JournalEight 2000, May 3-4

[Written on last verso page of JournalSix]

JournalSeven Note week missed for midterm

I had quite a number of plans for classes.

1. prepared some quiz questions based on same form as books: Principal calling parent about problem

2. more important some discussion questions on homework

   • 1. write down all the topics people mentioned in dialog done for taping homework about how of discussion between your mother and your teacher

[On a separate stapled set of pages]

Note in Journal 7 that a week was missed for _2ndmid term

Written essentially May 8 Written May 5

I had quite a number plans for classes

1. prepared some quiz questions of same form as book exercises on grammar points from dialogue of parent principal calling parent about problem.

2. more important some discussion questions on homework.

   • 1. write down all the topics people mentioned in dialog done for taping homework (which was discussion between your mother & your teacher) (written May 8) Scored by number of points on each all answers of group
   • 2. which subjects liked best
   • 3. some others? check book

   But none of the discussion questions were firmly decided: only first listening to tape.

3C May 3

First played 2 tapes, 3C and 3D [of classroom proceedings?]. Groups had to decided which was which. Noiser 3C. Not too sure what my aim was. I collected answers for grading per group. But forgot to start tape after. Remembered only in middle of second hour to start it.

Then asked and found noone had done homework. Which was disappointing. (Lina and Linda alone did it.) I did with them what I would have liked wanted them to do outside class. I think I started by getting Linda & Stacy and Lora to do dialogue & they stayed pretty close to book, but I was happy with their enthusiasm. I told them Stacy’s they were their mother & their teacher. (Stacy had come up to me at the start of the class & said she hadn’t done the homework because her partner had been absent from school. She wanted to work with someone from another group. I wanted to prevent this, so I said wait to see if Vison(?) her partner, was coming back) I think I got them to stand up.

I somehow then moved on to doing same thing with Bobo. I wanted them to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses in school by taking the role of teacher commenting on their own performances. I think Bobo just took her mother’s role & I was just the teacher. I commented how she was a good student but was having problems working with group & did not always work very hard, but I think accentuated the positive a lot & soft pedaled the problems very much.

I did this twice with her, perhaps changing over roles. I got them to practice in pairs, but I don’t know if they did it. I also told them writing such a dialogue in book was homework. 3 for funny, real. 2 for own words. 1 for reading from book. 7 lines. Only 5 in textbook.

This was end of first hour.

Second hour was principal calling home dialogue. We did dialogue, substitution drills & exercises. (At some point, probably during drills or in practicing teacher-parent dialogue in pairs, I gave participation points, 3, 2, 1 if they seemed to be looking at books from & working on dialogue. This was long distance. It must have been here, because I practiced drawing complicated seating chart on board)

Then we did, Who said this? on facing page, I got them to do this together & I explained some & then I wrote similar questions on board & they wrote answers on paper. I tried to stop cheating (Perhaps I give people too much time & they use this to cheat). I don’t think there was time to do other exercise on grammar on same page.

3D still haven’t May 4 written May 13 After 3C,3D following week

I have tape of most of class & I listened to it on train home on May 5. It is first one which is relatively well got 60 minutes of recording done. I can check how accurate my memory is.

Same start as 3C. They were in other-class seating arrangement. I played tape of 2 classes 3C & 3D 3C (noisier) & 3D (quieter) & asked them which was which. I didn’t make it a gradable thing. That probably means I didn’t collect it on paper. I think this was a decision made at that point, but it makes sense in terms of my feelings questioning of its point, though this feeling may have come when writing [this]. I think I had a different order of tapes from 3C. I’ve forgotten how I got responses from class. Did I get them to write on board or on paper or did I just ask? I thought it was successful. I asked why 3C is so noisy. But didn’t draw make have any pedagogical point to make.

I had remembered to turn on tape start recording after playing 3C & 3D tapes so this can be checked. I then asked 6-10 people if they had done the homework. Noone had. This was disappointing. I asked if it was not interesting or too difficult. Sabrina said, No, they just forgot. At some point they offered to do it for next week. I said no. So I did the same almost with 3D I did with 3C.

I asked Rita (top student but not top speaker) who was sitting at front in this other-class arrangement what her mother’s name was Mrs Lee? Was I her mother? Or was I her teacher? The teacher has the hard part, talking about how the student works hard & her grades are excellent. I think I was Rita’s mother & she was the Japanese teacher or English teacher, but we (she) didn’t change the hard part (talking about how she herself was doing.) We did this 2 or 3 times.

Then I asked Maggie & Sabrina (best speakers) to ~_take do it. Maggie’s mother (Mrs Tsuan) was Sabrina? Maggie was her Japanese teacher? They got it wrong (not the way I wanted them to do it) first time. I let them go for a while & corrected them. Then I got them to stand on stage & do it again.

Then I asked the class to work/do it with the person sitting next to them (a person they normally didn’t work with in my class because it was still other-class seating). My intention reason was to have natural reason to do it twice for practice. It was bit difficult pairing people up in 7x7 class. Probably they didn’t do so much. (Listening to tape on May 5, these pairwork periods where I cannot be heard seem very long & I wonder if they are doing anything or just chatting. This is what autonomy is about trusting learners, but I could make them shorter.)

This was probably end of first hour. I had already turned tape over and stopped it, but forgot to start it at start of second. Remembered 15-20 minutes into second hour.

Probably we did teacher-parent conversations in coop learning groups. I told them this would be homework writing in books 7-line dialogue between their teacher & mother about progress at school. 3 for funny or true, 2 for own words, 1 for same as book (Most were same as book but with 7 lines No Progress parts were straight from book usually except for 1,2).

The next dialog between principal & parent about student problem. Practiced both ways. We did it with dialing & waiting for parent to answer. I was said I was specific student’s parents. I said I respected them. I don’t know why but I did do, I said. This broke down when no one would answer the phone. I must have gotten them to practice in pairs with the substitution drills, or perhaps we just went on to Who said what, matching the school jobs & statements. They did exercises in book, then they did my quiz (different order from 3C) written on board. I was strict about no talking, but not effective in preventing cheating. I don’t think I explained much about book quiz.

Then we just had enough time to do other quiz on same page p133. I got one person to come to front. (second person in groups?) And

Was the English test hard? No, ______

They all wrote “wasn’t” instead of “It wasn’t”

I think I did participation points twice. Once in first hour for doing parent-teacher dialog. Once in second hour for Who’s talking quiz. Points written on board.