Last year, I taught sixth grade and fourth grade elementary students in the YanFeng elementary school. There are about fifteen classes and five hundred student overall. It is hard to remember students' names though I have tried. I always liked to make fun with students. I knew students wanted more amusement during the class. So, I tried to tell them stories in English before each class began. It was great to see their eyes opened wide. Sometimes, I would tell them, if you have studies well, then I would tell more other stories next time. I also asked them to tell story back during the class. I normally gave them stories, such as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, for them to recite first, then I would give a test about the first paragraph of the story. Most of students can't remember the content beyond the first paragraph. I think speaking should be ahead of reading. I asked them to speak out the story loud, then seeked for those words they haven't learned. If they can speak, then they should have more interests in learning English. Of course, the whole plan needs their main classroom teacher's cooperation and push.
Other than storytelling, I will stress on singing pop songs in my class. It was very interesting to see some students who lacked motivation in studying English would like to sing. As I observed during the class, those who wouldn't open their mouth to read their book, but could sing loudly when I started playing DVD. I was affraid they just sang for fun, so I gave quiz about the song's lyric and asked them to fill words in. I told them in advanced that the test only involved the first paragraph, so they could prepare, otherwise the test score would be ugly. Sometime I would ask them to compete in two groups, many times I asked students came forwards to sing to class and I would add scores for them. Each class had different character, so I had to vary my strategy. Singing songs had become a big activity of my English class. Some class main teachers told me they had spent the lunch break to prepare for my requests. I was surprised singing English songs became a trend at school for lower grade students. And, I was told some classes were anticipated to show their works and complained there was only one class per week. I wonder why some school can have two classes, but others have one in Nantou County. For one class per week, they need extra English studying time, or they tend to forget before the next week class. I found the majority went to cram school, and those who didn't go would suffer and couldn't catch up with the majority. It was a pity to see them falling behind the class.
Summer Vacation
Today is the very first day of vacation. I have plenty of time, except preparing for teacher recruiting exam. This morning I post the great youtube film about Sir Gawain and the green knight. There are more films appended, though one needs to search for them. Hope you like this story. Have a nice vacation to all !!!
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