Teaching in Ecuador

Meeting objectives: 1, 2, 7

Lesson plans and teaching reflection

As a part of the training in TESOL-Ecuador program, I did a content-based English teaching (teach language through teaching content subject, which is a type of shelter ESL teaching) with two teachers in Otavalo for a month. Our content was geography (grade levels 9-12). The overall objective was raising students’ awareness of pollutions in their living environment. 

There were three teaching sections per week, and we teachers met every weekend and afternoon to plan our lesson (please refer to the attached file—lesson plan). In each class, every teacher was in charge of 30 minutes of teaching. After three sections, we did a simulate recall to reflect on our teaching and wrote a reflection journal (please refer to the attached file—teaching reflection).

post I made for teaching the life cycle of shoes

We started from discussing the life cycle of “stuffs” students used in their daily life (e.g., shoes, jeans, etc.) to help them related products with materials. Since one of Ecuador’s biggest exports is oil, it was quite successful to made students think about the relationship between oil consumption and a lot of products they used daily.

ceremony before the final open house

Then, we went on digging major pollutions issues around the world. This part was quit sensitive since Ecuador belongs to the third world which suffered for the first worlds’ exploitation economically and environmentally. Finally we narrowed the topic down to pollutions the students found in the cities where they grow up and reasoned causes and effects.

The final assessment was videotaping students’ 2 minute speeches about pollution issues they chose. The outcome was quit successful: all students prepared their speech well and presented in a proficient way. This recorded film was sent to one of our teacher’s Spanish class as an “international conversation” (students in that class also recorded a film to introduce themselves, and we showed our students this clip before we videotaped).

The experience was very meaningful not only because it was my first time teaching a class of students, but also because I felt I was connected to the topics while living in Otavalo. I learned Spanish, culture, and people while teaching. This experience motivated me further to become a teacher whose focus in not just language but the community, society, and culture.

APLNG 595 Internship: Teaching ESL 015 and ESL Instructor Development Program

MeetingObjective: 1, 2, 6, 7

Downloadthe attached files

Textbook for ESL015, Spring, 2012

ESL 015 (Composition and American Academic Communication II) is a required course for all freshmen who speak English as a second language (please refer to the “syllabus” and the “weekly topics” in attached files). The course aims at familiarizing students with American academic writing practices, such as paraphrasing, quoting, and summarizing. Three genres—critique essay, compare and contrast essay, and argumentative essay— are introduced with these practices to expose students to the diversity of academic writing.

Before teaching this spring, I observed an ESL015 class for a semester and tutored a student from that class. However, real teaching is always beyond the observation. Although most of the materials were given and the main topics were all assigned, I still felt unconfident until I walked into the classroom. 

Class observation, Fall, 2011

I found my observation notes are really helpful in terms of locating students’ difficulties and modify the materials. For instance, when teaching APA format, I gave students samples and spent more time on hands-on reference writing (e.g., defining resource typeà choose the correct form) (please refer to the attached PowerPoints; these lessons are what I particularly satisfied with).

Reading texts for ESL 015

Meanwhile, teaching two classes taught me in terms of pacing, adjusting materials, and interacting with students. Although my two classes were very different in their language backgrounds and learning experiences, it was helpful to gather their reactions from one class and make adjustments in another. However, the most interesting but challenging part was giving feedback impetuously. I then realized that this experience can never be learned from teacher’s guides.

Going along with my teaching the development program was very supportive. The program’s setting was identifying one specific topic instructors would like to solve, collecting evidences, and developing a toolkit for dealing the problem (please refer to the file: instructor developing program). I worked with my colleague Kaushi, an expert writer and experienced teacher, to design toolkits for increasing students’ reading comprehension. Through meeting and discussing, I got her mediations, and got a more thorough understanding about why and what I could do.

Teaching ESL 015, 2012, Spring: Compare and contest essay

      To summarize, the internship helped me reorganize and reflect on my beliefs. Moreover, it involved the process of scientific knowledge goes down and everyday knowledge goes up. Without this internship, I would never know the other half of picture of learning teaching.       

With students from ESL015 section 009