BEARS ACADEMY 倍而思美語

My plan for A4

Let me say, first of all, that I’m glad to have an opportunity to teach your children!  I know Chloe has done a good job with them, and that she’s a good teacher.  I wish I’d had more opportunity to learn from her myself!

My name is Aaron Hamilton, and I’ve been teaching at Best Pals for a year now, and before that, I taught at several other places.  It’s been a lot of fun getting to know your kids, and the others here as well.  I’m from America, grew up in Arizona, and graduated from the University of Georgia.  I’m married, my wife is Taiwanese (so I can speak and understand a little Chinese, but not well since her English is so good!), and we have two little kids – my son is 2 ½ and my daughter is 1 ½.  We are Christians, and though our church is small, we are glad to be a part of it.  Right now I’m only teaching two classes, A4 and A3, though last year I taught A1a, A1b, A4a, A4b, and A5, so I know nearly everyone here!

Here are the things we are working on this year:

• Problem 1: Wrong use of verb tenses, not paying attention to verb tenses
• Solution 1: Peer-correction.  Students listen for the mistakes of others, and if they can point them out and correct them, they get two points from that student.
• Solution 2: Reviewing tenses with “American Headway”.  It compares and contrasts two similar tenses in each chapter.
• Solution 3: Teacher correction.  I point out their mistakes (though not all of them, since our class is only two hours long!), and make them repeat the corrected sentence.
• Solution 4: Writing.  We spend a lot of time writing with Spectrum Writing, so there is plenty of opportunity for students to see their own mistakes, or for me to point them out.
• Problem 2: Wrong use of number and person, not paying attention to number or person
• Solutions are the same as for Problem 1
• Problem 3: Students don’t know how to guess a word by context, and rely on the dictionary, which makes them slow, and makes them unable to understand native speakers.
• Solution 1: ask them to guess what new words mean first, rather than look them up or rely on vocabulary sheets.
• Solution 2: read novels (like Diary of a Wimpy Kid), as we see the same words and phrases repeated again and again, so it is easier to guess their meaning by context, and also to remember them.
• Problem 4: students don’t remember or enjoy what they’re taught, and don’t know how to learn on their own
• Solution 1: slow down when they’re having trouble.  It’s not important for us to finish every book and take every test that we had planned, it’s important for us to build up a firm foundation that will stay with them.  So our syllabus is what we would like to have finished by the end of the semester, but we may or may not get that far.
• Solution 2: more practical application, like writing.  This forces students to use the same tense again and again, so that they are more likely to remember it.
• Solution 3: teach students to guess words by context, since relying on a dictionary is slow and frustrating, and stops enjoyment of books.  If students can guess words on their own, they will not be afraid to read on their own, and may even find that they enjoy it, enabling them to learn on their own!

I thank you for entrusting me with your children, and I will do my best to teach them.  If you have any questions, please do ask me, and I will try my best to answer you.  Thank you for reading!

Aaron Hamilton