The last few weeks have not been so great in school. The theme that started last month is Occupations and Jobs. I do like it that we would be taught according to themes. I felt like it is great since we would be taught in a more systematic and organised way. Also, this theme is a good choice since it is very applicable to us. After all, most of us would like to find jobs here and it's important to know Swedish since it's the basic requirement for most jobs here.
Before this, the lessons were not quite well-planned. We seemed to be taught in bits and pieces - whatever the teachers have planned for the day. This time, the teachers said they have planned to teach according to this theme. So, when I heard about the theme, I was quite happy. In my mind, I thought they have planned the lessons together so we would be taught systematically.
However, it has been four weeks since the beginning of the theme and I have not learnt as much as I wanted to. We have had to write our CVs in Swedish, write letters to employers and practice answering interview questions. Sounds good, right? However, we had to flounder about when we were doing those tasks.
The problem is that the teachers did not teach us the proper vocabulary before we started on the tasks. I expected to be taught the words first since those words are new to us. The words are also not used in every day conversations so it was really tough. I had to depend on Google translate all the time, and you know how some words and expressions can't be translated directly. I pity the rest of my classmates too. Some have never written a CV in their life, to write one in Swedish is double the difficulty.
Then there are the texts that we had to read and understand. Some of the texts were easy and some are so tough, I had to look up every third word. We had to discuss some questions in groups, however without knowing suitable words, our discussions were a bit superficial. It was really tough knowing what to say but I couldn't say it in Swedish. I couldn't even use English since not everybody in my group knows it.
I don't have anything against the tasks. I could see the benefits in doing them. What I needed, what we all needed, was to be taught the vocabulary first and how to use them in sentences. Without the words, it would be nearly impossible to do the task well and to achieve the objectives of the lessons.
I do wish that the teachers could plan the lessons better. Having done countless of lesson plans in my 16 years as a teacher, I get even more frustrated when I know that we could have been taught better and more effectively. It's not just me that thinks this way, though. Today, we were given a particularly difficult tasks to do. The whole class had a tough time and then finally, someone brought this up with the teacher. It led to a discussion about what we felt about the lessons and how we were taught. The good thing is that the teacher is keen to hear us out and know what sort of help we needed.
Out of the four teachers who teach us regularly, the best has been the leader of the team. However, she doesn't teach us. She would only cover the teachers if they are sick. The newest teacher which joined us this year is the most ineffective, a sentiment that is shared by all in the class. I did try to help him by telling him how I would like to be taught. I even wrote out a lesson plan and shared it with him. Yet, he didn't take up any of my suggestion and he continued to be unprepared for lessons.
After the discussion today, the teacher said that she would let the others in the team know and hopefully there would be changes to the lessons. She did say, however, that the test for Course C, which I am in, is quite tough. I am worried somewhat about that, however, I know that with proper systematic teaching, I would be able to do it. Let's see how it is like in the weeks to come. I hope the teaching would improve because I am willing and ready to learn. It will be a shame if the lessons and ineffective teaching puts me off my learning.
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