Class (Skill and Level):  ESAL 0570  

Date: September 29, 2022

Time: 1 hour

Observation of T and Ss

The teacher let students voluntarily read and help them correct their mistakes in a gentle way.

Showed appreciation to students when they actively participant in class.

Chose class topic related to real life.

Applied experiential learning: the teacher wear a shirt of the ceremony.

Allowed students to search for information by themselves online in class. Encourage students to be active learner.

Ask students to listen while the other was talking.

Motivated students to communicate with students from different cultural background or they are not familiar with.

Gave clear directions on class activities and check with students whether they have understood.

Showed specific and simple examples that students were able to understand when explains difficult ideas.

Gave the students the sense of learn together

Reflection

I think it is significant that teachers have great patience with students and always show appreciation to them. Such behaviors would encourage students to bravely join the class activities even if they are challenging. Teachers should not make students feel shame or frustrated when they make mistakes or are not able to complete the task. Introducing the topic closely related  to real life would be more motivating. Encouraging students to search for the information by themselves would be an effective way to increase their motivation to learn. Also, it is necessary that the teacher provide students with accessible learning resources before allowing them to solve questions by themselves. I also recognized that students’ attention can be easily attracted when proceeding group discussion. The instructor need to continuously check with them and ensure each group member’s participation. Guiding students to be a listener is also an important lesson. Students are prone to ignore listening to others’ ideas especially when they believe they have already find out the answers or they have great confidence in their own ideas. Reminding students to listen and treat others’ idea earnestly would be beneficial to build  an open leaning environment and motivate their involvement in discussion. Moreover, before conducting a group discussion, the instructor need to clearly explain the directions and the expectations for their work. Simple and concrete examples would be favorable for students’ understanding. I think when students feel the content is hard to comprehend and become discouraged, the instructor’s constant appreciation and affirmation could have a highly positive impact on their motivation.

Class (Skill and Level):  ESAL 0380    

Date: September 27, 2022

Time: the second hour of the class

Observation of T and Ss

The teacher guided students to exercise based on the expected writing structure and checked with students if they can understand what they are going to do. 

The teacher checked students’ work during the exercise and gently remind them to focus on writing.

The teacher presented the new knowledge, arrange exercises based on the new content and then check students with their writing and editing in class activities.

Two lines of a sentence is the most.

Reflection

In writing exercises, I think having students write anonymously in class would create a comfortable atmosphere for students especially when they need to engage in peer editing in class. When the teacher notices that the students do not focus on the task in class, gentle reminding would be necessary. In writing class, teachers also need to walk around the class and continuously check and see if students have questions in structuring their ideas. I was inspired by the idea that diverse perspectives can reveal different problems of one writing. For assignment, the instructor need to clarifying the rules of writing before assigning homework. Using students’ work as an example to explain the rules would be an effective way to help students understand the ideas. In those activities the whole class work as a group, the instructor may casually choose a students in class to complete an easy task such as reading a sentence. I do agree that before a writing exercise, instructors need to take a reasonable amount of time to first help students understand the writing requirements and help them articulate what they are going to write about. Then give them ample time to work on their ideas. This will reduce the psychological burden on students to complete the writing in class.

Class (Skill and Level):  ESAL 0380                                       

Date: September 27, 2022

Time: the first hour of class

Observation of T and Ss

The teacher showed the main objectives before the class.

The teacher reviewed the content of last class.

Started a writing practice at the beginning of the class.

The teacher let students read the instructions first and then asked about their own understandings of the writing.

Next, the instructor helped them solve their confusions.

Reflection

The writing class should goes step by step according to students’ abilities to comprehend and apply. Before structuring the writing exercise, ask students how they thought about the writing requirement and what ideas emerged. Then guide students to think about each specific part of the writing framework. Using this approach helps to stimulate students’ ability to think on their own. Especially for writing exercises, helping students clearly understand the teacher’s instruction and showing them teachers’ expectations in writing structures are significant. During the exercise, giving students enough time to work on their writings and continuously checking students with their work would be helpful for students to catch up the class. Individual assistance should be provided when students are showing their struggles in completing the task. It is also useful for instructors to encourage students to find out their own mistakes and so deepen their understanding of the knowledge. When students show their confusions in understanding the content, presenting an example closely connected with their daily life would be helpful. 

Date: September 22, 2022

Time: the second hour

Observation of T and Ss

The class was large and the teacher divided three people into groups. 

The teacher guided the students at all times while the activity is in progress.    

The teacher combined multiple skills development in class activities.      

Reflection

I realized that group activities need to be enriched appropriately and aimed at developing multiple abilities of students instead of simply focusing on the targeted skills. Some students felt some difficulty in participating in the dictation activity. I realize that it is difficult to set the difficulty of the activity and ensure that it is appropriate for all students’ levels. Instructors need to ask about the progress of the activity at the time of the activity to ensure that each student can understand the activity and achieve the teacher’s expected results. Teachers also need to be in control of the amount of time devoted to each activity and always observe the behavior of the students and so flexibly adjust the time. This is significant for achieving effective learning outcomes because sometime in small groups, some students finish early and therefore have nothing to do while other groups are still working. The same format of activities can cause students to lose interest in participating and thus become inattentive or distracted. I realized that instructors should try to enrich the content and form of classroom activities in each class to motivate students to participate and to integrate all the skills of the students.

   

     

Class (Skill and Level): ESAL 0470      

Date: September 22, 2022

Time: the first hour

Observation of T and Ss

The teacher asked students feeling at the beginning of the class. 

Each student had a name card. 

The teacher personally demonstrated how to do the activity before having the students work in groups.        

Reflection

Asking students how they feel is a very meaningful way to increase teacher-student interaction. Teachers’ familiarity with students would be helpful to increase students’ motivation. Showing students an example of group activities would ensure the students are able to understand how to engage in them. I think telling students the objective of the activities would motivate students’ participation in class. The group size needs to be controlled to ensure each student’s participation during the group activity. It is advisable for the teacher to summarize the activities after they have taken place to help students understand the meaning of each activity. Sometimes, demonstrating counterexamples to students can help them understand the points in depth. Showing encouragement and appreciation to students when answering questions helps to increase their motivation to think on their own. I think the instructor needs to be flexible with the lesson plan based on how the students are doing in class. After arranging the group work, the instructor needs to go back and forth to make sure that each group understands what is being discussed. During the discussion, the instructor can participate in each group as a member of the group and get to know the students’ ideas so that he or she can add or adjust the content based on the students’ feedback.

   

     

Class (Skill and Level): ESAL 0480                                       

Date: September 21, 2022

Time: the second hour

Observation of T and Ss

The teacher engaged in a short wring exercise and gave students limited time to complete their own ideas about a specific topic

The teacher rewarded students after classroom warm-up activities.    

The teacher tried to notice students’ movement and timely respond to students’ questions during multiple activities.   

Reflection

I think it is reasonable to arrange group activities in groups of 2-3 members if the class size is large. Groups with many members are difficult to ensure the participation of each member within the limited discussion time. Also, when assigning members, combining people from different cultural backgrounds can practice students’ communication and comprehension skills. It is meaningful for the teacher to make eye contact with the students at all times and to respond to their questions during the class activities. I think what needs to be improved is that the teacher did not clearly clarify the activity before the students’ group discussion and ensure the smooth running of the activity. From the teacher’s behavior of rewarding, I realized showing appreciation of students’ commitment to the class in any form is conducive to increasing students’ motivation to participate in classroom activities. In this lesson, I saw that the instructor kept checking the time while scheduling and organizing the activities. This made me realize that instructors need to have a holistic view of how much energy and time students put into the various activities in the classroom to ensure classroom efficiency and learning outcomes.

Class (Skill and Level): ESAL 0480 

Date: September 21, 2022

Time: the first hour

Observation of T and Ss

The teacher used the name card to remember each students’ name. 

Due to the large number of students, the students were sitting in a scattered manner in the classroom.          

The teacher firstly introduced herself and ensured that students are able to contact her when they have questions.       

The teacher handed out the homework to each student.    

The teacher reviewed the contents of the last lesson.   

The teacher also prepared for a warm-up activity and let the students discuss through group work.  

Reflection

Using name cards would help teachers to get familiar with students as soon as possible. I realized that when the number of students is large, scattered seating is not conducive to the teacher’s ability to ensure that all students are engaged in classroom activities. I also think it would be easily for students to be motivated to participate in class activities after getting familiar with their teachers in the first class. It is significant for teachers to notice students’ action in class especially when they have questions and discuss with classmates. If the teacher clearly points out what needs to be corrected or improved in the students’ work, it will help the students to learn efficiently. Review of learning content helps to consolidate students’ prior learning. It is meaningful for the teacher to make eye contact with the students at all times and to respond to their questions during the warm-up activities. I learned that when there are a large number of students, the spread of student seating can cause the teacher to be unable to ensure that all students are paying attention. Students can easily become distracted or feel that they cannot participate in class because the teacher is not looking at or paying attention to him or her.

Class (Skill and Level):      ESAL 0580                                       

Date: September 20, 2022

Time: 1 hour 50 mins

Observation of T and Ss

The teacher made a course review before presenting new knowledge at the beginning of the class. The teacher then commented on the journals written by students. The teacher prepared for the writing practices in written form and gave examples for excellent writing. The instructor let the students comment on the examples of writing. The teacher always showed appreciation for students’ ideas. The teacher always guided students to think about how to change the writing instead of showing them the improvement directly. The teacher used videos to explain the key points in writing. 

Reflection

Reviewing the content of previous class is an effective way to help students deepen their understanding in new content. Also, course review effectively shows the coherence of the class. Giving students appreciation of their writing is useful for students to build their confidence in learning. Showing students examples of writing in writing class would help students to clearly understand the expectations of teachers. Encouraging students to comment on the typical wring and think about how to improve it is helpful for students to improve abilities of writing and their critical thinking. The appreciation of teachers would motivate students’ participation in class. Appropriate ways of asking questions would guide students to actively think and participate in class activities. Using activities to show the main ideas of the class would increase students’ motivation to learn. Multiple ways of knowledge explanation would be useful for students to deepen their understanding of the ideas. Also, varied ways of presenting new content would engage students’ attention after a period of time in a single lecture format. In writing class, the single lecture format can easily make the students become inattentive and feel dull. Therefore, appropriately diverse activities are especially significant in the writing classroom.

Class (Skill and Level):       Korean EFL Open class demonstration       

Date: Sep 12, 2022

Time: fourth-one minutes

Observation of T and Ss:

Every student is seated closely. Those students who were seated behind can hardly see the words on the screen. The Korean teacher firstly guided students to review the content of last class. students actively responded to teachers’ questions. The two teacher showed how to engage in a new dialogue themselves. The teacher used ticket to motivate students answer her questions. The teacher also applied various kinds of ways to show the content such as videos and songs. Students became more active in group discussions.

Reflection:

Teachers should make sure each student are able to see clearly the screen and they are able to make eye contact with everyone. Review of knowledge students already learned at the beginning of each class would be helpful for students to memorize them. Teaching the content according to students’ capacity would effectively improve the their learning outcomes. Except for words, modeling by example is also an effective way to teach new content. Teachers should use motivational methods to encourage students’ participation in class activities. Using multiple ways of presenting the knowledge would be useful for stimulating students’ learning in class. Asking the students how they feel after the mini-activities and give them the right to choose the learning activities would facilitates the students’ participation in the classroom. Involvement of games in class activities would create lively atmosphere. It is significant for teachers to teach students to learn to listen. The first half of the class was teacher-led, so student participation was very passive. The group activities in the second half of the class clearly stimulated students’ interest in independent thinking and their participation was very active. So I think the activities should be designed in such a way that they lead students to think and are within their reach. Also, I think the group size needs to be controlled, otherwise the teacher cannot ensure the participation of each student in the discussion. In addition, the teacher did not show the students the objectives of the lesson at the beginning of the class. This can easily lead to passive participation of students in learning activities.

Class (Skill and Level):      Adult  Literacy /Beginner Level ESL Class

Date: Sep 10 , 2022

Observation of T and Ss:

The tables are arranged in such a way that the teacher can see them. The students’ seats are thus very centralized. The teacher guide students to practice with everyday greetings. The teacher teach new knowledge through students’ real-life situations. The teacher teach students daily dialogue through asking them to reflect on life scenarios. Some students are willing to answer teachers’ questions but a small part are silent. The teacher use both words and body language to explain questions. The teacher always practice the new dialogues with students after presenting them. The teacher teaches and practices new learning content through listening, speaking, reading and writing. The teacher design varied activities to engage students in learning. The teacher always treats every response from the students in a positive manner.

Reflection

I learned that the centralized seating arrangement facilitates communication between teachers and students and makes it easier for teachers to observe each student’s listening status. The activities that are related to students’ life experiences would be impressive for students. The teacher should ask questions that students are capable of understanding and answering. Immediate appreciation and affirmation of students’ answers help to encourage students’ participation. Multiple ways of expressing such as language and body language would help students to understand teachers’ meaning. Immediate practice for new contents wold strengthen students’ memory and understanding of them. Would it be helpful for students’ self-directed practice when teachers standing closely to them and correct their mistakes? Multiple ways of practice including listening, speaking, reading and writing are useful for students’ leaning outcomes. Should the teacher require every student to stand in front of everyone and exercise the new content given the different rates of absorption of new knowledge among students? Would this action affect the student’s mood for learning? Will the teacher’s correction of him or her in front of the whole class cause harm if the student has high self-esteem. Easy and interesting games are useful for increasing students’ passion for learning. Review of the class main contents is significant for students’ consolidation of new knowledge. Teacher’s attitude towards students’ performance in class such as response or mistakes would significantly influence the atmosphere of the class. Knowing the levels of all students is the primary task for teachers to set teaching objectives.