My TEDed lesson: 3 ways to speak English

I created a TEDed lesson called "3 ways to speak English". The presenter is a black girl. She uses three distinct ways to speak English when she talking to different kinds of people.

Objectives:
Students would be able to understand the main idea of the video
Students would be able to express their opinions with others

Assessment:
I give two multiple choice questions to assess whether the students understand the main idea of the video. After letting the students discuss their opinions of the video in class, I will let them watch another TED talk which is related to the issue. The TED talk is the second link in Dig Deeper. The students discuss the main idea of the talk in groups and then I will stop by to listen. Eventually, I will ask one student to talk about his/her ideas in front of the class and then everyone can jump in to give comments.

The flipped classroom

What is flipped classroom? Generally speaking, it has three parts: students watch instructional videos at home, teacher scaffolds students' homework in class, teacher gives feedback and assessment after class. The videos should truely provide the comprehensible input for the students to help them finish the homework. Teacher need to control the time in class to make every minute valuable. In the flipped classroom, teacher does not need to explain everything to every student. Instead, the teacher provide help for individuals based on their own problems.

 

 

Why we want to flip the classroom? Some students may find it difficult to finish the homework by themselves. Although they feel like they understand what the teacher said, and took notes in class, homework can still be challenging. Group study is a way to change the scenario, but it also has many problems. For example, the advanced students may not want to waste their time to help others, or unwilling to help their competitors. The opinions from peers are likely to be wrong also. However, if the students discuss their homework in class, they will have chances to ask for help from the teacher directly. They do not have to write down their questions and struggle all night with their homework. Having a question and receive help right away will surely make them feel less frastrated.

 

According to Three Reasons to Flip Your Classroom, a flipped classroom can (1) increases comprehension of the material; (2) increases interaction with instructor and peers; and (3) increases critical thinking as a natural part of the learning process. The students can control their learning pace by pausing and repeating the videos. Therefore, they can understand the materials better. The teacher, although s/he does not truly teach the class, s/he still need to "lead the class from behind".

Twitter in ESL classroom

Unfortunately, Chinese government blocked Twitter as well as Facebook, Youtube, etc. Though we have Chinese version of Twitter, they are different in some ways. If China no longer block Twitter, how can I use Twitter in teaching English?

In the article How Twitter Can Be Used as a Powerful Educational Tool, it mentions hashtags. By searching hashtags, we are able to see what the world are saying about the topics. Also, we can join the discussion by adding hashtags. As a teacher, I will tweet a question with a hashtag and then ask my students to answer it with the same hashtag. It could be asking their opions towards a event, or finding solutions to a problem. In addition, I will let my students attend some Twitterchats, such as #21stedchat, #ESL. They will be able to share their ideas from a student's aspect with the world.

 Teaching with Twitter says that students can give instant feedback of a presentation or a video on Twitter. I think it is a great idea for those who unwilling to give opions in class. Students have to summarize their ideas in 140 characters, which is challenging. But for those have not much to say in a foreign language, it could actually release their pressure and encourage them to express ideas.