School Visit Report on 5/20

Suddenly, it comes to the last school visit scheduled this semester at Fusing Private School. Different from the previous visiting experience, we went to a private school this time. Talking about private schools makes me think of the strict and severe teaching and learning environment in the light of the depiction from elders, friends, and the public. Nevertheless, a practicing senior greeted us with a beam at the front door. The dean sincerely welcomed us during the brief introduction at the very start. All these make me feel comfortable and sweet. When I stepped into the 7^th grader’s classroom, the girls greeted me in a polite way. They are active and cute. After observing the instruction, there are some points I’d like to share with you.

First of all, the teacher invites students into a process of trial and errors before teaching the Dialogue. She selects four key patterns appeared in the Dialogue and arrange them in the form like, “  N  have   V     O   on   N  .” As students see the form showed on the PPT, they start to guess the possible words fit for filling in the blank and that make the sentence grammatically and semantically correct. This is a good way for peer learning. Once one student gets the answer correct, the other students can imitate it and try to create their own subsequently. Stimulating students to guess can help them to brainstorm and think. As what I’ve been learning about learner-centered philosophy this semester, the quintessence of the belief is to get “learners” to think, to talk and to learn on their own. In CSGHS, the teachers aim at “returning the stage back to learners”, which demonstrates a fantastic model for other schools.

I like the concept of engaging students into solving the problem themselves. When they go through the process of trial and errors, they will be able to intake the structure into their mind. I never think of this novel way of introducing Dialogue to students. Even if I do, I probably would use this form while teaching grammar only. Through the familiarity with some key patterns in advance, students would understand the Dialogue with less difficulty when they come to face it.

Next, I appreciate students’ generosity in praising whoever guesses the right answer or performs an impressive action in class. I remembered that the whole class would applaud loudly whenever one student solves a challenging problem. This is a nice behavior because students are willing to encourage one another. Especially in the context of private school where the score ranking is competitive, students still hold the virtue of approving others’ performance. Sometimes I will worry that the pressure of getting good grades might rid children of the basic respect and praise for others. Nevertheless, in today’s observation, a warm air flows over my heart after seeing the supportive atmosphere in the classroom learning.

At last, how the teacher switches properly between an instructor and a facilitator is an essential concern in the context of learner-centered situation. The first activity proceeded in this class is showing students the slides of landmarks in the world. When this activity is almost done, the teacher wraps up by asking, “Where have you been?” Here, students are empowered the chance to share their experience. To save time or to move on in an easy way, the teacher draws lots to decide who to answer the question. A girl sitting in the first row is soon recognized as a low achiever due to her keeping silence after being asked this question. The teacher draws the next student to answer so that the girl can learn from her peers. However, after reviewing three students, the teacher gets back to the girl again. She keeps silence as well. What I want to say is the teacher doesn’t give the girl any help until she murmurs some word in her mouth. I’m curious why the teacher leaves her alone for quite a long time. Shouldn’t she facilitate the girl a little bit? Even being an observer sitting in back of the classroom, I’m getting nervous as well. (The girl is standing up and the whole class stares at her.)

It’s really hard for a teacher to balance between the two roles-instructor and facilitator. If I were the teacher, I must have known the girl was a low achiever in the first semester. Noticing the girl’s learning problem say she is bad at understanding oral questions, I might repeat the question in a slower way or provide possible substitutions, like “Japan,New York…” (to the question “where have you been?”). In addition, when the girl finally says, “Tainan”, one girl in the back says, “That sucks!” (because all the other girls’ answers are foreign countries or cities) It is a little bit sad that the teacher doesn’t respond to this. (Maybe she doesn’t hear the student’s reply.) If the teacher does, she needs to seize the chance to educate these students not to deny others’ answer or reply. Moreover, the students’ attitude toward value is indispensably significant in school education, particular the special background of the students in Fusing School.

I truly enjoy the trip to Fusing private school. From the staff of this school, I can feel their perseverance in shaping students’ English competence. After visiting three different types of schools, I come to realize that observing is a channel for a teacher to truly become a good teacher, knowing who their learners are and what they need. This applies not only to teaching, but to your life experience as well. When you get along with friends, you can be a “good friend” to others if you possess a keen observation.