Philippine Laoshi Mingae has emerged in English Foreign Language Teaching in two of the schools affiliated by the National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.

My Experiences in the School Campus

Meeting with the Direct of General Affairs and the Principal

Guoguang Laboratory School, NSYSU

I and Ms. Cary Wang had the chance to have a meeting with Mrs. Wu Chin-Fang, the Director of General Affairs. She was the one who gives us an orientation about the school policies, rules, and regulations. Moreover, she guides us to the respective class I will be handling and introduced me to the faculty and staff of the school, Guoguang Laboratory School, NSYSU.

Kaohsiung Ruey Shyang Primary School

I was given the chance to meet all the faculty and staff of Ruey Shyang Primary School on the 18th of November 2019. Mrs. Lu Yan-Ling, Principal of the school introduced me during their Monday faculty and staff meeting.

Meeting with the Cooperating Teacher

I am grateful and enjoyed my first meeting with my cooperating teachers in both Primary and Secondary schools. They are very nice and supportive cooperating teachers. They discussed the things I need to familiarize myself with the teaching-learning process. I saw them as responsible teachers and at the same time friendly and a mother and father to all the students under their care.

Working with my Cooperating Teacher

Working with my cooperating teachers is a grateful and unforgettable experience of mine. They served as my guide throughout my journey in GLS and RSPS. As a helping teacher, I wanted to learn more about how to develop my ability when it comes to teaching. They never forget to give feedback on my weaknesses and strength in facilitating the learning environment. They always give suggestions and collaborate with me about my lesson planning.

My Unforgettable Experience in the School

I could never forget the day my students in Primary and Secondary surprised me when they give me a token of appreciation, a card full of inspiring and insightful messages. I never thought that they would recognize me as their teacher. I couldn't help myself but thank them with all my heart. I will never forget how all the faculty and staff of both schools are so kind to me. They welcome me wide-open in their respective schools. Moreover, I could not forget that my Senior II Class B students would personally invite me to attend their Christmas Party.

How did I Establish Classroom Routine?

When routines and procedures are carefully taught, modeled, and established in the classroom, learners know what's expected of them and how to do certain things on their own. Having these predictable patterns in place allows teachers to spend more time in meaningful instruction - Linda Shalaway

Cooperating Teachers had already their routines on how to make their instruction be very effective and make their students more disciplined. I got acquainted with the routines and also endorsed another way of teaching that I ensured to be very organized, systematic and orderly in my classes. I come to school every Monday morning for Grade 6 pupils of Kaohsiung Ruey Shyang, Thursday morning and Friday afternoon for Junior and Senior High School students of Guoguang Laboratory School, NSYSU. I come to school early before my cooperating arrived; I have a class conversation and asked them to maintain the orderliness of the classroom. I start my every class with an English songs as a motivation to the learners (i.e., Hello How Do You Do?, If You're Happy and You Know It Sing A Long Action Song, Baby Shark, Jingle Bells, and Thank You Ever So Much). I never start my lesson unless all the students were listening. It was gratifying for me to see their enthusiasm. They were not used to sing a song in every class they have and I realized they really liked it. In fact, they are excited when I play the song at the next meeting. They were very kind to me. Some students offered themselves to help me to operate the computer (educational technology) because it was in the Chinese language. They were very respectful and participative. When I assigned some exercise to do and readings, I kept walking around the class to manage and control the learning atmosphere.

Preparation of Instructional Materials (IM's)

I anchored my instructional materials to the objectives of my lesson plan and for the lesson that the Coopering Teachers advised. I used to be creative and artistic in making my Instructional Materials. I always make sure that students understand the lesson and no students left behind. I used different pictures, videos, and PowerPoint presentations. I play an English song and games, group work, activity, and student's English oral presentation. In every activity, I have different teaching strategy, I highlight the brainstorming and brain-writing way to stimulate ideas from the students and I let them study the assigned task with them. After the lesson, I assessed my students to determine if they learned and understood the topic that I discussed. I always used the Active Learning Strategies.

The Authentic Assessment I used

The term “authentic assessment” was first coined in 1989 by Grant Wiggins in K‒12 educational contexts. According to Wiggins (1989, p. 703), authentic assessment is “a true test” of intellectual achievement or ability because it requires students to demonstrate their deep understanding, higher-order thinking, and complex problem solving through the performance of exemplary tasks. Authenticity has been identified as a key characteristic of assessment design which promotes learning. The authentic assessment aims to replicate the tasks and performance standards typically found in the world of work and have been found to have a positive impact on student learning, autonomy, motivation, self-regulation and metacognition; abilities highly related to employability (Villaroel, Bloxham, Bruna, Bruna, & Herera-Seda, 2017).

I used the Active Learning Strategies a teaching strategies folio from the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines College of Education.

What I Learned in those Activities

I learned how to be a multi-tasking helping teacher especially when it comes to participating in school activities. It helped me to strengthen and develop my sense of responsibility and how to be more creative in preparing a plan for a particular activity.