This week was really hectic.
First was to identify the problems of my class.
I had earlier described about a training program conducted with group second language (L2)
students of Engineering and Business Management. The students were enrolled in
advanced levels of the university's Engineering and Business Management programs
and were applying for placements in private enterprises.
I identified
problems related to students and the teachers point of view.
Student Related Issues-
1.Lack of Motivation and seriousness
2.Mix ability class
3.Strong Mother Tongue Influence on spoken English
4.Fear of failure
Teacher Related Issues-
The first problem which I faced as a teacher was related to
approach of teaching.When we talk about the 'process' of language teaching we
will have to consider the aim or desired end result of the 'process'. Richard
Allwright aptly remarks, “If communication is THE aim, then it should be THE
major element in the process. The question could be put: Are we teaching
language (for communication)?
Or
Are we teaching communication (via language)?”- (The
Communicative Approach to Language Teaching pp.167)
1.First problem was related to decide on this very issue of
,"Are we teaching language (for communication)?
Or
Are we teaching communication (via language)? "
2.We have only 30 hours for these students. The second issue was how to select different
modules and integrate innovative methods to get the desired result of producing
good candidates for corporate selection process.
I have taken the approach of calling these problems as areas
of improvement to motivate myself and the students
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
This
week's topic was focused on how to use technology to enhance reading, writing,
and vocabulary skills.
I went through some of the articles in week 4 assignments on our course google site.
I explored Breaking News English (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/) which I found a very useful site for my
learners. It has more than 1500 free and well designed lessons. I
selected U.K. cancels visas of 2,500 students http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1209/120901-student_visas.html.My
target students have background information related to this topic.
Then I searched
Activities for ESL students http://a4esl.org/
in which I opened English
Vocabulary Quizzes - Difficult
I explored Breaking News
English (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/)
which I found a very useful site for my learners. It has more than 1500
free and well designed lessons. I selected U.K. cancels visas of 2,500 students
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1209/120901-student_visas.html.My target
students have background information related to this topic. The lesson starts
with a good warm up activity. It has some interesting before while and after
reading activities followed by discussion and homework.
Then I searched Activities
for ESL students http://a4esl.org/ in which I opened English Vocabulary Quizzes
- Difficult-
Then I discussed about ABCD outcome for these sites.
The last and most demanding activity was to create Sample lesson plan with technology which was the outcome of all our learning in this course.
