Sept 20/20
Today I observed a beginner adult ESL class of about 13-15 students identified by the instructor as being at a CLB level 1 or 2.
The classroom had a traditional physical set up, with the teacher’s table at the front of the class, in front of a whiteboard, with a movable blackboard to one side. There were three large round tables in a line across the back of the classroom. Although there were no computers in the classroom, there was a pull-down projection screen above the white board. This seemed to be a functional space for language learning. The large round tables gave the teacher immediate small groups for games, that were easily broken up into pairs for communicative activities. The empty space at the front of the class meant that TPR activities could be done without moving furniture, yet there was space to do so if the activity required a change in configuration.
The instructor completed activities with the students that involved simple instructions with hand gestures to aid understanding, and realia. The lesson was about functioning in a clothing store. What I thought was interesting was that the instructor used a combination of elicitation, repetition, reading and speaking to aid in the lesson. A typical greeting and question conversation was written on the board as the instructor got verbal responses from the students. The instructor would practice the conversation with each student, but the other students would be able to read the conversation and follow along. The level of engagement was high because other students would say the difficult pieces or intonations out loud with the teacher and student doing their practice. The use of realia gave the students a focal point and a concrete object to use for directions.
What I learned from watching this class was how to provide a functional lesson without using any explanation of the why of the language, or options in the wording. There was also no formal assessment in this lesson, but there was almost constant informal assessment as the instructor had one on one practice with each student and had each student name a piece of their clothing in a sentence as an exit ticket. It was functional use of English at its core.