Running head: MY PERFECT DAY

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

My Perfect Day
My alarm clock goes off at six oclock as usual with my favorite music All about
That Bass playing. I enjoy the music for a second, switch it off and then get up with joy
and refreshment. After waking up my three daughters, I quickly prepare lunch for them,
my husband and me while he prepares breakfast for all of us. I am in a very good mood
because I know what exactly to do for my todays English classes in lcole Secondaire
Champagnat. Actually, I have already had my whole year schedule planned out but still
left space for adjustment according to students diverse needs and abilities. Yesterday, I
put some interesting ideas in my lesson plan for today due to the previous reactions from
students. I think it will be more acceptable and fun for John and Mary, since they have
had difficulties dealing with the new tasks required for their graduation. I pay attentions
to students special needs, learn from students, and make proper adjustment to form the
teaching/learning unit as Agne (1999, p167) suggested
After saying goodbye to my kids and husband, who are heading to their La Tuque
High School, I quickly jump into my car and head to my well-decorated classroom--my
English language lab. For John Dewey, The school is a specialized environment to
enculturate the young (p68, Gutek, 1997). Thus, Ive carefully divided my lab into
different areas: literature corner, tourist and geography corner, history corner, housing
corner, construction corner etc. Also, Ive decorated my classroom with the material that
people might consider garbage. I want my student to reuse whatever is available. As
Morgan (1996) has mentioned, the fundamental purpose of education is to make future
social life possible (p295). As we know from Dewey (1916), Nature is the medium of
social occurrences, we should thus care about our environment. In my lab, students can
1

Running head: MY PERFECT DAY

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

start with their favorite corner to work on their English skills and then expand it to
different domains. I would like to be a facilitator of students learning rather than a
lecturer, and this student-centred environment has said it all. As Agne (1999) mentioned,
We do not teach, we facilitate the learning of another. (p167) After my students
graduate, I want my students to keep learning with appropriate attitude towards language
learning and language application. I keen to build the most fundamental structure of
language learning, and with the same attitude, students can learn different languages
coming across in their lives. When the teaching is gone, students can still keep learning
and growing on their own.
Here starts my first class: my secondary five class. We are working on perfect
tense. As usual, I draw a timeline and put different sorts of perfect tenses at the right
places. Each tense is color-coded. My whole class is divided into five groups and each
group has a set of magnets with different colors. I then play a tape with ten questions.
Each question contains a dialogue with only infinitive verbs, which means there are no
tenses. Each group then discusses the proper tenses to use and picks the proper magnet
with the right color under the right question. They then need to write down the whole
sentences with proper tenses. Whichever group accurately finishes their questions first
wins the competition. They all enjoy the game while learning the boring grammar.
After this listening and writing activity, each group starts writing a play including these
tenses and presents it in front of the class. The class ends with a reading comprehension
exercise. Students need to accomplish this individually by filling the blanks with proper
tenses and then answer the multiple choice questions to show their understanding of the
text. With their big provincial test on the way, they need to work hard on their grammar
2

Running head: MY PERFECT DAY

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

while having fun. They are assigned different homework related to tenses as well. I
believe after all the activities in the class, they can do well at home.
My second class is my secondary three class. Since there isnt any cycle related
test coming, we focus on their conversation skill. Most students have learnt a sufficient
amount of English but dont know how to use them in their daily conversation. The class
is divided into five groups as well. Each group can pick a corner that they are interested
in and do role play. Each corner comes with a little I-pad, which they can use to look up
words, films, and any information related to the topic. Then they form their play together.
When they have any questions, they need to look them up first themselves. If they cannot
find the answers anywhere online, then they can put up their hands to ask me. In order to
facilitate intrinsic learning and learning through doing (Dewey, 1897), we need to create
a problem-centered environment. In the end of the class, each group then presents their
play at their own corner. I love the play at the housing corner: the mother and the father
discipline their three children because they are too picky. Each child has their own
arguments. They use the corner well and make everything come up to live. The
homework today is finding a five to ten minute film corresponding to what they have
done today in the class with similar scenario.
Expanding vocabulary capacity is always the toughest job for a second language
learner. There are many tricks related to vocabulary learning. Reading is one of them. For
my secondary two class, I have assigned them to read various classic books that they
have read before in their own first language. Since they have read them before, they will
not have any trouble of understanding the books in English (Lyster et al, 2013). Today,
they are going to present what they have read and the new vocabulary they have learnt in
3

Running head: MY PERFECT DAY

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

their reading. After they give the class all the words and definitions of them, I mix all the
words. These words are not random words. They are words students have learnt through
their reading. In activity one, students have to pick one word and give the definition as
well as form a sentence with it. In activity two, students are divided into five groups.
Each group have one-fifth of all the new learnt words from all students, and form a story
with the words in it. This class then ends with their story telling.
I have my lunch with some other TESL teachers and discuss a little about the
English requirements for each grade and the difficulties of students. We then share some
constructive ideas for different topics and difficulties. I admired Jennies new method
very much. I am going to adopt it in my class. A teacher should keep learning and expand
his/her knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
I have been working on News English with my secondary four students for one
month. Today, we listen to an online News extract and students need to jot down what
they have heard and the key issues of the news. They then work in group, share what they
have heard and write down their versions of it. They can then listen to the news for the
second time, alter their versions a bit, and discuss the problems and key issues. In the end
of the class, they need to present their final versions of the news and their own opinions
about the news. During the discussion, students are required to use English as much as
possible, but some French is allowed for clearness. As a second language learner, we
know how much the knowledge of our first language can help with our second language
learning. Vygotskys scaffolding is what a teacher should do. It happens between students
as well. They discuss and share experience and learn from each other. I am like a mentor
of the students, not much of a teacher.
4

Running head: MY PERFECT DAY

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

Students first language is welcome for helping their second language learning.
Other than secondary two students story reading, I have my secondary one students learn
their second language with their first language as well. I give each group a country and
then they can discuss about the country in French or any other language that they are
familiar with. They need to discuss what people eat, what the religions are, what people
wear etc. Student have the priority to talk about their own countries. With the help of
internet and computers in the classroom. Students can find various information. The final
versions needs to be in English. They then present it in the end of the class. Being able
understand different cultures and countries can bring people together. We know the
importance of pragmatism through experiential continuum and pluralism as mentioned by
Ferrero (2005) and Dewey (Gutek, 1997).
After finishing all my five classes, I sit in my lab and organize it a bit for my
tomorrows class. Tiffany and Mary come to my class and ask some questions related to
what they have learnt in the class today. John also comes to me for his own future plan.
He is interested in going to an English CEGEP for his science study. He is worrying
about his English background and not being able to do well at school. After I give him
my own experience of learning English and French and the orientation of English
CEGEP in Quebec, he leaves with relieve. I mark students homework from last week,
and plan what I need to do for tomorrow in details. In the end, I do my daily selfreflection as Noddings (1992) and Palmer (1998) have emphasized, and write down what
I can do better. What a perfect day I have today. I dont just teach my children what they
need to learn, but also facilitate and motivate them with various activities. I even make
John willing to pursue his future in an English CEGEP. He used to hate English. I leave

Running head: MY PERFECT DAY

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

my class with joy and go home to spend time with my three beautiful daughters. Before I
start cooking my supper, I teach my three daughters Mandarin Chinese: reading and
writing. We always speak Mandarin at home. This is our family language policy. They
practice Mandarin at home, English at school, and French in our francophone
community. We are all active French learners. I practice my French with students when
we are not in the class. They can hear my funny French so they dont feel bad about
speaking English in front of me. We all know this is the process of learning a new
language. I care about my students and understand motivational displacement (p15,
Noddings,1992). I am a role model of my students since children learn by modeling.
(p167, Agne, 1999)
I have had another great, perfect day of my teaching life. Classes go with
harmony. Students and I work as a team to accomplish our tasks together. Our aim is
continuous learning. I hope they can keep learning even without my guidelines in the
future. I dont need to show my authority or power by enforcing harsh rules because I can
gain my authority by having sufficient knowledge of my subject, students and myself
(self-knowledge) (Palmer, 1998). I emphasize democratic principles in my classroom.
They can come up with their own ideas within certain limits as the traditionalism
mentioned by Ferrero (2005). I love my job as a TESL teacher.

Running head: MY PERFECT DAY

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

References
Agne, Karen (1999). Caring: The way of the master teacher. In the role of self in teacher
development. Richard p. Lipka & Thomas M. Brinthaupt (Eds.) New York: State
University of New York. (Pp. 165-188) ISBN: 0-7914-4016-8. 240 pages
Dewey, John (1897). My pedagogical creed. The School Journal. 54
Dewey, John (1916). Democracy and education. Macmillan
Ferrero, David (2005). Pathways to reform: Start with values. Educational Leadership.
62, (February), Pp. 8-14.
Gutek, Gerald (1997). Dewey and pragmatism. In Philosophical and ideological
perspectives on education. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. (Pp. 93- 101)
Lyster, R., Quiroga, J., & Ballinger, S. (2013). The effects of biliteracy instruction on
morphological awareness. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language
Education, 1(2), 169-197.).
Morgan, Paul (1996). Reconceiving the Foundations of Education: An Ecological
Model. Philosophy and Education 1996. Pp. 294-302.
Noddings, Nel (1992). Ch1: Shallow Educational Response to Deep Social Change (Pp114). Ch2: Caring (Pp15-27). In the Challenge to care in schools: An alternative
approach to education. New York: Teachers College Press.

Running head: MY PERFECT DAY

Eva Yu-Ti Huang #260574607

Palmer, Parker (1998). Teaching from Within. The courage to teach: Exploring the inner
landscape of a teachers life, ch1. (Pp1-7) Published by Jossey-Bass, A Wiley
Imprint.