LESSON OBSERVATION 2

  

• What did you like? What would you do differently?  

I liked the activities the teacher used with her students, however they did not seem to have a concrete reason for the lesson. The topic of the lesson was not clear, the children were just saying nouns, but not using the language, there was no real conversation.  However, It seems to me that she used the vocabulary to better understand the story. And I thought the reading was entertaining. 

I would start by explaining the topic to be covered that day, ask a question or activity related to that topic, start explaining it, make use of the activities she did, but focused on the topic, and finally do a brief review to check how much knowledge the students have acquired. 

• What is your general reflection on the lesson?

In my opinion the teacher could have a clearer teaching. The resources she used such as: flashcards, reading, the blackboard, and even the things the children used seemed interesting to me. However, the purpose of the warmup was not clear to me, I did not find the central theme of the class, and at the end I could not see a compilation of the acquired knowledge of her students, since the information they were saying was something they had already acquired in previous classes. 

• Which activity do you particularly like?

I liked the beginning, when I asked them to stand up and sit down, I think that moving the body is a useful tool for children to have fun. I also liked the way you asked them to sit down (mentioning the colour of the clothes they were wearing).  I also liked the modulation of his voice when he was narrating the story, and how he involved the children in the reading. 

• What are the strong sides of the lesson, in your opinion?

The understanding of the vocabulary she used in the storytelling. However, I don't think the children had a reading comprehension. I also think that reinforcing the colours (as she mentioned at the beginning, some words like: "cat", "witch", "spider"), and then introducing them in the reading was a good strategy. 

• What could have been done better?

It seems to me that having the children write, draw, sing or do something with their hands could have improved the class, as it was all speaking-listening.  I think that when the children see the knowledge in a more tangible way (a drawing made by them, colouring the story) it can improve their language acquisition. On the other hand, the teacher was also able to narrate the story and then ask her students to draw what had happened. However, I understand that the number of students is large and time is short, so it can complicate the activities.

• How does the teacher deal with classroom management?

She used a countdown from 5 to 1 to get the students' attention, and it seemed to work. However, when she was doing the activity on the board, and there were two rows, the students at the back were distracted, either ballindoing or waving to their parents. But it seems to me that the teacher was able to control the situation and it didn't get out of control.  

• What types of activities does she use?

She chose a variety of activities. In which, she threw a toy and asked the students' names, for which they answered. She did physical activities by making them stand up and sit down.  She also used drawings, and the students had to say the names of the nouns she drew. She read a book, which was a good activity, but I don't know if the students really understood the message of the story, and finally she used flashcards and the students had to guess the number. 

• What props and materials does she use? 

The teacher used a toy which she threw at the students to ask them "how are you?" and "what's your name?".  Then she used the blackboard. 

Halfway through the class she use a book. The storytelling book was the most important resource and the one she used the longest (it seems to me that the subject of the day was focused on the story she told) and finally she used a kind of flashcard.

 

Video link: https://youtu.be/R1kGeSKXiVo?feature=shared

In my opinion the class was entertaining, I didn't find a clear theme in the lesson, but I think he controlled the group well. Also, it is understandable that everything was "different" because the parents of the students were there and someone was teaching the lesson, so maybe the dynamics of the class changed. But being a teacher is not an easy task, so learning and improving classroom activities as well as monitoring students is what one as a teacher must do.