Ceyda Cengiz Reflection 3

Here I am going to talk about my role in the institution, what I have done and how I interacted with the kids. Before starting, there is one thing that needs to be made clear. Our institution Anaçev differed from other Anaçevs in that it was a private institution and had a fixed schedule for the teaching time. Every class had their teachers and the days and hours for any lesson or activity were fixed and strict. The director of Anaçev told us in the first day that the kids had their own English teachers, and had two days: wednesday and friday for English classes. Therefore, our duty was not to teach English but to help the teacher carry out the activities. However, despite the strict attitude of the director, the general teacher of my class and the English teacher had a very positive attitude towards me and when I told them that I wanted to experience working with young learners and prepare activities for them, they were very understanding and they allowed me to do it. Therefore, I tried to do my best in order to benefit from such a chance.
I have been to Anaçev for seven weeeks and I am going to summarise the activities that I have carried out in my class every week. The orders may be wrong, but the activities were done in the way I describe. In the first three weeks, the class made their rehearsal for the show on friday and had their English classes on Wednesday. In the first week, I taught them: Hello, hi, My name is……, Nice to meet you..,etc. I have modeled these and then I wanted them to introduce themselves in this way to the person next to them. I gave all the instructions in English in a simple way, by using English very little, but my body language a lot. I monitored them, by going to every kid, and helping them when they needed help. In the second week, I taught them the colors. Actually, some kids knew the colors, some were familiar with them but some did not know anything. Since their levels were varied, I felt the need to teach them from the beginning. I started with a song in order to take kids’ attention and to make them familiar with the words. Then I selected one kid and we showed the colors of the clothes he wore and remembered the color and then we played a game. In the third week, we learnt ‘days’’, in the fourth ‘seasons’, in the fifth ‘fruits’, in the sixth ‘animals’ and, in the seventh ‘on, in, under,etc.’ I have not specified which activities I have prepared for them here, but I can say that they were built mostly on songs, games, competitions and physical activities.

Reflection paper (option 8)

Dear FLE 324 members,
If you like, you can choose to comment on the article on writing corpora. Please consider the following points:
In what ways do you think incorporating the corpora studies into EFL writing instruction is beneficial for EFL learners? What are some challenges for such an integration?

Reflection paper (option 7)

Dear FLE 324 members,
If you like you can choose the article on Tech-era L2 writing.Please consider the following points:
What do you think of the incorporation of technology in L2 writing? To what extent and how do you think of incorporating the latest developments in improving EFL learners’ writing skills? Where do you think a Turkish EFL teacher stands in the midst of these developments?

Reflection paper (option 6)

Dear FLE 324 members,
If you like you can also choose to comment on the article on metacognitive listening instruction for young learners. Please take into consideration the following points:
To what extent do you think the metacognitive instruction framework suggested in the article applicable and useful in teaching Turkish young learners EFL listening skills? Do you think it can be applied to adult learners as well? If so, how? What do you think of the success rate with adult learners? What are some of the challenges waiting for the EFL teachers in Turkey in implementing this kind of instruction?

Reflection paper (option 5)

Dear FLE 324 members,
You can choose to comment on the article 'Teaching grammar as a liberating force' if you like. Please also consider the following point in your reflection as well:
Do you find grammar as a liberating force for EFL teachers and/or students? In what ways, to what extent and why do you think so? In what ways do you agree or disagree with the author?

IATEFL Harrogate online blog Entry

Dear FLE 324 members,
You can make your comments on the presentations in IATEFL Harrogate Online here. You need to write your comments in a word document and then copy-paste it to the blog. The maximum length is one page with 1.5 spaces.
In your comment, you need to point out the level of applicability, the usefulness of the ideas/suggestions offered to EFl learners/teachers in Turkey. You also need to comment on the challenges awaiting those in the EFL context in applying these suggestions.
You can add the following presentations to your list as well (these presentations are already uploaded in METUONLINE) :
1. Corpora games by Ken Lackman
2. Listening skills by Sheila Torn