Wendy brought in the topic 'pet dyeing trend' smoothly.
The pictures were wonderful for Set Induction. And she immediately showed the topic 'pet dyeing' to ensure that students do not confuse it with 'dying'. Good thinking. She discussed with students the difference between the two words and later gave phrases for students to express their opinions: in my opinion, if you ask me..., I believe...,' Her speaking class needed the students to discuss about the dyeing trend. Very good flow in the lesson. The clip was also interesting as there were people who own such pets discussing with the host about it. However, Wendy could have instructed the students to focus on something before playing the clip. Having a reason to look for something is always a must before playing a clip. Wendy speaks slower now and because of that has incorporated very good intonation in her speech. Previously she was a bullet train and now, as someone in the class said, she is an lrt. She was also more relaxed and smiley. She was laughing and looked comfy in the class.
A passionate teacher is always happy to be in class, to be interacting with students and to be concerned over everything big or small. Hehe well done!
I hope this time my students did not feel overwhelmed by my speed and enjoyed my lesson while learning something new. I chose this topic in order to fulfill the continuity of my four lesson plans—animals and introduce this new and controversial phenomenon. I personally disagree with dyeing animals. Nowadays a large number of people are losing interest in life day by day. They always make hard attempts to search extreme excitement in life because the current world seems so boring to them. What is real happiness? For me, it comes from our inner world not outer stuffs. Many of our behaviors do not come from our needs, but from our desire of ostentation. Therefore, we go for louder music, bigger screens and weirder things—dyeing our dogs and cats. Eight hours being washed, brushed and dyed in the pets’ salons, those dogs and cats are actually being tortured. The price of the dog grooming service is not inexpensive. A full-body dyeing can go up to US$300! We humans don’t know what a dog or cat wants, but we know what we are doing is just to satisfy our selfish desires.
ReplyDeleteCome back to my lesson.
Good points—I chose pictures to arouse students’ interest and stimulate their background knowledge of animals. Then a video of interviewing pets’ owners was for the purpose of enriching students’ information of this trend. The group discussion was accompanied by worksheet 1. In order to make students concentrate on the activity, exercise is essential. While students are listening and writing, they are very much involved in the lesson. During the post-reading activity, worksheet 2 was provided to gather group members’ opinions. These two worksheets were used for homework exercise—pros and cons of dyeing animals. Furthermore, I included vocabulary learning—“dye” vs “die”, and I was happy that Joy used it in her speech!
Aspects to work on—I should have designed questions for students before they watched the video so that they LISTEN FOR A PURPOSE. In a speaking class, listening should always be present and students can apply what they have listened to their activity later on.
Lastly, I would like to thank all the classmates’ and Madame Adel’s zealous participation in my lesson today. Any suggestion is welcomed with my utmost respect!
Greetings! Even though I did not follow her lesson from the start, but here are some of the reflections based on my opinion.
ReplyDeleteGood points: As usual Wendy will always ready in her presentation, so of course the continuity of her lesson is perfect. The topic itself is very informative. The teaching aids such as pictures are attractive. Each and every stages were related to one another. She has no problem interacting with her students, which at the same time make her students feel comfortable and want to be part of her class. Everytime she asked questions to her students, she will looked them in the eyes and smiled. The activity that I managed to join is good. It makes students speak up about their opinion with their group members. It will be helpful for low proficiency students, since they will feel more comfortable speaking in a small group as a starting. All in all, it was an almost perfect lesson.
Improvement: The audio of the video shown is not loud and clear enough. It can be a distraction for low proficiency students.
Ma Ji's Comment:
ReplyDeleteI could see that was a good lesson with a lovely topic and a cute teacher. I think there were some interesting activities in the class. Confident teacher and fluent language. Perfessional teacher in the future, I'm sure.
Wendy's lesson is indeed eye opening! My reaction when looking at the photos were like this o.O haha. Therefore, the photos used and the topic itself did managed to capture the students' attention, or mine, at least.
ReplyDeleteYes, she is an LRT now and I find that I can focus better in this lesson than her previous one because she did not pace about too much and the speed and flow of the lesson is much more appropriate compared to her first lesson. Good improvement!
I like her idea of having the worksheet to guide students to have their views on pet dyeing, whether or not they agree with it. It is simple BUT helpful.
As usual, Wendy is so enthusiastic but this time she is much better because I find her enthusiasm more balanced, as she seem to feel more comfortable. In the previous lesson at some parts, I can see that she was a little uncomfortable - maybe that's why she speak and speed so much. It is important to be more relaxed because I feel that teachers who are more relaxed are able to communicate and interact with students better, and closer.
I really cannot find much points that she need to work on because she is such a natural at being a teacher. Your students are a lucky bunch to get you for their classes. Good job!