TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report
Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed

Name of Observer Hyeonseong (Daniel) Shin Observation # 4

Date

Observation
Environment (include

Class
Skill/Content

Class
Teacher
Level/Number
URL if the class was
(Beg./Int./Adv.)
online)
05/15/2015 UCR Extension
OSD
IOF 2A
Candace
(Oral Skill
HighJorgensen
Development)
Intermediate
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:
STUDENT WILL RECOGNIZE WHY THEY CANNOT USE OBJECTIVE PRONOUN AS A SUBJECT.
STUDENT WILL BE ABLE TO CREATE A BRIEF CONVERSATION USING ONE TARGET
EXPRESSION.
STUDENT WILL BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE THEIR STORY USING PAST TENSE.

Notes while observing:

Warm-up (5 minutes)
T had Ss to talk each other about their opinions on todays weather in pairs. During
Ss were talking, the teacher prepared the next step.
T said that Ss needed to make sure what their partners opinion was because Ss will
be asked to report the opinion of their partner.
After that, T asked Ss to report what their partners opinion was.
Feedback (15 minutes)
Yesterday, Ss had a presentation about their story. T wanted to give them some
feedback today.
T put a sentence on the boardMe and my roommate decided to go to LA. Then, the
teacher asked, Are you going to use this sentence? Why? Tell the person next to
you After Ss talked each other, T asked again. Then, one student said, I will
change it. I decided to go to LA with my roommate. T explained why they cannot
use me as a subject. T put other sentence on the boardHim and I met to LAX, and
asked, Are you going to use this sentence? Ss replied and corrected it.
T introduced how to speak when they want to begin and finish their presentation. T
put Thats it on the board and asked, What do you think that when you say this at
the end of your presentation? Ss told their opinion.

Last Updated: 11/10/2015 7:49 AM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

After that, T explained how to fill out an evaluation paper because Ss are going to
do evaluate themselves and one student about the previous presentation. T had Ss
talk each other how they could fill out evaluation form.

Creating Conversation (20 minutes)

On Fridays, Ss have a Friday expression time which Ss heard and found out some
useful expressions from their friends, TV, or internet. And, Ss picked up one of
expressions and introduced to their classmates.
T had Ss share their expressions with their partner. And Ss were asked to choose the
best one. Using the expression that they chose, Ss were asked to create a brief
dialogue. Creating the dialogue, T walked around giving the advice when Ss wanted.
Ss presented their dialogue to their classmates. Before Ss began the dialogue, T put
the expression on the paper and showed it to the Ss. First group presented their
dialogue using Take it easy.
A: I broke up with my boyfriend.
B: Oh, sorry to hear that.
A: I want to cry now.
B: Take it easy.
Listening to the dialogue, Ss were asked to guess what the expression, Take it easy
meant. In same way, other groups presented their dialogues and introduced their
expressionsGo Dutch, Get into hot water, Stick to ones gun.
One group which introduced get into hot water used the expression in wrong
situation. T explained, Get into hot water is used when you have trouble with
somebody.
When Ss could not guess the meanings, T gave some hints. If Ss could not get to
know the meaning from the conversation after T gave some hints, T explained what it
meant.
Story Telling (10 minutes)
T had Ss make a group. Each group had four people. T began to give a direction. Ss
were asked picked up one topic. Ss were required to talk about one story that was
relevant to the topic that they picked up. When T gave the direction, T put an
emphasis on using past tense because Ss would talk about their story in the past.
When a speaker finished their story, T asked listeners what the speakers story was.
Then, the next student picked up the topic and continued the activity.
When Ss picked up a difficult topic which was not familiar with them, T gave a
chance to pick up other topic.

(continue on back)

Last Updated: 11/10/2015 7:49 AM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson? Discuss your
observation focus, and the theory you have studied in your TESOL classes. Consider
the three levels of teacher reflection (surface, pedagogical, critical). (100-200 words)
Firstly, I learned how I can apply the technique and principle of TBLT when I
teach Speaking. Overall, TBLT (Task-Based Language Teaching) was applied in this
class. The principle of TBLT that I learned was the way of giving students feedback after
the task. In a post-task phase, the teacher reinforced students learning or addressed any
problems that may have arisen (Larsen-freeman and Anderson, 2011). It seemed that the
teacher took a note of some errors that students generated yesterday. Based on her note,
the teacher gave feedback and corrected as a class.
Second, the teacher assigned other task which students need to create a brief
conversation using the target expression that they chose. Through this task, I think
students would learn the target expressions naturally from the context of the conversation.
Lastly, in the last activity, I saw how the teacher applied the principle of CLT
(Communicative Language Teaching) which states that students learn other language in
order to communicate (Larsen-freeman and Anderson, 2011). The students were required
to use past tense form when they were telling their past story. I believe that with this
activity, the students would learn to use past tense form communicating with others.
What activities/techniques from this class do you want to remember for your own
teaching practice? Discuss specific ways in which you could apply the techniques and
methods you saw. Discuss your future teaching environment and your students needs
and goals. (100-200 words)
First, I would like to keep the technique which gives a correction as a class. If the
teacher gave an individual feedback directly in the class, it would increase students
affective filter. According to Krashen, when affective filter is low, the best acquisition will
occur in environments of low anxiety (Brown, 2014). In this class, the teacher took a note
when students were doing their tasks. The teacher provided feedback and correction as a
class after the task was finished. I think making errors and mistakes is a natural process
of learning other language. Although one of the teachers jobs is to provide feedback and
corrections, I think the teacher should be careful when he gives feedbacks to the students.
Second, I would like to remember the activity that students collect some
expressions around them during weekdays and create a brief conversation using one of
the expressions. This is because I think not only is journal homework helpful for students
but it also beneficial for students to create a brief conversation with the target item. In
my future class is going to be in Korea. My future students will not have environment to
encounter authentic English around them. But, using internet, if they find English
expressions from authentic English materials, by doing it, the students will get used to
use the expression naturally.

Last Updated: 11/10/2015 7:49 AM

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
References
Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). In Techniques and principles in Language
Teaching. New York, N.Y., USA: Oxford University Press.
Brown, H. (2014).Principles of language learning and teaching(6th ed.). New York, NY:
Pearson Education.

Last Updated: 11/10/2015 7:49 AM