Micro lesson on: Teaching Idioms to Engineering Students

Micro lesson on: Teaching Idioms to Engineering Students

Self Feedback on Video Mediated Micro Lesson: Teaching Idioms to Engineering Students

Topic : Teaching Idioms

Level of Learners: Engineering

Class size: 6

Duration of the class: 30minutes

The aim of my class was to make my students understand the meaning of an idiom and incorporate the concept of an idiom in their minds. I began my class by sharing a small conversation that took place between me and my niece in the past. I emphasized on one the idiom in the conversation to know from the students of what they understood by that phrase. Also, I wrote two more phrases that occurred in the orientation given by the Director that morning to know from the students what the phrases meant. The idea behind that exercise was to make them learn the fact that a figurative meaning is attached to the phrases and the meaning cannot be deduced from the individual words existing in the phrase. When I sensed that the students were not able to understand the meanings of the idioms, I gave them an example in Telugu. It is then the students were able to realize the notion of an Idiom. Thereafter, I showed them some pictures to match them with the idioms given below. With some difficulty, the students did the matching which was followed by a task to match the idioms with their meanings. Instead of giving the answers, I elicited the answers from the students. This was followed further by another task of using the idioms in the contexts. I drew the answers from the students that gave an opportunity to get their doubts clarified whenever their answers were incorrect. The whole exercise made the students gain clarity on the concept of an idiom and gave them an opportunity to enrich their knowledge of idioms.

My strengths:

1.       The lead in activity evoked interest in the students and activated their schema.

2.       The class was activity based and was very engaging.

3.       The introduction of Telugu idiom in the class helped the students get a complete clarity on the concept of an idiom and its meaning.

4.       Showing pictures led to student interactivity and discussion.

5.       There was not a single dull moment throughout the session.

My weaknesses:

1.       The lead- in activity was too lengthy. I took 10 minutes of time to drive home the concept of idioms. This marred the idea of a micro lesson.

2.       I should have given the Telugu examples first to help the students derive the meaning of idioms easily and clearly.

3.       I should have taken the students from known to unknown but it was vice-versa in the class.

4.       I used difficult idioms to get the students at the idea of idioms. Instead, I could have used easy idioms.

5.       Though my idea of using the pictures was to teach the abstract ideas, the students were able to understand only the literal meanings the pictures expressed and some pictures represented only literal meanings.

6.       I used too many idioms for a micro lesson.

 My Plan of Action:

1.       I shall be ready to recognize and respond to signs of my lesson plan not working as well as it should.

2.       I shall bear the levels of the students in mind before I introduce any new concept to them.

3.       I shall be mindful of the time allotted to me and will take care that the activities do not last longer than planned.

Microlesson on "Raising Awareness on the Concept of Indianisms"

 Self Feedback on Video Mediated Micro Lesson:"Raising Awareness on the Concept of                                                                                                     Indianisms"

Topic                             : Raising Awareness on the Concept of Indianisms

Level of Learners        : Engineering

Class size                      : 8

Duration of the Class  : 13 minutes

In my attempt to raise awareness on the notion of Indianisms to the learners, I started my lesson by sharing an instance that happened in my life. Also, I put my example on the board and elicited two examples from the students and wrote them on the board. Then, I underlined the Indianisms in the sentences to highlight the concept I wanted to introduce to them. Thereafter, I posed a few questions to know from them what those underlined phrases meant and tried to derive the term Indianism. Then I announced to them that I wanted to teach them the concept of Indianism and its meaning. Later, I gave a handout on Indianisms to the learners and asked them to correct the sentences using their general knowledge. When the learners worked on it, I discussed the answers with them and wrote the definition of the word Indianism in three possible ways so that, the students would understand it better and retain it in their mind.

My strengths:

1. The lead in activity generated interest in the learners and  made them think about the topic.
2. The underlined phrases on the board enabled the learners grasp the topic with little difficulty.
3. The usage of Telugu translations in the class gave an opportunity to motivate the students in comprehending the concept easily.
4. I was able to engage the class in an interactive way.

My Shortcomings:

1. I could have given some more examples to the learners instead of confining myself to just one.
2. I could have called the students by their names to build a good rapport with them.
3. I should have appreciated all the students when they answered my questions. This could have motivated them better.
4. The corrections that students made to the sentences given by me were misleading.
5.  In a sentence such as “In Banjara Hills there are big big buildings” , I accepted the correction made  by the students: “In Banjara Hills there are big buildings”. Though the emphasis was missing,  I did not correct it. The appropriate sentence was ‘In Banjara Hills, there are huge buildings.
6. I failed in correcting the sentences suitably by ensuring the presence of emphasis.
7. In my introduction, I talked about only one type of Indianism when the exercise dealt with different types. So, I could have included one more type.

My Plan of Action:

1. I shall draw more examples from the students to make the classroom more interactive.
2. I shall discuss the answers with the director of our ELT centre and make sure the corrections are appropriate before I teach the students.
3. I shall teach more micro lessons and enhance my pedagogical skills.

Microlesson on 'Introducing the Notion/Idea of Collocations to Engineering Students'

Self Feedback on Video Mediated Micro Lesson: “Introducing the Notion/Idea of Collocations to Engineering Students”

Topic                           : Introducing the Idea of Collocations

Level of Learners       : Engineering

Class size                     : 6

Duration of the Class : 13 minutes

The objective of my class was to raise awareness among the students on the concept of collocations which was totally new to them. I started my lesson by posing questions to them to test their knowledge on collocations. Assuming that the students are unaware of the term, I gave them a handout consisting of two conversations spoken by the students of the same class which had collocational errors in it. I read out the conversations and asked them to translate the collocational errors in English into Telugu, their mother tongue. When the students provided the translations in Telugu, I asked them if they were acceptable word combinations and questioned them furthermore if the combinations appeared natural or unnatural. Later, I referred to the English combinations and found out from them if the word combinations were common or uncommon. Eventually, they responded to me saying the English translations were unnatural. Finally, I tried to drive home the point that a collocation is a natural combination of words.

My Strengths:

• I used the conversations among the students in the class as examples to introduce the idea of     collocations. This helped the students to understand the concept easily.
• The usage of Telugu in the class to teach collocations helped the students to grasp the notion   quickly and resulted in better retention.
• The students interacted with me well in t he class.
• Though the concept of collocations was new, the students did not feel any boredom in the class   and so I was able to engage the class fully.
• I cited the examples on the board that helped the students register the chunks in their mind.

My Draw-Backs:

• I started my class by eliciting information on the concept of collocations. Instead of waiting for an answer from the students, I hastily posed another question that made the students rather confused.
• I ended up teaching two wrong collocations in English such as: ‘take a head bath’ and ‘pick the call’. Though the first collocation does not exist in English, I taught them with great confidence.   I failed to correct the wrong collocation ‘pick the call’ mentioned by one of the students   into ‘pick up the call’.
• I tried to emphasize the concept of collocation time and again which resulted in redundancy.
• I did not use the board effectively in the class as I did not check the quality of the marker pen. As a result, the information on the board was illegible and could not be read clearly by the students.

My Plan of Action:

•  I shall wait patiently for the students to respond to my question.
•  I shall avoid over explication of the concept.
• I shall research thoroughly on the collocations I would like to teach in the class by referring to a standard collocation dictionary there by avoid wrong teaching.
•  I shall check the quality of the teaching aids before I use them in the class.
• Teaching more microlessons regularly and reflecting on them for further improving my pedagogic skills.