Six year-three students from the Teaching English as a Second Language Programme (TESL) joined a "Lesson Plan Competition" organized by the Education Research Center in Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai. Out of 60 teams made of professional middle school teachers of English, TESL participants won two first prizes and one second prize as the only student teams. They received their certificates at the Education Research Center on June 11.
Participants were required to design a lesson plan based on the textbook for middle school students in Zhuhai, with a focus on phonetics. Florence, Ivy and Karen from TESL presented a lesson plan entitled "English Pronunciation and Phonetic Symbols"; Payne and Saron as a group presented a lesson plan entitled "Lesson Plan for the Teaching of Phonetics", both of which won the first prize while Jacqueline won the second prize with the lesson plan entitled "Learning English Monophthongs".
It was said that the TESL students incorporated the teaching of phonetics into vocabulary learning and interesting stories, which was found impressive by the judges.
Florence attributed her honor to the practica set up by TESL: "Our programme offered many chances for practice, as well as trainings in teaching methods, including internships at Zhuhai primary and secondary schools, etc., so I felt less nervous during the competition."
Dr. Dave Towey, Programme Coordinator of TESL, also emphasized practicum: "The TESL students who are involved in the practicum spend every Friday in middle schools from about 8 o'clock in the morning to 5 in the evening. That's stretched over the entire semester. They observe their master teachers for the first two or three weeks. From about the 5th week, the TESL students get a chance to teach in the classroom. Before they do that, they prepare their lesson plans, they let their master teachers and supervisors see it... It's a very good opportunity for students."
Specially, Dr. Towey expressed his gratitude to Ms. Gu Yingruo and Ms Wei Chunhong, the two officials from the Education Research Center who gave much encouragement and support to TESL students. Dr. Towey also praised Zoie Zhou, instructor of TESL, for her contribution to the practica and establishing good relationships with local educational institutions. As yet, TESL has established cooperation relationships with Zhuhai NO. 8 Middle School, NO.9 Middle School, NO. 10 Middle School, Jilian Primary School and Zhongshan Mainland-Hong Kong English School, etc, which forms a wide practice platform for TESL students.
Reporter: Richard Xu
Photo provided by: Zoie Zhou
MPRO
