ESL TEACHING AND LEARNING SHARINGS

Participating in group work for the final assignment has been a highly enriching experience, providing numerous insights and valuable lessons. Here are the key benefits that I have gained from working for the final project: 1. Enhanced Communication Skills Working in a group necessitated clear and effective communication. We had to express our ideas succinctly, listen actively, and provide constructive feedback. This process honed our ability to articulate thoughts and engage in meaningful dialogue. 2. Collaboration and Teamwork The final assignment underscored the importance of collaboration. We learned to leverage each team member's strengths and compensate for weaknesses, fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared responsibility. This experience highlighted that the collective intelligence of a group often surpasses individual efforts. 3. Diverse Perspectives Group work brought together diverse perspectives, enriching the quality of our final product. Each member contributed...

This week, we have discussed the models and tools for flipped learning. We mainly focused on the advantages of flipped classrooms and suggested some possible solutions. The difficulties we have encountered when using flipped classrooms are: 1. Access to Technology Issue: Not all students may have access to the necessary technology or a stable internet connection to engage with pre-class materials. Solution: Schools can provide loaner devices and ensure access to internet hotspots. Teachers can also offer offline options, such as printed materials or USB drives with video content. 2. Student Preparedness Issue: Some students may not complete the pre-class work, leading to an unprepared class. Solution: Incorporate checks for understanding into the pre-class work, such as quizzes or discussion posts, that count towards participation grades. This accountability encourages completion of the assigned tasks. 3. Increased Workload for Teachers Issue: Creating quality pre-class materials and ...

The topic we have been discussing today is quite interesting. At first, we have discussed how to make a rubric for assessment. Mai Anh has shared what she usually does for her little students. She has used Rubistar to create a specific rubric for a specific lesson. I think it's amazing. Then, she has shared some other alternative assessment forms such as peer feedback, porfolios, project-based learning. She also talked about advantages and disadvantages of each kind. I also find rubric is an effective tool for assessing students. It helps both teachers and students know what should be achieved in each individual classes and how much progress they should make. Rubrics also orient students' learning and enhance their autonomy in learning. I have shared some alternative assessment tools such as formative tests, giving feedback, teaching report, learning diary, project work, ... One of the great things I have learned from the breakout room discussion that we should use different ...

We have discussed 2 main points in our breakout room: some recommended websites used for classroom activities and technology-enhanced lesson plan. I have learned a lot from my teammates. Mai Anh has shared the sites she frequently uses in her classroom. The first one is https://www.raz-kids.com/. It is a comprehensive and interactive reading program that provides students with over 400 eBooks at 29 different levels of reading difficulty. This ensures that all students, regardless of their current reading level, can find materials that are both suitable and challenging for them. After reading a book, students can do quizzes that assess comprehension and help teachers to track their progress.Raz-Kids is particularly useful as it facilitates differentiated instruction. Teachers can assign books that match each student's reading levels and track their progress through detailed reports. Besides, the audio narration and highlighted text of eBooks can help improve both reading fluency an...

The topic of Module 3 is skills-building websites for oral/aural skills and saving bookmarks. Through the discussion in our breakout room, I have learned that we can use different sites available online to teach students. For example, esl-lab.com is a good website for teaching listening and speaking. It includes pre-, while- and post-activities covering a wide range of different levels and age groups. It's so helpful and saves a lot of time for us, as teachers, in lesson preparations. In addition, I found https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/ a great site for learning English, especially pronununciation and other skills. We also talked about bookmarking pages (diigo.com as an example). It functions as a saver of URLs and files. However, the thing which distinguishes the site with other bookmarkers is that it's shareable. Personally, I think bookmarkers available on our frequently-used browers are still helpful.

Module 2 has provided me with a number of ideas on what tools should be used to search for general information, e-books and journals for my post graduate studies and my teaching jobs. In the breakout room, my classmates have shared the search engines they frequently use for their jobs. I found Bing interesting as it helps us look for information without being disturbed by commercials. I myself think pdfdrive.com is another useful site if you want to search for e-books on linguistics or English language teaching. You can download the books for free of charge. Besides, we have discussed how to apply ABCD (Audience-Behavior-Condition-Degree) objectives into our teaching context. To be honest, I didn't know much about the model and rarely applied it into my lesson plan. After the discussion, I think ABCD objectives help me understand more deeply about my students' level, the teaching situations and the outcomes they may achieve through a certain lesson. The model encourages me ...