I.

Description of grammar/language skills lesson observed during PBS II

During my second PBS, I have chosen a day to observe an English lesson of Year 5 students. On Tuesday, 6th September 2011, I have spent 30 minutes observing an English class of Year 5 UUM, the third class among the four classes of Year 5. The students level of proficiency is average. The school is located in a small town in Lunas and most of the students live in the neighbourhood nearby the school. The class started at 7.45 a.m. right after the morning assembly. Puan Wan Normah Binti Wan Taib, the English teacher came in the class and started the lesson with questions about the students Raya celebration. Then, she connected the Raya celebration with the learning topic of the day which is A Class Party. In their previous class, they had learnt about festival and they had been asked to give words connected to festival. Today, they have been asked to tell the class about the words connected to the topic A Class Party. The students quickly respond and give answers like food, cake, drinks, clothes and so on. Next, Puan Wan Normah also asked the class about the activities that could be conducted during a class party and the students had gave answers like talking and exchange presents. Besides that, the teacher also asked about the games that could be played during a class party, the answer given by the students is music chair. For today, Puan Wan Normah had chosen to focus on writing skills. She distributed worksheets to students and told the students to read the questions in the worksheets. She then explained what the question is about and gave instructions about the activities. Puan Wan Normah read the questions out loud and asked the students to take out their dictionaries and find out the meaning of the words that they do not understand in five minutes. The students quickly took out their dictionaries and find out the meaning of the words.

After five minutes, they discussed the meaning of the words. The students were really active in giving respond during the learning session. The teacher, then walk by and check on some of the students answers. Next, the teacher read the question and the students repeat what she have read. Puan Normah gave chances to some students by calling their names and let them share their answers with the class. She also read the questions in the worksheets together with the students. Then she let the students continue reading the next questions in the worksheets given. After that, she asked the class to complete the answer in their worksheets. She will check their answers in the next lesson. Based on my observation, I realize that the students grammar is quite good. Even though some of the students answered the question in Malay, they quickly change their answers into English when their friends corrected them. Furthermore, I think, Puan Normah had done a good job in teaching her students. She used English when she communicates with her students and that is really important in English lesson. Overall, I think, the lesson today had implemented appropriate language skills and encourage the students to improve their language.

II.

Discussion of one learning theories with references to the lesson observed.

As we all know, there are many learning theories that could be implemented in the teaching and learning process. These theories are very useful as it helps the teaching and learning process to run smoothly and effectively. For this assignment, I have to choose a theory among the four theories given, which are the theories of behaviourism, the theories of behaviourism, the theories of social constructivism and the theories of humanism. I have chosen to use the theories of behaviourism to explain the teaching and learning process observed by me on Tuesday, 6 th September 2011. Behaviourism is a learning theory that only focuses on objectively observable behaviour and discounts any independence activity of the minds. It is also a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things that organisms do including acting, thinking and feeling. According to the opinions of behaviourists like Pavlov, Skinner and Thorndike, the human behaviour can be observed, controlled and predicted. This theory could be seen in classroom throughout the learning lesson. I had observed an English lesson of a Year 5 class. Year 5 UUM is the third class among the four classes of Year 5 student. There are 42 students in the class and all of them are Malay students. I was aware about the behaviour of the students since before their teacher entered the classroom. Once, their English teacher, Puan Wan Normah Binti Wan Taib entered the classroom, the students quickly stand up straight and greet their teacher. Based on this situation, the students show a condition respond towards the stimulus. The students seem to be interested in going through the learning process especially when the teacher started the lesson