I've been very impressed by the way that the students have been voluntarily coming into the classroom and diligently studying. Usually, the students do the reading box. The students are really progressing quickly through this first box and will soon be starting on the second box. It's great to see that the students are self-motivated and seem to know how to study. This is what I have been trying to teach them since they have come onto the programme and am very satisfied to see that they see the benefit in studying in order to improve their English skills. It seems that my role is now just one of monitoring and stimulating them to look for other sources to learn from.
Next term (that's this Monday) I will carry on with the students teaching a grammar or vocabulary lesson for about five to ten minutes using the Smartboard. The students learn a lot of the language associated with management of the classroom. It also gives the students the power to organise the class the way that they want. They can make the activity as easy or as hard as they would like, but need to always think of the most efficient way to teach the lesson, i.e., writing things up on the board before the lesson, making instructions clear and easy for the class to follow, thinking about how best to explain the activity so that all levels of English learners can understand, predicting possible problems that may arise, giving time limits, etc, etc. I really think that this makes the students think deeply about their activity.
I also plan to give another TOEIC test in the next couple of weeks, and if the weather is fine, plan an outing to Glenfalloch Woodland Gardens.
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