Week 12 class reflection

This week's class focuses on classroom observation and the features of different classroom settings.

Marya's presentation was very focused and task-based. I think our group had a good discussion in finding arguments to support for the use of communicative instructional settings. Also, the fact that this setting has the most advantages also made it easier for us to prove our points.

The next activity of observing and commenting on an English classroom in Korea was demanding yet interesting. The activity the teacher in the clip was carrying out was very much creative and practical, which can give students authentic language practice. However, he was apparently dominating the classroom with too many instructions and a lot of talking. As i was watching the class, i wonder if the students understood what the teacher explained or not, since they mostly just smiled and nodded their heads. But then i came cross the next clip which featured the students' activity right after the first teacher-talking clip, and it seemed all the students knew what they had to do and the exchange between the student customers and bank tellers went really well. This indicated that even though his instruction-giving techniques needs more skills, the teacher was able to get the students understand his instructions. Through this activity it became clear to me that apart from teaching, observing and evaluating other teachers' teaching is also an important part of being a teacher. As in many other professions, teachers can learn a lot from each other's success and failure. It is therefore necessary to develop a critical mind so that constructive criticisms can be made to enhance the teaching quality.

The next part of peer-reviewing the next 2 genres was useful. Our group reviewed the works of Aaron, Stephanie and Adib and i must say their genres are very well-connected to their research questions and after reading their genres i can clearly see the benefits of using creative written works in teaching. Also, our works were reviewed and commented by another group. The recipe received good feedback, but the diary genre definitely needs more work. I was really disappointed when i first heard the comments on our diary genre and for some moments it occured to me that the genre was a complete failure. However, as i think more about my classmates' comments and advice, i came to realize how subjective i was as a writer when i created the genre and i feel thankful because I had a chance to have my work reviewed.