In addition, let each of us take particular responsibility for one unit. Look for ways that we can teach two one-hour class sessions from your unit using methodology (click here) principles, teaching concepts (click here) from this blog, and other ideas from the blog and from other sources. It's okay to suggest teaching ideas that don't seem to fit into methodology or our teaching tips. We will work together on finding ways to make things fit. We want to send our students away with a useful set of tools they can use.
Everyone is a resident expert on one unit. Be ready to share ideas with the team during our preparation time in Yinchuan. Enter a comment to let us read some of your suggestions and ideas before we leave home. Let's keep in mind that we will not only teach from this book, but also help our students, who are Ningxia teachers, become more effective teachers. We will provide them with our methodology checklist. Look at the draft on this blog. How should we modify it before it "goes to press?" Feel free to consult the teachers' book suggestion for the unit. Become prepared to become our primary resource person for your unit and to lead a one-hour planning session on yours. We will work together on the two review sections. Look those over.
We need volunteers to take units three and nine. They were the ones that Cathy and Patrick had.
- Enter at least one comment.
- Identify the number of the unit.
- Write a couple of sentences or more describing the general goals/objects of the unit.
- Point out what the authors have done particularly well.
- State what methodology principles and/or teaching ideas we should use in teaching this unit and how they might be applied.
Unit assignments:
1 Jack 6 Dave
2 John 7 Mary
3 ??? 8 Kristi
4 Sylvia 9 ???
5 Meg 10 Jene
Okay Dave, read the info and will be prepared!
ReplyDeleteHi, everyone!
ReplyDeleteI must start this out with an apology. I didn't bring my book with me this summer because there is only so much room in my suitcase to bring things back to Yinchuan for the school year. I did look over the book before I left, though, so I will attempt to give you some ideas for Unit 3:
Telling a story...Students could tell a favorite childhood memory or special event in their lives to each other. Focus on using past tense.
Using a series of pictures to tell a story would be a good activity, as well.
This would be a good unit to talk about what makes a story complete. Using story strips...have the students put the story together in groups. "Obstacle in the Road" is a story that I've used and has a great meaning.
The Section B (I think it's called) has an historical event...you could have an activity "What were you doing when....?" The Olympics, the earthquake...endless ideas.
I hope this helps and again I'm sorry that I don't have my book.
Hi. This may seem a little picky, but the teachers in Ningxia only teach 45-minute class sessions, so it may not be necessary to teach a 1-hour session. Could we prepare 45-minute sessions? This reflects what our students will do in their classrooms. We can let the extra 15-minutes be used for the students to reflect (we can discuss how this can be accomplished later) on what they saw/experienced. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI, too, must confess that I did not bring my Go for it! textbook to the states with me. However, like Cathy, I am familiar with the text and will take a close look at unit 9 before we gather in Yinchuan.
ReplyDeleteGood point about 45 minute classes. I like the the plan to allow time for reflection and exploration on training teachers to apply what they are learning.
ReplyDeleteThe program is designed to take 60-90 hours of student time. We will have to do a bit of picking and choosing to decide what to include in the 45 hours available.
Hi everyone. I began reading my unit (4), and have gone over your shared methodology and teaching tips. I also just read your great suggestions and points.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, I hope to read severals "narration" that I use in my classroom (classical ed. school). One of them is, "George Washington and the Cherry Tree." I have printed copies of a tender new Cherry Tree planted in a pot with two Gold fish on the front. I hope to introduce "narration" by telling the teachers what a narration is (a story is read, students "tell" what the story was about as accurately as possible--at their particular levels of learning).
I will practice "narration" with them by 1. Reading the short story; 2. Pointing out some of the "he said", George "told," his father "asked him", "told him," etc. 3. Then, I will encourage a couple of students to try and tell the narration back to the class.
I hope to implement this practice as much as possible before each class. I think this will definitely introduce the Unit, as well as draw students into several critical thinking skills-practices, and help them to think reflectively.
This exercise will take approximately 10-15 minutes (the extra time spoken about in the earlier posts). What do you think?
By the way: I LOVED all the great quotes given by you in Teacing Tips.
I thought i posted a comment earlier, guess not. Anyhow I'm looking at lesson 10. It affords much opportunity for student interaction through pair work and even group. however, it's not really contextualized, got to work on that.
ReplyDeleteThe grammar point is tag questions.
I'll have something by Yinchuan.
PS - I also see ways to teach strategies such as framework ,e tc.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to post info on here tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteUnit 8 "Why Don't You Get Her a Scarf?"
ReplyDeleteGoals/Objectives
Compare qualities and give advice
vocab: too, cheap, expensive,boring,
interestin, not____enough,
very, best
higher level thinking: choose pets for specific people based on traits of pets and people
Author Did Well
lots of pair/group work
2c is meaningful - discuss what they could
actually get a family member for
his/her birthday
engage visual and auditory learners not so
much kinesthetic
lots of tables/charts, 1a uses venn diagram
framework
There's a skit in the teacher's manual at the beginning that helps to activate background knowledge. It talks about a shirt being too small.
There are follow-up activities where the students ask family at home their opinions on certian pets. They report the info back to the class in written form. They also can research a pet and report back in written or picture form. Almost Think-Write-Pair-Share without the Pair.
They main reading is about using English songs to learn Engilish. In one of the activities the students are asked to think of ways they can use on their own to improve their English learning. They are asked to report back to the class - succeed or fail. They think about how they learn and take responsibility for their own learning.
I don't have ideas about what methods we can use yet.