For my seventh hour of in-class observation, I sat in on ESAL 0120 basic grammar. This was my first time observing a level 1 class. The classroom was set up very similarly to all of the other classrooms that I have done observations in, with various groups of between four and six desks spread around the room. The instructor started off the class by reviewing their homework for the day. After they finished reviewing their homework, the students were introduced to the day’s task and completed some exercises with the teacher on the board. After completing these exercises, students were split into groups and tasked with asking each other questions from a provided list. The students would ask their partners simple questions about a pretend vacation to Greece. After each group went through the list of questions twice, once asking the questions and once answering them, the teacher called on each group to ask/answer one question aloud to test their understanding of the activity. Upon the completion of this, an hour passed, so the students were given a short break, and I ended my observation. The students seemed to respond well to the activities as they were engaged and participated throughout the whole activity. The students seemed to enjoy the freedom the activity gave them in regard to their answers. I feel that this was one of my most interesting observations, as it was the only class I observed below level 3. This class was also very similar to a level 3 grammar class that I observed, and I feel that the most important thing I learned in this class was how lessons could be scaled by level.
Author: bellk (Page 2 of 2)
My sixth hour of observation was the second hour of ESAL 0480. After their break ended, the students convened to go over the example of a reworded body paragraph that the teacher made using the same outline as the students. During this activity, the layout of the room was changed so that all students could sit closer to the front of the classroom to see the teacher’s body paragraph better. This change in layout seemed to keep the students focused and interested in the teacher’s example paragraph. While going over the body paragraph, the teacher incorporated the students reading and speaking skills into the activity by having them read parts of the example paragraph out loud and then discussing why certain words were chosen or what they meant. Once again, the students seemed quite engaged as there were minimal side discussions, and all of the students seemed to be paying a good deal of attention to the projector showing Fremiuths example paragraph. The students seemed eager to have the opportunity to view and discuss the teacher’s example paragraph again, presumably due to their upcoming test on the topic. From this second hour of observing this class, I feel that I learned the importance of showing the students your own examples while also ensuring anything you show the students as an example is 100% correct. The students really seemed to take the teacher’s example as exactly what they should aim for and I can understand much better now how having any little issues may lead students to form bad habits and not understand how or why.
For my fifth observation, I once again sat in on ESAL 0480. The physical setting of the classroom was the same as the previous time I observed this class with desks split up into groups of 4 or 6. The teacher began the class by informing them that the day’s topic was going to be a continuation of descriptive essays. The teacher then informed the students that the topic they would be looking at during the class was rivers. The students then watched a brief trailer for a movie called the river wild. After the completion of the video, the teacher had the students play a small guessing game in which she listed facts about a particular river to see if the students would be able to figure out what river the teacher was talking about. After revealing the river in question to be the yellow river, the teacher tested the student’s knowledge by working with the students on a worksheet about topic sentences for descriptive essays and paragraphs. By having the students answer the questions aloud, the teacher tested their knowledge informally on the topic. Upon completion of the group worksheet, the teacher handed out a worksheet with a thorough outline for a descriptive body paragraph and tasked the students with building a formal body paragraph out of the provided outline. The teacher made sure the students knew not to just copy the outline word for word and instead had the students reword portions of the outline to make their own body paragraphs. While doing this the teacher stressed the importance of not copying other peoples writing due to the strict anti-plagiarism rules regarding academic writing in English. After allowing the students time to work on their body paragraphs, the teacher then collected their writing to further assess their knowledge. Throughout their time writing, many students asked questions regarding what words could be directly copied and what words needed to be changed around. Students also asked various questions regarding words that they were unfamiliar with. Upon collecting the students writing, the students were given a short break, at which point my first hour of observing the class ended. Overall the students seemed to be very engaged with the writing activity, which I believe is in part due to their upcoming test. Near the start of the class, the teacher announced that they would be having a test in their next classes relating to the day’s topic in which they would be expected to produce a similar amount of writing. The teacher was very open about what topics would be covered on the test which appears to have eased the student’s nerves well still leaving them motivated to pay extra attention to the task at hand. Overall from this hour of observation, I learned the importance of being open with students about topics and exercises to expect on upcoming tests well not giving away too much information so as to make the unmotivated.
For my fourth observation, I sat in on ESAL 0320 Intermediate Grammar. The class consisted of twenty-one students from various different cultural backgrounds. The classroom itself was, for the most part, set up typically with various groups of 4 or 6 desks however one thing of note was that this classroom contained a skylight. I felt that this made the environment more conducive to learning as it brought in much more natural light than many-windowed classrooms. The instructor began the class by reviewing homework and then informing the class of the day’s topic, which for this particular day, was the simple past tense. The class seemed to already be familiar with the topic as the teacher had the class immediately begin an activity on using the simple past with irregular verbs. The task that the teacher had the students work on was a worksheet with fill-in-the-blank questions in which students had to properly conjugate irregular verbs into the simple past tense. The teacher tested the student’s knowledge by asking each student to answer one of the questions aloud. The students were then given a list of questions to ask and answer with a partner. While the students were asking and answering the questions with their partners, the teacher walked around the room listening to the student’s answers. After the students had finished the task, the teacher had the students say their answers out loud. Following this activity, the students had a short break, during which I finished my observation. Overall throughout my hour of observing the class, the students seemed to be engaged and interested in what was being taught. There was very little usage of cell phones and minimal discussions while the teacher was talking. From this observation, I learned the importance of sometimes calling on students by name, as many of the students who were hesitant to offer answers on their own were able to provide the correct answer when specifically addressed and seemed to be happy with themselves for doing so.
For my third hour of observation, I sat in on ESAL 0450, which is an advanced oral communications class. The classroom was set up with a mixture of individual desks and desks arranged in groups. I felt that this was a good setup as it allowed for students to choose to sit in groups or individually while still providing an easy space for group work to take place in. The class began with the teacher calling one student to the front of the class in order to tell the class about their weekend. The student did not seem surprised or taken off guard by this, so I believe it was something discussed prior to the start of class. The students told the class about a show that they had seen in Vancouver over the previous weekend and what it was about. The show that the student watched was surrounding politics and allowed the student to demonstrate their ability to logically describe events that took place in the past without time to prepare for questions. The teacher then segued the story into the day’s topic. The topic on this day was requests and answers to requests. The teacher had the students start by going over a few examples of the topic and encouraging students to participate and ask questions during this time. After this, the teacher explained a game to the students and had the students begin playing. The game the teacher had the student’s play resembled go fish, with students asking if one of their groupmates was able to do a certain task or chore. The students continued to play this game until just before the one-hour mark of the class. Upon ending the game, the teacher asked the students to hold up any cards that they did not understand and tasked the other student teacher and me in the room with writing out what the cards meant. After all the questions were answered the students took a break, and I ended my hour of observation. The language skills included in this class were speaking and reading. Students had to be able to read the cards in their hands in order to know what questions they must ask their group mates well also needing to understand how to properly form the necessary questions. The general atmosphere of this class was good, students seemed to enjoy the game as they were often heard laughing with their group mates, despite this however the students stayed on task and asked numerous questions about any words they came across that they did not understand. From this observation, I learned that even though students may get a little distracted during activities and games it is important to remember that they may still be on task and to check before assuming that they are not.
For my first two hours of in-class observation, I observed class 0480. The class was a level 4 writing course consisting of around twenty students from various countries around the world. The class ran for a total of two hours with a ten-minute break in the middle of class time. The class today consisted of four unique activities regarding the chosen topic of the day. The chosen topic for the day was Descriptive essays with a focus on how to identify key components found throughout the introduction and body paragraphs of descriptive essays.
As I observed one two-hour long class, I am writing two reflections on the same class per hour of class I observed. Upon reconvening from the break, the teacher showed the class how to access the online version of the essay and a set of questions to go with it. Together the class answered the review questions, and the teacher explained that throughout the course, they would be provided with different essays and be expected to answer similar questions based on those as instructed.
The physical setting of the classroom comprised of small groups of desks ranging from 3-4 set around the room. I believe that this setting is conducive to learning as it easily enables group collaboration and work, something that featured heavily in the teacher’s lesson.
The teacher introduced the final topic of the day by showing students how to access their online textbook and the review questions attached to the day’s essay.
The teacher asked the class if they wished to work through the fifty review questions together or on their individual devices. The students did not answer the teacher and instead chatted amongst themselves. The teacher then tasked the students with voting on whether or not they wanted to do it together or individually. After they voted, it was decided to do it together.
The teacher engaged the students by asking them to attempt to answer the questions first out loud before selecting an answer on the computer.
This activity seemed to focus mostly on oral and reading comprehension however, if the students had chosen to do the work individually, they would have needed to write many of the answers out.
By the end of the two-hour class period, students had begun to lose interest in the activities. The teacher regained their attention by having them vote and answer questions aloud.
I mostly took away a similar lesson to those I learned in the first hour of observation in this one as well.
Class Details: For my first two hours of in-class observation, I observed class 0480. The class was a level 4 writing course consisting of around twenty students from various countries around the world. The class ran for a total of two hours with a ten-minute break in the middle of class time. The class today consisted of four unique activities regarding the chosen topic of the day. The chosen topic for the day was Descriptive essays with a focus on how to identify key components found throughout the introduction and body paragraphs of descriptive essays. The class began with the teacher welcoming the students and going over their previously assigned homework on descriptive paragraphs. The students were assigned a short paragraph and asked to correct the mistakes within, which included spelling, tense, and pluralization errors. After the teacher and the class went over the homework answer, the teacher introduced the students to the concept of the northern lights via a brief video showcasing them with a short lecture on what they are. The teacher then assigned the students a short descriptive essay on the topic of the northern lights. After students finished reading the essay, they taught the similarities between the previously studied descriptive paragraphs and descriptive essays. Students were then tasked with locating the hook and thesis within the introduction paragraph and all of the main ideas found within the two body paragraphs.
The physical setting of the classroom comprised of small groups of desks ranging from 3-4 set around the room. I believe that this setting is conducive to learning as it easily enables group collaboration and work, something that featured heavily in the teacher’s lesson.
The teacher introduced the day’s topic by relating it to the previous topics covered in class as well as the homework topic covered at the start of class.
The teacher asked questions relating to the class’s prior knowledge often throughout the video and group reading session.
Questions were asked relating to students’ prior knowledge on the topic of northern lights, aspects of an introduction paragraph for essays, and if students had visited certain landmarks mentioned throughout the essay.
Many language skills were integrated, such as grammar, speaking, reading, and writing. While reading the essay aloud to the class, the students were tasked with following along and quite often asked to finish saying the sentence the teacher had begun to read. Students were also tasked with identifying mistakes in grammar, tenses, and pluralization during their homework review.
Students seemed to respond well to the group work and oral participation activities. They remained engaged, with very few side conversations occurring while the teacher was speaking. The teacher provided the students a good amount of time to talk amongst themselves throughout group work and activities, which seemed to limit side conversations during other times.
I learned more about class engagement and how to handle distracted students, as well as how to handle mistakes on the teacher’s part in a non-disruptive way.