ESAL 0370: Intermediate Reading & Studying Skills

Course Description:

Students continue to develop their vocabulary and build comprehension with a variety of reading selections of increasing difficulty. Reading materials include those selected by students and provide the basis for discussion, writing activities, study skill practice, and testing.

 

The class was a great example of how an online learning situation looks. This was the first online class that I have ever seen in real life. I think there is a bit of a learning curve for the teacher and the students as they navigate through these types of lessons. The class moves at a much slower pace then face-to-face classes and there is much more student hesitation in responses. The teacher is actively trying to pull information from the students getting them to give more response. I think that lessons that typically take one day in face-to-face will now take 2 days of teaching. Teachers will need to adjust course outlines accordingly!

This was one of the first classes of the year for most students. I think they will need some time to adjust to online and getting back into the learning environment as a whole. Many students in this class are still not proficient in speaking or understanding english, so I think this will be difficult when giving instructions. Many students will need a lot of clarification before being sent away to do tasks on their own.

For example: the students were asking me for help once sent into a breakout room. It was challenging to explain what to do without giving away the explicit answer. In my breakout room, I provided most of the information. I think students were unsure of the task.

General Notes from the class:
  • Could Shakespeare have written his plays?
  • S prefer to answer in the chat box rather than speak aloud
  • difficult because its a language class however students feel more comfortable to respond though text
  • Teacher is trying to coax students into talking and giving responses
  • “Tips for writing a good summary”
  • S do not respond, so teacher further explains
  • Review from previous classes?
  • S is quite proficient in reading, however there are some vocabulary words in the article that S srtuggles with
  • vocabulary practice important
  • Homework is to write a summary of the article “Virtual reality is a tool”