Artefacts
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My
thoughts of growing into an English teacher was a long-lasting expectation. My
teaching career started right after completing the Advanced Level Examination
in 2014. I joined a reputed private school marking the first milestone of my
teaching career. Initially, it was a
daunting experience as I did not have any training related to teaching and it
was immediately after my life as a student. I was assigned to teach English to
grade eight students, Environmental Science and Health Science for grade three
to grade six students. I can still recall the first day that I taught a group
of students and the first impression that came to my mind. I taught a Health
Science lesson for grade three students and that was about the respiratory
system. When I entered the classroom the first feeling I sensed was ‘will I be
able to do this and what will happen if these kids won’t listen to me’. I still
remember how the students greeted me and how I started the lesson. Since I
didn’t have any proper guidance and training, I started the lesson by asking
the students to loud read the chapter.
I
didn’t reckon that the passion I received from the first day of teaching would
bring me this long. I worked there for twelve months for a five thousand salary
scale. Being the youngest teacher among the staff members I got support from my
senior teachers as well as I was one of my students’ preferred teachers. Besides
teaching, I gave my complete cooperation in other extracurricular activities in
the school. Being a teacher right after the life as a student made me realize
the pressure that our teachers bore on us. Back then, I was not known of any of
these teaching methods, or approaches, yet the experience I gained during this
episode was priceless. I used to have group activities, games, and discussions
to make the learners interested in the lesson. Now I know, even without any
theoretical background or training, I have employed multi-modalities in class.
This episode has given me so much exposure and experience, making me fall in love with the profession of teaching further. I believe this experience is one of the major factors which prompted me to foster my passion for my current career. Thenadays, one of my treasured ambitions was to enter Mahaweli National College of Education. Yet, fortunately, my hope to become a proficient teacher ended up by entering as an undergraduate at the University of Kelaniya reading for Teaching English as a Second Language degree course.
-Few of the feedback I
still preserve that I received from my students when they heard that I was
leaving the school-
-My first day as a teacher-
Letter
of Appreciation
-Examiner panel of the Sri Lankan Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management -
English Language Test
Right after appointing as a Temporary Lecturer at the Department of English Language Teaching, University of Kelaniya, I received the worthwhile opportunity to become one of the examiners of the examiner panel of the Sri Lankan Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management - National Guide Program - 057 Batch - Placement Test Interviews - English Language Test. It was a valuable artefact for me as I have never been officially an examiner in this sort of standard test before. We were provided with all the necessary guidelines and we had to examine all four skills of the interviewees.
Until
I went to the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, the main
branch in Colombo I was not known what kind of interviewees I need to examine. However,
all the interviewees were masculine aged from twenty to around the age of
seventy. There were varied kinds of personalities to be interviewed starting
from the school leavers to retired employees from white-collar jobs to
blue-collar jobs with different competence levels.
This
was a novel experience for me to officially examine a standard test not being prejudiced.
Besides, it was an adequate opportunity for me to learn another aspect as an
ELT practitioner where I get used to standardized test procedures. I realized
that I need to have high yet, fair standards, intellectual courtesy and reliability
as an examiner and this provided an opportunity to network with professionals
as well. I learned a lot from standardizing and marking candidates' work, from
being on the inside of the process and listening in on the dialogue that takes
place. Moreover, this is an appreciable opportunity for continuing professional
development, enhancing my current role, and contributing to my future career
progression. Hence, this is another rewarding artefact that showcases my identity
as an ELT practitioner.
Artefact 03
Most recent full-paper publication
Thennakoon,
B.N. and Abesooriya, L., (2022). The Effect of Video Feedback on Adult ESL
Learners’
Paragraph Writing Skills. OUSL Journal, 17(2), pp.177–220.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/ouslj.v17i2.7561
Being
a part of academia, it is not just teaching and executing administrative
responsibilities, we have to produce new knowledge and showcase that we are
also researchers through publications. This full paper was published in the
second volume of the seventeenth issue of the OUSL journal bearing the title ‘The
Effect of Video Feedback on Adult ESL Learners’ Paragraph Writing Skills’. This
research was conducted due to the continuing dispute over the efficacy of
teacher-written feedback and this study addresses the dearth of research in the
provision of video feedback for ESL writings in Sri Lanka. Being the first
author of this research, an initial version of this study was presented at the
7th Ruhuna University International Conference on Humanities and Social
Sciences (RUICHSS, 2021) and acknowledged the constructive comments given by
the participants of this conference.
The
process of reading, researching, writing and publishing is a captivating experience,
where I get to learn by experience. I am a beginner in the field of English
Language Teaching and I acquire ample knowledge while I am investigating my
discipline. Furthermore, I believe that conducting discipline-related research fosters
identifying and understanding pragmatic problems, recommending modifications
and demonstrating their impact in the classroom. When I conduct research,
especially under the theme of integrating technology in ESL classrooms, one of
my preferred research interests defines my academic, career and personal concerns.
My enthusiasm to conduct research and get published makes me feel that I am
part of the research community and academia. One of my senior lecturers once
said that ‘You can’t maintain in academia without conducting and getting
published your research. When you get used to it, you can’t stop your thoughts
to examine new concepts’. Hence, this is also another rewarding artefact that
showcases my identity as an ELT practitioner.
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