TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report Form

Name of Observer Jiaqian Chen Observation # 3

Date Observation Class Skill/Content Level Teacher

Environment*
10/25/2016 face-to-face Listening Listening 422 Lena Nelson
Speaking Speaking
Taking notes

*Include the URL if the class was online

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:

1. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO DISCUSS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES.

2. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE WHAT THEY KNOW ABOUT CHANGES.
3. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO SUMMARIZE A DISCUSSION.

Notes while observing:

9:00 The teacher made a roll call and reiterated students' homework - to read a paragraph
about the advantages and disadvantages of Internet and complete the T chart.
9:02 The teacher asked students to compare their T chart notes with their partner. She
walked around and listened to the students when they were talking.
9:03 The teacher drew a T chart on the board and called on a student for an advantage of
the Internet (from textbook).
The student answered, "We can communicate instantly with people around the
world."
The teacher wrote on the white board and asked, "What do we have for another
advantage?"
Another student answered, "We can get in touch with family and friends."
"OK. That's a detail. It's an example of communicating with people. What else do
we have?" said the teacher.
A student answered, "It's easy to find useful information on the Internet."
"Um hum, very good. So we can find useful information. Any other ideas?" said the
teacher.
"Companies can promote their products." answered a student.
The teacher wrote on the board and asked, "OK. How about disadvantages?" She
then called a student.
"Maybe we would spend a lot of time on the Internet." answered a student.

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"OK." the teacher wrote on the board and said, "Tony, share an opinion from the
book with us."
"We can't talk face to face and it can harm relationships." said Tony.
The teacher asked, "What are other disadvantages."
A student answered, "Damage our computer."
The teacher filled in the T chart and said, "OK. And some examples...spam and
viruses...so those are advantages and disadvantages. And we put them in a T chart, which
looks like letter T. That's we how to separate one from another."
9:06 The teacher asked students to talk with their partner about their own opinions on the
advantages and disadvantages of the Internet.
She monitored when students were discussing.

9:07 "All right? OK. One of the things we need to know and we did in last unit is
summarizing. We summarized a conversation. We summarized a lecture in our first unit.
What we are going to try to do now is summarizing what you guys talked about in your
discussion. OK? It will be very short. We won't need a very long summary. I'm going to
give you handouts - 'discussion Summary Example'. We are going to go over the example.
Remember to underline the reporting verbs. And your home work is writing a summary
about your discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet." said the
teacher.

9:08 The teacher said, "Let's read the Discussion Summary example below..." and she
read the example aloud.

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Then she said, "Let's look at the questions. Please circle the topic of the discussion.
What is our topic of discussion here?"
A student answered, "What is more important than success?"
The teacher said, "Um hum. Where does it go? At the very beginning. So, it sets the
tone for our summary so that the person who reads the summary will know what is
summarizing. Who is the discussion leader?"
"Ben." answered a student.
"Yes. What was the leader's main point? Summary only has main points...no extra
details."
A student answered. "Health is more important than success."
The teacher said, "Yes. Let's underline the reporting verb used to introduce that main
point." and called on a student for an example.
The student answered, "Um...noted."
The teacher said, "Yes, you can underline it. Who spoke after Ben?"
"Lisa." answered students.
The teacher said, "Lisa. All right. So... we try to have our summary and discussion in
order and Lisa gave an example of her grandfather. Because Lisa didn't make any other
points, this is really her point. she gave an example. we want to make sure that she's a
part of our summary. OK. Underline the reporting verb used to introduce Anthony's main
point... the verb that reports what he said."
Students said, "Explain."
The teacher said, "Um hum, explain. What's Anthony's main point?
A student answered, "Being happy is more important than success."
The teacher said, "Yes. So...Anthony's main point is being happy is more important
than success. And underline the phrase used to end the summary." and asked a student
what the phrase is.
A student answered, "Ben summed up."
The teacher said, "Um hum, summed up the main points. OK. Maybe you don't have
anybody who summed up the main points because it's a pair discussion. But I want you to
use this format... to sum up briefly what you guys did, because part of your test will be to
know how to summarize. That's what we do every unit. We tried to do some summary
exercises so that you know how to pull out the main points. All right, so you are going to
use this example above and write you own summary of your pair discussion on the back
of this paper. Our topic was the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet. Then,
identify the leader and all the speakers."

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9:10 She took a pair of students as an example, "You only have two people, so you have...
Yurika said this... and Tony explained that...,use good reporting verbs not just said... said...
told...OK? So this gonna be part of your homework. Now, we are going to start our unit.
Turn to p.56. Look at the chart at the bottom... a chart that says Words I know and use,
Words I know but don't use and Words I don't know. Look at the vocabulary in this unit
and make out the chart."
Students wrote down some words in the chart. The teacher monitored.
The teacher said, "Talk to your partner and compare your notes."
Students compared their notes with partners. The teacher monitored and checked
students' comprehension of her directions.

Words I know Words I know but don't Words I don't know

use

9:15 The teacher said, "OK. So...we will learn these words in this unit. And we are going
to listen and take notes. We are going to hear...a man talking about how his life has
changed after leaving a high-paying job on Wall Street to work in a small town in Iowa.
As you listen to the talk, get some information and ideas about the advantages and
disadvantages of change. Why do you think...he wanted to make a change?" and picked a
student to answer.
The student said, "I'm sorry. I didn't get the point."

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The teacher repeated, "Why do you think the man...wanted to do something that are
different? It's your prediction. There's no right or wrong answer. If a person quitted his
job, why do you think he did it?" and she gave the student some time to think.
The student answered, "He might find a better job. "
The teacher said, "Um hum. He quitted this job because he wanted another one. He's
bored with his job." and called on another student for answer.
The student said, "He wanted to travel around the world."
The teacher said, "All right." and picked another student.
The student said, "He wanted to spend more time with his family."
The teacher said, "Yes. All of these answers are possible. So...let's listen and get the
answer. Take notes in the first chart. " and played the record.
9:22 The teacher said, "OK. Fill in the T chart." and then she played the record again.

Life as a city trader

Advantages Disadvantages
better car, apartment physical problems(stress, sick)
... didn't have good relationships
...

9:25 The teacher let students talk with a partner and share what they've heard. After that,
the teacher asked three students to answer. She drew a chart on the board and wrote
students' answers.

9:29 The teacher said, "OK. Let's listen to B and fill in the second chart. Do you guys
know what home care assistant is? Let's look at the word - home care assistant. It's a
person who takes care of individual people...maybe a person is ill or a person is elderly.
OK. Let's listen."
9:31 The teacher asked students if they have caught the information and let them talk
with their partner. She walked around and monitored.
9:32 The teacher picked a student to answer and later, she said, "What else?"

Life as a home care assistant

Advantages Disadvantages
...

9:35 The whole class listened to the whole story.

9:39 Students were asked to talk in pairs and checked the answers with their partners.
9:40 The teacher said, "All right. Are you ready to check? So... why did Gary stop
working as a city trader?"
A student answered, "He could handle the stress."

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The teacher said, "Who has a better answer? She waited for a while and continued,
"Actually...it's because of the financial crisis. It happened in 2008 when the open market
crashed and a lot of people lost jobs. He also lost his job. What did the man do as soon as
he quitted his job?"
A student answered, "He traveled."
The teacher said, "Yes. He went to Mexico and South America. Why did he move to
Iowa?"
A student answered, "He wanted to be with his parents."
The teacher said, "You're right. How does Gary feel about his new job?" and picked
a student to answer.
The student answered, "It's very difficult."
Another student volunteered to answer, "It's very fulfilling."
The teacher said, "Good job. Fulfilling means that...it makes him feel happy. What
goal has Gary achieved?"
A student answered, "Enjoy his free time."
The teacher said, "Who has a better answer?"
"Happy." answered a student.
The teacher said, "Yes."

9:42 The teacher introduced the unit assignment. Students were asked to choose an event
after class and they will discuss "Is change good or bad?" with a partner in the next class.

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What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson as it relates to the
theory you have studied in your TESOL classes? Include at least one reference (with
an in-text citation) to support your response. (250-500 words)

In this observation, I mainly focused on teaching. It was an fifty-minute listening and

speaking class for IEP level 422 students, and the students were from East Asia and
Middle East.

First of all, the teacher used the scaffolding technique. When teaching the discussion
summary, she prepared a handout for students and showed them an example. She
instructed students to find all the points of a discussion summary, which would support
them to write such summary by themselves. Furthermore, the teacher explained some
words meanings before playing the record. In addition, T chart was used to facilitate
learning and instruction. Graphic organizers can help students visually represent their
ideas, organize information, and grasp concepts.i(Alber, 2014)

Secondly, communicative language teaching (henceforce CLT) was utilized during the
class. The teacher attached much importance to communication and interaction.
Interactions between teacher and students occupied a large proportion of the class time.
Students were also encouraged to interact with their partners and share their opinions. For
example, after listening to the whole story, they discussed and corrected mistakes in pairs
rather than just directly getting those correct answers from their teacher. By doing this,
they learned from each other and helped each other. From Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal
Development(henceforce ZPD) theory, we can know that collaboration can help students
get to their potential development level.ii(Saul McLeod,2012) And students negotiated
meaning and got feed back from each other when interacting.

When it comes to other aspects, the input was comprehensible and the pace of
information was not very fast. The teacher monitored when students were discussing. She
repeated the main points and checked comprehension all the time. Moreover, her voice
could be heard by everyone and her body language was very vivid.

In conclusion, the teacher integrated various strategies in her teaching, which made the
listening and speaking class effective and efficient.

References:
i
Alber, R. (2014). 6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students. Retrieved from:
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber
ii
Saul Mcleod(2012). Zone of Proximal Development. Retrieved from:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html

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