TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report Form

Name of Observer: Claudia Walukouw Observation # 4

Date Observation Class Skill/Content Level Teacher

Environment*
05/18/18 Face-to- 241 Listening/Speaking 200 Karen Lindwall
face

*Include the URL if the class was online

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:

- Students will be able to identify 10 vocabulary words within a 5-minute
listening activity, with 100 percent accuracy.
- Students will be able to construct 8 sentences using 10 vocabulary words.
- Students will be able to discuss with partner(s) 3 action-phrases they heard
within a short listening activity.

Notes while observing:

General notes on classroom:

- Each chair is labeled with one of the 50 states in the U.S. (Nebraska, etc.)
- Teacher (T) is playing music in the background
- Desks/chairs are arranged in a circle around the room

8:55 AM:
- Students (Ss) are coming into class, T engages each of them in conversation
o Asks them how they are doing, as well as how many hours of sleep they
got last night
o T acknowledges the start of Ramadan and how Several students are fasting
in observance of it
- By the time class officially starts, there are 3 students in the classroom

9:00 AM:
- T pulls up PPT image on TV screen and says that it is the “Starter” for the day
- Noting that there is an odd number of Ss, T states that she will “partner up” with
one of the students
- T briefly introduces observer
- Three more students walk in
- Before going into “Starter” activity, T talks about what they will do for the day

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Observation Notebook
- Goes into “starter” activity (discussion)
o Starter questions: “Did someone in your family do something amazing?”
§ What did they do? Why was it amazing?
- T joins one of the groups to discuss starter
- One of the students takes out phone as he is speaking to T, and T allows it
o Searching for photo to show T
- T gives 30 second warning
- Student has question, and T walks across room to listen closer
o T allows others to join in conversation, but limits time digressing by
saying “ok, let’s get back to class”

9:10 AM:
- Going over vocabulary
- T speaking time: approximately 80%
- T cups over ears if she wants Ss to repeat/answer
- T does not correct pronunciation; she repeats with correct pronunciation
- Vocabulary words: distance, set world records, determined, amazing, dangerous,
decided, reach your goal, challenge, without, unfortunately

9:20 AM:
- T speaking time is now closer to 70%
- If Ss are unfamiliar with word, T prompts them phoneme by phoneme
o “World…? World r----? World re----? World rec----? World record!
- Activity: Listening about Diana Nyad; students tell partners 3 things they heard
o In previous class, T explains, (to observer) that Ss did reading activity
§ “Challenge vs. Risks”
§ Vocabulary
§ Read to one another the paragraph
o Ss know what the listening will be about
- As Ss are reading, T asks “do you understand all the words?”
o As a way to elicit unfamiliar vocabulary
o T asks Ss to close book for activity

9:30 AM:
- T is allowing Ss to work more in partners now, speak time is 50-50%
- For the first listening part, T joins in the conversation
- For the second listening part, T allows Ss to conduct conversations on their own
- One student is answering many of the questions and T responds with a thumbs-up
and says: “Good job, thank you (holds hand out), you’re doing a great job, but I’d
like to hear other Ss’ voices too”
- T says “I understand” (slowly) when Ss is struggling with a word/phrase
- T keeps Ss conversations short, listening closely to when they have finished their
(speaking) points
- T connects listening activity to Ss personal hobbies “XX, didn’t you say you were
a long-distance runner? What goes through your mind?” When discussing mental
training for Nyad

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Observation Notebook

9:40 AM:
- Students are still on listening activity
- T allows Ss to speak autonomously at first, without specific question, but Ss
remain quiet (except for one), so T intervenes with prompts from book
o T first said “Talk! It’s good to talk.”
§ Ss remained quiet
o T has to go around to each partner group and prompts them with different
questions
o Uses a lot of positive encouragement “good job, etc”
o T asks if Ss understand everything, Ss says no, T says “Then ask me! I’m
your walking dictionary!”
- T is using a lot of gestures and mimes

9:50 AM:
- T is discussing HW for the weekend, writes it out on the board, and asks students
clarifying questions (“When is it due?” “How many sentences will you write?”)
- T offers extra credit points for visiting art exhibit
- 9:54 class ends

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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)

Karen Lindwall: Listening and Speaking (241)

Prior to sharing my observations for this class, I feel it is important to note that

the majority of the students who attended the class had just begun fasting in honor of

Ramadan— which heavily influenced their energy and participation in the class. After the

session, the instructor approached me to explain this and to explain how she had to adjust

much of her lesson to accommodate the overall atmosphere. With that said, however, I

feel that the instructor still showed effective classroom management and appropriate

language levels throughout the lesson.

Firstly, I noticed that the instructor set the tone of the classroom by initiating a

brief conversation with each student as they took their seats. Although the seats were not

arranged, it seemed that each student automatically chose seats that enabled them to work

in partners. Our textbook states that “the learner-centered classroom, in which

experiential learning plays a large part…, is characterized by a lot of pair and group

work” (Nunan, 2011). I quickly learned that professor Lindwall emphasized pair-work in

every class, and that students remain in pairs for the majority of each class time. When

giving instructions, Lindwall spoke clearly and repeated new words several times, asking

if students are familiar with them. If they were not, she asked them to guess what they

thought it meant using context clues. I noticed that the instructor would refrain from

correcting pronunciation, and instead encouraged them to “sound out” the word letter-by-

letter. What particularly stood out, in my opinion, is the language and words that she

chose to use: simple vocabulary, with an emphasis on words learned from prior classes.

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Whenever these words came up, the instructor highlighted how they can be prime

opportunities for review.

Secondly, I noticed the ways in which the instructor interacted with her students.

Throughout the lesson, professor Lindwall gradually lessened her own speaking time, and

encouraged students to speak to one another instead. She ultimately intervened only when

students struggled with certain words. In observing this closely, I learned that they often

struggled when questions were too open-ended— that it was best to give the students

specific questions or speaking prompts. I also learned that it is important to remain aware

of the pace at which each group is working. Even when the instructor appeared to be

focused on another task or group, I noticed that she was quick to respond to other

students’ questions when needed.

Finally, I learned how important positive encouragement can be in the classroom.

Every time that a student spoke up, professor Lindwall would respond with a form of

praise, either verbally or with body language. She also mentioned, later on, that

encouragement is especially important when the classroom energy is lower than usual.

I think that many parts of this lesson may be applicable to a young learners’

classroom as well. For example, I think that the way professor Lindwall approached error

correction was highly effective; rather than directly correcting them, she gave them

opportunities to correct themselves through examples and repetition. She also ensured

that each student kept pace with the lesson and that all questions were answered—

teaching techniques that I feel would be effective for any age group.

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References

Nunan, D. (2011). Teaching English to young learners. Anaheim: Anaheim University

Press. Retrieved from www.amazon.com.

Last Updated: 5/20/2018 8:31 PM