http://www.teachers.tv
This website has plenty of useful videos. Some of them can be used in the classroom itself. Others are instructional videos that can help the teacher generate ideas on how to create a lesson. There are also videos that cover broader issues like creating a unit or general strategies. There is also a forum where teachers can discuss issues and lesson plans.
http://www.teachnet.org/lessonplans/
This website contains many well written articles and resources for teachers. The particular section of the website in the hyperlink above contains a very large number of lesson plans. Although the website is American, many of the lesson plans are targeted at ESL (English as a Second Language) learners, a student profile similar to that of our Singaporean students .
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
EL Teaching and Learning Resources (Saravanan)
English Exercises. Org
http://www.englishexercises.org/exercise.asp?id=2118
This is one of the most important resources that i have been using for the lessons back in my school. Basically, it is a useful tool for any beginning teacher, who has no clue of how to begin. The one thing i like about this resource is it only allow downloads if you share your own resources. Thus, there is a level of assurance that you will be getting quality worksheets and lesson ideas even if you contribute significantly. The other advantage is the website is free and accessible by anyone and anywhere. As such, teachers can also direct students to this website and ask them to try selected worksheets.
http://www.getenglishlessons.com
This is a useful website for teachers, who considers using songs to teach English especially grammar skills. The resources come in two forms: videos and worksheet templates. Videos are specially created for the particular lesson or taken from youtube. Teachers visiting this website have the opportunity to listen and view the media as well as refer to the worksheets. For different kind of grammatical skills, different songs are used. For example, for past tense, the Celine Dion song, 'Because you loved me' is being used.
http://www2.actden.com/Writ_Den/tips/paragrap/topic.htm
Writing paragraphs is an area where my normal academic students are very weak in. This website teaches them the structure of paragraphs by showing examples and offers them tips to write paragraphs. The thing i like about this web resource is that it distinguishes between explanations, elaborations, topic sentences and paragraphs. Especially useful for visual learners, who like to see the structure through examples and sample essays
http://www.englishexercises.org/exercise.asp?id=2118
This is one of the most important resources that i have been using for the lessons back in my school. Basically, it is a useful tool for any beginning teacher, who has no clue of how to begin. The one thing i like about this resource is it only allow downloads if you share your own resources. Thus, there is a level of assurance that you will be getting quality worksheets and lesson ideas even if you contribute significantly. The other advantage is the website is free and accessible by anyone and anywhere. As such, teachers can also direct students to this website and ask them to try selected worksheets.
http://www.getenglishlessons.com
This is a useful website for teachers, who considers using songs to teach English especially grammar skills. The resources come in two forms: videos and worksheet templates. Videos are specially created for the particular lesson or taken from youtube. Teachers visiting this website have the opportunity to listen and view the media as well as refer to the worksheets. For different kind of grammatical skills, different songs are used. For example, for past tense, the Celine Dion song, 'Because you loved me' is being used.
http://www2.actden.com/Writ_Den/tips/paragrap/topic.htm
Writing paragraphs is an area where my normal academic students are very weak in. This website teaches them the structure of paragraphs by showing examples and offers them tips to write paragraphs. The thing i like about this web resource is that it distinguishes between explanations, elaborations, topic sentences and paragraphs. Especially useful for visual learners, who like to see the structure through examples and sample essays
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
EL Teaching Resources (Siva)
YouTUBE& Dailymotion
I use websites such as Youtube and Dailymotion, which is the equivalent of YouTube, just with lesser censorship laws to download lots of videos such as grammar skills.. summary writing skills and what ever other videos which I can use as a lead up to English Lessons. My students in my practicum schools are predominantly hands on and are very audio visual learners, and sometimes, using a video rather than 15 mins of me whacking away at definitions or explanations are very useful.
ChannelNewsAsia
Lets face it, getting kids to read the papers is actually quite a tall order, and that too if we can peel them away from their Twilights and Teens, and NewPaper, though I don't really mind them reading the NewPaper, better than NoPaper at all. CNA website is actually quite good, because there are alot of catergories that they can choose from to read up on, and when I do reviews, or summaries, and sometimes even their journal entries, I get them to read up on any particular topic they want, though I tend to focus more on local issues and orientate it to how it would affect them if they had a say in it.
I use websites such as Youtube and Dailymotion, which is the equivalent of YouTube, just with lesser censorship laws to download lots of videos such as grammar skills.. summary writing skills and what ever other videos which I can use as a lead up to English Lessons. My students in my practicum schools are predominantly hands on and are very audio visual learners, and sometimes, using a video rather than 15 mins of me whacking away at definitions or explanations are very useful.
ChannelNewsAsia
Lets face it, getting kids to read the papers is actually quite a tall order, and that too if we can peel them away from their Twilights and Teens, and NewPaper, though I don't really mind them reading the NewPaper, better than NoPaper at all. CNA website is actually quite good, because there are alot of catergories that they can choose from to read up on, and when I do reviews, or summaries, and sometimes even their journal entries, I get them to read up on any particular topic they want, though I tend to focus more on local issues and orientate it to how it would affect them if they had a say in it.
EL Teaching and Learning Resources (Kian Tiong)
http://www.perfectyourenglish.com/index.htm
· Free resource!
· Great website covering different aspects of the English language ranging from reading, writing, speaking, vocabulary and grammar.
· Easy to navigate and understand, due to clear layout of website, but there are some ads on it (that’s why it’s free …)
· Lots of simple examples offered that we can adapt for students to try out.
http://www.fun-with-words.com/index.html
· Free resource as well.
· More for fun learning, if your school advocates it.
· Has rebus puzzles, anagrams, redundant / ambiguous sentences, tongue twisters.
· Can act as lesson fillers, triggers or even to teach grammar through noticing e.g. using the ambiguous sentences and getting students to notice the errors in it.
http://www.teachenglishinasia.net/efl-esl-games/adult-efl-esl-games
· This website has many suggestions for English language games. Suitable for learners who are uninterested or very weak (e.g. those foreign students from China) in the subject before moving straight into routine learning activities.
· Games are described clearly so the procedures can be easily followed or modified to suit different levels or learners.
· Games also categorized e.g. for adults, for high school, speaking games, vocabulary games etc.
EL Teaching and Learning Resources (Sharalee)
Free Rice
This altruistically-inclined website made it to Time.com's 50 Best Websites last year, and aims to do things simultaneously--improve students' English vocabulary, and feed the hungry at the same time. Students pick the answer they think corresponds to the vocab word, and for each correct answer, rice is donated to the United Nations World Food Program. It's simple, to-the-point, and can be a quick means of getting pupils to put a little into their word bank daily, as well as into the stomachs of the underprivileged. For teachers who are so inclined, other subject areas as diverse as Chemistry, Art and Geography are also available.
Time Online
One of my all-time favourites--this website carries up-to-the-minute news, and all the complete, international versions of the magazine online. Plenty of text related to pop culture, travel, current affairs, science and technology and everything in between that are perfect for adaptation for comprehension exercises. Also picture essays abounding that are useful for oral practice. Every single issue of the magazine ever published is also available on the online archive, so you can dig as far back as you need, or want to.
Youtube
This one's fairly obvious but a big help--especially for the we're-too-jaded-to-learn-anything set. At the Secondary Level, videos selected with a bit of care can yield gems for teaching text types, such as narratives (see local, award-winning short film 'The Trainee' by Craig Rosenthal for a perfect example of Intro-Rising Action-Climax-Resolution with humor) and persuasive text types (I used this informercial to introduce persuasive speech on a grubby, uninspiring afternoon in class to a fair amount of success).
This altruistically-inclined website made it to Time.com's 50 Best Websites last year, and aims to do things simultaneously--improve students' English vocabulary, and feed the hungry at the same time. Students pick the answer they think corresponds to the vocab word, and for each correct answer, rice is donated to the United Nations World Food Program. It's simple, to-the-point, and can be a quick means of getting pupils to put a little into their word bank daily, as well as into the stomachs of the underprivileged. For teachers who are so inclined, other subject areas as diverse as Chemistry, Art and Geography are also available.
Time Online
One of my all-time favourites--this website carries up-to-the-minute news, and all the complete, international versions of the magazine online. Plenty of text related to pop culture, travel, current affairs, science and technology and everything in between that are perfect for adaptation for comprehension exercises. Also picture essays abounding that are useful for oral practice. Every single issue of the magazine ever published is also available on the online archive, so you can dig as far back as you need, or want to.
Youtube
This one's fairly obvious but a big help--especially for the we're-too-jaded-to-learn-anything set. At the Secondary Level, videos selected with a bit of care can yield gems for teaching text types, such as narratives (see local, award-winning short film 'The Trainee' by Craig Rosenthal for a perfect example of Intro-Rising Action-Climax-Resolution with humor) and persuasive text types (I used this informercial to introduce persuasive speech on a grubby, uninspiring afternoon in class to a fair amount of success).
EL Teaching and Learning Resources (Wan Ru)
Teacher Resources For Language Arts
http://www.teach-nology.com/subjects/langarts/
One of my favourite sites to go to whenever I'm stumped for ideas. There is a wide variety of resources available, and everything is neatly labeled. The resources not only help you with what you are planning, it also provides suggestions as to how to plan and stretch the lessons for maximum effect.
The Educator's Reference Desk
http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/lessons.cgi/Language_Arts
This site provides lesson plans according to the skill you ae planning to teach. They cover a varied range of skills,and even categorise them according to the age and education level so one can choose according to the student's level of ability. Although some of them may seem too simple for secondary school students, many of the suggestions can be utilised as trigger activities or even ideas for further development.
http://www.teach-nology.com/subjects/langarts/
One of my favourite sites to go to whenever I'm stumped for ideas. There is a wide variety of resources available, and everything is neatly labeled. The resources not only help you with what you are planning, it also provides suggestions as to how to plan and stretch the lessons for maximum effect.
The Educator's Reference Desk
http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/lessons.cgi/Language_Arts
This site provides lesson plans according to the skill you ae planning to teach. They cover a varied range of skills,and even categorise them according to the age and education level so one can choose according to the student's level of ability. Although some of them may seem too simple for secondary school students, many of the suggestions can be utilised as trigger activities or even ideas for further development.
Monday, November 2, 2009
EL Teaching and Learning Resources (Jean)
1. Read - Write - Think (K-12)
A resourceful website for Language Arts and 'Language & Literature' approaches to EL. Provides a host of creative lesson plans and resources, such as worksheets and online tools and games, to do with language use in texts. Examples of elements explored in lesson plans: plot structure, vocabulary, APCC (Audience, Purpose, Context, Culture), personal responses to texts and stories, comics and narratives.
2. Inspirational Stories
Nothing like good tidbits of inspirational stories to keep your students going, both in terms of language and morale. Students love reading whatever is relevant to them, and a bite-size of text each lesson might do wonders to their reading and writing ability in the long run. And while we're at it, why not inspirational stories to keep their moods and esteems up in the very-draining classroom? (Wow, this sounds uncannily like an advert)
3. National Geographic Lesson Plans
Lesson plans and resources for higher-ability pupils to improve reading, analytical and argumentative skills. Useful and relevant since many comprehension passages deal with physical and social world issues.
A resourceful website for Language Arts and 'Language & Literature' approaches to EL. Provides a host of creative lesson plans and resources, such as worksheets and online tools and games, to do with language use in texts. Examples of elements explored in lesson plans: plot structure, vocabulary, APCC (Audience, Purpose, Context, Culture), personal responses to texts and stories, comics and narratives.
2. Inspirational Stories
Nothing like good tidbits of inspirational stories to keep your students going, both in terms of language and morale. Students love reading whatever is relevant to them, and a bite-size of text each lesson might do wonders to their reading and writing ability in the long run. And while we're at it, why not inspirational stories to keep their moods and esteems up in the very-draining classroom? (Wow, this sounds uncannily like an advert)
3. National Geographic Lesson Plans
Lesson plans and resources for higher-ability pupils to improve reading, analytical and argumentative skills. Useful and relevant since many comprehension passages deal with physical and social world issues.
EL Teaching and Learning Resources (Karen)
1) The exercises are simple enough to keep extremely weak students interested. For motivated students who will self-study
http://english-grammar.webpark.pl/diagnostic_grammar_1.htm
2) A variety of games to build vocabulary. There was once when I wanted to revise newly taught vocabulary with a class of average students and used a mixture of fill-in-the blanks complemented with a wordsearch puzzle. The wordsearch acted as a scaffold and retained interest. Small prizes like sweets to reward the most accurate and fastest student was effective.
http://www.learn-english-today.com/wordgames.html
http://english-grammar.webpark.pl/diagnostic_grammar_1.htm
2) A variety of games to build vocabulary. There was once when I wanted to revise newly taught vocabulary with a class of average students and used a mixture of fill-in-the blanks complemented with a wordsearch puzzle. The wordsearch acted as a scaffold and retained interest. Small prizes like sweets to reward the most accurate and fastest student was effective.
http://www.learn-english-today.com/wordgames.html
Both are FREE!
1. BBC Learning English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/
There are many news articles covering various topics like economics, geography etc. A podcast is provided for every article. Useful words and phrases are in bold, with the meanings and pronunciations in the same webpage.
I think it is useful for teachers to use in class to teach reading, oral, grammar. Moreover, these are authentic materials.
2. Free Rice
http://freerice.com/
The first page to appear would be English Vocabulary. Students pick the right synonym and for each correct answer, the sponsors donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
If you want to assess students' grammar skill, then click on Subjects at the top bar and select English Grammar. However, there is no specific section like Tense, Nouns etc.
I think this site can be used for students to work in groups and compete against each other. Students can listen for the pronunciation and write notes.
Learn + Fun + Charity!
EL Teaching and Learning Resources (Selin)
National Geographic
I like National Geographic (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/) because it can be an eye-opener to the students. A lot of the students in neighbourhood schools are not really exposed to the foreign countries or anything that is out of Singapore. I like to use some short articles as cloze passage and provide them with a picture so that they have a feel of the background and culture of these countries. National Geographic is well-rounded as there is space, animals, sea, anything under the sun… There are also video clips that are pretty relevant to topics taught in EL such animals and the environment.
It also has an Education sub-site (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/) whereby there are lesson plans and activities that can be conducted in the classrooms. I would recommend this as this has high educational values which are out of the textbooks.
Teaching English by British Council
I chanced upon this website (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/) and realize that there are a few resources or activities that can be tried in classes. Have yet to have a chance to try the activities from this site. But I hope to find suitable resources that can be used in the classroom. There are various sections in this website such as Try whereby there are various activities to be conducted in the classroom, Think for us to reflect on our teachings and Central that recommends activities that can be conducted in the classrooms weekly and by themes.
Friday, October 30, 2009
EL Teaching and Learning Resources - Angeline
I don't know if there are any copyright issues with suggest a book but here goes...
This is a series of young adult fiction by Darran Shan.
His writings are very descriptive and tantalising in nature.
Basically, the story is about a young boy named Darran Shan.
Although it is a fantasy story revolving around vampires, talking spiders and supernatural stuff, this is what our students will be interested in - at the very least, they will get hooked on Darran's adventure through a world we never know.
It can be used as an example for descriptive writing, narratives and even comprehension/cloze passage.
It will be suitable for students of lower than average ability in EL. I tried using parts of the text for my NT students when I was doing contract teaching and it was a success.
In order to help them understand the content, you can try using the graphic novel version of this story.
Here's page from the graphic novel:
The second resource that I want to recommend - The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
I'm very much a Magic Realism addict and therefore I would like share the joy of magic realism with the students.
While they might not understand Franz Kafka's original text, there are a few short films and animation created for this novel and this is my favourite version:
Youtube Video for short film
This story can be used as a comprehension exercise. Several debatable topics can be used to hold a debate and students can even come up with their own role play for it.
Check out the story's plot here: The Metamorphosis@Wiki
That's about all from me.
This is a series of young adult fiction by Darran Shan.
His writings are very descriptive and tantalising in nature.
Basically, the story is about a young boy named Darran Shan.
Although it is a fantasy story revolving around vampires, talking spiders and supernatural stuff, this is what our students will be interested in - at the very least, they will get hooked on Darran's adventure through a world we never know.
It can be used as an example for descriptive writing, narratives and even comprehension/cloze passage.
It will be suitable for students of lower than average ability in EL. I tried using parts of the text for my NT students when I was doing contract teaching and it was a success.
In order to help them understand the content, you can try using the graphic novel version of this story.
Here's page from the graphic novel:
The second resource that I want to recommend - The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
I'm very much a Magic Realism addict and therefore I would like share the joy of magic realism with the students.
While they might not understand Franz Kafka's original text, there are a few short films and animation created for this novel and this is my favourite version:
Youtube Video for short film
This story can be used as a comprehension exercise. Several debatable topics can be used to hold a debate and students can even come up with their own role play for it.
Check out the story's plot here: The Metamorphosis@Wiki
That's about all from me.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
EL Teaching and Learning Resources [Nurhayati]
- Picture books to stimulate reading/comprehension skills
The short sentences found in picture books will not intimidate students who perceive themselves as weak readers.
Students could either pay attention to specific grammatical features of the sentence or infer and predict possible expansions in the plot using the accompanying pictures as clues.
An alternative could include blurbs (for novels) or summaries to feature articles.
- Podcasts to encourage listening for information and critical listening
Podcasts that deal with relevant issues or subject matter that are relevant and close to home would work best for students. I recommend BBC World Service Forum and World Have Your Say podcasts.
Local podcasts would work as well as long as they provide clear diction and enunciation as well as relevant issues to expand on in the classroom. 93.8LIVE on podcast.sg is a good start.
http://www.podcast.sg/938_campus.asp
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/forum
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whys
For a full list of BBC podcasts, click here.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
English Resources (Weina)
1. Mindmeister
A quick search of the word "education" throws up so many different words and relations (if you were to take a look at the accompanying legend) - it shows you things you might have never thought about before! A really good tool for english teachers, budding writers and students.
Free online collaborative tool for one simple objective - mindmapping! Everyone can contribute to one single mindmap, thus allowing for collaborative learning as groups, or as a class. Helps in generating ideas and points for various topics and themes, especially in expository writing.
2. Voicethread
Collaborative tool between pictures, videos and documents where students can comment about what they see in the slide show using voice (oral communication), texts or audio files. Teachers can take up the role of moderators/creators by deciding what comments get published. Some online educators have used it as film to teach text, and to teach vocabulary. Very suitable for visual learners!
3. Visuwords
Wonderful online graphic dictionary which can be added as a search tool into Firefox itself.
A quick search of the word "education" throws up so many different words and relations (if you were to take a look at the accompanying legend) - it shows you things you might have never thought about before! A really good tool for english teachers, budding writers and students.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
15.1 Best EL Lesson (Saravanan)
The best lesson I had was the most challenging one I ever had. It was a very interesting one in the sense that students were very excited throughout the whole lesson. But I was raising my voice throughout the whole lesson to keep the noise level down. It Is a Secondary 3 Normal Academic Class and students get very bored if they are given dry lessons. Some will easily fall asleep while a few others will doze off without any regard to the teacher in front. A couple of students tend to fidget around in their seats and chat with the peers beside them. Well, I was surprised to know that the class monitor is the one with serious discipline problems. Nevertheless, I adore the class students because they were nicer compared to some of the Express students I was teaching.
To conduct the particular lesson, I first took their interests into consideration. Basically, anything that doesn’t interest them will not stay in their memory for too long. When I started my practicum, one of the last music legends passed away. Yes, I am referring to Michael Jackson. And out of a sudden MJ was very popular among the students. To make the lesson interesting, I decided to incorporate one of Michael Jackson’s music videos.
The theme of the lesson was preserving the environment and protecting endangered species. According to the scheme of work, I had to cover proposal writing. With consultation from my CT, Mdm Sathiya, I designed a series of lessons, in which students will write a proposal to our school principal to adopt an endangered species from the Singapore Zoological Gardens
The first lesson’s objectives were as follows. Students will be able to understand the structure of proposal writing.
As a trigger, I used the ‘Earth Song’ music video to introduce them to the topic of protecting endangered species. Students took down details from the music video using a worksheet template that I gave them. After the video, students will write what they know and what they need to know about endangered species using a KWL worksheet. After which during the main lesson, I taught them the structure of proposal writing using the model of the burger. These activities took up the 2 periods.
One of the things that went well with the lesson was the music video. Students interests were aroused with the captivating images it presented and it really set them thinking. The KWL worksheet also made it easier for them to know what they had to research on and it was easier to transit to the next lesson, where they will do research on the animal assigned to their group in the computer lab.
As to the structure of the proposal writing, students were able to understand it easily because I made a comparison to letter writing, which I covered in the earlier lesson and the use of burger model once again aided their understanding. The problems according to my CT were that I could have used made good use of the slides as I rushed them slightly. The model that I showed them for proposal writing could have been improved.
To conduct the particular lesson, I first took their interests into consideration. Basically, anything that doesn’t interest them will not stay in their memory for too long. When I started my practicum, one of the last music legends passed away. Yes, I am referring to Michael Jackson. And out of a sudden MJ was very popular among the students. To make the lesson interesting, I decided to incorporate one of Michael Jackson’s music videos.
The theme of the lesson was preserving the environment and protecting endangered species. According to the scheme of work, I had to cover proposal writing. With consultation from my CT, Mdm Sathiya, I designed a series of lessons, in which students will write a proposal to our school principal to adopt an endangered species from the Singapore Zoological Gardens
The first lesson’s objectives were as follows. Students will be able to understand the structure of proposal writing.
As a trigger, I used the ‘Earth Song’ music video to introduce them to the topic of protecting endangered species. Students took down details from the music video using a worksheet template that I gave them. After the video, students will write what they know and what they need to know about endangered species using a KWL worksheet. After which during the main lesson, I taught them the structure of proposal writing using the model of the burger. These activities took up the 2 periods.
One of the things that went well with the lesson was the music video. Students interests were aroused with the captivating images it presented and it really set them thinking. The KWL worksheet also made it easier for them to know what they had to research on and it was easier to transit to the next lesson, where they will do research on the animal assigned to their group in the computer lab.
As to the structure of the proposal writing, students were able to understand it easily because I made a comparison to letter writing, which I covered in the earlier lesson and the use of burger model once again aided their understanding. The problems according to my CT were that I could have used made good use of the slides as I rushed them slightly. The model that I showed them for proposal writing could have been improved.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Best EL Lesson (Clarence Lee)
The best EL lesson I conducted was on narrative writing.
My pupils were very poor in English, and were at the tail end of the Sec 3 Express classes in a neighbourhood school. Nevertheless, they were intelligent and exuberant and generally interested in English lessons.
Using a combination of process and product writing, they were to produce a narrative essay on the topic of an impulsive decision by the end of 2 lessons.
In the first lesson, I played them a youtube video of a public awareness advertisement from the UK featuring teenage anti-social behaviour. The class became very excited and we talked about how things were similar or different in Singapore.
We then discussed impulsive decisions. We unpacked the question and established the demands of the question, which helped the students with a weaker command of the language. I asked them to think about what impulsive decisions we could write about, and we compiled a list of possible topics.
I then divided them into groups of 4 and told them to plan a story featuring an impulsive decision. They used a graphic organiser that helped them divide their story into paragraphs and plot the introduction, rising action, climax and conclusion. The better groups were given the chance to present the ideas to the class.
As homework they would produce the first draft of their essay individually. In the second lesson they would practice peer editing and a final draft would be ready by the next week. Due to their standard of English, many mistakes would not be found during peer editing, but it certainly was not a case of the blind leading the blind. Every student was able to at least make some corrections to another student's draft. I was happy to see that even low-ability students were enthusiastic enough to submit 6 page essays.
According to my CT, this combination of process and product writing produced essays far better than simply assigning a piece of writing as homework, with the very first draft to be submitted. Not only was the final product better but students tended to retain awareness of their mistakes and improve as they edited their own essays and those of their peers.
My pupils were very poor in English, and were at the tail end of the Sec 3 Express classes in a neighbourhood school. Nevertheless, they were intelligent and exuberant and generally interested in English lessons.
Using a combination of process and product writing, they were to produce a narrative essay on the topic of an impulsive decision by the end of 2 lessons.
In the first lesson, I played them a youtube video of a public awareness advertisement from the UK featuring teenage anti-social behaviour. The class became very excited and we talked about how things were similar or different in Singapore.
We then discussed impulsive decisions. We unpacked the question and established the demands of the question, which helped the students with a weaker command of the language. I asked them to think about what impulsive decisions we could write about, and we compiled a list of possible topics.
I then divided them into groups of 4 and told them to plan a story featuring an impulsive decision. They used a graphic organiser that helped them divide their story into paragraphs and plot the introduction, rising action, climax and conclusion. The better groups were given the chance to present the ideas to the class.
As homework they would produce the first draft of their essay individually. In the second lesson they would practice peer editing and a final draft would be ready by the next week. Due to their standard of English, many mistakes would not be found during peer editing, but it certainly was not a case of the blind leading the blind. Every student was able to at least make some corrections to another student's draft. I was happy to see that even low-ability students were enthusiastic enough to submit 6 page essays.
According to my CT, this combination of process and product writing produced essays far better than simply assigning a piece of writing as homework, with the very first draft to be submitted. Not only was the final product better but students tended to retain awareness of their mistakes and improve as they edited their own essays and those of their peers.
Marking in EL (Clarence Lee)
My marking experience in EL could be split into two categories: comprehension exercises and essays.
Comprehension exercises were easier to mark as we practiced peer marking in the classroom. I explained every answer to them to ensure that they understood why the answer was what it was. I nevertheless asked the students to submit their comprehension exercises to me so that I could check their corrections and mark the summary exercises.
Essays were much more difficult to mark by their very nature. Not only are they longer but marking is much more subjective. It did not help that the rubric for marking essays at the O-levels is vague and leaves plenty of room for the marker’s interpretation, which can be a good or bad thing. As I was only marking essays from one class and it was not formal assessment, this was not an issue and benchmarking was not practiced.
I told students that I would be grading them according to a sec 4 standard. The CT had long begun preparing the class for the rigours of the O-levels. Although the numerical grades were marked according to the O-level marking rubric, I wrote plenty of comments in the margins and praised them for their efforts. I pointed out the students’ strengths and weaknesses and the bulk of the comments focused on praising the good parts of their essays. For example, a student might score 14/30, but I would praise him for his logical use of plot structure.
Perhaps the biggest controversy in marking essays is whether to mark for what was taught in the lesson or to mark for grammar and other elements of writing as well. Although marking for what was taught in the lesson would have been much easier, my CT believed in marking every single grammatical error in the text and I followed this pedagogy and adhered to a consistent set of demands for the class. Nevertheless, my comments focused on what was taught in the lesson and praised them if they had achieved it. Although their scripts would be covered in green ink, I tried to mitigate the sting of this with praise for their efforts written in the margins.
Comprehension exercises were easier to mark as we practiced peer marking in the classroom. I explained every answer to them to ensure that they understood why the answer was what it was. I nevertheless asked the students to submit their comprehension exercises to me so that I could check their corrections and mark the summary exercises.
Essays were much more difficult to mark by their very nature. Not only are they longer but marking is much more subjective. It did not help that the rubric for marking essays at the O-levels is vague and leaves plenty of room for the marker’s interpretation, which can be a good or bad thing. As I was only marking essays from one class and it was not formal assessment, this was not an issue and benchmarking was not practiced.
I told students that I would be grading them according to a sec 4 standard. The CT had long begun preparing the class for the rigours of the O-levels. Although the numerical grades were marked according to the O-level marking rubric, I wrote plenty of comments in the margins and praised them for their efforts. I pointed out the students’ strengths and weaknesses and the bulk of the comments focused on praising the good parts of their essays. For example, a student might score 14/30, but I would praise him for his logical use of plot structure.
Perhaps the biggest controversy in marking essays is whether to mark for what was taught in the lesson or to mark for grammar and other elements of writing as well. Although marking for what was taught in the lesson would have been much easier, my CT believed in marking every single grammatical error in the text and I followed this pedagogy and adhered to a consistent set of demands for the class. Nevertheless, my comments focused on what was taught in the lesson and praised them if they had achieved it. Although their scripts would be covered in green ink, I tried to mitigate the sting of this with praise for their efforts written in the margins.
15.3 Marking and dealing with errors in EL (Goh Wan Ru)
Marking compositions is rather tedious and time consuming, especially since I have a tendency to go back to the marked ones to check for consistency etc. After some trial and error I managed to come up with system that worked for me. First I will go through each question, writing down what the questions requires and some possible answers that I think students might provide. Following this, I will then take six student’s scripts that I know falls under the good, acceptable and poor category. After marking these six scripts, and providing a grade for them, I will then use it as a basis for my marking for the entire class. This is in order to standardise and allow for marking consistency with minimum biasness and errors on my part.
The students would have a marking rubric that they know I base my marking on, showing the breakdown of marks for both language and content. The student’s rubrics is based on the marking rubric that was provided by the school, but it was further broken down by myself and approved by my cooperating mentor, in order for the students to easily understand what is expected and required in their free writing. The rubric follows the O’level requirements closely, in order to train the students to be aware and look out for not only their content but more importantly their language since they would be weakest at this point in that.
Free writing marking is one of the most fun and yet hair raising activity and this is especially so for my normal academic students who are very creative and can provide the most amazing and some fantastical story line. That, combined with their poor grammar and vocabulary makes for hilarious yet stressful reads. Although it was mentioned above that a set of rubrics was provided for the students, it is also one that it largely helpful for the teacher, since in my case, I have a tendency to rationalise to myself whether or not the student deserves the particular grade awarded to them, or do they merit a few extra points for effort etc. Before I made use of sampling marking, I went through every set of scripts at least 4 times, and each time scrutinising and rationalising, and also correcting inconsistencies that I had indulged in. An easily understood set of rubrics also allows the student’s to have a clearer understanding of what they should look out for in their free writing component.
The students would have a marking rubric that they know I base my marking on, showing the breakdown of marks for both language and content. The student’s rubrics is based on the marking rubric that was provided by the school, but it was further broken down by myself and approved by my cooperating mentor, in order for the students to easily understand what is expected and required in their free writing. The rubric follows the O’level requirements closely, in order to train the students to be aware and look out for not only their content but more importantly their language since they would be weakest at this point in that.
Free writing marking is one of the most fun and yet hair raising activity and this is especially so for my normal academic students who are very creative and can provide the most amazing and some fantastical story line. That, combined with their poor grammar and vocabulary makes for hilarious yet stressful reads. Although it was mentioned above that a set of rubrics was provided for the students, it is also one that it largely helpful for the teacher, since in my case, I have a tendency to rationalise to myself whether or not the student deserves the particular grade awarded to them, or do they merit a few extra points for effort etc. Before I made use of sampling marking, I went through every set of scripts at least 4 times, and each time scrutinising and rationalising, and also correcting inconsistencies that I had indulged in. An easily understood set of rubrics also allows the student’s to have a clearer understanding of what they should look out for in their free writing component.
15.3 Marking and Dealing with Errors in EL (Francis Lee)
The nature of the assignment and the expectations that are spelt out for the students are two key considerations that determine my EL marking process.
For example, in my practicum school, there is a graded component (part of their final year mark) known as "News in Class". Students watch a clip produced by Channel News Asia that looks at a topical issue and they have to write a reflective piece based on the topic. Five questions are provided to the students and from these, they pick one to expound on. All five questions are crafted to resemble either an argumentative or discussion question.
If this was a free writing assignment, I would stick closely to guidelines contained in the marking rubrics issued by the MOE, and pay close attention to the presentation style and linguistic features of the essay when I am marking. But I am reminded of the fact that the intention behind this "News in Class" was to increase students' awareness and knowledge of current affairs. The idea is to get them to put their thoughts or opinions on paper. As the marker, I am more interested in what they have to say or think regarding the issue. I focus more on the level of maturity and quality of their ideas or insights.
When marking regular assignments, particularly composition, I always have the marking rubrics right by my side as I view it as my trusty guide in directing my marking. I first familiarized myself with the requirements laid out in each banding before I proceed with the marking. Personal experience and advice from more experienced teachers have taught me to trust in that inner teacher's voice that utters, "This student's work places him/her in the 15-18 banding". From there, the final mark is determined by scanning the paper one more time, and glancing over the amount of 'red' strewn all over the paper. With enough practice, by the time I arrive at the last sentence of a student's work, I have a strong inkling of the student's current standard.
I love writing my teacher's comments at the end of every paper because my feeling is that students generally appreciate the gesture, and look to the teacher's feedback to improve their writing the next time round. But I am usually drained and exhausted after marking out the nitty-gritty and linguistic errors (or strengths) of stacks of students' work. Long-term wise, I am not sure if I would have the time and energy to invest in this. Does anyone else have a quicker or different method of providing feedback to their students?
For example, in my practicum school, there is a graded component (part of their final year mark) known as "News in Class". Students watch a clip produced by Channel News Asia that looks at a topical issue and they have to write a reflective piece based on the topic. Five questions are provided to the students and from these, they pick one to expound on. All five questions are crafted to resemble either an argumentative or discussion question.
If this was a free writing assignment, I would stick closely to guidelines contained in the marking rubrics issued by the MOE, and pay close attention to the presentation style and linguistic features of the essay when I am marking. But I am reminded of the fact that the intention behind this "News in Class" was to increase students' awareness and knowledge of current affairs. The idea is to get them to put their thoughts or opinions on paper. As the marker, I am more interested in what they have to say or think regarding the issue. I focus more on the level of maturity and quality of their ideas or insights.
When marking regular assignments, particularly composition, I always have the marking rubrics right by my side as I view it as my trusty guide in directing my marking. I first familiarized myself with the requirements laid out in each banding before I proceed with the marking. Personal experience and advice from more experienced teachers have taught me to trust in that inner teacher's voice that utters, "This student's work places him/her in the 15-18 banding". From there, the final mark is determined by scanning the paper one more time, and glancing over the amount of 'red' strewn all over the paper. With enough practice, by the time I arrive at the last sentence of a student's work, I have a strong inkling of the student's current standard.
I love writing my teacher's comments at the end of every paper because my feeling is that students generally appreciate the gesture, and look to the teacher's feedback to improve their writing the next time round. But I am usually drained and exhausted after marking out the nitty-gritty and linguistic errors (or strengths) of stacks of students' work. Long-term wise, I am not sure if I would have the time and energy to invest in this. Does anyone else have a quicker or different method of providing feedback to their students?
15.3 Marking and dealing with errors in EL (Sharalee)
The Secondary 3 Express students that I taught didn’t exhibit many glaring errors in spoken EL. During the debates which constituted a significant chunk of their CA2 grades almost all spoken fluently and with confidence.
It therefore came as a bit of a surprise to me that when grading their written work, which I first encountered in the form of argumentative writing, a significant proportion of the class was prone to (in some cases rather serious) errors in run-on sentences, unwieldy expression, and an inability to construct written paragraphs in the basic format of Point, Elaboration, Evidence and Reiteration.
Since the class struggled with the format of argumentative writing, my approach was to break one essay topic into segments (i.e. introduction, counter-point and rebuttal, supporting points, conclusion) and have students tackle each segment one at a time, over a series of lessons. During each lesson, after a short period of explicit teaching and discussion of the structure and content required in each segment, students were allowed to craft their paragraphs in class, and submit these for review. I could then collect them, and assess their writing (which came in small, easy to digest chunks instead of complete essays). Because the writing was short, it allowed me to provide each student with detailed written comments and feedbacks. During the marking process, I found it useful to keep a running list of the errors that the pupils were most prone to making. A pattern almost always emerges after awhile, and I used these to help decide which areas to revisit during the next class.
At the start of the next lesson, students would have their writing returned to them, and time allocated for them to go over the comments and feedback provided, ask questions related to these and clarify any doubts. As a class we would then review the most common areas for improvement by looking at anonymous samples of writing, taken from among the class. This is a useful trick because the students that I taught were fascinated with the opportunity of being given carte blanche to critique and learn from each others’ work. I would refer to samples that exhibited the error we were focusing on (e.g. weak reiteration at the end of a paragraph), as well as model samples taken from exceptionally well-written student work. Each sample could be dissected and discussed as a class, and students were then given time to rewrite their own segment of text, before progressing on to writing the next segment and so on. By breaking the sample written texts into small chunks, the pupils were more likely to be able to spot the errors or good examples that they could emulate.
This approach was viable while on teaching practice, because I had just one class of EL to teach. For full-fledged teachers, the amount of time required for marking might not be as readily available (several classes of bite-sized writing can still lead to enough to choke a teacher). Teachers could instead work on capitalizing on students’ tendencies to pay attention to the work produced by their peers when seeking to correct errors produced in EL writing.
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