Colleges Flexible TESOL

I have learned a lot taking this course. • I gained a lot of knowledge regarding lesson planning and the ESA method, which I now consider when planning my lessons. I found that before this course, I wasn’t conscious of the value of engaging the students at the start of the lesson. Now that I have taken this into consideration and am putting it into practice in my lessons, I find that the students are more focused on the lesson and understand the purpose of their lessons better. • Another aspect of the course that I found rewarding was the information provided in Unit 5 in regard to managing classes. I thought the advice about using the students name at the end of a question instead of the beginning, so that the class stays more alert, was particularly helpful. I plan to use this with my high school english classes, as they tend to have issues with focusing on the lesson. Additionally, before this course, I would stand at all times, regardless as to what I was doing, but I found that taking a seat at appropriate times lets the students relax more and focus on what they are doing. • I also found a lot of the explanations and charts for verb tenses particularly helpful. I plan on using these for reference if I should run into problems explaining tenses to students. In regards to vocabulary, I thought the analogy of vocabulary being like the leaves and grammar being the tree itself as illustrative of how students should view the study of language. • I also had no idea as to how to read the IPA and plan to use this in the future to teach pronunciation of new words in english. • I thought some of the points covered in Unit 16 in regard to reported speech and conditionals to be a bit tricky. However, after doing the worksheet I found that I had a better handle on this subject. I plan to keep a printout on this unit handy when I teach classes on this subject in the future. The same goes for Unit 18. • I thought that the lesson I planned using a DVD was pretty challenging. I would like to try doing this style lesson sometime, but at the schools I work at now that’s not possible.