Reflection on Microteaching TSL 3103

The objectives in my groups lesson are by the end of the lesson, pupils will be able to
produce simple creative works with guidance and able to take part with guidance in a
performance based on nursery rhymes. In my groups microteaching, we decided to focus on
language arts for the topic, My Pets for Year 1 pupils. For language arts, we chose to teach
song about animals for the children. The reason we decide to use song in the lesson is because
singing songs is a powerful way for young children to practice language. When children sing,
they practice pronouncing words and putting together sentences. Besides, learning the lyrics to
songs is also an effective way to remember information. For the lesson, we used the BINGO
song that originally contains the name of farm animals. But then we adapt the lyrics that are
suited to the topic that we are going to teach by changing the name and the sound of the farm
animals to pet animals. This song contains the name and the sound of the pet animals such as
cat, dog, bird and fish.

At the beginning of the lesson, teacher introduces several pet animals by using paper
bag puppets which are bird, cat, dog and fish. Teacher asks a few questions about the pupils
own pets. Play therapists have used puppets successfully as a tool to encourage children to
express their feelings, and even to change their behaviors (Lennon & Barbato, 2001). From
there, the pupils can share their own story from home about their pets. For example, the teacher
asks the pupils, which one of you have a pet at home? The pupils will then raise their hands and
share about their pets in the class. The use of puppets during the set induction seems to attract
the pupils attention successfully. Puppets are perfect for grabbing their attention because they
are safe, fun, and a natural progression from educational cartoons they likely watch at home.
Hunt (1982) suggests that young children can usually accept puppets as non-threatening,
sympathetic friends. That is the reason why we decide to make use of pets puppets for the
beginning of the lesson. The paper bag pets are shown to the pupils and the pupils are able to
recognize what kind of pets that the paper bag puppets present. However, the set inductions are
too short as the teacher asks only a few questions to the pupils. Perhaps, we can prolong the
stage by telling a few characteristics about the pets to the pupils. For instance, a cat has loves
to drink milk and eats fish. From there, longer time can be achieved and the pupils can get extra
information about the pets.

For the presentation stage, we begin to introduce the Bingo song to the pupils. Teacher
distributes the sheets that contain the lyrics of the song. The song contains all the four pet
animals and their sounds. We used the Bingo Song as it involves the same lyrics for each
animal. The difference in the lyrics is the name of the animals and the sound that they

Azrina Binti Azman TESL 4 SEM 5

 Reflection on Microteaching TSL 3103
produced. There is strong practical evidence supporting the use of song in the English language
classroom. There is also a growing body of research confirming that songs are a useful tool in
language acquisition. In fact musical and language processing occur in the same area of the
brain (Medina, 1993). Songs involves repetition and rhythm which helps to increase the brain
memory of the pupils to remember the content of the lesson that they have learnt. During the
teaching phase, we include background music so that the pupils can sing the song according to
the tune played. The teacher used ukulele in the class which makes it more interesting because
the pupils can see how the tune is played while they are singing the song. But first, the teacher
sings the song out loud, followed by the pupils. As she is singing, she shows some movement
that is related to the animals in the song. However, the song seems to be too long for the Year 2
pupils. Even though it uses the same verses and words yet the quantity of the animal used
during the song makes it to be time consuming. Perhaps the teacher should use three animals
rather than four.There are also should be a title included on top of the lyrics such as Bingo.
During the presentation, the teacher only sings the song, followd by the pupils once. The
teacher should repeat singing the song together with the gestures at least twice to make the
people familiarise with the content. It is important for the teacher to demonstrate the correct way
to sing and move accordingly as the pupils always see their teacher as their role model for them
to imitate. In social learning theory Albert Bandura (1977) states behavior is learned from the
environment through the process of observational learning. Children observe the people around
them behaving in various ways. Children pay attention to some of these people
and encode their behavior. Later, they may imitate the behavior they have observed. Therefore,
it is important for the teacher to demonstrate the appropriate gestures and sing the song using
the correct pronunciation and rhythm.

During the practice stage, the teacher distributes masks for the pupils to colour. We
decide to cut the masks earlier and only leave the colouring part to the pupils. The Year 1 pupils
might be too young to handle sharp things and cut the paper accordingly. Besides, it may take
longer time for the children to cut the paper masks as they are not skillful enough. Therefore,
the teacher needs to consider the pupils safety and ability because they are too young to
handle certain things by themselves. It is important to give the children tasks that they can do
which are not too hard but not too easy at the same time. The teacher only needs to facilitate
and guide the pupils during the activity. According to Wright (2003), Vygotskys Zone of
Proximal Development is used to describe this sensitivity to childrens readiness for new
challenges. The teacher becomes a co-participant in the process and has to guide the student

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 Reflection on Microteaching TSL 3103
in constructing knowledge. This underlines once again the important role we as teachers have
to guide our students through the creative process. The colouring activity is considered a
suitable thing for young children as it grows creativity out of the young learners. From colouring,
the pupils will have the opportunity to express their unique creative side. The teachers role is
only to provide them the materials such as pencil colours and the outlines and let the children
find their own creative path. Furthermore, the development of gross-motor skills can also
happened from colouring. Motor skills are an essential component of development for all
children. Gallahue (1993), states that movement is at the very center of young childrens lives. It
is an important part of all aspects of their development, whether in the motor, cognitive, or
affective domains of human behavior. From the colouring activity, the child requires to
coordinate their eyes and hands movement. They eventually learn to hold the pen and control
its movement in a manner that the color does not go beyond the outline. For the practice stage,
the pupils have done a very good job and the teacher praises them for their hard work.

Then, we proceed to the production stage where the pupils will use the masks and
singing the BINGO song at the same time. In this phase, the teacher divides the pupils into
groups according to the animal masks that they have; Fish, Cat, Dog, and Bird. Each group will
sing one part of the song according to the animal masks they are wearing. The teacher will point
out which group that will sing their part of the song. As the group sings, they will have to shows
the movement that they have learnt before during the presentation stage. This is where the
process of imitation happens where the pupils will repeat the same movement as the teacher
shown before or they upgrade the movement with new ones. According to Albert Bandura
(1961), the same goes to the Bobo doll experiment where the children even add some extra
moves to the doll. This activity is considered student centered as the pupils can involve
completely and the teacher only acts as the facilitator and guidance. However, our lecturer,
Madam Zainab suggested that the singing activity should be in the practice stage while the
mask colouring should be in production stage. She mentions that the practice stage should be
related to the presentation stage which is singing. The teacher should drill the pupils on singing
as the lesson of the day is focused on song. The mask colouring should be in the production
stage as it is about work craft that the pupils produce.

The closure of the lesson is where the pupils should sing the BINGO song again to
recap their memories from the drilling that they have done from the practice stage. The mask
that is produced can be used while singing the song together. Instead, we only state the moral
values which are not interesting enough to end the lesson of the day. A good lesson should end

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 Reflection on Microteaching TSL 3103
with a fun and exciting closure so that the pupils can enjoy themselves until the end of the
lesson. As the lesson is focused on language arts which lead to fun learning, we should end the
class in an entertaining way.

There are other strengths that are detected during the microteaching. One of them is the
teacher use English all the time as the medium of communication in the class during the lesson.
Teacher must avoid using native language as much as possible to let the pupils familiarize
themselves to also respond to the teacher in English. If the pupils still couldnt understand the
simple instructions given by the teacher, teacher should show it with actions or pictures rather
that translate it to native language. Besides that, the teaching aids prepared by the teacher are
relevant, appropriate and effective to the lesson. The teachers act of writing the name of the
topic that they are going to learn that day also helps to inform the pupils about what they are
going to learn that day. The teacher even explains the meaning of the word Pet to the pupils
and state the objective of the lesson before the class began. However, some weaknesses are
also shown during the lesson which is the teachers voice which is not loud and clear enough for
the pupils to hear the instruction given. As a teacher, a loud and clear voice projection is
important as the pupils need to understand what they are learning that day. On top of that, the
teacher should bring the group in front of the class to perform so that everyone can see them.
During the microteaching, the groups perform at their own place which involves only the teacher
as the audience. If the teacher asks them to perform in front of the class, the group can sing in
front together with the masks that they have made. From there, everyone in the class can see
their friends performance as they are facing each other.

In conclusion, this microteaching has given me the guidance to manage the lesson in the
classroom and be more carefully after this. It is important to make sure that the teacher carry
out the lesson as planned and the lesson goes as smooth as possible. From our microteaching,
most of the feedbacks are positive. The lesson is well managed and my group put a very good
effort in this task. Even though the some of the pupils are not paying attention, the teacher able
to manage them well to make the lesson goes smoothly.

Azrina Binti Azman TESL 4 SEM 5