TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report
Name of Observer JIweon Lee

No.

Date

Observation
Environment
(include URL if
the class was
online)

10/21
2016

Face to face
(classroom)

Observation #

Class Skill/Content

IOF 1A - Grammar for

Oral Fluency

Class Level/Number
(Beg./Int./Adv.)

Teacher

Karen
Gregg

OBJECTIVE OF THE LESSON:

THE STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO PRODUCE PROGRESSIVE IN NOUN CLAUSES OR
SENTENCES WITH NOUN CLAUSES ACCORDING TO THE MEANING.

1. The teacher greets the students.

2. The teacher reviewed what they learned yesterday.
3. The teacher made groups of two or three students, and asked them to talk about
prepositions that they learned before with their partners.
4. The teacher monitored the students. She listened and gave feedback, explaining the
concepts they learned.
5. The teacher asked them to look at the handout. She explained the difference between
using progressive in noun clauses and in sentences with noun clauses.
6.

She explained it by using a table in the handout. On the table, there were several
examples for each types of verb.

7. The teacher made an example sentence by using the name of a student and their
actions, such as being careless with a water bottle on their desk.

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Observation Notebook
8. The teacher led the students to work on Practice B. There were several questions for
making sentences with progressive or stative main clauses and progressive noun
clauses to explain why the speakers of the questions had an accident.
9. The teacher presented how to solve them with question number one. Then, she asked
the students to solve the rest of them with their partners.
10. They matched the answers together. The teacher asked each group about the answers.
If they said a wrong answer, the teacher gave an explanation again.
11. They went through Practice C under Practice B with the same process. Also, the
teacher asked the students about why they chose the form.
12. After doing that, they went to Practice D. The teacher gave the students time to talk
with their partners. She explained more about the function of the progressives in
different places.
13. The teacher distributed another paper for their assignment. She explained that they
would do presentations using the paper. On the paper, there was an activity which
was similar to Practice D. They had to prepare a story using the progressive in noun
clauses and in sentences with noun clauses.
14. The class was finished.

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Observation Notebook
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson? Discuss your observation
focus, and the theory you have studied in your TESOL classes. Consider the three levels of
teacher reflection (surface, pedagogical, critical). (100-200 words)
I learned how to use the classroom procedures in grammar class by observing this
class. The teacher followed the steps clearly. In this class, the teacher followed several steps
from the format of the lesson. According to Paulston and Bruder (1976), there are some steps
on classroom procedures. It starts from 'Presentation of Pattern in Context' to
'Communicative Drills'. (P. 34.) I could find the explanation of the forms and several
questions about them on the handout which the teacher and the students reviewed at the
beginning of the class. It means that they had followed the several primary steps of the
classroom procedures. I could see a passage on page one, presenting the pattern of the target
expression in context. Under the passage, there were several questions for checking the
students' comprehension. The students saw past progressives in the passage, and produced its
form after learning it. The questions were mechanical drills.
For this class, 'Functional Explication' was used after reviewing what they learned
the day before the class. The teacher used a table with deep explanations and examples. They
learned about the differences of using progressive in noun clauses and in sentences with noun
clauses. According to Paulston and Bruder (1976), in the part of the functional explication,
the students would learn when to use them. (P. 40.) I believe that the students would learn it
by studying the different meaning between progressive in noun clauses and in sentences with
noun clauses. Also, she used other questions from the both practice B and C for giving deep
explanations.
In addition, there were two meaningful drills and a communicative drill after
explanation. To solve both Practice B and C, the students should think about the differences

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Observation Notebook
between meaning of using progressive in noun clauses and in sentences with noun clauses.
They made meaningful choices throughout the questions. I think the teacher tried to be more
communicative for these meaningful drills because she asked the students to talk about them
with their partners. Even though they did not use the target expression during the discussion,
they had to communicate with others. In addition, in Practice D, they should use the target
expression to communicate. They should use their own stories on the exercise.
What activities/techniques from this class do you want to remember for your own teaching
practice? Discuss specific ways in which you could apply the techniques and methods you
saw. Discuss your future teaching environment and your students needs and goals. (100200 words)
I would want to remember some activities from this class. As a grammar class, the
class would easily become teacher-oriented. However, the class was closer to being studentoriented. I believe that this is because of many group discussions in the class. The teacher
tried to sustain the classroom communicatively by giving many chances to talk with their
partners in groups. Also, I would want to learn about following the classroom procedures.
She followed these steps clearly, giving full explanations to the students. She used two
meaningful drills and a communicative drill at the end of the class. In my future environment,
it would be hard to sustain the classroom communicatively in Korean schools. However, I
will try to use these activities to make the students communicate with others.

I can use this

method not only in grammar classes, but also in reading and writing classes. The students in
Korea need to be more communicative, so these activities would be able to give more
chances for the Korean students to produce their opinion in English in both areas.

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References
Paulston, C. B. and Bruder. M. N (1976), Teaching English as a Second Language:
Techniques and Procedures. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Winthrop Plublishers, INC.