Reflective Summary

 

When completing my teaching practicum, I could feel myself as a child again.  The experience that I got during this 45 hour as a student teacher was immense because I could gain professional development as an ESL practitioner and I was aware of how to deal with various types of students.  Being an undergraduate at Department of English Language Teaching, I was given all the theoretical knowledge over four years. However, this internship was the place where I could practice all the learnt theories in an authentic educational setting. There is a saying that ‘every journey is not a flower bed’. My internship also was not a linear process. Time to time I had to face challenges. However, I think that admits all the obstacles, I succeeded to upgrade myself as a professional ESL teacher. To fulfill that the place where I conducted my internship; The British International School, Kiribathgoda was a great assist. I was privilege enough to work with different students who have different learning styles, motivations, social backgrounds and needs because of the unique learning environment that the school has. There are both morning classes from 9.00 a.m. to 11 a.m. and evening classes from 4.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. and they use both online and onsite teaching platforms. As a result of that, when reflecting the teaching background, the effectiveness of used lessons, materials and the teaching aids along with the students’ reaction and the professional growth that I received, it is evident that I was able to shape – up myself as a trained ESL practitioner.

Prior to the teaching, a Needs Analysis was done with the purpose of identifying the needs, wants and the lacks of the learners. As highlighted by Hariyadi and Yanti (2019), “if we fail to gather the needs of the learners, we can never produce the right material”. So, considering the needs and the information given by the teacher – in – charge the lessons and the materials were planned. As for the syllabus the school follows “Nelson English” for primary learners and “Cambridge English Textbook” for secondary learners. The particular lesson for the day was selected by the teacher – in – charge and the activities were prepared accordingly. “A good beginning is half done”. Following this proverb, in almost all the lesson planes I tried to incorporate lead – in tasks to initiate students’ thinking and knowledge serving as a magnet. Apart from that, all the skills were tried to be addressed according to the advices given by the teacher – in – charge because in some cases she advised to focus on only one skill. Ex: the results of the Needs Analysis suggested that the Grade 12 students are highly proficient in speaking, but they make huge mistakes in writing. So, the teacher – in – charge  advised to focus on the development of their writing rather than the other skills. On one hand, when planning the materials, I tried to enhance the students’ higher order thinking skills such as problem solving, critical thinking and decision making along with their personal development. On the other hand, to eliminate the monotony of the lesson, activities focusing on the creativity were also used preventing the traditional aspect of the classroom. Ex: there was a lesson for Grade 12 students about promoting something using persuasive writing. So, they were asked to design a brochure as they like.

As I identified blended learning is the major approach used in the school because as mentioned previously, they use both online and onsite platforms simultaneously. So, during my teaching practicum as well, I was expected to get used to that approach which was quite difficult at the beginning. Other than that, I used a mixture of approaches such as behaviorism, humanism and socio – cultural theory without just adhering to only one approach. I incorporated positive reinforcement to establish and promote the developments of the students’ learning process. For that, basically, I used verbal reinforcement, giving claps, selecting the best performer, giving feedback, and so on. As an ESL practitioner I strictly believe that every learner has his/her own way of learning and their needs can be different from each other. So, I tried to address each and every learner’s needs following humanistic approach. Moreover, collaborative learning and work with MKOs enhance students’ performances (Vygotsky, 1978). Because of that, implementing more group activities and pair works was one of my major goals.

In addition to the approaches, teaching methods also get prominence in an ESL setting. During my internship I tried to create a learner – centered classroom giving them the responsibility of learning. To achieve that, I mainly used Communicative Language Teaching and Task Based Approach. However, to enhance the comprehensibility of the lesson Grammar Translation Method was also used especially if they are struggling with the lesson.

During the 45 hours I was able to have a professional growth on myself as an inexperienced ESL practitioner. In the school I was given both primary and secondary grades which I consider as a milestone in my internship. Maintaining the interaction and the attention of the primary learners required more dedication than the secondary learners, and it was really difficult to control them since they were more energized. Therefore, I had to use different strategies to work with them. As for an example if they are over – energized I used the variations in my voice with different facial expressions. I allocated the first week of the internship to understand and to be familiarized with the learners, and gradually when it came to the final week, I could get a priceless experienced on how to manage a primary classroom. Apart from that, immediate shifts from online to onsite is another obstacle that I went through during the teaching sessions. Although it was difficult to access and monitor leaners' progress, and to give feedback through online platforms, after discussing with the teacher – in – charge some techniques were used. However, through these challenges, I was able to develop my professional skills during the 45 hours.

When considering about the students’ reactions, I assume that they were satisfied with the teaching sessions because I received positive feedback from them. I always believe learning should be enjoyable. So, I tried my best to make their leaning enjoyable. For that, video clips and colourful pictures were used particularly for lead – in and warm – ups. In addition to that, I could see that every student actively engaged in the innovative and creative activities that I utilized. Because of these reasons I can say that, the students were motivated that they were passionately engaged in my teaching hours.

In conclusion it can be noted that, reflecting on the effectiveness of the used lessons and materials, teaching methods and the approaches, students’ reactions and the professional growth that I received, upgraded me from an inexperienced ESL practitioner to a professional one providing the basic knowledge about the art of teaching. 

References

Hariyadi, A. & Yanti, D. R. (2019). The importance of needs analysis in material development. Jurnal of Limiah Profesi               Pendidikan, 4(2). 94 – 99.                              

Vygotsky. L. S. (1978). Mind in the society: The development of higher psychological process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard               University Press.