Lesson:
Pre-teaching
vocabulary in a reading class
Level: Intermediate
Class size: 07
Level: Intermediate
Class size: 07
MY
STRENGTHS ON THE MICROLESSON
Two of my key strengths
on the lesson were: elicitation and interaction.
I felt I elicited the
words well by using strategies such as questioning, using my body language to
act out a part of the word, and most importantly, using pictures which I had
chosen to help my students get at the word. Secondly, I was able to engage the class in an
interactive way.
MY
SHORTCOMINGS ON THE MICROLESSON
My pedagogical judgment
went wrong in two respects namely, selecting the pre-teach words for a reading
lesson and the amount of time spent on teaching the important words before a
reading lesson. Firstly, some of the words were beyond the conceptual and cultural
levels of my students. In spite of the fact that my students were experienced
teachers, they were not able to get at a few words. That said, had I used the
technique in an actual intermediate class, I wonder if the interaction and the
elicitation would have taken place to the extent it did with the peer group.
I also wish I had taken
words from a “real” text rather than from an “imaginary” text. Had I chosen the
text and then selected words to pre-teach, my lesson would have had a much
better pedagogical value. Perhaps, I had put the cart before the horse!
Secondly, I had spent
almost 17 minutes in pre-teaching vocabulary. Given the fact that a regular
session runs for 50 minutes, spending almost more than a quarter of an hour
just to pre-teach important words in a
reading lesson would be a fallacious idea. Such lessons are bound to go up in
smoke, which indeed happened in my case.
In addition to the above, I
also felt that my teacher talk time increased my lesson time. For instance, for
a few words, I gave additional explanation which was not necessary.
MY
PLAN OF ACTION
In order to make my
teaching more useful to my students, I will:
- be more pragmatic in planning my lessons – that is to say, I would choose texts or vocabulary items at students’ conceptual levels;
- be more pragmatic in my thinking and in my decisions when setting question papers, teaching, and when setting classroom activities so as to make my teaching purposeful to my students; and
- teach more micro lessons, reflect on each of them, and maintain a CPD portfolio – in the form of a blog – with self-feedback reports, observers’ feedback, and microteaching videos. I believe all of these will help me better understand gaps in my teaching and view my professional development in transparent terms.
