This reading is really interesting to me. I’m operating a private kindergarten in Seoul for several years. I tried to provide set curriculum and let first year of new coming foreign teachers just follow a prescribed text and methods after combining English program with Korean kindergarten curriculum. Because Native English teachers have no experience to teach young learners(even anyone) and no idea about teaching English to children and taking care of them. I was always proud of our well made curriculum and teaching guideline manual for English teachers as like Michael Gatto’s director in El Salvador. (Graves, K., 2000, p14) Sometimes I used to treat the teachers who like to try their own things like rude or too much self-confident westerners who don’t follow the school direction. After reading these chapters, I started understanding that they might try to make our curriculum better in the context of their own.Graves gives us three pieces of advice. 1) To try to get as much information as possible by asking for it specifically or by trying to find others who have taught in that context. 2) To design the course with a similar group in mind, if we have knowledge of such a group, so that we are not foiled when making decisions. 3) To work into our course design process flexibility so that we have more than option at each step of the way. (Graves, K., 2000, p20) It’s really important to define our context in order to design a good curriculum.
In chapter 3, Graves said that our beliefs play a role at each stage of course design. They may not always be present in our thinking, but they underlie the decisions we make. (Graves, K., 2000, p33) Last quarter, I took a course of making various instructional lesson plans. After finishing the course, I realized that I put some storybooks into every instructional plan whenever I began a lesson. I believe that to read a storybook to young learner is very important in order to make children understand the goal of lesson and activity. Beliefs are not necessarily something that teachers can easily articulate or are completely aware of because no schools or no supervisors ask us to articulate our beliefs. But I think that it needs to ask ourselves about our beliefs in order to make our beliefs more explicit. To join this MA program is the process to make my beliefs about teaching more explicit.
Sooyeun,
ReplyDeleteDo you have your curriculum available in electronic format and would you like share it with us? We also have a module for evaluating curriculum materials, where you can post authentic curriculum and evaluate it according our guidelines or let someone else give you a feedback. I have a strong background in early childhood education, I've taught kindergarten for three years, and will be happy to give you some of my materials when we meet in June.
Sooyeun,
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to know that one of your beliefs in English teaching is putting a high value on reading storybooks for little kids. I am still trying to find my belief in language teaching and learning that will provide me with a basic standard for making decisions. As Graves (2000) indicated in the Chapter 3, my reactions to the reflections and decisions other teachers made, while I am reading this book, will provide clues to my beliefs, hopefully. I would like to ask you if your students suggest any other options against your belief, such as reading storybooks. Are you willing to negotiate your curriculum because “learning may be viewed as a process of shared decision making with the students” (p. 30), or are going to persuade them to follow your lead because you know what is good for them?