LESSON OBSERVATION 5

 

Phases and the aims of the lesson

A warmup and a review of the previous topic are given at the start of the lesson.

At the beginning, the teacher starts by singing a song about greetings. After that, she gave them a quick review of a story they read, in which they had to remember the animals in the book and asked them "what can the animal do? The animals said the animals they remembered: crocodile, rabbit, pig, mouse, and what they could do, like: show their teeth. Then the teacher asked them to also do what the animals could do.

Afterwards she asked them to form a circle and join hands to sing the song related to the book (about the animals and what they can do). In order for the students to have a better interpretation and recognition of the song, the teacher made use of small flashcards. 

Next, the teacher showed them the cover of the book and asked them some questions so that they could hypothesise what the book was about, so she did a pre-reading. During the reading, the teacher asked the students about what they were reading, to check if they were paying attention or if they had any doubts. At the end of the story, the teacher played a game called hide and seek. In it, the pupils had to look for where the dog was, so they had to open the window and find him. This was to teach the children the names of the rooms in a house. Finally, the children found the dog and said goodbye to the dog and the class.

Aids the teacher uses

She made use of books, of little flashcards, of a real house in which you could open the windows (with the name of the rooms) and you could see into each room.

Problems which occurred in the course of the lesson

Some children were talking during the lesson, so the teacher called their attention to them by mentioning their names. I think this was a good way to control the children. On the other hand, many children were a bit distracted because the pupils could not participate at the same time, they had to wait for their turn.

Possible alternatives/amendments/improvements to the lesson structure

I think that when calling the children's attention it would have been better if she had sung a song to keep everyone calm.  On the other hand, regarding the activities, it would have been better if the exercises gave all the students the opportunity to do something at the same time because, if the activity is done individually and the other students have to observe, this could cause the group to get bored or get out of control. 

On the other hand, I would have spent more activities and time on the theme of the day, (the rooms... or reading?), and less time warming up.  Also, it seems to me that the students could also generate something themselves, not just talk and guess, maybe create their own story or draw a house and hide the dog themselves.  

Was it a good lesson? 

I thought it was a good lesson as the students were interested in the class, they participated, and the teacher asked them questions related to the material she was bringing. Also, the activities were playful, different, and got all the students to participate and interact with the topic (and subtopics) they were learning. Although the topic of the lesson was not clear to me, it seemed that the students had a good time and practised their speaking (in short sentences).