Zoryana Karplyuk
English teacher, Rivne School #15
“Each language learning
situation is unique and should be thoroughly
studied and delineated a prerequisite for the design of language courses”
Rober J. Baumgardener
“Fundamentals of English Language Teaching
Methodology” took place in July 4-8, 20011 in Kyiv Ukraine. The workshop was organized
by the regional English language office of the Public Affairs section of the
U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.
It appeared to be extremely useful for 25 Ukrainian teachers of English, who
came from different parts of Ukraine
and felt privileged to be participants of such important event. The workshop
was not only interesting and exciting but also practical and efficient, because
it was organized by the high class professionals who did their best to share
the most precious experience and the latest achievements in language teaching
with the novice teachers. All participants had a wonderful opportunity to widen
and deepen their knowledge of the English language teaching methodology. The
workshop was carefully and skillfully planned for the
benefit of all participants.
Ann Mc Allen, an ELT consultant from Bellingham,
WA and Frances Westbrook, a
regional English Language officer of the U.S. Embassy Kyiv, proved to be
experience professional trainers. They introduced the participants to a host of
al kinds of activities making the process of language learning into highly exciting of language learning into a
highly exciting occupation.
The workshop started with the
introductions, during which those present were introduced to it’s general
outline. Then the whole host of absorbing sessions followed. The listeners were
introduced to Programme overview, icebreakers, introduction to ELT. Then a lecture “What makes a good
teacher” followed in afternoon.
Teachers implemented
theoretical knowledge they had got previously into practice. We were divided
into groups and prepared presentations. This
kind of activity helped to comprehend the content of the sessions deeply and
fundamentally. All sessions informative and valuable for the novice teachers and
personally for me. It will help me to make my lessons brighter and more
effective. The workshop considerably improved my professional level. I have to
say, that I’ll use the bright ideas of our trainers at my lessons to the
benefit of my pupils. I have always wanted to teach my pupils in the best
possible way and I value and use every opportunity of professional growth. So I
want to express my sincere gratitude to the organizers of this workshop. I’ll
also gladly share my experience with my fellow teachers of my school and my
town. During the session we had an opportunity to demonstrate different types
of intelligences.
Great attention was paid to
extra-curricular works, because that kind of work may have certain advantages
before the indoor lessons, as priority form of teaching. This is a possibility
for a teacher to use in all measure the situational method in determined phase
of language studying, and the searching of new forms of extra curricular works
which is not limited by school programs as the lessons ones.
Teachers were invited to
examine the different activities and materials presented at the session to
consider how they may be adapted to their own teaching environment. It was the
product of the dedication and innovative spirit of teachers worldwide. Through
this sharing of ideas and experimentation with new approaches, teachers are
renewed.
Advantages for teachers are the following:
1.Teachers can become aware
of what works and what doesn’t, what students find more or less useful,
unrealistic, difficult pleasurable, etc.
2.Teachers can become aware
of those points and activities that they deem important but that are not perceived or
mentioned in the feedback
Originally, this workshop was
meant to illustrate how teaching could
be associated with task-based exercises geared towards acquiring communicative
ability.
I consider “Jigsaw activities: putting the pieces
together” to be the most interesting. If the instructional goal is for student
to practice reading, speaking, and listening skills, then a jigsaw activity
might be used. The idea of jigsaw activities comes from jigsaw puzzles. Just as
in a jigsaw puzzle, a picture is divided into many pieces and the pieces must
be put back together to complete the picture, in a jigsaw activity, information
is divided into different pieces, each group member is given a piece to learn,
and then group members teach each other about their pieces so that everyone has
a complete picture of the information. First the teacher divides the material
into enough pieces so that each group member has one part. Next, the parts are
distributed and people from different groups who have the same part meet to
study their part. These new groups are called expert teams.
After learning their pieces
of the puzzle, students return to their original groups and teach their piece
to the other members of the group. Finally, the group’s knowledge of the whole
is shown through using the information to do a task or answer question.
The next interesting activity
was dictation: dictation can work either way: you can use it to help improve a
student’s spelling or to help with their pronunciation. Another technique that
also works on pronunciation is this one:
*Chop a short text into
sentences, each sentences or clause on a separate slip of paper.
*Give the sentence- slips out
to people in the class.
*Ask the student who reckons she has the
opening sentence to read it aloud. Take it down on the board or the overhead
projector exactly as she says it.
What makes a Good Teacher? was another
workshop the participants were interested in.
In 1996, UNESCO published a
book entitled What makes a good teacher? Over 500 children from some 50
countries aged 8-12 contributed their opinions. Here are some of their
responses:
A great teacher interacts
with the child (physically and mentally).
A great teacher gives affection to the pupils,
makes them understand what emotion is.
A great teacher smiles to
his\her pupils even when they screw him up.
A great teacher teaches not
only book materials but also the truth that’s happening outside.
A great teacher dedicates him\herself
to the job. They make a commitment. Then they have to do it.
Yuventius, Jakarta, Indonesia
A good teacher is someone who
teaches not only with mind, but also with heart.
Syanne Helly, East Java, Indonesia
A good teacher is someone who
can learn from his students, who can learn with them, and for them. He must be
honest in his relationships with students, and proud enough about his own value
to work, from there, on helping his students to build their own self-esteem.
Christian Berger, Santiago, Chile
Good teaching is keeping
yourself in the shoes of your students.
A good teacher should live
his/her life in such a way that those who are watching him/her will not be led astray.
A good teacher should have a
teacher heart.
Fe Espiritu, Philippines
To sum it up, we could say
that if good self-directed learning often evolves from bad, or frustrating,
teacher-directed learning, the student who, in this case, manages to work alone
successfully is to be praised unreservedly. Since the need for self-managed
continuing education is widely recognized in language learning, why not
incorporate its preparation?
As for me I came to
conclusion that I will encourage
learners to take responsibility for their own learning and to have confidence
in their own abilities and ideas.
Thanks a lot to all who designed this course for novice
teachers of English.
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