TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report
Forms for inclusion in the Observation Notebook must be typed

Name of Observer____Lin Li_______

Observation
Environment
UCR IEP Classroom
R143

Date
3/5

Class
Skill/Content
Oral Skills

Observation # __4__
Class
Level/Number
ESL 500, 600, 700
level

Teacher
John Kuntz

Focus on relevant areas from the What Can Be Observed handout. Notice how the
teacher handles these areas during the class.
OBJECTIVE OF THE LESSON:
1. In a dictation activity, students will be able to practice effective communication,
by using expressions to check listeners comprehension and asking speakers
questions to clarify.
2. Students will be able to recognize and spell vocabulary words about insects
learned from last class.
3. Students will be able to identify and explain the meaning of idioms that contain
insect vocabulary and make sentences with them precisely.
Notes while observing:
Warm-Up
(1~5 min)

T introduce class visitor

T says and asks, Today, we are going to do a dictation activity. What is a
dictation? Several Ss answer and T tails the answer to give a more clear
explanation of dictation activity.

Presentation
(5~15 min)

T further explains todays activity: Ss will be given paragraphs that are same in
content but have different missing words. Ss will work in pairs to read their
paragraphs alternatively and the listeners will fill out the blanks on their paper at
the meantime.
T asks, Do you get it? Ss nod their heads and some answer Yes.
T continues, In daily communication, it is common that listeners fail to get all
the information from speakers and speakers wont know how much they get
understood if they dont check with listeners. What are some of the expressions

TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

that a speaker and a listener can use to help them communicate better? Several
Ss answer the questions with different expressions.
As the answers get more, T goes to the front board and writes down all the
expressions come from Ss.
White board writing:
Speaker
Listener
Are you following me?
Informal: Huh?
Are we on the same track?
Formal: What?
Got it?
What was that?
Do you understand?
Could you slow down?
So far, so good?
Ok?
Are you with me?

T asks, What is the purpose of those saying? One S answers, to clarify. T

encourages, good point! We can use the above expressions to clarify and even
make us autonomous leaners.

Practice & Production

(16~40 min)

T gives out the activity paper and pairs up Ss.

T talks the topic of the paragraph, Eat that insect and shares his personal
experience of eating insects. T then asks, Has anyone else eaten insects before?
Would you eat/try insects? Ss share their experience. None of the Ss say they
tried insects before and would like to try one day.
As the topic discussion ends, Ss start the activity in pairs.
T goes around to different pairs, checking how this activity goes and giving
instructions as needed. Ss are engaged in this activity and using expressions they
came up earlier.

Presentation
(40~48 min)

T calls the stop of the activity and presents the whole paragraph on the screen.
T plays the audio of the paragraph and asks Ss to read after.
T plays the audio again and asks Ss to pay attention to the idioms highlighted in
the paragraphs.
T explains the idioms by giving example sentences and acting out.

Wrap-Up
(48~50 min)

T gives back the scored quiz to Ss and explain the main errors.
(continue on back)
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson? Discuss your
observation focus, and the theory you have studied in your TESOL classes.
Consider the three levels of teacher reflection (surface, pedagogical, critical).
(100-200 words)

It is of great interests to see how Ts questions and information gap

activity can promote real conversation. This is a course that focuses on oral skills
and the T provided Ss an opportunity to practice their English through meaningful
interactive activity. I noticed that the T kept asking students open questions, like

What expressions you have known or heard that we can use in this situation?
What is your personal experience regarding? Would you like and why?
Those questions successfully led Ss to practice and production, while T gave very
minimal instructions and did little talk. Ss are the person leading class and they
learn from each other. In an information gap activity (communicative exercise),
Ss share each others information to supplement their own information where
actual and effective conversation happens. Ss are goal oriented and fully
motivated in this activity.

What activities/techniques from this class do you want to remember for your
own teaching practice? Discuss specific ways in which you could apply the
techniques and methods you saw. Discuss your future teaching environment
and your students needs and goals. (100-200 words)

I learned two techniques from this class that I would most likely to

use in conversation class: asking the right/leading questions and conducting

information gap activity. It is hard for new teachers to talk less and have students
lead the class. I felt that asking the leading questions or open questions is a good
way to promote student talking, allowing students to learn from their peers by
sharing personal experience. For example, if I am teaching sports. I can have
students do research on their favorite sports before class and let them share in
class. Further, blending an information gap activity, I will ask students to
brainstorm some questions they can ask in knowing a sport, like basic rules,
popularity, origins and etc. Then after sharing each others favorite sport, students
will work in pairs to interview each others favorite sport to gain insight in

another sport. Last, ask students to share information they gained from the
interview, which promotes productive practice for all students.