Welcome to your first teacher observation!

At the end of each module, we will be providing you with 50-75 minute videos of one of our own
ASU teachers teaching a real class. The purpose for this is twofold: Firstly, this course is aligned with
the TESOL International guidelines, which entails that certification courses must require participants
to observe at least 10 hours of ESL classes. This capstone offers 6 hours of observation and the
second specialization will offer the final 4 hours through the peer-reviewed micro-lesson videos that
you will watch throughout the courses. Secondly, these observations are for you, the participants,
to observe and analyze teachers, a variety of teacher techniques, classroom interaction, and so on.
TESOL and other teacher training programs often require participants to observe other teachers in
action, and we wholeheartedly see the value of observing other teachers. In fact, whether you’ve
never taught before, or if you’ve been teaching for more than 20 years, observing other teachers
provides you with fresh, new ideas and perspectives that you might be able to incorporate into your
own lessons.

However, instead of asking you to find your own teachers to observe—and for some of you in the
farther reaches of the world, or who don’t know any ESL teachers, that would be quite difficult—
we’ve brought the teachers to YOU! Our hope is that you’ll notice some techniques, activities, or
styles in each class that you may be able to incorporate into your own classrooms. In order to make
your experience more authentic, as if you were actually in the classrooms observing these teachers,
these videos are raw and unedited, instead of our normal, polished videos. While the videos may
seem long, they provide you a glimpse of REAL teachers teaching their classes. These lessons, while
planned, are unscripted, and anything can happen in these videos, so notice how the teachers react
to unplanned occurrences.

We are also including the teachers' lesson plans, if you want to follow along with the activities. Try to
notice if the teachers follow their lesson plan exactly, or if the teachers deviate from the lesson at
all. Remember, sometimes well-planned lessons don't always go as planned, so teachers have to be
ready to adapt and improvise.

For Module 1, we’re asking you to observe two different teachers. As you’re watching each lesson,
consider the following questions, which you’ll be asked to answer in a peer review activity after the
video:

1. Which approach(es) do you think these teachers’ teaching style most closely aligns with?
2. Discuss some aspects of this teacher’s class that you liked.
3. What are some techniques/activities that you might be interested in incorporating into your
own teaching?

So, kick back, relax, and consider the above questions while you check out what our first two
teachers, Nancy and Karen, have to offer!