Today was a very special day.
I taught Matthayom 3/7, although today has only 1 class, I still enjoyed teaching. At first, I was not able to cope up with them because the students have difficulties when comprehending English. Luckily, the 5th year student Praew, a science major in UDRU, helped me to manage the class. She is translating what I am saying for the student to understand me. Also, Mr. Sombat is helping me to explain to students while he is observing with Mr. Wirasak. I started the class by greeting them "Good afternoon class" and then I checked their attendance. Then, I followed it by a review by asking them just one easy question and they got the answer immediately. I allotted only 5 minutes for discussion of what is the today's topic which is the "header". The discussion includes the brief definition of what header is and how to do it. After the short discussion I asked them to have a warm up exercise which is led by one of the students then I asked them to jog around the court of Sepak Takraw. After warming up, I allowed them to practice on their own or with their partner for 5 minutes and then I grouped them into four groups to practice them inside the court with a net. After 10 minutes of practice, I arrange their groups to balance it for the group activity. Everyone is enjoying the group activity and I was very happy to see them enjoying the class. I ended up the class by summarizing the topic and demonstrating what are the do's and don'ts's in doing the header and then I asked them a few questions.
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Although I don't have class today, I still went to school to observe and help Kru Bing to teach in her class.
When I headed back to the office after the flag ceremony, Kru Bing and I started practicing the songs that we are going to teach. She said to me that she did the same thing last year and it was very effective because the students are having fun learning English through music, they get to practice their pronunciation as well as widened their vocabulary while enjoying the class. After practice, we went to her office in Matthayom 4 building to wait for her class to start. Kru Bing started the class by greeting the students "Good morning!" then she proceeded and explained that they are going to learn a new song today. She read the lyrics to the students but I can tell that the students are not that interested in analyzing the lyrics of the song. Then we started to sing the song and it caught the attention of the students. After we sung the whole song, Kru Bing taught them the melody of the song and everyone is humming trying to sing the melody. She taught them step by step, first by reading the lyrics, then she let them heard the melody, and then she divided the song into parts so that the students can gradually learn the new song. After practicing, we let them apply their newly learned song by letting them sing the song, although sometimes they got lost, they can easily come back and I'm also guiding them by singing with them. I can tell that they enjoyed learning through this strategy because everyone is singing. As a student teacher, I learned that developing and using different kinds of strategies in teaching can give life to the class. After the class, we took a group photo along with my mentor in UDRU, Mr. Wirasak the head of Physical Education in Rajabhat. We talked for a moment to give his feedback and I was very surprised that he liked what I did in the class and he praised me. The students are likely to exert more effort in performing activities if the teacher had positive reinforcement, like in my case, after the class I gave them potato chips. I also used scaffolding, I started introducing the topic then I assisted them to perform the activity then I let them do it on their own. As a result, they easily learned the skill and performed it very well on the application part.
Today I went to school to assist 4 classes. Unfortunately, the physical education teachers of Matthayom 3, Mr. Sombat and Moss, are not around because they had to assist and coach the football team in their finals game in the Rajabhat University. I waited for them to talk about next week because next week I have to teach the students so I have to confirm and ask about it. Also, I have to confirm the schedule because I have to inform my mentor in UDRU when I am going to teach so that he can observe me and evaluate me. Mr. Sombat arrived here in ban makkhaeng later in the afternoon and he told me that I only have to assist on Tuesday. Then, he said that supposed to be, I will have to teach on Friday but he told me that there is a futsal game on Friday so that all the P.E class will be canceled so in that case, I will have no classes as well. So, instead of Friday, he moved it earlier, he made it Thursday. After he informed me, I immediately told Mr. Wirasak, my mentor in UDRU, about the changed of schedule. I don't have class today so the department head of Matthayom 3 allowed me to stay in my dormitory.
I just slept all day because I had nothing to do. When the evening comes, all of my co-sea teachers had gone home from their respective schools so they asked me to eat dinner outside the UDRU. So I went with them and ate at the steak house in front of the school. I was very surprised because after we ate steak, I thought we were going home but then they surprised me because they brought a cake for my birthday! I am grateful because they bothered to buy a cake for me even though it's just 3 weeks ago since we've met. They asked me to give a speech but I was too shy but I told them my birthday wish, which is "I want us to have a reunion here in Udon Thani maybe after some time like after 5 or 10 years or so". It has been a great night for me and I feel wonderful celebrating my birthday here in Thailand with my new friends! The students are almost finished with their "Serving" performance in Sepak Takraw so they are free to play but only sepak takraw in order for them to develop their skills.
In the afternoon, Kru Moss is not around so Mr. Sombat is the one who taught the class. He started with static stretching exercise then followed by dynamic stretching exercise. After exercising, he started a discussion about using the head in the sports sepak takraw while the students are resting. After the discussion, he allowed them to practice "header" without any ball to play with, they have to have to do the form or stance when using the header. After that, they practice it with their partner but now they have a ball to play with. After practicing, Mr. Sombat allowed them to apply it by giving them a group activity. To end the class, he summarized the topic of using the header. The students are likely to develop their skills if they have enough materials even if they have a limited time of practicing because they don't have to wait for each other and share each other's materials and waste time. Today, I did not join the flag ceremony because I had to print out the names of the students of Matthayom 3/1 and 3/7 which I am going to teach on the third week of my stay here in the Banmakkhaeng school as an exchange student.
I only have one class to attend this day, Matthayom 3/4, but I thought that the whole class went to Rajabhat so I just stayed in my office. I talked with the 5th year students of Physical Education which are also having their practicum teaching like Moss, and they told me that Moss is not around, that he went to the Rajabhat so I thought that the whole class is with Moss. I also didn't know where is the classroom of Matthayom 3/4 so I decided to stay in my office and made an outline of my lesson plan in preparation for the next week's duty. It has been difficult for me from day to day to deal with the language barrier since the day I started my practicum here in Banmakkhaeng. I still have to based on their body language and sign language to understand them and I also have to do the same thing for us to understand each other. I don't have a class to attend with, today.
So I did not go to school, but that's okay because the head of the faculty of Matthayom 3 permitted me yesterday and she said that I can rest and I don't have to go to school. So I just rested, made my daily report to be passed to my home university, I answered my field study books and searched for lesson plan samples. The worst thing is I forgot that this is the opening day of Rajabhat day! The host university where I am staying, It is a big event, they have their stage set-upped and lots of stalls are there, you can buy foods, shirts, drinks and other goods and they also showcased their inventions in science fair! But I missed it because I was in our dorm all day long doing things. I came out in our dorm about 13:00 and gone to wait for the city tour start but it was canceled, so me and my friends, Dyan and Vincent, decided to go to the central plaza to have dinner. There were no classes yesterday(Monday) because of the celebration of mother's day here in Thailand.
Starting from today, I have to assist my teacher in preparation for the next week because I am going to teach. Today, I assisted Teacher Moss on his class, Matthayom 3/8, 3/6 and 3/3. I helped him to list and give grades to the students who are taking up "Serving examination" in sepak takraw. I was surprised to know that they allowed the students to take another examination if they are not satisfied with the grades that they had, because of this, students are motivated and they did not lose hope if they got low scores on their first take of the exam because they have a second chance or second try. The method that the teacher used, giving a second chance in performance tests, not only favors the transcended students but it also gives hope for the not-so-good students and for them to practice more and beat their previous scores. Being pretty far is very hard and it made me feel to miss my home and my friends. Luckily, our generation is full of useful technology, in terms of communication, to be able to keep in touch with your loved ones. Here are some(there are so many) photos of me and friends having a great time video calling each other. HOME SICK NO MORE FELLAS, YAH BOY IS HAPPY! :D
(some photo includes old friends meet new friends!) |
AuthorJohn Lynard Evangelista ArchivesCategories |