Part 4 Teaching Materials
Part 4.1 Reflection on Practicum Experience
For my AL 6962 Practicum II in TESOL experience, I worked under the direction of an
experienced mentor teacher at Intercultural Communications College (ICC) for about 12 weeks.
This language school offers courses such as Cambridge English test preparation and general
English Communication (EC). I worked in an EC class.
EC classes emphasize learning and using English in communicative ways. I found that
several features of the school affected teacher effectiveness and student learning. One feature of
ICC is that it permits weekly new student enrollment. That is, new students may come every
Monday. Some students stay only a few weeks; others stay for several months. I did not know
how long students would be in the class. Sometimes even my mentor teacher did not always
know who would stay or leave. The second feature is that classes are small. There are about eight
to fourteen students per class, so the teacher is able to take care of every student and manage the
time easily compared to a big class. Third, students had various goals and aims. Some wanted to
enjoy their holiday in Hawaii, so they did not have much motivation for studying compared to
others who had high motivation because they wanted to go to university in an English-speaking
country, or to use English in their jobs. They tended to have high motivations. Their ages were
eighteen to fifty years or more so they also had different English backgrounds. Some of them just
graduated from high school, but other students studied English thirty years ago and they had
almost forgotten it. There were six levels in the school, and I helped both low- and highintermediate. Those classes were managed differently, so it was hard for me to get used to
following their class schedules. For example, the low-intermediate class began in the afternoon.
They studied one chapter per week, and they learned integrative skills for four hours. On the
other hand, the high-intermediate class began class in the morning, and students studied listening
and speaking skills for two hours.
During my three-month practicum, I learned several important lessons in the class. First,
it was really important to take time doing ice-breaking activities for the students and teachers
because the class membership was constantly changing. Ice-breakers helped students get to know
each other and made a comfortable environment. It also helped to wake them up, so they could
concentrate on studying. When there were only a few new students, the teacher made groups of
students and talked to group members first and then asked them to introduce the new member to
other groups of people. It was useful and helpful for everyone to get to know each other well. I
often shared my experience during the discussion and had a good relationship with the students.
It also helped me build a positive class environment and the students always tried to co-operate
and follow my instruction. This informal interaction with our students helped me feel more
confident being a teacher.
A second lesson that I learned from my practicum experience concerned the pacing of
activities. At first, I tended to have class at a slow pace because I was waiting for all the students
to finish the task even though other students finished the task earlier. This was because I did not
want any people to misunderstand the assignment. I also asked every student to share their
experiences or their opinions because I wanted to treat the students equally, but my mentor
teacher and AL 6962 instructor advised me on how to conduct the class smoothly and speedily.
At first I made a pair or group of students when I asked them to do many exercises. I also
divided the work for each pair so they were able to do the exercises and activities co-operating
with their partners or group members. Doing this meant they did not need to do the exercises
individually.
Third, I always tried to make fun activities that allowed students to stand, move, and
interact. For example, in one lesson they had to exchange information about an experience that
they might have had in the past. The linguistic goal of this task was to use the present perfect
verb form for authentic purpose. These activities were really effective for maintaining the
students motivation, even though it took time to think about how to plan them. They were
successful because every student can join in and communicate in English with other classmates.
While there were some points that I improved upon during the practicum, there are also
some that I still need to improve upon for my future classes. For example, I was generally able to
manage the students in the class activities but I still experienced difficulties in making effective
pairs or groups for every class. Some students did not talk to their partners or talked to different
people. I need to develop more flexibility and better coping strategies for such situations. For
example, one day before the class started, I found out the school printer was broken. I could not
print out the handout that I planned to use for most of my lesson. I had no idea what to do, so I
talked to my mentor teacher and she gave me new ideas for the activities. She had students listen
to her speaking and asked them to take dictation. She also created new activities using different
English skills. I was surprised and I respected how she accepted the unfortunate situation and
solved the problems using flexibility.
Another point that I want to improve upon in the future was using the whiteboard more
effectively. When I watched my teaching video, I saw that I did not use the whiteboard much
during the class. The teacher can also write students questions on the board so other students can
see what their classmates asked even though they did not hear the questions. Using the
whiteboard could be because students are able to see the important points clearly and at any time.
Learning to use the whiteboard in the class will be helpful for conducting effective
classes in the future. I also realized that to give clear explanations was really important for every
student. The teacher might have thought their students would be able to understand the
instruction and activities easily, but they did not have the power of telepathy and could not
understand what the teacher wanted to do in the class. I made some mistakes and students could
not understand what I wanted them to do in the class. I realized that I needed to practice my
pronunciation more.
Finally, I learned that I tend to giggle at the end of my utterances when I was thinking
something, or did not have the courage to say it. I realized this problem through the video
recording and in discussion with my HPU supervising instructor. Now that I am aware of this
behavior, I hope to correct my habit. [I reflect more fully on this experience in my holistic
reflection in Section 5 of this portfolio.]
Through the three months of my practicum, I learned a lot about the strong and weak
points of my teaching. It was difficult for me to manage the time with my other classes at HPU
but I enjoyed seeing other people and spending time with the students at ICC. These were
memorable days and will be precious memories in my life. I will try to use them to improve my
weak points in order to lead more effective classes in the future.
