Firstly, here are my reflections for the past week, sorry as it wasnt uploaded earlier. lala
30th april '08
I felt that the visit to chaoyang on 30th of April was interesting, and we definitely had many lessons to learn. Before continuing with the post, I must really apologize as what I write here will not merit the degree of satisfaction and any particular emotion on that day itself. I wish I was in a better mood but here goes
Stepping into the spanking new café was cool. The counter was very well furnished, clean and tidy, and the room was air-conditioned. Definitely what such lively kids deserve. I especially liked the lights above the counter. On hindsight, I really appreciate the belief and the fervor the school has to develop the kids. Even though the students probably would not visibly appreciate all the hip and cool decorations in the café, the school still puts in the best effort to build a café as if they were dealing with normal students. They really want to love and care and give the best to the students
We filmed the two lessons we conducted. Although battery died near the end, we still managed to get a good gist of things. The first class we had was a bunch of bubbly little 10 year olds. It wasn’t easy teaching them, but nevertheless it was enjoyable. Surprisingly, they learnt faster than we taught. The second class was a little bit irresponsive, or perhaps maybe they were more mature and conscious of the environment.
Some stuff that were creditable:
Our last minute management of our failed powerpoint
Our enthusiasm and determination to teach
Perseverance
The ability to connect with the kids
Not-so-good things.
We didn’t really plan our lesson well. We did not expect many things, I guess we were not well prepared.
We lack a bit of closeness of connection with the students. As teachers, we need to conduct our lesson with care and love, not for the sake of finishing up our task and packing up for home.
I wished my reflections were longer. But then again, what I write here really is just nothing compared to serving the students first hand.
Credos to Ms Suwandi for her many years of teaching. Teaching is difficult. We should all respect our teachers more.
7 may '08
Wow, today was another blast, albeit in smaller proportions. This week we went with no materials, but a mindful of ideas and concepts to teach the children.
the lesson today was about courtesy. It was something very hard to teach, after all courtesy was a little bit out of their vocabulary and an intangible in itself. We started off attempting to define courtesy, which somehow was welll answered by one of the students as showing respect and politeness. I enjoyed our teaching here, as it was a rather good brainstorming session. I realize that a good tactic to teaching is constantly emphasizing an important point, which we did by constantly holding up a smiley face we printed out to show them that the main idea was "service with a smile". I think that got down well with the children, even though they exaggerated it. It's good they opened up at least.
We could improve in the fact that maybe we could have given the children more time and engaged them in conversations, for courtesy is a thing practiced and not just something to study about. What we are teaching them are real life applications and we need to engage them in a real-life manner. What we are doing already is good, like simulating waitor and customer conversations, what we need to do more, is make what's practiced a constant part of their lifestyle and habit
I guess through their smiles, we believe even more in the children. Its what behind those gleaming eyes that realize yearns to jump out and show the world what they can do.
Chun Yin:
After the first visit to Chaoyang School, the 5 of us felt more mentally prepared for the 2nd lesson yesterday. Although less “preparation” was done (we brought no materials there this time), I felt that the lesson was conducted well with the experience that we gained for the first time. The students were just as lively and responsive as the first time, and we could tell that they enjoyed our lesson a lot.
The areas of strength for our teaching this time were: related better to the students (in terms of firm but friendly attitude and nice tone), good teamwork and co-operation as each team member spontaneously helped in the teaching and no contradiction of teaching points).
Of course, there are some areas for improvement. For one, the content in our lessons were too little and I think a bit too repetitive. The students could even remember what we taught them last week, to our surprise! Secondly, more preparation could be done in terms of teaching materials. Like what Keng Chee suggested, giving the students small cards containing take-away points would be helpful for the students to remember our lessons.
The next lesson we will be conducting involves money and accounting, and this would certainly be no simpler than our previous lessons. A lot of visual aid and a hands-on approach are important if the students are to absorb our teaching more effectively. Money and returning change (cashiering) can be taught together with ordering and serving food as well (over the counter).
Keng Chee
It was another whole new experience when we walked into the Internet Café, with the students eagerly waiting. Once again, we walked through the 6 sentences with the students, while preparing to cover the topic on “Courtesy”. However while providing the definition and demonstrating what is courtesy, how to be courteous, and letting them record it down; the 5 girls were feeling a bit restless.
I could understand this as the name of the topic was indeed a little difficult to understand, and it was also a little tiring to write down the things that we were supposed to say. Although the girls did a little drawing while we were teaching while feeling restless, they were generally attentive. This could be partly attributed to the more or less repetition of the things which we taught as it might have made them feel bored.
From today’s lesson, I learnt to appreciate more of the student’s ability to learn and pick up things (like how Fira is more vocal while Ernie is good at writing), while learning to better understand how to always keep their attention. I’ll continue to strive harder to make every trip and interaction more meaningful and enjoyable for all of us.
apologies to sheep and samson, i will post up ur stuff later. i won't be online for the rest of the week, so better post some up first
YEP!
Thanks
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