I was posted to Bedok South Secondary School to teach English Literature and English and, have been assigned to teach and observe secondary 1, 3, 4 and 5 classes under the supervision of two cooperative-teachers.
Both of the cooperative-teachers that I have been assigned to rely heavily on the usage of Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations to aid their teaching in class. And, this goes the same for many other English Language and English Literature teachers. As such, instead of citing a formal in-class lesson as an example, I will base my sharing on an extra after-school lesson that I helped to facilitate.
This lesson – Grammar Boot Camp – was held over a duration of five days. It is a class catered for the students in Secondary One who are hand-picked by their English teachers as being the weakest in their grammar. Although the class consists of a mix of Secondary One students of differing abilities (the class consists of students from Express, Normal Academic and Normal Technical streams), their proficiency in grammar was mostly homogeneous. During Grammar Boot Camp, grammar is taught explicitly to students, where this is achieved by returning to the basic application of grammatical terms.
Lessons are conducted in the school’s computer lab, with each student being assigned a computer terminal. In one of the lessons I attended, the use of “adverbs” was made explicit. The ICT tools used in this particular lesson includes the usage of a YouTube video on “adverbs”, a BBC website (Skillswise) that explains how adverbs can be used, a 3-part online test from the same website that tests students progressively on their understanding of the lesson conducted and, an interactive adverb game that requires students to follow the instructions given to help a given character complete their errands.
The lesson began with the screening of a YouTube video on the use of “adverbs”, to engage students in a fun and accessible manner, to give them a basic understanding of how “adverbs” can be used. The teacher then conducted a formal lesson on the usage of these grammatical terms, with the teacher revising when, where and how these terms are used. Instead of the usual means of testing for understanding through the use of pen and paper, teachers engage the use of resources available online to test students. Students are expected to complete three progressive check tests on the topic “adverbs”. As the test questions are varied and no explanations are provided for mistakes, teachers are required to manually explain mistakes to each individual student, thus ensuring that students fully understand the lesson. While this may require the assistance of more teachers, it is especially useful for students from the Normal streams who are found to learn better through interpersonal interaction. Despite the need for manual explanation of mistakes, this method of instruction is useful nonetheless because it allows for immediate learning. This means that the issues and difficulties that students face are managed at each level of testing and, corrected before they move on to the next level. Finally, to allow students to understand the use of grammar and adverbs, an instruction game is played online. For this test, students get to choose a character that they wish to help and, follow the instructions given to help the character complete his/her errand in town. Although this activity is conducted as a game, students are also tested for their understanding at the same time because a score is given at each stage and, mistakes are corrected by the website immediately. This allows for students to realize their mistake and corrected it instantly, allowing them to personally find out how and why the mistake was made.
The usage of YouTube is advantageous because, it is better able to engage students through its use of sound, image and music. As such, such a style of teaching accommodates students who learn better by listening, viewing and reading. I consider this method of teaching to be better than a mere oral delivery of the lesson as this might render the lesson dry. Furthermore, teaching the conventional way (oral instruction) caters mostly to the Express students who are better able to learn by listening. The use of online test and game materials are especially beneficial to students who require more hands-on activities to aid their learning. As such, I find the usage of online quizzes and games especially useful for the students from Normal streams because they tend to be kinesthetic learners who learn better when they have an interactive activity to complete on the spot. Online quizzes and games like those used in the lesson are beneficial as well because it provides instant feedback for students. As such, many students are observed to enjoy this method of teaching, learning and testing better because, the instant feedback that is provided turns the test into a competitive game, where they can immediately compare their scores with their friends and strive to understand their mistakes to do better at the next level. Furthermore, this allows for a small degree of peer-learning because, as students compare answers, it is observable that they will first consult each other on their mistakes, before approaching the teacher for a solution. This method of learning-by-doing, allows students to learn at their own pace while being engaged in a stimulating activity. By integrating ICT tools into a lesson, it makes the lesson accessible to students from across the three streams.
The use of ICT in this class is on the whole beneficial because its lesson objectives of teaching the use of “adverbs” to students of differing learning styles and abilities has been achieved. Through the use of available online resources, the use of varied ICT tools such as YouTube videos, online quizzes and games ensure that lessons are kept fun, stimulating and interactive and, students of various learning styles are taken into consideration and helped.
Although ICT is used as a tool of instruction in English Language and English Literature classrooms in the school, the general consensus among teachers is that the potential of ICT has yet to be fully maxed out. However, it is agreed that the little ICT that is used, is thoroughly beneficial to students because, simple ICT like using Microsoft PowerPoint slides to teach comprehension skills can simplify the entire process of learning for students. Not only does PowerPoint presentations allow for animations that can help teachers reveal the steps of answering comprehension questions one step at a time, it can simultaneously enable students to visualize the individual steps of answering questions. Furthermore, though the technology used as of now is simple, it nonetheless allows for real-time interaction between teachers and students. This mean that even as students answer questions, their teachers can make use of such ICT technology to flash their answers
on the screens to enable the remaining students to visualize the lesson.
The school is currently looking into possible new ways of engaging students using ICT. One recent suggestion is the implementation of oral through their “ask and learn” portal. This allows for teachers to post oral questions and passages online, for students to access and record their own answers before sending it back to the teacher for grading. However, this task will also involve online self-directed learning where, each student must complete a few tutorials on oral skills before they can proceed to record their answers. In these tutorials, trial oral questions and passages will be provided along with tips such as pronunciation help, suggested vocabulary, words that students should emphasize in their recitation and, when and how to pause correctly.
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