Genevieve CO #1

Tuesday June 23rd, 2015

I observed Victoria Davis' Grammar class this morning.  After taking attendance she had me introduce myself.  Then she went student to student, checking who had completed the homework assignment, most did.  Next, she called upon students to answer each question, after she answered number one herself.  She knows all her students names.  The assignment addressed adjective clauses, and focused on the difference between essential and supplement content.  She made the assignment exceptionally relevant when possible - for example, Ms Davis said, "(Student's name) since your region is famous for pandas why don't you answer number four (which was a sentence about pandas).  She also included a student who had not done the homework assignment, " why don't you answer number six?" After the homework review was complete Ms Davis had the class get into small groups and do a very fun exercise.  Ms Davis specified that students could not be paired with someone who spoke their own native language. Each student contributed two known nouns on flashcards, then the guessing game began.  The reader was assigned to use an adjective clause while formulating a question that could elicit the answer.  After all the groups completed the assignment Ms Davis next had the class split into two teams to play a timed version of the game.  She explained this exercise was to practice fluency.  Somehow she managed to write down errors while facilitating the exercise and keeping score. After the game was over she wrote the errors on the board and the class corrected the mistakes together until everyone understood the corrections.  Ms Davis took care to say that if she had used someone's error as an example it was not because that student made more mistakes than the others but simply because she had heard it said.  The last exercise of the class period was reviewing verb-noun agreement.  She then reminded students about their homework.  After class I spoke with Ms Davis about the class and shared what I learned about teaching, including being honest.  For example, when one of the homework questions  was  confusing Ms Davis said that she honestly didn't know the answer but that she would find out for next class, which exemplified what we our being taught in our TEFL training.