Observation Task 2: ‘What Materials Do I

Need?’
Using effective materials for teaching and practicing listening and speaking

Focus: Appropriate resources for developing listening and speaking skills

Description: Student teachers observe activities during a lesson. They complete an

observation table that identifies the resources used and investigate where they came from.
They must consider the effectiveness of the materials and how they supported learning and
teaching.

(Source: Moon, J. (2005) Children Learning English. Oxford: Macmillan Education.p. 135)

Objective:
This task encourages student teachers to consider resources that are effective in teaching
listening and speaking.

Procedure:
You will need the Observation Table: What Materials do I Need?

 Make sure you are familiar with the Observation table.

Before the Observation:

 Think about what a teacher needs to consider in organising language learning activities.
 Brainstorm all of the resources you can think of that can be:

Made bought

 Choose TWO lessons to observe – make sure that the second one follows the first.

During the Observation:

Use the Observation Table to record:

 The activities during the lessons

 The resources used and where they are from

 The interaction patterns you notice

 Presentation of materials :e.g. Instructions/modelling/explanations

 Why/Notes; for example, the purpose of the activity (paired reading, listen and draw,
revising vocabulary, etc.)
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 After the Observation:
 Think about each activity now and decide whether it achieved its purpose. How
appropriate were the resources used? If you were to teach this lesson again, what
different resources might you use and why?
First of all in my point of view the students get the right point, in another words the
students achieved the purpose and the outcomes was perfect to their age. It was a fun
lesson she made the English language lesson an art. If I did this lesson may be I will
use videos it is easier and it has some cartoon to watch and they may be will remember
the words of the song from the cartoon.

 How did the teacher organize and distribute the materials and what instructions did she
give?
The teacher organized everything from the day before, and she did the same instructions for
most of the activities:
1. Listen to me then sing
2. Repeat after me
3. Read the book quietly

 Were any resources used for both lessons?

Yes, she used every day the same activities to the English lesson:
1. Reading the book
2. The words
3. Singing the alphabet song
4. The daily song

 What resources seemed to be used for different interaction patterns? What does this tell
you?
The printed papers, the pictures, that tells me that my MST is the person who remember by
write she used the same to the students who like her

Resources can take a long time to make. What could you do to build resources over time for
topic work? Who could assist with resource making? Why?

1. I can use videos and digital pictures or worksheets.

2. The other English teachers can help me to teach my students perfectly.
3. We all need help i can them and they will help me to think which the better to my kids
is.

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 Observation Table for Lesson No. 1: What Materials do I Need?
Class: 1c Number of learners: 22 Age of learners: 6-7 years Length of lesson: 40min

Activity Resources Where from? Presentation Interaction Why/Notes

Sing the alphabet Some printed pictures The teacher printed the The teachers said” first The learners She used this instructions to
song pictures at her home listen to me then repeat were so let the students know how
after me” excited to to sing
sing
Also it is helps the teacher
to know how the students
spell the letters

Singing the days She used a printed The teacher printed at The teachers said” first The learners She used this instructions to
song words of the days her home listen to me then repeat were so let the students know how
names after me” excited to to sing
sing
 Activity Resources Where from? Presentation Interaction Why/Notes

The unite 3 words The teacher printed out This time the teacher “repeat after me” The learners were She used the repetition
the words printed out the papers she was using the listening to her to made the students
for the students from the repetition by skinner because they must know the words and the
school to remember to repeat after her shape of the word to
and to remember remember
the words
She used the
behaviourism theory by
skinner

Read a book “N Books The school gave the The teacher reads The students It was kind of reading test
book” teacher the last year, the book first twice didn’t like to read,
The books were a letter small books for the to all the learners but they must read In my opinion the teacher
books such as “S students to read to learn. can read the book for few
BOOK” and “N BOOK” it Then the teacher days to them then she
has small sentences called each student Just few of the can assess them
starts with the letter to read the book students were
alone for her like an excited to read,
assessment but also they didn’t
read perfectly