My Portfolio

IREX TEA PROGRAM 2009 Phanet Chea Cambodia George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia, USA Professional Development Portfolio IREX TEA PROGRAM 2009 Phanet Chea Cambodia

PORTFOLIO OUTLINE Contents Section 1: Introduction Section 2: Strategy Sheets My strategy sheets Section 3: Lesson Plans My lesson plans Section 4: Reflections My reflections on Oakton High school Section 5: Additional selected materials Sample of students’ written work from Oakton High School Section 6: Conclusion

Intoduction My goal of this portfolio is to bring all the information and experiences during my participation TEA Program at George Mason University together to show my principals and colleagues. My portfolio is the kind of Collections Portfolio. It contains some document from my mentor teachers such as some newspaper, handout and students’ written work and I also have plenty of ESL Research Methods, and Assessment documents from Ms. Nora ElBilawi. Dr. Woody and Ms. Cara has been sending as some document electronically, so I my portfolio is the collections these materials to take back home.

Reflection Last week I visited to Oakton High School. It is a very large school. During the meeting before class, Ms. Lora Bates and Ms. Mary gave us lots of information about her classes, ESOL syllabus as well as grading the students. I was also scheduled to observed different classes such as History, Biology and Geography. From my observation, I could see the differences between Cambodian and American classroom such as: Cambodian American   . Students wear uniform. . Students have long lunch break (3 hours) at home. . Students go to school on Saturday morning. . The stationary is provided . Classes are small. . All students in the class are Cambodian. . Technology based classroom. . Students don’t wear uniform. . Students have lunch at school cafeteria. . Students don’t go to school on Saturday. . The students buy the stationary. . Classes are large. . Diversity of nationalities. . Traditional My main goal is to see how American teachers write their own teaching plans, but they don’t often write long details of the lessons. They only write short note of the steps of the activities and the important information for the day. I have learned the techniques of getting the students write, read and involved in the lessons. I looking forward to implement these ideas to my classes and sharing with colleagues Reflection on assessment During the past four weeks I have observed a lot of different subject lesson, ESL, Biology, History, Geography and I have seen the teacher have used some types of Authentic Assessment in their classes. In the first of Ms Bates’s lesson, I could see that she conducted Oral Interview Assessment in her class. She taught reading skill and she use newspaper article about War in Afghanistan and she asked students orally a lot of questions about the text to check the students’ comprehension. Ms. Rizzo used Constructed Respond Item while she was teaching her ESL class on Interpreting Graphs. It was very interesting. The students were asked to work in pairs and

Reflection on assessment During the past four weeks I have observed a lot of different subject lesson, ESL, Biology, History, Geography and I have seen the teacher have used some types of Authentic Assessment in their classes. In the first of Ms Bates’s lesson, I could see that she conducted Oral Interview Assessment in her class. She taught reading skill and she use newspaper article about War in Afghanistan and she asked students orally a lot of questions about the text to check the students’ comprehension. Ms. Rizzo used Constructed Respond Item while she was teaching her ESL class on Interpreting Graphs. It was very interesting. The students were asked to work in pairs and

Reflection on assessment shorted M&M into different color and then write report on the percentages of M&M. They also had to answer some questions on different graphs. I saw she used Writing Sample with her level 1 class after getting the students to watch a short film about Columbus. The students were asked to write about “A JOURNEY WITH COLUMBUS”. The students could write what did the see/do during the journey with Columbus. I thought that was such a practical and appropriate technique for the help the students to reflect on what they have leaned. Both of Ms. Bate and Ms. Rizzo applied Observations assessment in their classes. They observed the students’ attention and their interactions during pair work and group work, and then gave them some help.

Reflection on assessment Ms. Rizzo is very responsible and cares about her students. She knows every student’s background and some information about them. She knows which student need more help and which are strong and which are weak students. I think her personal relationship with the students is excellent that I should learn. I also impress by her classroom decoration. She displays the students’ work on a notice board and prepares the room on special occasion. I observed her last lesson on 23 October 2009, it was a day before Halloween and it was a great lesson. The classroom was full of scary toys. She had a pumpkin carved with a candle inside on the her desk and dressed up as a which and told the students a ghost story, then the students took in turn to share their own frightening stories to their peers. All the students involved in the lesson and I really appreciated that. I find all the assessment they have used are very practical and I would like implement them in my classroom. Each assessment works well in different lesson and classes. I will adapt and use them in appropriate situation.

Portfolio Strategy Sheet 1   Choose a method or strategy that you have learned about or observed during field experience. Name of method or strategy: Matching Adjective When is this method or strategy useful? Warm up (At the start of the lesson) Why or how is this method or strategy useful? To get the students to revise the words (adjectives) they have learned, especially the pronunciations. What are the steps involved in using this strategy or method? Get the students in groups of 5. Give each group of the students an envelope of cue cards. Example: Expensive car - A student in the group picks up a slide of card. Then read out loud the noun (car). The group tries to guess adjective which can be used to describe a car. The person who can get the answer correct will have chance to pick up the card and read a loud to the group. Continue until all the cards in the envelop were picked. When would this method or strategy be useful in your setting. After teaching some new vocabulary items, especially adjectives and adverbs. It helps to refresh the students’ memory and it’s fun. What would you like other teachers in your school to know about this method or strategy? How to prepare and use this activity in the classroom.

Strategy sheet 2 Choose a method or strategy that you have learned about or observed during field experience.   Name of method or strategy: 3-2-1 strategy for story When is this method or strategy useful? When the teacher would like to encourage the students to read books. Why or how is this method or strategy useful? It gives the students reasons or tasks to do or focus on what they read. In general, the students are lazy to read if they don’t have tasks to do. What are the steps involved in using this strategy or method? Teacher should guide the students on how to choose suitable books for themselves. Students can borrow the books from school library to read at home Teacher gets the students read their books and write down 3 things they have learned/known from the story. 2 things they are not sure about the story and 1 question they would like to ask about the story. When would this method or strategy be useful in your setting. Cambodian students don’t like books, so I hope this strategy will encourage them to read. What would you like other teachers in your school to know about this method or strategy? I would like to introduce this strategy and choosing books strategy and I would like also tell them the advantages of using this method.

Portfolio Strategy Sheet 3   Choose a method or strategy that you have learned about or observed during field experience. Name of method or strategy: Practice Thinking Questions for Test When is this method or strategy useful? When teacher doesn’t have time to do reading test in class. Why or how is this method or strategy useful? Teacher can save time in class for other materials or to finish syllabus. It’s also good and more relaxed for weak students. They can spend time as long as they want to answer the questions. What are the steps involved in using this strategy or method? Teacher gives story handout and question sheet to student and get them to read and answer at home. Sample of questions: What literary term did we focus on in The Dinner Party? Write 5 new vocabulary words and their meanings. Give an example of irony from the story. …. When would this method or strategy be useful in your setting. Teacher doesn’t have time to reading test in class or teacher has unexpected things to do at school. It also can be given to the students to help them revise on materiel they have learned for the up coming tests. What would you like other teachers in your school to know about this method or strategy? I would like to present to my colleagues on how to create the questions for this task and tell them when and why this method is useful.

Portfolio Strategy Sheet 4   Choose a method or strategy that you have learned about or observed during field experience. Name of method or strategy: Teaching Reading by using authentic material (Newspaper) When is this method or strategy useful? Teacher wants to develop the students’ reading skills. Why or how is this method or strategy useful? Students are usually given reading material in the text book which is out of date with similar types of comprehensions. It’s good idea sometimes to get the students to read something difference for a change. Newspaper is very good because it’s always written about something new. What are the steps involved in using this strategy or method? Teacher find a suitable newspaper article and write down some comprehension questions. The questions should be increased the level of difficulty and a free practiced question for critical thinking skills. When would this method or strategy be useful in your setting. When the teacher feels like the need of new practice or informing the important aspect of information in a newspaper to students. What would you like other teachers in your school to know about this method or strategy? I would like to present to my colleagues on choosing a suitable newspaper article and how to create the questions for this task and tell them when and why this method is useful.

Portfolio Strategy Sheet 5 This is method or strategy that I have learned for English Teaching Forum by Emerita P. Cervantes, the Philippines Name of method or strategy: Slay the Demons When is this method or strategy useful? For vocabulary enrichment Why or how is this method or strategy useful? Because it’s fun What are the steps involved in using this strategy or method? 1. Clip and article from a newspaper, or write a 125- to 150-word text yourself. After the text to introduce errors in spelling and make sure that text contains homophones (eg. “cite” “sight,” and “site”). 2. Make as many copies as you need for your class. 3. Give each pair or group a copy of the altered article with several demons, the words are purposely misspelled. All words that are not misspelled are called angels. 4. Tell the students that their task is (a) to “slay the demons” by putting an X over each one and (b) to write to write down the correct forms of the words. For each “slain demon” they can earn 1 point. However, if they slay an “angel,” they lose 5 points. The group that has the highest score wins. 5. Do not tell the students how many demons are there in the text. If they insist on a clue, just tell them there are about “10 or 20” demons.

Portfolio Strategy sheet 5 6. Three minutes should be the maximum time for a 125- to 150-word text. 7. After the game, make the activity a learning experience by explaining words that were not familiar to your students. When would this method or strategy be useful in your setting. It’s useful for teaching the students vocabulary especially the spelling of the word. What would you like other teachers in your school to know about this method or strategy? I would like to introduce how to prepare and use this game in the classroom and tell them when and why this method is useful.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan Format 1 Intern: Phanet Chea___________ Grade Level: 2_________   Title: Teaching Reading, speaking______________ Date: October 25th , 2009_________ I. Objectives By the end of the lesson the students will be able to remember/take note and tell each other about the animals they read. Answer some questions about the animals. II. Materials for Learning Activities III. Procedures for Learning Activities Activity 1: Brainstorm about animals and write on the board. Ask the students if they know any facts about these animals. Get 1 or 2 students to express as class. Activity 2: Get the students into 4 groups of 4. Give each group different reading text for example; group 1 read about kiwi, group 2 read about elephant… Set time limit for them to read and they can ask the group about anything they don’t understand while reading. Tell the students that you will collect the worksheet, so hey have to memorize the text by taking short note about the important facts that they want to share with other group. Activity 3:

Lesson Plan Once they finish, reform group work. Make sure in each new group consist students who have read about different animals. Collect worksheet and tell the students to start telling each other about the animal they read. IV. Assessment Get the students to have a competition. The group that can answer the most questions will win. Start the question the students. The students have to listen to teacher carefully. If they think that they can answer the question, raise their hands. The teacher will give the priority to the student who hands up first to answer the question. Continue until all questions are answered. V. Differentiation This activity is very good for mixed-ability classes. You can give the easy texts to weak group of the students and more difficult ones to the strong group of the students and they can get peer help during reading the text (Activity 1) on unknown vocabulary, context and phrase. This is a very student centered lesson. VI. Reflection This activity is great to help the students speaking skill. The first introduction of this activity to class might take long time and the students are a little bit confused, but if you introduce it again, it’ll take shorter time for the classroom management and more enjoyable.

Lesson Plan Lesson Plan Format 2   Intern: Phanet Chea___________ Grade Level: 2_________ Title: Teaching speaking______________ Date: October 25th , 2009_________ I. Objectives By the end of the lesson the students will be able To match the symbols of weather with the words and describe “What’s the weather like in a few cities in other cities and in Cambodia?” To write weather reports. II. Materials for Learning Activities Some pictures (the symbols of the weather) ex. Windy, sunny, snowing … Word cards Books, worksheet III. Procedures for Learning Activities Warm-up: I begin the lesson with a quick review of the weather words by sticking pictures on the board and give a word card to each pair of students. Students work in pair and then match the word with the picture on the board. Students copy the vocabulary in their textbooks. I write down some adjectives on the board (ex. Cold, dry, cool, wet, hot..) on the board. The students work in pairs and decide which adjective goes with which symbol (more than one answer is possible). Activity 1: Get the students to read the dialogue with the missing words. Then listen to cassette and complete the gaps. The students work in pair to compare the a

Lesson Plan answers. Get the students to listen again and check the answer as whole class. Students work in pair to act the dialogue and also ask and answer about the weather where they are now. Activity 2: “Information Gap Activity” . Get the students to work in group of three and give them the worksheet with some missing information. Students ask each other in group and complete the chat and compare the chat with the group. Sample question and answer: What was the weather like in Bambi? It was……..and…….. Activity 3: Contribute the hand out of weather of 4 cities ex. Bangkok, Rome, Hong kong, Dallas. Students read a weather report of a city and say which city is described. The students work in pair and choose one of the cities and then write the weather report. Once they finish, get them to come to front of the class and act as a weather reporter on television. S/he reads the weather report to the class, but they don’t tell which city is described. The other students listen and guess. Take turn to read the report to the class. IV. Assessment I use Observation Assessment. I observe the student attention, response to instructional materials and interactions with other students while they are working in pairs or in groups. I also have to listen to their conversation and take note any errors and then correct as class. Then, get the students to write 2 weather reports as homework. They have to look at worksheet (In activity 4) and write the weather report of the city which they didn’t do in previous task and write the weather report about the weather where they are today. By correcting the students’ homework the teacher will see if the students learned well the other day.   V. Differentiation This lesson is prepared and include different intelligences such as visual, verbal/ linguistic, bodily/kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal. I always like to

Lesson Plan prepare the activities which involve the students standing up and moving activities because sitting down for long time is boring for kids. VI. Reflection The students enjoy and learn well from this lesson because there is enough practice for them. The students are able to learn affectively because of clear instructions and the activities move from controlled practiced to free.

Conclusion I would like to thank IREX for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to come to the US to join TEA Program I have learned a lot from the course as well as the travelling and field trips. I have experience the real English speaking country and learned from friends who come from different cultures. I have been provided a lot of documents and the lecturers are excellent and enthusiastic. These will encourage me to work harder. I feel now that myself is heavier because I have plenty of things to take back home to my country.

Thank you!