I have some observation in teaching practice sessions during the course. They are listed as below:

Teaching Practice 1 (05 Jan 2011):

This was actually a 30 minute presentation instead of teaching session. My topic is ‘Grudges of Total Beginners’. I shared with fellow teachers on working with total beginners. It’s a good discussion involving question and answer, group work. Introducing a topic and provoking questions that leads to more questions – that is part of the fun when we have group discussion.

Teaching Practice 2 (06 Jan 2011):

This was a lesson for pre-intermediate level with grammar point on Simple Past Tense for Verbs. I made use of the course book ‘Interchange 2’ and did a very ‘follow-book’ style of teaching. The effect was apparently not good. The interaction in the class was not sufficient. Time control was not good. Explanation on some vocabulary was too complex. My teaching language was not well graded to the Ss’ level. When the student was not paying attention to the class I should have given him some special task to draw his attention.

Teaching Practice 3 (08 Jan 2011):

This was a lesson for adult beginners. Again it was about Simple Past Tense. I used the course book ‘Interchange Intro’. Even though I had tailor-made the teaching plan and retained the activities as mentioned in the course book, the class was carried out similar to ‘follow-book’ style. The feedbacks were: Teacher spoke too fast for beginner level; Explanation on new words was way of complicated; the content for one lesson was too much for Ss to receive; Sample sentences need to be re-grouped in a pattern to make easy comparison on the form of verbs. It was suggested that IPA not be used in such lesson.

Teaching Practice 4 (10 Jan 2011):

It’s game time for kid beginners! I wanted to teach them some vocabulary of body parts and the use of ‘sb.+ have/has…’. This was totally different from previous lessons. Songs and games filled up all the class time. Everyone seemed to enjoy the lesson. I think probably it was because that this was no more a ‘follow-book’ session, and I as the one teaching, had been relaxed totally, just doing things I was familiar with.

Teaching Practice 5 (13 Jan 2011):

It’s a writing class that I was teaching, for advance level adults. The lesson structure was not bad and the flow was ok. I realized only after the class that I focused much more on special writing than on learning the language. I should add in more interactive activities. The content of lesson need to be cut down to suit the time control, so one writing task was practiced in class and another one was left as homework. 

Other than the feedback given in my teaching practice sessions, I learned quite a few good points from the peer teachers:

Rain: always energetic and cheerful, grading speech to beginners, professional way of presenting PPT, appropriate way of using body language, good technique of interacting with Ss.

Vincent: well-verse in all types of software and hardware; good skills in web site navigating; fast on searching for information; good listening habit; making the class fun by using films and songs.

Dana:  good pronunciation; natural communicative teaching to kids; notice the needs of Ss always; control the class in good manners; full of spirit working with learners of all levels.

Anny: Careful planning of teaching staging;  discuss on the teaching plan with colleagues; neat writing on board.

Luna: professional postures and smiles in classroom make good image of a teacher; tone of speech soft but clear and pace according to the levels; warm hearted and always ready to help Ss and colleagues.

Mickey: Always having a positive and joyful face in a class; Pleasant and open minded. No hesitation on speaking; Honest on knowledge and opinions; Check with colleagues on language points, etc.

More ever, they are wonderful friends after class!

By the way, each lesson conducted by James can be viewed as one demonstration for teaching. I benefit the most from this kind of ‘demo’, too.

I would like to specially thank James, Yuki, and Melinda for kindly sharing their experience and ideas for teaching. I’m grateful for the 13 days in Beijing doing intensive training with these wonderful people! The learning process never ends. I believe that sharing can be a way of learning, too!