Action Log format

Hello friends,

I copied the following format in the Tim Murphey's book that I mentioned in my previous comment. (Sorry,you'll find the numbers that are squashed in this format.There are more spaces between them in the original.The figures were just under the words "Interesting", "Useful", and "Difficult". You know, this is an evaluation of the class by a student.)I hope you can modify it so that it becomes suitable for your classes. (I already changed some parts.)

Cheers,

Bobby


Get a B5 notebook. At the beginning of every class write at the top of the
page the date, your English target to speak (e.g. 80%) and who your partner is.
At the end of he class, write how much English you used (e.g.90%). After every
class, as soon as possible (so you remember well what happened), write a short
evaluation of the class: (1) List briefly the activities and evaluate them, and
(2)write a short comment about what impressed you in that class. Comment on
things you liked and could learn from or things you didn't like. Your feedback is
needed so that I can teach you better. I read your Action Logs and appreciate
your suggestions and will try to use them if possible. You can also take notes in
your logs!

Evaluate the activities in three categories, Interesting, Useful, and Difficult,
marking the extent of each using the following simple scale:

0=not al all; 1=not much; 2=OK; 3=good; 4=very good; 5=great!

An Example of an entry:
_____________________________________________________________________________
Spetember 14 (written Sept 14, 21:00)
English Target 75% English Used 80% Wow!

Today's partner: Yuki

(1) DID Interesting Useful Difficult
1. listened to a story 4 43
2. read a passage 0 1 5
3. discussion 3 3 4
4. teacher lecture34 2
5. had a quiz 2 2 2

(2) Comment:
I didn't understand some of the points in the reading: What is chunking?
Sometimes Mr. Murphy spoke too fast. Please speak slower. My partner today
was Yuki and it was fun to get to know her. We got a lot of homework, but it
looks like fun. I'm looking forward to the next classes. I'll prepare more for the
quizzes.
_____________________________________________________________________________

If you have anything else that you think the teacher should know (which
influenced your learning) please write about it. Please remember two things: (a)
Always put the date above the entry and the time when you wrote it in
parentheses. (b) Always use people's names when you refer to partners. Please
submit the Action Logs online at the end of every other week.

INPUT first for your English Skill

If I remember correctly, in Terri's class, we've learned that "Extensive reading is for the solution of students whose language environment is non-English speaking."Lots of reading is helpful. Recently, I like reading Sidney Sheldon which is easy to read but lots of slang. I mean, these kinds of book are full of authentic dialogues.
For instance, "If she can't cut it, she's out." from Sidney Sheldon's NOTHING LASTS FOREVER. 'cut it' means 'make it''do well'.
Isn't this authentic?
The more INPUT, the more OUTPUT.

Shunichi

Autonomy and Responsibitily

Thank you for your information, Bobby. I think that recent principles and methodology of TESOL focuses more on student autonomy. If I remember correctly, it was about 20 years ago when “New Innovated Method” like Suggestpedia or Silent Way were praised. Their principles are based on learners-centered and getting rid of learners’ stress as well. It seemed that these methods were the best and ‘like no others’. Although I’ve never tried these methods, I agreed to the point of getting rid of learners’ stress and I introduced the principle into my class.
So where has the stress gone?
It was ‘I’ who undertook all the stress and responsibility for the class. I believed this was the best way and my ideal was that students just only sit and were relaxed in class but finally I became suffering from ‘burnout’.

Thank God! EFL teachers seminar at UH this summer is my turning point. I’m going to transfer autonomy and responsibility onto students in class from now on. Student is not only a customer but also a producer of the class.

Shunichi

Action Log and Autonomous Learning

Hello friends! Thanks for keeping in touch. I’m sure all of you will be successful in the acquisition of English because you are all enthusiastic in learning. Don’t worry, even if you feel something is missing. You are on the right track. Just keep going.

I’ve been reading _Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classroom_ and watching Tim Murphy’s DVDs for the past few weeks, thinking about how to plan and carry out action log.

It took a bit while before I realize that keeping action log is a part of autonomous learning. Autonomous learning simply means that a learner has “freedom and ability to manage one’s own affairs, which entails the right to make decisions as well.” (Scharie & Szabo,p.4) So, the action log is supposed to be an activity that promotes learner’s autonomy. That’s the reason we’ll have to implement it repeatedly in our classes. Otherwise, students do not take responsibility for their own learning. I’ll tell you my negative experience.

I used a sheet of paper called “furikaeri shi-to” ( reflection log )in my classes last year. I just happened to find a format in an ELT journal and used it once without thinking about the meaning of reflection log and stopped using it. Thus, I lost the chance of developing responsibility in the attitude of my students last year.

The following is my plan of using action log in this semester: In the first class, I will probably use five to ten minutes to explain how to keep action log in a loose leaf. I’ll give them a feasible sample and have them write their own log within the class hour. From the next session, they’ll be asked to do it by themselves at home. I’ll check them once in a couple of weeks.

The books I’ve been reading are as follows: Dornyei & Murphey _Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom_ (Cambridge), Scharie & Szabo _Learner’s Autonomy_ (Cambridge), and Richards & Lockhart _Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classroom_ (Cambridge).

Cheers,

Bobby

Term Exams Will Start.

Hello, everyone. How have you been? I still miss Hawaii and of course you all!
Now so busy days have started. And my school will have term exams next week. So, last week we're busy teaching textbooks for the exams.
And so I have not started something new teaching method yet. Anyway I want to try something after the exams.

Recently there is another trouble which makes me busy. That is a student. After summer vacation, the student is very disobedient and breaking some school rules. That's very difficult age...

I'm sorry the second one is not related to EFL teaching. That's my complaint. Please don't care.
If you start something new in your classes, tell us in this blog.
See you.

From Yorgurt

You also Producer

Bobby gave us a chance to blog in EFL teachers' room. Let's make the best of this, guys.
Do you remember? In student-centered class, students are not only customers but producers for the class.
You are one of the producers of EFL teachers' room. Let's post your blog and comments.
Am I right, Bobby?

Shunichi

Burnout. Be careful.

As I mentioned in the blog “personal determination” posted by Bobby, I found the article “Burnout a reality for many in clergy” in Honolulu Advertiser (2006.08.20).
its first paragraph are as follows:

“Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship, hit the wall about two years ago. He went to see a psychiatrist, who told him he was on the road to emotional and mental breakdown.”

“Hit the wall” means “come up to the limitations or almost beyond one’s ability and exhausted” Although this article about a pastor, it ought to be a warning to us. There is a limit to everything.

What do you think about ‘Burnout’and teachers? How can we overcome?

Shunichi

We need 'Plan B'

On the day of my peer teaching, in fact my printer was out of order, so I couldn't make handouts. I should have made them beforehand. but Alice told me I should not say about it during my peer teaching class because explaining my bad situation won't result in success in my class.
So I went onto 'Plan B.' I had the transcript of TOEIC listening put down on the blackboard by students. But next we were running out of time, then another Plan B that I picked up just only 2 questions out of five for jazz chants.

I believe that the teacher should have Plan B for your class just in case. What if all your stuff have been stolen just before your class?

Although I think my peer teaching was not success, i got a precious experience. anyway, thank you for your cooperation.

Shunichi

what's up, dude?

Hi, guys. i'm Shunichi. Thanks a lot.
i'm afraid that it is difficult for us to keep 'English language environment' around us in Japan.
anyway, thanks again. keep in touch.

Shunichi

New Challenge

Hello friends! (I feel great when you call me a friend instead of just a classmate or a student, don't you think so?) This is the first blog message of our new challege in the action log project. As you already konw, I am planning to use the action log in my classes from the next semester. Although I will stay focused on the action log as our main subject, I will welcome your questions or comments on other ESL/ESL matters. So let's get started!

Personal Determination

I have trouble with my elder daughter now. As she became adolescent, she started hating me. I browsed through homepages and found that many fathers are disliked by their daughters, too. One of the reasons is that they are insensitive to their daughters’ feelings. In short, we have to change ourselves from a natural father to a man of better personality. I guess I should be more interested in literature and philosophy rather than worldly profits, sexual things, and so on. (Even though I always have paid attention to humanistic ideas, I should do so more intensely and use this personal crisis as a chance to refine my own self.) Fathers, if you want to have a better relationship with your daughters, you should make efforts to be respected, too.

What I am Doing Right Now

Feb. 23
I have started revising my teaching plans since last week because all my classes are over now. How do I revise? Well, I cut and add activities; write more small tests and hand-outs; change the sequence of teaching, etc. We have six more weeks before the new semester starts. There's plenty of time to revise now.

Happy Christmas Holidays

Jan. 3 Read Action Research whole day.

Jan. 2 Watched MTV whole day, dozing out occasionally.

Dec.31 Started reading a book called Action Research for Language Teachers.

Dec.30 Shoveled off the snow from the road in front of my house. Cooked rice cakes on the charcoal fire.

Dec.29 Gardeners came and put some nets by the trees in my back yard. While they were working, I enjoyed making a fire.

Dec.28 Went to an electronics shop with my daughters. My kids bought some game software.

Dec. 27 Visited Mijiro Seikokai Church in the morning. We flew back to Akita in the afternoon.

Dec. 26 Flew to Tokyo with my family. Stayed at Hilltop Hotel in Ochanomizu and went to Sansendo, Gaia, and Yodobashi Camera.

Dec. 25 Went to church for the celebration of Christmas. After the service, we went to Tsuchizaki Jusco and bought some fancy cakes.

Hard Rock and Heavy Snow

Dec.18
I attended the Sunday service. Actually I am looking back and writing this on a church bench. The past week was a very tiring week because of the snow.
Dec.17
I bought a lot of rock and roll music tunes from the iTune music store. The tunes include Smoke on the Water, Highway Star, and Rock and Roll ( of Led Zeppelin). These tunes make me sentimental and happy. I wanted to buy I Love Rock and Roll, but it wasn’t available.
Dec.16
I went to teach writing. The topic was tortilla.
Dec.15
I gave a test in the listening skill class. Even though I told them to learn vocabulary, word order, and listening comprehension questions, some students took very bad scores. What can I do to improve their English skills? I must start thinking about it again, deeply.
Dec. 13
I shoveled the snow off the garage roof. I didn’t realize until last year that the snow melts on the roof and goes into the building if you don’t shovel it off.
Dec.12
It snowed so heavily that I left home at 6:00 am to go to work. Normally it's an hour's drive to get to my office, but you can’t guess how long it will take on a snowy day. Some students told me that it took twice as long as a normal day drive.

It's Getting Cold

Nov. 21-Dec.5
While I was struggling to write an essay for the journal of our department, the snow started falling but it’s not falling so hard, so that I can still drive on the road easily. Compared to the past years, it came a little late. In January and February, we’ll have a lot of snow.
Nov.20
Together with other people from my neighborhood, I cleaned up the town where I live early in the morning. I went to see what my daughter was doing in the cram school during daytime.
Nov. 19
I edited and recorded for the mid-term test of my listening and speaking class.
Nov. 18
Just another day of teaching writing.
Nov. 17
Taught listening and speaking class. Made a mid-term test in the afternoon.
Nov.16
Talked with Jos for a long time.
Nov. 15
Taught integrated skills class.

I Met Hans Eek

Nov. 14
During my writing class, I had an inspiration that I should teach my students how to be a more autonomous learner. After the mid-term test, I will teach them strategies and make them more autonomous.

Nov. 12
Attended the church committee meeting.

Nov. 11
It was a big day. I met Hans Eek, a Swedish architect who won a prize in the Aich World Expo, and worked as an interpreter for him in the International Science Forum in Akita Prefectural University. He talked about houses without heating. By building houses that are well-insulated, we can reduce the consumption of oil. I was really impressed.

Halloween Activity and Poster Project

Poster project
Oct.31
In the writing class, I used an activity that includes the cultural information about Halloween. I posted a piece of paper on the wall outside of the classroom. On that paper, I wrote questions like, “When is Halloween?” Each of the students from each group went out of the classroom to look at, memorize, and come back. This was a good warm up activity.

Nov. 1
In the integrated skills class, students worked on a poster presentation project. It was two weeks ago that I handed out essays that was collected from Time magazine and National Geographic magazine. (This means they are authentic English and a bit difficult for the students.) Today was the second day since each group started discussing about writing a poster. Fastest groups started writing on a big piece of paper, but most groups were still doing discussion. I thought they could finish writing a poster within one class hour. But all of them were still discussing the idea of what to write about. The lesson I learned from this experience is that it takes a lot of time for students to finish their work.

The Second and Third Week

Oct.12
In my integrated skills class, I used “concentration.” This game is normally a card game but I used the technique for learning words. Students enjoyed learning words, so I think it was successful to do this. After the game, I took a lot of time for my students to write and perform a skit using words and phrases from a boring textbook. Everybody I met said that teaching test taking skills is boring because there is nothing much to do. So I decided to take sentences out of a boring textbook and had my students write dialogues. They enjoyed writing and performing them.

Oct. 13
I was caught in a traffic jam in the morning and spent two hours in the car before I got to my classroom.

Oct. 14
In the writing class, I used information gap and AB stories. The AB stories is a kind of dictoglos. Each student in a group reads a different story and tell what happens in the story to a member of the group. The member tells the story to another member and the story telling goes on until it comes back to the original storyteller. I guess I need to find easier and more interesting stories for the students.


Oct. 15
My daughter is at a difficult age. Accordingly I have to use time and energy to take care of her. It’s a tough job but I must endure. Today I watched Ragrats Movie 2 on DVD with my family. The setting is in a Japanese theme park in Paris! After watching, I wrote a test for my listening class. We use J-Talk as a textbook in my university.

Oct.17
I started using a new textbook in the writing class. It was a bit more difficult for my students than I had expected. I assigned a few pages as a homework.

Oct. 18
Today I started a poster writing project in my integrated skills class. Each group of students will read an article, write a poster, make an explanation about the article, take notes of another group’s performance, and turn the reports to me.

Oct. 19
Jos came to teach in Hojyo today, so we had a good conversation on many topics. In the evening, I played a game with my younger daughter while my wife and the elder daughter went to a dentist. The name of the game is UpWords that is from the same company that makes Scrabble. Oh, dear I was lost…. This is the first time I was ever beaten by my younger daughter in any games. This experience made me want to learn more about playing word games.

Oct.20
According to Cambridge Dictionary of American English, depress means to cause a person to feel unhappy and without hope. Everybody sometimes feels depressed when we meet a hardship or an evil remark. Let’s get rid of the depression and be happy. You can do it if you forgive the person who are angry at. During lunch, I was able to talk about the meaning of some technical words for teaching English:recast, feedback,and scaffold.

Before and During Three Day Holidays

Oct.7
I used “Find Someone Who…” in the writing class. Students learn adjectives though this game. They have to find someone who is, for example, “scared.” I also had them write about their names.
Oct.8
While my elder daughter went out to play with her friends in the morning, my wife,younger daughter, and I went out for shopping. I spent the whole afternoon for putting tiny cards into envelopes so that we can sell them at our church bazaar. The bazaar will be held at the Holy Savior Church (Sukui-nushi kyokai)in Hodono, Akita City, on the twenty-third.
Oct. 9
Went to church in the morning. Relaxed in the afternoon.
Oct.10
Today is a national holiday. Few foreigners who are teaching English in Japan know that this day is Athletic Day. We celebrate this day as a rememberance of the opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympic games that was held long time ago.
Visited my parents who are living a hundred kilometers away from Akita City. They grow vegetables so we always exchange their vegetables with something I purchase on the way to their house.

What I did for the First Class

Oct.3
In my writing class that met for the first time in this semester, I used First Impression sheet. Before the activity, I had my students make a group of four and play a name game. After the introductory activities, I had them write an essay for thirty minutes. In the afternoon, I wrote comment on each essay.
Oct. 4
In my combined skills class, I used the same introductory activities as I used in the writing class. In the afternoon, we had a good conversation in English faculty meeting.