For the first part of this assignment, I try to report one of the observation sessions which I had in an ESOL

class at Queen Elizabeth College (QEC). Although previously my tutor Rosalind had mentioned that in this observation we expect to see adult ESOL learners, but not until I come into the classroom I became aware of that. QEC is a secondary school, which according to my interpretation it covers both junior and senior high school years. I have visited and observed another secondary school before this session, Awatapu College, but the difference is, in Awatapu College, I observed level 1 ESOL class which consists of Grade 10 and 11 students. The ESOL class in QEC consists of adults students with age ranging from their 20s up to 40s. The class is composed by 13 immigrants with various nationalities and various length of stay in New Zealand. There are students from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, and Philippine. From my understanding, the apparent goal of this class is to help the immigrants to settle in their new life in New Zealand. From this observation of this session, I think the teacher tries to bring the strands together, combining speaking, reading, listening, and pronunciation together. The aim is to make the learners able to acquire language skills they needed to endure their live in the new environment. That is way, later I would find the topic for each meeting is based on the function of the language itself, like in this particular session, the topic is on how to use a telephone box. The ability of the learners in this class is mixed, so, I think the level of proficiency is ranging from beginner to upper intermediate. For me, I find that this ESOL class is more like community class, even tough it is set in a formal education setting. During my observation, I note down and fill up the observation sheet. The first thing that I observe is, of course the classroom. It is a typical ESOL 1

classroom. It is a quite large class with movable chairs and tables. On the classroom wall there are useful pictures, maps, list of words and phrases, idioms and lexical expressions to help the learning process. There are also collections of books and other reading materials, consists of picture books, and some authentic- daily life reading materials like telephone books, leaflets, guides, etc. The class is also equipped with sufficient multimedia support like television set and tape recorder. The next thing I observe is learners seating. In this session, the learners sit in two big groups, consisting seven and six students respectively. Each group is sitting around a clustered table. As an observer, I also join one of the groups, and participate in their activity. The activity is evolving around the topic on how to use the telephone box. As I said before, since the class is composed by immigrants, it is very handy to design the syllabus of the course based on the function of the language. In this topic, the teacher shows the learner how to use and search the phone book, on both yellow and white pages. Firstly the teacher simulates how to find names in white pages based on alphabetical order. Later she also shows how to use the yellow pages. There is a worksheet provided for this finding-names-in phonebook activity. The engagement level of this class is quite impressive. This is probably because the topic is found very useful by the learners, and it keeps their enthusiasm going. My judgment is based on the active discussion going on during the activity. The more interesting part is how the students actively help each other; more-able students would voluntarily help the less-able ones, mainly on re-explaining the instruction given by the teacher. I also spot some students talking to each other in their L1, but later their friends from other nationalities remind them to keep using English. From my viewpoint, the teacher has the capacity to provide a warm learning atmosphere to the learners. This notion based on the fact that some of the learners are outstandingly active in initiating conversation in 2

the classroom. They have the courage to speak their opinion and ideas apart from their known flaws in pronunciation and vocabulary. I think those learners will not feel that confident unless they feel comfortable with the teacher. The active participation of the learners later becomes more visible during the second activity where they discuss about a life support guide leaflet. This leaflet gives them information about public services, especially those intended for immigrants and refugees. I notice one Chinese learner actively contributes her experience of using health and insurance service to the rest of the class. Overall, the participation level of this class is roughly balanced, although there are two or three learners which are more dominant. Another quality that the teacher possesses is the ability to make sure all learners working at the same pace. She keeps on reminding those moreable learners not to be ahead from the instruction, especially in working on the worksheet. Observing this class is quite enjoyable, and if I put myself as one of the students here, it is without a doubt that I would feel comfortable in learning. There is only one event that quite puzzles me, in the middle of the session, four learners leave the classroom, and at the same time three newcomers join the class. Later on I realize that the class schedule is adjusted to the need of the learners. They are free to leave if they have to. But there are still questions in my brain about the continuity and sustainability of the course itself. I would also like to examine the role of teacher in this class further. The active contribution from the learners triggers my curiosity, because it is very impressive. This kind of enthusiasm will only exist if the teacher is able to provide them a sense of security. In my own teaching context, I am still struggling to establish this kind of atmosphere in my classroom, how to make the students enthusiastic on expressing their ideas and opinions in 3

target language without having to be afraid of making mistakes. So, I am sure that this teacher has successfully established good relationship and direct communication with the learners. The teacher has fulfilled her role as facilitator in the classroom which rather acts as a resource rather than knowledge transmitter (Harmer, 2007, p. 108). The role as a controller (2007, p. 108) is also well played in the way she makes sure all learners are working in the same pace, so that nobody feel being left behind. But here, the role as a controller is conducted in a distinctively good way, so that the learners are still feeling autonomous and confident about their learning. Last thing, the use of authentic material such as phonebook and leaflet really catches my attention. I have not explored this quite much in my own teaching. But now I realize that by providing authentic-daily life material for reading or listening will unconsciously help establish learners enthusiasm and confidence in their learning.

Reference: Harmer, Jeremy. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching (4th Edition). Harlow, UK: Pearson Longman.