Running head: ESL INSTRUCTOR OBSERVATION

ESL instructor observation Zakia Alhashem EDAE590 Colorado State University October 2013

ESL INSTRUCTOR OBSERVATION Instructor Observation Evaluation

On September 25/2013, the writer of this paper went to observe an advanced level of English as a second language grammar class. This paper will report information about the learning environment, learners and the instructor. In addition, this report will describe the rapport between the instructor and the students, and it will include five strategies used by the instructor and their benefits to the learners. The advanced ESL grammar class took place in INTO Colorado University institution at 8 A.M. The class duration was one hour and twenty minutes. This class was part of 8 weeks term. The classroom was furnished with two white boards, smart board, and a computer with Internet connection. In addition, the chairs in the classroom had small wheels to enable students to easily adjust their positions according to lesson requirements and activities, and they were arranged in rows. The light and the temperature of the classroom were appropriate. The class consists of 16 students, 14 males and 2 females. Five of the students were South Korean and the rest were from Saudi Arabia. Their age range was between 18-25 years old. They all were literate in their language and their English proficiency level would help them to manage their own issues. Through chatting with them before the class, the writer found out that most of the students study English for academic reasons. The instructor was Mr. John Shillow who has been teaching ESL for more than four years. Mr. Shillow was well- known for his pleasant manners. His attitude was apparently friendly and welcoming in general. He used some humor to refresh the class. At the beginning of the class, stated his three learning rules, which are; speak, let others speak and make mistakes. These three rules were really applied in the class, which created a very

ESL INSTRUCTOR OBSERVATION

healthy and positive learning environment and allowed for interaction between teacherstudent and student-student to take place. Mr. Shillow called the students by their first

name. In addition, he made regular eye contact with students and move around in the class in appropriate manner. He was in the class before the students and stayed about fifteen minutes after the class to answer students questions. He encouraged learners to give peer feedback. He kept the class engaged all the class duration. The writer noticed that the class and the instructor interact on friendly bases, there were joking, talking, discussing, asking and answering between the instructor and the learners. The Five Strategies The first strategy was introducing students to the objectives of this learning session. The instructor started the lesson by writing learning objective on the board. He divided the class into three sections. The first one was a review of the pervious quiz. He handed the students their quizzes and gave them three minutes to look at them. Then, he told if they have any questions about the quizzes. Students started to ask about their mistakes and why they were wrong and what was the correct answer. Mr. Shillow gave a considerable amount of time for this section. After that, he started the new lesson. Finally, he announced what the students will have next class and he made review for some materials related to the midterm. Through informing the students about the division of the class into three sections, students were capable of following and copping with what presented. The class flows smoothly and in sequence. The second strategy was applying corrective feedback in different ways. Mr. Shillow used four ways for giving corrective feedback. The first way was repetition of the error with emphasizing the wrong part, so the student reconsider his answer or correct it. The

ESL INSTRUCTOR OBSERVATION

second way was asking for clarification. The writer noticed that Mr. Shillow used this way for the common errors ESL students fall in such as the mix in use between gerunds and infinities. Thus, this correction will be as a reminder for the rest of the class. The third way was recasts. He used this way when a student made a grammatical mistake while talking, for example, subject-verb adjustment. The writer does not know if it was an effective way, because sometimes the student pay attention to the correction and sometimes not. The last way was peer corrective feedback. He gave the students a chance to correct their classmates error. Using these different way gave students chance to learn from their own mistakes and others mistakes. The third strategy was using Focus on Form to present the new lesson. Mr. Shillow planned to use focus on form to present the Causative lesson. The form was communicated in meaningful context. He started the new lesson with different examples in which he included the causative words such as let/ help/make. Then, he asked the students to say what they believe is the difference between these words. After that he have an explanation. This strategy was very helpful and interested for the class especially the class was an ESL advanced level. Having the lesson presented through focus on form helped students to use the form and cope with it easily. The fourth strategy was using diverse learning styles in lesson presenting. Mr. Shallow used role-play to help students differentiate between how to use make and get and the difference in meaning. Also, he used body language appropriately, give clear examples, and engage the students in these examples. For example, he used their names and asked them to react. He showed some exercises on the projector, paired the class and asked them to work together to do the exercises. Since each learner learns in a different style, it is good

ESL INSTRUCTOR OBSERVATION

to include different activities in lesson planning. The writer could say that the whole class was active during the lesson session. Mr. Shillow could maintain the attention of the students all the class time. Finally, Mr. Shillow provided student with a hand out material in which he presented the causative rules with comprehensive examples. In addition, in these handouts, the rules were presented with using the subject, object, gerunds and infinitive, which help students to gain a clear understanding for the rules and their applications. In conclusion, the writer perceives the instructor as a very excellent ESL teacher. Mr. Shillow could keep the class engaged. He presented his lesson in an interested way, and he had an obvious good rapport with his students, that was clear through teacher-students conversation and joking. The use of the five strategies was very useful for the learning process.