Dictation in Meng Tak Catholic School

In Meng Tak, students have regular dictation on Wednesdays. The dictation usually consists of a passage and a vocabulary list. The passage students are going to dictate next week is about the route from their primary school to Chai Wan MTR station. The word list consists of target vocabulary of the textbook as well as other landmarks in Chai Wan, e.g. hospital, industrial building, shopping mall, etc.

I really appreciate the time and effort that teachers put in designing the dictation materials. When I went through the dictation passage with my class today, they were very interested in reading the passage and they told me excitedly that they go to school every day using the very route as described. This is a good example of integrating knowledge into real life, as students can really apply the textbook knowledge into describing their school and Chai Wan. Moreover, students are able to enrich their vocabulary bank by learning additional words. Thus, learning is not only limited to the textbook, but closely related to the real world where everything carries a social purpose. I will incorporate more authentic materials into lessons and try my best to bring learning to their daily life.

Double Meaning of ‘Right’

To recycle the use of imperatives in giving directions, I showed students a map (see below) and asked them how to get from point A to point B. 

When I elicited step 4 from my students, they answered “Turn left.” I responded “Right.” as they got it correct. However, a number of students immediately said, “Miss Ngan, it should be left!” I was confused and told them, “Yes, the answer is left.”, and they responded “But you just said ‘right’!” I was puzzled and then one of the students, Henry (pseudo name), put up his hand and explained, “When Miss Ngan says ‘right’, she means ‘correct’, but not ‘right’ as in ‘left or right’!”

My students know that ‘right’ has several meanings. However, when ‘right’ is used in a particular context of giving directions, they will naturally and immediately associate ‘right’ with its meaning of ‘somewhere to the east when the person or thing is facing north’. Henry was able to point out the alternative meaning of ‘right’ and explain it using the appropriate language and make a clear comparison between the two meanings. I should be more aware of my word choice so as to minimize confusions in class.