Monday, December 9, 2013
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Monday, November 4, 2013
Why Common words
Knowing the most commonly used words can help me to make differentiation between unknown ones and known ones of students' vocabulary knowledge. What my point here is, If I known the most commonly used words, I will have an idea of that my students does not encounter with other words in any area.Therefore, I will not consume my time by teaching every single word.
In my humble opinion, it is not necessary to teach common words explicitly because They will meet these words sooner or later and because of the frequency level of them, they will know them .
I am strongly against to teach vocabulary apart from the reading, listening skills, It must be taught as a sub-category of the the other skills. I do not want to separate them from each other. What I prefer is that, give a reading passage to the students and make them guess the meaning of unknown word, so it is not an explicit way of the teaching vocabulary.
If my students are visual learners, then it will be helpful to list the vocabulary, what I am saying that it depends on the students' preference and the learning styles.
In my humble opinion, it is not necessary to teach common words explicitly because They will meet these words sooner or later and because of the frequency level of them, they will know them .
I am strongly against to teach vocabulary apart from the reading, listening skills, It must be taught as a sub-category of the the other skills. I do not want to separate them from each other. What I prefer is that, give a reading passage to the students and make them guess the meaning of unknown word, so it is not an explicit way of the teaching vocabulary.
If my students are visual learners, then it will be helpful to list the vocabulary, what I am saying that it depends on the students' preference and the learning styles.
BNL 2709- UNKNOWN WORD
The students generally have difficulties in guessing the unknown word which are totally unfamiliar for them. What I expect you to come up with the idea of "cultural knowledge" by talking about "unfamiliarity". Let me exemplify this; your students do not have any idea about christmas, you are teaching in a rural area of Turkey. You gave them a reading passage with some blanks, and you asked them to fill that blanks with corresponding words. Even if the words were the most common ones, your students would not be able to guess and fill it.
I also experienced such kind of situation because I am native speaker of Turkish and I have limited cultural knowledge towards the target language, in this case, English is the target language.
I also experienced such kind of situation because I am native speaker of Turkish and I have limited cultural knowledge towards the target language, in this case, English is the target language.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
How I Experienced ASSURE Model...
When I think my previous experiences by considering ASSURE model, I see more specificly how my former teachers used and how I benefited or affected negatively from that. To start with, my all previous teachers actually "A"nlyzed their learners, in the first lesson of the semester they wanted to know us, asked questions or let us write down about ourselves. I think this helped them to learn about us and they considered this when they do their lesson. They "S"tated their objectives and standarts at the very beginning of the course. That is why we never encountered any surprise during the semester which made us work in program. It is good for both students and teachers.. When it comes to "S"electing strategy, techology, media and materials it is actually related the 4 approaches that I reflected in my previous blog. Some of them behaviorist, typical Turkish teacher and some just a very few of them were doing different that still we remember. That teachers used technology and realia relevant to the lesson.. However, the typical Turkish ones just used type recordings. That old technology... So when I asked to write how they "U"tilized the technology and media; I unfortunately do not have the experience to let me write. Also there is a negative point here, when I first took Steve Hoca's lesson, it was hard to get used to it. Even, still there are problems I encounter when I use technology in class. Thanks to my former teachers, and education system in Turkey we grown up just like trees. "R"equiring learner participation is another problem in some teachers' classes. Students were afraid of participating in lesson! Teachers scared students by threating them with grades if they say something false. However, again, a few of them did this right, encouraged students to participate in.. That is how they made students remember the lesson.
Here is important for me "E"valuating and revising, because my former teachers evaluated and measured us in a fair way. Also, they supported students who were studying hard but couldn't get good grades.
What I reccomend to my former teachers is, please do not use only behaviorist approach.. This make students get bored from the school! Help them improve their critical thinking..
Here is important for me "E"valuating and revising, because my former teachers evaluated and measured us in a fair way. Also, they supported students who were studying hard but couldn't get good grades.
What I reccomend to my former teachers is, please do not use only behaviorist approach.. This make students get bored from the school! Help them improve their critical thinking..
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Education that I Experienced Based on 4 Approaches.
I would like to begin with the behaviorist theory. This is the most common theory that used by teachers in Turkey so my teacher was used that so much. To examplify; she always gave the grammar explicitly. She wrote the rules of the grammar and asked us to write it down. After doing this she gave us tests about that day's subject then we answered the questions on the test. If there was any question that we confused, we would ask her. So this is the most obvious for the behaviorist approach. However, the same person made her lesson differently for the first time which was constructivist approach. Here is the examplification: She played a song which was belong to Madonna and gave us lyrics of the song that some parts of them were blank. After we listened the song, we were going to write the missing part by listening the song. That was so enjoyable that still is in mind, even the name of the singer. I would reccomend my former teacher to use technology more effectively so that there might be an eclectic approach that make her lesson much more recognizable...
Drama Analysis
Drama Analysis is one of the must courses that given by Assist. Prof. Dr. Scott BOYD, who is also head of EFL department in METU NCC. The course Drama Analysis is generally based on English Literature Plays, we analyze the significance of the plays by using some methods...
To begin with, Mr. Boyd arranges class discussions in order to make students develop their minds. Also he prepares questions and ask to the class to make students think and find a good response. The responses must be logical and reasonable.. Now, the point make me think that this part of Mr. Boyd's covering of the lesson is based on cognitivist approach. Students develop their critical thinking ability, they learn how to look at something from a different point of view. However, sometimes he keeps telling the plays all the 3 lessons, he doesn't ask students anything, he want students to learn how he see the points. Also, he sometimes ask his certain point of views in the exams. Students feel that they must reflect Mr. Boyd's opinions in order to pass the course. This part of the lesson is behaviorist approach. It is obvious that there is no any creation required from students by Mr. Boyd. Besides; he asks students to write learning journals after every reading works and classes. Students write their ideas towards both characters and events happening in the play. But there is a difference here, they do not write as a summary, they write their own ideas in a creative way. Which means, there is a mind construction, developing critical thinking; thus it is a constructivist appraoch...
To begin with, Mr. Boyd arranges class discussions in order to make students develop their minds. Also he prepares questions and ask to the class to make students think and find a good response. The responses must be logical and reasonable.. Now, the point make me think that this part of Mr. Boyd's covering of the lesson is based on cognitivist approach. Students develop their critical thinking ability, they learn how to look at something from a different point of view. However, sometimes he keeps telling the plays all the 3 lessons, he doesn't ask students anything, he want students to learn how he see the points. Also, he sometimes ask his certain point of views in the exams. Students feel that they must reflect Mr. Boyd's opinions in order to pass the course. This part of the lesson is behaviorist approach. It is obvious that there is no any creation required from students by Mr. Boyd. Besides; he asks students to write learning journals after every reading works and classes. Students write their ideas towards both characters and events happening in the play. But there is a difference here, they do not write as a summary, they write their own ideas in a creative way. Which means, there is a mind construction, developing critical thinking; thus it is a constructivist appraoch...
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