Reflection and evaluation

Learner progress in relation to the main aims

Overall, the lesson went well and the main aims were achieved. Students had opportunities to practice
reported speech statements and I had time to answer their questions which helped them decide
whether they need to backshift or not. Students didn’t seem to have difficulties with say and tell +
subject sentence structures so we didn’t really focus on one of them. However it did come up in the last
stage and I left a reference on the board for the students who needed it. The mingle activity was
particularly useful to highlight the knowledge gaps. Also it was a kind of activity that this class enjoy and
it fit in between more static activities nicely.

Strengths

 the choice of activities for this lesson was justified. Mingle activity was particularly useful for
peer correction and peer teaching. Students asked questions to each other and asked me for
clarification which helped me to provide feedback they needed. Group dialogue writing also
proved useful for the students to become more aware of the use of reported speech in context.
I could hear them discussing whether they needed to backshift or not.
 The lesson was well staged and the text based presentation worked quite well providing the
students with a context for the TL.
 Demonstrating the mingle activity insured that students knew what to do and it went well.
 My clarifications on backshift and the examples I used for it were clear and helped students’
understanding.

Weaknesses

 My white board work wasn’t very clear. I didn’t use the space well. I am used to working with
IWBs, which is quite different because most of the board work is prepared in advance. I need to
make sure that next time I plan exactly what I write on the whiteboard both for feedback (when
possible to predict) and examples. Maybe have a separate sheet with the outline/diagram
 My questions for open class activities weren’t specific enough and it allowed more confident
students to take over. I need to nominate students to answer rather than waiting for someone
to volunteer.
 One of the cards that I prepared for the mingle activities wasn’t very clear as it allowed two
possible tenses. Unfortunately, I chose that card to demonstrate the activity.
 I couldn’t find the handouts for the writing activities and while one of my colleagues had one
and went to make some copies the set up of the activity was a little mixed up.
 Timing was a quite tight and while I mostly followed the lesson plan and finished on time, it
would be better to have more time for a consolidation activity after the writing.

Consolidation and follow up

Unfortunately, since it’s only a two-week course taught by five DELTA trainees, I will not have a chance
to teach a follow-up lesson. If I had I there would be:

 more oral practice like triangle activities when students would have to report what the other
two people said in a short conversation with a focus on fluency.
 further writing activities because the writing we did in this lesson showed that the students
need more writing practice.
 extension activities with more tenses to practise

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