UNIVERSITY OF MOSTAR

FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES

FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Student: Berislav Arapovi

Coordinator: Dr. sc. Ivana Zovko Bonjak

Mostar, 2016

PRE-OBSERVATION INFORMATION
I observed English classes at the elementary school Ilija Jakovljevi in Mostar. I observed
professor Josipa arac Pulji teaching students from second grade (nine year elementary
school program) to sixth grade (nine year elementary school program).

FIRST OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
The teacher started by introducing us to the students and introducing the students to us. After
that she told us that before every lesson they decide what they will do that day and write it on
the blackboard. While doing that one of the students was a bit hyperactive and was causing
ruckus in the classroom. She reprimanded him and threatened to call his parents. A dancing
and singing part ensued and the students participated readily. After that she told the students
to open their books in order to do a new lesson. She asked a few students to give us their
textbooks so that we can follow. The teacher asked if there are any volunteers to get in front
of the class and describe their clothes. One student comes out in front of the classroom and
does what he was asked. Then, she puts some pictures on the blackboard and writes words
next to the pictures. She then reads the words and students repeat after her. After that the
students are asked about clothes and colours they like and at the end she plays a song and
sings with the students. After this activity she does a crossword puzzle with students in the
activity book and gives them homework at the end of the class. Before finishing she repeats
what they did that day
2. Content and format
The purpose of this class was to learn a new lesson, practice pronunciation and acquire new
vocabulary. The handbook used was Lets Play 2. It was a typical teacher-dominated class,
frontal type of work but the students were very active and asked a lot of questions. She didnt
have time to answer all of them but she did the best she could during the class. Only the
handbook and the whiteboard were used during the class. There was a lot of repetition. This is
how the blackboard looked like:

1. Ples
2. Clothes
3. Story time
4. Song
5. Activity book

3. Students
These students were third grade of nine - year elementary school program. They were very
active and ready to participate in any activity. They seem to like and trust the teacher very
much but sometimes they were a bit too noisy and the teacher had to reprimand them in order
to prevent the class from being too chaotic.
4. Setting
The tables and chairs are positioned in a classic way, facing the blackboard, one behind
another. There are different kinds of drawings and posters on the walls, very colourful and
interesting. Some of them contained vocabulary and some of them were actual student
projects and presentations from previous classes that teacher attached to the wall. The
classroom is equipped with a blackboard, a whiteboard, a computer, a CD player and a
television. It is a classroom sponsored by the Japanese embassy and it is very well equipped.

SECOND OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
The teacher started by introducing us to the students and introducing the students to us. After
that she told us that before every lesson they decide what they will do that day and write it on
the blackboard. These students are even more lively than the ones before but she is also a little
bit more relaxed with them and does not reprimand them as much. First she checked their
homework and the task was to present their family members. After that they sang a song
called Our little family tree. Second, she started examining them. The students were
stuttering a little bit but she tried her best to lead them to the right answer. She examined the
knowledge of two students. Third, she asked them about what they did last time (last time
they did what the students in my first observation class did) and asked them to repeat the
clothing vocabulary. They sing a song together and go onto a dictation. She reads these words
to them:
1. Socks
2. Shirt
3. Skirt
4. Jeans
5. Shoes
6. Trousers
After finishing that she wrote the words on the blackboard and the students compared those
words to the ones they wrote in their notebooks. At the end of the class the surprise was
another song.
2. Content and format
The purpose of this class was to examine a couple of students and revise what they did last
time. The handbook used was Lets Play 2. It was a teacher-dominated class but there were a
lot of different activities during the class. The teacher even asked us to comment on her
grading and tried to make us a little bit more involved so we can have the first-hand
experience different aspects of teaching.

This is how the blackboard looked like:

1. Homework
2. Ispitati
3. Story
4. Song
5. Surprise ?

1. Socks
2. Shirt
3. Skirt
4. Jeans
5. Shoes
6. Trousers
3. Students
These students were third grade, nine- year elementary school program. They were extremely
energetic but the teacher went with the flow and didnt scold them too much, just a couple of
times. The students seem to like and trust the teacher very much.

4. Setting
The classroom is the same as previously described. The blackboard and the TV were used for
this class. I would say that this classroom is appropriate for students of all ages because it is
very nicely decorated and all students can learn new and interesting things/vocabulary from
the posters on the wall.

THIRD OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
The teacher started the class again by introducing us to the students but this time she picked a
student and asked him to introduce his class to us. He did it nicely and without many
mistakes. After that they wrote an animal on the blackboard and showed her on some kind of
poster. Then, the teacher played the CD player and read after it and the students listened. She
got up and wrote the title of the lesson on the blackboard: National animals from around the
world. Under it she wrote some vocabulary related to the animal kingdom and the students
tried to guess the meaning. These exercises took a long time so this is basically what
happened. At the end the teacher gave us the class diary(?) to check it out.
2. Content and Format
The purpose of this class was to learn a new lesson, new words and practise pronunciation
Teacher did not use any specific method; it was a classic way of working with students,
frontal type, teacher dominated. Students worked individually to guess the meanings of words
and to try to connect pictures with the words from the poster. The class was centred on a new
vocabulary
. This is how the blackboard looked like:
1. A marten
2. Bushy
3. Paws
4. Thick
5. To kick
6. Grassland
7. Claws
8. Bamboo

3. Students
These students were sixth year of nine - year elementary school program. It was visible from
the start that they have a decent knowledge of English because they introduced themselves to
us in quite a good way. They did the exercises well and eagerly cooperated with the teacher
4. Setting
The classroom was the same as in previous classes. The posters and the blackboard were used
for this class. They students were relaxed enough even though they had guests in the class and
could perform their tasks with good outcome.

FOURTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
The teacher started the class again by introducing us to the students but this time she picked a
student and asked her to introduce her class to us. She did it nicely and without many
mistakes. At first, some students who made posters as some kind of presentations went in
front of the classroom in pairs and talked about some animals they researched for this project.
They had photos of them glued onto the poster. After that the teacher checked their homework
and they played some game with cards which the students seem to enjoy a lot. When they
finished that exercise the teacher played an audio tape and gave them some comprehension
questions after that which the students answered correctly. After finishing that exercises she
wrote the title on the blackboard: ,,Its a birds life and wrote some vocabulary underneath it.
The students came out one by one in front of the blackboard and wrote the meaning of the
words in Croatian. They read the text from the book they used and translated it with the help
from the teacher.

2. Content and format

The purpose of this class was to teach a new lesson and acquire new vocabulary. The teacher
used different kind of media to accomplish this and students also participated by making
presentations on different animals so that their colleagues could learn something new as well.

This is how the blackboard looked like:

1. An owl sova
2. A pigeon golub
3. A bluebird plavi drozd
4. A hawk jastreb
5. An eagle orao
6. A swan - labud
3. Students
These were sixth grade of nine - year elementary school program students. Like all before
them they were very active and seemed to like and trust the teacher who was kind to them and
offered her help if needed. They didnt show any signs of being bored during the class.
4. Setting
The classroom is same as previously described. All the classes this teacher teaches are held in
the same classroom, the students are the ones who are moving around. It gives them a sense of
familiarity and probably an ambient which makes them feel like home. The teacher also
serves as kind of a motherly figure and instils a sense of trust in students.

FIFTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
Teacher started the class by asking about absent students and one of the girls in the class told
her who was absent. She wrote it down along with all other necessary formalities and started
the class by asking the students how they spent their weekends. After that she checked their
homework and told them to prepare for some grammar exercises. The students were supposed
to take out all the infinitives out of a small text excerpt and then write the infinitive (without
to), the irregular past form and the translation on the blackboard. This was a lengthy exercise
as there were a lot of infinitives in the text. After doing that she wrote five sentences with
blank spaces on the blackboard and told them to do the exercise by coming in front of the
blackboard and for the end of the class they were supposed to underline all other verbs in the
text.
2. Content and format
This class was a pure grammar exercise. Students seemed to enjoy it and did a good job at
solving the problems they were given. This is how the whiteboard looked like:
1. Drink drank piti
2. Eat ate jesti
3. Dream dreamt sanjati
4. Cut cut rezati, sijei
5. Drive drove voziti
6. Come came doi
7. Buy bought kupiti
8. Draw drew crtati
9. Be was biti
10. Do did uraditi
And the sentences:

1. Tommy and his wife _____________ (eat) a nice meal last night.
2. Michael ________________(buy) a new computer game yesterday.
3. Tim ____________(arrive) ten minutes ago.
4. There _________(be) many wooden houses 20 years ago.
5. I _________(be) with my best friend yesterday.
3. Students
Even though this was a grammar lesson the students showed almost the same amount of
enthusiasm as they exhibited during the previous classes when they did lessons on topics that
children mostly find more interesting than grammar. I was personally a bit surprised to see
that but the reason may have been that the teacher made it interesting.

4. Setting
Classroom is the same as previously described. Only the whiteboard was used.

SIXTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
Teacher starts the class by greeting the students and asking if they did the presentations they
were supposed to do. These students made the presentation on some software (Pretzie or
something) and used the TV to present the slide show. They opened the book called ,,Smiley
4 and read a text. After finishing that she played a video for them and wrote some
expressions on the blackboard. Later on they were asked to describe a giraffe and when they
did the teacher played a song video for them. They danced and sang along with the teacher.
After finishing this exercise she dictated some sentences to them which they were supposed to

translate and read out loud when finished. At the end of the lesson one student asked to sing a
song they did before in front of the class and did it in a strange manner. After the bell rang the
teacher told us that the student who sang the song has special needs and that he should have
an assistant but unfortunately he does not.
2. Content and format
This class had a lot of active and enthusiastic students and they presentations they did were
quite good, even better than the ones demonstrated during the class before this one. It was a
useful class for us because after it the teacher gave us some guidelines on how to deal with a
special needs child if we happen to have one in our classroom. It was a good opportunity to
have a first-hand experience. This is what was written on the blackboard:
1. Slow snail
2. Smart dolphin
3. Scary croc
4. Long snake
5. A small penguin

3. Students
This was fifth grade of nine-year elementary school program. The students were very active
and participated well. The aforementioned special needs student had a bit strange behaviour
but he knew English and could participate in the class to a certain extent.
4. Setting
Setting is the same as previously described. Blackboard and computer were used for the class.

SEVENTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
Teacher started the class by asking the students about the homework they were supposed to do
for today. Some students volunteered to read it and after they finished some of them did
presentations just like in the classes before this one. This time there were a bit more students
doing it and they took their time. After the presentations the teacher did an oral examination
of three students and asked us about the opinion as well. Later on they translated some
sentences she dictated to them from English to Croatian. It took them quite a while to do that
and when they finished they sang a song together before leaving the classroom.
2. Content and form
This class consisted of a couple of things only but each of them was long. It was nice of her to
ask us about our opinion and even changed one students grade based on what we said (she
gave her a better grade). It was a good opportunity for us to exercise grading a bit.
3. Students
These were fifth grade nine- year elementary school program students. They were very active
as all of them are but a little bit scared during the oral examination. The teacher tried to relax
them to the best of her abilities.
4. Setting
Setting was the same as previously described. There were no specific materials used during
this class.

EIGHTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
The teacher started the class performing a small vocabulary exercise with the students. She
said some words and they had to give her comparisons. For example: ,,An elephant is larger
than a lion.. After this exercise the students did an irregular verbs test. She split them into
two groups and gave the first line group A questions, second line group B questions and so on.
It took them around fifteen to twenty minutes to finish it and after that they read a story
called: ,,Legend of Black Queen and they were super excited to be doing this. After reading
the stories they listened to a podcast of the same story and after that she read the story once
again. The teacher wrote unfamiliar words on the blackboard and talked with them about the
meaning. At the end of the class two students did a presentation.
2. Content and form
This class comprised of two big parts. The first part was the test and the second one was new
material, namely the story of the black queen. It was a good exercise for the students because
they could practice reading, listening and acquire some new vocabulary. The blackboard
looked like this:
1. Cruel
2. Wear
3. Raven
4. To defend
5. To defeat
6. To demand
7. A pot of gold
8. A guard
9. To take over
10. To turn down

11. To come up with

12. To turn into
13. To give up
14. To keep on 3. Students
This was sixth grade of nine-year elementary school program. As I wrote for all other classes
the students are really active and enthusiastic about everything they do. This sole fact makes
her job a lot easier because she does not need to motivate them too much.
4. Setting
Classroom is the same as previously described. The teacher used the blackboard, students
book and TV.

NINTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
This class was almost the same as the previous one. The teacher first did a short exercise, then
the test and after the test they read the story about the black queen and wrote the vocabulary
on the blackboard. The only difference were the students.
2. Content and form
This class comprised of two big parts. The first part was the test and the second one was new
material, namely the story of the black queen. It was a good exercise for the students because
they could practice reading, listening and acquire some new vocabulary. The blackboard
looked like this:
1- Cruel
2- Wear
3- Raven

4- To defend
5- To defeat
6- To demand
7- A pot of gold
8- A guard
9- To take over
10- To turn down
11- To come up with
12- To turn into
13- To give up
14- To keep on 3. Students
This was sixth grade of nine-year elementary school program. This group of students was
extremely hyperactive and she did extraordinarily well because she didnt lose her mind. They
were yelling and screaming and talking at the same time, like, ten of them at least. She had to
use a lot of energy just to calm them down
4. Setting
Classroom is the same as previously described. The teacher used the blackboard, students
book and TV.

TENTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
This class started with a short exercise just like the previous two classes but after the exercise
they did some kind of a card game. One of the cards had a mistake on it and the teacher wrote
the correct version on the blackboard. It looked something like this:
? Was/Were
become

?
?

She gave them the test scores from last week and one girl started crying and the teacher tried
to comfort her but to no avail. After the student calmed down the teacher started the oral
examination. The students were supposed to read a text, translate it and answer some
comprehension questions. She examined three students, asked us for our opinions and
proceeded to do the black queen story just like in the previous classes.
2. Content and form
This class had no special structure. The teacher and the students did many things and at the
end did a new lesson but didnt finish the story completely because they didnt have time at
the end because of all the exercises and examinations done at the beginning of the lesson.

3. Students
This was sixth grade of nine-year elementary school program. This group of students was
active but not too much like in the previous class. She was able to control them but she did
have some trouble with a crying student. She did a good job at trying to comfort her but
couldnt dedicate a lot of time to her because the lesson must go on for the sake of other
students.
4. Setting
Classroom is the same as previously described. The teacher used the blackboard, students
book and TV.
ELEVENTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
The teacher started the class by greeting everybody and asking for absentees. There were
quite a lot of them and the students said that the reason is smallpox epidemic. She told them
that they will do something new today and after some oral examination and one presentation
she played a song for them on TV. They opened their book and showed us what they did
before. They showed us the posters around the classroom and told us how and when they did
them. The lesson from the students book was about asking for directions and they had some
new vocabulary which they wrote on the blackboard and in their notebooks. The teacher then
asked the students to come out in front of the blackboard and act out a scene where a tourist
comes to Mostar and asks for directions. They did a good job. They wrote the title of the
lesson on the blackboard and after that read the text and guessed the meaning of the new
words. At the end of the lesson the teacher asked many students where they were yesterday
and most of them gave her a good reply.
2. Content and form
This class seemed to be very fruitful for the students because they could do some very
practical exercises so the method was not only frontal but also group and individual studying.
The blackboard looked like this:
,,Sorry Miss
1. A library
2. A sports center
3. A museum
4. A gym
3. Students
This was fifth grade of nine-year elementary school program. Like most of the groups so far
these students very active and enthusiastic about all the exercises they did. They seem to like
and trust the teacher so they have no problem acting out an exercise when she asks them to do
it.
4. Setting

Classroom is the same as previously described. The teacher used the blackboard, students
book, TV and posters.

TWELFTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
The teacher started the class by greeting everybody and asking for absentees. They started
talking about random things and when students started yelling she told them that they must
learn to respect the order of talking and raise their hands if they want to say something. The
students listened to her. All of them. First she started to do the oral examination of a couple of
students and she asked them some questions related to the test they did. She tried to motivate
the students and after each student finished with the examination she again asked us to
contribute and say what we think about it. When she finished this the teacher wrote what they
were going to do that class on the blackboard. She checked their homework and after that they
sang a song. The students wanted to see the ,,Mr. Matt video and she played it for them but
scolded a student who interrupted her a couple of times already. They opened their books and
did part two of the clothing lesson they did last time. She attached some cards to the
blackboard. They had clothing items on them and she asked students to tell her which parts of
clothing those were. They guessed all of it. At the end of the class she talked with them a bit
more
2. Content and form
This class was very much relaxed and the teacher wasnt fast-paced as she sometimes is. The
students were very active but they had to be reprimanded a couple of times because they
crossed the boundaries of decent behaviour.
3. Students
This was third grade of nine-year elementary school program. Like most of the groups so far
these students very active and enthusiastic about all the exercises they did. Sometimes their
activity was a bit rude because they had too much energy but the teacher did her job well and
showed them their place.
4. Setting

Classroom is the same as previously described. The teacher used the blackboard, students
book, TV and flashcards.
THIRTEENTH OBSERVATION CLASS
1. Teacher
The teacher had another third grade class and did everything the same. She was slightly more
agitated because these students were a little bit more rude at some moments and she had a
student named Borna who gave her headaches since we arrived there for the first time. I dont
see why she has so much trouble with him. It is true that he is hyperactive but not a lot more
so than the other students.
2. Content and form
This class was very much relaxed and the teacher wasnt fast-paced as she sometimes is. The
students were very active but they had to be reprimanded a couple of times because they
crossed the boundaries of decent behaviour.
3. Students
This was third grade of nine-year elementary school program. Like most of the groups so far
these students very active and enthusiastic about all the exercises they did. The Borna kid
interrupted the teacher a couple of times and was constantly wiggling and moving around and
the teacher was irritated by it.
4. Setting
Classroom is the same as previously described. The teacher used the blackboard, students
book, TV and flashcards.

FOURTEENTH OBSERVATION CLASS

1. Teacher
The class started with two presentations. They were quite interesting to watch because
students did a phenomenal job at making them. After the presentations the teacher did oral
examination and asked us to give our opinion when grading the students. When they finished
she told them to open their books on page number sixty-three and she gave them some cards
and inquired about the content of the cards. She said that they will do an asking for directions
exercise today. She even brought them a tourist guidebook/brochure to Mostar to show them
some interesting things about their city that they didnt know. This class first watched the
video and then listened to hear read the text. It was the same Sorry Miss text that the
aforementioned class did. After they finished that she wrote the title on the blackboard and
then a lot of expressions underneath. The students came out one by one in front of the
classroom and wrote the meaning of the expressions if they knew it. If not the teacher told
them.
2. Content and form
This was a creative class and the students seemed to enjoy it very much. The teacher was
relaxed and tried to teach them how to give directions to tourists. She told them that it is an
important thing because Mostar is a city which has tourists every year and that they might ask
them how to get to the Old Bridge one day. This was written on the blackboard:
1. I was bila sam
2. You were ti si bila
3. A library knjinica
4. A sports centre sportski centar
5. A museum muzej
6. A theatre kazalite
7. A funfair luna park
8. A market trnica
9. A beach plaza

10. An excuse isprika

3. Students
This was sixth grade of nine-year elementary school program. They loved all the exercises on
this day and enjoyed acting out the giving directions exercises. The teacher also made a lot of
jokes with them and they were laughing all the time. At the end of the lesson they were not
cooperating as much but they were probably tired.
4. Setting
Classroom is the same as previously described. The teacher used the blackboard, students
book, TV and a tourist guidebook/brochure.

POST-OBSERVATION INFORMATION
Before I did these observations every time I pictured myself in the classroom it was in highschool. I never thought I would be so delighted to work with elementary school and junior
high-school students. Of course, the complexity of the content is very low but the students are
extremely interested into everything you have to say to them and will fully participate
throughout the lesson. The teacher gave us very good and useful insights into things we never
had a chance to deal with before, like grading, official lesson plans and school diary(?) and we
thanked her for that. These fourteen lessons spent in this classroom actually broadened my
views and made me want to work in elementary school and not only high-school. We were in
the position of outsiders so it was easy for us to notice some things that we wouldnt be able
to notice if we were teachers and that we werent able to notice when we were students some
eighteen years ago. All in all, a delightful experience.