Last blog entry - Class reflection

The very last class was short and sweet. It was fun to go around and have a look at all the groups' posters and leave comments. It was also interesting to see how each group's research product came out and how after the research everyone got to know their topic better and deeper.

To me personally, the class was not at all a piece of cake. Reading and reflecting, researching and discussing, all of these and many other things kept me constantly busy and even overwhelmed at times. However, after all the hard work, what i experienced and learned was numerous and useful. I was able to gain thorough knowledge of several issues in second language learning and teaching, as well as reflect on my own language learning process. I learned how the language teaching theories developed over time, and how each method can be applied into the real teaching context so that students can benefit the most. All of this will apparently be very helpful for me in my future teaching, since it now becomes clear to me that as a teacher it's important to not only know how to teach, but also to understand why i teach the way i teach.

The process of doing the multi-genre research paper is also fruitful and inspiring. Even though there were times i felt confused about what i was supposed to do, overall i learn how to manage my time, look for references, work in groups and be as creative as possible in creating the genres.

Class interaction is also what i like about the class. The fact that we work in groups most of the time to complete class activities as well as class projects did make learning more cooperative. And at the end of the day, i am glad that each of my classmate has a lot for me to learn from. I loved the experience-sharing part and was inspired by their teaching stories.