Observation Report

Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed

Name of Observer____Wang Zhao______ Observation # _9_

Date Observation Environment (include URL if the class was online) 5/20/13 UCR Extension Class Skill/Content Class Teacher Level/Number (Beg./Int./Adv.) 241 John Moran

Grammar

Focus on relevant areas from the What Can Be Observed handout. Notice how the teacher handles these areas during the class. OBJECTIVE OF THE LESSON: Students will be able to : Compare and contrast three structures of future tense: will/be going to/present progressive Use time clause in the future and identify the tense of the time clause and main clause

Notes while observing: Warm-up (2 minutes) T begins the class by asking Ss: Hope you had a good weekend. Did anyone go anywhere? Two Ss share their weekend experience with the class. T asks questions on details. Why did you go there? (phoenix) Do you have friends there? Did anyone go to the carnival across the street? On Friday? Review (14 minutes) T asks Ss the topic of last lessonfuture tense T: last time we said we use gonna, wanna in speaking, do we use them in writing? Ss: No. T: Do we say gonna/wanna to? Ss: No. only gonna/wanna. T: When do we usewill? Ss: A quick decision.

Observation Report
Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed T: When do we use be going to? Ss: A plan. T: When we use present progressive to indicate fuure, what are the two important elements? Ss: It needs to be a plan. T: What else? Ss: key words T: Good. next week, tomorrow are common key words. Practice (13 minutes) Practice 24 on textbook: Direction: Use present progressive and BE going to to talk about your plans tonight, tomorrow, next week, next year, etc. T uses name card to call out Ss to share their answer Most Ss give the correct answer. E.g. Im going to watch TV with my homestay family tonight. Im taking a grammar test next week. etc. One students sentence has some mistakes. He said : Im marrying next month. T: Is it true?Do you have a plan to get married? S: No. Im already married, I mean to celebrate. T: Ok. We usually say GET married. For example, Im getting married next year. I think what you mean is to celebrate your anniversary. We could say Im going to celebrate my anniversary next month. One s raise a question: We use present progressive to say both present and future, so how can we tell the difference? T: Just the key words. Usually they can tell you whether it is present or future. Sometimes the key words appear in the question but not in the answer. For example, What are you doing tonight? Im doing laundry. You have to look carefully during our test. T reads a short passage on the textbook Title: When I get my job After reading the paragraph, T : We know it is about to get a new job. Any changes here? Ss: new haircut/clothes, speak English in his new job. T: Look at the underline part, whats the tense? Ss: simple present. T writes After I return home on the board and asks Ss what it is

Observation Report
Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed Ss: Its a clause. T:Theres a name for this clause Ss: Time clause. T draws a graph to indicate the time frame of some key words T:Can we put a period after the time clause? Ss: No. T:Its part of the sentence, so we put a comma after it. Formal explanation (10 minutes) T: In the time clause, we use simple present. In the following sentence, we use will orBE going to. With time clause, usually we can use either will or present progressive , theres no difference if its plan or quick decision. For example, After I return home, I will start a new job or I am going to start a new job. T asks a student : What did you do this morning? S: I woke up. T:After that? S: I washed my face. T writes When Bader__________(wake up) tomorrow, he______(wash) his face. on the board. Some Ss answer to use wake up T writes wake up in the blank and asks the class If I use wake up here, is it right? Ss:Add s , wakes up. T adds s and writes will wash in the next blank T reminds Ss to pay attention to the subject of the sentence during test T asks Ss to read the chart on the textbook: Time clause: simple present verb Main clause: will/be going to/present progressive T asks Ss: can we use be going to to replace will here? Most Ss answer no T:Yes! You could use either one. Practice (10 minutes) Ss do practice 25 on the textbook, then T calls out Ss to read it out loud Ss continue to do practice 27: Think about your future. Answer the questions with before, after, when and while What are you going to do before you go back to your country?

Observation Report
Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed Before____________________, I_____________ Students do the exercise in pairs After 5 minutes, T models two questions and reminds students to use s after he/she. T gives Ss one more minute to talk to their partner Ss report what they have found out about their partner using the target structure Wrap-up (2 minutes) T assigns homework and reminds Ss the test on Thursday

(continue on back) What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson? Consider your observation focus, and the theory you have studied in your TESOL classes.

The instructor of this class John Moran mentioned that the textbook used in this level is written by one of the teachers Karen Gregg here in extension. He said the book has a lot of pictures and communicative exercises. More importantly, the vocabularies used in the paragraphs and examples are relatively simple so a considerable amount of class time is saved for practicing structure instead of explaining vocabulary. I have learnt that sometimes teachers have to sacrifice using authentic materials in order to prioritize the events of the lesson. In a beginning level grammar class, the focus is on the formal explanation of target structure and repeated practice (mechanical, meaningful and communicative practice) to achieve comprehension and meaningful use of the target structure. Moreover, the instructor follows the teaching principle Ask dont tell. Students thinking process is activated and they are appropriately challenged during the lesson. It results in a positive learning environment and helps students better memorize the structure and its usage in context. It is also a student centered pedagogic approach because it gives students an opportunity to solve the problem by themselves. According to my observation, most of the time if a student fails to provide the correct answer to the question, the rest would jump in and offer their answers. Sometimes it could turn into a trail-and-error process that relies on teacher to provide the correct answer. The bright side is that during the process more errors will be emerged, teachers could

Observation Report
Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed use the chance to engage in error-correction with the whole class so students could avoid making the same mistakes in the future. As I have mentioned above, there are three types of exercises: mechanical, meaningful and communicative. Students are first exposed to the form of the grammar structure. In this class the form of future tense (will/Be going to/present progressive) is covered in the previous class. Meaningful exercises usually require students to make a choice between the target structure and a grammar structure that they have learnt before through compare and contrast. For example, present progressive could be used to indicate the action is happening as we speak, or it could also be used to indicate future. Hence, students need to look carefully to the key words (e.g. next week, tomorrow etc.) to make a choice. The last exercise of the lesson was communicative because students need to provide a true and meaningful answer according to the situation. Both form and function of the structure is key to these exercises and students are expected to internalize the rules by going through the process in class.

What activities/techniques from this class do you want to remember for your own teaching practice? Consider specific ways in which you could apply the techniques and methods you saw. Consider your future teaching environment and your students needs and goals.

I will incorporate the key points that I mentioned in the previous section into my own teaching in the future. First of all, using materials that are tailored to the students needs and level. Authentic materials may provide more benefits to higher-level students, the difficulty of the text sometimes is still challenging even for advanced learners, and it requires dedication of using them in the long term. In a grammar lesson (esp. for beginners), teachers need to make the content manageable for the students and use class time efficiently. Furthermore, students need to be given the chance to discover the rules in class instead of being told the rules. Speaking as a novice ESL teacher, I know it is not a simple rule to follow. Sometimes I get carried away of presenting the content of a lesson in a limited period of time that I overlooked the students role in the learning process. Teacher should not be the only source of knowledge in the classroom, students have the curiosity and ability to raise questions and solve them through their collective

Observation Report
Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed intellectual power (brainstorming, pair/group work). Lastly, form and function are of equal importance in a grammar lesson. When making a lesson plan and choosing materials, it is a good idea to consult a variety of textbook by different authors in order to pick the best mechanical, meaningful and communicative exercises for the students.