Today was the students' Chapter 3 test. First, Katie prepared them for it a bit more. She was worried about the listening comprehension part. Listening comprehension has never been my strength. I'm a grammar person, so when I helped students through a vocabulary exercise, I gave them suggestions on how to use grammar to figure it out.
I think the rest of the test turned out to be easy for them, though. I taught them two of the other sections, and they seemed to come naturally to the students on Wednesday. The last part was a cloze exercise that students could figure out using grammar or the recording. Dictation would have helped them with that, I think.
There was a mistake on one question: none of the answers made sense. Katie said she purposely didn't tell the class about it because part of doing well in this class is using test-taking skills, and students will need those for the TOEFL and IELTS in the future. I often wish I were more familiar with those tests!
While the students were preparing, Katie asked me to help the Arab woman. Katie had said she thought the student had some sort of learning problem. So far, though, it had been hard for me to read the student's natural ability because she hardly tries. During group work, she's constantly on her phone. She hasn't erased the answers in her book from previous times in this class, so Katie is going to lower her grade. She often refuses to open her mouth when the whole class is repeating a word, yet she can produce correct pronunciation when I work with her individually.
A practice listening comprehension exercise was the first time her disability became clear to me. While the recording was playing, I would point out the main ideas and tell her what to write: "Networking." "Part-time job." Instead of writing these simple phrases, she wrote other details in the recording. Her spelling was almost unintelligible at times. On Friday, I asked her about her goals for learning English, and she said she doesn't want to go to a university or have a career. I really feel bad for her--languishing in this class might be making her lose motivation. I mentioned it to Katie after class, wishing we could have her tested and identified so she could receive help for her disability.
I think the rest of the test turned out to be easy for them, though. I taught them two of the other sections, and they seemed to come naturally to the students on Wednesday. The last part was a cloze exercise that students could figure out using grammar or the recording. Dictation would have helped them with that, I think.
There was a mistake on one question: none of the answers made sense. Katie said she purposely didn't tell the class about it because part of doing well in this class is using test-taking skills, and students will need those for the TOEFL and IELTS in the future. I often wish I were more familiar with those tests!
While the students were preparing, Katie asked me to help the Arab woman. Katie had said she thought the student had some sort of learning problem. So far, though, it had been hard for me to read the student's natural ability because she hardly tries. During group work, she's constantly on her phone. She hasn't erased the answers in her book from previous times in this class, so Katie is going to lower her grade. She often refuses to open her mouth when the whole class is repeating a word, yet she can produce correct pronunciation when I work with her individually.
A practice listening comprehension exercise was the first time her disability became clear to me. While the recording was playing, I would point out the main ideas and tell her what to write: "Networking." "Part-time job." Instead of writing these simple phrases, she wrote other details in the recording. Her spelling was almost unintelligible at times. On Friday, I asked her about her goals for learning English, and she said she doesn't want to go to a university or have a career. I really feel bad for her--languishing in this class might be making her lose motivation. I mentioned it to Katie after class, wishing we could have her tested and identified so she could receive help for her disability.
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