Unit 4 Unforgettable experiences学习指导

一、词汇过关1.unforgettable【用法】形容词,意为“难忘的”。例如:W e went to a beautiful town andspent an unforgettable day.我们去了一座美丽的镇上度过了难忘的一天。【拓展】un-为否定前缀,如unlike“不像”;unim portant“不重要”;unhappy“不高兴”;unhealthy“不     

Unit 4 Unforgettable experiences 要点精练

1.单词拼写 根据句意和汉语或首字母提示,写出句中所缺单词的完全形式。1 .Thed叮when 1 joined the party 10 reallyandthrough the snowstorm.A .dragged:flewC.即t;struggledB .Pulled;wentD.stood;foughtU2 .The 2008 Olympie Games will beh_ by Beijing,China.3 .Flood a     

Unit 4 Unforgettable experiences 要点解读

一、词语例解1.rescue【用法】vt.解救;救出(save from dangeror harm)They rescued the boy from danger.他们营救那个孩子脱险。He rescued three children from the burn-ing building.他从失火的建筑物内救出了三个孩子。n.解救;援助(the act of saving or set-ting free from harm or danger)The old man ran to her rescue.老人跑     

Unit 4 Unforgettable experiences学习指导

一、词汇过关1.unforgettable【用法】形容词,意为“不会被遗忘的;难忘的”。例如:W e w ent to a beautiful lake and spent anunforgettable day.我们到美丽的湖畔度过了难忘的一天。【拓展】unforgettable是由形容词forgettable 表否定的前缀-un所构成的。又如:unpopular不流行的,不受欢迎的;unlikely不可能的;unthinkable无法想像的;unspeakable无法形容的,说不出的。例如:They are unlikely to com e since thew eather is so bad.他们不大可能来了,因为天气太糟糕了。2.rescue【用法】用作动词,意为“to set free,asfrom danger or i…     

Practices and experiences on bilingual teaching

The implementation of bilingual teaching is specialized course in one of the important teaching reforms and it is also the inevitable trend in cultivating talents with high quality. In the paper, several problems of currently restricting the method are pointed out in China and experiences on bilingual teaching of ＂fundamentals of water quality science＂ are summarized. The focus of this paper is on the request for bilingual teachers, textbook, teaching mode in class andteaching approach.     

Key experiences in student teachers’ development

This study focuses on the question of why student teachers stay in teaching even after a profound ‘practice shock,’ i.e., a shock that in itself seems to characterize the complex and emotionally challenging first year of student teaching. Using a line drawing technique, the study investigates student teachers’ views of their first year of teaching by examining how they picture their development, their key experiences during that development, and the ways in which they coped with these experiences. The results suggest that most student teachers perceive their own development not as a steadily ascending line as is often suggested by research on the development of teachers’ professional identity. Instead, we now surmise that most student teachers view their development as a path with highs and lows that include transformative moments or periods. This relates to the idea of transformative learning and to theories on identity development that suggest people need a crisis for identity development to occur. During such a crisis, we saw that student teachers explicitly reconsidered their connections to teaching and that this reconsideration led to a regained motivation for teaching. It appeared that supervisors or mentor teachers played a significant role in first‐year (student) teachers’ regaining motivation for teaching.     

Exploring foreign undergraduate students’ experiences of university

Although international students are an important source of income to universities in the UK, the emotional impact of their experiences may be ignored and unacknowledged. This study explored the personal experiences of international students studying for an undergraduate degree in the UK. Semi-structured interviews with five participants were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, which aimed to capture the personal perceptions of these participants. Two analytical themes are presented: “adaptation and identity”, which reflects the difficulties in acculturation, adaptation and development of identity in a foreign country; and “us and them”, which pays close attention to the perception of disconnectedness, unfairness and exclusion encountered in trying to integrate into a different way of life. Findings are discussed in relation to the impact that participants’ experiences have had on their self-worth, confidence and ability to engage with domestic individuals.     

Students’ beliefs and experiences of interdisciplinary learning

This study explored senior secondary students’ beliefs and experiences of learning an interdisciplinary curriculum, Liberal Studies, in Hong Kong. Through the analysis of focus-group interviews with 168 students, most of the students were found to enjoy or at least not resist interdisciplinary learning, and preferred to study real-world contemporary issues. More than half of the students, however, expressed their relative lack of confidence in interdisciplinary learning because of the difficulties they encountered in Independent Enquiry Studies and the public examination. The students were also found to have undertaken examination-oriented activities when the public examination approached. The study sheds light on the realization of interdisciplinary learning in secondary education in contexts where teacher-centred pedagogy and an accountability agenda remain influential.     

University academics’ experiences of learning through mentoring

The use of mentoring for staff development is well established within schools and the business sector, yet it has received limited consideration in the higher education literature as an approach to supporting learning for academics. In this study located at one metropolitan university in Australia, an online questionnaire and one-on-one semi-structured interviews were used to explore academics’ experiences of mentoring, with a view to understanding the broader benefits mentoring might offer to the academic community. Findings from the study highlight that in an era where change is pervasive tertiary education providers should consider implementing mentoring as a valuable approach for supporting the work of academics. The academics in this research explained that through mentoring, they learnt how to build professional relationships and friendships; it helped them develop a sense of personal satisfaction; acted as a catalyst for career and leadership enhancement; expanded understandings of teaching and research and as a consequence of engaging in self-reflection it opened up new ways of thinking about their work.     

Pre-service teachers’ cultural and teaching experiences abroad

This study investigates Turkish pre-service teachers’ experiences related to a two-month international teaching and cultural experience in the United States of America. In total, 289 graduate students from Turkey participated in a collaborative project from 2001 to 2010. The experience included an orientation week, six weeks of student teaching in a high school, seminars and projects at Iowa State University and cultural visits. The data were collected through a pre-service teacher questionnaire and their reflective journals. The results showed that pre-service teachers perceived the international teaching experience helped them develop professionally and personally. Through cross-cultural exchanges with their mentors along with other students and their community, the pre-service teachers expanded their knowledge of a new culture and adapted to a new working environment.     

Chinese students’ groupwork practices and experiences in China

Chinese students constitute the most rapidly growing international cohort of students enrolled in many Western tertiary settings, and it is important to understand more about their preparation for engaging with commonly used teaching approaches such as groupwork. This study investigated their attitudes and experience of groupwork while enrolled at a large Chinese university. Semi-structured and video-stimulated recall interview data were collected from 16 third-year Finance students over a 5-week field study. Results showed that this group of Chinese students experienced more out-of-class than in-class groupwork activities. These out-of-class groupwork sessions fell into three categories: (1) student initiated, (2) student league initiated and (3) teacher initiated. Students identified both individual and collective benefits from groupwork, highlighting that Chinese students value groupwork and actively seek to engage with it in the Chinese tertiary context. This study contributes to the understanding of Chinese students’ group practices in Chinese tertiary settings.     

Teachers’ experiences with a state-mandated kindergarten readiness assessment

This study used an embedded mixed method design to examine teachers’ experiences with a state-mandated kindergarten readiness assessment during its inaugural year. Participants were 143 kindergarten teachers from one county in a Midwestern state. In general, teachers did not perceive the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment as useful for one of its intended purposes of guiding instruction. Our findings did not indicate an adversity to assessment in general. Rather, perceptions that the new KRA was less useful for practice seemed to stem from administration issues, problems with the content assessed by the KRA, and participants’ misunderstandings regarding the purpose of the KRA. Furthermore, participants reported that the KRA took away valuable time needed to help students adjust to their first time in formal schooling and needed to create a classroom community. Implications for creating and implementing kindergarten readiness and other assessments as well as preparing teachers to use readiness assessments are discussed.     

Online graduate students’ perceptions of best learning experiences

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of online master’s students regarding their best learning experiences. The authors surveyed 86 graduate students concerning what helped them learn in the online environment. Results indicate that although graduate students learned using the same technological tools as undergraduates, they desired a deeper level of learning that requires more instructional forethought and planning. Student experiences were consistent with the constructivist theory, and implications for improving teaching based upon the constructivist theory are highlighted.     

Accounting for preservice teachers’ constructivist learning environment experiences

The article reports the findings of a study conducted to inform a teacher preparation program of the extent to which they were providing students with experiences consistent with the program goals. The Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) was administered three times to participants in a 1-year program for graduate students seeking licensure in mathematics and science. These data were compared to program course syllabi and participant reflections to generate an account of institutional practice. From this account, observations about the program and a subsequent hypothetical learning trajectory were generated. It is recommended that the program find additional ways to explicitly integrate constructivist learning environment components into coursework and field experiences, specifically in the area of Critical Voice. Furthermore, the program should continue to structure programs components differently for mathematics and science and continue to offer a year-round field experience.     

Practicum experiences as sources of pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy

This study examines physical education pre-service teachers’ (PTs) self-efficacy and practicum experiences as self-efficacy sources through a mixed-method approach. For the quantitative phase, a self-efficacy questionnaire was applied to 141 PTs. Results showed a stronger self-efficacy in the relationship with students and discipline promotion. Lower self-efficacy was linked to instructional strategies. Concerning the qualitative phase, eight PTs were interviewed. PTs with higher self-efficacy reported professional experiences before practicum as mastery experiences. During the practicum they highlighted as mastery experiences: classes’ characteristics, planning and teaching practice; lesson observation as vicarious experiences; and post-lesson conversations as verbal persuasion. PTs with lower self-efficacy reported classes’ characteristics and teaching practice as failure experiences. Lesson observation was linked to negative vicarious experiences and post-lesson conversations were associated to negative emotions and the absence of verbal persuasion. This study’s results have implications inasmuch as they confirm the role of the practicum in teacher education programmes and the importance of training supervisors in the implementation and management of the training experience, thus contributing to PTs’ self-efficacy development.     

Engineering students’ experiences of interactive teaching in calculus

This study reports on an educational development initiative where peer instruction was used instead of traditional lectures in a calculus course for first-year engineering students. The aim of the study was to explore students’ experiences of this method. Data were collected by means of an open-ended questionnaire on two occasions: early and late in the course. The data were analyzed with an inductive content analysis. The findings comprise three qualitatively different ways to experience the interactive teaching method in calculus: (1) enthusiasm, (2) nuanced skepticism and (3) aversion. The categories differed regarding emotional reactions to the teaching, experiences of learning, conceptions of teaching and learning, and experiences of meaningfulness. Many students expressed enthusiasm for learning with peer instruction and noted that the method gave both teachers and students feedback on what students have difficulties with. These students perceived that they were responsible for their own learning. Other students experienced that peer instruction had some advantages and disadvantages, and preferred a mix between traditional lectures and peer instruction sessions. They seemed to believe that teachers and students share responsibility for learning. Some students expressed an aversion for peer instruction and the method seemed to challenge their beliefs of how teaching and learning is best conducted. Our study illustrates that educational development initiatives, even though based on research on student learning, do not benefit all students. One of the major obstacles seems to be that students’ underlying beliefs regarding teaching and learning may be counterproductive to the ideas behind the educational initiative. We suggest that beliefs regarding teaching and learning need to be addressed when introducing new teaching and learning methods.     

Does life satisfaction predict victimization experiences in adolescence?

Longitudinal relationships between adolescents' life satisfaction and peer victimization and prosocial experiences were assessed. A total of 417 students in Grades 6–8 completed the Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994) and the Children's Social Experience Questionnaire – Self Report (SEQ‐SR: Crick & Grotpeter, 1996) on two occasions (Time 1 and Time 2), 1 year apart. The results revealed that Time 1 life satisfaction scores did not add to the prediction of Time 2 overt victimization scores but did add to the prediction of Time 2 relational victimization scores and prosocial experiences. Additionally, Time 1 overt victimization, relational victimization, and prosocial experiences did not significantly add to the prediction of Time 2 general life satisfaction. However, the predictive equations for Time 1 relational victimization and prosocial experiences approached significance, suggesting the possibility of bidirectional effects between life satisfaction and relational victimization and prosocial peer experiences. Most interestingly, lower levels of life satisfaction appeared to be a newly identified risk factor for two qualitatively distinct types of adverse peer relationships (relational victimization and lack of prosocial experiences). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

New immigrant parents’ experiences in a parent education programme

The immigrant population in Hong Kong is steadily increasing every year. This immigrant population largely comprises families, most of whom have pre-school and school-age children. However, limited information is known on the practices that immigrant parents adopt when they become involved in their children’s schooling. In the present study, the researcher implemented a Quality Education Fund project called ‘Building a caring community: Family support and empowerment.’ The project aimed to promote parent education and to build a caring community by implementing a group parent education program (GPEP) for low-income and new immigrant parents. The parent leaders conducted an outreach parent education program in which the low-income, new immigrant parents (target parents) had their children enrolled in two kindergartens. The parent leaders imparted parenting knowledge, shared positive parenting strategies, and exchanged their own experiences with target parents. The present research aims to study how new immigrant parents evaluate their experiences and the effectiveness of the GPEP. Results suggest that providing opportunities for mutual support and emotional healing correlates with improved parenting attitudes and practices.