2013

Observacin y Prctica II Judith Observation 3 Alaluf

Observation 3
TEYL
Institution: Network English Institute, Villa del Totoral, Crdoba. Class: 3rd Juniors. Number of Students: 12 (twelve) Age: 10-11 years old. Teacher: Rosario Del Castillo. Material used: Book Welcome 2. Date: April 24th. Timetable: from 6, 30 to 7, 45 pm (1 hour 15 minutes).

Judith E. Alaluf Observacin y Prctica II 27/04/2013

Observacin y Prctica II Judith Observation 3 Alaluf

DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE SECTION In this class, the teacher made profuse use of L2 and helped herself with body language and mime. Students were sat on orderly rows facing the whiteboard as well as the teacher. There was a comfortable and friendly atmosphere, students were attentive and curious. The teacher introduced the Simple Past of regular verbs in affirmative and negative forms within the context of TV programmes. The teacher started the class by asking students to work with the book. They read the title of the new unit and inferred its content. Then, she played the CD for students to listen to and repeat the vocabulary items related to TV programmes in isolation, that is to say, the listening was not dialogue. A meaningful drill was conducted afterwards were the aim was to model the pronunciation and improve accuracy. After this, there was another listening activity. Students focused first on pictures and answered orally teachers questions as regards characters and settings. Then, students covered the written dialogue in order to perform a listening task. The exercise consisted of choosing between two options to test listening comprehension skills. The teacher played the CD again and, this time, she paused when the answers were heard. She checked the activity by asking individual students to read their answers aloud. Next, students read the dialogue from the books and acted it out. The teacher focused mainly on intonation but she also corrected pronunciation mistakes. Subsequently, she transferred the topic to the world of the students by asking about their favourite TV programmes. She asked a particular student to name the TV programme he had watched the previous night. The teacher said she did not watch that and she wrote a sentence on the whiteboard stating what she had watched (I watched the news on channel 12.) She resorted to gestures to facilitate understanding. She made a chart with similar sentences so as to present the affirmative and negative forms of the verb watch in Simple Past. Students were asked to read from the chart and then to copy it. REFLECTION After reflecting on its most outstanding features, I can state that this class was good and it included several strategies we are advised to use. I liked the fact that the class developed gradually and smoothly from oral activities to written ones, from simple to complex tasks. However, I would not have started working immediately with the book, as the teacher did. I think it might have been better to use some visuals to start the class in a more dynamic fashion. But this may be related to time constraints. The teacher-student relationship was very close. Students paid attention and laughed at some comments the teacher made. Humour, then, can be a powerful tool to implement so as to make our classes lively and appealing.

Observacin y Prctica II Judith Observation 3 Alaluf

As I explained before, the teacher used a great deal of body language and gestures. I think that is a good technique to support oral input but we should not overuse it. Another method that called my attention was transferring the topic from the book to stu dents real context. By doing this, the learning experience can be more memorable for the children. The listening activities were carried out properly, from my point of view, since the teacher asked the class to cover the written dialogues with a copybook or pencil case in order to avoid reading. Therefore, students had to listen carefully to do the tasks and they were able to do it. In the final part of the class, the teacher did a chart based on her own TV viewing. This was too teacher-centered, in my opinion. I would have written the students answers on the board. Then, Students had to copy the grammar chart from the whiteboard. The teacher included neither the interrogative nor the short answer forms of the verbs in the past so as to provide the group with a manageable quantity of structures. I believe she will devote next class to deal with those topics. There was not plenty of repetition in this class if I compare it to the first class observed. I suppose this was so because the students were older in this group and they may not need so much drilling activities. Overall, I can benefit from this observation. I liked the way the teacher worked and the bond she created with her students. Nevertheless, we have to take into account that there are some settings where it may not be possible to have that kind of relationship with children. Either because the class is too big and discipline problems may arise or because the personalities of the students are different.