Category: Teaching Reflections

On 17^th March, 2021, Wednesday evening, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room for delivering my final practicum. A very interesting topic was covered today ‘Music’. I selected this topic believing that everyone loves to listen music. One of the ISLA theory which was used here was Suggestopedia.

Reflections

As I reflect upon my teaching session, there are a few things that appealed me. I had mentioned in my previous reflection that Elizabeth was not taking part in the breakout room activities. So when she joined early today, I humbly requested her to participate in the breakout rooms as well. I was glad to see her do the same later in all the activities during the session. The students were welcomed to the Live TRU Music festival, I had an artist (my daughter) play soothing melodies on guitar for initial 7-8 minutes till everyone joined. His helped create a very relaxing atmosphere in the class Name tags were used to play an ‘identify the celebrity singer’ game. Students enjoyed as it was their favorite singers. Keeping in mind the diversity of culture in the class, I even included picture of Chinese singers in the game so that Chinese students can relate to it as well. This engaging strategy is particularly useful while teaching multi-cultural students, also it makes students realize the care and compassion we as teachers have for them.

Furthermore, I had planned a Piano interactive circle wherein instead of using name tags, students wrote their names on the piano keys and asked each other simple questions relating to music. This proved a great activity for student bonding especially in a virtual environment. Additionally, 1 student (Moinul) did not write his name on the Piano keys, I figured this out with the help of list of students I make at the beginning of every session. I called out to him when the last student on the circle had to ask a question. These lists are also very valuable while assigning students to breakout rooms. For e.g. first 3 students in room A, next 3 students in room B and so on.

A new thing that we did today was playing percussion video using kitchen utensils and stationary available on the desk. Students followed the beats I played with my pen, pencil stand, laptop, table etc. at their end. This was followed by a video and a breakout activity on the same.

Something that partially didn’t work was a hot potatoes game that I designed on the same celebrity singers. This is because tru/moodle is no longer supporting the hot potatoes software. But I did not let my efforts go in vein and added the screenshots of the exercise so that students could play the matching game using the interactive whiteboard.

Finally, we ended the music festival with the last live performance by the artist, a song on ‘Hope’, wishing for a better life ahead.

One student (Shuyi) joined very late because she had confusion about the change of time. I welcomed her and told that the session is being recorded and that she can watch it later.

Since it was my last session today, the students loaded me with overwhelming response. It was a very emotional moment for me, students flooded the public chat with best wishes and hoping that I teach them again. It was truly an amazing experience. The bond I developed with students will stay with me forever. I wish I could have had the opportunity to teach them in-person.

Lastly, I am attaching the final chat with my students in the LLC. I am going to miss them deeply.

[20:29] Shuyi Chen : hello

[20:30] Tina Saleh : like a rainbow

[20:32] Yan Ki Wong(Amber) : 🙌lovely song

[20:32] Riva Bawa : thank you:0

[20:32] Karen Densky : Bravo!

[20:33] Tina Saleh : great thanks

[20:33] Mahtab Zangeneh : Thank you

[20:33] Diana Rodriguez Quiroz : 👌

[20:33] Jiafeng Zhu : Thank you

[20:34] Karen Densky : Thank you Riva and Zoi! This is Riva’s last class. I hope you enjoyed her classes

[20:34] Tamerlan (Tommy) Adrshin : oh god

[20:34] Tina Saleh : I hope you be our teacher in the future

[20:36] Tina Saleh : thank you

[20:36] Yan Ki Wong(Amber) : Thank you

[20:36] Tamerlan (Tommy) Adrshin : thank you

[20:36] Diana Rodriguez Quiroz : Thank you, it was nice to have you as our teacher

[20:36] Elizabeth Vasina : thanks a lot

[20:36] Tina Saleh : thank you Zoi

[20:36] Tamerlan (Tommy) Adrshin : good luck in the future

[20:36] Mahtab Zangeneh : thank you

[20:36] Jiafeng Zhu : bye thank you

[20:36] Boda Zhu : Thank you

[20:36] Tamerlan (Tommy) Adrshin : bye

[20:36] Karen Densky : Let’s set up a time to chat next week.

[20:36] Boda Zhu : Take care

[20:37] Shuyi Chen : thank you for these weeks! take care :p

[20:37] Karen Densky : Another great class!

[20:37] Tina Saleh : bye

[20:37] Moinul Islam : Bye

[20:37] Mahtab Zangeneh : thank you bye

[20:37] Shuyi Chen: see you in the future˜

9th Teaching Reflection

On 15^th March, 2021, Monday evening, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room for delivering my 9^th practicum. The topic covered was ‘Fashion’. I selected this interesting topic as its fascinating and adds sparkle to the otherwise monotonous life.

Reflections

My desk was set up as usual with name tags and the student name list. I added a fun new game, ‘emoji adjective’. Students were supposed to draw an emoji representing their feelings, on the blazer. It was a new way to check in with students to see how they’re doing. I believe this is very important in today’s time as many people are experiencing high stress levels. Also it was a fun way to build vocabulary.

Today’s session was very interactive. Unexpectedly, boys were more into the session and had great knowledge about the high-end fashion houses. Students were made to pronounce the names and it was great fun. Furthermore, many students did not know how to correctly pronounce the names as most of them were French and Italian. This was followed by everyone unmuting their mics and everyone pronouncing these names correctly and collectively. This infused lot of energy and fun in the session. I tried something new today, creating your own story, students were put in breakout rooms and they were supposed to create their own story looking at the pictures on the slide.

The name list help me observe that 1 student (Elizabeth) was not participating in the breakout room activities. I will make her cognizant about this in the next session. I also tried to show the students a video in this session, this was something new again. Students loved the celebrity video as it was followed by 2 related activities for which clear instructions were spoken as well as written on the slides. It was good to see that students contributed important points like investing in a house or a car rather than investing in a designer bag.

The session ended with the same emoji blazer designed by students in the beginning of the session, this time it was worn by a celebrity. Students enjoyed the humor.

In an attempt to improve as a teacher and as recommended by my instructor Alex, in the exit ticket slide, I asked students to give me advice on how to improve as a teacher. Students gave positive feedback. I thanked each student for the effective feedback. It was very encouraging to receive these wonderful comments. Mentioned herewith are some comments from the students:-

“Everything is great.”

“You are awesome please don’t change anything”

“You are very good”

“I really enjoyed your classes Riva, success”

Lastly, name tags, name lists, Moodle tools and colorful slides were used as always to make the session engaging.

8th Teaching Reflection

On 10^th March, 2021, Wednesday evening, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room for delivering my 8^th practicum. The topic covered was ‘Hobbies’. I selected this topic believing that everyone could relate to it.

Reflections

My desk was set and I waited for students to enter. I had arranged their name tags on my table. As and when a student entered, I picked up the name tag corresponding to their name. Also, simultaneously I make a list of their names on a paper. This helps me keep a record of student interaction. Today, as we did the discussion circle activity, students were supposed to write their names under 1 hobby and speak about it. These hobbies were spread over 2 slides, students were given an option to choose a hobby from any 1 slide. As the students spoke, I ticked their names on the list which I made in the beginning of the session. Towards the end of this activity, I realized that 1 student (Elizabeth) had not written her name anywhere. This helped me call out to her and make her participate in this activity. Normally, I used the list to ensure that all students speak during the session, but today it helped me to ensure that all students participate also in an activity. Furthermore, I really worked very hard on the slides to make them intriguing and engaging for the students.

Breakout room activity was held with 3 students in each room. I was able to move around in different rooms this time, I couldn’t do this in my earlier sessions. As I went in room A, I heard 2 students (Elizabeth & Valadyslav) talking in their L1. I had to politely tell them to talk in English as the 3^rd student (Tommy) could not understand them. I learnt from this experience that in a multilingual classroom, students speaking the same L1 should be separately placed in different rooms/groups to ensure that they talk in English. This will benefit them greatly in learning the L2. Also, students were supposed to copy the notes from shared chat in the breakout room and paste in the public chat in the main room. They did it successfully, highlighting that they remained cognizant of the time while multi-tasking.

The new thing that I did today was, I made the students Google, ‘the most popular hobby during coronavirus outbreak’. There was excitement seen in the class, multiple answers were coming, it was intriguing, engaging, fun, and exciting. I was initially reluctant to add this activity and kept it before the Exit ticket. However, to my surprise, students loved it.

Many Moddle tools were used like the breakout rooms, shared notes, public chat, polling and the interactive whiteboard. This added variation element and kept the students entertained throughout the class. 100% class involvement was achieved in the session.

I have successfully managed to keep my speed of speaking under control throughout the session.

Nevertheless, there are a few things that I have to work on. I exceeded the time again by 4-5 minutes. I would try to keep it short next time

My key take-aways are as follows. I have observed that 1 student is consecutively not participating in the group activities, so to ensure that all students participate I would continue using my self-devised strategy of maintaining and checking lists & name tags. This not only helps in ensuring the full involvement of the class but also alerts the students about their non-involvement. Also, in my opinion, ensuring student engagement from the very 1st slide is imperative. Lastly, as students love variety, I hope to continue giving them that using all the tools of Moodle, colorful slides, activities, name tags, etc.

7th Teaching Reflection

On 8^th March 2021, Monday evening, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room for delivering my 7^th practicum. The topic covered was ‘Let’s travel today’. Since we are living in a global pandemic and travel has been restricted, to cover this topic seemed right as students would feel happy and enjoy.

Reflections

Today being International Women’s Day, I started the session by welcoming students with a song. I played the Women’s Day anthem, “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy. We wished each other and started our session.

During the session breakout room activity was planned, students were divided into groups and they were given clear verbal instructions along with instructions written on the slide. This was done to ensure proper comprehension & avoid any confusion. Further, I asked them if anyone had a doubt and that they are welcome to ask me. 1 student (Malka) did have confusion which was cleared and then again I double-checked by making students type 1 in the chat if everything was clear. Only after all the students had understood, was the activity started. The purpose was to create a relaxed environment for students to draw maximum benefit out of the session and also to develop a mutual relationship of respect complemented with confidence. The benefit of extending extra help was seen later during the session when a student (Shuyi) asked the correct pronunciation of a word. A point worth mentioning is that this helps in reducing fossilization, i.e. fixation of wrong concepts/errors. I felt a great sense of pride in the trust students had placed in me. It also highlights the level of comfortability and a fear-free environment of the class. Multiple Moodle tools and activities, colorful slides, name tags were planned to create variety & have fun in the session while aiming at L2 learning. I also try to add humor in the sessions in addition to the various techniques as this benefits the students.

During the session, a game was planned, the landmark game we played demonstrated the use of controlled to free practice of L2 learning. Few answers were provided and the rest of the information, students had to find themselves.

Towards the end of the session, I had planned a surprise for the students, a new game, matching exercise on hot potatoes. However, students were not able to play at their end because as a student told me that it was saved on C: drive which played only on my laptop. I was not aware of this earlier. Plus I confirmed from Jason, our Tesl 3040 instructor, who had taught us the use of hot potatoes; that TRU may not support Hot Potatoes exercises within Moodle anymore, he had checked with IT services who confirmed this. However, I promised the students that I will try to use this game/exercise software in any of my next sessions.

I would continue to create a stress-free & fear-free environment where students can confidently ask me anything they feel needs clarification. This empowers the student and gives them the courage to make mistakes which eventually leads to developing L2 while preventing fossilization.

6th Teaching Reflection

On 3^rd March, 2021, Wednesday evening, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room for delivering my 6^th practica. The topic covered was ‘What you want to be in life/Jobs’. I selected this topic believing that everyone could relate to it. 2 ISLA theories were used to design the task namely, Task based Language Teaching and Interactionist Approach.

Reflections

As I reflect upon my teaching session, there are a few things that appealed me. Firstly, two-color-codes (red& blue) were used to make teams and name tags. Furthermore because this was a time bound task (30 seconds for each ans), it created a sense of challenge and put competitive pressure on individual students to perform. As a result, gaming theory was introduced in the design of the activities, engaging students with a sense of healthy competition. This made them stay alert at all times and perform cognitively. As always various Moddle tools were used like the breakout rooms, shared notes, public chat, polling and the interactive whiteboard. This added variation element and kept the students entertained throughout the class. Interestingly, 100% interaction was accomplished from all the students in the class. I worked towards it in this session as well, not only did I prepared lists and 2 colored name tags, but I also ticked the students names as they spoke to keep a double check and call on the students who had not spoken. Today, this proved very useful as it helped me identify 1 student (Elizabeth) out of 13 students, who did not participate in the interactive job circle. Because I was ticking on my student list, the names of students who had spoken, towards the end of this activity, I was quickly able to find out that Elizabeth had not placed herself in the job circle and not spoken. This helped me call out to her and seek the answer, hence achieving 100% student participation in this activity. I see great value in using it in the future.

Furthermore, there are a few things that I have to work on. I exceeded the time again by 3-4 minutes. I realize that at some places I increased my speed but controlled it later. I still have to work on maintaining a normal speed of speaking throughout the session.

My key take-aways are as follows. Based to today’s experience, I now have a firm belief in using my self-devised strategy of maintain and checking lists & name tags to ensure that all students participate uniformly. This certainly helps in ensuring full involvement of the classroom. Also, in my opinion, ensuring student engagement from the very 1^st slide is imperative. Lastly, as students love variety, I hope to continue giving them that using all the tools of Moodle, colorful slides, activities, name tags etc.

As per the instructions of our Tesl-3050 teacher, I collected student feedback. Students were asked 3 questions. Feedback received is mentioned below as answers to the questions:-

Q.1 Something you want me to do differently?

Ans. “you are awesome”

Q.2 Anything you want me to change?

Ans. “more games!!”

“maybe the class time” (could be because its late evening and early morning for some)

Q.3 Anything you don’t want me to change?

Ans. “keep going with playing game in the class.”

“Funny games”

5th Teaching Reflection

On 1^st March, 2021, Monday evening, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room for delivering my 5^th practicum . The topic covered was ‘Family’. Since we are live or have lived with families at one point of time, hence I believed it to be an apt topic to cover on this day.

Reflections

As I reflect upon my teaching session, there are a lot of things that appealed me. Interestingly, today, a new teaching technique was used, Rewards. This was totally new for the students. I used this technique to encourage voluntary participation. Students were very happy about it and few of them responded promptly. Otherwise they are silent and then name tags come to rescue. However, mentioning rewards helped me as 4 students spoke voluntarily. In addition to this, I had 100% interaction from all the students in the class. I worked towards it, not only did I prepared lists and name tags, but I also ticked the students names as they spoke to keep a double check and call on the students who had not spoken. I followed the adaptation technique in the exit ticket as time was less so instead of speaking out, I told students to type the answer in the public chat, this saved lot of time. While answering on one of the slides, students gave such valuable inputs on family like respect, love, non-judgmental, fun, trust, unity etc. I am touched by their insight about the importance of families in their/our life. As always, I engaged the students from the very first slide, interactive whiteboard was turned on and students wrote as they entered the class. Finally, various Moddle tools were used like the public chat, polling and the interactive whiteboard. This added variation element and kept the students entertained throughout the class.

Furthermore, there are a few things that I have to work on. Because the session was going well, I exceeded the time by 3-4 minutes. I would encourage the students to turn on their cameras as well which I did not do in this session. I realize that at some places I increased my speed but controlled it later. I want to have a normal speed of speaking on consistent basis.

My key take-aways are as follows. Just like I did today with the virtual applaud as a reward, I would keep trying to introduce something new every time as students enjoy it. Also, the reward element kept the students and the sponsor teacher inquisitive throughout the session. This is in addition to the colorful slides and variety, so I will continue working towards that. Moreover, another key element is the adaptation technique. Lastly, I plan to continue preparing in advance, keep the name tags and student list ready, which helps me ensure equal participation, helping in achieving my goal of 100% class involvement.

4th Teaching Reflection

On 24^th February, 2021, Wednesday evening, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room for delivering my 4^th practicum. The topic covered was ‘Let’s Play Games’. Surprisingly, when I joined the LLC breakout room, only 1-2 persons were there, However as the start time approached students started joining in and today we had a record turnout of 16 students.

Reflections

There are a lot of things that appealed me as I reflect upon my teaching. Today I introduced a new game, Hangman which students enjoyed a lot. I must mention that I practiced drawing the hangman numerous times before the class. Interactive whiteboard was turned on and students wrote their favorite game as they entered the class. The extensive use of Moodle tools like, typing on slides, polling, public chat, interactive circle; drawing, typing & circling using interactive whiteboard, was done. All the students including Valadyslav and Elizabeth spoke every time they were called on. It feels simply wonderful as a teacher to see that students are present both physically and mentally. Name tags were used again and again to ensure active involvement of students. I paid due attention to the number of students and greet them personally when they are joining the session. A student, Tommy, joined late but he due to internet issue he could not speak, nevertheless he typed his answers in the public chat whenever he was asked a question.

Nevertheless, there are a few things I would like to do differently. There must have been times when my speed of speaking goes fast. Even though it does not hinders the students understanding, still I would like to work towards it.

There are quite a few takeaways which are as follows. Firstly, I believe in not just teaching but also developing a good bond with my students. Malka, a student came after a few weeks, I welcomed her and told her that it was good to hear her voice. Likewise, I remembered that Tina is a figure skater and mentioned it to her during an activity that made her feel very happy. I will continue developing good bonds with students. Secondly, I would like to continue using name tags and preparing a list of students, I tick once a student has spoken. This ensures that every student gets a fair opportunity to speak as well as my fair attention. I see great value in using this checklist strategy. Additionally, it leads to fulfilling my goal of achieving 100% class involvement. Lastly, I would continue working to apply the adaptation technique and making colorful slides as students find it interesting.

3rd Teaching Reflection

On 22^nd February, 2021, Monday evening, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room for delivering my 3^rd practicum. The topic covered was a mix of ‘Welcome Back & Holidays’. Since there were was a reading break the previous week, hence I believed it to be an apt topic to cover on this day.

Reflections

There are a lot of things that appealed to me as I reflect upon my teaching. I engaged the students from the very first slide. The interactive whiteboard was turned on and students wrote as they entered the class. Today, a new teaching technique was used, Nametags. This was totally new for the students. I used this technique to ensure uniformity and equal participation. Students were very happy about it and responded promptly. A number of Moddle tools were used like the public chat, polling and the interactive whiteboard. This added an element of variety and kept the students entertained throughout the class. I had mentioned about 2 students Elizabeth and Valadyslav who never responded in any way, in the previous session, the latter spoke for the 1st time. This session he was eager to speak and requested to speak out of turn. Not only this, his camera was also on for most part of the class. Interestingly, Elizabeth also spoke today for the first time, it is great to have 100% interaction from all the students in the class. As I believe in over planning, I had planned a part of the topic to be covered in the breakout rooms. However, I did not get a chance to conduct this activity. This is due to the fact that this time I decided to continue the activities wherein good communication happened between students. I tried to improvise from my previous session by following adaptation technique. Debrief technique was used in the exit ticket, it was good to see students remember some facts covered in the session.

Nevertheless, there are a few things I would like to do differently. I spent around 20-25 minutes on one slide as it was going good. Nevertheless, in future I want to limit myself to maximum 10 – 15 minutes on a slide. I would still need to work on my speed of speaking which was sometimes fast in this session, though it did not seem any problem with the students.

My key take-aways are as follows. To try and introduce something new every time as students enjoy it. This is in addition to the colorful slides and variety, so I will continue working towards that. Adaptation is the key to a good lesson, when needed must be applied. Just like I did today, prepare more slides as it is always better rather than being under preparation. At the same time just like I did today, I had to skip an activity i.e. if there is an interactive session happening in the earlier slides. Keep encouraging students to speak and continue to have 100% class involvement every time.

2nd Teaching Reflection

On February 27, 2021

On 10^th February, 2021, Wednesday evening, I joined the LLC Conversation Club’s Social Room for delivering my 2^nd practica. The topic covered was ‘Festivals’. Since there were 2 festivals (Chinese New Year & Valentine’s Day) due this week, hence I believed it to be an apt topic to cover on this day.

Reflections

There are a lot of things that appealed me as I reflect upon my teaching:-

I used ‘shared notes’ feature, as I thought this would involve use of a new Moodle tool that’s not used before, adding an intrigue element to it.
The extensive use of Moodle tools like, polling, shared notes, public chat, interactive circle; drawing, typing & circling using the interactive whiteboard.
1 student (Valadyslav) who never responded in any way, in the previous session, spoke for the 1^st time, I consider this as a great victory.
I believe in over planning and I had planned breakout room activity. However, I did not get a chance to conduct this activity. This is due to the fact that this time I decided to continue the activities wherein good communication happened between students. I tried to improvise from my previous session by following the adaptation technique.
I tried something new in this session as well. I made 1 Chinese student teach us the Chinese pronunciation(Chun Jie) for ‘Happy Chinese new year’, all students repeated after her with their mics on, students loved it and it created great energy and interest in the class.
Debrief technique was used in exit ticket, it was good to see students remember some facts covered in the session.

Nevertheless, there are a few things I would like to do differently:-

To work on my speed of speaking which was sometimes fast in this session, which might not be understood by all students.
Talk less myself and call out to students instead of waiting for them to speak voluntarily.
I would like to keep encouragingly calling on one student (Elizabeth) who doesn’t get involved in any activity. I wonder if it is her inhibitions or she’s not present in the class.

My key take-aways are as follows:-

Students love colorful slides and variety, so I will continue giving them that.
Adaptation is the key to a good lesson, when needed must be applied. Just like I did today, prepare more slides as it is always better rather than under preparation. At the same time skip a few activities if need be, i.e. if there is an interactive session happening in the earlier slides.

Keep encouraging students to speak and this might lead to 100% class involvement one day.

1st Teaching Reflection

On February 27, 2021