In today's session, we have been exposed to the official English language curriculum devised by CDI/ EDB. The curriculum looks scientific and ideal, but when it comes to implementation, I fear that the curriculum is just way beyond manageable in reality.
Let me take the scheme of work of my school as an example. From the scheme of work, the language content & macroskills are categorised into different units, modules and themes, hoping to use a thematic approach to strengthen and consolidate students' learning. Yet, when the scheme of work is being implemented, things just change (unfortunately). We, (not yet up to standard teachers), rely quite a lot of textbooks (by the way, we are using Upstream & Reading Explorer) and skills books. We follow other school-based portfolios as if our work were to check the box on the scheme of work and see what has been done and what is left.
I have always wanted to use a different approach by creating learning interest and motivation in my students. However, the teaching materials, textbooks and all the pre-test/ pre-exam practices just make everything dull and monotonous. And the worst of all is we are bounded by the dates of doing writing (as they are counted as continuous assessments which I don't even know why they have to be counted). As a result, we have to teach vocab and sentence structures in a mechanical way, ensuring that students are able to recycle them in their writing.
Having said that, I am still trying to create a more fun learning atmosphere in the hope of breaking the 'teaching norm' at my school. Hopefully, I will be able to incorporate the 3 strands, values and attitudes in my classrooms.
P.S. One frustration is how can it be done in senior forms when the curriculum is sooo exam-oriented?
Let me take the scheme of work of my school as an example. From the scheme of work, the language content & macroskills are categorised into different units, modules and themes, hoping to use a thematic approach to strengthen and consolidate students' learning. Yet, when the scheme of work is being implemented, things just change (unfortunately). We, (not yet up to standard teachers), rely quite a lot of textbooks (by the way, we are using Upstream & Reading Explorer) and skills books. We follow other school-based portfolios as if our work were to check the box on the scheme of work and see what has been done and what is left.
I have always wanted to use a different approach by creating learning interest and motivation in my students. However, the teaching materials, textbooks and all the pre-test/ pre-exam practices just make everything dull and monotonous. And the worst of all is we are bounded by the dates of doing writing (as they are counted as continuous assessments which I don't even know why they have to be counted). As a result, we have to teach vocab and sentence structures in a mechanical way, ensuring that students are able to recycle them in their writing.
Having said that, I am still trying to create a more fun learning atmosphere in the hope of breaking the 'teaching norm' at my school. Hopefully, I will be able to incorporate the 3 strands, values and attitudes in my classrooms.
P.S. One frustration is how can it be done in senior forms when the curriculum is sooo exam-oriented?
留言
張貼留言