I'm still a little busy, so today's post will be short.
First, in response to everyone I was able to talk to, thank you for taking the time to talk to me. Your input is essential in making the class the best that it can be. Most of you asked what can be done at home to improve our students learning. Most studies regarding bilingualism (which in this case means assuming Chinese and Taiwanese are your child's first languages) state that children need to have a good level of competence in both languages. This means that at home you should help your child using Chinese. Make sure their Chinese/Taiwanese is good and help them learn things in Chinese/Taiwanese. We will do English at school and the things that they learn can be transferred between languages (even if they don't know the appropriate word).
It is good to welcome back Elijah (back to Peter Pan Class) and Sharon (back to my class) who have been away for the beginning of our school year. They both seem happy to be back, although I think Sharon, and her mum, where a little scared by Sean enthusiastic greeting. I've never taught Elijah before, but he seems to understand what to do and he draws very well.
The music teacher was late this morning, so we had our own music class for a while which was fun. We also read "The Cat in the Hat" which seemed to be fun for everyone. Including storytime was in response to feedback from those of you who were worried about reading. Exposure to literature helps children read.
We had fun in the pool this afternoon. Johnny is a great swimmer, Oscar is and excellent diver (picking up the most tiles every time), and Richard, Vivian Sh and Sophia enjoyed playing in the water.
In science class, we planted some seeds, so we will watch them grow over the next couple of days. Will try to post photos soon.
Glen.
Monday, 31 August 2009
Monday, 24 August 2009
A note to all my readers
I am most sorry, but this week I am unlikely to be able to write in this blog. I have a major assignment I need to post on Friday, and every spare moment will be spent on this. For those of you who are interested the topic is "a review of the literature that pertains to the best practices for developing literacy skills in English, which is an additional language for Taiwanese early childhood students who share two common mother tongues (Chinese and Taiwanese).
Until later,
Glen.
Until later,
Glen.
Friday, 21 August 2009
Plants, Pizzas and learning English
Friday was a good day. I might even go as far as to say it was a great day.
First thank you to Johnny's mum for sending an email. It is nice to hear from you. I hope that will be encouragement to others to add their comments.
We started the day by looking at our science experiment about plants which made one student ask "Why does it grow like that?" Which lead to talk about living vs. non-living, which lead to talk about cells, and through a numeracy exercise to an explanation of how plants grow.
We had book work to do, which the children are becoming more comfortable with. While Richard was waiting for the others to finish, he made things with blocks, but he doesn't make things. Richard uses blocks to make abstract objects, which is different from his friends who tend to make ships or airplanes or castles. Nice work Richard.
The girls play somewhat differently to boys and I don't always know the subject of their play. I often help some students with their books and cannot always be involved in their games. The boys like to show me what they have made, the girls like to play amongst themselves. However, I believe a lot of their play involves home games, because Nana came and told me that she had been making pizzas and Cherry was putting what looked like pizzas into a box.
Allen is one of our students who has some trouble with the work and with speaking, but today he colored in a picture in his book, and it was really beautiful. I think I may have found a way for him to express himself.
Tiffany is young and sometimes lacks the concentration to do her work on time. However, today she finished her work quickly and was surprised to discover that she picked up a book to read. It was a Chinese book, but not one with lots of pictures, so it looks like she likes to read. I have been reading about bilingualism and the advantages in learning two or more languages at the same time. I would not be surprised if Tiffany's interest in reading spreads across to English in time.
Brian made Teacher Jojo laugh today. He was speaking to Teacher Jojo in Chinese and I just happened to be passing by and he immediately and seamlessly switched from Chinese to English. Our children are full of talent.
And one last comment about Nado. He seems to have a strong sense of right and wrong, as when other children, in a playful mood and withhout bad intent, say something that is not respectful to me, Nado comes to my defence and tells them that they can't say that. I think it is really cute.
Anyway, it's time for me to enjoy my week. I'm planning a trip to Sun Moon Lake.
See you on Monday,
Glen.
First thank you to Johnny's mum for sending an email. It is nice to hear from you. I hope that will be encouragement to others to add their comments.
We started the day by looking at our science experiment about plants which made one student ask "Why does it grow like that?" Which lead to talk about living vs. non-living, which lead to talk about cells, and through a numeracy exercise to an explanation of how plants grow.
We had book work to do, which the children are becoming more comfortable with. While Richard was waiting for the others to finish, he made things with blocks, but he doesn't make things. Richard uses blocks to make abstract objects, which is different from his friends who tend to make ships or airplanes or castles. Nice work Richard.
The girls play somewhat differently to boys and I don't always know the subject of their play. I often help some students with their books and cannot always be involved in their games. The boys like to show me what they have made, the girls like to play amongst themselves. However, I believe a lot of their play involves home games, because Nana came and told me that she had been making pizzas and Cherry was putting what looked like pizzas into a box.
Allen is one of our students who has some trouble with the work and with speaking, but today he colored in a picture in his book, and it was really beautiful. I think I may have found a way for him to express himself.
Tiffany is young and sometimes lacks the concentration to do her work on time. However, today she finished her work quickly and was surprised to discover that she picked up a book to read. It was a Chinese book, but not one with lots of pictures, so it looks like she likes to read. I have been reading about bilingualism and the advantages in learning two or more languages at the same time. I would not be surprised if Tiffany's interest in reading spreads across to English in time.
Brian made Teacher Jojo laugh today. He was speaking to Teacher Jojo in Chinese and I just happened to be passing by and he immediately and seamlessly switched from Chinese to English. Our children are full of talent.
And one last comment about Nado. He seems to have a strong sense of right and wrong, as when other children, in a playful mood and withhout bad intent, say something that is not respectful to me, Nado comes to my defence and tells them that they can't say that. I think it is really cute.
Anyway, it's time for me to enjoy my week. I'm planning a trip to Sun Moon Lake.
See you on Monday,
Glen.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Printables and books
Today was another good day for Peter Pan class, although Gary didn't have a great start. Actually, we had a good day but we all didn't have a great start. I often try to do too much. In this Teacher Jojo helps me a lot. For one thing, she helps me keep focused on things that you and the school find important, the schedule and the books. She teaches me the reasons why these things are important. She also gives me some flexibility to expand the scope of what the children learn. We both believe that everything the children need to learn doesn't come out of books.
Anyway, I tried to do too many things in the first lesson. The dance class comes right after, and I always find my self in a rush on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so maybe I rushed some explanations this morning. It worked out all right in the end.
We had a reading test today, and almost everyone impressed me with their abilities. Some need practice with their reading tests, but we will get some spare time to help them later (right now we need to help those who fell behind when they took some time of at the beginning of the semester). I would like to tell you about Nado's reading test. I often tell you about Nado and I hope you don't feel I have favourites. I use Nado as an example, because he learns in a non-standard way. Someone at home obviously helped Nado practice for the test. He said the sentences very well and pointed to the words as he said them. However the words he pointed to were not always the words that he said. On one sentence he mixed up the word order, but didn't change the meaning of the sentence. I think he practice to say the sentences, even though he did not know how to read the words. Although this is not perfect, it is really great and complements his learning and thinking. He is smart, he can remember the sentences, he understands the meanings and he can talk well, so it shows how he can talk. Sometimes we will do things in a non-standard way, ways that are imperfect. But as a teacher of mine once said, "Fake it until you make it."
While I did the reading test with the students, I had them finish their books and color-in their printables. They may have brought them home to show you.
Before lunch, Teacher Jojo and I had a discussion. Teacher Jojo feels that the books are very difficult for the children and maybe if we had extra things (flashcards, props and real items) the children will be able to remember the words better. I take a slightly different view. The books are meant to be used for students from a different cultural background. When they view the items in the book, they are not learning new things, but identifying the items to the sounds and the letters. The words in many of the books are taken out of context and are not intended to be used to teach content, but the sounds and letters. It is virtually impossible to learn the world alphabetically. So I draw on the students prior knowledge if they know the items, we all name the items, and them use the sounds as the book intents them to be used. It means that not all the items that the students come across in one will be remember, but some will. What the students do get out of the exercise is an opportunity to learn and practice their listening skills and their phonic awarness. For example, an interaction with Nado:
Teacher Glen: What's this?
Nado: It's a boy.
Teacher Glen: Does boy start with 'B'?
Nado: BBB, /b/ /b/ /b/. Yes.
I take this view because of what I believe is important in education. I also try to move beyond the books and expand the children's world. Teacher Jojo agrees, but understands your desires better. So if you can helps us. What do you think? What do you want us to do?
We played a game as we prepare for the spelling test, and I think everyone had fun doing that. The test itself was interesting again this week and I will use two of our exemplary students. Nado obviously didn't get as much help with his spelling test as he did with his reading test. However, I said the words slowly and he identified the sounds and was able to spell many of the words. Sean, how knows how to spell, forgot how to spell one word and refused to go on. Oh, well.
Anyway, I tried to do too many things in the first lesson. The dance class comes right after, and I always find my self in a rush on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so maybe I rushed some explanations this morning. It worked out all right in the end.
We had a reading test today, and almost everyone impressed me with their abilities. Some need practice with their reading tests, but we will get some spare time to help them later (right now we need to help those who fell behind when they took some time of at the beginning of the semester). I would like to tell you about Nado's reading test. I often tell you about Nado and I hope you don't feel I have favourites. I use Nado as an example, because he learns in a non-standard way. Someone at home obviously helped Nado practice for the test. He said the sentences very well and pointed to the words as he said them. However the words he pointed to were not always the words that he said. On one sentence he mixed up the word order, but didn't change the meaning of the sentence. I think he practice to say the sentences, even though he did not know how to read the words. Although this is not perfect, it is really great and complements his learning and thinking. He is smart, he can remember the sentences, he understands the meanings and he can talk well, so it shows how he can talk. Sometimes we will do things in a non-standard way, ways that are imperfect. But as a teacher of mine once said, "Fake it until you make it."
While I did the reading test with the students, I had them finish their books and color-in their printables. They may have brought them home to show you.
Before lunch, Teacher Jojo and I had a discussion. Teacher Jojo feels that the books are very difficult for the children and maybe if we had extra things (flashcards, props and real items) the children will be able to remember the words better. I take a slightly different view. The books are meant to be used for students from a different cultural background. When they view the items in the book, they are not learning new things, but identifying the items to the sounds and the letters. The words in many of the books are taken out of context and are not intended to be used to teach content, but the sounds and letters. It is virtually impossible to learn the world alphabetically. So I draw on the students prior knowledge if they know the items, we all name the items, and them use the sounds as the book intents them to be used. It means that not all the items that the students come across in one will be remember, but some will. What the students do get out of the exercise is an opportunity to learn and practice their listening skills and their phonic awarness. For example, an interaction with Nado:
Teacher Glen: What's this?
Nado: It's a boy.
Teacher Glen: Does boy start with 'B'?
Nado: BBB, /b/ /b/ /b/. Yes.
I take this view because of what I believe is important in education. I also try to move beyond the books and expand the children's world. Teacher Jojo agrees, but understands your desires better. So if you can helps us. What do you think? What do you want us to do?
We played a game as we prepare for the spelling test, and I think everyone had fun doing that. The test itself was interesting again this week and I will use two of our exemplary students. Nado obviously didn't get as much help with his spelling test as he did with his reading test. However, I said the words slowly and he identified the sounds and was able to spell many of the words. Sean, how knows how to spell, forgot how to spell one word and refused to go on. Oh, well.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Getting to know you
On the day that I told Andrew (Fu Da's owner) bout my blog, I am not able to give you an update. I've been spending too long working at night and I've been ordered to have an early night.
Andrew is very keen for the foreign teachers to develop closer communication with the parents of our students, so I would like to ask you what time is best? I can call you, see you at school, see you at your home or see you at my home. I don't speak very good Chinese, so Teacher Jojo is willing to help. You can always communicate with me via this blog, the web page or my email.
Andrew is very keen for the foreign teachers to develop closer communication with the parents of our students, so I would like to ask you what time is best? I can call you, see you at school, see you at your home or see you at my home. I don't speak very good Chinese, so Teacher Jojo is willing to help. You can always communicate with me via this blog, the web page or my email.
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Photos
Some photos from last week.
Johnny blowing up his balloon, always trying hard.
The teachable moment I talked about on Friday.
Nana in a pig mask.
This is Johnny, Cherry and I making a house for Johnny's dolphin.
The girls and I blowing up balloons.
Johnny blowing up his balloon, always trying hard.
The teachable moment I talked about on Friday.
Nana in a pig mask.
This is Johnny, Cherry and I making a house for Johnny's dolphin.
The girls and I blowing up balloons.
Math and Writing
These are the two issue I want to talk about today. We had a bit of trouble in both classes, and I want to talk a little about both of these. Math is always an interesting subject to teach. The MPM book is organized in such a way that sometimes the children just understand, and sometimes that understanding takes time.
Today I found that a number of students had trouble with today's MPM lesson. Not everyone understood the method to arrive at the answers, but most students had the dedication to work towards the answers. Two students, Nado and Tiffany had more trouble than the others. It is not so much that they don't understand, they actually picked up the concepts required quite quickly. However, both of these students required someone to show them what to do, even after it was explained to the class. And both of them had trouble writing numbers, it is obviously unfamiliar to them. During the year they will have a lot of practice writing numbers, but the MPM book assumes that they are already proficient at this.
This brings out another point I wish to discuss briefly. It is possible for children to "study" too much outside of class, doing extra worksheets and classes focused on academic achievement. However, practicing some basic skills may be helpful for some. For those that have trouble writing numbers or the alphabet, practicing these things is fine. Allowing and encouraging the students to read for pleasure is also a good idea.
While we were waiting for the children to finish their MPM books, many other students had time to play with toys. This helps them learn so much in so many ways. Everyone gets to practice their English in a fun setting, and they also learn how to share and interact. Owen and Sean spent a lot of time and energy building a beautiful wall. Richard, Benson and Yoyo built some fantastic robots. Cherry, Vivian, Nana and Emily were playing some birthday game, although Emily hurt her leg. It sounded like everyone had a birthday today. Vivian and Gary from Snow White class played well together.
We read the story of "The Gingerbread Man" and everyone enjoyed that. It is a very active story and almost everyone joined in. I worry a little about Nado, as he has very strong reactions to things. He finds it difficult to concentrate and likes to throw the book down. He is young and will need some time to adjust to big class. Teacher Jojo and I are helping as much as we can.
The writing book is proving much more difficult that I had imagined. Last year in the early morning class, I was doing writing exercises with Goofy Class. Emily and Sean joined us for these classes and they often wrote good stories. However, the writing book is proving difficult for everyone. It is not that they are unable to make sentences. Today, we had to write six words for homework. As I wrote the words on the board, I asked the students to try and use the words in a sentence. A lot of the children had a lot of fun making crazy sentences, as well as quite normal sentences. However, when the writing book requires them to write a sentence, they find it difficult. It may be because the book is based on grammar and the children learn English as a first language, which does not require the understanding of grammar, or phonics, though learning English as a second language is enhanced by such methods. It is not beyond them, but it is difficult to grasp. It is not as natural as the way they learn language now. We will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of this program.
Glen.
Today I found that a number of students had trouble with today's MPM lesson. Not everyone understood the method to arrive at the answers, but most students had the dedication to work towards the answers. Two students, Nado and Tiffany had more trouble than the others. It is not so much that they don't understand, they actually picked up the concepts required quite quickly. However, both of these students required someone to show them what to do, even after it was explained to the class. And both of them had trouble writing numbers, it is obviously unfamiliar to them. During the year they will have a lot of practice writing numbers, but the MPM book assumes that they are already proficient at this.
This brings out another point I wish to discuss briefly. It is possible for children to "study" too much outside of class, doing extra worksheets and classes focused on academic achievement. However, practicing some basic skills may be helpful for some. For those that have trouble writing numbers or the alphabet, practicing these things is fine. Allowing and encouraging the students to read for pleasure is also a good idea.
While we were waiting for the children to finish their MPM books, many other students had time to play with toys. This helps them learn so much in so many ways. Everyone gets to practice their English in a fun setting, and they also learn how to share and interact. Owen and Sean spent a lot of time and energy building a beautiful wall. Richard, Benson and Yoyo built some fantastic robots. Cherry, Vivian, Nana and Emily were playing some birthday game, although Emily hurt her leg. It sounded like everyone had a birthday today. Vivian and Gary from Snow White class played well together.
We read the story of "The Gingerbread Man" and everyone enjoyed that. It is a very active story and almost everyone joined in. I worry a little about Nado, as he has very strong reactions to things. He finds it difficult to concentrate and likes to throw the book down. He is young and will need some time to adjust to big class. Teacher Jojo and I are helping as much as we can.
The writing book is proving much more difficult that I had imagined. Last year in the early morning class, I was doing writing exercises with Goofy Class. Emily and Sean joined us for these classes and they often wrote good stories. However, the writing book is proving difficult for everyone. It is not that they are unable to make sentences. Today, we had to write six words for homework. As I wrote the words on the board, I asked the students to try and use the words in a sentence. A lot of the children had a lot of fun making crazy sentences, as well as quite normal sentences. However, when the writing book requires them to write a sentence, they find it difficult. It may be because the book is based on grammar and the children learn English as a first language, which does not require the understanding of grammar, or phonics, though learning English as a second language is enhanced by such methods. It is not beyond them, but it is difficult to grasp. It is not as natural as the way they learn language now. We will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of this program.
Glen.
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