- Comment on at least two important issues that were brought up during the class discussion on the article. What did you learn from leading the discussion?
During the discussion, one of the concerns that came up when designing and choosing a coursebook is how teachers should also think about adding in the aspect of cultural values and making it relatable to students’ context. I mentioned about this in one of the Perusall articles once that students may need to know about how to make the local dish, which would be very meaningful to their life, but that doesn’t mean that they should not learn the recipe for making English muffins. The target culture should not be denied as it will foster students’ intercultural communicative competence. There has been a lot of ignorance of cultural teaching in language classrooms even though it is a perfect place for students to be exposed to it. I believe that we cannot teach the language and culture separately. We should think about this area more when designing, choosing, and adapting the coursebook.
Another issue that came up during the discussion was the cost of the coursebook. I was quite surprised to see that some of the classmates thought that the price is not important, to me it is. It may seem like a tiny issue, but in some contexts, it could be a big deal. When I thought about this aspect of choosing the coursebook, I thought about the time when I did my practice teaching. I was in a public school where most of the students are from lower-income families. Buying the required coursebook for every subject was not ideal as it became a burden to them. Reflecting on it, one of the ways is to give options to students and their families. Those who would like to keep the book after the course, they can buy it. While those who may not need it for later, they can rent it to save some money.
2. What other observations can you make about the article discussion in class? What changes would you make to your questions / class discussion?
Before the discussion, I was already expecting differences in opinions. Still, it was interesting to hear the reasons behind those ideas. I’m very glad to see them sharing what they thought in class even though they have a different point of view. If there is something I could change in the discussion, I would probably add more criteria for them to think about. Many other areas could also be useful such as the sequence of the activity, or the use of L1 in the coursebook.
Having the classmates show their responses with their finger is another way to engage them in the discussion. However, one thing that I was arguing with myself when designing the activity was whether it is a good idea to call out their name and not let them share their idea voluntarily. Ideally, I would not want to pressure them, but the only reason I did that was because the time limitation. So, if I could have more time, I would let them share with the partner or group first, and wait for them to raise their hand voluntarily to share with the whole group.
3. What reflections do you have about the article activity? What changes, if any, would you make to the activity? What did you learn from leading the activity?
I’m overall satisfied with both the discussion and coursebook analysis activities. The flow of these two activities went well and great precipitations from the classmates as well. However, one thing that I wish I could change and make better is the way I summarized the article. I think some parts were not clear enough as I went through the key points. I should have given more examples and practiced the presentation several more times before.
Another thing I wish I did better was giving instructions. Before the ‘showing finger’ activity, the instruction I gave was not clear, and, for a second, the classmates looked confused. But once I showed the example, they all got the idea of what to do. I still need a lot more practice in this area. Next time what I could do is just give step-by-step instruction, which is great for students to follow, and easy for me to explain.
Apart from adding more criteria and giving better instruction, I should have thought about the German-majored students. Although they could use the English coursebook to analyze, ignore the English language and focus only on the activities in the coursebook instead, I still feel that I should have borrowed actual German coursebooks for them to use. Thinking about it now, I feel bad, and I don’t want to make them feel exclusive.
One thing that I learned from this activity is I need to look at the material carefully, the coursebook in my case, before leading any activity. The first question of the activity was about the level of proficiency of the students using the book and the question I asked was “Which level or group is this coursebook designed for?”. The hint that I gave was it is usually stated at the beginning of the book. I told them that some of them do not have it. Little did I know, when I walked around to check, one of the groups found out that it was stated on the back cover. Thinking about it now, I’m asking myself “What kind of coursebook does not give this kind of information?”. I must admit that I was not doing a good job of exploring the coursebook myself. From now on, I will be more careful with the materials that will be presented to the learners and make sure I understand them correctly before leading any activity.
In terms of reading the article, I got to practice my summarizing skills. This article did not put things into points, therefore, I had to gather the same ideas together and summarize it myself. So, I had to read every paragraph and understand every part of it to know what the writers are trying to communicate. Overall, this whole experience was a really good practice for me 🙂
