6b: shuffling off this mortal coil

My activities for English Shuffle today had very poor attendance. For the second, no-one showed up! I think that the first one went well, but students did not react well to the videos, with most of them taking this as a break to use their phones or have a nap! Once again, I see that ss should be given what they need, not what they ask for.

6a: what to report

I think that today went well as a first exposure to report writing. However, more time definitely needed to be given to the final writing activity, as it came across as rather hurried. Will have to see what additional practice activities we can fit in before the evaluation is upon us.

5c: signs of progress

The question forms info seemed to work well today - to a large extent, this is working with fossilized errors, and it'll take more than one class of reminders / practice to change that, but it seemed to be welcomed and taken in well.

5b: two-sided coin

Game of two halves today. On the one hand, I think that my first go at using quizlet was very effective, and I'll look forward to using it in the future. Was great to have students working together, recognizing their mistakes, and figuring out the right answers as a group. I also think that my lesson planning worked well and the materials work well.

On the other hand, the 4pm class particularly is showing the strain. They're younger, and the later class is hard for them in terms of concentration and staying on-topic. Need to make things more dynamic in order to break up the established pattern of class structure.

5a: rebadging

Brands seemed to have a positive reception today. Challenging definitely, but generally I think it was well-received. Still need to make some adjustments, but I think it's worth doing.

Am worried by the low level of a number of students. I can see that while some ss might get by through memorizing grammar rules, real communication and work-based vocab which is at level provides a real challenge for them. Some really struggle to form the most basic of sentences.

4c: in a bundle

So, that's the first part of the course wrapped up, cinema in the bag and the first evaluation out of the way. Results were indeed variable, with some ss getting great results, and others scarcely able to write at all. Still, the good thing is that they're now identified, and I've also been able to note various grammar topics which need working on.

The post-evaluation review went well today, and ss seemed receptive about where they'd gone wrong. Now to see how they take to business...

4b: first blood

Today was the first evaluation, and we'll have to see how the ss get on. Despite numerous examples being given and many opportunities to practice, I suspect that results may vary wildly... have to see. I think that having another part to the evaluation - maybe reading - could have been good too.

4a: in preparation

Having seen a few comments in the student diaries asking for more passive voice and cinema vocab practice, I decided to sway to public opinion and devote today's class to a pre-evaluation review. It went down well too, although I'm unsure as to how truly helpful it is. Still, it had a perceptual benefit. The basic dictation was quite shocking, as few ss could even copy down basic sentences. Need to put more emphasis on listening skills and this sort of dictation. We'll see on Wednesday how the ss fare with the first evaluation... always a watershed  moment.

3c: realia

My students' introduction to Ink magazine went well today. They were very keen to write something for it, especially if they'd get experience points for this! Classcraft continues to work well. Students were also very excited about the Bogotá Post - interestingly, not so much on the website, but actually having the newspaper was very exciting for them. Ss also very curious to know how they did with their videos - will be interesting to see how they react on Monday.

Dorian Gray continues to go well, but I'm concerned about my students' overall understanding of the characters and storyline. Think that for next week's reading, I should find them some overall reading comprehension questions to see how much they've understood up to now.

3b: the fabrication of cinema

Today was rather interesting in the end. Students were simply given the task to create their film by the end of the day and to use classtime however they wanted to that aim. I was first met by opposition, as students are used to having such things given to them and having longer periods to get things done. However, in the end they saw that I wasn't going to respond with anything other than "you need to find a solution", which they generally did in the end. Looking forward to seeing all the finished shorts!

3a: the satisfactory "click" of puzzle pieces slotting into place

Very pleased with how things went today - ss are starting to see the big picture and their place in it, and understanding the course as something to take seriously.

The film review analysis worked well, and ss saw the difference between a good review and those that weren't so good. They also seemed rather interested in additional practice, so we'll see how many use Tropfest as a chance for extra review.

Very pleased that Canvas is also performing. What I'd feared might be be a structural issue turned out to be pure PEBCAK. It works fine, and ss now recognise that it's a functioning system which they must adhere to. Their feedback over the weekend via the diaries has been revealing. Despite some minor fears that grammar has been dispatched of like the proverbial with the bathwater (more associated with the shock of the unfamiliar than any real issue), majority if ss are very keen and well-motivated.

This could also be seen today in how they took to the film festivals reading and discussion - been a long time since I've had this sort of participation and discussion.

Now to see what I can do with Wednesday's film-making class - need to keep ss on-task without it becoming too unstructured.

2c: off the cuff

Bit of a frustrating time today.

I think that the film review activities went well, and students enjoyed and benefitted from the activities. We'll see how many have their reviews on Monday.

On the other hand, while ss are still enjoying the Picture of Dorian Gray as a release from more heavy-duty activities on Friday, I do need to rethink the vocab pre-reading activities. It's too hard for ss to help each other when their descriptions of the vocab are at best odd and at worst bewildering. Maybe switch it for a multiple choice activity where ss have a limited and clear number of options?

Photocopies are also becoming an issue. Although it made sense for me to leave different copies for each class in Milcopias, it appears that the copy shop and the students are getting confused over which copy is for when. Still, perhaps unavoidable when I'm working on a lot of this course on the fly. For the future, better to have packs - one for all Dorian Gray activities, one for all cinema activities, etc.

If that weren't enough, ss continue to have problems accessing Canvas. Need to look into this and see how it could be avoided on Canvas, or Moodle or other platform.

Still, overall I think things are going in the right direction and I think the change of pace next week with the task-based video activities will do us all good.