I started today part two of my teaching
practice, namely English lessons for the tourism students in Savonia university
of applied sciences. I had met the class once before, when I observed them two
weeks ago. Last week I had prepared the material and I was ready to go. My
supervisor had arranged for us to meet before the first lesson, so we can
review the class I was going to hold, the material, timetable, and any general
matters. She would also attend the class to observe me in turn, to give initial
feedback and, if necessary, help around in case that was needed.
The first point of insecurity lay in the
e-learning platform Moodle, which I had never used in teaching situation in
classroom. I had received the temporary ID’s, but they had not worked at home.
The tech support had corrected the problem, but still they did not work. Now I
suspect the reason is Safari browser, so I will try to log in on PC somewhere
else.
The login was a complicated process, but
it was successful. 14 students showed up of the total 21, all girls. I started
off by introducing myself and telling of my background in business and tourism
industry. Then I asked the students to introduce themselves and tell which was
their favourite country and where they would see themselves in five years, to
learn a bit about themselves and to get a feel what they were like. Few
students seemed a bit nervous of the new teacher.
We checked part of the homework given
them by the supervising teacher. This took a surprisingly long time, so I
decided to continue it later on some other class, and the teacher had told me I
could do that. Then I told that today we would talk about business letters. I
asked them to think in pairs or small groups what kind of business letters they
would need in tourism industry and if the letters were useful in the times of
e-mail correspondence.
Then I told them of the basic features
of business letter and showed them a specimen. Then the students did an
exercise by themselves, found in Moodle, and we started to correct it together.
We got halfway through, and then we only had 5 more minutes left. The time had
flown! I used the last five minutes to briefly tell of the content of the
business letters and gave them the homework.
Back in the teacher’s office I shared my
supervisor how the lesson had felt, and she gave me feedback. I was surprised
how calm I had been instead of being nervous in a new situation. I told I had
paid attention to speaking loudly enough and watching the time. I noticed that
the students did not make noise, but I had to urge them to reply to questions,
as the preference is that whoever can start and I try not to point out who will
respond.
My supervisor told that my English and
communication had been clear. In the beginning of each task I had indicated a
clear transition, but on the other hand, when finishing the task, I should also
address that. I was also advised of not to start a new content at the very end
of a class, and I should remember to move a document or transparency on a
document camera as we go though that. I had also forgotten to mention that the
structure of a business letter was not in Moodle and that the students should
take notes of that and the new words that I presented them. In addition, I need
to allow enough time to discuss etc. and I could check if they have finished
the task or need more time. With one exercise I had give them too little time
to discuss and with another task I had kept checking on their process. Overall she thought that the lesson had gone
very well. I was also very pleased and look forward to the next lesson in three
days.
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