Students' feedback on my Russian lessons

On my last Russian lesson I had collected written, anonymous feedback from the students. I asked which things they liked about the teaching and why, which things and how the teaching could be developed or changed, and how they would describe the teacher (me) in few words. I have kept the feedback forms in a plastic pocket, and now I picked some courage to read them through. It’s surprisingly nerve-racking to hear (or to read) the students feedback.

The students had liked the teaching, because there were a lot of exercises and it was versatile. Writing on the whiteboard clarified things and helped to understand. It was important to focus on the pronunciation. The things were taught in way that was easily understandable and clear. There were a lot of creative written and oral exercises and enough repetition, and the dialogue exercises were good, and also the content of exercises.

Several students commented that the teaching contained a lot of extra information and cultural knowledge, because none of the students have visited Russia. I had asked this on the first lesson. Punctuality, calmness and Russian knowledge were appreciated, and also when I shared my own experiences in Russia and my own studies. The atmosphere was good for learning. Someone said that the lessons passed quickly, and I totally agree with this one. Another one said: “It was nice when Maarit was teaching for a change. She shared of her interesting experiences of the Russian culture.”

Reflecting on this feedback, I considered it as important to share cultural knowledge, as well as grammar and Russian language. The real teacher is native Russian, so I brought the students a different view, what Russia and the Russians look like to me as a foreigner, and what kind of observations I have made. The students have taken one semester of Russian before this course, 4 hours per week. In other words, they are still practicing reading and pronunciation, because there are quite difficult, when the script is strange (Cyrillic). I also wanted to have fun in the classroom, not just doing the same routines over and over again.

I’m glad the students liked the exercises and that the classes were not boring. I am quite matter-of-fact person, so I made an extra effort to have variety and surprises on the lessons, just like there are many mysterious and surprising things about the Russian culture.

Then I looked at the negative feedback and ideas for developing my teaching.

Speaking could be more confident and energetic, you don’t have to be shy or afraid of the students. It is not necessary to have several different activities. Describing the tasks could be clearer.

I could challenge and inspire the students more. More exercises from the book could be done together in classroom. There could have been more business vocabulary and we could practice basic verbs more (Oh, there are so many more things that could have been done, but we needed to cover the must items, such as grammar etc. And then, few classes focused on restaurant culture, not the business life). Sometimes the context seemed vague, the teaching could be less scattered (I think this is also due to the fact that so many things had to be learned or covered on one lesson). One student considered the pace a bit slow. One asked for even more knowledge on Russian culture, because very few know much about Russia, even though it is our next-door neighbour.

If there is a task that seems not to be working, you could give up the idea or change the implementation. (I think this refers to the “cocktail party” discussion, that the students circulate freely in the classroom and have short dialogues on the given topic. I still think this is a good exercise, because they need to contact several people and listen to many accents, but the students are shy or unwilling to try it.) Someone commented that in university of applied science, we don’t need to do any kindergarten-style games, and other said that several teaching methods and exercises would suit better a primary school. I guess she referred to numbers and bank exercises, when fake Monopoly money was used. As I observed this exercise, it looked like at least some students enjoyed it.

This feedback is very much to the point and I also recognize myself the need to be more determined and confident when teaching. I did feel a bit shy or apprehensive of the students, I guess because at this age as young adults the students are quite sure of their own opinions and what they prefer or dislike, even though deep inside they could be searching for themselves. The bank game with Monopoly money seemed to divide opinions, and actually the teacher had “warned” of this – she also said that on the level it may not be suitable. I though it was a cute idea and executed it. I guess from now one, I can demand the students more and be a bit more professional and treat them like adults.

Finally I asked the students to describe me as a teacher in few words. Here are the comments: Overall, good teaching. It is a good addition to tell how to act in Russia, to share cultural knowledge.  Peaceful teaching style. Expert, a bit shy. Helpful and easy to approach. Ok, sometimes a bit boring. Quiet, cannot yet control the class at all.  Great to be enthusiastic about her topic. Interesting teaching, I have energy to attend the classes. Lively and expert teacher. Quite clear, we get to know things thoroughly by topics. Interesting, things are explained clearly and in an understandable way. Horosho! A really nice, friendly, and knowledgeable teacher. Spasibo! Da svidaniya!

Again, I recognize myself from these comments. From the feedback I can tell that my teaching objectives were fulfilled quite well. I think I was quite easy on the students and did not give them any strict guidelines, but rather observed how things are going. The students were cooperative and friendly, so there were no disciplinary actions.

Feedback from the Russian lesson

After my last Russian lesson, I had a feedback discussion with my supervising teacher. First she asked me to comment on the lesson and my teaching from my own perspective. I said that the timing worked well. We had a work test in the beginning of the class. I introduced the topics to give all students time to arrive. My supervisor said that I could start the exam as soon as the lesson starts, and it’s the students’ ”own fault” if they show up late. We discussed the pros and cons or being strict or lenient, and whether we should take the student-originated approach or follow the rules of the work place of arriving punctually in time.

I found it distracting that she pointed out some things during the class, such as a misspelled word, that after the word test the words are not repeated, and that I should circulate more in class and listen to and comment on students’ pronunciation and grammar.

The positive comments were made about the peaceful and calm atmosphere in the class. The downside is that the calmness may turn into timidity or being careful, and I need to work on that. I have gotten praise for creating interactive and creative tasks for the students. My supervisor said that she is just a boring teacher who has not done anything extra with the students since the first years of teaching, so my efforts were appreciated.

I got some hints of giving negative feedback or correcting the students. I could say, for example: “I might not say that in such a way”. I can encourage the quick students to repeat the exercise, if they have already finished it, rather than allowing them to chat in Finnish: ”It doesn’t matter, if you go through the dialogue again.”

My supervisor is very skilled at using appropriate comments for positive and negative feedback, while maintaining a positive atmosphere.

There were some points of development, which I considered important to hear, because I am a rookie teacher. First, I could be a bit bolder when speaking and teaching. Secondly, I can give the students more credit, for example praise them for working hard and tell in the end that now we have a little treat, such as a cultural video. I should, or could use as much Russian as I can during the class, especially when saying things like: “OK, ready, well done, let’s see, thank you, please”, and so on.

One of the main points that I need to pay attention is introducing the new tasks and giving clear instructions, in order to give the task a good rhythm. I need to wait that the class is quiet before I start talking. I need to give one point at the time, if there are several stages in a given task. For example, I will ask he students to first write down a four-course menu. When they have completed this, I will give further instructions to order from the menu in pairs, such as: ”Now you may continue with…”. Otherwise the students may forget or get confused what they were supposed to do, and this is what happened. Also, there is no point giving instructions when the task has already been given, if only one or two students are listening.

My supervisor gave me nice feedback, and I was digging for more points for development. She was afraid that she had already been too strict with me, but she had not. I hold her in high esteem and am very happy that I was able to follow her teaching and attend her lessons.

One thing that happened during the class was that I gave a bit misleading instructions for one pair exercise. I had asked them to have a dialogue in restaurant, using plural forms. I had taught the plural forms, but the students had not learned them in a negative context, when the inflection changes from accusative to genitive case. The supporting teacher commented the forms shortly for the students during the exercise. I got the advice that if I say something that I later realize is totally wrong or somewhat different, I need to correct myself, and maybe apologize, saying something like: “Now I just taught you nonsense. I will repeat what I meant and we can continue.”

Sometimes I can also give the students a crash course by telling them to close the textbooks and help me spell the numbers on a blackboard, because they are difficult, to make the students think hard.

We also discussed generally that teaching is hard work, and that preparation takes a lot of time, which I noticed. I prepared for the classes 1-4 hours per a double class. The supporting teacher said that most teachers prefer to spend their free time on their own, because during the school day they are in contact with other people so much.

I was very content with the first phase of my teaching practice. Next I will observe a couple more English lessons in few weeks time, and start teaching again in November.

Last Russian lesson

I had my final Russian lesson today. The students have studied all the material that will be covered in the exam, so I was to repeat the important things on the last double lesson. In addition, the teacher said that they had already practiced many things already. I felt like making mountains out of molehills - how could I spend 90 minutes from scratch?
I prepared some own exercises, based on the ones I had done earlier with the students. I also created a question box. The students could ask anything about Russian language and culture from me or the supervising teacher, and we would answer to the best of our ability. If there was plenty of time, we could also watch a short video about Russian culture. I was afraid there would be a lot of extra time in my hands.
I was more nervous than on previous occasions, because the real teacher would assess me. Also the situation that nothing new was to be taught, was challenging. Was it boring to repeat the same exercises than before, even though they were new.
The class went quite ok. We had plenty of things to do and did not even have time to watch the video. I repeated the main grammatical points, such as alive accusative case, noun plural form, and the numbers 20-100. After each bit the students did a written and oral exercise. For example, they were to compile a 4-course menu and practice ordering the food. Then they were to assign prices for the dishes and have another conversation.
Finally the students turned in their questions into the question box. I had suspected earlier that they are shy of asking things, so this gave them an opportunity to ask anything anonymously, and also it would show us, what they students were interested in. The students turned in almost 10 questions. One asked what's the best part of the Russian culture, another one asked what kind of music the Russians listen to. Someone wanted to know the Russian rouble exchange rate, and another one, if everything must be hand-written, because there are the block capitals, and the handwriting font, and these two look different. Someone asked the classic Finnish question: What do the Russians think of the Finns? The questions were honest and profound, so we tried to give deep answers, as well.
One third of my teaching practice is now completed. We stayed in the classroom for almost 2 more hours, while I received feedback, discussed the lesson and chatted for quite some time.

3rd Russian lesson - circuit exercise

I have now completed about ¼ of my teaching practice. It was a double lesson, and I was substituting the Russian teacher for real, because she had a planning meeting of the staff, plus she was sick. I had gotten some positive feedback from the students and the guiding teacher, so I was excited to try out even new things. I probably had high ambitions to have an educational, interactive, and fun lesson.

The preparation took about 3 hours. Teaching in class is very hard work, and I have already noticed that if one wants to have something extra on the class, the preparation takes irrationally long time. If I would teach 25 hours per week, I would not have enough time to prepare for all the lessons! Now preparation takes at least as long as the actual class.

I had a wonderful, creative idea for this lesson. I would organize the desks and chairs in 4-5 islands. Each area would have a different topic, and the students would rotate from one task to the next, as if in the circuit training. One station would be “pronunciation clinic”, where the students would read the chapter out loud in Russian and I would correct and help with the pronunciation. The other stations would be a bank, a café, a shop, and a tourist agency. The students would have different tasks relating to each station.

Implementation

I asked a friend of mine to lend me Monopoly game money to be used in the “Bank”. I made written signs for all the stations in Russian, and the instructions. I arrived in the classroom 40 minutes before the beginning of the lesson to arrange the desks and chairs in 5 stations. I checked that the overhead projector was working.

The lesson

The students normally arrive early, some even 30 minutes before the lesson. Today they showed up only 10 minutes before. I learned that they had had an Improbatur orienteering, hunting stamps from the bars according to drinks, so out of 22 students, 9 were missing, most because of hangover, but maybe some because of the flu epidemic, too. As for me, it is easier to teach a bit smaller group, so I didn’t mind.

Today’s topics were Numbers and Noun/Adjective Plural Forms. We learned the numbers 30-100, and repeated 1-30, which the students have already learned. The spelling and stress in the word is complicated, so we took time to repeat them. I had prepared to teach a handout “How much does it cost”, but I learned that it was already covered on the previous lesson. I quickly moved on. We spent quite a lot of time on noun/adjective plural forms, because it was a new item, and will be asked in the exam. I covered the grammar from the text book, and had the students complete an exercise, and I reviewed the grammar from an overhead transparency. We also learned some business vocabulary and two new verbs, ‘idti’ and ‘exat’, indicating going somewhere by foot or by a vehicle. Then it was time for the fun part!

As there were only 13 students, I omitted the Travel Agency section from the island, because more students were needed to fill 5 stations. Also, we did not have time to cover the material related to this, so that will be taught the next time. I asked the students to sit on the bank, café, restaurant, and pronunciation stations, 3 in each, and 1 extra in one table. I explained what they are to be: In the Bank they ask for a certain sum of money. Then the cashier will count the money and write the sum down on a piece of paper, and the client will check if the spelling is correct, and thank the cashier. In restaurant, the students ask a free/taken seat and ask how much different dishes cost. In the shop, they ask if there are food items in plural forms and do the nominated exercises in the study book.

I stayed in the pronunciation clinic. Three students at the time read the chapter 9 and I was listening. I corrected their pronunciation and made them pay attention especially to difficult consonants: sh, shj, ch, z, zh, stressing the words correctly, pronuncing the unstressed vowels (e becomes i and o becomes a), and raising the intonation at the end of the question sentence. Each group of 3 students was very different. The first one was very slow and I corrected them quite a lot, the second one was very quick, the third one very shy, and the fourth one very brave and loud. I felt that the students were nervous when they “had” to read out load and when I was listening, but I purposefully did this exercise in a small group, so that no-one would not be ashamed in front of the whole group. I got the idea for this exercise last week, when I noticed that some students can read and pronounce Russian quite well, and other hardly. This exercise confirmed by observation: few students did not have a very clear idea of the pronunciation, which is difficult for anyone. I know that the students come from several beginner’s groups and they have had 2 different teachers last spring, and I notice this background: some students are a lot more advanced than the others, and I think I can tell which students were taught by which teacher. This is quite amazing, but actually I know some students already from the last spring, when I observed the Russian lessons.

Each group carried out the exercise for 7-8 minutes, and then I asked them to switch places. This was just in time when the students in my table had finished reading the chapter. The whole exercise took about 30 minutes, until the end of the lesson. I asked the students how they felt working in this way, but no-one really said anything. It would be nice to receive some feedback, because I had no idea if this was an effective way of teaching, but for this purpose I will ask them to fill out feedback questionnaires on my last teaching session.

When I got home, I felt extremely exhausted. I wonder if I caught the student’s apprehension, when things were done in a different format, or maybe it was because I was involved in speaking and observing during the whole session. Normally I have the students do pair or group activities while I check what is next in my agenda and arrange my papers.

What is happening with my studies?

This is short update of what is going on with my iVET studies.

I started my teaching practice 2 weeks ago, and that will continue until the end of November.

I will have one optional course to be done, and that will begin next week, on Oct 3. The topic is Tools for Teaching in English, and it is perfect time-wise, and considering the teaching practice.

I will today polish my Core Plan and submit it again to Juha.

I will shoot the video of my teaching practice in November, and edit it to be evaluated by Blaire in early December. I will also write the final report of the teaching practice then and apply for my Diploma.

Everything seems clear and is progressing nicely. Of course life could throw surprises or unexpected things, but as for now, I am proceeding like a train towards the destination.

2nd Russian class: restaurant culture and food, alive accusative case

Today I had a triple Russian class. Beforehand it had felt like a marathon and I wondered if we will have enough exercises and things to do, even though there was plenty of material. My supervisor had given me a lot of material, but I also made some on my own.

I needed to make photocopies for one exercise, but I ran into problems, as I didn't have my temporary log-in codes with me (I didn't know I would need them). I asked for advice from other language teachers, but they did not offer to help be. They told me to ask from the security or the students affairs office. There was no-one in the booth, and it looked like I would not get the copies for the material I had prepared for 4 hours! Eventually it worked, just before the class.

I felt quite nervous before the class, but as soon as I started speaking, I was quite confident and relaxed. Last week, during the first double class, I was nervous and my back was wet from sweat (and I never get sweaty normally). We learned vocabulary items relating to food and restaurant. I told the students about different ingredients, dishes, and mealtime practices. I had brought some props with me: a beetroot (used for making borsh soup), lipstikka herb that the students could smell, and I had some Russian chocolates that would be the price for a little competition. I also had a little shot glass with water, as of vodka shot, and told the students about the toasts that the Russians love to make at parties.

The students did a lot of oral exercises in pairs and small groups. They are active and free when they discuss with their peers, but as soon as I ask something: "Which noun form is used when asking: Do you know Vladimir Putin?, they quiet down. Finally someone answers' though. I try not to have a "favourite student" whom I would always ask and rely on, but ask from everyone.

In the last hour we did the special exercises I needed the copies. I had prepared 14 pictures with their full names i Cyrillic script and some background history. We pronounced the names together and then the students practiced inflecting the full names: the first name, the patronymic, and the last name.

I got spontaneous, positive feedback from one student. She said that she likes my teaching, because it is "a bit different". Maybe the teaching is a bit more interactive, even though I do things in a quite similar way than the normal teacher: a lot of repetition word after word and sentence after sentence.

1st day in the teaching practice 11.9.

I had my very first teaching session today. I have never taught a group of real students before, but I am still alive! The double lesson went really fast. I was quite nervous for a few days before this session, but  nothing catastrophic happened. I also managed to switch on the overheard dvd projector and the document camera, which I have never used before.

During the summer I have been writing the Core Plan and I just handed it in few days ago. I will split my teaching practice between Russian and English classes, and I was really looking forward to teach Russian. I will teach Russian in Septermber and October, on session per week, each 2-3 hours. I already know the supporting teacher from last spring, when I observed the lessons. She is a native Russian speaker who has lived in Finland for a long time. I like her as a person and appreciate her as a teacher, so it is great that I am able to continue the cooperation with her.

I arrived early in the classroom, so I had time to figure out how the overhead dvd projector and document camera worked. Luckily there were instructions, so I got them working. I wanted to greet all students as they entered the classroom. Some of them were surprised to see a new teacher, so they were even dubious whether they had entered the right classroom. Some students of this age don't look at others or greet, but that's ok. I must have been like that at this age, too. However, I will encourage interaction as we are learning a language, and relationships are everything in Russia.

My Russian class is 22 students, and 20 were present today. Two of them were guys, and the rest were girls. I met some of them during the observation period in April, so it is good to know some students. The group come from four different Business student groups. I asked then in the beginning, why they chose Russian language and how does it feel. Some said the picked it, because it will, or it has been useful for work. Several students work part-time and are able to use Russian at work with Russian clients. They had realized that many Russians don't speak any other language. Some students were interested in learning a new language, and especially Russian, one had a Russian partner, and one student's mother was Russian. Others said they needed the credits, and one said they had been promised a trip to St.Petersburg with the class, but the trip had been cancelled.

Today's topic was accusative case, living and non-living, as well as free/occupied inflection in cases. We read a lot of exercises out loud, and there was several pair exercises. I also had the students rotate from one person to another, when exercising living accusative.

The students were quite active, when they did pair exercises. When I asked them something, first everyone was quiet, but finally someone replied. I interacted quite a lot with the group to find out what they already knew. Towards the end of the exercises the students got quite noisy, while waiting for the others to complete the exercises, but as soon as I spoke, especially the grammar, they were quiet. They completed the exercises quite quickly, but some students had to be waited quite a while. I got the impression that some students are quite beginners, but when someone was struggling with pronunciation or a word, I approached the student to help her.

I want to teach the students the culture and Russian life as much as I am able, so whenever there is a change, I illuminate some aspect of the culture or Russia to them. Today I told them about two famous Russian authors, Alexandra Marinina and Mihail Bulgakov. I also told them about the Hermitage in St.Petersburg.

To evaluate my teaching, I think it went quite well. I did many things the way I have observed my supporting teacher Olga do, like have the students repeat the words and sentences after me. I try to emphasize oral interaction and communication. I had the students tell each other the grammatical content I had just taught them to emphasize learning. My speaking voice is not quite loud, I I need to pay attention to that. I was very attentive to what students were saying to each other, for example the words that they did not understand or any other missing information or miscommunication, and I responded to those. I asked the students two times during the class, did they understand the grammar. The first time they did not, so I continued teaching, and the second time I asked, they had understood it. Also the exercises we did proved that they had figured it out. They also asked me, if part of my teaching was in Moodle, and I told them I will have it added.

I had made a very detailed, written lesson plan with exact timing for each activity and exercise. This was very helpful, when the students were busy with an exercise, I checked what is next, and I also checked the management of time. We managed to get everything done, about 10 exercises and grammar.

Towards the end of the session, 4 minutes before the ending time the students started stirring and becoming restless. I asked if they had more classes and if they were busy, so I let them go. Actually it took those few minutes to check the students' attendance, so when everyone had left, the time was up.

I will continue keeping the time, because it was helpful. The next time I will rotate around the students more and listen to their pronunciation and to help them with the exercises. I forgot to mention one piece of homework, but they are optional. I will have the next teaching session on Monday, but I don't have the material yet.