Hao CailingsÕs Class Thursday, October 13th
2005
I like the way you
start, Hao Cailing. Your repeated instruction NOT to open their books is, as
the article in China Development Brief says, an unusual beginning. You use the
introductions to help the students get used to the beginning, and itÕs very
friendly. Well done! The New Curriculum says that we should find common ground
and use it for the development of learning. I love the way you integrate the
ideas from the New Curriculum to help your students. If you werenÕt aware of
this, it doesnÕt matter, because your teaching is naturally in line with the
New Curriculum. Congratulations. LetÕs talk about this, because itÕs a great strength
in your work.
You ask the
students to recite from the blackboard. IÕd be interested to know why you use
this method. ItÕs a very traditional Chinese method (and I am not being
critical), but I am a little puzzled. IsnÕt there possibly a more educational
way of getting the students to focus? For example, reading it together in groups
and getting students to remark on each othersÕ pronunciation.
I like the fact
you then get students to give feedback to show what they have learnt. Good.
This makes them active. You also ask others to correct each other. Well done.
You exhort the students to shout. This is an effective method, but they also
have to learn how to pronounce well in normal tones. (N.B. bare should be spelt ŌbearÕ, because bare
means without clothes!)
Then class report.
The first girl talks about harvest. She is moving in the language she uses. She
is nervous, but has clearly worked hard. This shows that you have done a good
job with the students to get them to work hard. Then another student tells us
what sheÕs heard. She tells it simply. Then another tells us something in real
detail and I think you should have praised her more. She did an excellent job,
re-telling it in her own words, and in the New Curriculum, this is seen as a
central value. (NB It should be no pain, no gain. ItÕs not plural.) Please
praise the speaker more before she goes back to her seat. Tell her something
about how brave she was. She was nervous and she really tried her best. Of course
some other students could have done a better job, but for her, I believe it was
a good job. Praise is one of the most effective ways of encouraging students to
improve their courage, their participation and their general English level.
Then you ask them
to choose two leaders. ItÕs great that you want to play a game. You then ask a
man to come too, which is a good idea. ŌLady first!Õ Is that the right way?
Again, this is something worth talking about together sometime. ItÕs not a big issue,
but itÕs perhaps important in some ways. LetÕs discuss it.
Then you get the
two students to choose English or American. Then give out slips of paper to
each group. ItÕs intriguing. Another point that the NC stresses: if you can
introduce some mystery into the lesson, the students will then be more
interested in the activities. You then give instructions about the game and ask
if they understand. They are intrigued, and quite frankly, so am I. I love the
way youÕre handling this in terms of motivation. ItÕs quite amazing to see
these young students being so active and interested and motivated. I like the
way as well you know the studentsÕ names. I must admit, IÕm a little baffled
myself. I think you need to spell out the instructions a little more fully.
Even Bob doesnÕt understand, and that means you are not making your
instructions clear enough. Before attempting a task like this, you need to
check before you start,
that everyone understands the instructions. You can do that by asking directly
or asking for volunteers to explain it all again. Either way, you need to make
sure before anyone
starts, that they fully understand the rules, otherwise your task will fall
flat and they will be demotivated.
The idea that they
need to discuss with the groups and then present the information to the whole
class, is a revolutionary idea. It really is student-centred learning at its
best. I just hope they understand your instructions this time. This will make
the students think for themselves, which is a key-feature of the requirements
of the New Curriculum. I havenÕt seen this done before. I am most impressed
with this idea, Hao Cailing. I congratulate you.
You suggest five
minutes to prepare. I am not sure itÕs long enough. And can everyone be
involved when the target groups are half of the class? I wonder if you needed
to structure more tasks so that all the students can be actively involved. I
think the groups are too big to be manageable. A few more tasks would have
solved this problem. What do you think? Anyway, the idea is fantastic anyway,
and you should be proud of the way in which you are getting your students to
think for themselves, 1) to negotiate their own learning (develop individual
learning strategies); 2) to become autonomous learners; 3) to use common ground
from which to build personal development; 4) to pay attention to the students
affective domain (emotions and feelings) and promote humanistic perspectives;
5) you are also getting the students to present their own material in their own
way which can then lead to formative forms of evaluation. This is superb. The
aforementioned 1) -5) are taken from the five basic concepts of the New
Curriculum, and underlie all of its thinking. Did you realize that? I havenÕt
seen this done like this before and I think we need to get to the bottom of
this so that others can learn from your ideas. This is the kind of teaching
that Wang Qiang (professor) and Zhang Lianzhong had in mind when they, with the
rest of the New Curriculum Working Party, devised the New Curriculum. I think a
copy of these lesson-notes and your lesson-plan should be sent to Professor
Wang Qiang and Zhang Lianzhong to let them know whatÕs happening here.
You interrupt some
students at the front who arenÕt engaging with the leader, but you have to realize
itÕs difficult for them because there are too many students. However, after youÕve
reminded them, they scuttle back to the leader and become more actively
involved. I am really impressed with this (if you havenÕt already got that
impression).
I just went round
to chat with them and they were so busy, so that impressed me too. You then
tell the students they can say no to you. ThatÕs the way to do it. You remind
them that they need to be able to tell you what can happen in their classroom.
I wonder whether a better way is to say that itÕs ŌourÕ classroom, because then
you are not separating yourself from them, and perhaps itÕs friendlier for
them. You didnÕt give them enough time for this task, in my opinion. I think
you need to help them think of methods before going into the tasks. For example, tell them more
than just Ōdo a dramaÕ or Ōsing a songÕ. Put it in context for them. For
example, tell them that they could sing a song relating to the information with
simple language, or have a song with actions to illustrate the meanings in the
song.
The (male) leader
stands up and tries to explain what his group has done, but itÕs not easy for
them and he tries his best but they canÕt catch his meaning. You also ask the question
a lot: ŌCan you understand?Õ but you donÕt know whether they do or not when
they say ŌyesÕ. You need to check. In other words, you need to find more
information about formative evaluation: how to do it, how to use it. LetÕs talk
about formative evaluation some more. There are many methods. For example,
feedback is one way. Asking questions directly of students is another way.
Getting students to ask for information they need is another way of finding out
what they donÕt know. Another way is to watch their facial expressions. As
experienced teachers we can usually see what they are thinking about something,
or what they are feeling. We can tell from their eyes, particularly if they donÕt
make eye-contact. If they donÕt make eye-contact it usually means they donÕt understand
and they donÕt want to let you know, so they donÕt look at you.
The feedback from
students is good at this stage. I really like the way you are getting students
to practise a lot of the time. Students tend to be passive unless speaking is
the norm for them. I am impressed that you have clearly enabled an environment
in which students expect to have to speak, and donÕt keep silent. You then sum
up for one student, and name her, which is impressive. This is quite a large
group and I think itÕs important, as you know, for teachers to know names as
quickly as possible. ItÕs a problem I havenÕt solved in my own teaching of
Grade Three, because I have so many students (over a hundred in each class), so
IÕm still working on ways to improve my practice in that area. If you have any advice
for me, IÕd be grateful.
I like the way the
students are providing the information about what they have read. ItÕs an
unusual method, and I think this is an excellent example of task-based
learning.
You then let the
students in group B (American group) to go next. The leader starts with an
impressive introduction, and says itÕs going to be a kind of conversation between
members of her group. It then develops, as she says, into a question and answer
session. You remind the students that they will judge each other. This is also
a very NC kind of idea. The conversation is fairly fluent (although the girl
talking about senior citizens is 非常紧张and needs a lot of encouragement). I keep finding new
delights in this lesson, Hao Cailing. This lesson could be called a Box of
Delights. You introduce some humour in the class as well in terms of whether
they should deem someone right because they the learning partners.
你很勤劳。If I were to come into this classroom as a
new colleague, I would not be able to guess you are a fairly new teacher, with
only one yearÕs experience. Every time I come into the class I see a remarkable
development in your methodology, your confidence, your expertise, your
professionality.
Break: I talked to Yang Fang. Very impressive. In
Chinese and English she told me about your teaching style. She understands why
you are teaching the way you are and this is great, because it means that you
make your methodology visible to your students, and as we have discussed
before, such visibility of process is crucial in the development of studentsÕ
awareness of methodology. If you explain what you are doing and why your students are liable to become good
teachers themselves. Clarity, logic, reason and fluency of process are vital
tools for would-be (future) teachers. Well done again, Hao Cailing. I am
constantly amazed at what you accomplish with your students. And here again, here
you are, chatting with them and making them feel comfortable. I noticed
something earlier in the lesson when you noticed that the leader (male) of the
group hadnÕt got a chair and you went to get him one. The students sitting in
front of me laughed at this action, because clearly they are not used to
teachers doing this kind of service for a student. In fact, however, they are
wrong to laugh and I told them so. ItÕs important for students to see a
willingness on the part of students to work together. As Dean Tian said in the
meeting yesterday afternoon, collaboration is one of the most fundamental
processes of learning that distinguishes this department and the AR Centre. I
just spoke to the girl who gave the class-report and encouraged her. I felt she
needed such encouragement from you, so perhaps next time, try to make more fuss
of such a student. All students respond well to encouragement.
Then you start to
talk to them in Chinese, and they all listen politely to you. You have created
a wonderful atmosphere in this class. I didnÕt realize, by the way, that this
was a grade one class. I thought the level of their English was more advanced.
It is clear ot me that when student-centred methods are used, students learn
more rapidly and gain confidence in their own abilities. When you compound this
with good task-based activities, the students are even more likely to succeed.
I am so impressed
that the student asked us to sing songs. That suggests they are really
confident. Only confident students would ask such a question. I am glad they
enjoyed it. Well done to you for making such an atmosphere, in order to make
such task possible for visitors too.
Second Part:
I like the way you
get them to distinguish between horse and house. ItÕs a difficult pronunciation
for them. You get them to practise a lot. ItÕs good because it makes them act
again as a unit (establishing common ground and using it as a basis for
development – NC
concept no. 1). Oh yes, I meant to mention before, I like the way you get the
students to sit down when they answer questions. Again this is against the
traditional method in China, but in my experience, allowing the students to
remain in their seats is an excellent way to get them to feel comfortable, but
itÕs more about power. In the traditional classroom, the teacher holds all the
power. Under the NC teacher and students negotiate and share power. The NC is
democratic in its underlying values. StudentsÕsitting to reply to questions is
also democratic, so you are in actual fact in line with the NC on this as well.
You seem to know the NC very well indeed, and even if you donÕt know it
technically and theoretically (which might be a good idea) you know it
excellently as a practical medium in which you are working. I believe that you
have come to embody some deep, underlying educational values in which enquiry
learning, critical thinking, creativity, imagination and so on, can take place
and influence learning. This is fantastic stuff, Hao Cailing.
I look around the
class as the young lad reads aloud from the text. Everyone is listening
intently. Where is my evidence? Well, I can see from their faces, from their
smiles, from their occasional looks at you to check they are doing the right
thing. Then you praise the reader and ask for volunteers. Quite a few students
volunteer, which again suggests that you have creative an environment conducive
for learning.
You then ask the
students to refer to the second readerÕs reading and ask if they can find any
mistakes. They are not very forthcoming, but I suspect this is because you donÕt
always give them enough time to think. Time to think is crucial for learning.
Students are used, in traditional classrooms, to have the thinking done for
them. You are expecting more from them. So give them the time to do it in.
I am impressed as
well by the fact that you never give in to speaking Chinese during the class,
as you have clearly judged them competent to do it in English. You allowed a student
to sing in Chinese (which was a charming episode in your lesson, by the way),
but you stress the importance to them of listening to, and speaking and reading
English all the time. With this class it works. In some classes, for example
with your PE major students, you needed to speak some Chinese in order to make them
understand the basics of the task. Clearly this class is more able, and you
have (rightly in my opinion) decided not to allow them to slack (be lazy). Good
for you. Another educational choice well-made.
You then explain ŌblockÕ
in some detail and again, you use English. I was surprised, because I thought
you would need to explain it in Chinese. You use the blackboard to help you. A
diagram can often help when words fail. Good use of the blackboard here. You
then ask them to split into groups of four. Why is it Chinese students find
this kind of instruction so difficult to handle? I think perhaps they are not
used to working in groups, and this suggests to me they may need some
guidelines for group-work. Please refer to Handbook One on this issue. There is
a whole section on managing group-work with students. It could be helpful for
you.
And now theyÕre
working assiduously in groups, talking in English and really making good use of
their time. You set them a time-limit, which will ensure that they know what is
expected of them. Setting time-limits is a helpful way for the teacher to help
studentsÕ learning, as they need structure. You clearly understand that
although this is a student-centred classroom, it is still under your watchful
eye, and you have the last say in what is going to happen. This is a difficult
balance for some new teachers, who worry that student-centred means that the
students have control. It doesnÕt mean that. It means that the teacher creates
an environment in which the best potential of learning is fulfilled.
You go round to
help students, and when a couple of them at the front donÕt understand
something, you donÕt instantly give them answers, you simply tell them that as
major English students, they need to find out the answers for themselves.
Again, this is entirely in line with the New Curriculum. I am deeply impressed.
Students do need to be
more pro-active on their own behalf. They need to feel the responsibility of
their own learning and not expect the teacher to do it for them. You are
embodying highly democratic, communicative and empowering principles in your
teaching.
O.K., letÕs draw
all these comments together in a conclusion:
Excellent points:
l
Relationships
with students;
l
Clear aims
for the class;
l
Embodying
principles in line with the New Curriculum: enquiry-learning, critical
thinking, autonomy in learning, humanistic perspectives, paying attention to
the studentsÕ emotions and feelings, encouraging different kinds of evaluation,
variety of tasks and methods to achieve tasks, building resource-strategies,
finding common ground in order to build individual growth.
l
A lot of
chances for students to practise and consolidate their learning.
Points to improve:
l
Description
of a task beforehand. Students sometimes seemed unable to understand. You need
to check their understanding in a variety of ways to ensure understanding.
l
Some minor
mistakes in your English.
This class is a
tour-de-force (a great achievement). It is one of the most advanced lessons for
the New Curriculum I have seen so far in China. I am quite sure that when the
people who devised the New Curriculum first thought of it, they had teachers
like you in mind. I am proud to be your colleague. I hope that we can have some
time to discuss the ideas in this review. Actually, I think most of the ideas
here are positive, and if you can clear up the whole thing about giving
instructions, you might improve the efficiency of your class a lot. I think you
should read Handbook One, the section on Giving Instructions.
Best wishes to
you, dear Hao Cailing,
From Moira