I selected an eighth grade mathematics lesson named Polygons in Hong Kong to review and to identify the difficulties and challenges of teaching math in English. Before analyzing this lesson, we are supposed to know that English is not the first language of Hong Kong residents. Therefore, to a certain extent, this lesson can be regarded as the one that uses a foreign language as the medium to teach subject’s content. The teacher not only needs to teach students about the subject knowledge, but also, in this context, to help students improve their linguistic/English ability of this discipline. Specifically to this lesson, I have noticed some difficulties or challenges that teacher and students were undergoing. First of all, some advanced and math-related vocabularies were taught to students, including polygon, convex and hexagon. Here, let us take “hexagon” as the example. In this class, students were told that hexagon referred to a polygon …show more content…
This class size made me wonder if each student’s English is proficient enough to be taught in English and eventually gain a satisfying academic achievement. Thus, whether students should be divided into different classes based on their language level or academic performance, or not divide them at all. Language is completely different from other disciplines. The backwardness of other disciplines can be remedied by extra efforts. However, the lack of command of the teaching language makes students lose the learning tools and rights, which is not fair. What’s more, how to testify whether a student is capable of taking classes in the medium of a foreign language and whether a teacher is capable for teaching that should also be considered thoroughly. Content and language integrated learning still has a long way to go, and educators are supposed to take the responsibility of making efforts to develop and perfect it, and introducing it to more and more
• Use concrete language: the teacher always have concrete representation when teaching Ashley because of her inability to comprehend when only using words. Concrete representations help Ashley to understand the concept of what is being taught and it also is an aid for her to show what she understood from lesson. •
What are schools required to do to determine whether a child comes from a home that speaks a language other than English? What are requirements for testing, assessment and placement of ELLs? Explain the Lau V. Nichols case and its impact on second language learners. As a school leader, discuss possible challenges faced by ELL students who face language barriers that result in achievement deficits and what you need to be aware of / do to assist those students.
He begins by stating that many people assume that Asian students have an “innate proclivity for math” because Asian countries “have substantially outperformed their Western counterparts” in international mathematic exams (230). But in reality, Gladwell proved that Asian countries actually have a cultural advantage in the subject due to their number system. Most numbers in Chinese “can be uttered in less than a quarter of a second” while English numbers take a third. This difference allows Chinese children to memorize and count at an earlier age, leaving Western children a year behind at age five. Similarly, Gladwell cited Chinese culture of hardwork growing rice paddies as a reason for mathematic success.
Similar to the previous point, teachers also express their frustration due to forcefully limiting their skills and ability to instruct students in a foreign language (P. 4). Additionally, the California Teachers Association comes out in “strong opposition because
To sum my paragraph up, eighth grade is going to be a difficult year with countless exams awaiting. There’ll be an abundance of notes filled with information I never knew before. One of those information are new vocabulary and
The math and science is precise and the English a judge call. She also notices the survey indicate that Asian students always do significantly better on math achievement tests than in English. Her exprience and the survey illustrate her ideal that her limitation in English due to the ‘broken English’ environment that she grow up with. She believed that her mother’s English limited her possibilities in life and affected her results on achievement tests, IQ tests, and the SAT. Those fact persuade the readers to understand her logic, and agree with it eventually.
Often enough teachers come into the education field not knowing that what they teach will affect the students in the future. This article is about how these thirteen rules are taught as ‘tricks’ to make math easier for the students in elementary school. What teachers do not remember is these the ‘tricks’ will soon confuse the students as they expand their knowledge. These ‘tricks’ confuse the students because they expire without the students knowing. Not only does the article informs about the rules that expire, but also the mathematical language that soon expire.
Although applause fills the room, “When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,/ When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,/… I became tired and sick”(2-6). Whitman's word choices allow the reader to understand his feelings towards the lecture hall. The painstaking plethora of words used to reference the teaching instruments such as, ‘proofs’, ‘figures’, ‘columns’, ‘charts’ and ‘diagrams’ describes a constricted environment. Furthermore, the selection of calculated words including ‘ranged’, ‘add’, ‘divide’ and ‘measure’ suggests the tedious aspect of schoolwork.
The first example he gives demonstrates the ability of math, contrasting Western students and Asian students. The number-naming systems in Western and Asian languages are completely different. The number system in Asia is logical and the words are brief, allowing more numbers to be memorized and recalled. The opposite is true for the system in Western society. This difference allows Asian children to learn numbers much faster than American children.
One of the key to the successful teaching of physical education is the use of a broad range of approaches and methodologies. As it is acknowledged that schools, classes and teachers will vary, some methods will suit particular circumstances better than others, and the nature of the strands themselves necessitates the use of a variety of teaching methods. There is a need to examine the teaching methods which will best enhance the achievement of the objectives, taking factors such as the content and context of the lesson into account, as well as the needs of the learner. Teaching means sharing, guiding, changing behavior, impressing, disciplining, counseling, directing and inspiring. Good teaching is a process of producing end products of
Part B Introduction The importance of Geometry Children need a wealth of practical and creative experiences in solving mathematical problems. Mathematics education is aimed at children being able to make connections between mathematics and daily activities; it is about acquiring basic skills, whilst forming an understanding of mathematical language and applying that language to practical situations. Mathematics also enables students to search for simple connections, patterns, structures and rules whilst describing and investigating strategies. Geometry is important as Booker, Bond, Sparrow and Swan (2010, p. 394) foresee as it allows children the prospect to engage in geometry through enquiring and investigation whilst enhancing mathematical thinking, this thinking encourages students to form connections with other key areas associated with mathematics and builds upon students abilities helping students reflect
C. Analysis In this chapter, I will make critical analysis on the results of the classroom observation with my opinion. 1. Teacher’s Classroom Management a. Managing students to pay attention to the lesson According to Warfield (2016) mentioned that classroom surrounding very affects to student performance.
Therefore, teachers must accommodate students who do not necessarily speak the same languages (Moodley, 2013:74 -75). To ensure that student’s education is not compromised, a target language needs to be implemented to ensure that the subject being taught is acknowledged by the learners. However the “language barrier” would also create an opportunity to code-switch, which will benefit learners to a great extent. It will not only eliminate the isolated feelings of students but accommodate their language and cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, a teacher will be able to teach their class to the extent where they will be motivated to learn.
Students have difficulties learning when a class is given in another language or when
I believe as teachers of English language we first get our understanding of the English teaching methods and techniques that would later affect our decisions about teaching our own students long before than official academic training begins. In fact, I, as a non-native speaker of English language, have spent at least twelve years learning it, which also means twelve years observing my teachers’ methods and strategies. Therefore, I would first like to describe my experience as a learner of English, then proceed with describing my personal teaching experience and conclude with a reflection on how these influences shaped my beliefs about language and language learning. Traditionally, teacher in Russia is regarded as an authority figure, and learners tend to rely on them to a large extent, therefore approaches that Russian professors adopt are mostly