JOURNAL Entry 1 Tasks Teachers Perform in Classes

Before starting your Class Observation Period, list the tasks you
think teachers perform in classes. After visiting your school class for
the first time, contrast your list with what you observed.
I think teachers carry out the
following tasks in class

Teacher follows a lesson plan

previously made.
Teacher does different types of
CCQs
Teacher tries to speak English
during the whole class.
Teacher useas audiovisual aids

These are the tasks I observed the

teacher carried out in class
Teacher does not have any lesson
plan before the lesson.
CCQs are not made during the class
English is barely spoken during the
lesson
Teacher use data and makes use of
songs for learning pronunciation and
vocabulary.

Personal Reflection
What called me more the attention was that the class was taken in
a 70% in Spanish and what is was in English the teacher had to write
down the translation in of the words in Spanish. Also I realize how
used are the students to have all the content on their hands and the
their reasoning ability is been diminished.
What I liked most was that the teacher uses English songs that are
made for esl students to learn vocabulary.

JOURNAL Entry 2 TASK 1

The role of the teacher: Bibliographic research

Write down the sources you used for the bibliographic research you carried out.
Remember to use APA Norm.

JOURNAL Entry 3 TASK 2

Observation on a teacher in a university class

Observe one of your teachers at the university, using one of the Classroom
Observation Tasks introduced in classes. Insert below.

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION TASK 2: The teachers position and body language

Note the teacher`s position and movement. Draw a ground plan showing the teachers movement
during the lesson.

When and where does the teacher sit?

The teacher sits at the fornt of the class
When and where does the teacher stand?
The teacher stands at the front of the class
How near does the teacher approach the learners at different
parts of the lesson?
The teacher prefers to be at the front of the class, during the lesson the
teacher may go around, or if somebody asks for help the teacher goes to

the desk.
When does the teacher move around?
When students are working individually
Does the teacher project to all the learners?
Yes, she is constantly asking for doubts or if the message was
understood.
Can the teacher be heard and seen clearly by all the learners?
Luckily the class is very reduced so is easy to be listened by everyone
Does the teacher use gesture effectively?
Her body language goes according to what she is saying.
Does the teacher make eye contact with individual learners?
Yes

CLASSROOM
OBSERVATION TASK 3: Interaction

Observe the different interactions in each lesson and complete the table. Then answer the questions.

What is the predominant type of interaction?

Teacher- whole class
Does it seem appropriate to the aims of the lesson?

Yes, because normally the classes are about explaining a certain topic
and the participation in class is not as active as it should be, so the

teacher is forced to speak more during the lesson.

In which interaction were the learners most productive?

Interaction pattern
Teacher whole class
Learners in pairs
Learners in groups
Learners working individually
Other

Amount of time spent

45%
30%
20%
5%
%

JOURNAL Entry 4 Classroom Observation Task 1

Options and
decisions

The term classroom management refers to the moment-by-moment

decisions made and actions taken by the teacher in class, e.g. writing on the
board, giving instructions, organizing the class into pairs, etc. For every
decision made, there will have been other options that the teacher did not
choose.
For each of the following headings:
1. Note one example of a classroom situation in the lesson you are

observing. What does the teacher do?

2. Note one or two options that the teacher had at that point in the lesson,
but did not choose.
Example: Dealing with unexpected problems
Situation:
A student arrived twelve minutes late for the lesson.
Action:
Teacher said hello politely. (The student then sat down quietly
and found out what was going on from his neighbor.)
Other options: Teacher could have asked why the student was late.
Teacher could have pointed out the time to the student.
Student participation in the lesson
Situation:
Action:
Other options:
Grouping of students; arrangement of seating
Situation:
Action:

Playing in groups inside the

classroom
Students continue sitting in their
desks but they were working in gro

Other options:
Setting up activities; instructions
Situation:
Action:
Other options:

Board; classroom equipment; visual aids

Situation:
Action:
Other options:
Dealing with unexpected problems

Situation: test
Action:
Other options:
Teachers role and participation
Situation:
Action:
Other options:
Personal Reflection

Taken from Scrievener, J. Learning Teaching. Macmillan Publishing Limited,

2005
JOURNAL Entry 5 Classroom Observation Tasks 2 The teachers
position and body language
Classroom Observation Tasks 3 Interaction
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION TASK 2: The teachers position and body
language
Note the teacher`s position and movement. Draw a ground plan showing the
teachers movement during the lesson.

When and where does the teacher sit?

The teacher barely sits, when she is sitting down is because she has to

write down on the class book or check something.

When and where does the teacher stand?
The teacher usually stands in the front of the classroom but also goes
around the class checking students work progress.
How near does the teacher approach the learners at different parts of
the lesson?
At the beginning of the lesson, she stands in front of the class, during the
lesson she goes around looking for questions and at the end she goes to

the front again.

When does the teacher move around?
When students are working individually
Does the teacher project to all the learners?
She projects to all of the students and after she speaks she makes sure
everybody listened to her.
Can the teacher be heard and seen clearly by all the learners?
Yes, luckily the average per class is of 20 students and the classroom are
big enough for the students.
Does the teacher use gesture effectively?
She does not use a lot of gesture, she translate the instructions.
Does the teacher make eye contact with individual learners?
Yes.

CLASSROOM
OBSERVATION TASK 3: Interaction

Observe the different interactions in each lesson and complete the table. Then
answer the questions.

What is the predominant type of interaction?

The predominant interaction is teacher- students
Does it seem appropriate to the aims of the lesson?
The aims of the lesson are grammar oriented, always preparations for
tests and learning vocabulary.
In which interaction were the learners most productive?

Interaction pattern
Teacher whole class

Amount of time spent

70%

Learners in pairs
Learners in groups
Learners working individually
Other

10%
0%
10%
10%

Taken from Thornbury, S. & Watkins, P. The CELTA Course. Cambridge

University Press, 2008.
JOURNAL Entry 6 Classroom Observation Task 4 How can a teacher
influence the learning environment?

The table lists some ways a teacher can influence the environment in which
students learn. Choose four of these headings.
Observe and make detailed notes about what the teacher does/doesn`t do to
help learning. Where possible, note specific concrete examples of techniques,
e.g. what precisely does the teacher do to help create a warm classroom
atmosphere?
Aspects of the learning
environment
1. Classroom atmosphere
2. Organization
3. Encouragement and support;
promoting participation
4. Monitoring
5. Informative feedback

6. Authority

7. Provision of samples of
language
8. Presenting content information
Aspects Chosen
Monitoring

The teachers role

The teacher can help establish and maintain an
appropriate , warm, focused working atmosphere
The teacher can take an active role in organizing
how time, space, materials, etc. are used.
The teacher can provide positive, realistic support
and encouragement to take an active role.
The teacher can monitor what is happening in
class.
The teacher can offer objective information that
may help the learning process; e.g., information
about errors made, information about how
language if formed or used, information about how
a task was performed, suggestions for future work,
etc. The teacher can notice and help to draw
attention to progress made, problems
encountered, etc.
The teacher can use her/his authority where
appropriate, e.g. to make decisions, to close
activities or discussions, to require certain actions
from individuals, etc.
Instructions, comments, questions, stories, etc. in
the target language provide language exposure for
the learners.
The teacher can explain, lecture, answer
questions, etc. on areas of the learning content.
The teachers role comments
The teacher goes around the class monitoring

Presenting content information

Provision of samples of language

students progress and answering the doubts

students have. When the doubts start repeating,
the teacher makes a stop to the lesson and
clarifies the doubt to the whole class. When the
first students finish their work, the teacher corrects
their task and gives to the students some positive
feedback and point for a test. After 5 students
finish their work, the teacher finishes monitoring
and start correcting the task in front of the class.
When the teacher presents a new topic, tries to
contextualize the topic, when presenting
vocabulary the teacher translate what she is
presenting but anyway some students are asking
for new vocabulary related to the topic and the
teacher tries to answer all the questions
Depending of the class, the teacher is able to
speak in English. There are some classes that the
teacher can only speak in Spanish when giving
instructions, presenting new vocabulary, etc.
everything is translated.

Taken from Scrievener, J. Learning Teaching. Macmillan Publishing Limited,

2005
JOURNAL Entry 7 Classroom Observation Task 5

Error and Correction

Note down any instances of learner error, the teachers response (if any) and
the learners response, e.g. self correction.
Learners error

Teachers response

Learner`s response

Miss: how do you say

hermano in english?
.
So, if borther is
hermano bradar is
sister?

No, sister is Hermana

Aaahh, so the words are

different, is not as it is in
Spanish

Taken from Thornbury, S. & Watkins, P. The CELTA Course. Cambridge

University Press, 2008.
JOURNAL Entry 8 Classroom Observation Task 5

Teacher Questions

Monitor the teacher`s questioning techniques and answer the questions.

How many real questions does the teacher ask? (These are questions for
which the teacher does not know the answer, such as what did you do at
the weekend?)
I didnt notice a lot of questions to the students, about something the
teacher does not know.

How many display questions does the teacher ask? (These are questions
the teacher asks in order for the learners to display their knowledge,
such as what is the past of the verb go?)
Teacher barely asks the students How do you say .. in English?

What is different about the stages in the lesson when there is a high
proportion of real questions, as opposed to stages which are dominated
by display questions?

ENTRY 9,10,11 couldnt do it because the

teacher did not plan her lesson and I wasnt
able to do my interventions because of the
current teachers strike.