. 
        Time: List out the time of the whole class or each task. It served the purpose to manage time more efficiently.
        Materials: Listed out materials helps you visualize the lesson and make it easy to execute. (No need to be hectic about not having it.)
        Introduction:  brief or elaborated---up to you introduction to your students the purpose and the studying focus of the day.
        Teaching: This is the main body of the lesson plan. You can list out all the vocabulary, sentence pattern, and grammar rule, anything that will be covered in the lesson. You can even put in detailed instructions for teaching styles and techniques. You can also include worksheet if you have one.
        Activity: It could be game, show-and-tell, presentation, group discussion or anything. Just keeps it relevant to the lesson.
        Review: Wrap up the class and make an ending.
        After class evaluation: No matter you are designing your lesson for others or just yourself, it is very helpful to learn how much do the students understand and their feedbacks.

Lesson planning will help you along the way, especially for inexperience teachers. It helps you foresee the lesson and be more comfortable and confident in your teaching. For more experienced teacher, it will be a great way to accumulate teaching resources and build up your own lesson plan database.

How to praise your students ?



ESL students need a lot of encouragement and positive feedback, so that they just open their mouths and start talking! It is very crucial for teacher to create a healthy and positive learning environment. So here is something you can say other than “Good work”
學習英文的時候,假若老師能適時給予學生鼓勵,便能增進學生對於英文的自信心,也會更願意開口練習。因此,創造出一個能激勵人心的英語學習環境,是英語老師的首要責任。
除了 "Good Work” 以外,還有別的方式來稱讚學生嗎?請看以下之範例:

  • Great job!
  • Excellent!
  •  Bravo!
  • Awesome!
  • Super/ Superb!
  • Fabulous!
  • Wonderful!
  • Well done!
  • Brilliant!
  • Way to go!
  • You are right on point!
  • You are so smart!

Another great advantage of using different praises is to increase your students’ vocabulary and listening ability. When they expose to the praise, it would automatically create a positive mental image. Even if they do not know what the word means, the positive mental image will still stay. Such image will help them feel more confident about their English and understand the word in the future.

使用不同的稱讚語彙,不但可以增強學生的自信心,還能增進學生們的聽力與字彙能力。當學生聽到稱讚的語彙時,便會在心中產生一種正面的形象,而此形象也會跟該字彙連結。儘管學生可能不了解該字彙的意涵,在他們的心中也會產生一種正向連結。