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Simon Whitmore

ESL Teaching Portfolio

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My Mission Statement

My ultimate goal as a teacher is to be a better teacher than I was

the day before.

Improve your student’s education by improving yourself as a

teacher.

Learn from others and share experience.

Inspire others around you to achieve their potential, from

students to colleagues alike.

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Technicalities• Curriculum Vitae

• Employment References

• Criminal Background Check.

• Employment Ordinance

• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Certificate Applied Careers TESOL

• Bachelor of Arts Diploma Contemporary Popular Music

• Advanced Vocational Certificate of Education Information & Communication

Technology

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Simon Mark Whitmore D.O.B - 23/03/1985 Native English Teacher Email: simonw.esl@gmail.com British Citizen Phone: (+852) 6995 2852 Profile Simon is a creative, dynamic, individual who has a passion for motivating and engaging young learners. Energetic, outgoing and enthusiastic, he is a proven self-starter. He works well in a team environment but is capable of working independently. With excellent communication and organisational skills, he has the ability to motivate others and take initiatives to meet deadlines and objectives. Simon is innovative, thinks on his feet, always willing to listen to and implement new ideas. Simon has strong lesson planning skills with emphasis on engaging students and building motivation to learn. Also with careful thought to elicitation getting students to think in English to discover language on their own. He is a well-mannered ambitious character who is committed to delivering a positive enjoyable learning experience for young learners. Simon would be a dependable asset to an ESL roster of teachers. Learning Habitat Bilingual Kindergarten | Hong Kong | August 2012 - Present A bilingual kindergarten delivering an advanced curriculum through an immersion programme. K3 Class Teacher

Deliver an engaging positive teaching experience while maintaining class discipline to morning and afternoon classes of twenty-four and thirty students, aged four to six years old.

Co-plan with K3 Grade Coordinator and develop lessons plans for one topic per term that is then used by all campuses. Also presenting lessons plans and sharing teaching strategies at staff meetings.

Compile end of year student portfolio. Teach phonics using a synthetic phonics programme and themed topic concepts. Work closely with Putonghua teachers to organise schedule and workload. Communicate and maintain relationships with parents to provide feedback on student’s progress.

Wide Eye Learning Centre | Hong Kong | January 2012 – Present (Part-Time) A training centre providing a range of English and Math courses to young learners. Native English Teacher Teaching tutorial style classes in small groups of up to six students aged between three and fourteen years old. Regular classes include phonics, Trinity conversation, writing and Cambridge YLE (FUN) exam preparation. Adopting a Communicative Language Teaching methodology to implement enjoyable lessons with engaging rewards

systems. Communicate with parents often reporting on students' progress in an informal manner. Always striving to think of new ways to engage students, creating a willingness to learn English especially as an

extracurricular activity.

Language Tree | Hong Kong | September 2011 – July 2012 The agency supplies NETs to public schools around Hong Kong with an emphasis on young learners. Native English Teacher Work with primary schools teaching extracurricular course such as Cambridge Young Learners exam preparation Working independently in public kindergartens and primary schools. Responsible for delivering an effective and fun learning experience, detailed semester curriculum planning, lesson

plans and material preparation for class sizes of fifteen to thirty students. Responsible for the early language development of approximately seven hundred students aged three to six years old. Adopting Task Based Learning and Communicative Language Teaching as core teaching methodologies. Typical lessons include; popular children's games adapted for ESL, communicative activates, storytelling, songs,

rhymes, role play, TPR, drama, creative thinking, masks and realia whenever possible. Developing effective classroom management and build motivation to learn through engaging points and reward

systems with a strong emphasis on teamwork. Canadian International Education Organization | Guangzhou, China | March - August 2011 English training centre for children of all ages, using dynamic teachers and an eight-rule methodology unique to CIEO. Native English Teacher

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Teach the Cambridge Young Learners English (YLE) series in public primary schools. Teaching children English between the ages of three to sixteen and in class sizes averaging ten to sixteen students. Adopt the CIEO eight points of ESL teaching methodology into lesson plans: STT vs. TTT, speaking in full sentences,

asking questions, building sentences, use of environment, book recognition, praise and encouragement and every opportunity to learn. Create an immersion classroom environment, using teams and points systems to engage students creating a willingness to learn through incentives and CIEO's own rewards system. Get the students to think in English wherever possible. Only except answers in full sentence form. Create a safe environment for students to grow and practice the language.

Follow ESA phasing for lesson plans: Engage; create interest / willingness to learn. Study; elicit - choral group / individual - concept check - activity to lead into activation phase. Activation; creating games / activities engaging to the age group where students are thinking in English and practicing the language.

Additional teaching experience includes; kindergarten, public primary schools, and university classes with large class sizes.

Working Holiday Visa | Australia | September 2008 - September 2010 Variety of jobs spanning several sectors, significant positions noted are:

Communications field engineer, hotel maintenance, construction and landscaping, farm hand, sales assistant for a twenty-four hour petrol station.

Phonographic Performance Limited | London | October 2006 - August 2008 Collecting society that distributes licenses and pays royalties to its members for the public broadcast of sound recordings. New Business Project Team - Supervisor

Supervising the implementation of new business projects and licensing campaigns. Responsible for a team of six coordinators ensuring all new business activities are carried out in an accurate and timely fashion to help achieve a sector budget of £5.2 million per annum. Account handling of large New Business clients; from sourcing high value accounts, through to invoicing and securing payment by developing professional external relationships.

Education Applied Careers TESOL (ACT) March 2011 (Guangzhou, China) (Affiliated with Canadian International Education Organization www.appliedtesol.com) Certificate TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) An intensive four week 160 hour program with 300 hours of monitored teaching practicum. Academy of Contemporary Music Sept 2003 - 2006 (UK) (Affiliated with Middlesex University) BA Hon's Contemporary Popular Music (Performance) - Upper Class 2 HND Contemporary Popular Music (Performance) - Merit Major modules included; performance styles, aural & sight-reading, music marketing & media, music business & law. South Cheshire College Sept 2001 - 2002 (UK) AVCE Information and Communication Technology - AB City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma Web Design - Distinction AS Biology - E Brine Leas High School Sept 1996 - 2001 (UK) 11 GCSE's, 10 graded A - C Science (AA), Maths (B), English Language (B), English Literature (B)

Interests I enjoy travel and cultural exchange meeting people from different countries, networking, socialising and working with children. I have keen interest in performing arts, live music and playing music with other people. My favourite activities include, Silat, Kali, Kickboxing, SCUBA diving, surfing, sports and general health & fitness. Additional academic subjects followed include popular science, quantum mechanics, cosmology and new technologies.

Reference Contact Details Language Tree Wide Eye CIEO / ACT CIEO / ACT

David Biddlecombe Joyce Ki Adam Choi (Manager) Paul Kozyn (ACT Trainer)

david@langutree.com +852 9415 3488 jk.wideye@gmail.com +852 9199 2213 iadamchoi@gmail.com +861 86650 58983 kozynpm@gmail.com +861 86439 65330

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Teaching Philosophy

Children learn best when they are happy and engaged.

Teach children what they are capable of learning and not what

we think they should know.

Every child is different. Flexibility and interchangeable teaching

strategies are essential in order to adapt and overcome.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

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Methodology• Eight points of ESL

STT versus TTT. Speaking in full sentences. Asking questions. Building sentences. Use of environment. Book recognition. Praise and encouragement. Every opportunity to learn.

• Immersive English environment. Avoid translation, always elicit

vocabulary.

• Children learn through play. Everything to a child is a game, use

that to your advantage to motivate and create a willingness to participate.

Use games, songs, stories, roll-play, realia, TPR and CLT & TBL activities.

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Lesson Planning & ESA• Engage

Get the students ready to learn and thinking in English.

Build an interest and willingness to learn.

The most important part of the lesson; set up for success.

• Study Drill, individual / choral repetition, word

recognition & comprehension. Concept check. The shortest part of the lesson.

• Activate Practice the language in a safe

environment. Communicative language activities;

peer to peer learning. The main objective and the core of

your lesson.

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Week: 14 Date: 7/5/12 Topic: Phonics V/W - Green Life Review

Core Activity Book Ref: LE4 / PFK2

Recycle Race / Dancing Demons / All Change / Boom Chika Boom

16-19 / 18-21Materials: (realia - paper, plastic, cans) blue/brown/yellow boxes with recycling labels on.

Sentence Structure Vocabulary

I have… GREEN LIFE - Please recycle bottles and cans. Please recycle paper. Take an old toy, make a new toy, it is good for you me and you.

recycle, good/bad habit, can, paper, plastic bottle, rubbish, robot, toy, new, old, blue/yellow/brown recycle bin,

Phonics Rhyme Phonics Vocab

Vicky Van. Wendy Worm. van, victory, worm, wet, window,

  Lesson: 1 Date: 8/05/12Phase Activity LanguageEngage Demonstrate bad habits – spitting / smoking / littering. Ask

students if this is a good or bad habit. Then pick up the rubbish and put in the coloured boxes with the recycling labels on. Use realia for paper, plastic, cans, recycling bins. Show pictures of a sad earth and happy earth.

‘Recycle rubbish is a good habit.’‘Is a bad habit / Is a good habit.’

Study 1) Drill flashcards. 2) Show realia and ask what colour bin it should go in. Put

items in the bins. 3) Hold up recycle bin (box) point to and read label. Ask

students whats inside each bin. Then pull out item.  

can, paper, plastic bottle, rubbish,  blue/yellow/brown recycle bin,

Activate Recycle Race – Boys v GirlsA) Students line up with realia items. Run to board with

flashcards on. Point to read and say sentence then run to put the item into the correct recycling bin to get a point.

B) Rubbish is in a pile in front of the recycling bins. 2 teams line up. You point to a word or callout a word ‘cans’. Then students race to find that item pick it up and say target sentence and put it in the right bin. First one to do so and say the sentence correctly gets points

‘I have a plastic bottle / can / paper.’ ‘Recycling is good.’

Sequence____________________________________________________________

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Seqence____________________________________________________________

Week: 16 Date: 21/5/12 Topic: China and the World

Core Activity Book Ref: LE6 / PFK4

Fan Race (dragons v rockets) / Role-Play - Cafe / Duck Duck Goose / Flags and Food tag

24-27 / xxxMaterials Toy foods and kitchen.

Sentence Structure Vocabulary

May I have … please? Here you are.Where does (food) come from?People in (country) eat (food). Where can you see a …? I can see/eat.. in (country).

dragon, fan, flag, rocket, curry, dim sum, pizza, sushi, India, Japan, Italy, China,

  Lesson: 1 Date: 15/5/12Phase Activity LanguageEngage Role-Play – Restaurant. Get students to lay

the dinner table again. Ask them what they would like for dinner. Then introduce foods with flash cards like a menu on the wall at a restaurant. Take their order and bring out the foods.

 

Study Different foods and where they come from across the globe. Show the flags of each country. Match Relay – Each student has a small flag. They have to put the flags in the box with the right picture on.

curry, dim sum, pizza, sushi, India, Japan, Italy, China,

Activate Smell Test – Blind-fold students and get them to smell and touch the different foods. Extra points if they can tell you where the food comes from.

 

Sponge Pin The Tail – matching food to the different countries. Duck Duck Goose – (foods)

‘Where does Dim Sum come from?’‘People in … eat …’Food vocab

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Seqence____________________________________________________________

Week: 16 Date: 21/5/12 Topic: China and the World

Core Activity Book Ref: LE6 / PFK4

Fan Race (dragons v rockets) / Role-Play - Cafe / Duck Duck Goose / Flags and Food tag

24-27 / xxxMaterials Toy foods and kitchen.

Sentence Structure Vocabulary

May I have … please? Here you are.Where does (food) come from?People in (country) eat (food). Where can you see a …? I can see/eat.. in (country).

dragon, fan, flag, rocket, curry, dim sum, pizza, sushi, India, Japan, Italy, China,

  Lesson: 2 Date: 16/5/12Phase Activity LanguageEngage Show video of a NASA rocket launch on

YouTube. Ask students if they know what it is and where it’s going.

 

Study Put picture on the board see if students know what the pictures have in common?DRILL VOCAB - Silly Teacher / Spelling Game

China related vocab‘Where can you see a…?’‘What is the same for these pictures?’

Activate Fan Race (Rockets / Dragons)– Get students to cut out paper rockets or dragons and draw flags. Then put the flags on the rockets and dragons. Use the fans to fan the rockets and dragons across the floor to the finish line.

 

Sponge Match Relay – Each student has a small flag. They have to put the flags in the box with the right picture on.

 

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Week: 11 Date: 16/4/12 Topic: Phonics /ow/er/

Core Activity Book Ref: PTE6 / SHSH6 / PTP6

(Reading Games) Pass the Bomb Stop & Go / (FC Games) Yes or No / Match / Dace Off

xxx / xxx / U5,6

Sentence Structure Vocabulary

xxx xxx

Phonics Rhyme: Phonics Vocab:

Uncle Donald goes to town. On his head he wears a crown. He takes with him a brown cow. He skips and dances, then takes a bow. / This is my mother. She's pretty and tall. This is my sister. She's so cute and small.

brown, flower, towel, father, mother, teacher

Seqence____________________________________________________________

  Lesson: 1 Date: 7/2/12Phase Activity LanguageEngage Elicit phonons OW- ER

OW= hit bottle across head pretend to be in pain. ER = Pretend to eat / drink something horrible like licking the pen and pretend to be sick.

 

Study Stand Up Sit Down – 2 teams. When you say the phonon for that team they have to sit down or stand up to get a point. If the wrong team sits or stands minus a point.

Start with phonon then move onto using the words that contain the phonons.

Activate Silly Teacher - Get students to come up as teacher. Small groups to come to the front. They repeat the words after the teacher if the teacher points to the words and says it wrong they race back to their chair. OR whole class stand and when the teacher says the word wrong students sit down and make a cross with their arms. Teams get point for speed of listening response.

brown, flower, towel, father, mother, teacher Start with single words moving into combinations of words that students have to repeat.

Sponge Dancing Off (FC game) 2 Students face off in the middle of a circle with a word or picture card pegged to their back. They have to dance around each while the other tries shout out the word on the other persons back within a time limit.

Target vocab

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Week: 11 Date: 16/4/12 Topic: Phonics /ow/er/

Core Activity Book Ref: PTE6 / SHSH6 / PTP6

(Reading Games) Pass the Bomb Stop & Go / (FC Games) Yes or No / Match / Dace Off

xxx / xxx / U5,6

Sentence Structure Vocabulary

xxx xxx

Phonics Rhyme: Phonics Vocab:

Uncle Donald goes to town. On his head he wears a crown. He takes with him a brown cow. He skips and dances, then takes a bow. / This is my mother. She's pretty and tall. This is my sister. She's so cute and small.

brown, flower, towel, father, mother, teacher

Seqence____________________________________________________________  Lesson: 2 Date: 8/2/12Phase Activity LanguageReview Stand Up Sit Down – 2 teams. When you say

the phonon for that team they have to sit down or stand up to get a point. If the wrong team sits or stands minus a point.

Start with phonon then move onto using the words that contain the phonons.

Study Have rhyme on the board. Read to students slowly pointing to words. Then read again adding TPR. DRILL listening and reading fluency. Stop & Go- read the rhyme. And stop suddenly at a word. The students need to shout out the next word then circle in on the board or spell it from looking at the board.

Uncle Donald goes to town. On his head he wears a crown. He takes with him a brown cow. He skips and dances , then takes a bow. / this is my mother. She's pretty and tall. This is my sister. She's so cute and small.

Activate Pass the Bomb – Students pass round a ‘bomb’ which explodes at the end of the rhyme. Each team has 3 lives.

 

Sponge Dancing Off (FC game) 2 Students face off in the middle of a circle with a word or picture card pegged to their back. They have to dance around each while the other tries shout out the word on the other persons back within a time limit.

Target vocab

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Synthetic Phonics• Alphabetic Code

Learn the sounds before the letter names.

Phonemes & graphemes; match the sound to the code.

• Blending CVC &VCC words; chants, rhymes,

tongue twisters, stories, games etc. Build fluency and pronunciation.

• Decoding Spelling ;break it down and see the

smaller sounds. Reading and comprehension.

• Syntax Reinforce sentence structures by only

accepting full sentence answers. Grammar & games; learning grammar

can be fun.

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Synthetic Phonics

Students love pretending to be the teacher so let them speak; reduce your TTT.

Activate young minds with engaging age appropriate activates.

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Synthetic Phonics

Use realia to engage and motivate children; know their interests.

Competition is healthy and builds on teamwork. Let there be winners and losers but always control the result.

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Synthetic Phonics

If you have space use it! Getting active creates more engaging lessons and stimulates more senses which helps better retain new language.

Build confidence and independent thinking. Ensure students feel valued and encourage them to pursue creative streams of thought to problem solve.

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Embrace Technology

Build motivation and a willingness to learn by keeping students engaged.

Maximize teaching time by preparing your slides and minimizing board and activity set up time.

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Promote Lifelong Learning

You can develop lifelong learning traits: Inspire others to learn by learning

yourself. Be role model to your students.

Always strive for professional and personnel development.

Lean more about yourself by learning about others.

By showing curiosity about human nature and how the world works.

By seeking and valuing diversity. Use your unique talents and

intelligence to promote positive change.

You are never too old to learn Periodically reflect upon ones own

attitudes and abilities.

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Show Respect

• Show respect by showing professionalism.

• Value yourself. Be honest and ethical, and practice strong moral values.

• Treat all members of the school community and all visitors with politeness and respect.

• Honor the ideas and opinions of others.

• Offer to help.

• Be responsible with property and belongings.

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Classroom Rules

• Be prompt Be ready to learn when class

begins.

• Be prepared Have materials with you and be

ready to participate.

• Be a polite and positive participant Speak in a normal tone of voice,

listen attentively and show respect.

• Be productive Turn in work on time, and always

do your best.

• Be a problem solver Think outside the box and ‘’bring

your brain.’

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Reflect, realize and react; always strive to be more.

To welcome criticism is to welcome change. Change is

the foundation of growth.

Knowing your own weaknesses is a strength in it’s self.

Lesson Observations

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Lesson ObservationsGravity ExperimentThis activity was from theme time during the space topic. The purpose of the activity was to demonstrate and to try and visualize the effects of gravity. By using a parachute and putting heavy objects on it, the parachute warps and smaller balls on the parachute then roll towards the nearest heaviest object on the parachute. Thus demonstrating the effect of gravity and how objects with a large mass attract objects with a lesser mass.

Silly TeacherThis activity I call ‘Silly Teacher’ is a phonics / literacy activity that targets pronunciation, listening with reading. It is very simple and the children enjoy taking turn to be the teacher. The core vocabulary is written on the board and the ‘teacher’ points to the words and says them aloud. If the teacher says the word correctly or doesn’t confuse it with another word the whole class repeat the word back to the teacher. If the ‘teacher’ says the word wrong or gets it confused then the children respond by making a cross with their hands or have to sit down if they already standing and have to say what the correct word is. The quickest student to react gets to become the teacher.

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Mr. Simon & The SharkThis is a decoding phonics activity that targets phonemes with the same sounds but different spellings. Students can match the shapes to the different pictures to find the correct spelling of the vowel sound. Once they know the vowel spelling they can try and write the word on the board spelling it phonetically. If they write it correctly, they receive a point and can try to ‘burst’ one of the balloons drawn on the board with Angry Bird. The balloons have the different spellings of the long sound vowels on them. Students win when they burst all the balloons and Mr. Simon falls into the water with the shark, (who are the children that eat Mr. Simon at the end of the game.)

The Solar SystemThis activity is from theme time during the Space topic. Students are learning about the names of the planets and their order within the solar system. Students were taught a rhyme where you take the first letter from each word of the rhyme which associates to the first letter of the planet. The rhyme helps students remember the order. Students were then asked the numerical position of the planets which they responded by drawing a line to match picture of the planet to the word. Emphasis for this lesson was on the syntax of the grammatical sentence structure and the spellings of the planets.

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Thank you for reading

Let’s see what I can do for you

Simon Whitmore

+852 69952852SimonW.ESL@gmail.com

Flat 2D Austin Mansion15A Austin Road

Tsim Sha TsuiKowloon

Hong Kong

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