Liz Camilleri PA3: Lesson evaluation

General reflections

The lesson was very successful despite the overall problems with the lesson planning
stage. I had prepared the lesson for a class which included students who were very strong
pre-intermediates, therefore some of the vocabulary was quite challenging for the new
students. The class however, all gave very positive feedback, saying that they felt much
more confident thanks to the techniques presented for tackling listening both in and out of
the classroom. They also showed evidence of understanding by completing the
worksheets appropriately and bringing up relevant points during the discussion.

Weaknesses Next time I will…

Aims: I set myself very high aims which
meant there was a lot to cover during the
lesson. Using body-language to help with
listening was only briefly mentioned due to
time constraints.
• set myself realistic aims.
• keep a journal detailing my aims
and reflections.
• defer my lesson if I feel that it may
be too challenging for the class and
re-evaluate the lesson in terms of
the actually class available.

Tape, text and tasks: The listening was
long and not as clear as I had hoped for.
Task 2 in Appendix 3 should have
progressed in the same order as the
listening
• edit the listening to make it shorter
which will impose less of a strain of
the learners.
• explore ‘live’ listening with two
speakers would improve quality
and authenticity of the listening.
• pilot the task on a willing student as
well as myself before the lesson.
• make sure the task progresses
logically to make it easier.

Language: I did not monitor my language • write a reminder on my lesson plan

well in the first ten minutes of the lesson. so that I do not talk over my
students heads when I am nervous.
• record parts of my lesson on tape to
see if this is a problem I need to
address more specifically.

Timing: My anticipated times were too
short partly due to the tape length and
difficulty level. I ‘wasted’ time rechecking
answers.
• include more flexi stages and try the
stages out before deciding on times.
• not hesitate giving students the
answers if I feel they have done all
they can on their own.
• include exactly how I intend to
check a task in my lesson plan.

Strengths

• Flexibility: Everyone followed and participated in the lesson and it progressed

smoothly. I omitted tasks which were not essential and made sure that by the end
of the class all students identified and discussed listening skills and strategies.

• Positive learning environment: There was a relaxed atmosphere in class and

since I did not ask any one specific student for an answer, there was no pressure
on the weaker students even though the tasks were challenging.

Aims: Overall, I felt my lesson aims were achieved. This was evident by the students
completing the tasks set and using the techniques in class during the following
lessons.

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