Mouza Salem
AET3
H00235384
SLA in the classroom: Reflection
(Social Studies lesson: Ancient Egypt Leaders, Pharaohs)
I taught a lesson about Pharaohs which fits in Ancient Egyptian studies and it was in
the 3rd graders syllabus. I started the lesson with a brainstorming to activate their
schema. In addition to this, I could know their prior knowledge to determine how the
new knowledge should be introduced. Connecting the old knowledge to the new
knowledge is very important in terms of developing students’ understanding
(Pritchard, 2007). In this activity, I could apply different methods and theories.
According to Krashen’s theory, Affective Filter, interacting with others can improve
the students’ second language especially when interacting with the teacher because
the teacher input is better (Freeman & Freeman, 1998). Thus, I helped the learners in
this activity and gave them some words as an example. My input was appropriate for
their age, and I tried to use easy words. This is because I aimed to start from
something simple and move them to something more complex when starting the
lesson. Moreover, by telling them to write the ideas as a group I could apply one of
the communicative method principles. To explain, the students were communicating
and sharing their ideas in English. Using the target language when sharing and writing
the ideas will improve the students’ skills in speaking, writing and communicating in
English (Freeman & Freeman, 1998).
In the next stage, I gave them readings about 4 different Pharaohs. I assumed that they
may find difficulties in understanding some words so that I read the reading with the
whole class and explained the facts in an easy language and simple words. To check
their understanding, I was asking them within the explanation and comments on their
answers to help them reach a higher point and get right answers. This is reminded me
of the direct method which focuses on the spoken language even though this activity
“was” a reading activity. In this method, which I applied in this activity, the teacher
and the learners have to work with each other and the teacher may ask questions, as I
did, to let the students think using the target language (Freeman & Freeman, 1998).
The next activity was reading a story to the class about Ramses. I asked questions
within the story to let them think, to encourage them speaking and to see how much
did they understand. Some students were trying to comment on the story so they were
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Mouza Salem
AET3
H00235384
using Arabic. This problem which teachers may face sometimes can be solved in
many ways. The strategy I used was responding to those who are using English only.
Jeremy Harmer said in his book “how to teach English”, that by not responding to the
students who use their first language they will understand from the teacher response
that they need to use English to express their ideas (Harmer, 1998). Fortunately, the
technique worked well with most of them and they did express their ideas in English.
It is important to note here that the story could develop the students’ listening skills
and using the PowerPoint slides to show them the text made it much better. Following
a written text while listening makes it easier for the students to keep the information
and store it (Nation & Newton, 2009). According to Harmer, it is an effective way for
the students to notice the language features (Harmer, 2001). The usage of ICT in this
stage made my lesson better, I believe. This is because the students today have
become fascinated by the technology around them, and so they like their teacher to
use technology. By the end of the lesson, the students made fantastic posters. I could
see by moving around them how much they accomplished in this lesson. When I
asked them to evaluate themselves, they were satisfied and I was also satisfied on the
progress they achieved. Moreover, they were able to use English fluently in
describing their posters so the learning objectives were achieved successfully.
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Mouza Salem
AET3
H00235384
Bibliography:
Freeman, Y. & Freeman, D. (1998). ESL/EFL Teaching: Principles for Success.
Portsmouth: Heinemann
Harmer, J. (1998). How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English
Language Teaching (1st ed.). Harlow: Longman
Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Harlow: P. Longman
Nation, S. & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking (1st ed.).
New York: Routledge
Pritchard, A. (2007). Effective Teaching with Internet Technologies: Pedagogy and
Practice. California: Sage Publications Inc
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