These are a few observations from classrooms. I mostly observed English classrooms. I also observed several math classes. I have not included all of my observations here.
Overview: Students at Gaoxin High School remain in the
classroom and teachers change. Class
size is approximately 60 students.
Classes run in 45 minute segments as follows: 8:10-8:55, 9:05-9:50,
10:20-11:05, 11:15-12:00. Students then
have a lunch break until 2 pm, after which classes resume, following a similar
schedule: 2:00-2:45, 3:00-3:45, 3:55-4:40, 4:50-5:35. Teachers generally have two classes per day;
the rest of the day is spent in their offices, grading papers or planning for
the day. English teachers also appear to spend much of their planning time translating words into Chinese.
Grading appears to be exam-based, similar to university
setting when student grade depends primarily on a mid-term and a final exam, as
opposed to US secondary schools where students are given a grade for everything
they do. The exam-based grading and a
tradition of study may attribute to the high motivation among students.
Classrooms: Each has a television in the corner, a
chalk-board and a projector with a screen which can be used for Powerpoint
presentations.
Additional information on week March 19-March 23:
Senior 1 students have more liberty since they are not
preparing for the test. On Thursdays
they have electives, on Fridays they have research study. Senior 2 students have less liberty. During March 19-March 23, teachers do not
assign homework, since students are busy preparing for the test. Also from March 26-March 30 there are no
English classes for the same reason.
Observation from -- class March 16:
When -- entered, students stood. When I entered, students clapped. -- began by asking if students remembered all
of the words in the unit, to which student answered a resounding ‘no.’ Students began by reading a “magazine
article” from the book. Teacher did
pre-reading exercise, mainly asking students to guess at the content of the
article. After students read, the
teacher calls on individual students. If
students don’t understand, the teacher calls on another student. Students work in groups to work through the
passage (in Chinese). Although almost
all instruction was in the target language, students discuss in their L1.
At the end of the lesson, the
teacher discussed new vocabulary in Chinese.
When a sentence was not grammatically perfect (although perfectly
comprehensible), the teacher asked “who disagrees?” trying to get another
student to answer correctly. The teacher
gave positive feedback and kept the class moving.
Observation of class 2, 3rd period:
Class setup is approximately boy-girl-boy. There are a total of 60 students in the
class, 23 girls and 27 boys. The teacher
uses a microphone and spoke in 99% L1 (Chinese). Students appear to
volunteer, standing up, although some are called on.
Desks have deep holders for storing the books and pamphlets
that make up Chinese classroom material.
The teacher began by writing subject, object, predicative
and appositive on the chalk board.
Students had done their homework and the class period consisted
primarily of a homework review. The
homework was a cloze activity. The
teacher followed the method of reading the sentence without the answer and then
asking students to provide the answer.
The teacher wrote three categories on the board 1. That, if, whether; 2.
Who, whom, whose, which, what, whatever, 3. When, where, why, how, which gave
students support for answers.
Observation of class 3, 7th period:
Class setup is similar to class 2. There are 53 students, although only 15
appear to be girls. The teacher began
class in English by asking whole class questions, for example, Did you have a
good time in your PE class? (they had just come from PE) Students answered chorally. The teacher called on students throughout the class as well. The subject
material was similar to class one: Noun clauses, subject clauses, predicate
clauses and appositive clauses. However,
the plan was different. The students
didn’t get to the cloze activity, and it seemed that she assigned it at the
very end of class. Most of the class was
in Chinese, perhaps 90%. The teacher did
code switch at times, interspersing ‘because’ among the Chinese.
At 4:15, after introducing the grammar points, the teacher
began writing examples on the board. She wrote the example, asked the question, and answered it herself.
The teacher taught the following clauses: but that, except
that, save that, and in that. She gave
among the examples ‘She was lucky in that she had friends to help her.’ ‘It seems as if it is going to rain.’ Students continued working several minutes
after the bell had rung.
Friday, March 23
Observation from math class, hour 1, Senior 2:
Class began when the teacher entered and students
stood and bowed. According to the other teachers,
math students will be reviewing for the exam in this class. The teacher appeared to be very active,
moving around the room and varying his voice.
He used a mix of whole class response and individual response and used
gestures. Students began by working on
homework questions. When working individually, students were completely silent. The teacher asked students to work on the
board. At one point in time, a student
questioned the teacher’s answer. As with
many teachers, he continued teaching after the bell rang.
English class 4, 3rd period:
Instruction was almost 100% in Chinese. The students stood when the teacher
entered. The class began with a
student-led pronunciation exercise. The
student generally repeated each word three, sometimes four times. Prior to this exercise, the teacher admonished
students to pay attention to the Chinese meaning. It appeared to be primarily a drilled
pronunciation activity. After this exercise, students worked on cloze activities and
translation activities from a “newspaper,” which was actually a worksheet
printed on newspaper-type paper. The
teacher generally repeated the answer after the student, often asking “what
does it mean in Chinese?”
Students worked quietly, filling in the blanks with proper
prepositions or adverbs. Students asked
for help during quiet work time, and the teacher readily supplied aid.
English, class 1, 4th hour:
This class was possibly 90% in the target language (English). The purpose of this class was for students to
read a passage on “Old Tom the Killer Whale” and to do exercises in the
book. The teacher gave students a short
time to read through the passage and do exercise one. She had an extensive PowerPoint. Students read silently. I noticed a contrast with an earlier
observation of an American teacher, which caused me to wonder if students feel a
connection with their native teachers, knowing that the teachers have the same
understanding of the test-focused instruction.
The students appeared to be self-focused
without a need for teacher-mandated focus. Interestingly, the teacher allowed only one answer, although I would feel there would be multiple possibilities as answers to the questions. Later, I collaborated with Chinese teachers to discuss test questions and the multiple possibilities for answers. The teachers were very interested in consulting the opinions of the native English speakers.
Although the teacher assigned group work for answering the
questions, following the instructions in the text-book, students worked on
their own.
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