Yu Peixiang Ellen
Today, we visited a school called Pacific Gateway International College, which mainly provides training English programs to young adults (over 18 years old) from various overseas countries. It made me deeply impression.
First of all, the teachers there teach small classes___ just 12-15 students in each class. And the desks are laid in a square or round each so that the students can communicate face to face. This is a kind of superiority for a small class. Perhaps it is not adapted to our big classes but I think I can use this way sometimes. For example, when we need “ group work”, we can divide a big class into several smaller ones. I think it is a good way to give students to co-operate.
During listening to their lessons, I have learned some new ideas as follows:
1. Teachers’ roles:
In the lesson, I found the teacher could act as several roles. Fist he is an organizer. He could organize his lesson perfectly and effectively and used humourous and powerful words, which easily stimulated Students interest and learning motivation. He is also a participant and guide or partner because he himself joined in the students activities. Besides, he helped them how to carry out competitions. After a while he became a devoted listener and justice. This kind of lesson is very relaxed, pleasant and lively. What’s more, the students can finish their tasks smoothly.
2. The activities in the lesson:
I attended a “Reading Lesson”, in which the teacher and the students carried out many different activities, such as Jig-saw reading, guessing the new words from the context, words puzzle, summarizing, discussing and debating. I believe using these ways can enlarge the students knowledge and train them creative skills. In addition, it can improve their English productively.
3. Students’ attitude and behavior towards learning:
Not only was the teacher’s teaching efficient but also the students’ attitude and behavior towards learning were proper and active enough. When a task was given, they all immediately devoted themselves to it. They openly expressed their own ideas and also they were good at searching the knowledge they knew to support them. Sometimes, they had a heated discussion and each one stuck to his/her own opinion. So, in this kind of relaxed state, students can create their own imaginations and their English properly improved.
To be more efficient in my teaching, I will adopt some of the methods to improve my lessons. Especially, I will give my students more chances to work in pairs or groups, even though I have a big class. Because “group work” has many benefits for the learners, for example, it can develop some generic skills-organization, negotiation, co-operation and so on.
In conclusion, I have learned a lot from a day’s visit to the school. Both teachers and students gave me lots of inspiration to my English teaching.