School Visit: Glen Eira College ELS

Two ESL classes teaching the same topic－using persuasive language, were observed in the school. The teachers taught students using different methodologies, which will be analyzed in the following paragraphs.

In teaching vocabulary, the teachers provide a number of synonyms and antonyms for students to increase their vocabulary capacity. This is highly recommended in teaching since the words are related to each other to some extent, therefore learning them at the same time helps strengthen the memory of the words.

In helping students get the correct answers, the teachers give them contextual clues to let them think of the answers themselves instead of telling them directly. This is beneficial to students since they are active learners, they should participate in learning as much as possible. If not, they will become passive and dependent upon teachers for answers, and they will not be interested in studying.

There are a few drawbacks regarding the strategies adopted, with the lack of opportunities for students to make corrections themselves being the first one. When the students make mistakes, the teachers give them the correct answers immediately. This is not suggested since the students do not understand why their answers are wrong. Instead, teachers should point out and explain the errors, or giving students another chance to attempt to give the correct answers. These methods assist students in learning effectively since they comprehend the rationales of corresponding grammatical knowledge and they are able to make use of their knowledge to try to obtain required answers. Through trials and errors, students will realize what are correct and wrong and they will remember them easily.

Another weakness is the nature of task. The teachers have set a number of tasks requiring students to work on their own. This teaching methodology is not encouraged since there will be less discussion among students and hence the interaction among them will decrease. Actually, more group work should be included to allow students to learn with their peers as this is a good way to exchange ideas with each other, which inspires them to think of matters from different perspectives.

The second teacher tends to focus on active students but not the passive ones. The teacher prefers asking the active students questions and ignoring those passive ones. This methodology encourages the passive students to keep quiet in the classroom and hence it should be modified. Teachers may consider that asking all students to answer questions will solve the problem. However, those passive students will find intimidating and feel nervous when being asked to respond to teachers. Therefore, teachers should approach them and ask if they have any difficulties in learning or if they are encountering problems beyond their studies. After identifying the problems, teachers can formulate solutions to help these students, who will be more willing to participate in lessons in future. Students should treat their teachers as counselors and share their problems with them in order to find the ways out.

(Number of Words: 499)

School Visit: Blackburn English Language School

This is a Government primary and secondary coeducational school which pays attention to new arrival students. I observed two classes, one was teaching primary 1 students English and the other teaching Year 10 students Mathematics. There was a stark contrast between the classes in terms of the teaching methodologies adopted.

In the primary class, the teacher spoke slowly so that all students were able to follow the content. This is very important since students will be frustrated if they cannot catch up with the lesson. They will get confused by large amount of information and they will not be motivated to learn further. Therefore, teachers should ensure that they speak at an appropriate speed so that all students can follow them.

The teacher used a common way to teach target languages. She taught numbers and transport and asked the students to repeat after her. Although this is a drilling approach, it is still crucial for teaching target languages since students should be equipped with some prior knowledge first and be familiar with it before applying it into real-life situations. Teachers should strike a balance between drilling and communicative approach, that is, teachers should elicit more responses from students at a later stage. For instance, the teacher can ask the students to repeat after her at the beginning, and then encourage them to try to use the target languages themselves and provide them with assistance if necessary. This type of teaching allows teachers to identify and focus on teaching the errors made by their students, which help the students learn more effectively.

Actually, the target languages were covered in previous lessons. However, it is normal for the students not to recall all of them. Regarding this condition, the teacher consolidated their knowledge by organizing a variety of tasks related to it so that students could gain a deeper impression, which is beneficial to them.

Concerning the second class, there were numerous areas which were not handled well. First, the teacher read from the books only and neither she maintained eye contact with the students nor asked them questions, which means she did not have any interactions with them. Instead, the teacher should minimize her talking time and set some tasks which maximize students’ participation. For example, asking them to discuss challenging questions and try to complete them.

Another problem is that the teacher did not monitor the use of languages by the students in class. As most of the students are from mainland China, therefore it is common for them to use Putonghua to talk to each other. However, as they are using English to learn all subjects, they should be discouraged to use their native languages in class. What the teacher should do is to walk around the classroom to monitor the progress of the students and their use of languages. In addition, she can also set more activities which require them to communicate with each other in English.

(Number of Words: 496)

School Visit: Macleod College

This is a large school focusing on the use of technology in learning. I observed a number of classes and I discovered that most of the teaching methodologies adopted are beneficial to students.

Small group learning is emphasized since teachers are able to spend more time on students to cater to their needs. When students have any questions, teachers can provide assistance for them in a relatively short period of time, so the students will not get stuck in particular areas. After figuring out solutions for their questions, they will become more confident and satisfied in their learning, which motivate them to work harder in future.

Another approach adopted is the use of modified texts, which means teachers have read through the articles beforehand, and then edit them so that the contents become suitable for their students to read. Apart from using easier languages to help students learn, teachers usually extract culturally-related texts so that students from different countries are provided with opportunities to expose to a variety of cultures and their horizon will be broadened.

It is appreciated that this school focuses on task- and student-centred teaching instead of teacher-centred one. As students are the active learners in classes, it is important for them to participate as much as possible in lessons. If teachers spend most of the time talking to the classes without requiring students to give responses, the students will not be interested in learning. As a result, off-task behaviour will appear which interferes with the lessons. In this school, after completing group tasks, students will be asked to comment upon their classmates’ performance first. After gathering all comments, they need to modify their original pieces of work and then submit the revised versions for assessment. Teachers will give them evaluative feedback and advise them to study the comments given by them and their classmates in detail for future improvement. In Hong Kong, this approach is not widely adopted, therefore it is recommended that local schools will take this into serious consideration.

All the teachers told me that they always walked around the classroom to monitor the learning situation and they stood at the central position of all students so as to keep a close distance with them. This is of utmost importance since teachers are able to offer instant help to them and their learning progress can be checked. For instance, teachers realize they have to slow down when most of the students cannot follow the content to ensure they get the messages.

This school boasts itself of the operation of open classes, which students from different classes gather in an area and attend lessons. This mode of learning helps sharpen their social skills since they can interact with others from different levels and they can learn together with their peers, which facilitates the learning progress. However, since the distance between the classes is relatively close, the students will easily be distracted by other lessons.

(Number of Words: 496)

School Visit: Sacre Coeur International School of the Sacred Heart

This is an independent catholic school which builds on and cherishes its traditions. The aims of the school include cultivating students a sense of commitment and respect, and maximizing individuals’ potentials in the community.

A Geography lesson which students gave a group presentation on any topics about the Antarctica was observed. After the presentation from each group, the teacher provided instant, critical and comprehensive feedback. First, she praised students for areas which they did well, followed by pointing out areas which should be improved. Moreover, the teacher commented systematically on students’ presentations from individual scopes to overall scopes. This teaching approach is also found in Hong Kong. However, I would like to give suggestions for improvement. It would be better if the teacher ask students to self-evaluate their own performance first, and then give further comments which are not mentioned by the students. This serves to allow students to reflect upon their work.

After the lesson, I asked the teacher about the methodologies she adopted in teaching. She told me that assessment tasks were tailor-made to cater to individual differences and they would be changed if necessary so as to keep them appropriate for assessment. This is appreciated because there is variation among students’ ability, thereupon suitable levels of tasks should be designed for them.

Another approach used by the teacher was organizing group activities frequently. The purposes are to build up confidence among students and foster them a sense of involvement in the groups. This is recommended not only in Australia classrooms, but also in Hong Kong ones. Peer learning is beneficial to students since they are able to assist each other and they will learn effectively as questions will be discussed among them which inspire their thinking processes.

In addition to the above two approaches, the teacher mentioned that she would regularly set quizzes to check her students’ understanding about different topics. Quizzes are important since this requires students to study on a regular basis so that if they have any misconceptions about particular concepts, teachers will be able to identify and correct them earlier. Teachers will realize which areas they should spend more time on teaching, and students should work harder on their weaker areas.

Apart from the success of methodologies adopted, there is a point which is not done well－asking passive students to answer questions. The teacher intended to involve these students in class and examine their understanding of the content taught. However, these students may suffer from enormous pressure since arrows will be pointed to them if they do not participate enough in classes. To improve the situation, the teacher could meet these students after classes and ask the reasons for not participating actively in classes. Once the teacher realizes the problems, she should make all efforts in figuring out feasible solutions to help the students get involved in the classes in future. The school has already put their students at top priority, it is hoped that they will improve in future.

School Visit: Melbourne Grammar Senior School

This is an Anglican School emphasizing the connections between learning and leadership among students. Two lessons were observed, one was learning Chinese whereas the other was learning French. There are strengths and weaknesses in the approaches adopted by the teachers, which will be analyzed as follows.

For both lessons, it is appreciated that authentic materials were used to assist students in learning. For instance, worksheets were distributed to students in the French lesson. Concepts in languages are abstract, therefore it will be difficult for students to acquire knowledge without difficulties, let alone applying them to real life situations. By using authentic materials, students are able to understand concepts as they can associate them with concrete resources.

In the Chinese lesson, there was interaction between students and teacher, which was beneficial to students since they had the opportunities to participate more in the lesson, for example, they could respond to questions raised by the teacher. This is encouraged in all classrooms as students are the active learners, they should involve as much as possible in lessons. However, in the French lesson, there was almost no such interaction because plenty of time was spent on drilling, which means there was much teacher talking time (TTT) and the lesson was teacher-centered. In Hong Kong, it is common for teachers to conduct one-way teaching, which makes students lose interest in studying. Hence, it is recommended that lessons should be student-centered and teachers should inspire them to think more but not merely drill them.

Concerning the weaknesses, teachers in both lessons were unaware of the individual requirements of students. For example, the pace of the French lesson was relatively fast. For those weaker students, as they were unable to comprehend the content in a short time, thereupon they were not motivated to learn and gradually went off-task. This implies that teachers should monitor the speed of the lessons so that all students are able to follow.

In the Chinese lesson, the teacher immediately corrected students when they made mistakes and seldom praised students. For the first part, the intention of the teacher was to tell students the correct answers so that they will not acquire wrong concepts. This is commendable, however, teachers should provide students with another chance to attempt to the questions as they can learn from mistakes. This learning approach is of paramount importance in that they can understand the mistakes and avoid making them in future. For the second part, teachers should praise students when they perform well in certain areas as their self-esteem will increase, which help them adopt a positive attitude in learning. They will become eager to learn and participate more in lessons.

The aforementioned problems are not uncommon in Hong Kong classrooms. Teachers should take both the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of methodologies into serious consideration before adopting them in classrooms. For instance, drilling is harmful and helpful, depending on the quality of students. For weaker ones, drilling is effective and vice versa. (Number of words: 497)