Classroom Observation: Report 3

Teacher Observed: L
Observer: Alejandra de Antoni
Date: June 30th 2009

Observation Task taken from “Learning Teaching: A Guidebook for English Language
Teachers” (Heinemann)

Class: 1st Year Polimodal (School 2, Marcos Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Number of Learners: about 16 (There were a lot of absent students)
Age: 14/15 years old
Length of Lesson: 60 minutes
Level: Beginners
Observer: Alejandra de Antoni
Teacher Observed: L

The following Observation Task has been taken from “Learning Teaching,” a book written by Jim
Scrivener. The main objective of this observation is to pay attention to the four main elements
involved in building an effective or non-effective learning environment. The big question is: Wha t
helps ( or d oes no t hel p) pe op le lea rn?

General Comments about the Lesson:

It was, I guess, a particular lesson because of several reasons. First of all, there were a lot of
absent students due to the outbreak the swine flu in Argentina. It was a moment in which the
different authorities (both in the Health and Education Ministries) would find it really difficult to
come to an agreement as regards closing down schools or not. That is why many students decided
not to go to school to avoid getting in contact with others. Furthermore, there was a general feeling
among students that, since lesson were going to be suspended sooner or later, they were already
on holidays. Because of this “holidays atmosphere” students were really restless and found it really
difficult to get involved in the lesson.
Another important aspect to keep in mind is the kind of school we are talking about. The school in
which I observed this lesson is a State school whose students are not actually eager to learn
English for they find it extremely alien to themselves and their culture. It is hardly surprising that
their level is low (they are beginners but, in fact, they cannot even produce a sentence) and that
they actually find no interest in the lesson. For instance, in this lesson, the students had to work on
a reading passage that was about a 22-year-old boy that was multimillionaire. It’s only natural that
they found it extreme boring and alien. What do they know about being a millionaire if we are
talking about students from poor backgrounds? If we give them that kind of materials, which are,
by the way, the most common among English coursebooks, what are we teaching them? What is
the ‘hidden’ message? “Speaking English in only and exclusively for wealthy people.”
Teaching in such an environment is a huge responsibility and it is definitely a challenging and
complicated task. It is, of course, really easy for me to observe and remark “things to be changed”
from such a safe position. I am just the observer and not the teacher. There may be many things
that I would have done differently but what I do not really know is up to what extent the teacher
had the possibility of choosing from other alternatives. Maybe that coursebook was the only one
she could give her students for they do not have enough money to buy it themselves. It is
wonderful that, at least, they had a coursebook available to work with 

What follows is the analysis of the four elements that build up the classroom environment. Such
analysis will be based on the representations of these elements taken from the observed lesson.
See the Appendix to take a look at the Observation Sheet.

The Cl assr oo m
The seating arrangement was the ‘traditional’ one. Students were divided in three rows but were
not evenly distributed. There was on row next to the windows in which there were 8 students.
There was another in the middle of the classroom with only 3 students (2 were at the back of the
raw and a girl was sitting alone at the front). The third row consisted only of two students who
were sitting together at the back of classroom. What I cannot tell, however, is if such a sitting
arrangement was the regular one or it was like that due to so many absences (at least ten students
have been absent). One of the main disadvantages of having such an irregular seating is that the
teacher generally tended to address more frequently the students from the crowded row and,
therefore, the amount of interaction between the teacher and the students was unevenly
distributed. Even eye contact was noticeably more frequent with the students from the crowded
row.
The classroom was warm enough for students to feel comfortable. As regards the equipment,
however, there were no visual aids at all (no pictures, no posters) and since the students did not
own the coursebooks (they were to be left at school) they had to waste a lot of time copying the
activities to their notebooks. They devoted more time to copying than to doing the activity.

The A cti vit ies

The first half of the lesson was devoted to calling the roll, talking about the outbreak of the swine
flu and its consequences at school and discussing about the election (one of the students had voted

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 Classroom Observation: Report 3
Teacher Observed: L
Observer: Alejandra de Antoni
Date: June 30th 2009
and it really caught my attention because to attend 1 year you should supposedly be 14 or 15
st

years old and this student was at least 18).

The only activity students were asked to do was one taken from the coursebook in which they had
to match the names of the activities with the pictures (this was the unit based on the story of the
22-year-old boy that is a multimillionaire). The teacher gave no further instructions than the ones
provided by the book. The only thing she did was asking the students to translate the instruction to
see if they understood what they had to do. Once she made sure that they knew what they had to
do, she asked them to copy everything to their notebooks and to add the new verbs to the Verb
List they had at the end of their notebooks. She never explained, mimed, showed or elicited the
meaning of the new verbs. The only thing she said was that they had to add them to the list. As
regards the students, they did not seem to be actually involved or interested in the activity. The
passage was about a computer millionaire and, as I previously explained, it was something
completely alien for them. There was nothing in the activity that might be interesting for them and,
most importantly, it did not ask them to use English for anything communicative or, at least,
meaningful to them. They were not asked to produce anything, I mean, it was just to write the
name of the activities that Karl does but not what they do everyday. The lacked a “personal”
component, something that each of them would provide to make it personal and memorable. Even
the teacher did not give it importance at all because while the students were working on the
activity (or copying it to their notebooks or doing something completely different) she went student
by student correcting the homework she had given them the previous week. She was neither
monitoring them nor helping them with the activity. Finally, even though the activities really took
half of the lesson, it is really debatable how profitable it was both for the students and the teacher.
Students did not necessarily recognise the new verbs and activities for the task was never corrected
and guided and, therefore, they could have simply matched any picture with any activity and it
would have been same. Half an hour is really too much time for such a simple activity and,
consequently, they ended up doing something else instead of making profit of one of the only two
hours a week in which they can have any contact with English. Maybe the aim of the teacher was
simply keeping them busy with something while she checked the homework. In my opinion, I dare
say, some other activity, one more interesting and challenging could have been given to the
students to keep them actually busy during that period of time and making sure that they are not
wasting their time.

The Teac her

It is really difficult to judge or evaluate a person if you have just seen them for an hour. As far as
this particular lesson goes, I have to say that, following Scrivener’s description of the teacher’s
roles, this teacher seems to be “The Explainer.” As regards the activity, what she did was just
making sure that they understood what they had to do. She never paid attention to the students’
particular doubts or questions and she did not even prepare an activity in which something else
apart from matching was involved. As regards explanations, she never elicited answers or ideas
from the students but she simply provided them with the corrected versions of what they said or
wrote (when she was correcting their homework one by one). Considering this lesson, it is quite
clear that this teacher did not play the role of the “Involver” because she did not seem to be very
concerned about providing the students the tools to deal with English and learn it. It seems even
more evident that she was not an “Enabler” since she neither shared control of the process with
them nor did she manage to create an effective learning environment or a good classroom
atmosphere: students are not collaboratively working, they are not carrying a challenging,
‘enabling’ or interesting activity. (Please take a look at the Appendix to see Scrivener’s complete
explanation of the Three Kinds of Teacher)
It is important to highlight, however, that she has a good relationship with students for she is really
nice and respectful but, at the same time, she always shows somehow that she is the teacher. For
instance, when she addresses them and they address her, they do not use their first names and
they also use the Spanish formal version of the 2nd person singular pronoun, “Usted”.

The Le arners
Regarding the learners, I would say that they are the kind of learner that matches the kind of
teacher they have. They are definitely not interested at all in the activity or in the lesson itself.
Since they are not interested and there are not many personal contributions to be made to the
activity they cannot be said to be taking an active role in their learning. It is as if they were learning
history because they are only given facts. I mean, when there is something they do wrong, the
teacher simply provides them with the correction and that is it. There is no further analysis and
they are not given the possibility of trying to get at the answers themselves. I must admit, however,
that judging by the small amount of motivation they seem to have to learn English, it is true that it
may be quite difficult to make them play an active role in their learning when it is a lot easier to
copy the model without analysing anything. It seems to be a vicious circle in which the teacher
does not motivate students or gives them enabling or involving tasks and students do not seem to
have any intrinsic motivation to do those types of activities either because they have never been
offered them or because the teacher (wrongly) assumes they will not be willing to carry them out.
There also exists a possibility that the teacher had already tried to “involve” and/or “enable” them
but found no positive or encouraging responses. As I said before, I cannot give conclusive
judgements because I definitely ignore what really goes on within the classroom.

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 Classroom Observation: Report 3
Teacher Observed: L
Observer: Alejandra de Antoni
Date: June 30th 2009

Fin al W ords :

Even though it cannot be taken as an example of the communicative and enabling classroom I
always try to foster, it was a really useful experience. I learnt a lot about what it is like to be a
teacher in a state school in which students come from poor and culturally different backgrounds.
What really struck me was the huge clash between what we always study and analyse in
Methodology (those idealistic classrooms) and this one. It is really thought-provoking to see how so
seemingly harmless things such as a reading activity can have so unexpected and unwanted
results. Even though the implications of the story of the multimillionaire were not discussed or even
mentioned, it is true that it is a reality that is so away from the students’ one that might be harmful
or misleading. Why is it that the characters in most coursebooks are always successful, rich and
really nice? These students had to match the pictures with the activities that this rich person did.
How useful is for them to learn the English words for the activities that a rich person does if some
of them are given their breakfast at school because they cannot have it at home?
I know that everything I refer to in the previous paragraph is extremely controversial. Please keep
in mind that my aim is by no means criticising or judging anyone’s beliefs and values. What I want
you to know is that observing this lesson was an eye-opener and a very good opportunity to see
and understand that there are as many different teaching situations as different teachers.
Regardless of where we decide to teach it is essential for us to be able to take with us our beliefs
and values so as to pass them on to the rest. The fact that our students are different from us or
that they are different from each other does not necessarily mean that they are not going to be
ready to learn from us a lot more than a mere language.

AP PEND IX
Wha t helps pe ople learn ? “Le ar ning Tea chin g,” Jim Sc riv ene r

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 Classroom Observation: Report 3
Teacher Observed: L
Observer: Alejandra de Antoni
Date: June 30th 2009

Three kin ds of Teac her . “Le arn ing Teac hin g,” Jim Sc riv ene r

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Classroom Observation: Report 3
Teacher Observed: L
Observer: Alejandra de Antoni
Date: June 30th 2009