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I have gained many things from this course. First, it is important to receive feedback about my teaching methods and this course allows me to take a critical look at my own teaching methods and try to look at them as an observer might. At my current job this is especially important, because my company is largely hands-off and my co-workers are usually too busy stop and provide feedback, especially since I am a beginner in their native language which makes things difficult for everyone. Second, I had a good refresher on basic grammar. This was important because I had only been spending time on Wikipedia and other websites to get information on english grammar. While Wikipedia is very useful, it is not an entirely comprehensive source and this course showed me that I would benefit from obtaining and studying one or more comprehensive sources such as a grammar textbook. I intend to do so. Third, along with giving me the tools to look more critically at my own methods, this course gave me the tools to look at the methods of other teachers more critically. This is very important to me now, because I am able to analyze their methods and interactions with students from a highly structured learner-centered approach which enables me to separate cultural and social differences from their teaching methods. Before I had the structured approach it was very difficult to determine where teaching methods stopped and social/cultural influences began. Fourth, I re-learned how to use a diverse set of teaching aids. Here at my particular japanese public schools I am an assistant teacher and only occasionally have the chance to plan my own lessons, create my own materials, and actually use or plan the use of teaching aids. Therefore, I have become rusty with them. The exercises about teaching aids in this course have helped me to recall my previous experience with teaching aids and also consider the use of other teaching aids. Now, I am excited about them and will be proactive in obtaining and using them. For example, having been reminded of digital recorders and how to effectively use them, I can encourage their use when the time is appropriate.
