Best Practices Language Applications Lesson Study Project
From APEC HRDWG Wiki
Among interested APEC member economies, this project seeks to share the concept and examples of Lesson Study as a realistic and effective approach for in-service teachers’ professional development in the area of language teaching.
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Lesson Study Applications in Teaching and Learning Languages in APEC Economies
APEC is preparing a DVD Workshop on Lesson Study is being prepared for distribution among key language educators and/or primary and secondary school language teaching groups (mainly upper primary and lower secondary) in APEC member economies in order to share the concepts and means of applying this approach to language teachers’ professional development. In addition to describing the approach, a sample Lesson Study of a real-life English lesson in Chinese Taipei is featured. Following the Lesson Plan and Reflection format presented in the workshop, each co-sponsoring APEC member economy engaged in promoting the Lesson Study project and developing at least one language teaching Lesson Study in their economy.
Lesson Study at the APEC-RELC International Language Seminar
In order to promote higher proficiency in shared languages for the good of economic life and development among the APEC member economies, a Lesson Study Track was held at the Inaugural APEC-SEAMEO RELC International Seminar to collaboratively apply and evaluate the Lesson Study approach for pragmatic teaching of languages among the APEC member economies.
Teacher/Researcher Presentations
Language teachers and researchers from 12 APEC member economies brought fascinating reports of positive practitioner responses to Lesson Study as a professional development activity for language teachers. In each economy, researchers and teachers teamed up to plan, execute and assess a Lesson Study in one or more language classrooms. In the Lesson Study Track, sponsored by the Chinese Taipei Ministry of Education and APEC, each member economy reported on the process they followed, experiences encountered and lessons learned along the way. In most member economies, the teacher/researcher team made use of existing structures in the local education system to implement this activity.
The response on the part of participating teachers was overwhelmingly positive. Though the project appeared formidable at first, once it was accomplished and everyone was reflecting on the study lesson, teachers quickly recognized the value and joy of collaboration. Researchers and policy makers realized the efficiency of this model for promoting in-service teachers’ professional development. As many teachers who are willing, can participate in or near their local schools, reducing the need to limit expensive in-service training courses to just a few school representatives each year.
Themes for Future Projects
In fruitful discussions on Lesson Study Applications for Language Teaching at the end of the member economy presentations, participants identified potential themes for projects to follow-up on collaboration in Lesson Study. These include:
- Effects of Lesson Study on Teacher Role, Teacher Learning and Teacher Performance;
- Lesson Study Applications for University Teaching;
- Exploring Best Practices for Promotion of Lesson Study Throughout a Member Economy; and
- Role of Culture in Lesson Study Collaborations, and Influence of Culture on how we Collaborate, Teach, and Learn.
Participants from multiple economies expressed their desire to participate in an international professional community and further this productive collaboration.
Note on Attendance: Originally, 14 member economies were to report, including Australia; Brunei Darussalam; P. R. China; Hong Kong, China; Korea; Indonesia; Malaysia; New Zealand; Peru; the Philippines; Russia; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; and the United States. However, due to the ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption in Iceland of April 2010 grounding all flights in and out of Europe, the delegations from Peru and Russia were unable to attend the seminar. The specialist speaker for Lesson Study, Dr. Clea Fernandez, was also prevented from attending. Teachers and education administrators from Singapore joined in the final discussion as well.
