To protect the identity of the teacher and the students, all names are made up.
It was short 40 minutes lesson that I taught for the speaking/listening class. The teacher (Candy) had a meeting for last half of the class, so I worked on their vocabulary part inside of the book. There was a sub-teacher (Lily) which made me feel more relaxed. I was nervous because I wasn't sure I could explain all the vocabularies to the students. It wasn't because I don't know the meaning of the words, but I mostly have trouble coming up with easier words or good explanations for the words. However, I wanted to try.
I couldn't plan it well, first of all. Candy told me brief things that she wanted me to do. It wasn't too hard to plan roughly what I need to do, but one thing I was worried about is; I'm not experienced as much yet.
Before I went on to the chapter, I made the students look at the picture to let them know what the chapter was about. I wish I could have went over the cool pictures on next pages, but I didn't plan anything, so I skipped it. For the sentences in the box, I asked students to read around the lobby. Maybe I should have picked students out randomly instead of going around. But this was hard for me. So I let them read around, but I didn't explain the meaning of vocabs or sentences. Lily helped me while I was asking students to read the sentences; she would correct their pronunciation, or explain some words. Then, I asked them to work on the definition silently. I saw many students were struggling, and Lily suggested maybe we should go over the sentences again, and explain the definition of the words while we read it. And it worked nicely. Some of the students already finished the part B, but I think it helped other students to understand what the words mean.
Then I paired up students; I had trouble thinking how I should pair them up. I matched them up depending on their performances in the class. I let Jane (I think she is in the most advanced level in this class) work with Joy (she had trouble with fill in the blank test before), and Bear (I think he is in similar level as Jane, but maybe little bit less than her) with Jim (he is not really motivated, and I'm not sure how good he is), Honey (she has trouble saying /p/ vs. /b/) with Aurora (her English is also very advanced as much as Jane), then other four guys (I can't come up with more names right now, but I'll fix it as soon as I can) who speak same language. It seems like, instead of working as a pair, they were mostly doing it by themselves. It was understandable since they need to read and write them down instead of discuss it. The good thing I got from this pair work is that, I saw some reactions between the students, and noticed that some students weren't interacting with each other. I felt like, maybe they don't want to work together. So, after going over the sentences, and Lily helped me explaining all the words that are necessary, we went to do part B.
For the last activity, I switched the pair hoping that this would work better. It seems like, Bear and Jim doesn't interact each other as much, also Honey and Aurora. I paired up Bear with Honey, and Aurora with one of the student who was sitting next to her. Jim also worked with one of the guy from the other side. Kris, who was in one of four guys who speak same language, had trouble understanding the question. While Lily was helping John who was Kris's partner, I sat down next to Kris, and helped him. However, he couldn't comprehend "which one is the most interesting fact" from the passage. So I talked with him with the easier questions "what makes you in a good mood and bad mood" and he understood and spoke about it.
All the students were talking in English, and it seems like they were enjoying the discussion. I couldn't go around and wrap things up which I really wish I could have done it, but we ran out of time.
Next time, if I get to have a change again, I should talk about vocabs that seems like difficult for them. Even thought it's hard for me to explain, I should try. Only practice makes lesson better.
