TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report Form

Name of Observer__Qin Xi_____ Observation # ____5____

Date Observation Class Skill/Content Level Teacher

Environment*
20/11/2017 Face to Beginning Greeting 200 Karen
face Level

*Include the URL if the class was online

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO SAY HELLO TO OTHERS.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO GIVE RESPONSE TO OTHERS WHO GREET TO THEM.

Notes while observing:

At the beginning of the class, the teacher helped students to introduce themselves by
saying “My name is…”.
Teacher Question: What’s your name?
Teacher’s example answer: My name is Peter.
But some younger students didn’t know the meaning of “What’s your name?”, so they
couldn’t answer the question. Then the teacher gave examples more and more times and
invite students who gave the right answers to help them.
After introducing names of students themselves, the teacher encouraged them to say
“Hello” loudly.

Then, teacher divided all students into two groups. And they will compete with each
other in the rest of the class.
The teacher showed animal picture cards to students, including dog, bird, fish, cat, rabbit,
and panda.
Question: What’s this?
The teacher gave an example answer: It’s a dog. Then the teacher encourages students to
express pictures to use “It’s a dog.” (Put the dog picture onto the board.)
Next, show the picture of the bird. At that time, the teacher used a game to let students
practice “It’s a bird.” much more times. He invited a student to put the “bird” next to the
“dog”.
Next, show the picture of the fish. And teacher used another game to make students
practice sentences more times. He invited a student to put the “fish” next to the “bird”.
Next, he invited a student to imitate the next animal(cat) and let other students guess what
it is. Then show them the picture.

Last Updated: 3/25/2018 4:06 AM

 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook
“It is a cat.” He invited a student to put the “cat” next to the “fish”.
Then, teacher reviewed four words of animals encouraged students to say “It’s a dog”,
“It’s a bird”, “It’s a cat”, “It’s a fish”.
Next, he also invited a student to imitate the next animal (rabbit) and let others guess.
Then show them the picture.
“It’s a rabbit.” The teacher used a game to practice. He was jumping when he said, “It’s a
rabbit.” And he encouraged students to imitate him one by one. He invited a student to
put the “rabbit” next to the “cat”.
Next, he invited a student to imitate the next animal and encouraged others to guess as
well.
“It’s a panda.” Practice more and more times. And then he invited a student to put the
“panda” next to the “rabbit”.

Review all animals.

Game: teacher invited an older student to give an example together.
Students should use flappers. When the teacher said an animal, students should hit that
picture of the animal. All students participated in this game.
Then, let each student be a teacher to say what animals should other students who held
flappers should choose.

Practice spelling of the words. “cat” → “dog” → “fish” → “bird” → “rabbit” → “panda”
(Invite students to say and write by themselves. If they are in difficulties, the teacher
would help them.)

Game: help students to match right pictures to words.

Question: What do you like?
Students: I like dogs/ cats/ birds/ rabbits/ panda/ fish.

Game: “Stepping stones”

All pictures were put on the floor, and teacher invited two students to stand on the two
sides of the pictures and then when they said “It’s a …”, they should go on a step. When
they arrived in the middle of pictures, they would play “paper scissors stone” to decide
who was the winner.

At the end of the class, the teacher picked up all pictures, and let students say “It is a …”
once more.
Then counter scores that two groups have gotten. Praise each student and encourage them
to practice more.

What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson as it relates to the
theory you have studied in your TESOL classes? Include at least one reference (with
an in-text citation) to support your response. (250-500 words)

In this observation, I focus on the teaching. It was an English class for young learners.
All of the students are from China. My major is preschool education, so I know how

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 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook
difficult to control kids in the classroom; besides, they cannot always pay their attention
to the class. I wanted to see how to control whole classes and how the teacher chose
games for different levels students. The classroom management is really important.
The teacher made full use of six simple steps in his class. But This class seems to be the
first class the teacher has given the class. At the beginning of the class, the teacher was
very passionate about introducing himself by saying “My name is Peter” in that he
wanted to encourage students to say “My name is…”. In this class, there were students
who were in different ages and different levels. ESL classrooms are typically
characterized by the diversity of their students, often containing people with very
different life experiences, needs, and expectations. (Richards and Farrell, 2011) This
activity created a positive learning atmosphere for students. In addition, an introduction
activity made students feel less nervous.
In this class, the teacher did not discourage any students in his class and he respected
them. He was patient with those students who did not understand what he said. Patience
is a very important thing for teaching English to young learners. Besides, in the practice
section, the teacher designed many games to attract children’s attention. For example, his
teaching materials were flashcards which were helpful for young learners to remember
some new words. Then students practiced sentences through playing games. This activity
increased the passion of learner and the class would not be boring.
During the whole class, the teacher always encouraged students to speak loudly and
practice much more times. I think encouragement is an important thing for all learners
not only for the young. Students would learn effectively in the language class. The
teacher ensured that all students in the class participated in the activities of class and
practiced enough as well. He always asked some comprehension questions in order to
make sure that all students understood the context. Repetition is also an important thing
for children to remember something. Therefore, in the wrap-up section, the teacher
repeated the context of this lesson and assigned his students tasks.
In conclusion, Peter’s class was very consistent with students’ levels and requirements.
And it was successful. This class was very learner-centered. The teacher gave much more
chances to students to practice and answer questions.
Reference
Richards J.& Farrell T. (2011). Practice Teaching: A Reflective Approach. New York,
N.Y., USA: Cambridge University Press

Last Updated: 3/25/2018 4:06 AM

 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook

Last Updated: 3/25/2018 4:06 AM

 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook

Last Updated: 3/25/2018 4:06 AM