Personal and Cultural DevelopmentMonday was my birthday so I went into teaching practice to be greeted by a few grinning children who remembered. In the evening I went to a party organised by some of my international friends. We chatted and shared a lot of memories about Hong Kong. We were all very reflective because some of our friends had already returned and this was going to be the last evening for some of us to gather together.
On Sunday my Chinese friends held a beach party for me. We were able to enjoy the programme that the Filipino workers had put on with dancing, long jump and running races. The beach was in Kowloon Bay near Stanley Market so it was really busy. The weather was lovely and it was a great way to relax before heading home to arrange my teaching file for being handed in Monday morning.
This week I visited a cultural museum near Renaissance college to pick up some information for my assignment on the identity of the Hong Kong people. Unfortunately the section I was most interested in was closed for renovations but I did enjoy the rest of the museum especially the art and calligraphy.
Professional Development
On Wednesday the supervisor came out to watch me teach a maths lesson. It was great to meet him and discuss his experiences with International education. The lesson went well and it was good just to be able to reflect o my practice so far. The teacher is really inspirational and I know I've grown a lot as a teacher. The highlight of this week was Thursday when I became an observer and was allowed to wonder around the other classrooms. I was able to take lots of pictures and discuss with the teachers what they thought were the best classroom management techniques. One that really stuck out is 'opportunity to learn.' If a child is not doing exactly what they are told-talking during a lesson etc they are asked to stand to the side of the classroom and observe the other children. They then pick a child and describe how they are learning well and the teacher encourages them to model this behavior. Two girls were asked to stand out while I was observing carpet time. When asked to choose a student who had displayed good behavior she choose her friend and and described how she was sitting quietly,away from friends and waiting patiently with her hand up. The teacher told this child good now you try these things and when she had praised her later in the lesson. The teacher stressed the importance of follow up to me, reinforcing good behavior.
In one of the other classrooms the teacher used the morning as an opportunity to improve grammar and punctuation, something she realised her students were poor at. She used a game called 'Gotcha'. The children came in quickly sat down and got out their writing books to work on the sentence on the board. If they got all the mistakes correct then they got to write their name on a gotcha card and put it in the box. If not the teacher would go around saying 'Gotcha' and they had a few chances to correct their mistakes. The sooner the child settles and gets on with the task the more opportunities he has to put his name on the gotcha card for the lucky draw at the end of the week. The children are really keen. Its a great way to settle everyone in the morning and it also provides them with plenty of sentence work, something the teacher says there is not enough time to do.
On Wednesday the supervisor came out to watch me teach a maths lesson. It was great to meet him and discuss his experiences with International education. The lesson went well and it was good just to be able to reflect o my practice so far. The teacher is really inspirational and I know I've grown a lot as a teacher. The highlight of this week was Thursday when I became an observer and was allowed to wonder around the other classrooms. I was able to take lots of pictures and discuss with the teachers what they thought were the best classroom management techniques. One that really stuck out is 'opportunity to learn.' If a child is not doing exactly what they are told-talking during a lesson etc they are asked to stand to the side of the classroom and observe the other children. They then pick a child and describe how they are learning well and the teacher encourages them to model this behavior. Two girls were asked to stand out while I was observing carpet time. When asked to choose a student who had displayed good behavior she choose her friend and and described how she was sitting quietly,away from friends and waiting patiently with her hand up. The teacher told this child good now you try these things and when she had praised her later in the lesson. The teacher stressed the importance of follow up to me, reinforcing good behavior.
In one of the other classrooms the teacher used the morning as an opportunity to improve grammar and punctuation, something she realised her students were poor at. She used a game called 'Gotcha'. The children came in quickly sat down and got out their writing books to work on the sentence on the board. If they got all the mistakes correct then they got to write their name on a gotcha card and put it in the box. If not the teacher would go around saying 'Gotcha' and they had a few chances to correct their mistakes. The sooner the child settles and gets on with the task the more opportunities he has to put his name on the gotcha card for the lucky draw at the end of the week. The children are really keen. Its a great way to settle everyone in the morning and it also provides them with plenty of sentence work, something the teacher says there is not enough time to do.
The highlight of the week was sports day. It was great fun and a great way to finish a great teaching practice. The morning was games for fun-sac race, throwing rubber chickens and the three lagged race. The younger children left just before lunch and then the older ones competed against each other and had their best achievements recorded.
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