Chapter II : Pedagogical Contents

              2.1     Teaching Methods

After conducting the classroom observations for several times, I concluded that Teacher-Centered Method is the teaching method which was commonly used by English teachers in Satit Bangna School. As English in Thailand is still a foreign language, I think this method is suitable to be applied here. The teacher is the source of the knowledges. The teacher plays the most important roles in the class. Learning materials and innovation also came from the teachers.

              2.2     Learning Material and Innovation

English teachers in Satit Bangna School uses the learning material from the book of English Cambridge  “Messages” from Cambridge University Press, England, the same book that is owned by the students. The teachers also use “Grammar Builder : A Grammar Guidebook for Students of English” also from Cambridge University Press, England. They presented the material in the most conventional way which is using the whiteboard. This way, the students will be more engaged to the lesson as the teachers can ask some questions and then directly write down the answer of the students on the whiteboard or even let the students to come forward and write down the answers themselves.

English teachers in Satit Bangna School also make several innovations throughout their teaching processes. The teacher sometimes writes down couples of questions on a piece of wide paper and attaches it on the whiteboard. Later, she will point on each students to answer the questions from their seats. By this, she can use that paper in another class with the same material without having to re-write the questions. She admits that it will be more economical.

              2.3     Source of Learning and Technology

As source of learning the teacher use English Cambridge book “Messages” from Cambridge University Press, England, the same book that is owned by the students. The teachers also use “Grammar Builder : A Grammar Guidebook for Students of English” also from Cambridge University Press, England. For another aditional resource of learning teachers also browse several teaching materials from the internet.

For the utilization of technology, it is really unfortunate that English teachers in Satit Bangna School don’t really take advantages of it. They are more likely to teach by maximise the usage of the whiteboard. During my observation, I never saw any of them using such Power-Point Presentation to deliver the lessons, again, they are more likely to use the whiteboard. I asked about this thing to Teacher Beth and she told me that she prefers using the whiteboard to the Power-Point Presentation not only because the school has limited projector screen (TV), but also she thinks that by explaining the material using the whiteboard will increase students engagement to the lesson.

              2.4     Authentic Assesment

Teachers use the exact assesment as attached on the lesson plan as the following example :

Expected Outcomes	Instruments/Tasks	Criteria
Skills/Knowledge
1. Students are able to answer questions from the story correctly.	- Sentence cards	70% of the students are able to stick the sentence card on the board in correct order.
2. Students are able to read out loud and follow along.	- Sentence cards	80-100%         - Excellent 70-79%           - Good 60-69%           - Fair 50-59%           - Poor
3. Students are to complete comprehension exercises linked with story.	- Activity	80-100%         - Excellent 70-79%           - Good 60-69%           - Fair 50-59%           - Poor

(Table 2.1 Assesment)

Besides the above assesment, teachers also use the more conventional one. For example, one of the teacher uses point. Before the class begin, the teacher will ask all the students to stand up. Then, they will be given a chance to answer some questions related to the previous material or even the material that is going to be learned in that day. The student who is able to answer correctly will be allowed to have a seat and get 10 sadditional point. Let’s just say that the material is present continuous tense, so they will be asked to make a sentence one by one based on the tenses with positive, negative, and introgative patterns.