VOCABULARY LESSON POSTER AND EXPERT GROUP

GRAMMAR LESSON POSTER AND EXPERT GROUP

READING LESSON POSTER AND EXPERT GROUP

LISTENING LESSON POSTER AND EXPERT GROUP

SPEAKING LESSON POSTER AND EXPERT GROUP

WRITING LESSON POSTER AND EXPERT GROUP

Poster Conference Preparation

Each "Topic Expert Group" should prepare a poster of their own  group's final lesson plan for sharing on Thursday, 6th December. The purpose of the poster sharing is to provide a student-made "model" of each topic/skill. The model lesson may also serve as a reference for planning your own individual lesson plans for the integrated teaching package.

The design of the poster is important, as it may not be possible to include all of the details of your group's lesson plan. The final design of the lesson and the design of the poster is the responsibility of all group members.

Appropriate headings for the poster design include: Rationale; Objectives (Language objectives and Other learning objectives); Previous learning (relevant to the lesson); Lesson Steps/Lesson Flow/Lesson Plan; Teaching materials; Assessment (of students); Evaluation (by expert group); References.

Poster Samples for Poster Conference Presentations (Vocabulary, Grammar, Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing)

Refer to the poster presentations of the six lessons as a reference for some principles of good lesson planning, including: carefully chosen topics; clear, concise, achievable and measurable language learning (and "other learning") objectives; teaching language-in-context; student-centered learning activities; effective use of CLT teaching and learning principles and methodology (from the course and the text); and opportunities for assessment or feedback.

Vocabulary

Grammar

Reading

 Listening

 Speaking

Writing

Teaching Writing (A Language Arts, Process Writing, Integrated Skills Approach)

Activity: Lesson Observation and Analysis

Watch the following lesson after referring to the lesson plan, teaching materials and related texts. All those materials were given to you class on 8th Nov 2018 and can also be found linked here. The song that is played in the lesson is edited out, so a version of it is included in the music video below. 

After observing the video of the lesson, answer the 7 discussion questions about the lesson on the worksheet and complete a brief 2+2 analysis. The questions on the additional worksheet "Group Discussion: Teaching Writing" are for your reference only and do not need to be completed.

The hardcopy of the completed questions and 2+2 will be collected in class on Thurs, 22nd November.

"What is this thing called 'Love'?" - Writing an Extended Metaphor

"The Rose" (Song)

Speaking Lesson "Elaboration" - Observation and Feedback

Participation Activity no. 8 is a lesson observation assignment that should be completed by logging into our EdPuzzle class (class name: TLSPG 2018; class code: tewluja). The lesson observation and feedback activity can be conducted during class time on Thursday, 25th October. The deadline is Tuesday, 30 October. The lesson will serve as content for instruction and discussion on both the skill of Speaking as well as Lesson Planning.

The lesson is a Secondary 2 double lesson specifically on the speaking strategy of elaboration. In the lesson, the teacher aims to teach the students how to elaborate specifically and effectively in order to increase the length of time they can discuss a topic.

Watch the lesson on Edpuzzle. The video of the lesson is divided into three parts. After each part, there are two questions asking you to 1. specify the most notable strength and 2. make a specific suggestion. The three parts of the lesson are: 1. Input; 2. Preparation and Practice; 3. Group sharing and Feedback

The lesson plan is here.

When you have finished watching all three parts, write a 50+ word comment about your observation of the lesson in the comment box of this post. Possible comment topics may include: What did you learn from the lesson about how to teach speaking? How can a teacher motivate students to speak more actively? Is it important to make speaking activities authentic/realistic? Can fluency be taught as a strategy or must it be learned by practice? Is there anything about this lesson design that would help to improve it significantly? You may also want to reply to your classmates' comments.

Designing Listening Activities with Edpuzzle

Blended Learning and Edpuzzle

Although many e-resource applications and activities are new, we don't want to abandon traditional approaches that work very well, including face-to-face teaching, reading books and watching videos. These often-used approaches all allow students to practice authentic communication skills and strategies. The Blended Learning approach aims to provide lessons that integrate the best of new and traditional resources, "the best of both worlds".

EdPuzzle is one online e-resource which helps teachers do the blending and balance the benefits of readily available video content with the advantages of teacher-made comments and questions. Using Edpuzzle, teachers can use any teaching video resource and convert it into a teaching tool or stand-alone listening activity by inserting audio or text notes, multiple choice or open-ended questions. EdPuzzle helps teachers to assign and monitor student activity through advanced organization and supervision tools. Moreover, it's free!

In today's workshop, you will first try out EdPuzzle from the student's perspective. Then, using a teacher account, you can create and share your own EdPuzzle listening activities.

When you're finished, paste the link to your own EdPuzzle video here as Participation Point 7.

Let's give it a try!

Participation Point 6 - Exploring Innovative Curriculum Alternatives: "Mastery Learning" by Sal Khan

One of the qualities of an effective English teacher is ongoing reflection and professional development. Teachers practice this every day as they reflect on their planning and teaching, analyzing what they can do differently and better the next time. Another way they do it is by staying up-to-date with local and international research and trends in education and language teaching. Actively looking for articles and information about what is happening in the world of education and language teaching allows teachers to learn from the experience of colleagues in the international teaching community. This video is an introduction to a powerful new principle that educators are now considering carefully.

"Mastery learning" is a mindset toward learning that changes the paradigm of when students should move forward in the curriculum. Traditionally, students move from one topic to the next when their class does, "all-at-once". Their class advances together simply as they age from one year to the next. Mastery learning suggests an alternative, which is that students should move forward from topic to topic or skill to skill as they learn what's required. When students have reached an acceptable level of "mastery", they go on to the next topic, level, or skill - whatever the curriculum defines as a unit of learning.

In this TED talk, Sal Khan, the founder of the successful "Khan Academy" approach to teaching students mathematics, discusses the concept of Mastery Learning. He explains why we now have the capacity to organize learning in a way that will allow everyone to learn at a level that was previously unimaginable.

Participation Activity (Point 6)

Watch the TED talk video and reflect on how mastery learning might be implemented in the English language curriculum in Hong Kong secondary schools. Do you think it would work? How? Would it be an effective alternative approach to the current approach? What do you think the advantages and disadvantages might be? Write a 1-2 paragraph response (any number of words) in the Google form explaining your thoughts about mastery learning approach. Also, share your opinion in the survey question.

The deadline for Participation Point 6 activity is 12:00 midnight, 17th Oct. 2018 (Wed)

After watching, submit your reflection paragraph and the survey question here.

Reminder: Point 5 activity "Writing a Reading Lesson Plan" is also due at 12:00 midnight, 17th Oct. 2018 (Wed). That lesson plan should be completed and placed in your shared Google Folder. The detailed instructions for Point 5 activity are found in the link "Participation 5 Activity - Writing a Reading Lesson Plan" found in the right column and HERE.

"Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are" a TED Talk by Amy Cuddy

Participation Point 4 - Selecting Topics for the Individual Teaching Unit

Guidelines for choosing your topic:

• Suggest one or two topics for your integrated teaching package in the order of your own preference (the first topic is your own favourite and so on).  
• Topics must be suited to the students' educational needs, cognitive maturity, and personal interests (as much as possible). 
• You should choose topics of current relevance, which may include aspects of personal, social, moral, or scientific interest. 
• Topics that provide rich language resources , text types, critical thinking and creative thinking potential are desirable. 
• Topics should be neither too broad (food; love; environment) or too narrow (Hong Kong egg tarts; romantic break-ups; the plight of Brazilian rainforest frogs). 
• They should be balanced to allow students to generalize skills to other topics (broad, divergent activities)  as well as allowing some depth of  learning (narrow, convergent activities). This approach also facilitates creating top-down and bottom-up language learning activities. 
• For ideas, first consider current events, news items, Hong Kong social issues, opportunities and ills, etc. You should refer to textbooks only after you have brainstormed several topics of  your own.

For your reference, some good topics from previous year groups include:

• Online Shopping
• Our Robotic Future
• The Power of the Media

Submit your own teaching topic ideas here before 12:00 midnight, 24th Sept 2018 (Monday).

Grammar-in-Context Activities

Right/Wrong/Acceptable/Unacceptable:

What is appropriate when using English?

Activity 1 - Acceptable or Unacceptable English?

Open Options: 
Are students' language choices open or forced?

Activity 2 - Sentence level, Open Choices

Activity 3 - Sentence level, Forced Choices

Authentic Assessment of Grammar Use:
How do we make assessment meaningful for learning?

Activity 4 - Meaningful Assessment Alternatives

Learning and Using English Grammar:
The Marriage of Form and Meaning

Dictogloss Demonstration Activity: The Moroccan Meal

Complete your dictogloss activity here with your group members on the slide with your number.

Scott Thornbury's 6 Rules of Effective Grammar Teacher

Scott Thornbury's 6 Rules of Effective Grammar Teacher

1. The Rule of Context
2. The Rule of Use
3. The Rule of Economy
4. The Rule of Relevance
5. The Rule of Nurture
6. The Rule of Appropriacy

The Rule of Context

Teach grammar in context. If you must take an item out of context to focus on it, recontextualize it as soon as possible. Always associate grammar form with the  meaning of the speaker or author.

The Rule of Use

Teach grammar with the objective of improving  the learners’ understanding and use of  real language – never as an end in itself (remembering facts). Always provide opportunities for students to put the grammar to some communicative use:  practice, practice, practice!

The Rule of Economy

In order to obey Rule 2 (The Rule of Use) be economical. Minimize presentation and direct explanation time in order to provide maximum  practice time. By practicing, students think, communicate, experience learning and remember language.

The Rule of Relevance

Do not waste time on grammar items or rules that students already know or will soon forget  (e.g., every kind of question tag in one lesson or more than one or two contrastive examples). Allow Chinese to facilitate learning objectives, not to simplify or replace English.

The Rule of Nurture

The most difficult rule: teaching does not cause  learning. The right environment, conditions and  opportunity for learning do. Language learning is not only discovery learning. It is skill-based and time-consuming.

The Rule of Appropriacy

Consider all these rules according to the level,  needs, interests, expectations and learning  styles of the students. These rules may lead one teacher to focus on practicing much more and another teacher to focus on explicit grammar teaching a little more.

Participation Point 2 - Creating a blog and posting a teaching video

Participation Point 2: Post the link to your teaching blog here by 12 Sept 2018.

Participation Point 3 - Submit the worksheet with your group's vocabulary lesson ideas directly to me in class on 20 Sept 2018.

Introductory Activity: Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate)

Welcome to English 5150. Before we dive into the local English curriculum and the many methods of teaching English skills, we want to ask an important question, "How would you teach if it were completely up to you?" This question is intended to explore your own preference, bias and experience as a novice teacher. But it is also a practical question, as teachers are important stakeholders in the development of a school-based English curriculum. Let's find out what you think. 

Activity Description:

A diverse group of fifteen schoolchildren is gathered in front of you.  They are a mixed-age group, about 12 – 15 years old. They have learned English for between 5-7 years, but are very reluctant to say anything. You don’t know what they have learned, as you are new to their country. You do not speak a word of their first language (L1). You will teach them for one hour, five days a week, and you have two years to teach them to communicate in English so that they may attend schools in an English speaking country. You must work with your own knowledge of English only; as you do not have access to any textbooks, computers, tablets or other IT equipment of any kind, and you are not in a native English-speaking environment. With the members of your group, create a plan for the first day of class and objectives for the first six months of the course.

Follow this link to submit your group discussion results.

For whole-class discussion:

One member of your group should write your "Language Learning Objective" and "Other Learning Objective" in the Comments section below. Use this format:

LLO: Students will ____________________________________________________.

OLO: Students will ____________________________________________________. 

Balancing Theory and Practice - Recommended Texts

The following six books balance theory and practice very well and represent an excellent range of perspectives on effective English language teaching and learning. I will assign selected readings from these texts during the course.

The last selection is the Hong Kong English Language Curriculum and Assessment Guide, which is linked below.

All the topics, content and strategies of ELT must be considered in context. The Education Bureau's (EDB) policy for English language teaching curriculum can be found in these secondary curriculum materials at EDB's website.

Participation Point 1: Introduce Yourself and RRW

Complete and submit this self-introduction form by midnight, 31st August 2018.

Complete the selected reading and RRW by midnight, 5 September 2018. Instructions for completing and submitting the RRW will be given in class. If you have any questions, please ask your teacher.

Chapter One: Learners and Learning, classrooms and contexts

Chapter Two: The Communicative Classroom

Reader Response Worksheet (RRW)