I observed English for Academic Purposes(Level 4) classes offered by the xxxxxxxx for 5 days( June 27,28 and July 3,4,5). Classes run from Monday to Friday(9am-12pm) and this batch started on June 24. I observed from 9am to 10:30 on Wednesday and Thursday. However, on Fridays, I attended the full class for 3 hours. The class consists of 16 students, most of them are international students. There are 2 students in the class who are French-speaking students from Quebec and came here to learn English under the Explore Program. Most of the students are from Asian countries. The classes that I observed focussed mainly on listening, reading and writing.
Learning Outcomes: Students learned different reading and listening skills such as use a chart to organize main ideas(Note taking Skill), preview and prediction, listening for main ideas. They also learned to use vocabulary in context and how to create an essay outline.
Learning Objectives: The objective of the learning is to engage students in various activities such as classroom discussions, group discussion, peer review, games, expose students to use vocabulary words, make them use these words using different activities and material, have them participate in the online discussion forum to reflect their learning
Best Practices in:
Presenting Materials: I learned that it is very important to introduce the topic in a way that students understand and relate to it. It is always good to provide examples or tell a story while introducing the topic and then go on to cover the material. It is also useful to show pictures or videos on the topic. Also, check the student comprehension by asking questions and involving them in the discussion. Even in the teacher-centered activity, student participation should be encouraged.
Engaging students: It is very important to call the students by name. Also, I observed that the teacher had names of the students written on ice-cream sticks and put it in a jar, and when he had to ask a question, he would randomly pick one stick and call that student whose name is on the stick. It avoids the feeling among the students that the teacher is targeting them or putting them on the spot. The teacher would also move around the class to talk to the students while they have group/individual activities.
Responding to student questions: The teacher would answer all the questions immediately while new material is being presented and the teacher would address the whole class. During the practice session, if the teacher is being asked the same question by many students or if the teacher would feel that something can benefit the whole class, the teacher would again address the whole class and answer that question. If many students raise their hands to ask questions, the teacher would make sure to answer these ones by one while making sure that every student gets a chance to ask their question. The teacher would also answer student’s questions after the class if someone was shy during the class. The teacher would also ask some cross questions to help students to figure out the answer to the question rather than just providing the answer directly.
Incorporating technology: Teacher used the online Oxford dictionary to show the word meanings. The interactive whiteboard was mainly used while presenting new material. The teacher also used quizlet.com for playing vocabulary quiz, Edmodo (an online platform) for the online discussion forum and other computer applications such as Microsoft word, recorded audios and videos.
Classroom management: The classroom was very well managed. All of the students were moved to this level 4 class from other classes so they knew the classroom rules very well. They were very respectful towards the teacher and would wait for their turn to ask questions. The teacher would also manage the time very effectively. I observed on student taking longer than the assigned time to complete the activity so the teacher politely told them to hand over the sheet as the time is over.
Error correction: I learned the best practice for error correction is not only to correct them but also help the student understand the mistake, often relating to what they learned in the previous classes. If the focus is on the ideas, it is not required to point out the grammar or pronunciation errors, however, of the focus is on grammar or vocabulary, Teacher would correct the students by repeating and rephrasing the sentence, by giving them two options and asking which do they think is correct and by pointing out the error and ask them to correct themselves.
This was my first time observing the language class and it was a great learning experience.
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