In the morning of October 26th 2012, a district level English teaching demonstration took place at The Asian International School. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam, a teacher of Cong Hoa Campus, was responsible for this teaching demonstration. This was also one of the activities held annually by The Asian International School in order to provide chances for teachers to enhance their teaching and share experiences with colleagues. The teaching demonstration took place at Cong Hoa Campus with the attendance of 70 teachers from secondary schools in district 3 and English teachers at The Asian International School.
Teachers of district 3 are observing the demonstration
The teaching demonstration focused on Reading Session in Unit 5 “Study Habits” of the Grade 8 English textbook. With an student-centered teaching method, Ms. Thanh Tam made the demonstration atmosphere eventful and enjoyable from the beginning. She made a careful preparation with hand-made teaching aids and beautiful PowerPoint slides, which made all the participants interested in her demonstration.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam is demonstrating her lesson
The students were led directly into the lesson by fun and creative activities which are typical for English subject. Especially, the “Treasure hunting” game was highly appreciated. This creative activity not only helped the students develop their logical thinking, enhance group-work skill but also elicit students’ curious minds and create an exciting learning atmosphere. The “Treasure hunting” game made students feel like they were in a real hunt for a real “treasure”. Through this activity, questions from the textbook became more lively and exciting to students. The student could understand the lesson actively, showing that this method was more flexible and helpful to students than traditional ones.
Students are very highly enthusiastic in the “Treasure hunting” activity
With a soft voice and excellent pronunciation, Ms. Thanh Tam was successful in teaching vocabulary and pronunciation. The students were instructed carefully in pronouncing the words with liaisons and final sounds exactly. Group – work activities with teacher’s instructions during the lesson created an exciting environment in which students are the center of the class and both teacher and students join in discussions. At the end of the lesson, the guessing activity with pictures helped the student summarize the lesson content and memorize it easily.
Ms. Tam held many activities during the lesson
Students are divided into small groups for effective learning
Students are participating in the lesson
Ms. Tam’s teaching demonstration was highly appreciated by colleagues because of her teaching ability, creative methods and good time management for activities. Other reasons for her success were her activeness, her love and devotion to the teaching career.
At the end of the lesson, teachers from district 3 gave compliments on Ms. Thanh Tam’s demonstration. Most of the teachers greatly appreciated this demonstration and praised her as a young, active and professional teacher with many amazing and creative activities. Representing teachers of secondary schools in district 3, a teacher of Le Quy Don High School said: "…One of The Asian International School strong points is that it has a small number of students in each class. Thanks to this, teachers could easily teach, communicate with students and control the class well. In addition, The Asian International School students are better at communicating in English than those studying at other schools. Besides, The Asian International School facilities were excellent and are ideal for English teaching. The teacher’s performance today was good. Her teaching methods are great and her pronunciation is excellent. In general, The Asian International School was an ideal place for students to have overall improvement".
A teacher from Le Quy Don High School is sharing his opinions
The demonstration ended successfully. To achieve this good result, The Asian International School has invested in facilities and improved the quality of teaching. Annually, it invites foreign training experts from such organizations as EF Singapore School, Oxford University Press, Cengage Learning, etc. to train its English teachers and help them widen their knowledge and update the world’s modern teaching methods into their lessons. This not only brings to The Asian International School students interesting and creative lessons but also makes them interested in and passionate about studying.
Impressions and feelings about the teaching demonstration:
Student Tran Ngoc Minh Anh
"Participating in the teaching demonstration with my friends, I felt very happy and excited. The lesson was fun and useful so that I could understand it clearly and be able to do exercises after that. Besides, games and presents made the lesson more interesting".
Student Le Hoang Thien Trang
"Honored to be chosen for participating the demonstration, I was very happy but felt nervous because of the attendance of many teachers. Thanks to fun sayings of Ms. Tam, my English teacher, I felt less nervous and more confident about the demonstration. I also express my ideas regularly so that all of the teachers from other schools could see my good English communication, grammar and vocabulary skills.”
Student Nguyen Thuy Minh Anh
"All my classmates were eager and happy in the demonstration. Despite a little nervous, I still felt happy. The lesson was very helpful. The teacher was good at teaching. Therefore, I could understand the lesson deeply and do exercises quickly. Besides, she also gave us many fun and interesting activities during the period."
Ms. Do Thi Loan – English Program Manager at Cong Hoa Campus
"In spite of being young, Ms. Thanh Tam has excellent teaching methods that are worth learning. Her teaching period was successful due to the combination of her good preparation, creative teaching methods, the thorough content and various activities. She especially has good pronunciation and impressive intonation. All of these made an amazing and attractive demonstration".
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Dung – International English Program Manager at Cong Hoa Campus
"Ms. Tam is a young, active and creative teacher. She has modern teaching methods. Her lesson was eventful and attractive to all the students and attending teachers. Wish this demonstration would bring all attending teachers experience and modern teaching methods."
Ms. Pham Ngoc Lan Phuong – International English Program Manager at Pasteur Campus
"The teaching demonstration was successful and there were many compliments of fellow teachers from other schools. Ms. Thanh Tam’s lesson was highly appreciated in both content and form. The activities during the period made students highly enthusiastic in the lesson and catch people’s attentions. With enthusiasm, creativity and professional teaching manner, Ms. Tam showed her self-confidence in teaching and observing students."
Ms. Banh Ngoc Trang – Grade 10 English teacher
"I loved to observe Ms. Thanh Tam’s demonstration. She is active and good at speaking English. Through PowerPoint slides, pieces of paper for students working in group and small presents for right answers, I realized she prepared the lesson very well. I loved the activity “Treasure hunting” which made students participate passionately and interestingly. I also loved the way she summarizes the lesson. It helped students memorize the lesson deeply and compact knowledge after the period."
Ms. Ly Buu Buu – Grade 10 teacher
"Although Ms. Thanh Tam is young, she is a teacher who has self-confidence, good teaching methods, excellent intonation and pronunciation. Her lesson was well prepared with many creative activities. She not only created an exciting learning atmosphere but also made the students interested in doing exercises. The main content of the lesson was highlighted clearly so that the students could understand and memorize it easily. Besides, it also helped students to do exercises quickly. With the student-centered method, Ms. Tam also created a friendly learning atmosphere and gave students a chance to discuss with the others and teachers based. Attending her demonstration, I felt very happy and proud of The Asian International School’s young and active teacher generation."
Ms. Hoang Thi Hau – Grade 7 teacher
"Being an The Asian International School teacher, I am proud of Ms. Tam’s demonstration. She is a confident and active teacher. Her lesson attracted all the students’ attention. The lesson basing on modern tendency leaded students into the lesson naturally and also helped them communicate well in English in class."
Ms. Nguyen Vu Uyen Chi – Grade 10 teacher
"Ms. Tam’s demonstration showed her good preparation from teaching equipment to the electronic lesson plan. She arranged appropriate activities for each stage of the lesson. In my opinion, “Treasure hunting” is a creative activity which both improves students’ English skill and excites their thinking and team spirits.
Besides, her electronic lesson plan and PowerPoint skill was very good. The teaching demonstration made a strong impression on me. It also helped me gain valuable experiences and more teaching methods.
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