This class was smaller than the other classes I have observed. It was similar to the other classes in process and exercises. I found with this class, like the first class I observed, that when the icebreaker activity is more physical, the class energy level is higher, as is the engagement level for the beginning exercises.
My main point of reflection today is around the use of set phrases. They are an important tool for the beginner learner to be able to have some immediate interaction in their L2, but the downside is that they leave no room for personal expression.
The two things that I have been thinking about in the STHC context is that these students are in a multi-year EFL program, so I wonder whether they will have much opportunity to use the set phrases they are learning. Secondly, although many of the students are young, they are still in this program as young adult learners, and their identity and willingness to communicate may suffer without the ability to express some aspects of their own personality in their L2.
I think a possible resolution to the problem would be to offer some alternatives with the set phrases. While teaching the phrase “Do you like …?”, you could also teach “Do you play …?” for sports, instruments and games, “Do you watch …?” for sports and movies, “Do you listen to …. ?” for music and podcasts for example. With the responses, while teaching “Yes, I like …”, you could teach “Yes, I do”. These ideas offer the student a choice in expression with minimal additions to vocabulary learning.
If there is a concern because with learning the extra verbs, there are extra concepts to learn, I believe that could be offset as well with the use of translanguaging. If the more complex ideas were connected or defined in the L1 as well as the L2, then it relieves the stress of the additional lexical learning and makes connections between the L1 and the L2.
I was told I didn’t need to observe this class, as it was the students presenting their midterm projects to the class. I asked if I would be allowed to come and watch and was welcomed.
This was both a group project and an individual project. It was group research, but individual presentations of a recipe at the front of the class using a PowerPoint (PPT) presentation. I believe that the PPT files were sometimes a group effort as well. They were all quite well done. The students had to use IPA transcription for some of their ingredients.
Where it was possible to see the group effort was when the PPT was excellent, the English and IPA was perfect, but the presenter was a very beginner English user, and even when they looked back at the screen, they could not sound-out the word or read it. Some of the students’ presentations suffered from their high level of anxiety. It was clear from their shaking hands, their compulsively looking down to read in the middle of a sentence, and their pale, clammy skin. I tried to encourage the students with a smile and nod each time they made eye contact with me.
I had a few surprises during the midterms. The first was that the teacher did not speak to the students at all except to tell them whether to present their pastry PPT or their biscuit PPT. Normally the teacher was smiling, and kept the students going, but for the midterm she was very serious and quiet.
The second was that for one student who was having anxiety, she allowed them to have their best friend run the PPT instead of the same person who did everyone else’s. The teacher also allowed this one person to have their friend discuss with them how to say things and give them help with the script of the presentation, which no one else was allowed to have. In this case, the best friend had the best presentation in the class in my estimation. With the number of times they stopped to talk and how long they chatted, the presentation was very long, but the teacher did not say anything
The third surprise was when the teacher got frustrated with one of the students, snapped at them and told them to go sit down not quite 2/3 through their PPT. The teacher commented that it was taking too long. This student was also quite nervous, and a beginner speaker who did not seem to understand her presentation. The teacher’s frustration lasted to the next student, who was also cut short just before the break. Time had run out. The teacher had to cut the last presentation short in order to give the students their break on time.
Watching the presentations and having been asked to grade them, as a matter of interest only. I found it an awkward situation. I had no idea what the criteria were for the rubric, what lesson (s) the midterm was based on, what the cultural norm is around work being completed as a group, or what the expectation is for the class around pronunciation and reading ability. I graded based on what I could see of the class as A1-A2 students, in a high-pressure situation. I didn’t dock for what seemed to be help making the PPT, because I had no idea. Just because a student is having difficulty and anxiety with production of speech in this situation doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t capable of it, or that they aren’t capable of the written production or creating the PPT. I erred on the side of higher grades for the effort I could see and how much production it led to.
I really looked forward to this class for the chance to observe the pedagogical approach to culinary ESP. The lesson in this class was to introduce a recipe. The vocabulary was vegetables. The part of class I observed was dedicated to reviewing and pronunciation of vocabulary and reading the recipe. I believe that there were some writing activities in the textbook as well that may have happened after I was dismissed. It seemed at this point in the curriculum, this was a common lesson format.
The teacher took the students through the vocabulary list numerous times, but each time, it was a step more difficult. At the beginning, each vegetable picture had its name displayed underneath. The teacher took the students through the list repeating after her, then together, then just the students, then randomized, all with the names displayed, finally randomized, and selecting individual students to say/read the vegetable name. She then repeated the process without the names displayed.
She then followed with the two small group activities. One was a match the picture with its label activity and the other was a reorder the steps activity. The final activity before the break was going over the pumpkin soup recipe, both the ingredients and the instructions. The teacher discussed with the students each step asking if they remembered the meaning of the instructions.
Watching and listening to the vocabulary repetition reminded me of my own experience in learning kanji in Japan. Each class, our teacher would use large, handheld flash cards and do much the same process. For me, personally, flashcard repetition has never been an effective study method because I can’t keep it up. Creating the flashcards, and then flipping through them one at a time doesn’t give me a sense of accomplishment. For memorizing vocabulary and kanji, I made lists by chapter and I would write out one to three lists worth each day. Usually, 1 for review, the 1 we were on and the one we would be looking at next. My aim was speed and understanding. I would do this before doing my homework, so that I was more successful at the exercises in reading and writing.
In a sense, I was priming my mind with all the vocabulary and kanji I needed to complete the homework, then I completed the homework quickly and efficiently, with a mind that was focused and relaxed. In the STHC class, there was rote memorization followed by a single activity that reinforced the repetition, but then the vocabulary was not really used in the 45-50 minutes until the first half of the class and the break ended. The new vegetable words were not in the recipe, but they were probably used in the textbook exercises in the second half of the class.
I thought it was an interesting idea to have one activity for the vocabulary, and one for the recipe, but I might have spaced them differently. This is the order I would have used to keep the students engaged:
Introduce the vocabulary, doing the first round of repetition, and check pronunciation.
Then a Kahoot game where the students had to guess the vegetable from a description of its properties. The descriptions could be in both Vietnamese and English, with the answers only in English.
Then the activity to match the picture with the label
Then the large group quick review of the vegetables without the labels (this would be optional based on time)
Then the activity to reorder the recipe steps as review
Have the students read the recipe in their small groups for 5-7 minutes and come back to the large group and do a 3–4-minute review and answer any questions.
Have the students look for a recipe online, or write one they know, that uses at least 2 or 3 of the vegetables from the list. They would need to write as much as they could in English and then collaborate with their small group to see if they could fill out their English recipe.
The students are in class for more than 3-hour blocks with only 1 break. It is a long study period. Changing the type of activity regularly and size of group they work in, allows the students mind to keep moving and stay more engaged and alert. It is even better to plan periods of physical activity (TPR), and use realia to allow the students to connect to the material in as many ways as possible.
In speaking with the students, I realized that they were learning food vocabulary, cooking technique vocabulary, but when I asked them if they were learning to be a cook or a chef, they got confused and said no. They are learning food but not who they are as they interact with the food, and how they might need to interact with the public, even though they work in the kitchen. Perhaps they will need to answer a room service call, or when setting out a dish on a buffet, a guest might ask about the dish, or even something as simple as answering a question about needing eating utensils, or the location of the bathroom. I am very interested in the overall curriculum of an entire program. Is there any intercultural communication training at the higher levels, or information about language differences between English dialects. These students have undertaken English to make themselves more valuable on the job market, but they don’t need to just memorize set phrases, they need to be able and willing to communicate in English. In Peter MacIntyre’s theory on willingness to communicate, he has found that the two main supports for that willingness is a low level of situational anxiety, and confidence in self-perceived ability. There are many other factors involved, but these are the main two. My interest in curriculum development is to see how the concept of willingness to communicate, intercultural communication and a multilingual identity can be fostered at the higher level.
The class began with about 15 Ss and the final 6 Ss trickled over the 15-20 min it took for the whisper game to be played. It seemed like it was a normal occurrence as no one commented or specifically greeted the newcomers. They just quickly and quietly put their bags down and joined in the activity.
While playing the game I noticed that in both lines the Ss strategically placed their best writers at the end of the line. I found it interesting that quite often, on both teams several members would lean together to hear the message and confer to ensure it was passed on correctly. I wondered if it was a cultural norm to work on problems as a group, so the idea of passing the message along 1 person at a time to see how much it changed wasn’t as important or funny in this context. There was some sense of competition, but very little, and the winners of the round and the game received polite applause.
What really excited me in this first class was noticing that Ms Van spoke quite quickly to the students, and that some of the instructions were given in English, and some in Vietnamese. I have been studying translanguaging, and believe that it would be beneficial, both linguistically and emotionally to Ss as they learn a second language. Linguistically it can allow them a chance to get a deeper understanding of a term by having it relayed in their own language, or they can get to instructions better if you can repeat them in both languages. Also, their is not the sense that you want them to stop thinking in their own language to learn a second, letting them dynamically construct their own sense of identity as a multilingual person with knowledge of two languages and two cultures. As I don’t speak Vietnamese, I might have new vocabulary translated for the Ss on worksheets, or have them keep a vocabulary journal to write down new words, or words they wanted to ask about.
The next section of the class was dedicated to practicing past/present/present continuous tenses. It was a simple review activity, that the Ss participated in. I noticed that at each of the four tables the students would talk to each other and then someone would answer. Most of the Ss were quiet but almost participating in the background with their notes?
The reading comprehension activity was an introduction to new material, and it seemed strange all around to me. The first was the material, it was a British English National Geographic textbook, but the article they were reading was about the United States, so the terminology about the activities seemed all wrong because culturally they were inaccurate. The article was about a man who helped build houses for people on the weekends. His current project was building tornado-resistant houses for people who had lost their home to a tornado. Then, as the class completed the first activity, they had to say how they knew the “builders” weren’t professionals, and they unanimously said it was because they weren’t wearing uniforms, and Ms Van said “Yes, that’s right”. Of course, it would have been right in Vietnam, but not in the United States or Canada. I didn’t interrupt or explain though, because I would have had to explain the difference in terminology, plus the difference in cultural attire, and potentially safety equipment? I didn’t want to throw that much of Ms Van’s lesson off base.
After the Ss did the exercise where they answered questions about the text and identified where in the text they found the answer, Ms Van asked me to help the Ss with any vocabulary they had questions about as she also went around to the tables. The first table I approached asked me for meaning to “almost”, “tornado”, and “tornado-resistant”. We made our way through it together with some giggles and pictures and my phone. Ms Van asked me about how it went after the class, I told her what words they asked me for, and she looked at me very strangely. I thought maybe I should have stuck to simpler words, but I don’t think it hurts to answer their curiosity, in fact it may encourage them to continue asking questions or looking things up, thereby increasing their language experience and motivation in the way the Robert Gardiner speaks about positive experience increasing motivation. These Ss are also looking working in the hospitality industry. I wondered if their vocabulary shouldn’t include more alternatives than just British English as they will be meeting with people from around the world. Mind you, that may come later in their education.
The final part of my observation for the day was the musical marker game, which was a conversation practice game. I had never seen it before and was very impressed. The Ss are passing around two different colour markers. Whoever has them when the music stops are the two participants for the round. One colour is for the question asker and the other is for the respondent. The thing I would have done differently is to have everyone away from their tables in a circle and each round the two people sit down. What I saw was the same people end up speaking over and over, and one entire table that avoided the game almost completely.
In summary, I very much enjoyed observing my first class here. I was impressed by the games, saw some translanguaging that I am interested in following up on to find out if it is a pedagogical practice or just something that happens naturally, got to interact with the Ss, and saw things that I would both like to do and do differently in my teaching practice.
Today’s observation was of a synchronous virtual meeting of a university English conversation club. Participation was voluntary, so attendance numbers and proficiency levels vary with each time the club meets. The topic of conversation was national holidays and there were 2 teachers leading the discussion.
The club opened with 4 short videos on the history of Canada from the “Heritage Minutes” series. Each video was followed by one or two questions on the content. After the videos, the students were asked to turn on their microphones and cameras and talk about where they were from.
Next, there were small group discussions in break-out rooms about the national holidays from each students’ home country. A return to the whole class environment included a summary of the discussion, followed by questions on the students’ favourite holiday foods, cooking styles that were unique to the students’ local area and the students’ favourite holiday.
Participation was slow to start but was much better by the end of the class. I thought the teachers did a good job of building participation by choosing people to speak, while still encouraging people to volunteer. The environment they created was a safe place for students to try out new language that they were learning. The thing I would do differently would be the initial videos. They used more difficult language and did not speak about Canadian holidays. It may have been better to find some simple images of celebrations in Canada, or to screen share and look up images on the holidays that the students were sharing.
Today I observed a synchronous virtual class of university students in an upper-level academic reading class. The lesson was about the literary terms for character types and they were studied using the story that had been assigned for homework.
The lesson opened with a review of how to use elements of the virtual space and a request for permission to record the lesson. The teacher began by showing a list of terms for character types and called on the students to give a definition of a character type. Students were encouraged to agree or disagree, and to support their reason with evidence from the story. The teacher gave feedback as well, and at one point used a piece of realia to help solidify the students’ understanding. After a short break, the students were to return to small group work to discuss the characters in the story. Then the teacher would address the questions that students had emailed her.
What I thought was effective about this class was that it communicative elements, while allowing the students to develop their analytical skills and the terminology to express their opinions.
Today’s observation took me back to Mexico to watch another synchronous virtual class of advanced high school seniors. However, it was a different teacher and class from my previous observation. The teacher had a good rapport with the students. She spent several minutes in casual conversation with the students while waiting for class members to arrive.
The topic of the class was professions whose members could be considered heroes. The lesson was about listening for gist and listening for details using a TED talk by Mark Bezos about being a firefighter. The teacher introduced the TED talk briefly and led a discussion about what is the difference between a superhero and a real hero. The students were engaged and on-topic when the video was played the first time. There was a multiple-choice question for the students to answer that was about the gist of the video. The first run through was followed by another discussion, this time about kindness and heroes and the students’ personal values.
The second time the video was played, the students were listening for details. Prior to the video being played, the teacher gave detail-oriented questions to the students and checked for comprehension as well as making sure the students understood the different types of questions they would see on the IELTS listening exam. After the video, the teacher had the students hand in their answers, but also went over each answer, calling on a specific student to read a question out loud and give their answer.
The lesson was communicative, focused, and gave the students a chance to develop their listening skills while evaluating their own beliefs and reviewing their understanding of the structure of the IELTS exam. It was well managed and flowed smoothly from general ideas to specific concepts. The only thing I would change has to do with technology.
The teacher had two places where the students would submit answers to questions. The students were permitted to submit their answers by any means possible. They could send in an attachment via email, MS Teams, What’s App, or a photo or screen shot from their phone. They were also permitted to ask questions via the class chat, What’s App, or messaged through their phone. The teacher was monitoring and using dual screens, her phone and her ipad, all at once, while trying to teach. As much as I admire her ability to keep track of all the input and allow the students as wide a range as possible to connect with the class, she was a little distracted from the substance of the class.
Today I observed an advanced synchronous virtual class of high school seniors in Mexico. The teacher had a great rapport with the students, which was developed through personal sharing by the teacher and relationship building exercises such as a pajama day. There was an honest affection between the teacher and students.
The class itself seemed disjointed. There was not a consistent topic or vocabulary used throughout. The class started with a review of vocabulary, but when the class shifted to listening exercises the vocabulary was not used. The topic of the second part of the class was stereotypes, but the previous vocabulary had nothing to do with stereotyping, and the only stereotypes presented were gender stereotyping around makeup use. That said, the students were comfortable sharing honest reactions and feelings.
The class wrapped up with a student presentation that was leftover from a previous class. The presentation topic was on the student’s ideal future university that included a budget, a virtual tour, and information on scholarship essays and sample interviews. The student was given immediate feedback and a grade in front of the class.
Although the students were engaged throughout the class, but when I look at the level of the presentation, I wonder if the content around stereotypes provided the students with a challenge, or even new material. I was a little shocked that a grade was given in front of the class, but that may be a cultural difference since none of the students showed any reaction.
For this observation, I watched 3 condensed videos of longer classes. The first was a grade 6 class in China, the second was an adult beginner class, and the third was a class that was an intermediate orientation and placement class for international students at a university.
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The topic of the grade 6 class in China was the past tense within the context of what happened on vacation. The teacher progressed the lesson from general areas of the world to visit, highlighting different climates (cold/north, jungle, beach, city), and moved to discussion in pairs about what the students did on their last vacation. Much of the lesson was listen and repeat, spelling, identify and repeat exercises. What kept the students engaged was that the teacher used photos of herself, from her own vacations. The physical setup of the classroom did not allow for the kids to be up and moving, so there was no physical portion to the lesson. Assessment was done by having a list of sentences on the screen that had been learned previously that each student took a turn to stand up and say 1 sentence from the list. The only thing I would do differently is ask the students about their vacation while still in the whole class group. The only time the students spoke about their own experience was for a brief time in pairs.
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The adult beginner class was a functional class in giving advice. The classroom itself was very small, with only a white board to use. The teacher maximized the space by putting the students in a U-shape around the edges of the room. When the teacher wanted the students to see images, he took his tablet around the room. Leaving the centre of the room empty allowed the teacher to have the students up and moving in different groupings for the communicative parts of the lesson. While students were having discussions, the teacher would pause the action and write a sentence on the board and either correct it or discuss its use or pronunciation, then have them go again. Feedback was pertinent and immediately used. The teacher used himself as an initial example of needing advice for his cold. He went through phrases to use when asking for and giving advice; he gave feedback, correction, and praise; the students were engaged and participating throughout, and he never let them sit for more than a couple of minutes. I thought this was an effective class.
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The topic of the intermediate university class was “free time”. This video seemed to be a “what not to do” for classroom management. The teacher did most of the talking and the students were not engaged. The students were chatting amongst themselves, trying to get a date, and playing on their phones. The teacher was asking the students about how many hours of free time they had in their home country, but it was only as part of a response to survey. There was no asking the students about what kind of activities they did or what their interests were, it was multiple questions where the only possible response from a student was to spit out a number. Due to the lack of any relationship between the teacher and students, it seemed intrusive and out of place for the teacher to talk about partying and the beer the students would be drinking. All in all, a complete disaster of a class.
What I observed today was a presentation done by a university instructor to a group of Japanese high school students. The presentation was about how to be an effective learner of English and how to prepare for university entrance exams.
Although this presentation was set up to have student interaction, it was mostly the instructor speaking. The students read a short story out of the first-year textbook from the university and underlined the ways to learn more English. The entire class boiled down to 3 very general points on language learning, and 2 generalized parts of learning. All of which were presented in the last 10 minutes.
I kept waiting for a larger point to be made, but it never happened. I wonder if the students found it useful because I almost fell asleep just watching. I was also slightly uncomfortable when the instructor mildly mocked a student for their travel goals instead of clarifying what the student was trying to communicate.
