Thursday 18th June
This
was the day I was asked to come in and finalize my learning agreement
with my supervisor. It has been decided I will be observing 2 ESOL
classes, at levels Pre-intermediate and Intermediate 5 times a week and 2
Japanese classes in years 10 and 11 3 times a week. I will begin from
the 21st July.
Tuesday 21st July Today marks the first real day for starting my placement, due to my timetable restrictions, I can only do a half day on Tuesday which allows for one ESOL class. This year 11 classes NZQA unit standard will focus on a procedural or skills based lesson for the term, more specifically surrounding the area of obtaining a New Zealand Drivers License.
The area for testing the understanding of the context will exercise various methods of student checking such as gap fill, true/false/does not say, and justifying answers through paraphrase. There are several exercises I could employ to practice these areas should any of the students become stuck. However, since this is an intermediate level class, I find it difficult to believe they would not have encountered something like these styles of questioning previously. I think my main purpose of observing this class will be to note how the NZQA system is employed and which areas they aim to target within a procedural based lesson.
Thursday 23rd July
With
my timetable finalized, Thursdays I work with the two, year 10 and 11
Japanese classes. Composed of roughly 14-19 students each, they are
currently exercising grammatical points. For the year 11 students, they
had their speeches, to be completed in 1 minute about a topic they had
been given earlier. From what I could tell, the topics ranged from
family, Auckland, and their own hobbies. The year 10 got a chance to
practice their conversation skills with visiting Japanese students from
Aichiken. 5 minutes in English and 5 minutes in Japanese so each class
got a chance to exercise their language skills. Being only year 10, the
topics and understanding were fairly limited, however I got the chance
to help and exercise my own Japanese language skills in order to help
them communicate.
For
the ESOL class I was given the chance to start the class by taking the
role and help them with their research into the NZ drivers license
procedure.
Friday 24th July
Reaching
another one of my learning outcomes, I attended a staff meeting that
takes place every Friday and Monday. It was insightful to see how much
goes on behind what any student would witness. The same but major role
that teachers have in organizing, preparing and maintaining the school
and its programs.
Looking
at the role I was given by the Japanese teacher, I can identify now,
whom I might be of help to in regards to tutoring. I will talk more to
the teacher about this but she has expressed interest in this idea. For
now I shall observe more and do some researching into the standards for
all the classes I will be helping. Next week Thursday I will be helping
the elementary class with their speeches.
Thursday 30th July
Meeting
is always the way to start a Friday, since the principal is in China
there wasn't much to say. However the day did start with a wake up call,
two in fact, fire drills for the examination students. Much fun, much
noise.
Tuesday 28th July
Today
the 11ESOL2 class had their presentations on getting a New Zealand
drivers license. Each did very well with little to no mistakes, and
should do well on the procedure test on getting such information and
researching. I really need to read the standards for this test to see
what exactly the marking schedule is and how each lesson is styled to
achieve such outlines.
For
the second period I observed on the English for Academic Purposes class
(13EAP) who are in the middle of working towards a reading, skimming
and scanning procedure standard. Their tasks surround complex texts of
which the student is expected to find, paraphrase and draw their own
conclusions and opinions from to answer set questions. I will inquire if
I can observe these students further as I imagine these students will
more likely to lead onto taking the IELTS examinations of which I have
great interest in.
Thursday 30th July
Rutherford
is facing a busy night tonight as it is open night, where year 8
students can come and look at the school. This apparently extends into
tomorrow so I suspect many of the staff will be exhausted. Working with
the year 11 and 10 students I can identify which students might like my
help, five boys in one and perhaps two in the other. For the ESOL
classes I have expressed my interest to tutor, and my academic
supervisor has suggested 3 students, two in one and one in the other.
This will help me with my learning aims and my understanding of the
NZQA, which I can then better examine and compare with Cambridge. I will
compose a proposal for my supervisor and work from there.
I
also got to observe the 9ELL class, an elementary level of around 9
students. They, like the levels above are doing a reading procedure,
specifically concerning ancient civilizations. Working towards the
Achievement level of gapfill and synonym finding within the text.
Tomorrow I will be forgoing my Japanese observations to review the
speeches for the elementary level ESOL class.
Friday 31st July
Today
commenced, as all fridays do, with a staff meeting. Mainly to recap
over the open evening the occered the night before, the school has no
employed a policy that allows year 8 students the ability to visit the
classrooms during the day. While this has little to no effect on the
department I'm in, its still interesting to note how the school works
behind the scenes of such public displays.
I
presented my proposal to tutor students to my academic supervisor, whom
has indicated the students I would be useful to. I began working with
one, who seems receptive and willing to learn with me. From this point
on I will be working with them on the reading skills procedure they are
currently working on. For now they are composing their own assessment,
getting them to focus on the different types of questions and getting
them to think about what question is asking from them.
Instead
of going to the Japanese department,I was asked to help moderate some
elementary level speeches, which is an entirely new process for me. I
was surprised to find that my own assumptions, after briefly reading the
marking schedule, matched those of either my supervisor or the
teacher.
The
afternoon was taken by offering to help one of the heads of department
by setting up the goodbye party for the Japanese students while
simultaneously welcoming the new students arriving that night. I got to
use some of my Japanese here, though I had wished I had studied more
keigo or had time to brush up on my grammar. I try to use my Japanese
when I can by fear for using it does seem to be on the rise.
Thursday 6th August
Tuesday 4th August
Tuesdays,
I only have one class and today they had their assessment on a familiar
reading, namely the drivers license acquisition. Watching a NCEA
assessment being conducted will contribute greatly towards my comparison
between the two dominant examination methods (NCEA or CIE).
Thursday 6th August
I'm
getting listless in the Japanese class, mainly because due to the
nature of the lessons there is not much I can do other than run minor
errands. I'm only in the classroom 3 times a week and try to help the
students when they are tasked or are working in pairs.
For
the ESOL class however, I was able to help one of the better Japanese
students, situated somewhere between pre and intermediate level English.
I think the Japanese students are a little unnerved that I can speak or
understand them. Some even coaxing me to prove that I can understand
them via basic translation. I only wish to exercise this ability in the
ESOL class if it can provide a better understanding of English, not to
test out my own abilities when not required. I also got to meet my last
student I will be working with, he seems very receptive and willing to
learn, but I fear his problem lies with his inability to forgo minor
details and therefore runs out of time to answer.
It
is the plan for this class to be split between ability, my self working
mainly with the lower students to help them improve. For the ESOL3 they
will be working towards a presentation of their favorite person (not a
family member) in preparation for next year.
The
students are also tasked with choosing their subjects for next year,
for these students that is a daunting task as its a collective belief
that these subjects will be a pathway to your future career. While I
don't agree with the fear mongering this brings, I understand the
purpose for it. Students cling to structure and grow by it, I wish there
was a better method for this, but as I see it there are none. I offered
my input to answer any questions the students might have concerning AUT
or UNITEC to hopefully put their minds at slighter ease, good knows I
needed it when I was in their shoes. I think this talk will happen
tomorrow.
Friday 7th August
I
know one of learning goal was to network, and while I can work with the
team surrounding the languages and ESOL departments, the teachers
beyond that are highly secretive, like children with cliques. I think
that's why I don't take to the staff meetings as well as I should.
On
the one hand, I am working slowly with the Japanese class, who are
organizing their restaurant trip. On the other I am working on tutoring 5
students, one I work with next week. In the meantime I act as an
intermediate for my supervisor, an extra pair of hands and eyes for the
classroom, and sometimes a sounding board.
The
students will be continuing with reading procedures and eventually a
presentation assessment in preparation for next year. I gave my talk
about university only to be met with dull eyes. I can understand the
reasons why, I wish I could bring some relief but as I remember myself
at that stage in life, I was much the same.
For my methodology and theory, I think I will research maintaining student focus. \
Friday 14th August
Tuesday 18th August
Thursday 20th August
Friday 28th August
Tuesday 1st September
Thursday 3rd September
Friday 4th September
Tuesday 8th September
Tuesday 11th August
Today
I start my work with my first student from Chile, going over her
assessment of which she did not pass. Reading over it I could understand
her mistakes, her lack of understanding of words leading her to guess
but in some cases it was a simple miscommunication of the task. This
students weaknesses are not reading the question, synonym
identification, connectives and conjunctions, pronoun reference and
identifying key words/phrases. I have a feeling she becomes so
overwhelmed by the sheer amount of working in thew question she takes a
guess at what she is looking for. While working with her on it, it was
abundantly clear she understood what the task was asking of her, after
reading the entire question or paragraph given. With no doubt some of
what we discussed will have to be cemented, and at this point int time I
doubt greatly we shall be able to but I might be able to include it in
the current task they are doing; the brain questionnaire.
More
of the students seem to be seeking my help, which as an acting
intermediary for student and teacher is very pleasing. I will be working
with a Japanese student next on her synonym identification, this and
pronoun reference seem to be unnecessarily difficult for these students
to understand. I will be preparing my own material to exercise with, attached (at advanced level).
Thursday 13th August
Today
the Japanese teacher was absent, so myself, the reliever and the other
Japanese student teacher had to take the year 11 and 10 Japanese
classes. I found within the year 10 class was a student who has only
just begun to study Japanese, struggling with learning Hiragana, so I
opted to help her while the other teacher tasked the students with a
worksheet. I later learned this student is in the EL2 class which I see
once a week. This class is in the process of reading The Rabbit Proof Fence
and will be writing a response to this. After the brain assessment, EL3
will be working towards a presentation on a news event in their
country, and possibly a person they admire surrounding that news event.
Friday 14th August
Today
the students are focusing on their brain assessments and developing
personal responses. These responses can be to an article or film but
must be at a certain academic level. The students must react to and
think about responses to these texts while using correct grammar,
complex and compound sentences, examples fro their personal lives and a
final recommendation. I read one from a Japanese student who struggles
greatly with grammar patterns and the differences between Japanese and
English. Thankfully I could draw on some of my own to help demonstrate
the differences between the adjectives. I've also been tasked with
marking the students brain assessments in the meantime. By formulating
their own questions they learn exactly what the assessment is tasking
them and therefore improve their ability to identify and answer the
questions more efficiently. Next Friday is Rutherford Day, so networking
will be the primary focus.
Tuesday 18th August
Today
the students had their driving procedure assessment to do, which
usually takes two or more periods and have to be stretched over the day.
While I couldn't be present for the second half, during the time I
observed and am now under full understanding of how an NCEA examination
works for the ESOL department. The next assessment will require them to
write a personal response to an article or news event or piece of text
or multimedia. I had the chance to review one last week which reflected
on an earthquake in Japan, these ones (all done by one student) were
very clear and exercised almost perfect grammar.
Thursday 20th August
Today
I got to learn a bit more about the students I'm working with, some
wish to become nurses and others doctors. I got to understand where some
of them want to go in life and I think that will help me in helping
them achieve their goals. I'm working more closely with one particular
student in the Japanese class in building the basics of Japanese,
including greeting and basic words and sentences.
Friday 21st August
Today
marked the celebration that is Rutherford day, where it is spent with
the first two periods shortened and the day doing speeches and
networking with other staff. So its a day for fun, so I got to play
kahoot with the Japanese class, it was good to see the Japanese students
getting involved with the class for a change. Then I got to work with
the ESOL students, working on their personal responses, especially with
one student who seems to struggle with Japanese to English grammar. That
afternoon I watched the principal give a speech which surprisingly had
acknowledgment for its audience, and a guest speaker who was really
interesting and down to earth. Then I had to talk with other members of
staff, and I still find that networking is not for me.
Tuesday 25th August
Half
day today as I worked with a Japanese student on her final personal
response. She seems to get confused with the order English presents
itself but she is clear on her intentions on what she wants to convey.
She will get there with more practice I'm sure.
Thursday 27th August
Today
I was working with a very competent Japanese student who seems to have
gotten a bit lost on the structure of the personal response, which is
strange since she had been producing excellent work prior to this final
piece. After some discussion she has re-written the piece which is much
better but still requires some minor clarification and relation to
outside events. The other Japanese student is working towards a
presentation on Global Warming, but requires some help to formulate her
sentences. Finally the Chilean student, she had opted to do a
presentation but changed her mind to continue with personal responses to
texts.
In the Japanese class, as a reward they watched Waterboys
Friday 28th August
Today
I was working with a Chilean student who is working on their personal
response to 5 news articles and one novel. We spent our time choosing
articles and reviewing her strategies when dealing with questions. Her
speaking is affluent but her writing and reading seems to be weaknesses,
especially the ability to identify what is being asked of her. In the
meantime other students are working on presentations to be given in term
4.
Today was also the last day for the Aichiken students to which we had a shared lunch!
Tuesday 1st September
Tuesday
was a bit of a change for me, since I am now on holiday I was able to
stay and help my supervisor as she was the only one in the office today.
It was a strange experience, and I opted not to venture to the Japanese
class as they had no knowledge I was there and is not my general
routine. This time I worked with a Chinese male student working toward
his personal response, finding conflicts between the English and the
Chinese news regarding the explosion that occurred recently. This was
later highlighted by a Japanese female student when comparing the
Japanese and English news.
Thursday 3rd September
Today
I worked with Chilean and Chinese students who are working toward their
personal responses and recount responses. The Chinese student was
highlighted to me earlier in the program but since herself and another
Chinese student work together I have little space to work with them. Her
grammar and vocabulary is sorely lacking, relying heavily on her
translator, I think she struggles with the systems in place at
Rutherford and lacks to see the point in them. I will be working with
her to develop her recount on her trip to the Hamilton Gardens. In the
Japanese class I have found a stronger desire to use my Japanese,
speaking with the Japanese students in Japanese class and helping the
students, a young male particularly, when I can.
Friday 4th September
Today
I worked with Tuvalu student, reviewing her inability to slow down and
read the question, opting to give general answers. He abilities are
great and I gave her some tips to reading and understanding the
questions which I have listed as evidence for tutoring. On the other
hand I got to read and comment on a response from a Japanese male
student who has a great capacity for humor but lacks in speech
communication, much like myself I suspect. In the Japanese class I
worked with a Malaysian student on her Japanese and helped the native
Japanese students with their year 11 and 13 biology. This has become an
extended part of my placement, since I took these subjects myself over 5
years ago, while I did not pursue these as a career I would be lying to
say I did not enjoy them, with the majority of the students opting to
study in the medical field I offered my services and recommendations as a
former student in order to further aid these students into achieving
their goals. Next week will mark my last week at my placement.
Tuesday 8th September
Today
was another half day as I worked with the Chilean and the Japanese
students. The Chilean student seemed too tired to absorbs anything and
despite their exams beginning tomorrow she has done zero amount of
study. I'm quite sure she suffers from being over tested and from the
material being of higher level than she is able to understand. On the
other hand I'm helping a Japanese student create her presentation on
Global warming, she seems to suffer from problems of grammatical
structure, unsure where to place words despite having them in correct
tense and spelling most of the time. She needs to slow down and
formulate her sentences before writing them down, or at least write down
key words then formulating the correct sentence structure.
Thursday 10th September
The
students have started their examinations, and as the ESOL classes run
with the students tested on their ability not their age, most of the
senior school was missing from their lessons, leaving 5 junior students
to practice updating their classmates on what they had missed while they
were taking exams. Each of them would take the class to present a piece
of information, not unlike a teacher would. Improving their confidence
and stage manner.
This same student is the one I help with Japanese and with her English lessons, correcting her speech on first home ownership. For the Japanese I had done as much as I can with the time I have had, giving her review sheets I have constructed myself occupying the spacing effect with her lessons. However as she is in a year 11 class, she had to step in to learn transport, which was a nice thing to observe, as she is usually unable to follow the lesson.Here she was capable and followed the vocabulary lesson and played the game very well with her classmates.
In the meantime I helped the seniors who had come and built a fort in the classroom for studying, asking questions and trying to absorb all they had learn. The Japanese student I got to help with her biology (ribosomes) seemed to finally understand the science. She is very bright so I have no doubt she will do well in the field however I will not lie, the terminology may be a bit of a challenge.
This same student is the one I help with Japanese and with her English lessons, correcting her speech on first home ownership. For the Japanese I had done as much as I can with the time I have had, giving her review sheets I have constructed myself occupying the spacing effect with her lessons. However as she is in a year 11 class, she had to step in to learn transport, which was a nice thing to observe, as she is usually unable to follow the lesson.Here she was capable and followed the vocabulary lesson and played the game very well with her classmates.
In the meantime I helped the seniors who had come and built a fort in the classroom for studying, asking questions and trying to absorb all they had learn. The Japanese student I got to help with her biology (ribosomes) seemed to finally understand the science. She is very bright so I have no doubt she will do well in the field however I will not lie, the terminology may be a bit of a challenge.
In
a last minute situation I was also given the challenge to moderate some
writing pieces by the elementary students on various documentaries and
films they had seen and their responses to such visual texts, overall I
agreed with most but there were some that I disagreed on, I had my
supervisor look over them as well to see what her opinion would be.
Friday 11th September
From there I got to holding an exam, well babysit one, the recount and description papers for the students who arrived later in the year. Overall they did very well, but there was one of the Chinese students I wish I could have worked a little closer with needed some extra work, however he is very bright and I am sure he is in good hands.
To pass the time I read their responses and marked them, they are very capable students and I sure most of them passed, although one was asked to repeat their work as it was believed they could achieve more.
After this my supervisor and I decided to review my feedback form for my placement, all was good. By this point the students had to into their afternoon exams so they said goodbye to me and gave me a cake!
From this point I helped that student I wish I could have spent more time with, working on his mind map for his next recount writing on a trip to the beach, he relies heavily on his translator but after encouraging him to draw pictures or describe the thing we often reached an understanding and thus increased his vocabulary. Shell, Eggplant, L and P
Leading on from lunch where myself and the Cambodian student who I studied Japanese, ESOL and English with I helped her with her presentation power point to aid her English speech, very nice student.
Finally I got to help the Japanese student with her interview at a Japanese University which will be held in English, she will do very well but the English level they require is quite complicated, nevertheless I have faith and her attitude will get her very far.
