Hey guys, sorry for being away for so long. I think I'll break this post into several different ones.
So Friday was our first day of actual teaching. After two weeks of learning how to teach English as a Foreign Language, we were finally going to be putting our TEFL skills to the test. We would be teaching a class of 20-30 Vietnamese students at the American Center at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. Needless to say, I was terrified.
Working together with Koua and Amanda, we came up with a lesson plan centered on getting students to speak. Our focus: superheroes.
I would present first, introducing the concept of American superheroes with a clip from the Avengers. Then I would introduce Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Batman and Spiderman along with their respective powers: Strength, Flight, Lightning, Martial Arts, Technology and Spider Powers.
I would ask the students the question "If you could be one superhero, who would it be? Why that superhero?"and the students would pair up and ask their partner that question, which would hopefully spark some discussion. I would then ask for volunteers to explain who their favorite superhero was and why.
The second part of the lesson would be presented by Koua. Students would be split into groups of five. Each group would be given a random super power and a random "problem." They would have fifteen minutes to compose a one minute skit depicting how their superhero used their power to solve the problem.
The third and final part of the lesson would be presented by Amanda. Students would be given a blank "trading card" on which they would write out their own superhero name, city, powers and weaknesses. Then she would ask for volunteers to present their superhero.
I was really nervous when we started presenting.
I shouldn't have been.
I expected some of the students to have seen Spider-Man, Dark Knight Rises or Avengers, but I wasn't expecting the level of enthusiasm we got. They were incredibly creative, willing to speak up and generally awesome.
Highlights included a girl creating a superhero known as "Fruitwoman" who had magical powers of healing and nutrition, another student ignoring our suggested heroes and stating that her favorite hero was Poison Ivy and a student delivering this line to a mugger during a skit "My name is Spider-Man. I believe in peace, not war, so I will let you live. But do not forget me."
My inner nerd and inner educator have never been so simultaneously thrilled.
After our presentation we observed a lesson taught by Vanlam, Anna and Jess.
In their lesson, they handed out pictures of yours truly and asked students to come up with a story that covered the following six photos. The students brainstormed captions for each picture that told a story. I hereby present, with great ceremony, the student-written epic "Love Story in Ha Long Bay"
Over the weekend we went to Mai Chau, a village in the northern highlands. Will post on that later!
Later fellas,
Jefferson
So Friday was our first day of actual teaching. After two weeks of learning how to teach English as a Foreign Language, we were finally going to be putting our TEFL skills to the test. We would be teaching a class of 20-30 Vietnamese students at the American Center at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. Needless to say, I was terrified.
Working together with Koua and Amanda, we came up with a lesson plan centered on getting students to speak. Our focus: superheroes.
I would present first, introducing the concept of American superheroes with a clip from the Avengers. Then I would introduce Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Batman and Spiderman along with their respective powers: Strength, Flight, Lightning, Martial Arts, Technology and Spider Powers.
I would ask the students the question "If you could be one superhero, who would it be? Why that superhero?"and the students would pair up and ask their partner that question, which would hopefully spark some discussion. I would then ask for volunteers to explain who their favorite superhero was and why.
The second part of the lesson would be presented by Koua. Students would be split into groups of five. Each group would be given a random super power and a random "problem." They would have fifteen minutes to compose a one minute skit depicting how their superhero used their power to solve the problem.
The third and final part of the lesson would be presented by Amanda. Students would be given a blank "trading card" on which they would write out their own superhero name, city, powers and weaknesses. Then she would ask for volunteers to present their superhero.
I was really nervous when we started presenting.
I shouldn't have been.
I expected some of the students to have seen Spider-Man, Dark Knight Rises or Avengers, but I wasn't expecting the level of enthusiasm we got. They were incredibly creative, willing to speak up and generally awesome.
The class in action
Amanda and Koua helping out students
Highlights included a girl creating a superhero known as "Fruitwoman" who had magical powers of healing and nutrition, another student ignoring our suggested heroes and stating that her favorite hero was Poison Ivy and a student delivering this line to a mugger during a skit "My name is Spider-Man. I believe in peace, not war, so I will let you live. But do not forget me."
My inner nerd and inner educator have never been so simultaneously thrilled.
Our class, being superheroes
After our presentation we observed a lesson taught by Vanlam, Anna and Jess.
In their lesson, they handed out pictures of yours truly and asked students to come up with a story that covered the following six photos. The students brainstormed captions for each picture that told a story. I hereby present, with great ceremony, the student-written epic "Love Story in Ha Long Bay"
"It is very beautiful here. This is the first time I have not thought of her."
"I tried to relax with my best friend, but all I could think of was her picture."
"He climbed the boat looking for a beautiful woman."
"He couldn't find one, so he jumped off the boat."
"He went to Hell."
"It was all a dream. He was saved by his best friend."
So...yeah. A bit more tragic than I would have liked, but what are you going to do. At least they were creative, right? Right? Although the enthusiasm the students showed when they decided my character should go to Hell was a little concerning...oh well.
My fellow educators and their class
Overall I had a lot of fun teaching at the American Center, I'm feeling a little better about teaching now!
Over the weekend we went to Mai Chau, a village in the northern highlands. Will post on that later!
Later fellas,
Jefferson
No comments:
Post a Comment