CELTA | 2022

Observation Task 1
Observations offer you the chance to see experienced teachers in action, applying the principles discussed in the
methodology sessions, and to measure the effectiveness of a variety of techniques and teaching styles. It is a
learning opportunity as much as it is a way of finding your own way of teaching.

You will need to complete 6 hours of observations on this course, as part of your portfolio. These will be
assigned to you by your tutors and are mandatory, but not assessed.

How it works

1. Click on this link (hover with the mouse over it, press CTRL and click): B1 Speaking

2. Complete the task: Watch the video and answer the questions (see below). Don’t spend more than one hour
on this.

3. Please send the completed task to your tutor (juliem.lehner@gmail.com) by Friday, 30th September, at
22.00.

TASK

1. What type of speaking activities are used, e.g. brainstorming, role play, discussion, narrative building?

2. Write down five things a teacher can do when giving instructions to help the students understand what to
do. Which of them does this teacher use?

3. Apart from the plan, what else helps the teacher to decide when to stop an activity?

4. How is this lesson different from a face-to-face lesson? How is it similar?

5. (How) did the teacher deal with correction, e.g. did the teacher correct during the activity or at the end?

6. What have you learnt about using Zoom after watching this lesson?

1)

 TALKING: brainstorming, discussions (in pairs, student – teacher and students to students),
interviewing;
 LISTENING: listening for specific information;
 WRITING: sentence building. (transforming short sentences into gerund ones)
 READING: checking and correcting mistakes.

2)

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CELTA | 2022

Observation Task 1
 Giving prompts along the way (writing suggested/ discussed ideas on the whiteboard);
 Using visual notes;
 Ask specific questions;
 Ask the students to repeat what they have to do.
 Repeat the question/ task from time to time (even more if the task consists of many other small tasks).

---> The teacher in this video used all of the above.

3.)

 (Pause an activity) When there is a necessity to clarify a mistake and/ or give an explanation about it.
 (Stop an activity) When the activity may result way too difficult/ easy for the students. In this case,
the teacher can either adapt the activity to a more difficult/ easy level or switch to another one, either
already prepared or a spontaneous one, he finds more suitable.
For example, adapt a set of prepared questions, assign a task in pairs or in groups rather than
individually.

4)

DIFFERENT:

- It is harder to engage students as you cannot make visual contact with them, as you do in real life (some of
the might even have their cameras turned off).

- Working with so many different tools at once can become overwhelming.

- Slow internet connection/ lag can cause some delays.

- Checking long pieces of writing can be challenging. (Writing activities)

- Students can get more easily distracted by other things/ activities at home.

- Everything tends to be more visual; therefore students can keep track and memorise information better.

- Students have easily access online to all the documents/ worksheets etc. they need, all the time.

SIMILAR:

- Students have the possibility to interact all the time with the teacher, as well as with other students in pairs/
groups.

- There is the possibility of using a whiteboard to keep track of notes, tasks etc.

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CELTA | 2022

Observation Task 1
- Students can make use of the chat box when working in pairs to keep track and share their notes just as they
would normally do using a notebook.

5) There were some minor corrections made along the way, when it was needed. However, the
mistakes related to the lesson were corrected only at the end of it, after having explained the theoretical
part (how to form sentences with gerunds as subjects in this case) and having had some practise.

The teacher did not correct the students’ mistakes himself but he made the students focus on
them, identify and discussed them together.

6) I have learnt that:

- students can be assigned to work in pairs/ groups in different separate rooms and that the teacher can join
from time to time to monitor their activity and that a timing can be set.

- the teacher can choose to share only one window instead of the whole screen.

- the teacher can share his computer sound.

- the teacher can broadcast messages to all the students when they are in separate rooms.

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