Third class, still working out kinks!

   This week was the third conversation hour I've facilitated. It's been much better I think! I had trouble getting my students together, to regroup and change to different activities, or different groups for conversation. There is still improvements to be seen, however. I have begun setting minute limits for the conversations they have, which insures that they are prepared to move to different groups. I know my students prefer time to just talk, but I think that they will get more out of more structure though. I have mostly been posing conversation starting questions, and trying to put them in groups with people they don't know, to encourage trying new things. It's been going well, and they do like that, but I want to try putting more structure in. I'm planning on organizing some games for next week, so that there is a slight competitive, but fun, edge to using English. In class we've been looking at task based activities in language learning classes, and I think giving my students a task will help. I don't want them to have no fun though, because I'm not grading them and it's not a very intense course, I think games will fit the task perfectly. I want to try to get them moving around more, and in different groups than they normally gravitate toward. I've also been allowing time at the end of the course for questions, but I am not sure how much they're getting out of it, I think it is helpful to have if they want it. I've also been trying to talk with each person, but it's difficult in a group of 15 give or take (and 1 baby). I try to have more prolonged conversations with each one, so it's not surface level, but that is proving a little difficult. I think putting different sorts of activities in will help, as it will provide a less conversation based structure, but more of a group dynamic. The students will still have the opportunity to use the second language, but it will be less free-form. I don't think it's the best to just set students to go with the instructions "discuss," as it allows for use of the not target language. I've heard my students discussing in Spanish, which I want to get them to leave behind. I understand it's difficult, especially in a course where everyone has a common first language, and few consequences. I try to make them feel like they shouldn't use Spanish at all when we're there though!
    Altogether, there have been improvements, but there are still strides to make. I am going to try my best to make the rest of the time successful!

Week 2!

Having had a chance to get a feel of what class was going to be like from the first course, we went into our second class expecting students with varying levels of English, meaning our lesson plan was going to have to incorporate both basic and intermediate elements. Though we did get some range, it was not as much as last time, only getting one returning student and four new ones, who for the most part were at an intermediate level. We started off by reviewing what we had done the first week, which basically consisted of greetings, goodbyes and likes/dislikes. After introducing some new vocabulary by incorporating it in demo conversations between us, we put them into smaller groups so that they could get better practice. Sitting in with a group of three I was able to get the conversation going between them, even though they were at different levels. Because there was only one man who had a very small background in English and the rest of them were at a higher level the conversation flow was constant for the most part. After giving them some time to practice the concepts that we had learned the previous week using a script we had put up on the board, I wanted to expand the conversation a little more, so we got them talking about themselves. Though they had some struggles as they explored new terms, they all became more comfortable talking as time went by. Both the beginner and intermediate students accepted constructive criticism quite well and seemed to use it to their advantage.

                The fact that this was the second class made it a little easier for us to improvise for the different levels that we were working with, being that we had a very similar situation last class. Initially we used the ALM method simply for reviewing the previous week’s material. As we went into the more communicative part of the class, the activity became more learner-centered, allowing them to interact with one another and catch each other’s errors as they went. Because no script was provided for them when it came to talking about themselves, the activity provided genuine questions, allowing them to seek for new vocabulary. This called for a mix of clarification requests and recasts, as they searched for the correct way to express themselves. Students in all levels seem to react quite well to the feedback provided after both, indicating that they understood I was showing them the correct form to state the phrase not simply responding to them. Considering that we practically got a whole new set of students from the first time around, having had an idea of what worked and what didn’t from last time around, made it much easier for us to manage the wide range of levels in our class.