Other things I did during the past two weeks

What else did I do besides observing my student teacher's classes and having follow-up conferences with her?

1. Well, Rainbow and I initiated the website design about two weeks ago. We hoped that during the two weeks when we didn't have to teach, we could complete the main skeleton of the website for our department. We are glad that we did reach our goal. Our next goal is that before the school anniversary (12/8), we can launch a campaign to promote our website (http://www.csghs.tp.edu.tw/~eng/index.htm). To be honest, I put my ideals into this website, expecting this to be a platform for the colleagues to share their teaching ideas and activities. I'm fortunate to have Rainbow as my colleague and close friend, who not only supports my ideas but also always gives me timely critical feedback when I become too "impractical."
   
2. Besides the website, I finally finished an article that I promised to submit to 中山學報. This paper is about how my new students worked on mini-projects cooperatively to get to know the new environment as well as get acquainted with their learning partners. Students were excited about the tasks and the results turned out great. This is why I think it is worth sharing with others. This project-based learning activity was done in Chinese and students gave their presentations in class meeting period. So, I wrote the paper in Chinese, thinking that it might benefit more homerooms.
   
3. Last week, I started to plan my next unit by collecting materials and designing the learning activities. From the observations, I kind of revise my teaching plan for the next unit. I intend to have my students use the target language more often than they did in the previous lessons…individually. Previously, I have grouped or paired students whenever there is an activity. I noticed that some idled during group or pair work while the rest shouldered most of the work. In the next unit, there will be more individual activities in which my students are required to practice using the new words and phrases in writing and speaking.