Jennifer CO#1

I had my first classroom observation this morning. The class was a Group 4 grammar course taught by Andrew Wilson. 

I came in early and took a seat in the back, expecting a full house; but when it was time to start there were only 5 students. Because the number of students was so small, the classroom had a sort of intimate atmosphere. Andrew introduced me to the class and the students had no issue with my being there to observe. To start the class, Andrew had assigned his students to translate a proverb from their native country. He took his time on each student as they all shared proverbs with one another. It was interesting to hear the different proverbs from different countries.  

After that, Andrew handed out a worksheet to go over what they had learned the day before: simple present versus present continuous. Once they went over the worksheet together, Andrew had a sort of "show-and-tell" activity prepared. Each student had written a paragraph about their culture or people they looked up to from their native country and spoke about it in front of the class. It was to test their use of proper grammar and fluidity. Andrew paid close attention to each speaker as they shared their piece of culture. After a student was done with his or her small speech, Andrew went over grammatical errors they had made. He made sure to emphasize the errors, but also gave them positive feedback. 

Because there wasn't much time, only three students went up to present. Moving on from that, Andrew handed them a list of verbs--regular and irregular, transitive and intransitive--and as their next homework assignment, they were to memorize and know the meanings of at least 20 of them. He will test them the next day by asking them to write a few sentences. He had more lessons planned, but class ended. I think it was a good idea to have planned more lessons than needed, just to be prepared. Andrew used up his time wisely and the students had fun learning from him. 

This was definitely a good experience, I can't wait for the next class observation!