Over the past weeks, I got the valuable opportunity to conduct several lessons for the 8th-grade English classes I was observing, namely 8C and 8D. I was given 4 periods of lesson time (a total of 3 hours, divided into 2 45-minute lessons and 1 1.5-hour lesson) with 8C and 2 periods (1 1.5-hour lesson) with 8D, where I presented on Singapore and different aspects of life in Singapore.
In the case of 8C, the students were more inquisitive and took greater interest in asking questions. In general, I allocated time during each lesson for questions to be asked by the students, which helped to provide a break in the lesson delivery, transitioning between lecture-style and interactive-style lesson segments. While there were questions being asked during the first lesson, they were less than expected. This might have been owing to the content coverage of the first lesson, which was mainly an introduction and brief history of Singapore. In addition, when discussing the lesson with my CT post-delivery, my CT pointed out that some of the terms used in the presentation might have been somewhat difficult for some of the students to follow and understand. As a result, for the subsequent lessons, before the lesson started, I made it a point to reiterate to the students that if there was anything that required additional explanation during the lesson, they could raise their hands as an indication. I also made sure to review the content and simplify the explanations when needed. In general, I feel that the first lesson went quite smoothly, with students being largely interested.
The second lesson went relatively according to plan as well, although I felt that better time management on my part could have helped more, especially when the questions from the students took more time to answer than expected. The first two topics took up more time than expected, especially with the mid-lesson question segment. Nonetheless, it was good that the students were interested and asking questions, as it indicated that they were engaged in the lesson, which was an important factor to be considered in lesson delivery. Also, it is important to remember to have flexibility during lesson time and to adapt to the circumstances. Hence, I felt this was a key learning point for me to take away from this second lesson, as I had to adjust the subsequent lesson to allow for the added content from this lesson.
The third lesson, being two periods, provided me with more insight not only into the students and their learning styles, but also into my teaching style and the strengths and weaknesses within my teaching. A positive observation from this lesson was that students were more forthcoming with questions and more responsive to the interactive segments I included. However, one key observation I took away from this lesson was the importance of keeping student energy levels up, especially for a 2-period lesson. A lecture-style lesson was not ideal for such a situation as the students would start to lose interest. When discussing with my CT after the lesson, she suggested that I could have included a more hands-on activity like a game or group work towards the end of the lesson to get them to be more involved and engaged, as towards the end, I observed that some students started to become disengaged and sleepy. While I included participative segments during the lesson, which included opportunities for students to interact and be active, such as trying to read aloud the Singlish terms shown in the presentation and getting the students to share about their own life to serve as comparison, there could have been more especially at the end of the lesson. In addition, while the videos I included helped to provide a change in the content, I could have shown short snippets, especially for the song-sharing, as having continuous video screenings undermined the novelty of the multimedia approach for the students, losing its effectiveness in engaging the students. Nonetheless, during the question-and-answer segment at the end of the lesson, the students asked several interesting questions that gave the opportunity to revive the class interest levels. Rina and I had an impromptu conversation on a suggested topic chosen by a student, which my CT felt was something memorable. Hence, upon reflecting on this lesson, I learnt the importance of varying activities in class and being flexible to adjust lesson delivery to fit the students’ needs, especially in the case where students begin to lose interest in the lesson. Also, as I discussed with my CT, I do not need to plan elaborate activities to keep them interested. It could be something as simple as getting students to take turns reading aloud the poem or text I was sharing to their classmates, or giving them the opportunity to discuss something related to the subject matter of the text, which in this case was wedding proposals. Nonetheless, my time management was better in this lesson and while there was still room for improvement regarding lesson activities, there was still greater and more active student participation, which I felt was something positive that I could take away from this lesson.
In the case of 8D, I had a 1.5-hour lesson with them to cover different aspects of Singapore, which meant that content I used for 8C had to be adapted and adjusted to fit the shorter duration. This provided me with the opportunity to review my lesson content and to make decisions regarding what to include and what to remove – a skill I feel is important for teachers in lesson planning and adjustment. During the lesson, the students were less responsive at the beginning but became more active as the lesson progressed. As there was a student who used to live in Singapore, I had the opportunity to tap on him to get his opinion, which would then also encourage input from his classmates as well. As the class was not as forward with their opinions and input, I had to adjust my method for eliciting class response, such as changing my questions which made it easier for students to respond. One example I used was getting the students to indicate agreement or disagreement through raising their hands. This helped especially as some students might not have felt confident enough to speak up or voice their opinion. In addition, apart from the student who experienced Singapore life, there were several other students that I noticed were more engaged and more pro-active. Hence, I would then rely on their responses and reactions to further the discussion – so I do not end up initiating the discussions every time. This allows me to discuss things that the students are interested in rather than just presenting things that I find interesting but might not be of much interest to them. Also, as 8D had a smaller class size, it was easier to engage with the class, and to present the different aspects of Singapore life. As this lesson came after my experiences in 8C, I found myself being more aware of student response and indicators of interest, and I then used these to adjust my lesson pacing and activities. Hence, I felt that the lesson for 8D went quite smoothly as well, and while the engagement level through questions and discussions was not as high as observed in 8C, it was still a lesson that I felt was successful in terms of lesson delivery, student engagement, and interest levels.
In conclusion, I found the teaching experience with both 8C and 8D enriching and fun, as working with different student profiles and a different subject matter provided me with the opportunity to think more in-depth when it came to lesson planning. In addition, while there are some similarities between the students here and the students in Singapore, there are still important differences that I had to learn to adapt to and adjust my teaching style accordingly to best fit the students’ needs. I also got to understand some of my strengths and weaknesses better, and throughout the process of planning, delivering, and reviewing, identify areas of improvement that I needed to work on as well.
Also, during the last week here, I got to go on museum excursions with my students, and interact with them more through these opportunities. I got to find out more about them as individuals, and some of the things that they do and are planning to do over the summer break. Such opportunities are also important for a teacher to understand their students better, and to be able to connect with them more as well.
On the last day, one of the teachers was nice enough to show me some of the different items he collects and explained how he tries to incorporate the use of physical items and props in his lessons to bring it alive for the students. One tip that he shared was to spread out the use of 'fun and exciting' lessons - so as to keep such lessons fresh, memorable and impactful to the students. While I know that it is important for teachers to keep lessons interesting for students, I also learnt that it is equally important to use such lessons in moderation to maximise their impact.
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