Continued
Professional Development Report
One of
the resources I used throughout my practicum was the internet.
I
relied a lot on it to find the information I needed for my lessons.
I
visited many websites and used a few internet tools that I had learned about in
previous courses. I will only mention a
few of them in this report.
YouTube
is one of those websites that you can use for almost anything. It is easy to
use and easy to access. In addition to this, it is free!
While
searching through different channels on YouTube, I came across a video from a
website called "engVid." This web page offers a lot of free online
English lessons at all levels. The teachers from this website are mostly from
Eastern Canada and the United Kingdom. Hundreds of videos are available, and
every week, they upload new ones.
I like
this website because I find their lessons to be helpful and informative. I like
the way the teachers explain the topic and the reasoning behind the meanings of
the words. This website helps all learners at different levels, it also helps
new ESL teachers like me. I consider this website a must-have. There is no need
to sign up unless you want to interact with other members. It is completely
free, and all their videos are free of use even if you don't want to become a
member yourself.
Another
source I wanted to access was to take part in a webinar through Tutela. I found
one from TESL Ontario, but they denied me permission.
That
was disappointing. I was looking forward to being part of it, especially when
the topic was about strategies in the classroom. That would've been useful for
sure.
Although
the use of the internet is easy and convenient, I think we should not discard
the importance of the use of textbooks. For example, when we want to find
information about English grammar and all the rules that come with that, we
have to be careful with the information we find. Many websites will not
coincide with others, causing confusion to the reader.
This is
something my sponsor teacher recommended, and I thank her for it. She suggested
a series of grammar books that she uses in her class. There is one in
particular called Fundamentals of English Grammar, Third Edition by Betty Schrampfer
Azar, which she considers it like the bible. Everything she knows, she has
learned it from this book. There is a second grammar book called "
Understanding and Using English Grammar" by the same author. I am buying
both of these books to be part of my continuing professional development.
Learning and understanding more about grammar is a priority for me, and I
believe for many new ESL teachers as well. I didn't realize how important it
was to be grammar savvy while teaching. This is something students are always
eager to learn, particularly when the words in a phrase are written in a
particular order. English learners are curious, and we as ESL teacher better
fulfill that curiosity.
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