Month: May 2020

I observed a video of a lesson in an intermediate class in a Chinese school. The class consisted of between thirty and forty students in sixth grade so likely around twelve years of age. The focus of the lesson was speaking and listening based on the topic of holidays and using the past tense.

This lesson was a review of content previously taught, which meant that the type of engagement from the students was limited. I found the teacher was made the lesson enjoyable and interesting, provided clear instruction, and had strong classroom management skills, but the lesson plan itself was limited. Too much of the lesson consisted to teacher-talk and choral response. There was only one example of individual production, and it was limited to reciting set phrases rather than full sentences and without choice or creativity. There was also only one example of pair work at the end of the video where students could discuss their own holidays. I think this lesson missed an opportunity to engage students in more creative production given the content was a review and students demonstrated a strong grasp.

Overall, this lesson provided good examples of teacher behaviours that I would like to incorporate, such as personalizing the lesson and speaking clearly with the aid of gestures, and also serves as a reminder not to get too comfortable with the same activities or patterns in the classroom.

I observed a video of a one-hour lesson in an intermediate class in a Korean public school, which was taught by a team of one Korean and one American (native English speaker). This class consisted of approximately thirty students who I understand to be sixth grade so likely around twelve years of age. The focus of this lesson was speaking and listening based around the topic of discussing past activities. In this lesson, I appreciated both benefits and issues of pacing, routinization, repetition, and motivation, particularly for younger learners. Finally, I noted challenges regarding a relatively large class size.

Read More

I observed a video of a one-hour lesson in a beginner or literacy class focused on communicative ability across all skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). This class consists of thirteen working, adult learners from multiple ethnic backgrounds who are motivated to integrate in a Canadian community. The focuses of this lesson were review and practice of greetings and an introduction to and practice of clothes shopping. In this lesson, I appreciated the constructive ordering of activities to build understanding and skill and the variety of activities to maintain energy as well as the range of instructional techniques to ensure understanding and full communicative ability. I also noted challenges in basic instruction arising from this level of English learner as well as the diversity of learner abilities, but found the former address them well.

Read More

I observed a full two hour lesson in the advanced oral communication class that I reflected on in my previous post. This class consists of twelve university students from multiple language and social backgrounds. The speaking focus was debate of issues in art and culture. In this lesson, I appreciated a wide range of techniques that were subtle and unobtrusive but provided important support for lesson momentum, coherence, and value. I also noted challenges where students don’t follow direction, are hesitant to participate, have a wide range of ability in the target skill.

Read More

I observed an advanced oral communication class, delivered virtually, for one hour. There were twelve university students from multiple language and social backgrounds. The lesson was the third one of the term, and the speaking focus was debate of controversial issues.

Facilitation activities were ordered well to encourage engagement and build upon each other. The teacher effectively and efficiently incorporated a warm-up in welcoming students as he had a brief interaction with each student regarding their well-being and weekend activities to both engage them in the target skill in an accessible and relevant way and create a friendly atmosphere.

Read More