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Let’s get started 🙏🏻

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It is a great chance to be a member of this community. Thanks Helen and Gulsah 🤗

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Proud of myself at PDC Kahoot 🎉
You can give a try and check your knowledge on the link below.

https://create.kahoot.it/share/english-together-project/6c474ed7-40f5-44af-940f-88fdbb696300

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After we discussed problems and solutions about listening, we worked as a group to apply ideas on a course book listening activity.

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During my lessons, I prefer a combination of authentic listening materials and tasks and course book ones, because the levels and the needs of the classes are always different. I think I should take this into consideration as a teacher.
On one hand, language is a part of real life and I should give my students a chance to watch and  listen, which is sometimes a bit tiring. A movie scene, a rap song lyrics or an interview with a famous singer attract the students’ attention in comparison with the limited content cousebook materials.
On the other hand, I have an official responsibility follow the curriculum. It is sometimes a bit hard to find similar and appropriate content with the coursebook which all the students only have.
Shortly, both authentic and coursebook have advantages and disadvantages. According to the conditions, I can decide.

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In my opinion, the most important point is to let the students involve in all kind of activities, especially in listening. My students are so willing to talk during the lessons and I sometimes have problems about managing this situation. If I create an active speaking and listening atmosphere for them, I am sure they will be more motivated and they will listen willingly to their frends and me. It will also mean some extra work for me to organize active listening activities, but I believe it is worth.

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Our group work about instructions 🙋🏻‍♀️ we are so active, aren’t we?

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We discussed our problems and tried to find solutions together. Thanks Gülsah 🙏🏻

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The number of students in my class is always a problem in my district, so is the class management. During the speaking activity, I make my students work in pairs or groups because of their level in order to help each other, but unfortunately they misuse my goodwill and talk in Turkish. I try to create a class policy to use only the target language and to persuade my students about the importance of speaking. Also, I write the possible structures they will use on the board to motivate and encourage. Sometimes it works, but often does not. I do my best and still look for more solutions.

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Thanks to Helen, we took videos and shared them on FLIP. It was such an amazing tool that I will easily use it in my classes 🙏🏻

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Here is the video of our warm-up activity day. We adapted “Throw the Ball Game” to get to know each others’ names and work places. It was fun ✌🏼

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After we engaged and shared so my things about reading, we applied them on the texts and then added some differentiations, too.

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When I divide the task into pre, while and post reading activity, I want to add something to differentiate.
For example, the theme of the unit is biography and there should be a vocabulary teaching in the pre reading activity for the weaker students, which helps them to understan the text easily. I also elicit some words about the text from strong students, too. This can be challenging for them.
Another idea about differentiation is in while reading activities number 3 and 4. There are five sentences to order, five sentences to complete, which can be difficult for the weaker students, so I can give a limited time and say “you can do at least three of the exercises in five minutes.” I am sure weaker students find some and feel confident and comfortable when they finish the task.
For the post reading activity, I want the students make a video or a poster about Nicola Tesla’s life. Making a paper slide video for weaker students, while making a poster with a presentation for stronger ones are my options.
All of these help th students to feel better and successful during the reading lesson. That is the atmosphere, I want to create in the class.

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As groups, we discussed the problems about teaching reading with the examples of English coursebooks. Unfortunately, we all agree about the missing parts of the reading tasks, unknown words, complex grammar, inappropriate level text and students’ lack of motivation. We tried to find some solutions, but the most useful and effective one is to insert multiple intellegence activity to the reading task. For example, doing puzzles, creating melodies, blind tasting, using microscope and body movement activities are some examples. I think when we attract the students’ interest to the activity, everything like pre teaching vocabulary or grammar, paraphrasing text according to students’ level will be easier.

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Teaching writing is fun with Agony Aunt ☺️ Thanks Sam 🙏🏻

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While we were working on the writing task in the 7th grade course book, we got inspired so much ☺️

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We are the cat lovers and do the writing to persuade our friends about it 🤗

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In groups, we worked on different writing approaches and categorized the activities.

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Although I usually follow my writing classes with product based approach, process approach or snack writing can attract my students' interests more. The reason why I want to choose the combination of all of them is the need. Some of my students need a model to write and to express themselves, but some do not. Sometimes I need time to get the curriculum to finish in time, sometimes do not. Some of the topics is appropriate to write free and quickly, but some are not. After this session, I am more aware of the different options which I can use during my writing classes.

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In a PDC meeting, my colleagues can find teaching writing approaches interesting, like me, because these are the academic details which were taught at the university. And unfortunately, we couldn't remember at all, in fact. When we engage and share our problems and ideas about writing in a meeting, some examples about product and process approaches, and snack writing can be offered, which helps them to organize their classes and proposes more solutions. I think one of the main aim of English Together project will be achieved in this way.

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Different approaches about teaching grammar have so many stages. We learned a lot 🤗

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We use the words to express our ideas and feelings, but only grammar puts them in a meaningful order. That's why, I think teaching grammar is a very important part of language. During my classes, I usually use controlled activities which is easier than the others, but I decide to combine them with guided and freer ones, because students should have an opportunity to discover structures on their own. There are so many weaker students in our classes and sometimes it is really difficult for them to catch the rules, so I need to present details at that time. I will try to create the best version of deductive and inductive approach with some differentiating and digitilazing.

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In Turkey, teaching English is mostly based on grammar, so the main point of a language, fluency is mostly ignored. I think my colleagues in a PDC meeting have been doing something wrong unintentionally while teaching grammar. A large number of students, lack of interest, limited time and complex structures and texts are some of their problems. I think it is necessary for them to discuss the way to teach grammar inductively and interactively at first. Some examples of guided and freer grammar activities can be inspiring for them to adapt different topics to different level of students. Then, the lesson can be more student-centered. When the student is in the center, it is easier to motivate, to study and to improve.

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Vocabulary session started with collaboration warm-up. This time, it was challenging 🙏🏻

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Words are the messengers for us in our lives. The more we have and use, the more we express ourselves correctly. Of course, we don't use every word we have learned, but we need them to select while speaking or writing. In my classes, I present the vocabulary with flashcards, word cards, or realias, but today I realize mindmaps or contexts are also effective to elicit meanings, while songs and games are enjoyable to check learnings. All of these help students about keeping the words in their minds and recall them easily. Just looking up in a dictionary and memorising don't work in a long term. I will share word-learning strategies based on drilling, because my students are bad at finding out the ways to learn new words.

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Vocabulary notebook is a way to record and keep the new words. On one hand, students shouldn't forget that it is not a fully dictionary, it just includes the words that they are trying to learn. Also, it should be small enough to carry easily and individual enough to address their needs. On the other hand, looking up into dictionary and writing the translation of the word are not the effective, may be the definition should be in target language especially with their own words. When the students see the new words in context many times, it can be easier to remember. Categorizing the words according to meanings or structures sometimes make sense, as well. It helps the students learn permanently.

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Among the informal formative assessment tools in our trainees’ pack, we worked on “traffic lights”.

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English Together, Class 4 together 🎉

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At the end of the day, we are very tired, but still studying on PDC planning task ✌🏼

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I think the biggest and most common problem related to assessment is the confusion about the concepts in my local area. We know what assessment is, but we don't know the differences between assessment approaches and we also misunderstand the reason why we do the assessment. We believe that the tests are enough to get feedback and evaluate our teaching progress, but they are not. They are just for product based reflection, the process is mostly ignored. Also, the tests are not relevant ad appropriate to students' levels, so we get wrong information about them and make wrong decisions about the planning of the classes.

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Peer and self-assessment give students the opportunity to critically evaluate the performance of their group member and themselves. When teacher do the assessment, they feel uncomfortable and don't present their real performance, but in groups it is quite the opposite. They help and encourage each other during the process, which affects the general atmosphere of the class and solves some problems. Also, they take responsibility, critical thinking ability and self-confidence while giving feedback and this makes them interested in the lesson. But, we need to check the reflection, whether our students get the point objectively or not. If we check the progress twice, it can be time consuming, so it doesn't work in some cases.