3rd day in Canada

3rd day: 7th October, 2008 Sunny and cool

I went to bed at 10:30 p.m. last night as I wanted to have a good sleep and get well prepared for the LPAT today. Unfortunately, I woke up several times just like the first night in Canada. I think one of the reasons is that I felt hungry in the middle of the night. I ate some pasta and salad last night and actually I felt full when I just ate up the food. I kept my piece of apple pie in the fridge. I will bring them to school as part of my lunch today. Finally, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and started to do my work. I hope I can do well in the LPAT today!

Today we have learnt the 1st Quick tips in teaching English. To begin the lesson, Vicky asked us to sit comfortably on the chairs. She asked us to form a semi-circle. She shared what she did during the last weekend (visiting her grandchildren and played with them. Then she showed us some maple leaves (they have orange and red colour). Vicky wrote the colour words on the leaves and on some cardboards and stuck them on the wall. She told us that it is important to share our own experience in lessons in order to get students’ attention and ask them to listen to teachers. She also mentioned the importance of showing realia and writing word cards. When I first came to Canada 6 years ago, the Canadian teacher reminded us to have games or jokes for students every day at the beginning of the lessons. I returned to Hong Kong and I tried to work it out. I have similar ideas with what Beth did today. Every day, I brought an old poster, I turn to the back of the poster and I stick it on the blackboard. I asked students to recall what they learnt in the previous day. Then I marked down their answers on the poster. The subject representative will pin the poster on the board or stick it on the wall. The purpose of doing this is to make sure the students to revise their books every day and help to write and create an English-rich environment. The students seem to get used to this practice and love to do it every day. I also think today’s Quick Tips is useful and interesting. I will modify it and match with my ‘poster revision’ practice. Sometimes when I teach some topics that I familiarize with, I will share my personal experience with students and I find they will pay extra attention to listen to me. It is one way to let students remember new things. Everyone did our best in this activity.

After that, we learnt about what a reflective journal is, the use of it and the way to write it. I also have the practice of writing reflective journals in Hong Kong as my school joined a reading project with HKIEd. From time to time, I observed and talked to students to understand their learning progress. Then I reflected on my own teaching and tried to give them some advice and feedback. I think it is essential for teachers to do this since learning and teaching is closely related to each other.

After the morning session, I had my lunch in the cafeteria with my classmates. We had a good time there. Then, we returned to Winter’s College to have the LPAT assessment. I haven’t taken this kind of ‘intensive’ assessment for a long long time. I fully concentrated on my assessment for nearly one and a half hour. The questions were not so difficult and I could manage them quite well. We have 10 minutes break after taking three papers. Then, we went upstairs to another room to wait for the speaking assessment. I got the chance to discuss with Beth and Vicky about my own reflective journal. In fact, I started to do it once I came to Canada. I just want to make sure whether I am on the right track.

I did quite well in the speaking assessment this time. After the afternoon session, I went to China Town with my classmates to book the trip to Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa and Kingston. Although I have been to all those places, I would like to visit them again. Maybe these places can give me a different feeling this time. Lastly, I went home with Candy whose house is near Woodbine subway too. I had my dinner with Takashi and we talked about Japan and Hong Kong’s economy and social issues. We had a very fruitful discussion!