Background
They are
a group of eight students who are currently studying English as a second
language in a private school. The
program that they are studying consists of 20 courses, each one is of one month
and they are at this moment in course 2.
As it can be noticed, they are barely starting their learning process
and I want them to enjoy it by giving them other ways of practicing the topics
that are seen in class.
They are
studying at Harmon Hall and I am currently their teacher. I’ve had this group before, so I know their
weaknesses already. This project will be
taking place during class and also outside of class. I will give them the website’s link for them
to practice at home. I will also receive feedback in class and will try to come
up with exercises so that I can check and evaluate their improvement. Class time will also be a good time to
receive feedback regarding how they feel using the website and if they feel any
changes in the development of their skills.
- ·What are the course
goals?
The course consists of
three units where they include the following topics:
- Unit four: Students will learn
to use simple present statements, yes-no questions, and short answers; Talk
about your daily and weekly routine; Answer more than yes or no to be friendly
and use Well to get time to think.
-Unit five: Ask simple present information questions; Say
how often you do things; Talk about free-time activities and TV shows; Ask
questions in two ways and use I mean.
-Unit six: Use There’s
and There are; use some, no, a lot of, and a couple of; Talk about your
neighborhood and local events; Ask for and tell the time; Use Me too or Me neither to show you’re like someone; Use Right and I know to
agree.
- ·What are the student
needs?
The book
includes “speaking naturally” activities (where students learn to pronounce or
say phrases in a more natural way) and a lot of listening activities as well. However, this group of students needs a lot
of help in their pronunciation; they sometimes do not feel as comfortable as
they should while speaking which does not let them become fluent. They also say
that they sometimes are not able to understand the listening part of the
quizzes or exercises.
- Describe anything else
that is significant or relevant about the course that may potentially
relate to your project.
This group
of students is really into technology; of course I am now totally sure that all
of them have access to the Internet, which will be essential. They all are adults older than 19 years of
age; some of them are from Springs Window Fashion which is a very important
factory located in Victoria; they have told me that they are sent from their
job to learn English because it is essential since they have videoconferences
almost every day in English and they need to participate in them.
I believe
most of them are very motivated towards learning since they want to learn the
language for an important purpose. Most
of these students want to learn English as a second language to have better job
opportunities, others for personal success or for school.
Issue or problem that
started your project
Students
sometimes mention during class time or after oral quizzes that they feel
ashamed of participating and of speaking English because they feel that they
are not pronouncing words correctly. I
always tell them that it is a matter of practice; I want to prove this to them
and to myself by putting this project into action.
Initial solution and
expected response
·
What you decided
to try: I developed a website especially
for them; this tool will be included in their learning process, I will upload
information for them to practice the topics that we are covering in class at
any time. This website will be based on
videos related to the class’ topics to help them relate this information to
real life, but also for them to listen to someone else explain the class. I believe that checking out this website will
help them to practice their reading, listening and of course their speaking
skills.
Another
important aspect of this project is that I will include a special class for
them to experience the use of technology while learning grammar. Grammar is boring and hard sometimes, but
learning it with an interactive and striking method will make the process
easier. What I usually explain with the
board will be explained by me using a dynamic Prezi presentation covering the
topics of the class. After this, they
will be able to continue practicing with the exercises in their books and their
normal listening exercises.
Finally,
I will use SurveyMonkey to ask them to answer a survey telling me how they felt
with the experience. By answering this
survey, they will also let me know if they want me to continue uploading
information to the website or if they do not feel comfortable using this tool. The questions were in their mother tongue and
were exactly as follows:
1. ¿Qué tal te
pareció haber usado un método tecnológico como una herramienta extra para tu
proceso de aprendizaje?
2. ¿Te gustaría que
se implementara más tecnología dentro de tu salón de clases?
3. ¿Cuál fue el tema
que más se te complicó aprender?
4. ¿Pudiste reafirmarlo al hacer
uso de la página web?
5. ¿Te gustaría poder
seguir utilizando la página web en tu siguiente curso para poder tener
referencia a los temas en tu propio tiempo?
·
When and
where you decided to try it: The
website’s link will be provided to the students on the first day of the
course. I will explain to them that I
will be uploading information about their course for them to practice and that
I will ask them for feedback at the end of the course. The Prezi presentation will be on the day of
the review which will be two days before the last day of the course. The survey’s link will be posted in the
website at the end of the course for them to answer it.
·
Why is it
different from what you have tried before? This method will be interesting and different
for my students since they love technology and only have experienced their
first course with my personal lessons and with the use of the book only. Introducing this method to them will help
them to be motivated and more interested in the class by doing and using tools
that they like.
·
My
hypothesis: I believe that the students who are
motivated to learn fast will take the time to enter to the website. I will ask them to give me feedback whenever
they can about their experience of using this tool. I believe that the experience of doing these
three activities that I will implement will all be good. The students will be able to enter to the
website and practice whenever and wherever they can and review what we saw
before the last exam with an interesting and enjoyable presentation. I think I will receive good feedback,
interest and motivation towards the website.
Response and reflection
·
What
happened: My students were very motivated towards using the website; I saw them
interested because they asked me when I was going to upload information about
the class’ topics and by making comments during the class of what had seen in
class. They were also very excited with
the Prezi presentation, they told me they had never seen that tool before and
that they loved it. The students
commented that the presentation kept them very interested and that they were
really happy with it because it helped them remember the topics before the
quiz. They also responded very well with
the survey, all of them answered that they loved the experience and that Harmon
Hall should implement the use of that kind of tools besides the ones we use for
them to be motivated, awaken and interested.
I also believe it needs to be more dynamic, however, it is illegal for
teachers to change the methods that we were told to follow.
·
What you
thought about what happened: I am actually really happy
that my hypothesis became true, my expectations were the results. All of my students were very motivated after
the review and were very optimistic while taking the final quiz. They also said that they think that their
results were excellent because of the use of these tools, that maybe they would
not have had them without them. They
were really happy with the results also since they love technology and enjoyed
using it. Finally, they asked me to
please continue uploading information to the website and that is what I will
do.
·
Timeline:
March 11th: First
day of the course and explanation about the website, my project and
instructions on how to use it.
March 12th-
April 2nd: The students were using
the website and giving me feedback about using it.
April 3rd: Review
using the Prezi presentation.
April 4th
and 5th: The students had their
final written quiz on the first day and oral quiz on the second day, final
feedback session and answered the survey.
Changes made or changes
planned
·
What you
tried next or what you plan to try next: I will
continue using these tools as much as I can with my groups and will introduce
them to them so that they learn how to use technology to learn, not only to
converse or entertain them.
·
What
happened or what you think will happen: I think
that other students will feel motivated as well as interested in the class
whenever I use this method. They will
also feel that they learn more if they are having fun while taking their
courses, we all get that feeling when this happens.
Conclusion
How what you observed will affect the way that you teach: I
sincerely now feel that a book is not enough to teach, motivation is
essential. What I believe that I am
doing well is that I am very enthusiastic while teaching; we all need to be
like that because we transmit that positive attitude to the students. I also believe that all schools should
implement the use of presentations, overhead projectors and computers in the
daily lessons to keep students interested in the class, not in their cell
phones.
Overall suggestions for others as a result of the project: I believe
this could have worked better at a school where a teacher can use any method
besides the book to complement the class.
Most of what I did was outside of class because I am not allowed to use
any other method besides what has been established by the DNA of Harmon
Hall. Being free of using any method
would be very convenient.
Resources