APLNG 493 Teaching English as a Second Language

Meeting Objectives:1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7

Download the attached files

Textbook 1.

Audiolingual method, TPR, Direct method, Natural approach, Communicative Language Teaching Approach…although I have some basic understanding toward these approaches and methods, until I took this course, their sociohistorical background were unfolded and clarified.

       Team teaching was the first project in which each group was assigned a method and designed a twenty minutes lesson (for the materials we developed please refer to the attached files starting with Audiolingual method). The method our group got was the Audiolingual method: a method that has been denounced for it did not allow authentic outputs. We came to a conclusion that although we could not change the routine practices (e.g., presenting dialogue, demonstration, and learner repeating), we could add culture factors as “flavor” to make the dialogue appealing. By engaging in this method, I understood the essence of the method instead of solely pointing out its strength and weakness.

The PowerPoint we made for Audiolingal 

demonstration

           

The second assignment was a classroom observation in which I observed an ESL class twice and wrote a reflecting observation (please refer to the attached file: second project reflective observation).It was my first time coming into the class purely as an observer, which helped me set myself objectively to understand every practice the teacher did and rationalize the purposes. I felt so humble after knowing how much effort and concerns the instructor gave in designing every activity. In observing, I learned how ESL teaching is constructed. Because of this great experience, I started a semester long observation in my third semester.

Textbook 2.

      

The final project was writing three sections lesson plans in which I needed to consider a specific context and design materials fitting learners’ needs (please refer to the attachment: final project— lesson plan and teaching philosophy). While doing this project, I felt the tension between teachers’ goals and the pressure from the broader contexts (e.g., the institution, test system). After that, I learned that I should never take teaching to be what I can control as a whole, especially when English teaching now intertwines with a various sociopolitical factors.