Content that we discussed:
This seminar’s topic was “The Mega Reflection on One’s ELL Journey.” Dr. Terrett had already prepared various questions in the English workbook, yet ELLA students chose to discuss more on the questions they brainstormed themselves, which were connected to the topic. The questions focused on the students’ favorite units, one book they would recommend to other students joining ELL, important skills and literary knowledge they learned, and advice they might give to the ELL curriculum in the future. These questions are highly related to the concept of “reflection” in the 10 Learner Profiles in the IB.
ELLA students participated a lot in this seminar. While reminiscing about their memories in grades 6 and 7, they also delved deep into thinking about what they learned and improved throughout their ELL journey. For example, I clearly remember Eliza sharing her thoughts on her improvement in writing essays, which will also support her in her further studies.
Highlights of the content:
I rarely mention the highlights of contents in seminars, but I think it is necessary to do so this time, as it might help the teachers plan adjustments and allow other students to briefly know “what will happen next.”
1. Most students liked the Shakespeare units, as they found acting out the play fairly easy compared to writing essays. However, Eric proposed that reading the play out loud in class wastes a lot of time. The solution to this problem is to assign homework to students for reading the play at home and analyzing the scenes in class.
2. Students found Beowulf challenging. Since it is written in Old English, it was especially hard for sixth graders who had come to ELL only a few months earlier to understand and interpret it. My suggestion is to remove it (as the teachers have done now) or to rearrange it to another grade level (after the students have read Shakespeare).
3. Rhett from ELLA proposed a good idea of adding non-fiction books to the ELL curriculum. Students had a debate on this topic, arguing that it might be more suitable for other subjects or suggesting that ELL stands for a literature class.
My performance in this seminar:
I managed to get an 8 in the last seminar (*it was very lucky since I got an 8 for my first seminar, and that makes it a “loop”). I suggested a lot of unique thoughts and built upon other students’ points. As in the last seminar, I did not prepare for it and chose to “freestyle,” and I found myself improving on the skill of “thinking of a good point in a small amount of time.”
The leaders’ management:
ELLA’s leaders for the last seminar were Anna and Ryan. They created a positive atmosphere for the students to share their thoughts freely and encouraged everyone to reflect. Although they did not use the 30-second timer as we had a lot of time for this seminar, they still presented high-quality management skills and finished all four questions within the required time limit.