Introduction

Incorporating role-play into the classroom adds variety, a change of pace and
opportunities for a lot of language production. (Jeremy Harmer, 1988). Based on the video
entiled English in the Primary Classroom (Lesson 4). Have Your Garden in English as a
second language (ESL) classroom. There are several aspect that can be analysed such as
focus skill, the application of theories of language learning, approaches to teaching, key aspect
present in the focus skill, principles of materials selection and adaptation and method the
teacher applied to asses students learning.

Analysis

i. Focus Skill

Based on my understanding, the teacher focused on listening skill rather than speaking
skill. The teachers started the lesson with some pre-listening and then students listened to the
vegetables song and they did a variety of tasks. The teacher evaluated students
comprehension based on the correctness of their responses and proceed to the next activity.
During the lesson the students listen to the lesson and talk as a way of extending their
knowledge and skills. This is because listening is a central part of all learning. (Brown, G.,
1977). A student who cannot understand what the teacher is saying in a class is seriously
hampered in his listening. This is why listening needs to be taught. It is very important in daily
life. According to Wilga Rivers (1981), we listen twice as much as we read and five time as
much as we write.

ii. Application theories of language learning and approaches to language teaching

The theories that the teacher applied in the whole lesson were cognitivism and humanism
theory. In cognitivism theory the students are constantly required to think and make sense of
new information they receive from the early pre-listening. The cognitivist theory is learner-
centered and focuses on discovery learning via inductive as well as deductive approach.
(Jeremy Harmer, 1988). In the lesson the teacher used deductive approach where she
presented the rule or generalization and guided the pupils to test it using a number of specific
examples. This can be observe when the student perform some task after the teacher
explained about vegetables. From the video lesson we can observe that the teacher play an
important role to arrange and present information so the students can relate the new
information of their previous knowledge.

In humanism theory place great importance on affective and emotional factor. (Jack C.
Richard, 1985). As we can observe on the video lesson the learning environment is right and
the leaners are interested in, and have a positive attitude towards, the new information. From
the whole lesson we can observe that the teacher play a good role to create a conducive,
non-threatening environment where students feel comfortable. Moreover the learning

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activities, content and materials are take into account the students affective domain. This can
be observe at the minute 07:35 until 42:56 where the teacher do an experiential learning
where the students learning by doing.

In my understanding the teacher use direct method in the whole lesson. The teacher
explained new vocabulary using realia, visual aids or demonstrations to illustrate meaning. As
recorded at the minute 02:20 the teacher explained new vocabulary using real vegetables.
Moreover, the teacher uses only the target language and ever translates for students or lets
them use a language other than English in the classroom. Nevertheless, the students figure
out rules themselves. Because the teacher arent translating for our students, shes introducing
language in context through action and interaction. She also pushing the students to think in
English and to develop their own understanding of the rules of the language during the lesson.
Likewise, we can observe that the teachers and students are highly active where teachers and
students alike are activeacting, moving, drawing, pointing and touchingas they explore
and learn English. For examples at the minute 03:27 where the students sing and do some
acting. Finally, the teacher typically focuses more on speaking and listening than on reading
and writing. This is because direct method is a natural method. (Joshkeidan, 2007).

iii. Key aspects present in the focus skill

There are several processes involved in listening that can be identify based on the video
lesson. One of them is the top-down processing, when the students hears the pre-listening
about vegetables at the minute 00:57 until 2:20 it remind them of something in previous
knowledge, and in this turn, leads the students to predict the kind of information they are likely
to hear. (Brown, G., 1977). We can observe that the students can related what they is about
to hear with they already knows when they do some task, this make they understand what
they hear well. From the general view of vegetables the students then know specific type of
vegetables for examples the name of vegetable, the characteristic of the vegetables and the
benefits of vegetables. As recorded at the minute 19:47 an active process of listening happen.
The students doesnt passively receive what the speaker says. They actively construct
meaning and try to identifies main point and supporting details; the students distinguishes fact
from opinion and clues and then try to guesses the meaning of the words. Even though the
students cant saw the word that was hold behind them, they can guesses the word by
distinguishes the clue that they heard. The students only begin to listen when they pay
attention to the sounds they hear and make an effort to interpret them. (Richared, Jack, 1985)

The type of listening that occurred are informational listening and critical listening.
Whenever we listen to learn something, we are engaged in informational listening. (Brown, G.,
1977). From the beginning until the end of the lesson, informative listening was occurred
where the students listen to gather information and try to understand the information. As we
know all type of listening is active, informational listening is less active than critical listening.

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(Brown, G., 1977). When the students listening to learn or be instructed they are taking in new
information and facts, theyre not criticising or analysing. Proportionate to critical listening that
is more active, the students need to analyse what they heard. As recorded at minute 19:47
the students listen to examine and evaluate the clues that the speakers says for logic.

iv. Principle of materials selection and adaptation

As we can observe from the video lesson, the teaching materials are related to the
teaching objectives and aims. The materials that the teacher chose can be used effectively by
the students and encourage students to apply their developing skills to the world beyond the
classroom, where the teacher guided and help the students to develop their skills which are
of use in the real world and when they leave the classroom they can practise the skills and
experiment with them outside. Other than that, the materials that the teacher use are address
with the need for the students centeredness. As recorded at the minute 35:50 the students
are using each others knowledge so the students are required to speak each other using
target language. Moreover the materials are relevant to students needs and contexts. The
materials that the teachers uses not only needed by the students to understand the lesson but
also relevant for the outside environment.

v. Method the teacher applied to access student

The method of assessment applied to assess students learning is assessment for

learning. This can be observe at the minute 28:39 of the video, where the students find the
missing part of the garden. The learning activity encourage the students to take an active role
become self-regulated leaners and when they leave school they able and confident to continue
learning about garden throughout their lives. We can observe that the teacher encourages the
learning and promotes motivation by emphasising progress and achievement rather than
failure. Other than that, the students uses information to lead from what has been learned to
what needs to be learned next. The students uses the information about the characteristic,
type and benefit of vegetables that they learned from the vegetables song as recorded at the
minute 03:27 to do the learning activity about garden.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the teacher play a good role of educating the students. Moreover, the lesson
is very interesting. The students can learn while playing. Learn while playing is a challenge for
teachers because letting children play means handing over control, content and intent, and
foregoing power but the teacher able to control the class. This is because the teacher has
used proper learning theory and English language approaches in the classroom

( 1238 Words )

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References

Brown, G. (1977). Listening to Spoken English. London: Longman.

Jack C. Richard. (1985). The Context of Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Jeremy Harmer. (1988). The Practise of English Language Teaching. Longman.

Joshkeidan. (2007, Mac 12). FluentU . Retrieved from FluentU English Educator Blog:
http://www.fluentu.com/english/educator/blog/direct-method-of-teaching-english/

Richared, Jack. (1985). The Context of Language Teaching. cambridge University

Press:Cambridge.Chapter14.