PBL

Taken from Implementing Project-Based learning in Pre-service teacher education by Holst, J.K., 2003

• PBL is relevant for ELT = a bridge between 'classroom' and 'real life' English (Fried-Booth, 1997) since it requires authentic, communicative use of the language.
  
• How teachers teach is largely determined by the knowledge, attitudes, values, theories and assumptions they already hold about teaching (Breen, 1991; Woods, 1996) and these are likely to be based on their own experience as classroom learners (Lortie, 1975; Richards, 2001)

Fried-Booth, D. L. (1997). Project work (8th Ed) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Richards, J. Gallo, P., & Renandya, W. (2001). Exploring teachers' beliefs and the processes of change. PAC, 1(1), 41-64.

Lortie, D. (1975). Schoolteacher: a Sociological Study. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Breen, M.P. (1991). Understanding the language teacher in R. Philipson, E Kellerman et al (Eds), Foreign / Second language Pedagogy Research (pp 213-233) Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
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Zhang, Y. (1999). Project-based collaborative learning. Proceedings of the 10^th International Conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (pp. 1960-63). San Antonio, TX: International Conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education.

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A session with Dr Tee

I walked into Dr Tee's office around 11.18a.m today. I beamed in delight upon seeing Dr Tee for I know I'll be engaging in an intellectual discourse with him in a while.

After listening to my explanation and scanning my proposal, he said that my proposal is feasible to be done at PhD level. He suggested that I read more on TPACK since that would be my main concern since the batch of students I'm teaching at the moment has a huge gap in pedagogical and content knowledge since they have different content background.

Since I am going to pursue my PhD under TESL, Dr Tee said I would need to have two co supervisors. He agreed to be one of them and when I asked him to recommend a TESL supervisor, he told me that he has worked with Prof Moses before. I took a research class with Prof Moses before and I recognise his expertise. Well, I would be getting the best two PhD holders among the best to supervise me in doing my research.


Dr Tee suggests that I should be seeing him on regular basis to discuss on my research. I'll be seeing him once a month then. So, I would better keep up with my readings!

On the other hand, deep in my heart, I feel scared. I did not question my own capability in completing the journey I would take to have accomplish my mission, but I'm afraid to think of the challenges I would face along the way. Would I be suffering from depression? Would I falter? And the list could go on....

I know that I have to be strong and steadfast. Stop procrastinating and giving lots of excuses. I need to buckle up and be prepared for a rough journey....